Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Syrsuro" data-source="post: 4385709" data-attributes="member: 58162">I was reading this thread: <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=236066" target="_blank">http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=236066</a> and I started to post my opinions in that thread, and then decided it really fell into the 'house rules' category rather than the '4e rules' category. So here it is.....   My take on minions: I really like the idea, and I initially saw them as one of the noteable innovations (OK, adaptations - as similar ideas have been in other games for awhile) of 4E. But after seeing them in play I am less than enamored of their implementation. My problem with minions is that they often go down so fast that they don't have any measurable effect on the combat - aside from a brief (albeit hollow) ego burst for the dragonborn or scorching burst wizard. And if they aren't going to influence the combat beyond a couple bursts, what purpose do they serve? They don't really seem to add much to the combat, making them an idea that doesn't live up to its potential. And perhaps even detracts from the combat (since they often die before even having a chance to act). For example (reference to Treasure of Talon Pass): [sblock]Example from a published module: I have seen Treasure of Talon Pass run twice, once as a player and once as a DM. In both cases, the horde of 10 pack zombies (minions) failed to hit a single player, dying so fast that they had negligible effect on the combat (in both cases every single zombie was dead before the wights appeared on the scene).[/sblock] As a result, I am considering a small change. I don't want to get into tracking hit points for minions; after all, that is part of the rationale behind minions. And I definately want to retain the idea of the minion/mook. But I think I also want them to not fall automatically to the first casual hit.  I am mulling over the following approaches (as well as just leaving it as is).  Option A (50/50): When a minion is hit, I randomly determine the outcome with a 50% chance of death and a 50% chance of being bloodied. A second hit on a bloodied minion kills it. Possible addition: Damage from a missed attack can bloody them. Note: "Bookkeeping" is simple as they are either alive, bloodied or dead.  Option B (2 pts): If a minion takes damage from an attack that does 1 die or less of damage (i.e. cleave, at wills, dragonborn breath, etc.) it is bloodied. If a minion takes damage from an attack that does 2 or more dice of damage (most encounters and dailies) it is dead. Note: Here, also, "bookkeeping" is simple as they are either alive, bloodied or dead.  Option C (combined): If a minion takes damage from an attack that does 1 die or less of damage (i.e. cleave, at wills, dragonborn breath, etc.) it is bloodied 50% of the time and dead 50% of the time. If a bloodied minion takes further damage, they are dead. If a minion takes damage from an attack that does more than 1 die of damage, it is dead.  These changes seem as if they will make minions a bit more relevant to the encounters they occur in, while keeping them easy to clear out and keeping the 'bookkeeping' drain to a minimum. It also makes it a bit less clear which are the minions as they players will now occasionally damage/bloody one and not be sure whether it was due to its hit points or its minion status. So what is the consensus here: Should I leave it as is or consider a change? What am I missing that makes minions, as written, a better option than A, B or C?  To put it another way:  If one of the above were the RAW, on what basis would you argue for "minions all have 1 hp" as a superior house rule. Carl</blockquote>

Verification