Dozens of Minions, Bad Idea?

[Arbitrary]

I've got an encounter scribbled up for today's game that is 25 Zombie Minions (level 3) and 4 normal Zombies hidden in the mob (level 2). I was thinking it would be interesting to see how that many minions functioned and maybe one of the brutes could grab a player and drag them into the swarm for added danger. I'm envisioning a Night of the Living Dead sort of thing as they continue to pour through every corridor in an uncountable number and many of the zombies would be the reanimated corpses of the goblins/hobgoblins they killed in earlier encounters but left lying around.

I'm not worried the XP total being (numerically) above a normal encounter for a 5 player, level 3 party, but I am worried that there will be some sort of unintended interactions/consequences of using that many minions. The party has no controller but two are Dragonborn (one of which also has a Wizard multiclass power, Thunderwave) and a Warlock has Scorching Burst as well.

So, has anyone else thrown just an absolutely large number of minions at a party? I don't want to be looking around when the dust clears and thinking to myself "damn, I didn't see that coming."

 

[smallkiwi]

I was reading one of the recent adventures in Dungeon mag and one room had 25 minions in it, but no regular mobs of any kind, so, clearly that many is designed to be doable. It could prove difficult for you characters with those hidden guys in there, hopefuly they'll be able to pick them out before they kill someone - if it seems like they're going to have a hard time you might want to draw some attention to the big guys.

Good luck!

 

[hamishspence]

warning: zombie rotters are way underpowered

Compared to the Pack Zombies in Treasure of Talon Pass, they are strictly inferior in every way to this level 2 minion. Should probably have been rated as a level 1 minion. Be warned.

 

[Terwox]

I believe hearing that a large number of ranged minions concentrating their attacks effectively can be ugly for a level+0 encounter. I also recall hearing that large numbers of melee minions are generally somewhat dull, however, with three characters with AOE attacks, it sounds fun for those guys -- and you can still try your zombie trick.

Sounds good to me. However, per the encounter guidelines, you're looking at 1450 exp... statting this as about a level 7 encounter. This should be very hard, although, with all those zombies clumped up, the breath weapons and wizard powers should mow many of them down to start with.

 

[Palladion]

I think environment and terrain might have a larger factor in this encounter. If the PCs are in a narrow hallway where they can limit the number of enemies coming at them at once, they should not have a problem. If they are stuck in a four way intersection, back to back desperately fighting from every direction, that is very cinematic. If they are in the middle of a field (or Resident Evil: Extinction middle of a compound) and being swarmed, you need to give them grenades.

Think zombie movies, choose a scenario, if the PCs get overwhelmed, give them an out (deus ex machina if required).

 

[Sanzuo]

I can't for the life of me figure out why zombie minions are listed as level 3 and not level 1. As far as I can tell they're significantly weaker than regular goblin minions (level 1) - they do an extra point of damage but have 2 less movement, way lower initiative, way way lower defenses and of course still go down in one hit. I can't justify giving my players extra xp for these fodder. They might be the most economic monster to kill in the entire book.

Also so far my players mop up minions like crazy. They have a controller of course, but as of level 2 even the defender, leader and striker each have crowd control AoEs at their disposal. With that kind of arsenal I bet 20 or more minions in an encounter would hardly be a challenge for them.

I think the best way to use minions is either to use a crapload in melee to gum up the party, making them use up actions dispatching them while having some ranged badasses behind the front line - OR to do the opposite; have a couple big stonkin' brutes keep the party occupied while a bunch of ranged minions spread out and plink away.

 

[hamishspence]

Pack zombies better comparison

They are Zombie rotters, but better, and are level 2. Conclusion: zombie rotter is wrong level, or, monsters are undergoing power creep.

 

[Sanzuo]

Conclusion: Zombie Rotters can be used as currency in some D&D cities.

 

[frankthedm]

Pack zombies better comparison

They are Zombie rotters, but better, and are level 2. Conclusion: zombie rotter is wrong level, or, monsters are undergoing power creep.

Where are the stats of "Pack zombies"?

I assumed it was the To Hit and Damage that made the Zombie Rotter a 3rd level minion.

Minion counters anyone?

 

[Mengu]

If you want some scarier zomies, just add something like the following to their abilities:

Resilient: When a zombie minion takes damage, it is knocked down instead of destroyed on the roll of a or .

And if you were to create a leader type monster for these, like a Human Zombie Master, you could give the leader Heightened Zombie Minion Resilience, which increases the Resilient range to 4+ for minions within 10 squares of the Zombie Master. How do you like them minions that keep standing back up?