D&D 5E The Mob Rules!

[Rune]

So, bounded accuracy combined with scaling hit points and damage are (so far) to be this edition's means of handling minions.

This is great, but only if they streamline the dice-rolling for mobs of mooks.

Here's one way to handle it:

Instead of rolling to hit, all attacking members of the mob roll damage against their chosen target. All at once, if possible (d6s will be best for this reason). Any die that is higher than a set number (say, 4, or so) does the amount of damage rolled. All other results are misses.

Now, this does mean that AC plays no roll in defense against a mob, which might be a problem for some. If so, the AC can set the target number for the damage dice (perhaps AC-10).

Even if the creatures making up the mob still have to add in a bonus to damage for each that hit, it's still quite a bit less rolling (and calculating) than would otherwise be the case. But this, too, can be simplified. Simply count the multiples of 10 enemies that hit (and drop any remainder) and multiply this by the damage bonus (so 12 hits at +4 damage would be +40 damage, instead of +48, but +8 hits at +4 would be +0 instead of +32).

So that's it. Less dice, less math, quicker mobs.

 

[mlund]

When it gets to that point, just use the Average Damage bestiary listing for the monsters. If a goblin does "Hit: 2 (1d6 -1) bludgeoning damage" then just roll a bunch of d20s at once, and multiple the hits by the damage. Done.

- Marty Lund

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

Another option would be to make a single attack roll with a +1 bonus for each like monster in the group. If it hits, the damage is equal to the number of monsters times the average damage of the attack.

 

[Rune]

When it gets to that point, just use the Average Damage bestiary listing for the monsters. If a goblin does "Hit: 2 (1d6 -1) bludgeoning damage" then just roll a bunch of d20s at once, and multiple the hits by the damage. Done.

- Marty Lund

I don't know about you, but I own a whole lot more d6s than d20s. But, eh...YMMV.

 

[Rune]

Another option would be to make a single attack roll with a +1 bonus for each like monster in the group. If it hits, the damage is equal to the number of monsters times the average damage of the attack.

This is simple, but it's an all-or-nothing attack. And with bounded accuracy, it pretty much just means you deal damage for every creature in the group.

 

[mlund]

I don't know about you, but I own a whole lot more d6s than d20s. But, eh...YMMV.

If you don't own at least 6d20 as a DM you're doing something wrong.

On top of that, to-hit rolls are binary greater than or equals comparisons. You don't have to tally dice results - just hits and misses. It's a much faster process for macro combat, speaking as someone that plays war-games where a lot of dice are rolled.

- Marty Lund

 

[Greenfield]

When dealing with large numbers of attackers, say in a massed archery situation, I deal damage statistically: If the archers need to roll an 18 or higher to hit, that's a 15% hit rate.

So 15% of the archers hit, and each does average damage.

Note that you'll never get lower than a 5% hit rate, since natural 20s always hit.

In melee, I handle mobs as groups of 8, since that's the maximum number that can attack someone in normal combat. (I ignore the "Combat Conga Line" I often see in D&DNext. It's a perversion of the rules, in my opinion.)

Spoiler

Due to the lack of AoO rules, event sequencing and allowing everyone to "Move/Attack/Move", I watch DMs run a conga-line assault, where monsters take turns threading through a hole in the line, attacking one character, then conga-dancing back out the same way, one after another. Having 20 people attack the same target from the same square, all in six seconds, may be technically legal, but it's wrong.[/spioler]

Handling them in groups of 8 still gives them Advantage (or in previous editions, Flank Attack bonuses). That's not quite enough to handle statistically in a lot of cases, but it does keep the dice rolling down to a sane level.

 

[DogBackward]

I'd prefer to see minions just have a special "mob attack." Something simple, like:

Mob Attack
Up to five minions can participate in making a Mob Attack, as long as they all act on the same initiative. Each minion must spend their action as part of this attack, though only one attack is made. The attack is made with a bonus equal to the number of participating minions. If the attack hits, the target takes 1d4 damage, +1 damage per participating minion.

This means you only have to make one attack roll per 5 minions, at most. I think this is the best way to handle very large groups of minion type monsters.

Then, each specific type of minion could vary this attack by a bit. For example, a group of "brutish" minions could have:

Brutal Mob
When this minion participates in a Mob Attack, and all participating minions also have this trait, the Mob Attack deals 1d8 damage, +2 damage per participating minion.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

This is simple, but it's an all-or-nothing attack. And with bounded accuracy, it pretty much just means you deal damage for every creature in the group.

Perhaps if we add half-damage on a miss?

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

When it gets to that point, just use the Average Damage bestiary listing for the monsters. If a goblin does "Hit: 2 (1d6 -1) bludgeoning damage" then just roll a bunch of d20s at once, and multiple the hits by the damage. Done.

- Marty Lund

This. Especially when DR has made a semi-comeback with the monk's Iron Root Defense and that one feat, it's important that multiple attacks be separated out.

If you're actually dealing with more than 5-6 identical monsters making the same attack against the same target at the same initiative, you might be better off with a 4e-style "swarm"-type monster.