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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lizard" data-source="post: 4242084" data-attributes="member: 1054">In every game I run -- not just D&D -- it's usually obvious contextually who the expendable mooks are. Whether its VIPER agents, stormtroopers, or level 1 goblins, a little descriptive text goes a long way.This is not only useful from the perspective of the game, it's dramatically appropriate. When Darth Vader walked into the room, you knew he wasn't just another stormtrooper. Oh, hell no!Further, I expect the characters, as residents of the world, to know some basics. If they see an orc festooned with skulls and shaking a staff, they can think "shaman". If they see a dozen orcs in fragments of armor, wielding a mix of rusty weapons, they can think "grunts". If they see one in particular who is large and in charge, they know he's the non-minion.Some might say it's fun to play with expectations. But since "minion" is a dramatic template, not an in-game condition, "fooling" the players by "disguising" the orc chief as a minion is a bit of metagaming tomfoolery that hearkens back to player vs. DM days, unless there's a lot of plot behind it (the orc chief, looking to escape the battle, doffs his fine armor and dresses in the same rags as the grunts). You wouldn't have leader-type orcs trying to "trick" people into "thinking they were minions" for ambush purposs, since the orcs have no concept of "minion".</blockquote>