Hirelings are an extremely useful tool.

[deadoralivextreme14]

I got the achievement for recruiting a hireling and, considering how a whopping ~4% of people at the time of writing this have said achievement, I figured I'd put out a small PSA about them.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you needed a certain spell, ability check, etc. to overcome a problem and you either didn't have it prepared or just never learned it?

This is where hirelings are great. They start at level 1 every time you re-hire them (they keep their level until they are dismissed obvs [not "wait at camp" but fully dismissed]) so, for example, I have the Gnome Wizard as my "Utility Hireling", he's Transmutation so I can potentially whip up a few extra potions and he's got Feather Fall, Enhance Leap, Gust of Wind, Misty Step, Invisibility, Knock, Grant Flight etc. etc. All things that allow me to get to places and do things that I wouldn't be able to normally. You can even give them the Magic Initiate feat for another few useful spells/cantrips from other classes if need be. Then just leave 'em at camp till ya need 'em or dismiss and re-hire if you need a fresh set of spells.

I wish you success on all future passive checks \o/

[KneeKo]

Thing is, aside from the race they are locked in and the unique physical looks they have, you can literally re-make the Origin characters. For example, you can re-roll Wyll into a full-blown Paladin and re-configure his Ability Scores. They also have their own personalities, so that's a good thing.

The appeal of hirelings is that they won't care what you do, basically full-blown mercenaries. If you dislike disruptive dialogue, then they are the way to go, or if you want a very specific combination of race and class.

Other than that, Origin characters make the party system much more immersive, that's why not a lot of people choose hirelings over them.