You need also take into account that some characters start with better armour and weapon.
So price of recruiting also cover cost of their equipment. So difference in cost between beggar and sellsword is lower than you think.
I forgot about this. This is true, though generally the best soldiers come with basic mail, a helmet, a weapon and (sometimes) a shield. Put together, that can’t be more than 400 gold maximum. Thus the farmhand and the hedge knight are still 1,000 gold apart, and the hedge knight still has double the upkeep.
I like those ideas about traits, though.
From my experience, it seems certain backgrounds have significantly higher chance to get certain traits. Still, I not sure because memory without record or statistics is biased as sh-
I’m basically in the same position, where all my adventurous nobles and hedge knights are fearless, brave, strong, and have iron lungs, whereas all my farmhands have bleeder, dastard, etc.
