Limners, Linkboys, and Lackeys: Hirelings for Hiring in AD&D

There has been some discourse about hirelings. I felt this discussion leaned more towards "NPCs you recruit to fight alongside you" - i.e. men-at-arms (hirelings) or henchman (different than hirelings). I've already written about henchman in AD&D (and assassins and spies, kind of, cartographers, briefly, and sages - all of whom are "expert" hirelings), so I thought I'd write something about all the other hirelings one can hire in AD&D.Hirelings are different than henchmen. Henchmen are "character-type" NPCs. They have a class and they can gain levels. They are somewhat rare and difficult to recruit. They will siphon off some of your XP and will expect a fair share of treasure as well. They are also considerably more loyal than your typical hireling. Since they gain levels, they grow in power, just as you do. You can play as them if your character dies. They protect you from "the machinations of rival player characters", which sometimes a problem, apparently. You can only have a…