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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6981053" data-attributes="member: 42582">Mathematically, a 9th level minion is comparable to a 1st level standard, as far as threat to a 1st level PC is concerned:The minion does 9 or so damage on a hit (level +8, halved); the standard does the same (level +8) - I'm using MM3 numbers here. The minion has a better "to hit" chance - the standard probably around 60%, the minion around 90% - so about 1.5 times expected DPR. The standard is more likely to have some debilitating effect, however. The minion has AC 23 or so (14 + level), which means a 1st level PC (with around +6 to hit) takes around four rounds to kill it. The standard has AC 15 or so, and 25 to 30 hp. The first level PC hits it 3/5 of the time, and needs 2 to 3 hits to kill it, which means the standard takes around 4 rounds to be killed.The minion does more DPR but is far more swingy and does fewer effects - there is a good chance that 1 or 2 minions will drop in the first round, whereas this is less likely for the standard creatures.But in any event, why would a 4e GM build a 1st level encounter using 9th level minions? That's quite contrary to the express encounter-building guidelines, and deliberately mis-using minions.</blockquote>