Cadfan's Comments on Everything 4e

[Grimstaff]

When is +1 damage going to ever be worth -2 ac?

maybe with Power Attack?

 

[Staffan]

So, if you want to use melee minions, set up the encounter with one or two "waves" of minions to start off the fight. Do not count these minions toward the encounter's XP budget (or count them at a steep discount). The PCs will wipe out these minions, but will burn most of their AoE stuff in the process. Then the real encounter begins.

That feels a lot like cheating, at least the "don't count them toward XP" bit. If the party burns encounter/daily abilities on the minions, they cost the party resources. Maybe not hit points, but resources.

This article had me all excited when I saw the new powers...until I realized they made virtually all of the attacks Cha-based. So, what's the strategy here? Make the 'locks split stats between Cha and Con, then take turns fawning on one and neglecting the other? Not good.

Warlocks have used split Cha and Con from the start. Feylocks use Cha, Hellocks use Con, and Starlocks use both. The Dragon warlock article focuses on Starlocks with some general-use feats in it as well.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Nice read. I'm currently playing a very similar rogue and I can agree that it's a pretty tough cookie. If you can get your hands on one, get a duelists rapier. That once-per-day ability to get combat advantage is a god-send.

Oh, yeah, brutal rapier rogues are nice. My bugbear rogue (Eberron game) hacks through things when he gets his flank on.

He seems to not fare well against other skirmisher-types, though. Every time I try for some ninja-on-ninja action, I flub the rolls.

Brad

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

That feels a lot like cheating, at least the "don't count them toward XP" bit. If the party burns encounter/daily abilities on the minions, they cost the party resources. Maybe not hit points, but resources.

I think the question is whether they cost enough resources for their XP, compared to another group of enemies of that level.

I think sometimes people are a little over-stating the effectiveness of area effects against Minions. You have to hit each Minion with them. And often enough, you do this only around half the time, so you reduce the number of Minions only by half. Which gives the another round (at half strength) to target you.

The most dangerous minions seem to be artilleries - they can fight from greater distance (allowing them to be scattered around the battlefield) and don't have to enter melee, and no Defender can contain them all.

The Decreipt SKeletons armed with Bows are pretty dangerous. If you're having troubles with your Minion effectiveness, consider arming them with ranged weapons (it can be enough to arm them with throwing weapons with limited ammunition, I think the Kobold Minions are armed this way).

I remember two Minion encounters that proved particularly nasty in Keep on the Shadowfell
1) The dreaded Irontooth encounter. The Minions were cleared relatively fast, but they still dealt massive damage to the Paladin - and I think he was dropped even before Irontooth could engage.
2) The graveyard encounter. IIRC, I focused fire on the Wizard with one set of Minions - he lost a lot of hit points in that time...

 

[Hussar]

On Minions:

Another possibility here is don't use one minion type. Mix them up a bit - some minions with melee weapons and others with ranged weapons. Changes the tactical situation considerably.

Excellent read Cadfan. This is what I consider to be a balanced review.

 

[Nymrohd]

Adding a couple more minions usually doesn't jump the XP budget of an encounter to the next level anyway. I make a point of throwing some extra minions after the initial burst to surprise people. When they outnumber you three to one, attacking piecemail can be a tactical decision.

 

[FireLance]

About versatile weapons: I think the real problem is that a +1 to damage isn't worth giving up a shield. +1 damage per [W] is probably a more reasonable trade-off. To effect this, I'm considering house-ruling the versatile property so that a versatile weapon used in 2 hands gains the Brutal 2 property, or increases its existing Brutal value by 2.

 

[Filcher]

On Minions:

Another possibility here is don't use one minion type. Mix them up a bit - some minions with melee weapons and others with ranged weapons. Changes the tactical situation considerably.

Excellent read Cadfan. This is what I consider to be a balanced review.

Another awesome idea. You've all given me about 5 new ideas for "smart minions" that I'm going to put into use today. Thank you!

 

[Nymrohd]

Another awesome idea. You've all given me about 5 new ideas for "smart minions" that I'm going to put into use today. Thank you!

Find a way to give minions temporary hit points for an extra scare to the PCs

 

[Filcher]

Find a way to give minions temporary hit points for an extra scare to the PCs

Oh....now that's just mean. *goes back to scribbling notes*