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<blockquote data-quote="Voadam" data-source="post: 5278080" data-attributes="member: 2209">Quick and easy, take a normal monster, make four or five of them with 1 hp instead, those four or five collectively count as one normal monster for purposes of CR/EL.They are still a threat but will only get in hits until the party turns on them away from the big monsters and deals with them.A little more complicated, take the normal monster and start simplifying them, give them fewer powers if they have a large range of spell like abilities, instead of having a range of damage give them a flat damage, etc. This is to ensure they are quick to use at the table.Make sure you use minions who are not stronger at base than the monsters they support. Not 4 ogre minions with 1 normal ogre. In this instance the minions are just as much an offensive threat as the big bad guy of the fight so the smart move in that situation is always to ignore the big guy to take out the minions first, which you don't want. Make it 10 ogre minions with two hill giant chieftans when the party is of a level to handle hill giant level threats. Ignoring minions to focus on the bigger threats first should be a reasonable tactic with tradeoffs compared to focusing on minions first.Minions are designed to be heroically plowed through, make sure their defenses (AC and saves and resistances etc.) do not make them super hard for the PCs to take out.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Voadam, post: 5278080, member: 2209"] Quick and easy, take a normal monster, make four or five of them with 1 hp instead, those four or five collectively count as one normal monster for purposes of CR/EL. They are still a threat but will only get in hits until the party turns on them away from the big monsters and deals with them. A little more complicated, take the normal monster and start simplifying them, give them fewer powers if they have a large range of spell like abilities, instead of having a range of damage give them a flat damage, etc. This is to ensure they are quick to use at the table. Make sure you use minions who are not stronger at base than the monsters they support. Not 4 ogre minions with 1 normal ogre. In this instance the minions are just as much an offensive threat as the big bad guy of the fight so the smart move in that situation is always to ignore the big guy to take out the minions first, which you don't want. Make it 10 ogre minions with two hill giant chieftans when the party is of a level to handle hill giant level threats. Ignoring minions to focus on the bigger threats first should be a reasonable tactic with tradeoffs compared to focusing on minions first. Minions are designed to be heroically plowed through, make sure their defenses (AC and saves and resistances etc.) do not make them super hard for the PCs to take out. [/QUOTE]

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