Will kobolds have 3x the hit points? or...

[Emirikol]

..or will it be a DM's nightmare of 77 kobolds to keep up with a battle against a party of 3xhit-points 1st level 4E characters?

77 kobolds...mmmmm....DM rolling dice forever......

What's the scoop and what are the theories?

jh

 

[FadedC]

I don't know if it's 100% confirmed, but I had read somewhere that minions are creatures that only take up half a character "slot", thus if you have 6 party members they might fight 12 minions or maybe 3 regular monsters and 6 minions.

If any creature screams minion, I'd say it's a kobold. What this means in terms of hp is unclear, but it's worth noting that by current rules a kobold could have 3x as many hp and still go down in one hit pretty easily.

 

[Incenjucar]

I'm hoping that you can just have "kobold swarms" and "ninja swarms" and the like.

 

[Rechan]

We've been told 1st level PCs can fight up to 20 goblins in a fight. So it shouldn't be hard to do.

 

[A'koss]

We've been told 1st level PCs can fight up to 20 goblins in a fight. So it shouldn't be hard to do.

Yes, we've heard that 4 "Minion" monsters per PC make an appropriate challenge. But we've also heard that there are specific "Minion Rules" in combat which leads me to believe they'll have some ability to coordinate their efforts.

I'm willing to bet that if multiple kobolds attack the same character they'll be able to make a single coordinated attack at a higher bonus and damage than they could individually.

 

[Rechan]

I'm willing to bet that if multiple kobolds attack the same character they'll be able to make a single coordinated attack at a higher bonus and damage than they could individually.

Well.

My thinking is this:

An elite has more hit points, but and likely does more damage, but has the same AC and To-hit as a monster equal to its level.

So minions maybe have lower saves and fewer hit points, but the same AC and to-hit as a regular monster of their level.

Although it wouldn't surprise me if minions could lump all their attacks into one or two rolls, so you don't have 20 goblins making 20 individual rolls.

 

[ruleslawyer]

You could do it in D&D via aid another; or, better still, in Iron Heroes via a combination of aid another and attack challenges. Thus, if four goblins attacked one fighter, they could take three aid anothers (+6) and a moderate attack challenge (-4) to make a single attack at +2 with a +3 to damage, or three aid anothers and a major attack challenge to make a single attack at par with a +6 to damage. You could just condense the whole process and tweak the math a bit, and do it like this:

Goblin
[rest of stat block]
Attacks: morningstar +2 melee (1d6) x4; or morningstar +4 melee (1d6+3)

Four goblins then effectively make one attack at roughly the same value as a bugbear. Seems fine to me. (In fact, it looks like I've got a new house rule!)

 

[mach1.9pants]

Goblin
[rest of stat block]
Attacks: morningstar +2 melee (1d6) x4; or morningstar +4 melee (1d6+3)

Like it, hopefully it will be something like that in 4E, maybe even removing entirely the option for individual attacks and applying a -1 penalty to hit for every minion less than 4 or something...
AND oh yes give us ninjaswarms!

 

[Henrix]

Elite kobolds, such as PCs and important NPCs, will probably have treble hit points at first level, others will not, I'd wager. Those designated as 'minions', which might be the standard kobold, will perhaps have even less details and options.

 

[Li Shenron]

I think so too, that the triple starting HP is reserved to all PCs, and some important NPCs, of any race.