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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(Psi)SeveredHead" data-source="post: 5453644" data-attributes="member: 1165">I was thinking of creating a series of skills-based minions for my campaign. I will make them available here as well. I am hoping to get feedback (too complex? Overpowered? Etc.) and, if they turn out right, other GMs could use them too.You're encouraged to give them levels suiting those of your PCs as well as any villains they might be serving. (For instance, the advisor to the local evil baron, who is a 5th-level noble, might be a 3rd-level advisor. If they're the power behind the throne, they might have more levels than the head villain!)***The skill DCs for 4e are often quite high, hitting DC 20-21 for moderate skill checks for 1st-level. PCs have a hard enough time making these checks, and NPCs have it a bit worse (if only because they can't/shouldn't crank their stats as high at 1st-level).In addition, I suspect most experts don't need to make skill checks all that often. I'm not picturing Stephen Hawking needing to make more than one Knowledge (physics) check per day, but those would be very hard ones. (Any of his skill checks would be months-long skill challenges with very high DCs, requiring using libraries, labs and other equipment that would give bonuses.)The Eureka! ability gives a +5 bonus to a skill check once per encounter. With an average roll, the expert will easily make a moderate skill check and has a decent chance of making a hard skill check. (Slightly higher level experts can routinely make hard skill checks.)Expert Minion: Level 1 ? minion; XP 25HP 1AC 15; Fort 12, Ref 15, Will 13Initiative +1; Perception +1TraitsSavant: The expert minion designates one of the following skills it possesses as its area of expertise: Arcana, Diplomacy, Dungeoneering, Heal, History, Insight, Nature, Perception, Religion, Streetwise, Thievery or an esoteric Intelligence-based skill (Cryptography, Law, etc.)Standard ActionsTool (weapon) * At-Will. Atk: +6 vs AC. Hit: 4 damage.Minor ActionsEureka! * Encounter. Effect: The expert minion gains a +5 power bonus to the next savant skill check it makes before the end of its next turn.Skills: Choose up to 4 skills, and may include esoteric Intelligence-based skills. Dexterity, Wisdom and Charisma-based skills have a +6 bonus, while Intelligence-based skills have a +8 bonus.Alignment: Any. Languages: Choose one to four.Str 10 Dex 12 Wis 13Con 9 Int 16 Wis 12Equipment: Varies considerably, but always includes tools of the trade. Expert minions with Arcana or Religion can use rituals of their level or lower.How would you use such an NPC? Either as an ally or a villain works.A neutral-aligned black marketeer could be trained in Arcana and Diplomacy, with the former being their savant skill. Once per encounter (which could be any sales job spaced more than five minutes apart!) they could make an Arcana +13 check, handy for identifying magic items. With the proper ritual (and perhaps a few more levels) the marketeer could protect their shop with alarms and other defenses. If said black marketeer has Streetwise, they could use their "connections" to assist friendly PCs as well.A good-aligned doctor (taking the Heal skill) could be "doing the rounds" for a group of villages, tending to wounds and helping the sick. A plague has recently struck the area, and he asks the PCs to collect ingredients from the nearby dangerous mountains. He can't do this himself, as he'd probably fall and kill himself and couldn't fend off the local gnolls, and also wants to stay behind and help the sick. The longer the PCs take, the more villagers die.A dangerous solitary assassin tracks the PCs to an inn they're going to be sleeping in while they stay in Village X. He realizes they are sleeping in separate rooms, but they're ticked off enough people to be cautious, so they always lock up. Not feeling confident in his own ability to pick locks, he hires an expert locksmith (who has savant Thievery and can hit a +11 Thievery check) to get him inside. Once inside the room, he waits for the PCs to inevitably return, hoping to slay one and escape rather than facing the whole group. Even if the minion doesn't take part in the combat (and why would a locksmith do so?) it's reasonable to include their XP value in the encounter.***To answer the inevitable: there's at least one leader minion out there. I think it's in the MM3.One reason to include an advisor is because, when an adventuring party is negotiating with a noble, frequently the noble will be accompanied by an advisor focusing on the topic at hand.Alternatively, an advisor could be a councillor or consigliere to an evil king or crime boss. Slaying them would weaken the head villain, so the PCs have an incentive to do just that. While weak (not being a combatant)Advisor Minion: Level 1 Controller (Leader) Minion; XP 25HP 1AC 15; Fort 12, Ref 15, Will 13Initiative +0; Perception +1Standard ActionsClub (weapon) * At-Will. Atk: +6 vs AC. Hit: 4 damage.Triggered ActionsSage Advice * Encounter. Trigger: An ally within 5 squares that the advisor can see or hear makes a skill check using a skill the minion possesses. Effect (Free Action): The minion grants the ally the ability to reroll the skill check with a +3 power bonus.Skills: Diplomacy +6, Insight +6 and two Intelligence-based skills (+8 bonus).Str 10 Dex 10 Wis 13Con 9 Int 16 Cha 12</blockquote>

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