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<blockquote data-quote="Lurker37" data-source="post: 4267439" data-attributes="member: 9522">*sigh*A lot of people seem to be making the same mistake.Minion is not a creature type. It's mechanic you can use to build a specific type of encounter.You do not run across minions as single random monsters. Minion is a template used in constructing encounters with large numbers of level-appropriate opponents, whom the PCs can drop in one hit each but still need to defend against, thus recreating a common trope of adventure fiction. The minion template achieves this very specific aim neatly.There are prefabricated minions in the MM to allow novice DMs to quickly and easily build encounters using the minion mechanic. They are not meant to be used outside of any such encounter, and cause much silliness if you try. Unfortunately, because they're in the MM, some DMs seem to be assuming that they can just pluck them out singly and use them outside of such encounters, then complain about the strange results such misuse of the rules creates.Minions are the bands of bandits that show up by the dozen. The raiding parties of orcs that swarm over villages. The throngs of cultists between the party and the high priests preparing to sacrifice the princess. The platoons of guards blocking the stairway up out of the evil baron's dungeon. They're not the lone guard wandering down the hallway - he's a normal monster (he can't be a minion because he's not in a group).And if you can't visualise your PCs dropping a monster in one hit, then it probably doesn't make sense to use that monster as minions yet.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lurker37, post: 4267439, member: 9522"] *sigh* A lot of people seem to be making the same mistake. Minion is not a creature type. It's mechanic you can use to build a specific type of encounter. You do not run across minions as single random monsters. Minion is a template used in constructing encounters with large numbers of level-appropriate opponents, whom the PCs can drop in one hit each but still need to defend against, thus recreating a common trope of adventure fiction. The minion template achieves this very specific aim neatly. There are prefabricated minions in the MM to allow novice DMs to quickly and easily build encounters using the minion mechanic. They are not meant to be used outside of any such encounter, and cause much silliness if you try. Unfortunately, because they're in the MM, some DMs seem to be assuming that they can just pluck them out singly and use them outside of such encounters, then complain about the strange results such misuse of the rules creates. Minions are the bands of bandits that show up by the dozen. The raiding parties of orcs that swarm over villages. The throngs of cultists between the party and the high priests preparing to sacrifice the princess. The platoons of guards blocking the stairway up out of the evil baron's dungeon. They're not the lone guard wandering down the hallway - he's a normal monster (he can't be a minion because he's not in a group). And if you can't visualise your PCs dropping a monster in one hit, then it probably doesn't make sense to use that monster as minions yet. [/QUOTE]

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