Minion: a servile dependent, follower, or
underling
One of my favorite aspects of 4E is the
minion. Heroic and cinematic combat is always something I have tried to capture
in my campaigns over the years. One thing that has always been a problem regardless
of edition is the slowness of combat. Add in a table full of players at mid to
high level and paint may dry faster than your average combat round.
It was minions in fact that actually got
me to FINALLY try 4E after avoiding it for so long. Sure the game mechanic is
easily transferable but using it with the edition it was born from made the
most sense. Now a year later I can honestly say I LOVE minions. I have read
plenty of bloggers who complain minions add too much of a Meta game element
once players realize what they are dealing with. I tend to disagree because
after all our stalwart heroes should be able to identify threat levels.
Especially after a few rounds of combat when they have had time to size up the
situation.
In using hordes of minions I realized I
wanted to beef them up a tad as the players leveled. I reconnoitered various
gaming forums and saw different DMs were using their own form of a two hit
minions. I loved the concept and decided to implement the idea in my own home
brew. These minions have valuable experience which sets them apart from their
lesser colleagues. This mechanic has been great in my mid to high level games.
It has effectively created good opponents which do not have both a super high
AC and sponge of hit points.
Instead these minions have characteristics
which make them deadly – but manageable by our heroes. And most importantly
they make the clock manageable which in my mind is the most important thing.
Our group plays on Saturday nights with only 4-6 hours to spare – being bogged
down in mind numbing combat is not a road I want to go down.
So below I present to you an easy
mechanic for both 2 and 3 hit minions:
These rules are simple and effective. I included the damage/critical
clause because my initial multi-hit minions were a huge nerf to strikers. This
way damage is still rolled and a big hit just gets the job done. I also have
allowed Daily powers to instantly
kill minions of any type on a DM discretionary basis. If it helps move combat
along and make for an epic encounter then I am all for it.
The moral of the story is use minions liberally and make
your combat much more fun!