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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jhaelen" data-source="post: 4218633" data-attributes="member: 46713">Well, I'm not sure yet if I've already fully wrapped my head around the minion concept but I think this is a situation that will (or should) never happen.Several posters in this thread have already mentioned what I consider the key-point about minions: They're only minions to the pcs.I'd go one step further and say: Minions are only minions to pcs with a level at least equal to the minions'.While in theory a first level party encountering a single 18th level minion could be considered a balanced encounter (if you're only looking at the xp values) it's a pretty bad idea to do this. It's not the role minions are designed to fill. I don't think it makes sense to have the pcs encounter 18th level minions until they are actually level 18 or higher.If a 21st level party should ever be accompanied by a rank of 0th level human archers (assuming such a thing even exists in 4E...) I don't think they should be able to have any (mechanical) effect on a 21st level demon minion. To them it's an almost invulnerable solo threat. They'll pepper it with arrows (which will mostly simply bounce off its skin) and maybe inflict some superficial wounds until one of the pcs comes along to slay it with a single hit.If it makes for better storytelling the DM can choose to narrate the battle in a way that the archers actually had an important part in weakening the demon so the pcs could kill it more easily. I.e. the presence of the archers is the explanation why this demon is a minion for the pcs!I'm pretty sure it won't be difficult to ignore the presence of minions in 4E if you don't like the concept. I think they present an elegant solution, though. They allow for adding variety to tactical situations without adding to bookkeeping.</blockquote>

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