Epic Minions

I've long loved Minions in 4e Dungeons and Dragons. They're good for everyone involved. The players get a sweet one-hit-kill (which, as long as they didn't mindlessly drop a Daily on them, feels really good), and the DM gets the sadistic pleasure of filling the map with a dozen or more monsters all out for PC blood. They're an easy way to up the threat level while still maintaining balance. Many's the time I've used Minions liberally in my encounters, outnumbering the players with hungry dogs or hungrier zombies in what turns into a joyous slash-and-spell-fest of the highest degree.

These Orcs all have 1 hp each. Suddenly the
War of the Ring doesn't seem so hard.

As a consequence, however, I have found that, by Epic Tier, Minions have become slightly stale. My Players can identify them easily, know to avoid them until the Warlock and Wizard get set up, and then decimate them with Curse Grind or Shadow Monsters. Most Minions wind up dead in the first round of combat, making the rest of the encounter very dull. By the time Epic Tier rolls around, not only is the magic of Minions gone, but also the threat. The easy-to-kill monster has suddenly become way-too-easy-to-kill.

I tried a few methods to deal with this. My first strategy was to simply add more Minions. That was scary for a few combats, but it was no more exciting or effective than the old tactics. The next approach I tried was to have the minions roll a saving throw every time they took damage. On a roll of ten or higher, the damage was negated. This was ok at first, but it wasn't long until PCs started to feel robbed and I started to feel like a jerk. And let's face it: a minion that sticks around for five rounds by sheer chance kind of misses the point.

I decided to focus on the problem, rather than slapping on a quick fix. As I already mentioned, the main problem I was having was that my Minions weren't even getting a turn. As soon as combat started, all it took was a well-placed fireball spell and suddenly the battlefield was as bare as a Marilith's chest.

Not the picture some of you were hoping for? Tough.

One way to counteract this is to have Minions come in as reinforcements. This gives the Minions a chance to actually do something. Instead of being picked off before their turn in the order comes round, they act as soon as they hit the battlefield. If reinforcements doesn't make any sense to the circumstances of an encounter, I add a +5 to their initiative score to give them a chance in combat. This meant that, by receiving a few hits, the PCs were actually earning the XP the minions granted them.

Another good way to make Minions effective, and a very simple fix, is to extend their hit points. This might seem cheap, or that it defeats the purpose, but if your controllers and strikers are ripping through them like tissues at a Charlie Kaufman movie then desperate measures are called for. And a very slight hp buffer can make all the difference.

I tried this out at my game on Friday. The party was in Gloomwrought being ambushed by the Ebony Guard. I took the Ebony Guard Initiate, from the Shadowfell Boxed Set, and leveled it up to 21. Then I simply edited the stat block so that it said 30 hp instead of 1. I left all the other stats intact.

The result in combat was remarkable. A direct hit from the Ranger in the group still killed one instantly (he even picked off two in one turn, without an action point). From everyone else on the board it took no more than two hits to drop them. But the time it bought the Minion was enough to get in some nasty damage, and even one or two crits from the Initiate's "Furious Flock" ability. The Players were happy the Minions went down quick, but also surprised when they didn't initially. It shook things up in a very good way.

I picked 30 hp at random (the whole concept was fairly spur of the moment), but I think if you gave the Minion around 10 hp per tier it should balance quite nicely. This kind of thing might not even be necessary at Heroic Tier. It may even result in a TPK, if you go overboard. But if, at any tier, your Minions have a hard time staying on the board long enough to do anything effective, it's a quick and easy solution that might help bring the threat back to these nasties. And hopefully your players will think twice before saying "those ones are probably just Minions." 

Thanks, and happy gaming!

-DS