Minions with 1hp - Can anyone justify this?

[Goumindong]

Perhaps this is one of the main problems. Where exactly does it state this in the rules?

I am trying to find it, but cannot.

 

[GoLu]

Perhaps this is one of the main problems. Where exactly does it state this in the rules?

I don't see anything explicitly stating when not to roll for NPCs, although there are a couple sections (pp 116-117, 187) which make it very clear that you only bother with stats which you expect will get used in the advanture (or even just the encounter). I can see at least two reasonable implications of that:
1) It's common for NPCs to have abilities beyond their stats, but these abilities aren't expected to be relevant to their interaction with the PCs.
2) When off-camera and expected to remain there, they have no stats (because they have no interaction with the PCs). And it's kinda hard to roll for them when they lack stats.

On the other hand, when on-camera, I suspect that you are intended to roll for the NPCs. Which is to say, if a demon horde sweeps through town and the PCs hear about it later, no stats are needed and the minion vs. non-minion aspect of the demons isn't really important. On the other hand, if a demon horde sweeps through town with the PCs present, the demons and townsfolk (or at least the ones right next the PCs) should use normal combat rules in order to give the PCs the chance to save some of the local population like the heroes they are.

 

[Obryn]

I am still unclear why anyone is worried about what minions do when the PCs are not around.

It's very not-zen.

-O

 

[Midknightsun]

Q: If a minion is killed by a house cat in the woods with no one else around, does any one care? (but the house cat )

 

[Syrsuro]

Q: If a minion is killed by a house cat in the woods with no one else around, does any one care? (but the house cat )

And do housecats get experience for killing minions.....

Carl

 

[Ninja-to]

My Email:

I'm having difficulty understanding how minions interact with the world. As a DM, I can understand how they're used as abstractions for bookeeping purposes. They have 1HP to make life simpler. One hit and they die. I can understand this.

What I don't quite understand is how the rest of the world interacts with a minion. With 1HP, how would a minion realistically survive in the real world, outside of combat? In fact, do they exist at all?

I've written on a post on En World about how a high level demonic minion attacks the PC's at their home. Let's say one of the PC's likes house cats, and a bunch of these house cats (or other small pets) attack the minions. At some point, an epic level minion might actually be killed by one of these house cats (if it can roll a natural 20). Or less silly, how about a bar fight and the barmaid with a tankard?

Another example I used was hazardous terrain, like thorny bushes. Let's say there is some type of terrain that does automatic damage when you pass through it. Minions can't pass through this terrain, while a child or villager might make it through with just a few scratches.

How are minions supposed to survive these types of situations?

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Customer Service

Unfortunately, there isn’t an official answer for the situation you describe. I’ve passed along this conversation to the game’s developers. Hopefully, we’ll see an update or FAQ entry covering it soon, but until then it’s up to the campaign’s Dungeon Master to decide. The DM is always the final arbiter on how they want their campaign to run. Have fun!

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So with any luck they'll respond in a FAQ or something.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

My problem with the 1HP Minion is this.

It assumes that any successful blow a PC lands is fatal, or at least, instantly debilitating...

Which isn't realistic at all- the world is full of people who survive all kinds of horrible injuries- the kid who survives being mauled by dogs or attacked by sharks, the guy who survives being shot.

50 Cent...Phineas Gage...

They can't ALL be "PCs"- that would expand the definition of PC to uselessness.

 

[jadrax]

My problem with the 1HP Minion is this.

It assumes that any successful blow a PC lands is fatal, or at least, instantly debilitating...

Which isn't realistic at all- the world is full of people who survive all kinds of horrible injuries- the kid who survives being mauled by dogs or attacked by sharks, the guy who survives being shot.

A hit in this case would be determined as a "Successfully landing a blow with fatal damage" and a miss "Not successfully landing a blow with fatal damage" you could easily describe a miss as "you land a blow upon the Kobold, bruising him and knocking him slightly back." but in game effects he took no damage and did not move a full square so no change.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

My problem with the 1HP Minion is this.

It assumes that any successful blow a PC lands is fatal, or at least, instantly debilitating...

Which isn't realistic at all- the world is full of people who survive all kinds of horrible injuries- the kid who survives being mauled by dogs or attacked by sharks, the guy who survives being shot.

50 Cent...Phineas Gage...

They can't ALL be "PCs"- that would expand the definition of PC to uselessness.

Just because a minion is out of the fight doesn't mean he's dead.

The players state whether the minion he fell was killed, knocked out or horribly mauled for that matter. The DM is free to overrule them from time to time if it helps the story.

Beside, your agument applies to all type of monsters over all editions; Whenever a creature was dropped below 0 it was assumed slain. Only DM fiat could dictate that the disembowelled ork miraculously survived.

 

[FourthBear]

My problem with the 1HP Minion is this.

It assumes that any successful blow a PC lands is fatal, or at least, instantly debilitating...

Which isn't realistic at all- the world is full of people who survive all kinds of horrible injuries- the kid who survives being mauled by dogs or attacked by sharks, the guy who survives being shot.

If there's going to be a problem with the abstract nature of D&D combat not taking such things into account, you're going to have a lot more problems than just the minion rules. I mean, standard combat of all types has opponents dying at zero hit points by default, unless the player specifically notes attacking to subdue or by DM fiat. As far as I know, Minions are no different than standard monsters when it comes to what happens when they hit zero hit points. Really, if you want to bring in more realistic and simulationist combat into D&D, I fear you've got a complete overhaul of the system to consider.