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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Brotton Goodfellow" data-source="post: 8160613" data-attributes="member: 6812740">I really enjoy the use of minions in 5e, but like the sane, rational person I am, I don't want to deal with each individual minions attack and damage rolls. I also don't like the exactness of the DMG's rules for handling large groups of enemies. So I've stolen some concepts from the Conan 2D20 system where a group of enemies is considered one unit and due to it's size grants a bonuses in combat. I'm sure lots of you have employed such a technique and if so, I'd like your opinion on the ideas I have. If you haven't used something similar I also care for your opinion. Something to take into consideration is that I play with theatre of the mind/zoned combat. No counting squares, no opportunity attacks. Anyway, the ideas I have are as follows:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Mobs are an abstract size: On paper the mob can take 5 hits before it's either destroyed or they run away. But the actual in world size can be whatever I need for the battle. Maybe it is just a dozen goblins, or maybe its 50 skeletal pirates. If it is a literal mob of 50 baddies, every successful attack the players make represents them cutting a swath of bad guys down. Narratively this makes the action far more heroic as the characters cut down handfuls of enemies every time they land a hit, and can also give the sense of being in the thick of a pitched battle. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Mobs are dangerous: When you're a 1 HP mook, the thing you can rely on most is strength in numbers. When it comes to the mob attacking and damaging, it starts with a +5 to both. With each successful attack against the mob, the bonus goes down by 1. At lower levels of play mobs are not to be under estimated as they are likely to hit more often and hit harder. Players might think twice about going toe to toe with the mob, which might lead to more creative play. Unless the player is a barbarian. Then they should be jumping straight into the fray with little care for their HP.  </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Mobs are versatile: A mob can protect a stronger commander type enemy by soaking hits. Mobs can block movement between one area of the encounter to another (they all have polearms and keep the characters from advancing or their size is such that there is no room to move). A mob can be friendly allies. Mobs can have an aura type effect. A mob can split itself for a turn to spread the damage (split the bonus to attack and damage). These are just my initial ideas on how to change things up to make mobs more fun to run and play against.</li> </ul>I used two basic mobs during my last session and received some good player feedback, especially how it helped paint a picture of two ship crews fighting to board each others ships. Running them was easy. I put 5 tokens down on the table in front of me and removed one every time the mob got hit. When it was the mobs turn I looked at how many tokens I had and added that number to the attack and damage. Easy. No big numbers to keep track of. Anyway, that's what I've got. Thoughts? How do you run large groups of bad guys?</blockquote>

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