PC-Ally minions - how should you treat them?

[Rechan]

In my current campaign, the PCs are in charge of a colony. The Warlord of the party wants to (eventually) build an army. But right now, he wants to bring 2-5 allied minions into a battle, representing the colony's general defensive force and/or mercenaries.

Any general suggestion as to how I should do this?

For instance:

How many, at what level (relative to the party)?
How much XP should the minions get (after all, they are making the encounter easier, so I should factor that into the XP budget)?
Who gets to control the minions (I certainly don't want to), and what initiative should they go on?
Should they get morale rolls (otherwise, PCs treat them as cannon fodder).

 

[fba827]

How many?
For the sake of fariness, 1 minion per PC.

Level?
For sake of ease (on you), same level as the average PC level (or one level lower you feel it's too high... too much lower and they simply won't be able to hit to the enemies that the PCs are fighting). It can easily be explained as 'only the heartiest of army are coming with the PCs'

XP?
As a general suggestion, for the XP cut, they should get some. You can use the same basic forumla that enemy minions have. 4 minions of the same level count as one creature of that level. So if you have a group of 5 PCs and 4 minions, all at level 3, then I'd count that as a group of 6 (5= regular plus (4 minions divided by 4 ) 3rd level PCs. So when you divide up XP for that example group, you'd divide the XP as if there were 6 people (rather than just the 5 PCs).

Control?
If you're doing 1 minion per PC to determine the number, then let each PC control 1 minion. But as you give them control you clarify the caveat "they are still technically NPCs so you retain DM veto power if you think they should be doing something else" (this plays a factor in your morale question)

Morale?
No need to make rolls -- I found in previous editions that morale rolls were difficult given the ever changing situations and the subsequent requirement to determine how much to modify on a constant basis. Just keep it a judgment call. The first order that sounds suicidal, sure maybe they trust them. But once that first guy goes down they may hesitate when asked to charge to the corner of the field all by themself with no backup, etc.
Or, if your *players* are easily motivated by greed, you can just dangle a carrot "don't treat them as cannon fodder, there will be a reward down the line for each minion left alive by the end of it". The reward need not be explicitly as a result of the minions srviving, but down the road toss in an extra treasure equal to X * Y where X is the number of minions left alive and Y is some gp amount that you determine. OR you can also just give the PCs the XP value of the minion for each one that is still alive at the end. But don't tell them what the reward will be (otherwise they will debate how vaulable the reward is), just dangle the carrot.

 

[nittanytbone]

If these are a one time cinematic addition to the team, then I would subtract their XP from the encounter's total XP and call it a day. They get their own initiative role and their general actions are directed by you, the DM (although you could have the players take care of the dice rolling and mini-wrangling).

If the warlord wants them to be a permanent addition, then I would treat them like mounts. A minion would cost 1/4 as much as the mount (think of it as salary, signing bonus, equipment, whatever) of the same level. They would use their master's actions, not their own. They would not suck XP unless they are of significant aid to the combat power of the PCs, per the mount rules in the DMG.

 

[Starglim]

Do you have Martial Power? It seems to me it would be easy to adapt the Beast Companion system to emulate Leadership and just make it a new class feature that the Warlord can take by retraining.

The Bag of Tricks in Adventurer's Vault or the online preview might give some useful mechanics for followers.

 

[Rechan]

Do you have Martial Power? It seems to me it would be easy to adapt the Beast Companion system to emulate Leadership and just make it a new class feature that the Warlord can take by retraining.

He's not as involved as that.

He's just "Well, we're going to go storm X encampment. It'd be dumb to do that with just the five of us! We need some dudes." Just the idea of their presence is enough to suit.

He's an ol' 2e vet where followers just popped up and followed you around, and you got your own keep at level 9, etc.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

I say just let him. In a recent battle IMC the PC's were protecting a village. The Rogue went looking for able bodies helpers and rolled high, so the PCs got to have 8 villagers and 3 archery minions with them. They all went at the same initiative count and I let the players manage them.
I didn't bother with stats, I think I gave them +4 to hit and dealt a flat 4 damage. The PCs were at 9th level at the time.

I think 2 of the villagers actually survived both battles!

Of course, both encounters featured bad guys with area effect powers, so I didn't expect the minions to last long.

I don't use XP to track levels, so I didn't bother with that.

If he wants to go futher, you will definatley have to adapt some sort of system for him.

 

[Starglim]

He's not as involved as that.

He's just "Well, we're going to go storm X encampment. It'd be dumb to do that with just the five of us! We need some dudes." Just the idea of their presence is enough to suit.

He's an ol' 2e vet where followers just popped up and followed you around, and you got your own keep at level 9, etc.

I can definitely understand that (it was 1e though).

edit: If they're not a class feature, he should only get to control them by giving orders in general terms (especially if they're not trained soldiers), but it might be less work for you if one of the players who doesn't have much to do moves them and makes attacks along the lines that PS mentioned.

You could just narrate the addition of some extra militia and extra enemy minions (no XP even if the party hit them) above what you planned for the encounter, how they fight and die each round according to an approximate ratio of levels to the enemy, or break and run away if something particularly dangerous or supernatural appears and the heroes don't immediately seem to be dealing with it.

 

[Danceofmasks]

Personally, I'd ignore their presence when calculating encounter XP etc.
If they're actually minions, they'll get splattered quite quickly.

Sure, they'll soak a few blows, deal a bit of damage, and otherwise aid the effort, but ...

They will get killed (and from the perspective of the populace) unnecessarily ... since the PCs are indestructible by comparison.

In D&D, it's "silly to bring squishy mooks along" for that's just deliberately hurting your minions for little actual benefit.
And his rep will suffer for it.

 

[frankthedm]

While I like big battles, having Minion allies on their side may make fights HARDER for the PCs. Unless the players are intentionally sacrificing their minions, the party is going to take efforts to protect the one hit wonders at the party's expense.

 

[Starglim]

In D&D, it's "silly to bring squishy mooks along" for that's just deliberately hurting your minions for little actual benefit.
And his rep will suffer for it.

That seems a bit metagamey. But I'd agree that ordering minions to attack something that's an actual threat to PCs should prove neither glorious nor effective.