Mercenary Code of Honor

Although they wander far to make their way as ‘sellswords,’ many mercenaries live by a Mercenary Code of Honor. Ruthless but not without principles, these mercenaries are highly sought after and renowned for always fulfilling their contracts to the letter.

A character with a Mercenary Code of Honor will:

Demand half of all promised payment up front if payment is to be a lump sum.

Demand two months’ payment in advance if payment is to be monthly.

Notify other mercenaries if a client does not pay.

Require the client to spell out exactly what will satisfy the requirements of employment, preferably in writing (and verified by a trusted literate ally).

Fulfill all requirements of employment.

Maintain confidentiality concerning who hired him and what he is asked to do.

Only work for competing employers after 30 days of a contract’s expiry.

A character with a Mercenary Code of Honor will not:

Betray or disobey his employer, no matter what his master asks of him or what bribes are offered.

Violate any explicitly stated requirements of employment.

Violate the confidentiality of his employer including revealing what he was hired to do.

Take assignments from his employer’s competitors before 30 days have elapsed.

Take any risks or perform any difficult deeds without payment (in money or in kind), unless those deeds bring immediate personal reward to the mercenary.

Commitment to Contract

Being a true mercenary is considered a real profession in this setting. Although it is not necessarily a profession respected in the terms of its honor nor gallantry, it can be respected in the sense of its seriousness and commitment. The title of mercenary comes with certain expectations from others, mainly employers and opponents. Those who call themselves mercenaries, to some degree or another, tend to accept those expectations and may gain an extra motivation on performance by living up to them.

A mercenary is motivated not by patriotism, not by chivalry, but by a mix of a few other things. One is some sort of awareness of the reputation that they are building for themselves in their field, of their own track record of getting the job done (or not in the case of a bad reputation as a mercenary). Another is a cultural pride in keeping a contract, which means delivering whatever was promised, but also fully collecting on the pay. The primary motivation of a mercenary though is pay, be it coin, jewels, wealth objects, or any other item or access that a mercenary deems to be valuable.

If a mercenary: 1) maintains the Mercenary Code of Honor (generally maintains at least, DM can discuss exceptions with PCs case-by-case), 2) is maintaining a commitment to a Motivating Contract, and 3) is taking action that is generally advancing the purpose of that contract, he can enact a performance enhancement called Commitment to Contract.

A Motivating Contract is one that provides a substantial sum of payment that is at least 100 gp value per the character's level if the sum is to be delivered as a total payment upon completion of the work. It is at least 3 gp per character level daily if he is being paid on a daily basis. The mercenary must either have received the sum already, received half up front with the promise of the remainder within 30 days, have been paid the daily wage consistently on a weekly basis, or some combination of these terms as the circumstance warrants.

Commitment to Contract allows a mercenary PC to choose to gain Advantage on an Attack Roll, Damage Roll, Ability Check, or Saving Throw of his choice once per day as long as the action taken is an effort of striving forward towards the completion of the Motivating Contract.
Upon reaching 5th Level, the mercenary PC can choose to enact the ability twice per day.
Upon reaching 10th Level, the mercenary PC can choose to enact the ability three times per day.

Notes:
Commitment to Contract Advantage use can be abbreviated to "CTC Adv" if it is used in posting dice rolls.
CTC Advantage can be used before or after a normal roll result is visible.