MegaMinions — a New Combat Option for 4E DMs
Don’t you hate it when your players catch on that a bunch of monsters in an encounter are minions, then metagame their strategy the whole time? “Don’t waste an encounter power on it, it’s just a minion!” I offer one possible solution: the MegaMinion.
We’ve already discussed SuperMinions as a way to let the characters of absent players tag along for the night’s adventures. MegaMinions are different — they function as a tool for the DM, not the players. And they have a catchy alliterative name.
A MegaMinion is simply a monster that’s several levels below the PCs – - significantly below the minimum level suggested by the DMG. They still act as cannon fodder, but they’re slightly tougher cannon fodder.
The minion concept is one of the more innovative ideas in Fourth Edition D&D. They do a nice job of simulating the heroes wading through hordes of disposable generic baddies in our favorite fantasy, action and superhero movies. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, 4E’s minions are creatures with a single hit point. Any damage at all (except half damage on a missed attack) will kill them. They do more damage, have better armor class and to-hit rolls at higher levels, but they all have glass jaws.
This is fine until the players catch on. Sometimes it’s as simple as, “Oh, there’s a hobgoblin shaman, two archers, and then eight of these random hobgoblins. They must be minions.” Other times, the DM just forgets to wait for damage rolls before taking the eliminated minions off of the map. At that point, even the most role-playing focused, story driven player is going to realize she should start using blasts and bursts on these things.
MegaMinions offer a nice “in between,” not full monsters and not minions. Aim for an average monster that’s about half the level the party is — no solos or elites. They still fill the minion function, so sprinkle in at least four or five of them. The party will be able to hit them pretty easily and probably take them out with two or three hits. The MegaMinions themselves will have a tough time hitting the PCs because of the difference in attack bonuses and defenses. This is ok.
Mechanically, MegaMinions serve a few useful functions. First, they allow the players to feel awesome. It can get frustrating swinging and missing the monsters with the huge armor class numbers all the time, but mowing down minions doesn’t always feel that satisfying either. MegaMinions are a solid target, good for a few turns of bashing. This leads to their second function: damage sink. Even if the MegaMinions don’t offer much resistance, actions spent chopping them down are actions not spent working over the true threat in the room. So even if they don’t represent a major threat, they can make other threats worse. Just be careful not to make them too wimpy, or the party will realize they can be ignored, and they won’t serve any purpose at all.
How do you make them effective, yet not too effective? Stick with low attack bonuses, so they won’t hit very often. However, make sure the effect of their attack when they do manage to hit is pretty serious, something that gets the PCs’ attention. The easiest way to do that is to have them deal a startling amount of damage, but you could throw in a devastating (or even just really annoying) status effect, like a daze, a mark or being knocked prone. You can scour the monster manuals looking for just the right monster abilities, but you can just as easily modify any monster of the appropriate level by tweaking their damage.
The inspiration for the MegaMinion came from an encounter I designed for our party’s latest adventure. In need of a dungeon, I took the classic first edition module “The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan” and ran the party through the map backwards, utilizing any non-combat encounters I liked (the Apartment of the Dust of Ages was fun), revamping encounters into 4E standards, or throwing some things out and making up new stuff out of whole cloth. The “Xilonen, God of Death” encounter was 4E-ified by taking a Blackroot Treant, adjusting its level, making it a solo monster and adding bits and pieces of a few different monster templates from the DMG. One of the templates allowed the Treant to summon a bunch of undead. Instead of making this a killer encounter with summoned creatures at level 10 or so, I used lower level skeletons. Just more of them.
It worked out quite well, as the party had to divert resources (actions and powers) to clearing out the skeletons, allowing Xilonen to last longer and muddle things with his vine tentacles and slam attacks. Plus, one or two skellies scored hefty hits. I didn’t need to modify damage at all, those Boneshards pack a punch.
Varying the dynamics of 4E combat encounters is more than a good idea, it’s vital to keep your players on their toes. Use some minions one week, no minions the next. Mix in some MegaMinions with regular minions that look identical. Do weird things like put two solos in a single encounter. Whatever it takes.
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April 6th, 2010 5:36 PM
Hate them.
That said, I’ve already worked them into a few encounters for my adventure.
April 6th, 2010 7:54 PM
I’m not sure I agree with the premise! That is: I am not sure that Players aren’t MEANT to know who the Minions are, or at least figure it out. There isn’t anything wrong with the Controller fireballing a bunch of Skeletons because he’s figured out that they are the minions. There isn’t anything wrong with the Striker saving his Daily for the Elite or Solo Blackguard rather than using it on the Thugs.
That said there isn’t anything wrong with a MegaMinion approach if that works…or hiding a Lich in the middle of a pack of Skeletons…
April 7th, 2010 9:47 AM
I’ve been making my minions two or three shot minions. I like the MegaMinions idea, but that’ll still require some book keeping of their HP. By making them survive the first or even the second hit by the PCs, they’re still around to keep the attention of the PCs but not present a major complication to the encounter either.
April 7th, 2010 10:52 AM
Xer0, good point about the bookkeeping. Adding a hit or two to a regular minion is a nice option.
mordicai, you’re right, I wouldn’t use MegaMinions often, just once in a while to keep them guessing. But the very next encounter had a bunch of minion spiders that the party toasted over a wall of fire.
April 7th, 2010 11:06 AM
To be honest, the book keeping in a solo fight, like the one with the tree, wouldn’t be too bad. Solo + 4 MegaMinions, not too bad. But, if you’re doing a more rounded fight, then yeah, MegaMinions could be a bit annoying.
April 7th, 2010 11:11 AM
What about just letting the Minions have a Bloodied state? Sort of like a Superminion, the first time they are damaged, they become bloodied, and the second time, they’re down. That ups their threat considerably without bringing in a completely new design mechanic… That way, the Wizard lays down the Fireball, but when the smoke clears, they’re still there, but charred.
Still fun, but doesn’t make it feel like you’ve robbed the PC when they use an Encounter Power on them, and makes powers that do continuing damage much more fun against Minions.
April 7th, 2010 11:22 AM
My sorcerer couldn’t tell the difference. She bloodies regular monsters on one hit already!
April 7th, 2010 9:21 PM
I’ve used the two-hit minions to great effect in the past, confused the heck out of my players, especially since I had used the same models as minions the last encounter.
April 29th, 2010 10:46 AM
Yes, this is an excelent idea, my DM’s have already used options like this.