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General Tabletop Discussion
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Minions and fixed damage
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<blockquote data-quote="Khur" data-source="post: 4233338" data-attributes="member: 5583"><p>To be clear, it's important to note that minions can get critical hits. They just get no mechanical benefit from doing so—unless they or another monster in the fight is designed to benefit from that critical hit in some fashion other than the normal max damage. PCs get no mechanical benefit from critical hits on minions either; they instead get the same net effect as a normal hit. The minion dies.</p><p></p><p>That seems like parity to me. Where the parity ends is the fact that a few PC powers trigger on that PC taking a critical hit. To me, that's all good. If a minion triggers your power, you should be able to use that power if you want to.</p><p></p><p>Those who have said that minions have an unfair advantage in the probability they will get a crit in a combat are right. More rolls = higher probability of a crit. That's where the problem of having rolled damage that exceeds the minion's flat norm might become a problem. The thing is, those who say that minions' numbers tend to flatten the damage across the duration of the combat are also correct. Rolled damage will create a few spikes, though.</p><p></p><p>I disagree with those who equate using mechanical ramifications to recognize a minion with metagaming. Heroic PCs should be able to tell that mooks are inferior threats, especially after a short time engaging those mooks. If the DM doesn't do the job in a narrative sense, the mechanical ramifications of a minion's attacks and HP will do the job instead.</p><p></p><p>I might not tell the players who's a mook right away, but I give hints and I reward those who bother to assess their foes. A PC should rarely be led to use an encounter power (or better) on a mook, unless that character intends some overkill. I might allow it in the opening round of the fight (when it's often a bad idea to use a powerful power anyway), but by round 2, everyone knows who the lightweights are and who are the heavies.</p><p></p><p>In my game, that knowledge has created an atmosphere or more fun. Sometimes PCs ignore minions, even taking opportunity attacks to get to the main bad guys. To me, that's a fine example of cinematic heroics—plow past the palookas to get to the real enemy.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Khur, post: 4233338, member: 5583"] To be clear, it's important to note that minions can get critical hits. They just get no mechanical benefit from doing so—unless they or another monster in the fight is designed to benefit from that critical hit in some fashion other than the normal max damage. PCs get no mechanical benefit from critical hits on minions either; they instead get the same net effect as a normal hit. The minion dies. That seems like parity to me. Where the parity ends is the fact that a few PC powers trigger on that PC taking a critical hit. To me, that's all good. If a minion triggers your power, you should be able to use that power if you want to. Those who have said that minions have an unfair advantage in the probability they will get a crit in a combat are right. More rolls = higher probability of a crit. That's where the problem of having rolled damage that exceeds the minion's flat norm might become a problem. The thing is, those who say that minions' numbers tend to flatten the damage across the duration of the combat are also correct. Rolled damage will create a few spikes, though. I disagree with those who equate using mechanical ramifications to recognize a minion with metagaming. Heroic PCs should be able to tell that mooks are inferior threats, especially after a short time engaging those mooks. If the DM doesn't do the job in a narrative sense, the mechanical ramifications of a minion's attacks and HP will do the job instead. I might not tell the players who's a mook right away, but I give hints and I reward those who bother to assess their foes. A PC should rarely be led to use an encounter power (or better) on a mook, unless that character intends some overkill. I might allow it in the opening round of the fight (when it's often a bad idea to use a powerful power anyway), but by round 2, everyone knows who the lightweights are and who are the heavies. In my game, that knowledge has created an atmosphere or more fun. Sometimes PCs ignore minions, even taking opportunity attacks to get to the main bad guys. To me, that's a fine example of cinematic heroics—plow past the palookas to get to the real enemy. [/QUOTE]
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