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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 4823301" data-attributes="member: 63">In my opinion it needs tweaking, for flavor and balance.I like the concept of having minions fight for you, but it feels very much like ignoring narrative in favor of game mechanics. Why can only a noble get people to fight for him, but not a warlord, or a charismatic rogue?Also, the idea of new minions just appearing out of nowhere because you need reinforcements is wacky. I think with a slight adjust to the minion mechanics, though, you can tweak the flavor to be more believable.In my game, we use a slightly modified minion system, detailed here - <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-fan-creations-house-rules/" target="_blank">4e Fan Creations and House Rules - EN World D&D / RPG News</a>I think you could set up your noble so that he has four loyal followers, which count as minions of his level. They would have four states instead of three - fine, bloodied, down, and dead. Fine and bloodied work as normal. When one of your minions goes to 0, he's down (unconscious). Killing one of your minions is hard. They might go down fast, but they're scrappy. If your minion is fine, he dies if he takes damage in one hit equal to 5 + twice your level (basically, his hit points plus your level). If he's bloodied, he dies if he takes damage in one hit equal to 5 + your level. If he's down, he dies if he takes damage in one hit equal to your level.This lets them fall, and lie on the battlefield with a decent chance of not dying. When you take a short rest, all your surviving minions return to full hp. If a minion dies, you have to either raise him (but the Raise Dead ritual costs 1/10 its normal amount), or recruit a new one.As for directing minions, I'd do something like:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Opportunity action to have a single minion make an opportunity attack.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Minor action to have all of your minions perform a move action.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Minor action to have a single minion make a basic attack.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Standard action to use an at-will power that has them all attack.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Standard to bolster your minions. You spend a healing surge, but don't heal. Instead, bloodied minions become fine, unconscious ones become bloodied, and all of them can stand up or shift 2 squares. (Sure, this uses up the noble's own healing, but if he's using his retinue right, they'll be blocking enemies from hurting him.</li> </ul>If you're following 4th edition standard style, you'd want to list each of these as a separate at-will power that all nobles get, in addition to their at-will attacks. Also, using the druid as a basis, I'd say give him three at-wills, of which one or two must be retinue powers.That, for me, would fix the flavor issue. There's still the balance issue. You have an at-will power that dazes, another that immobilizes (for how long?). The wording for a few makes them a bit unclear (does unruly shove slide multiple times, letting the minions bounce an enemy around so they all can hit him?).It's an interesting idea, but obviously making a whole class, and being balanced with it, is tough. I worry that the noble himself does nothing without his minions (except dazes a target every round; woo that's strong), and that the minions do nothing without their commander, but you could fix all of that.Maybe say that if the noble is down, the minions can each act on their own, but without the bolstering effect of their leader, they take a -5 penalty to all attacks and defenses.Again, it's odd that you need a class to have buddies tag along with you (in pre-2nd edition, I heard lots of stories of people going around with 20+ cohorts and hirelings on every adventure), but it could be fun to play.</blockquote>

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