Skyscraper
Adventurer
Interesting discussion. It's fun to see the different viewpoints on this topic. I've been asking myself the same question too recently.
My take is that minions should be described as weaker-looking monsters for those that know these monsters. Assessing humans is easier for a human. However, if you come up against zombies, then the Religion skill might be useful. Even without a knowledge check, i'll describe some zombies as looking weaker and some others as looking tougher than others. This might in some cases be misleading, but mostly it'll identify the minions. If the players want to challenge my description, they can make a knowledge check. Once a party has battled zombies many times before, i'll become clearer on which ones appear threatening and which don't. I don't think i'll ever clearly state that minions are minions, but i expect the players to be able to identify them say 90% of the time. Also, i'll be using minis that can help differentiate the minions from the others. I think this reflects how minions actually look different than others. Even for zombies.
It comes down to: what is a minion? It is a creature that, for it's type, is the run-of-the-mill opponnent. It is not good enough to sustain a prolonged battle, it will not be able to parry and duck and get out of arm's way: it'll die on the first occasion, or just about. I believe that these creatures can indeed be recognized by seasoned heroes having battle experience. Still no reason to meta-talk though.
On the matter of the wyrmpriest boosting the minion HPs: i won't do that myself. The wyrmpriest's effect won't work on the minions. I know at least one WotC staff member said it should; however i disagree. I believe it defeats the idea of the minion too much. I also believe it defeats the idea behind the wyrmpriest's power: to add 5HP to a 30 HP creature is a slight boost; while to add 5HP to a 1HP minion is a 500% increase.
Sky
My take is that minions should be described as weaker-looking monsters for those that know these monsters. Assessing humans is easier for a human. However, if you come up against zombies, then the Religion skill might be useful. Even without a knowledge check, i'll describe some zombies as looking weaker and some others as looking tougher than others. This might in some cases be misleading, but mostly it'll identify the minions. If the players want to challenge my description, they can make a knowledge check. Once a party has battled zombies many times before, i'll become clearer on which ones appear threatening and which don't. I don't think i'll ever clearly state that minions are minions, but i expect the players to be able to identify them say 90% of the time. Also, i'll be using minis that can help differentiate the minions from the others. I think this reflects how minions actually look different than others. Even for zombies.
It comes down to: what is a minion? It is a creature that, for it's type, is the run-of-the-mill opponnent. It is not good enough to sustain a prolonged battle, it will not be able to parry and duck and get out of arm's way: it'll die on the first occasion, or just about. I believe that these creatures can indeed be recognized by seasoned heroes having battle experience. Still no reason to meta-talk though.
On the matter of the wyrmpriest boosting the minion HPs: i won't do that myself. The wyrmpriest's effect won't work on the minions. I know at least one WotC staff member said it should; however i disagree. I believe it defeats the idea of the minion too much. I also believe it defeats the idea behind the wyrmpriest's power: to add 5HP to a 30 HP creature is a slight boost; while to add 5HP to a 1HP minion is a 500% increase.
Sky
