Beefy Minions

[ender_wiggin]

So in the 4E game I'm running, I use minions a lot and they are pretty awesome. However, I'm beginning to notice a trend as the player's increase in level and gain bigger and better AOEs (note that there are two wizards in a party of 6, and a few more aoes from other classes).

What happens in many fights is that in the first round or two of combat, the battlefield is blanketed with AOEs, and all of the minions are wiped, leaving me with the 3-5 monsters that are left. Now, of course, this isn't a bad thing as there are a dozen ways I can think of to keep the minions alive.

However, I thought of an interesting idea that might have some use in play -- a version of the minion that can tank 2 hits instead of 1. The first hit auto-bloodies them, and the second hit takes them out. This gives them survivability in a fight with multiple AOE generators, screwing with any rules lawyer's conception of what is a minion and what isn't, and is just another tool to keep those 3-5 "real" baddies shielded. Of course, this works best if you have a quick and efficient way of keeping track of who is bloodied and who is not (which I luckily have in the way of a dry-erase battlemat I made for myself). Otherwise, I don't think it's worth the extra book-keeping.

Thoughts?

 

[KarinsDad]

There are a lot of threads on different ways to do enhanced minions. Just look around.

 

[keterys]

That can be hard on the boards if you don't have a search function, though google's not bad. At any rate, yep, that's certainly a popular concept - many people change it slightly by having a damage threshold at which the minion dies in one hit, or having critical hits automatically kill them.

 

[Mentat55]

I've been running some zombie minions that have a 50% chance of surviving the first hit. If they do, any damage (even from a miss) kills them at that point. The PCs have been somewhat unlucky, as most of the minions have been making their "saves", but otherwise I am pleased with how it works.

I don't do this with all minions, however.

 

[Neil Bishop]

I have statted up some military units where the privates and corporals are 1st- and 2nd-level minions, respectively, and the sergeants are 4th-level soldier/leaders.

While within the sergeants' aura 5, a minion can make a saving throw to avoid death. The aura is called Hold Your Guts In! as it seemed somehow appropriate.

It poses an interesting tactical choice as clearly disposing of the sergeants is key to neutralising the threat posed by the minions.

 

[Stalker0]

2 hit minions increase their beef without too much additional tracking. I've become less and less of a fan of the rolling save rules and all of those...anytime a minion requires a roll I have lost the purpose of the minion...quick easy tracking.

 

[keterys]

I only really like the saving throw thing for something like a zombie.

I did make a zombie minion that had toughness such that it only took damage when it was hit (other attacks just blasted bits of flesh away, but didn't kill it) and rolled a save when dropped by a non-crit - if successful it was instead prone and helpless until the end of its next action.

But, those were intended as honest to goodness tough minions, with the ability to coup de grace kill them if the first hit didn't do the trick.