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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Skyscraper" data-source="post: 4361557" data-attributes="member: 48518">I think it depends what kind of game you want to play. Do you want legions of vampire spawns to fly towards your 15th level ranger who'll fire them down in short order with his arrows? Or do you want a vampire to be a unique creature that requires your party to use most of its resources? And what happens when the PCs' level up?I think there are different playstyles that can be accommodated by the monster manual; and the DM can simply use whatever monsters fit his and his group's playstyle. For example i don't like oozes or jello or pudding used as a monster; consequently, there are none in my campaign. Still, on the matter of minions, i think it comes down to what minions are and, by extension, what hit points represent. Hit points are an abstraction that represent physical endurance, wound resistance, stamina, morale, ability to parry. Giving a creature a single hit point means that that creature lacks one or more of these abilities when faced by the PCs. Theoretically, a same minion creature could be embodied by a non-minion if it faced a different group of lower level PCs. For low-heroic tier PCs, it makes little sense to have them face ogre minions. However, at one point you might want ogres to be able to occasionally land a good blow on the PCs without having them standing on the battleground for a long time. I.e. the PCs are able to dispatch them quickly because now they know ogres well: the fighter is able to use a similar feint against them and drive his sword through their gut or cut their head off quickly. Maybe the ogres freak out when they see the PCs (i.e. morale is down) and they freeze when the fighter feint; maybe their skill is not good enough; maybe the fighter moves his sword in a flurry of strikes and tires the ogre in a matter of seconds (low stamina). In any event, it's not strong enough anymore against the fighter, not in any absolute evaluation. Like Aragorn in LOTR against the orcs: the latter don't survive a single blow against him and would be best represented by minions in a combat against a 25th level ranger. However, a single one of these orcs would be a good match against 1st level hobbit leaving the shire and might not be embodied by a minion in such a fight.I've played D&D for just about 30 years now so i understand why some players have a hard time imagining ogre minions. I don't see ogre minions as an insult to the ogre race: i just see this as praise to the PCs' power at some point.Sky</blockquote>

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