Orcs preview

[jeffhartsell]

I generally like these orcs. I am puzzled why the orc warrior minions are such high level compared to the other orcs in the entry, however. Why are the other orcs presented 4th level and such, and only one 8th level, but the minions 9th? It's probably not a big problem, but should the minions be built for the same level as the other orcs?

The warriors are meant to hang out with the chieftain while the drudges hang out with the raiders and berserkers.

 

[zoroaster100]

That makes sense, jeffhartsell. Though as a nitpick it is strange the the minions are level 9 while the chieftain himself is only level 8.

 

[jeffhartsell]

That makes sense, jeffhartsell. Though as a nitpick it is strange the the minions are level 9 while the chieftain himself is only level 8.

Aye. But that leaves room to level up the chieftain up to 5 levels and still have usable minions. Also creates space to have a higher level orc overlord in MM2 that commands chieftains.

 

[Vempyre]

Orc drudge minion

here's a cute idea : add to them the "wizard template" to have them throw magic missiles at will for about 5 dmg per hit!

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I don't really think everyone got the point on minions. Clearly the minion idea was not about throwing a pack of powerfull 1-hit kill mobs at players.

5 Orc Warriors (9th lvl) against a 5 men 1st lvl party would be pretty lame, ie. Not even counting in the "fireball dilemma", the party could bring down all of them in one single round, providing the players roll high enought. While the very same party would need two/three rounds to win an appropriate 1st lvl encounter with no minions.

A 1st level character can even take down a 30th level demon minion with a nat 20, as likelly as making a gnoll minion laugh at the Epic Tier character's unlucky miss. This clearly is not the spot minions are supposed to fill.

Minions are supposed to be the crowds to flood the party. Suppose the 10th level party is attacking the Orcs outpost. Throw at them tens of Orc Warriors, a pack of Eyes of Grumsh/Berserkers and some Chieftein and Bloodragers. The horde would quicklly surround the party, while the heroes are taking down the warrior's number (whome hit point the DM don't have to bother with, they just die on hit or survive on miss). Of course Berserkers and Bloodragers are spreading out damage across the battlefield, and the Warriors who managed to reach melee would be more dangerouse when dieing thanks to theyr leaders' auras.

At this point you see why minions don't die on miss. 1hit point doesn't mean they only need a punch to be killed, it means managing a huge encounter with ease.
Just don't use hundreds of low lvl minions to bother Paragon or Epic chars, or a few high lvl minions against low lvl party. Regular monsters are much better at this.

Agree completely:

Minions exist to recreate Boromir's Last Stand, or Aragorn (in the movie) mowing down Uruk Hai on the slope covering Frodo's retreat.

Or to recreate, Rorke's Drift or Night of the Living Dead and countless other situation where a small band hold out or do heroic amound of damage against vast odds.

Your regular enounters will be as they always were, but when the time comes for the knock down heroic battle the minions appear.

 

[brehobit]

Sixth...an orc hospital must consist of a bag of rats. "Whack rat till feel better."

You win the thread!

 

[pawsplay]

No they wouldn't. Not any more than shooting people is an instant kill.

True, they might linger a few minutes, blind, suffocating, and reeling from shock before actually, truly dying, but yeah, they're dead.

 

[pawsplay]

I was certainly not talking about "realistically". Realistically, there was no fireball. (maybe a grenade, and these are certainly deadly, but not guaranteed to be so.)

How about a gasline explosion? Those tend to kill people very reliably.

 

[pawsplay]

As soon as the word realistically comes up with regards to a fireball, I'm pretty sure that Hong's principle of thinking too hard about fantasy comes into effect.

I'm just rebutting the ill-advised appeal to my common sense. No, it does not make any sense to me for a few orcs to come crawling out of a fireball. It should kill anyone who isn't a member of the actor's guild.

 

[hong]

True, they might linger a few minutes, blind, suffocating, and reeling from shock before actually, truly dying, but yeah, they're dead.

Prove it.