(4e) How often do minions appear in your game?

[catsclaw227]

I love minions. I use them when I can. About half of my battles have them and I tend to go 6:1 instead of 4:1 due to my party makeup otherwise, they'd crush them.

Minions should do minor amount of damage and soak up actions. They do this well.

 

[Bodhiwolff]

DM here. Minions are present in about 2/3 of my fights.

Minions are, in my opinion, one of the better 4E additions. They add dice to the DM's side of the equation for a short period of time, they add to the complexity of the battlefield, they allow you to set large battles without overhwelming a numerically inferior PC party, etc.

I just can't say enough good about them. Thematically, mathematically, and gameplay-wise they just make sense.

 

[Nifft]

I love minions.

I've been giving them MM2 special thingies for a while now (auras, synergy with regular monsters, bonuses when they move -- basically emergent effects which reward less boring behaviors), hoping that my players catch the "trick" of each critter type so they can lay down a smarter smite.

I use 'em in most fights (75% or so). Even Solos tend to start with some minions.

Cheers, -- N

 

[malraux]

I don't use them enough right now. The party is inside a tight castle, so there's just not space for additional minions. Though once they fight through the Larders of Ill Omen to the Catacombs, the castle opens up enough that I'll probably have minions in every fight again.

 

[Stoat]

Most of the encounters I've DM'ed include minions. At this point, my PC's are third level, and for one reason or another, they've mostly fought humanoid opponents.

Given that even low-level PC's in previous editions could one-shot goblins, giant rats, angry townsfolk and the like, 4E's minions have not felt out-of-place to me. A mob of goblin cutters supported by some skullcrushers and sharpshooters in 4E works about the same way that a mob of 1st level goblin warriors supported by 2nd-3rd level goblin barbarians and rangers would have in 3E.

 

[Obryn]

Yeah, I should note that I use 2x the normal number of minions, and make them worth 1/2 the XP. I also try to use them in waves, when possible.

-O

 

[Abraxas]

In the game I am playing in we rarely see minions, perhaps 1 out of 10 or 12 encounters. However, our wizard is invaluable. He routinely ties up the bad guys we do fight allowing our strikers to get to the enemy artillery and controllers, and helps our defenders lock down targets so we can focus on 1 enemy at a time.