Minions. What a great mechanic from forth edition D&D.
There is a great deal of fun, class balance, variety, and crunch that can come from incorporating a bunch of small little enemies in a combat encounter. Whether they have 1 hit point or just enough hit points to be downed with a single swing of a sword, adding them will change a lot, for the better, in my opinion.
Well, there's a decent number of CR 1/8 monsters that can't really survive any likely hit and in sufficient numbers are relevant for quite a while. Minions had a bunch of glitchy interactions in 4e, it's hard to make them work right.
Coleville uses them all the time. He loves them. His one caveat is, he always lets his players know that these particular guys are minions, so they are aware of the difference between an Orc Minion and a "regular" Orc. Or what have you.
I see nothing wrong with them. I liked them the one time I used them. I might use them again, if the situation calls for it. The benefit is you can have larger fights with more enemies, and the PCs get to feel like heroes in a movie, cutting down "extras" in one shot.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Minions have all the abilities and features and do all the damage of a full monster, just 1 hp. So yes, you can have a full ogre in every other way, who is just cut down in a single blow.
Again, it is good for theatrical situations in which a hero is cutting through swaths of enemies -- think Aragorn in that scene at the end of Fellowship of the Ring, when all the orcs are coming at him and he just cuts them down in one blow each. Or Legolas climbing up the Oliphaunt and taking out Harradrim in one arrow each. Those are "minions."
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Ive done it a few times in oneshots just testing it out. Worked pretty well for keeping a single bad guy active long enough.
Id agree with BioWizard it is important to flag that they arent full health versions so they don't spuff their spells slots on them. It is handy if the first kill is very low damage and it still takes them down.
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All posts come with the caveat that I don't know what I'm talking about.
I saw Colville's praising of minions in a vid sometime back. I have started using mob attack mechanics where #"X" of adversaries = 1 automatic hit on AC"Y". Does the 4E minion rule use a similar mechanic or something else? I like how mobs are working, but open to other possibilities too.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I saw Colville's praising of minions in a vid sometime back. I have started using mob attack mechanics where #"X" of adversaries = 1 automatic hit on AC"Y". Does the 4E minion rule use a similar mechanic or something else? I like how mobs are working, but open to other possibilities too.
4e minions have 1 hp, don't take damage when missed (5e equivalent is that they never take damage on a successful save) and do fixed damage.
I saw Colville's praising of minions in a vid sometime back. I have started using mob attack mechanics where #"X" of adversaries = 1 automatic hit on AC"Y". Does the 4E minion rule use a similar mechanic or something else? I like how mobs are working, but open to other possibilities too.
The mob rules are for adjudication of lots of attacking enemies. Using the minion rules from 4E can be used with even one enemy. The idea being they hit hard, so they are a threat, but go down easy, which is fun and cinematic.
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Minions. What a great mechanic from forth edition D&D.
There is a great deal of fun, class balance, variety, and crunch that can come from incorporating a bunch of small little enemies in a combat encounter. Whether they have 1 hit point or just enough hit points to be downed with a single swing of a sword, adding them will change a lot, for the better, in my opinion.
Well, there's a decent number of CR 1/8 monsters that can't really survive any likely hit and in sufficient numbers are relevant for quite a while. Minions had a bunch of glitchy interactions in 4e, it's hard to make them work right.
I've used them once. They worked fine.
Coleville uses them all the time. He loves them. His one caveat is, he always lets his players know that these particular guys are minions, so they are aware of the difference between an Orc Minion and a "regular" Orc. Or what have you.
I see nothing wrong with them. I liked them the one time I used them. I might use them again, if the situation calls for it. The benefit is you can have larger fights with more enemies, and the PCs get to feel like heroes in a movie, cutting down "extras" in one shot.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
There is a difference between a CR 1/8 enemy and a minion.
You could have minions that are ogres or barbed devils.
Minions have all the abilities and features and do all the damage of a full monster, just 1 hp. So yes, you can have a full ogre in every other way, who is just cut down in a single blow.
Again, it is good for theatrical situations in which a hero is cutting through swaths of enemies -- think Aragorn in that scene at the end of Fellowship of the Ring, when all the orcs are coming at him and he just cuts them down in one blow each. Or Legolas climbing up the Oliphaunt and taking out Harradrim in one arrow each. Those are "minions."
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Ive done it a few times in oneshots just testing it out. Worked pretty well for keeping a single bad guy active long enough.
Id agree with BioWizard it is important to flag that they arent full health versions so they don't spuff their spells slots on them. It is handy if the first kill is very low damage and it still takes them down.
All posts come with the caveat that I don't know what I'm talking about.
I saw Colville's praising of minions in a vid sometime back. I have started using mob attack mechanics where #"X" of adversaries = 1 automatic hit on AC"Y". Does the 4E minion rule use a similar mechanic or something else? I like how mobs are working, but open to other possibilities too.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
4e minions have 1 hp, don't take damage when missed (5e equivalent is that they never take damage on a successful save) and do fixed damage.
I use minions in a lot of my games, partially because I really liked them in 4e, partially because I usually run for 1 -3 players.
The mob rules are for adjudication of lots of attacking enemies. Using the minion rules from 4E can be used with even one enemy. The idea being they hit hard, so they are a threat, but go down easy, which is fun and cinematic.