A new monster class: the Underling

[Puggins]

I absolutely LOVE the concept of a minion, and I think the implementation is great on paper. But in practice, minions sorta fall flat in terms of player excitement.

(1) Minions seem too weak for their xp. Four minions don't come close to matching a standard creature of that level.

(2) Making the damage roll meaningless takes away some of the fun of combat for a lot of players.

(3) Ignoring miss effects is a novel mechanic, but in practice it leads to some loss of verisimilitude. Not all that much, mind you, but a minion can- in theory- take more damage than a standard creature under very rare circumstances.

My aim in creating a new monster class (is that the right word?) is to correct these problems and keep all of the neat advantages of minions. Specifically, I want them to require little to no paperwork or DM reference, allowing him to run 12+ minions without heinously slowing down the combat.

And so, I present the underling:

Build an underling using minions as templates. Keep all statistics identical with the following exception:

Hit Points: Con + Level/2 (Any damage inflicted automatically bloodies an underling or kills an underling that is already bloodied)


That's it!

(1) A minimum of bookkeeping is added. Now you just need to mark underlings that have been bloodied. No need to remember damage taken.

(2) The damage roll when hitting a minion matters now. An above-average hit by a striker or a lucky shot by one of the other character roles will kill an underling.

(3) Miss effects now matter. It takes two of them to down an underling, but no more than two- an underling will never take more damage than a standard monster under any circumstance.

(4) Despite (3), underlings are a step up in power compared to minions, and are worth the xp assigned to them. Four underlings will be easier than a standard monster under some circumstances and tougher than one in others.


I'd love some feedback on this. I'm considering modifying them so they're worth one third the xp of a normal monster, but otherwise I think they function admirably as cannon fodder that feels more "meaty" than minions. I think this makes controllers or characters with area attacks slightly more valuable, but I consider that a minor benefit. The improvement in feelings of accomplishment for characters would be the main goal here.

 

[FireLance]

Interesting idea. The only thing I might tweak is to change the hit points to half Constitution plus level. I think that scales better with expected damage output. Underlings might otherwise be too hard to kill in one shot at low levels and too easy to kill in one shot at high levels.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I would probably not give them a real hit point value - give them a damage threshold. If an attack deals less damage, they are blooded, if it deals more, they are dead. If they are already blooded, any damage kills them.

I also would not want them to roll damage.

It seriously makes handling Minions easier if you don't roll damage for every hit, and also don't actually trick specific number of hit points. Of course, the disadvantage you won't be able to avoid is that you will have more tracking to do with conditions for Minions now.

Beware that with MM2, Minions also get (explicit) roles. You might want to reflect the difference between the different role hit points in your stats. It could be a straight modifier, but maybe relying on the constitution score (or better, as firlance suggested, half the con score) is enoug. Constutition will usually be higher for brutes and lower for lurkers, skirmishers or artilleries.

 

[sfedi]

I like the idea.

I wouldn't bother rolling damage or assigning thresholds or hitpoints.

Two damage taken, and it's down.

 

[Mesh Hong]

I have used Elite Minions in the past:-

1: take 2 hits to kill, the first bloodies them, the second kills them
2: worth the equivalent of 2 minions (what ever system you use to determine how many minions = 1 standard creature)

I found that system easy, quick, and it made perfect sense to my players.

I like the idea of different types of minions, I will see if I can come up with anything interesting.

 

[MrBeens]

I have used Elite Minions in the past:-

1: take 2 hits to kill, the first bloodies them, the second kills them
2: worth the equivalent of 2 minions (what ever system you use to determine how many minions = 1 standard creature)

I found that system easy, quick, and it made perfect sense to my players.

I like the idea of different types of minions, I will see if I can come up with anything interesting.

We use something similar, but with the added crit = dead.

 

[Blackbrrd]

I like the idea of the Underling, but I have to agree with the posters above:
First damage taken = bloodied
Second damage taken = dead
Critical = dead

This would actually be interesting to use!

Regarding xp, I think you are right, it should be the same xp as for regular minions. Regular minions are NOT worth the xp.

 

[Garthanos]

Regarding xp, I think you are right, it should be the same xp as for regular minions. Regular minions are NOT worth the xp.

A classic fix is... throw out more minions ... and ofcourse dont give
in to the pressures to clump them.

1-5: 3
6-10:4
11-15:5
16-20:6
21-25:7
26-30:8

with experience points appropriate (ala at levels 11 make them 1/5 etc)
the above still isn't exactly perfect season to taste. I don't mind them going down aka incapacitated with 1 damage if the damage is done on a hit.. all other damage bloodies... minions can be healed and intimidated when bloodied making them enough interesting to make up for the need to track the state.

 

[Mesh Hong]

If you really wanted to go mad with minions you could use something like the following:

Assumptions
1: ratio of 4 minions = 1 standard creature, please adjust to whatever you think a normal minion is worth vs. a standard creature
2: standard minion damage is whatever minion damage rules you use

Goon
- 1 hit kills; killed if an attack damages on a miss
- deals half standard minion damage
- 8 goons = 1 standard creature

Minon (unchanged)
- 1 hit kills; no damage from a missed attack
- deals normal damage
- 4 minions = 1 standard creature

Lackey
- 2 hits kills; is damaged if an attack damages on a miss
- deals x1.25 normal damage
- 3 lackies = 1 standard creature

Underling
- 2 hits kills; no damage from a missed attack
- deals x1.5 normal damage
- 2 underlings = 1 standard creature

Its not perfect, but it's an idea if you really want to have a broader range of cannon fodder running about. Just remember that it is their job to die, don't start thinking they will achieve anything!