Yeah you get two free on each character and then you can pay 2 dollars for each additional retainer (for all characters on that account) up to a maximum of 6 additional. It's not a bad deal, as there's really no reason whatsoever to make an alt character outside simply wanting two have two different races/genders or more at the same time available, it is easily combined with the Starter account (1 char per server max at 12.99 instead of 15) to up the characters without really increasing the price. Not to mention (as Nehrak belabored earlier near Heavensward release!) that you can make most/all your retainers into combat classes and use them to drastically reduce the time it takes to gather monster mats for crafting. If you don't mind spending 25ish a month on a single game, it's just a lot of upsides, especially if you are a horder.