More Monsters!

[MerricB]

I was happily running my Castle Zagyg campaign on Friday night, when the PCs wandered off the map into a section of the dungeons that I'd designed. We'd been a bit combat-light in recent sessions, so I made sure they were stocked with plenty of monsters they could fight.

First, the group encountered some goblins. They talked to them! I'm really enjoying how this group worked. Soon they learnt about "Webfoot", a dangerous scourge of the goblins which they'd pay the PCs to kill. Ooh... soon the PCs were being escorted through the goblin lair to the tunnels on the other side where Webfoot resided.

(Oops - hadn't designed Webfoot yet. I reskinned a young black dragon and we were fine).

However, the group, treacherous bunch that they are, were making note of the goblin numbers so that they could take them out on the way back... The group is 5 PCs of levels 2 and 3.

Then they reached one of the main goblin caves, in which two dozen goblins were doing what goblins do when not fighting adventurers. Adam asked me if they were all minions. I'm pretty free with that information, and told him about 20 were minions.

Nate and Adam looked at each other. 20 Minions? Yeah, that was still a threat. 4-5 minions? Not really. But 20? Ooh, boy!

It's nice to get that reaction from your more headstrong players.

Anyway, in a couple of hours I'm off to my Sunday campaign as we continue through H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth. We've just reached the Well of Demons section (so I guess we have 3-4 sessions left of this adventure). Anyway, just checking monster numbers:

W1: 4 monsters
W2: 7 monsters
W3: 9 monsters
W4: 4 monsters
W6: 3 monsters
W7: 5 monsters
W8: 6 monsters
W9: 1 solo monster
W10: 6 monsters

Incredibly, no minions! (I think there's only one encounter in the adventure with minions). From what I'm seeing of the published adventures, 3-7 monsters are pretty much the norm. There are time when I want the shackles to be broken, and minions to rain from the sky... let's have 30 monsters in a single encounter and see what happens!

But perhaps that's just me.

Cheers!

 

[JackSmithIV]

Incredibly, no minions! (I think there's only one encounter in the adventure with minions). From what I'm seeing of the published adventures, 3-7 monsters are pretty much the norm. There are time when I want the shackles to be broken, and minions to rain from the sky... let's have 30 monsters in a single encounter and see what happens!

But perhaps that's just me.

Cheers!

Stay tuned in the next few days for an announcement from Poison Ivy Press! I think you'll be pleased, and we'd love to hear your feedback when it hits to forums!

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Incredibly, no minions! (I think there's only one encounter in the adventure with minions). From what I'm seeing of the published adventures, 3-7 monsters are pretty much the norm. There are time when I want the shackles to be broken, and minions to rain from the sky... let's have 30 monsters in a single encounter and see what happens!

But perhaps that's just me.

Last night I threw 14 zombie minions, 5 zombies, 2 corruption corpses and the Orcus Underpriest (who ran away at bloodied) at a party of 6 3rd level characters.

It was an absolute blast, and they came through it, too!

So, yes, let minions rain from the skies! But have them either attack from all directions or come in waves, as otherwise it can feel a bit anti-climatic.

 

[Nebulous]

So, yes, let minions rain from the skies! But have them either attack from all directions or come in waves, as otherwise it can feel a bit anti-climatic.

I've learned to play minions completely ad-hoc in 4e. Let them come in swarms for as long as you can think the PCs can handle, everyone's having fun and it's not going to annhilate them. With a saavy controller and a cleaving fighter, minions drop so fast that having just 5 or 6 isn't enough to even consititute a threat. I've had around 40 in a single encounter, plus other assorted baddies.

 

[Wik]

Yeah, minions can be great. But, a piece of advice - don't give 'em missile weapons. I had been throwing 10+ minions at my group and it was going fairly well. Then, I threw 10 halfling slingers at the group, plus one halfling thief. Unfortunately, the slingers had fairly open terrain, and were able to focus fire on the warlock. That PC died pretty fast, and anyone who found themselves in the open were in for a world of hurt.

So, if you do throw archer minions at the group, make sure there are plenty of hiding places for your PCs.