FatAndy
First Post
A lot of people have complaints against minions. In 3e I made my own version of minions for a couple of large-scale battles with tons of weak monsters. I like the idea of minions, but I think that they need to be run correctly to work efficiently and, most importantly, be fun.
1) If minions are to be used, then at least 6 minions must be used, otherwise use standard monsters. Minions should represent swarms of weak monsters under the control of stronger creatures. More than 6 minions is preferable. If minions, then lots of minions.
2) Minions must engage the party before the "real" monsters do. They work as the initial shock troops--the peons or privates--and should fall quickly and easily, not last long, and not be, in any way, the focus of the encounter (one way to that can work to make them more enjoyable is to lower their defenses, up their attack rolls, and add more of them; this way, they do some damage, but are easy to hit and drop quickly). While the minions engage the party, the stronger monsters should be using the time to get into positions that give them advantages and allow them to make the best use of their abilities.
3) Minions work as a single entity. They make a single initiative roll as a whole and all move together. They also make one single attack roll as a group then deal their damage to their perspective targets. So a group of hobgoblin warriors (minions) work as a single unit. On their turn they all move individually, but when the time comes to attack then the attack roll would be 1d20 + 10 for all of them--they all roll poorly, moderately, or well as a whole. Then, if they hit certain characters, they deal their six damage.
4) The minion turn should be very quick. The DM can even have his rolls done up before hand and just move the minions around and deal damage on their turn. But, most importantly, the minions should not take time away from the PCs turns.
5) Do not overuse minions! There should not be minions in every encounter. Minions should only be in encounters where they make sense. A vampire with a horde of spawn, a commander with troops, or a religious zealot with a gaggle of brainwashed followers all make good situations. A hunting party, another group of adventurers, or a group of bounty hunters do not. Use minions to make the body count high so the PCs can feel that they have cut through a significant force. Cutting through an army of minions to get to their leader can be very fun, but should be use sparingly.
1) If minions are to be used, then at least 6 minions must be used, otherwise use standard monsters. Minions should represent swarms of weak monsters under the control of stronger creatures. More than 6 minions is preferable. If minions, then lots of minions.
2) Minions must engage the party before the "real" monsters do. They work as the initial shock troops--the peons or privates--and should fall quickly and easily, not last long, and not be, in any way, the focus of the encounter (one way to that can work to make them more enjoyable is to lower their defenses, up their attack rolls, and add more of them; this way, they do some damage, but are easy to hit and drop quickly). While the minions engage the party, the stronger monsters should be using the time to get into positions that give them advantages and allow them to make the best use of their abilities.
3) Minions work as a single entity. They make a single initiative roll as a whole and all move together. They also make one single attack roll as a group then deal their damage to their perspective targets. So a group of hobgoblin warriors (minions) work as a single unit. On their turn they all move individually, but when the time comes to attack then the attack roll would be 1d20 + 10 for all of them--they all roll poorly, moderately, or well as a whole. Then, if they hit certain characters, they deal their six damage.
4) The minion turn should be very quick. The DM can even have his rolls done up before hand and just move the minions around and deal damage on their turn. But, most importantly, the minions should not take time away from the PCs turns.
5) Do not overuse minions! There should not be minions in every encounter. Minions should only be in encounters where they make sense. A vampire with a horde of spawn, a commander with troops, or a religious zealot with a gaggle of brainwashed followers all make good situations. A hunting party, another group of adventurers, or a group of bounty hunters do not. Use minions to make the body count high so the PCs can feel that they have cut through a significant force. Cutting through an army of minions to get to their leader can be very fun, but should be use sparingly.
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