Assassin Shrouds on Minions

[DracoSuave]

Minions are like any other tool in the DM's basket. They're good for some kinds of campaigns/encounters/groups and absolutely terrible for other kinds of campaigns/encounters/groups.

It's not about what you think is the fairest, or the most equal, or balanced, or challenging, or any other concern compared to this singular one:

What is the most fun?

And that, being subjective, is something a good DM determines with his group. I've even had one group HATE minions, finding them boring, while another LOVES them, finding them fodder for their power fantasy.

I'm there to set up entertainment appropriate to my audience and myself, and just like a romantic comedy shouldn't have a gory violent scene of mass murder, not all games should have minions.

But... some games SHOULD, and minions work perfectly in that niche.

 

[Sanzuo]

Incidentally, minions are great for noncombatants. Like in the orc village. There are the berserkers, warriors and shamans, but also plenty of dregs. There are also the mouthy bartenders and the generic thugs in the watering hole. People that unscrupulous PCs can dispatch with hardly an afterthought.

 

[keterys]

Minions are also great things to have spawn when certain things happen, or even infinitely if nothing is done (perhaps with a skill challenge to prevent).

I've been quite happy with the minions I've used in the last few runs...
PCs were attempting to protect villagers from wraiths, and killed villagers spawned wraithlings that provided CA to other wraiths, amplified damage, and did something on death
'swarm' minions that had resist damage against all but area/close attacks and did automatic damage to anyone who started next to them (slightly modified Torog's blood from Underdark)
some cyclopes that would weaken when killed
tentacle minions from a tentacled horror that were spawned whenever people broke out of its tentacles and when it was bloodied, they did moderate damage and slid 1 on hit
sorta slime minions that grabbed on hit were quite useful on causing the archer and bard some consternation
infernal armor were quite effective for dictating order of combat around the devil they were near, and taking OAs against people trying to get at the fight's controller

Minions totally aren't worth the xp you 'spend' for them, but as long as you know that, they're a fantastic tool for the DM.