D&D 4E "Mook" rules for 4E monsters?

[nerfherder]

I was listening to the October D&D podcast last night, and something stood out that I hadn't heard before. A quick search here didn't reveal any discussions about it. Do you thing I'm mis-interpreting, or do you think it sounds like 4e is getting mook rules?

The quote I'm talking about was made by either Mike Mearls, James Wyatt or Dave Noonan at 34:14

If you're like me and you played first edition, you can have like the fourth level party get ambushed by 20 orcs and it's gonna work - oh, maybe not 20, but you know the eigth level party fighting 20 third level orcs will still be dangerous because the orcs' attack bonus is not so low that you just can't hit the PCs' ACs without 20's. Which is nice. You can get that sort of epic battle feeling going then, and that's in addition to using rules we have for minion monsters which lets you do that to an even greater degree.

Cheers,
Liam

 

[Yergi]

I can't remember where, but I'm pretty sure somewhere earlier there was mention of "minion" monsters that came in groups of four. That is, one normal monster is a challenge for one PC. Four minion monsters are a challenge for one PC. One elite monster is a challenge for two PCs, and one solo monster is a challenge for four(five?) PCs.

 

[Baby Samurai]

4e is getting mook rules?

Yes.

Though I have actually run mook encounters in 3rd Ed (well, 3.75) – the last session my players went up against 20 drow warriors, a drow sorcerer and a drow druid in 1 encounter and it worked out just dandy.

 

[jensun]

Yes.

Though I have actually run mook encounters in 3rd Ed (well, 3.75) – the last session my players went up against 20 drow warriors, a drow sorcerer and a drow druid in 1 encounter and it worked out just dandy.

I am curious, how did you make it work?

 

[Baby Samurai]

I am curious, how did you make it work?

I'm not quite sure what info you want – could you elucidate?

 

[Lord Xtheth]

I can't remember where, but I'm pretty sure somewhere earlier there was mention of "minion" monsters that came in groups of four. That is, one normal monster is a challenge for one PC. Four minion monsters are a challenge for one PC. One elite monster is a challenge for two PCs, and one solo monster is a challenge for four(five?) PCs.

This REALY sounds exactly the same as 1/4, 1/2, and 1 CR to me. Almost like it's throwing a different name on somthing and calling it "new"

Even if you look at it from higher level 1 cr 4 guy is very close to 1/4 cr to an 8th level character.
I don't know about the rest of you, but it seems just as easy now as their promicing it will be in the future.

 

[Wormwood]

Some mook rules I've run in the past include:

Mooks have no hit points. One (or two) successful attacks will K/O them.
Mooks don't roll dice. Their attack rolls, AC and saving throws are X + opposing PC level (X varies depending on how difficult the encounter should be).
Mooks have no classes, equipment or feats . . . but they may have special effects if necessary.

 

[Gort]

The trouble with mook rules is that they all die if you chuck a fireball at them, so you need ridiculous numbers of them to challenge a PC party.

 

[Wormwood]

The trouble with mook rules is that they all die if you chuck a fireball at them, so you need ridiculous numbers of them to challenge a PC party.

I rarely use mooks to challenge the party so much as "give the party a few minutes of being bad-asses". I'd say blasting a dozen screaming swordsmen into ash qualifies.

The way I see it: Johnny Mo, Gogo Yubari and O-Ren Ishii are the challenges---but first, you must deal with the Crazy 88s.

 

[hectorse]

The trouble with mook rules is that they all die if you chuck a fireball at them, so you need ridiculous numbers of them to challenge a PC party.

Well that's pretty much the objectivo of mooks right? Making the wizard feel good about killing tons of enemies with one attack when, earlier in his career, it would have taken a much greater toll on him