Minions and Temp HP

[BlueBlackRed]

Combine the rules.
The minions get the temp hp, but they still die a horrible death once they've taken damage.

 

[Shabe]

They need to errata the MM then.

It quite clearly states, under Minion:

"A minion is destroyed when it takes any amount of
damage."

So as written, even if the Minion has temporary hitpoints, it will still die if you do 1hp damage to it, since it took some amount of damage.

You could agrue that getting rid of the temp hit points isn't damaging the creature, the temp hit points could be part of the power effect, and that a monster wouldn't be damaged until their starting hit points were damaged.

 

[Insignia]

"Temporary hit points aren't real hit points. They're a layer of insulation that attacks have to get through before they start doing damage to you." (PHB, page 293)
I.e., losing temporary hit points doesn't harm you, it only wears down your stamina reserves.

 

[ladycass]

I am in the "minions can get temp HP and benifit" camp. Since temp HPs are really a buffer that *prevents* a certian amount of HP damage I would say that the minion does not take damage until the temp HP buffer is used. After that it takes damage and *poof*. Dead minion.

 

[Nifft]

You could agrue that getting rid of the temp hit points isn't damaging the creature, the temp hit points could be part of the power effect, and that a monster wouldn't be damaged until their starting hit points were damaged.

I think this is what is intended, though it still requires more state than Minions should require IMHO.

Here's my quick house rule on the subject: Minions with temporary HP lose all of them to any attack which deals damage.

Thus: If the attack dealt more damage than the minion had temporary HP, it's dead anyway. Otherwise, it's just soaked one extra attack, and that's still darn strong.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Lurker37]

Not to mention that the usual amount of Temp hit points given is small enough that most minions will still die in one hit.

 

[Mengu]

Not to mention that the usual amount of Temp hit points given is small enough that most minions will still die in one hit.

This fact alone makes me want to forget about traking those insignificant HP's. And I hate to take away the Fighter's Cleave tool to dispatch minions.

Minions are there to die anyway.

 

[lukelightning]

Part of the joy of minions is not worrying about tracking their HP. No temp hit points for you, minions!

 

[Bumamgar]

No, minions are there to harass and harry the adventurers so that the BBEG can work his shtick. If his shtick happens to be "grant temporary hit points to my allies" then the minions get a little bit more power (maybe that's why they follow him to begin with?)

You have to look at the whole picture. The encounter is with the boss and his crew. The boss has abilities. In this particular scenario, one of the bosses abilities is to bolster his crew. If you remove the temp hit points from the minions, what you are REALLY doing is removing a power from the boss, making him (and the encounter) weaker.

 

[Jhaelen]

You have to look at the whole picture. The encounter is with the boss and his crew. The boss has abilities. In this particular scenario, one of the bosses abilities is to bolster his crew. If you remove the temp hit points from the minions, what you are REALLY doing is removing a power from the boss, making him (and the encounter) weaker.

Well, then maybe you shouldn't create an encounter with just this boss and minions?

If minions can benefit from temp hp, they're no longer minions in my book. I'd change the ability to allow the boss to 'revive' fallen minions.