Minion fun! What do you plan to do with them?

Slander · Mar 13, 2008

Minions might be a good way of reflecting a Hydra-like creature. The extra heads are all 'minions'. Until you destroy all of the heads (each a single hit), you can't really do any damage the hydra since a single minion absorbs all damage dealt to it (there is no 'extra' damage). The creature regenerates a severed head on a roll of a 6 (on a d6) each round.

If you've played God of War, minions would also be a good way of reflecting the Cerberus creature. On a roll of a d6, the Cerberus spits out a small, juvenile form of itself. On a second roll of a 6, if the juvenile form is not destroyed, it grows into a full adult form with full capabilities.

Ipissimus · Mar 13, 2008

Me, I'm thinking about the scene in Ninja Scroll with Jubei on top of the roof and a literal army of ninjas leaping to their deaths and littering the entire village with thier corpses.

Can anyone imagine a 30th level minion horde encounter? At the moment, the best guess I've seen for a 30th level character's exp is 16,000exp. A level 1 minion is 25exp. Therefore, a single 30th level character can take on 640 1st level minions...

We need a new rule: Ocean of Blood. When the party kills too many creatures in one place, they change the terrain. First making it slippery, then boggy until eventually creating a small lake of blood in which they might drown. -chuckles-

fafhrd · Mar 13, 2008

Can anyone imagine a 30th level minion horde encounter?

Sepulchrave's storyhour comes to mind.

Mephistopheles · Mar 13, 2008

I'd create some kind of leader that consumed its minions to power devastating abilities. You either try to take the leader out first while you soak up all the firepower it throws at you or you try to kill his minions very, very quickly.

frankthedm · Mar 13, 2008

Ipissimus said:
Can anyone imagine a 30th level minion horde encounter? At the moment, the best guess I've seen for a 30th level character's exp is 16,000exp. A level 1 minion is 25exp. Therefore, a single 30th level character can take on 640 1st level minions...

We need a new rule: Ocean of Blood. When the party kills too many creatures in one place, they change the terrain. First making it slippery, then boggy until eventually creating a small lake of blood in which they might drown. -chuckles-

Talk about "drowning in schlubs".

Wormwood · Mar 13, 2008

Mephistopheles said:
I'd create some kind of leader that consumed its minions to power devastating abilities. You either try to take the leader out first while you soak up all the firepower it throws at you or you try to kill his minions very, very quickly.

That is diabolical! Your namesake would be proud.

Yoink!

Voss · Mar 13, 2008

Ipissimus said:
Me, I'm thinking about the scene in Ninja Scroll with Jubei on top of the roof and a literal army of ninjas leaping to their deaths and littering the entire village with thier corpses.

Can anyone imagine a 30th level minion horde encounter? At the moment, the best guess I've seen for a 30th level character's exp is 16,000exp. A level 1 minion is 25exp. Therefore, a single 30th level character can take on 640 1st level minions...

Unless they have ranged attacks, however, 640 1st level minions aren't really a threat, because they can't get close enough to do a lot of damage, while a 30th level character will probably be obliterating packs at a time. On the other hand, with ranged attacks... 640 kobold minions (but with bows, same damage) would simple average out at 64 damage/round. It would probably just be a matter of attritioning the PC to death, but in a supremely boring way.

I tried out a couple minion heavy encounters with whats available. After about a third of the encounter's XP value is in minions, its a bit easy and dull. The minimal damage really hurts the Kobold Squishies.

I'm A Banana · Mar 13, 2008

(monty python)
Build a bridge out of 'em!
(/monty python)

Kzach · Mar 13, 2008

Voss said:
Unless they have ranged attacks, however, 640 1st level minions aren't really a threat, because they can't get close enough to do a lot of damage, while a 30th level character will probably be obliterating packs at a time. On the other hand, with ranged attacks... 640 kobold minions (but with bows, same damage) would simple average out at 64 damage/round. It would probably just be a matter of attritioning the PC to death, but in a supremely boring way.

Which is what you had to do in 3.x

By making creatures that are basically a weaker version of a standard creature of the same level and having them be killed on one hit, you have a situation where you can put 20ish level 30 minions vs. 5 PC's and it is a reasonably threatening encounter. The fact that the minions are the same level as the PC's gives them the ability to hit and save vs. PC abilities and the fact that they die on one hit doesn't make them overwhelm PC's.

4 minions of the same level as the PC's, per PC, is a balanced encounter in 4e.

Lurker37 · Mar 13, 2008

Tribbles.

They're cute. They're multiplying. They're everywhere.

But this time.... you can kill them.

Minion fun! What do you plan to do with them?

Slander

Explorer

Ipissimus

First Post

fafhrd

First Post

Mephistopheles

First Post

frankthedm

First Post

Wormwood

Adventurer

Voss

First Post

I'm A Banana

Potassium-Rich

Kzach

Banned

Lurker37

Explorer

Similar Threads