0 Damage to a minion.

[erik_the_guy]

A character has low strength and makes a strength based melee basic attack against a minion (attack of opportunity maybe). The roll is a 1, combined with a -1 strength modifier for 0 damage.
It is my opinion that the minion dies. The rules say that they have 1hp, but they also say that any hit kills a minion (not sure about the exact wording).
Anyone have an official ruling?

 

[Trolls]

In 3E, you could never deal less than 1 damage, even if the modifier would make it so. I don't know what the rule is in 4E, I haven't seen anything to the contrary.

 

[erik_the_guy]

In 3E, you could never deal less than 1 damage, even if the modifier would make it so. I don't know what the rule is in 4E, I haven't seen anything to the contrary.

I think that 0 damage is a reality, especially with the 'always round down rule' if a character is weakened. I'm not against dealing zero damage, just curious about how it effects minions.

 

[hamishspence]

minions

I think it was worded as any damage kills a minion. and the min 1 damage rule was abolished. So minion might not die in these rare cases.

 

[GoLu]

As I understand it, minions only have 1 hitpoint and never take damage from a miss but are otherwise treated just like normal monsters. So they could have resists or immunities or temporary hitpoints or anything else, and might actually survive a hit once in a while.

And there is an example in the PHB somewhere that specifically says that half 1 is 0. So a weakened PC might actually do 0 damage to a minion. I am, however, not sure if there is any rule about rolling 1d6-3 and getting numbers less than 1.

 

[Nightchill]

From the DMG and the MM glossary "A minion is destroyed when it takes any amount of damage". So on that count, 0 damage = minion still standing.

 

[Christian]

From the DMG and the MM glossary "A minion is destroyed when it takes any amount of damage". So on that count, 0 damage = minion still standing.

Hey! Zero is an amount!

 

[Underage AOLer]

The FAQ has a customer service answer that says:

Q: Is it possible to have an attack that deals 0 damage? For example: a character with 8 Strength (and no other bonuses) rolls a 1 for damage with a melee attack power.

A: Unfortunately if you have a negative penalty, there is the potential to deal zero damage.

So, you can deal 0 damage with an attack, and, thusly, would not be able to kill a minion with said attack.

 

[Spatula]

It is my opinion that the minion dies. The rules say that they have 1hp, but they also say that any hit kills a minion (not sure about the exact wording).

Except that's not what the rules say. Minions have 1 HP and missed attacks deal no damage to them.

 

[DreamChaser]

I think this is fair. Those rare times that a character would be stuck using a melee attack against a minion and have a strength penalty and rolling a low enough roll that they end up with zero damage don't justify an adjustment.

99% of the time this will be a wizard who should not be that close to a minion anyway...if they are, they should have a +1 (or higher) weapon to negate their strength penalty.

DC