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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 5770361" data-attributes="member: 2011">This is only consistently true if the party has few or no multi-foe powers. Minion damage is ablative for a given encounter since a fraction of the XP and hence a fraction of the increased damage diminishes as each minion is killed.It usually takes 3 non-striker hits to take a standard monster out and 2 striker hits to take a standard monster out at low level.So with a 65% chance to hit a same level foe and 3 hits kill it, and a 50% chance of the monster hitting the PC, a first level non-striker vs. one standard monster yields: the PC kills the monster in 4.5 rounds, the monster does 20 points of damage to the PC in those same 4.5 rounds.With a 65% chance to hit a same level foe and 4 hits kill 4 minions, and a 50% chance of each minion hitting the PC, a first level non-striker vs. 4 minions yields: the PC kills a minion every 1.5 rounds, the minions do 8 points of damage for 1.5 rounds, 6 points of damage for 1.5 rounds, etc. for a total of 30 average damage in 6 rounds.But, even attacking 2 minions per attack (with Arc Lightning or some other multi-foe power) results in 30 average damage dropping to 15 instead (Cleave actually is better than this because it tends to drop 2 minions per successful hit). The more minions targeted by a given power, the faster they drop and the less average damage they do. This is why Hand of Radiance is such a potent minion killer power (in addition to being a semi-solid area power vs. non-minions).For PCs prepared for minions, they are typically a nuisance at worse and that's why some DMs create their own version of tougher minions.</blockquote>

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