Cleave

[Korgoth]

Actually, what you do is when your base is attacked by Legion Devils, you release a bunch of zombies that you created and then crated up. There are all these zombies lumbering around, and when the Legion Devils come up and try to fight, you attack the AC 13 zombie and cleave the heck out of that evil minion.

 

[hong]

Bad Korgoth! No bag of rats for you!

 

[Harr]

Actually, what you do is when your base is attacked by Legion Devils, you release a bunch of zombies that you created and then crated up. There are all these zombies lumbering around, and when the Legion Devils come up and try to fight, you attack the AC 13 zombie and cleave the heck out of that evil minion.

Meanwhile, the rest of your party is running across the valley to the Legion Devil's base, grabbing their flag, and Expeditious Retreating their way back to win the battleground.

(...sorry, don't know what got into me )

 

[brehobit]

If your DM is putting level 1 kobolds and level 20 dragon minions in the same fight, you have bigger problems.

True,
But level 10 minions (say city guard) next to a level 1 creature (say peasant) might be fairly common....

Mark

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

If your DM is putting level 1 kobolds and level 20 dragon minions in the same fight, you have bigger problems.

If there are ANY dragon minions I will be sad . . . but not too sad. I just won't ever use them in my game.

 

[Harr]

If there are ANY dragon minions I will be sad . . . but not too sad. I just won't ever use them in my game.

I agree... an oxymoron if there ever was one.

 

[Korgoth]

Bad Korgoth! No bag of rats for you!

Did I break 4E already?

 

[theNater]

True,
But level 10 minions (say city guard) next to a level 1 creature (say peasant) might be fairly common....

Mark

Right, because when the town is under attack by heavily armed adventurers the first thing the peasants do is charge the dude with the biggest sword.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

Actually, what you do is when your base is attacked by Legion Devils, you release a bunch of zombies that you created and then crated up. There are all these zombies lumbering around, and when the Legion Devils come up and try to fight, you attack the AC 13 zombie and cleave the heck out of that evil minion.

Even if your DM doesn't wack you over the head with the DM book for suggesting this, that loser's tactic only kills one legion devil legionnaire per round while offering your opponents free flanking opportunity. You could instead try to kill two devil minions and stay away from unnecessarily giving away combat advantages to devils.

That being said, hitting easier to hit targets and splashing damage on tougher opponents isn't in itself a problem. Movies are full of example were bumbling enemies proved hindrance to their more skilled ally, which is ofteb used as the pretext to pull them away for the big showdown. Building this into a fullblown tactic is both silly and counterproductive. You don't want to create additional targets for you to chew through, that's counterproductive. Just want to use opportunity that are already there. And when dealing with minions/tough guy, unless the minion is a real problem, it's usually better to hit his boss and kill the minion as a freebie than hitting the minion and scratching the boss. All things being equal, you'll usually kill the tough opponent one round faster if you do it that way.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Actually, what you do is when your base is attacked by Legion Devils, you release a bunch of zombies that you created and then crated up. There are all these zombies lumbering around, and when the Legion Devils come up and try to fight, you attack the AC 13 zombie and cleave the heck out of that evil minion.

Yeah, as long as the zombies are considered a credible threat to you, I'd allow it. Although, since I designed the encounter with the Devils to be a decent encounter for your level, you've just increased the difficulty of the encounter to the point where you are likely dead. If you are fine with that tradeoff, I'd say go for it.