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<blockquote data-quote="tomBitonti" data-source="post: 4268815" data-attributes="member: 13107">I was just thinking the about the same thing.&nbsp; Minions seem to be an abbreviation of a game mechanic.&nbsp; The game has an &quot;expected&quot; amount of damage from an attack made at a given level, and monsters have an &quot;expected&quot; amount of hit points at another given level.&nbsp; When the chance of an &quot;average&quot; attack takes away all of the &quot;expected&quot; hit points at a given level (attacker) - level (defender) combination, the game dispenses with the detailed mechanics and declares that the attack automatically defeats the defender.This means that &quot;minion-ness&quot; is definitely a property of a monster only in the context of a given attacker level - defender level combination.&nbsp; With any other combination, a monster should not be a minion.This gets us back to the &quot;minions have 1 hp&quot; statement, which I still think is very misleading, since it allows the minion to be used in a context (read, as a foe against level inappropriate attackers), and then a wackiness where a first level character can take out a level 22 minion with a single lucky hit.Also, that suggests that for an &quot;attack&quot; to take out a minion, the attack must be doing the &quot;average&quot; amount for an attack at the attackers level.&nbsp; That would preclude cleave from dropping minions.&nbsp; (Here, the idea of having a minion save against the damage makes sense, and seems to be an effective and accurate mechanic.)As a test, what is the experience value of a level 22 minion, and how does that compare with the amount of experience needed to level a first level character?&nbsp; Can you imagine taking you first level character out to the &quot;devil&quot; observatory and taking pot-shots at the level 22 minion devels?&nbsp; Any lucky hit takes one out and, presto! lots of cheap experience.&nbsp; I very much don't think that is an intended use of minions and I do think that an attacker level - defender level restriction (even if currently unstated) must be observed.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="tomBitonti, post: 4268815, member: 13107"] I was just thinking the about the same thing. Minions seem to be an abbreviation of a game mechanic. The game has an "expected" amount of damage from an attack made at a given level, and monsters have an "expected" amount of hit points at another given level. When the chance of an "average" attack takes away all of the "expected" hit points at a given level (attacker) - level (defender) combination, the game dispenses with the detailed mechanics and declares that the attack automatically defeats the defender. This means that "minion-ness" is definitely a property of a monster only in the context of a given attacker level - defender level combination. With any other combination, a monster should not be a minion. This gets us back to the "minions have 1 hp" statement, which I still think is very misleading, since it allows the minion to be used in a context (read, as a foe against level inappropriate attackers), and then a wackiness where a first level character can take out a level 22 minion with a single lucky hit. Also, that suggests that for an "attack" to take out a minion, the attack must be doing the "average" amount for an attack at the attackers level. That would preclude cleave from dropping minions. (Here, the idea of having a minion save against the damage makes sense, and seems to be an effective and accurate mechanic.) As a test, what is the experience value of a level 22 minion, and how does that compare with the amount of experience needed to level a first level character? Can you imagine taking you first level character out to the "devil" observatory and taking pot-shots at the level 22 minion devels? Any lucky hit takes one out and, presto! lots of cheap experience. I very much don't think that is an intended use of minions and I do think that an attacker level - defender level restriction (even if currently unstated) must be observed. [/QUOTE]

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