I'm having a good time playing through M&M3 for the first time. What is the maximum character level? I am at 25 now and I know I have a long way to go, but I don't know if there is a cap.

I am also curious what people think about hirelings. Is it worth having them? Right now I am actually taking 2 dead ones around with me for the storage space, but I notice they are still gaining xp, which means my primary party members are gaining a bit less than they normally would. Thoughts?

Thanks!

You can train until level 250, but level 70-80 is normal when finishing the game, no need for grinding.
Be aware that the game wraps around after level 255, so if you cast level 130 heroism at a level 130 character he'll fight like a wimpy level 4 (not level 260) character.

Hirelings can be useful at some occasions like in the beginning but usually I just play my party of 6.
Do your dead hirelings get combat XP or quest XP ?
If they only get quest XP it doesn't matter since it's not shared among the party members, everyone gets the same value independent of party size.
You can grind unlimited XP in the arena, getting the money for training is more difficult, so I guess carrying around dead hirelings for more inventory space won't hurt on the long run.

They get monster xp as well. I don't have to pay their fees, but those are a trifling compared to the gold that comes in even at level 25-35.

The arena option is a good one to point out. My concern is that the monsters are totally arbitrary up to and including the level of match I am on, so I might get something that yields good xp, or I might get goblins. It's weird.

In the arena fight you'll always meet one boss monster which fits the the number of arena battles you've already won, the rest is random. The first arena battles don't yield noteworthy XP and aren't worth it but the later ones will yield lots of XP but you can't get good enough for winning them just by fighting in the arena.
It's always better exploring the world instead since you'll also earn money and other boosts this way.

NPCs get more expensive as they level up, costs are level*level*20 per day. But you can afford having 2 healthy high level NPCs all the time, even a solo character with 7 NPCs can beat the game.

It's recommended that you bring the money you don't need to the bank (it will increase very fast there) so you don't have to worry about it later when training gets more and more expensive.

Yes, I have not banked my cash. At first it seemed I was losing money in there, but I think I had just forgotten the exact amount I had put in. I have 25 mil right now so I'm sitting pretty. That will go in the bank as you say.

Is there any way to see a character's damage? I am used to seeing it in 6 and beyond, but it has been about 18 years since I played 4, which appears to be exactly like 3.

I am also curious how the stats work. I know what the bonuses are per stat range, but I don't know how those bonuses actually translate into the game. It appears that the int or personality bonus applies once per level. Is that true for all of them? If so, that would radically change my priorities, as strength would rapidly become better than even obsidian weaponry.

... and how do I use the wishing well in either area E4 or F4? I can throw in a coin and type in a wish, but I can't get any results, nor find any information on the web about it.

You can't get the damage displayed in the inventory like in MM6 so you have to add weapon damage to strength modifier yourself, there are no skill modifiers like in MM6.
But be aware that monster AC plays a very important roll, attacks which deal hundreds of damage to goblins might leave a minotaur unharmed.