Wondering waht other DMs do...

[defendi]

To mix things, up, you should model a fight after the modern military. Think of a group of soldiers under the command of a first sergeant and a second lieutenant. Make the soldiers standard, the sergeant elite and the commanding officer a minion.

 

[Agamon]

For me, it's entirely circumstantial.

If it's a situation where I feel the minions would look different--either in terms of physical appearance, equipment quality, or what have you--then I'll mention that in the description.

But if it's a situation where I don't think there would be a visible different (if there's no good reason for the minions' equipment to be sub-par, for instance), then no, I don't tell them, and they get to find out in combat.

In no case would I use the terms "minion" or "elite" while giving descriptions.

Thanks, Ari. My response is much easier now.

This.

 

[Switchback]

Minions present a new and special dynamic to the game that didn't exist before and I think it is in everyone's interest that Minions be at the very least strongly suggested if not pointed out with high checks.

Player tactics are predicated on them learning what certain monsters can and cannot do and how tough they are in terms of bringing them down and their relative health.

It's a large deviation from previous editions if you can now waste a round sending your fighter over to block the big Bugbear with the heavy armor only to find out he is a minion with 1 HP and the other 2 Bugbear's angling toward your Wizard were the real baddies with 80 HP.

If you think about minions in the cinematic sense, a hero in a movie clearing out a barroom brawl to get to the arch nemesis or what not, it is always very evident which ones are the throwaway thugs that go down with one punch or kick. And if the villain has some special sidekicks these are usually visually given away as well by them being extra built, large and fat, or maybe they have a scar over their eye, and cues to that effect.

They should be handled and identified in D&D no differently in my opinion. The idea should not be for the DM to be trying to 'trick' the players into throwing resources at the cardboard cut-outs whether they have nasty bites or not. In fact more so, for the fact they have nasty bites you need to know which ones they are. Otherwise, you're practically flailing away at enemies as if they had mirror images cast on them.

 

[Griogre]

I disagree with this in the sense there are "in game" mechanics for finding out who the minions are. First is the Nature, Dungeoneering, or Arcana check on a DC 15 you get the stat line. For an in character check like that I still won't mention "minion" but I make clear these are rabble, grunts or irregulars.

Knowledge checks aside, after a round or two the characters know almost always who is putting the hurt on them - and it is *not* usually a minion. If they are paying attention they probably have also figure out who is giving orders or even just watching the fight. That should be a red flag to characters (and players) that this guy is the one you want to take down.

Understand I don't mean playing "gotcha" with character's daily's. On the other hand if a character is desperate and a minion *is* kicking his ass I don't have a problem with the character using it to wipe a minion out either.

 

[Dracollich]

First off, elites are fairly easy to spot in the games I run.

As for minions versus normal monsters... unless they have different equipment than the minions, a normal monster is indistinguishable from the minions. There are a few of reasons I do this:

1. Minions in my game represent the unlucky, untrained, the ones that run off. Normal monsters have a little bit more courage, more endurance, or more skill. A horde of goblins that run at a group all look the same, but the ones that survive the wizard's scorching burst are either the lucky ones or the hardier ones.

2. Its always a semi-climatic moment in an encounter when a fighter is wadding through a horde of creatures, numbers of them dying left and right on his sword, and he comes upon one that takes the hit, grins at him, and returns the strike.

3. Without identifying which one is a minion before being damaged, as a DM I have an ace up my sleeve. I can always switch a minion, that's about to die that is in a spot that would make the encounter more interesting, with a normal monster and PCs have no clue I've done it.

 

[Snotboy]

I was curious, so I checked--out of all of the skills with monster knowledge components, none of them are for Humanoids. I would have to house-rule some other skill in, I suppose. Dungeoneering for goblins and kobolds, maybe orcs. Nature possibly for elves or eladrin--even though they're just close to nature, not directly a part of it. And perhaps it doesn't have to be restricted to monster species type. Streetwise could give monster knowledge for bandit types, while History could help with military style units.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I was curious, so I checked--out of all of the skills with monster knowledge components, none of them are for Humanoids. I would have to house-rule some other skill in, I suppose. Dungeoneering for goblins and kobolds, maybe orcs. Nature possibly for elves or eladrin--even though they're just close to nature, not directly a part of it. And perhaps it doesn't have to be restricted to monster species type. Streetwise could give monster knowledge for bandit types, while History could help with military style units.

That's because most monsters are identified by origin, not type. So humanoids native to the mortal world would be Nature, while those from the Shadowfell would be Arcana. Only a few specific monster keywords--like undead--change the skill used to something other than the one appropriate to their origin.

 

[Griogre]

To elaborate a bit, the type of monster is in the stat block is under the name ie Kobold Minion is a "Small natural humanoid (kobold)". The "natural" means it is a Nature check.

 

[balard]

I used minions once and didn't tell the difference. The players got it quickly too. I think you should use in game descriptions, skill checks, players ingenuity and case-by-case analysis to define these things.

In my game they were attacked by a mix of goblins and humans mutants from a Khyber cult. Being smart, they spend the first round using at-wills to test the opposition, then proceed to mop the humans(non-minions), to then focus on the goblins(minions).

 

[Lurker37]

I would never allow a knowledge check to reveal if a creature is a minion, because minion is an encounter mechanic, not a creature type.