How do you hire heroes/henchmen in prophecies?

I have the platinum edition of prophecies and under the party search I have the option for heroes and henchmen but they are grayed out and i can't select them. How do I make this option available?

You are probally in Pre searing, there are no henchies till post, and there are no heros in Proph, only Nightfall and Eye of the North

another possibility is that you have not unlocked them yet with that character---to get the nightfall heroes you must have nightfall, to get the gwen ones you have to get to gwen (that means level 10 and have reached lions arch to access the quest)...

That's same thing as not having reached GWEN yet. Heroes are automatically unlocked once he gains access to GWEN content.

Everything is lush and green so i'm in pre-searing. By the way, I am currently level 6 is that a good level to leave pre-searing?

That's probably good. If you push it, you might be able to make 7 or 8 (it's been a long time since I made a Proph char), unless you plan to try going for Legendary Defender title, that's getting to lvl 20 before leaving Pre-searing.

So you are in pre sear. Level 6 is good, and you can push it more if you want. If this is your first time playing, I would take my time, do all the quests, specially in Prophecies where there are many quests that give you free skills.

Once you go to post Searing, after talking to mmmmm I think King Alberden, maybe Tydus, you will be able to add henchies to your party. Once you can access Gwen, or Nightfall, you will be able to unlock heroes and add them to your party.

have fun