Minions - tell the PCs?

[jkohlhepp]

Not sure if there is a rule on this or if it is just up to DM discretion, but I'm curious to hear how people hand this. If you have minions in an encounter, do you let the PCs know that they are minions? I haven't been, but because of this, the PCs don't necessarily go for them first, and they are therefore able to do a lot more damage before they are taken out. If the PCs knew they were one-shottable, they could get them down in the first round and mitigate a lot of that damage.

How do other DMs handle this? And how about other keywords such as Leader, Elite, Solo, etc.?

Thanks,

~ Justin

 

[Pickles JG]

Not sure if there is a rule on this or if it is just up to DM discretion, but I'm curious to hear how people hand this. If you have minions in an encounter, do you let the PCs know that they are minions? I haven't been, but because of this, the PCs don't necessarily go for them first, and they are therefore able to do a lot more damage before they are taken out. If the PCs knew they were one-shottable, they could get them down in the first round and mitigate a lot of that damage.

How do other DMs handle this? And how about other keywords such as Leader, Elite, Solo, etc.?

Thanks,

~ Justin

I normally do tell the players but I usually describe it rather than just say "Minion". The Minions will look badly equipped or nervous or less competent. The Leaders will be telling the others what to do & the elites will look especially competent, fierce, large or shiny etc.

 

[fba827]

It's all a matter of preference.

Some previous conversations/polls

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/235329-whos-minion-you.html

http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-4t...s-know-minions-minions-rules-tactics-pov.html

http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-4t...ou-tell-players-who-minions-who-not-game.html

But basically, it all boils down to your own preference -- how do you normally impart meta-game knowledge to the players, etc -- through checks or is it obvious or such.

Me, personally, I won't outright use the word minion but it usually becomes apperent through the visual description as it's often the group of creatures that is most numerous and also not armed to the teeth. Or once they take down the first one, the players usually realize that all the other ones that look the same are most likely also minions.

 

[Rechan]

I actually have a specific mini type I use when I have minions on the field - glass aquarium stones.

 

[Regicide]

I actually have a specific mini type I use when I have minions on the field - glass aquarium stones.

Heh, I like it.

Anyway, although it won't seem like it at first level, it becomes apparant at higher levels that the dramatically inferior minions should be marked as such. When a giant minion topples from a player's papercut it's very immersion breaking. Having the player know ahead of time helps mitigate the 1 pt of damage kill sillyness.

 

[Rechan]

Heh, I like it.

Anyway, although it won't seem like it at first level, it becomes apparant at higher levels that the dramatically inferior minions should be marked as such. When a giant minion topples from a player's papercut it's very immersion breaking. Having the player know ahead of time helps mitigate the 1 pt of damage kill sillyness.

Just for frame of reference, 1 HP doesn't necessarily mean 'dead'. Various other minion 'defeating' could include:

Disarmed or weapon shatters.
Resolve is broken, flees the field.
Injured in a way that causes it to stop fighting (broken limb, damaged eye).
Spell of mental control is broken.

Simply put, the minion is no longer a combatant, and that can be represented a few ways beyond death.

 

[Dalzig]

I personally like to think of minions as the Redshirts of D&D. You (the audience/player) know that they are minions. The characters only know what is described.

To represent minions, we use smaller dice than we normally use for creatures. Works for us.

 

[James McMurray]

It depends on the circumstances. As a general rule I don't say it ahead of time, but since all of the monsters are described similarly, they figure it out pretty fast. If they have reason to know the opponent's capabilities before the fight, I'll tell them. For example, when talking with an NPC about a fight he'd fled, the NPC's descriptions clued them in that the archers were minions. I described them as being pretty accurate, but not very threatening, an d then gave the out of character confirmation that they're minions to make sure that the in character information wasn't misinterpreted.

 

[jkohlhepp]

This all makes sense. I think in general I will follow the same idea of conveying it through the in-game narrative describing the encounter. However, for the current group I'm running, all of the PCs are fairly inexperienced, especially with 4e concepts, so I may just come out and tell them.

Thanks for the advice.

~ Justin

 

[LostSoul]

I use different minis for the minions, and I tell the PCs upfront. More or less.

I'm not sure it's a good idea, though. Maybe it would be better to wait for a round, until they start dropping like flies.