D&D 5E (2024) How Many HP Should 5E 2024 Minions Have

[Reynard]

For level 11 PCs, I’d give your CR3-4 minions around 6–10 HP. That way, a normal attack will usually take one down, but a low damage roll won’t insta-kill them. It keeps the combat feeling fast and heroic without completely trivializing the encounter.

I ended up giving them 12 HP and the "save to stay up when dropped to 0 hp" ability.

 

[Stalker0]

4E take was that Minions have 1 hit points, but never take damage on a miss.

Yep this is my approach.

1 hp, and then if you use a fireball and they pass their save, they are up. They fail, they die. I use that rule in my current dnd game.


For speed, you can also just use % probabilities. If there are 10 minions, and they pass the save 33% of the time, kill 7 and leave 3 alive, something like that. Whichever you prefer.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

This does add another roll for minions though. One reason minions have only 1 health originally is to make them as fast and simple to handle as possible.

Yes. But a roll is easier to track than fiddly hp.

With this rule you need a damage roll + another roll. (+ anothet stat on minions). In a vtt its easier but even there you need to have and show these rolls such that players can understand whats happening


This can work well especially since it can really easily be tracked with 2 sided tokens. (Or minion images getting red on vtt).

 

[Pauln6]

Monsters have average hit points. Surely minions just get 1hp per hit die?

 

[Scott Christian]

My answer is 1. But there should be some caveat. This allows the players to look like heroes (a la, Legolas taking out 15 orcs), but at times still feel overwhelmed because the caveat let the minions live. As an example, you can add that they have to roll "to hit" twice during their action to damage the minion. This extra roll does not cost any of their resources, but if one of the rolls doesn't hit, no damage is done. You narratively fill in the reason based on the minions. So that monk might be able to kill 6 in one round, or 0. A kind of fun prospect.

 

[Azzy]

Monsters have average hit points. Surely minions just get 1hp per hit die?

That's my thought on the matter, too.

 

[Marandahir]

I normally say 1 HP but slightly higher Attack Damage, Armor Class, Typal Damage Reductions, and Save Proficiencies than normal for the CR range (though perhaps include one of those AC or Save Proficiency defence windows as lower, or introduce a specific set of damage types that override this system, a la the Pokémon Shedinja's 1 HP but only damaged by types its weak to – Fire, Rock, Flying, Ghost, or Dark types).

I'd just also caution that if not setting a weakness override, just don't set the AC/Save Profs/Damage Reduction Threshholds so high as to break 5e's bounded accuracy system.

I like to think of this as with a Musou/Warriors game, where we can cut through swarthes of enemies but only if we're properly leveled, using the right elemental type advantage (in games like Hyrule Warriors at least), and there are still base defender/captains/elites/hero unit warriors/giant bosses that do NOT go down in one hit.

 

[Tormyr]

Late to the party, but maybe this might be useful to try out sometime.

I set up Troops (swarms of creatures larger than Tiny) for these situations because it lets me have the "weight/pressure" of a wall of low-level enemies without slowing things down with a low of die rolls. It is a small bit of work to set up, but I enjoy a bit of recalculation of stat blocks, and my spreadsheet means it is ready in a few minutes. The stat block is largely the same as the single creature, with the following changes.

• HP is half of the total for the number of creatures being represented.
• Resistance to all damage.
• Immunity to Charmed, Frightened, Prone, Paralyzed, etc. Anything that would likely only apply to a single creature.
• Any effect that covers at least half the Troop's space (Fireball, Enthrall, dragon breath, etc.) ignores the Troop's damage resistances and condition Immunities (unless the base creature has some innate resistance or immunity).
• Melee attack reach of 5 feet.
• DPR is total of all creatures, split into 2 to 4 attacks, and different creatures have to be targeted by each attack if there is a chance of wiping a single creature out with a single attack. When the Troop is Bloodied, it loses half of its attacks.
• Bump proficiency in Perception by 1 step (someone has to be paying attention in the group). Troops of creatures with proficiency in Perception get Expertise, otherwise the Troop has Proficiency.
• Troop Size: 4-8 creatures is Large, 9-15 is Huge, and more is Gargantuan
• Can fit through a space large enough for an individual creature without squeezing.

With this, a Troop of 32 Guards (CR 1/8) has the following:
CR: 10
Size: Gargantuan
HP: 184 (16d20 + 16) - closest to 176 = 11 (HP) * 32 (# guards) / 2 (resistance to all damage)
Multiattack: Four attacks with its spears +5 to hit 17 (5d6) piercing damage. Only makes two attacks if Bloodied
Skills: Perception +8