During this season of D&D Encounters we’ve been running tables with very large parties. The more heroes there are in the party, the more monsters I’ve placed on the map. However, week after week of just adding more monsters was starting to get a little bit boring, not to mention that it led to combat encounters that were taking a very long time to complete. I knew that I needed to shake things up and my solution was two-hit minions.
When I was using regular minions I found that the players, upon learning which opponents had only 1 hit point, treated the minions differently than other monsters. A lot of the PCs ignored them. The PCs with powers that could target multiple creatures (usually the controllers) would often eliminate all the minions in one round. It was very unsatisfying for the players and for me as the DM. Enter two-hit minions.
The players had no idea what was happening. They saw 12 monsters on the board and assumed (correctly) that at least some were minions. In this case eight were minions, four were not. But when the first PC attacked a minion and it didn’t die the PCs had to quickly reassess the situation. It took the players a couple of rounds before they realized that these were indeed minions, but they weren’t minions as they understood them. The result was unprecedented teamwork.
Mechanics
As the name implies it takes two hits to destroy a two-hit minion. However, I’ve added a couple of other quarks to the two-hit minions as I’ve refined them through play-testing. After the first hit the minion is bloodied. This serves two purposes. First it lets the players know which minions will fall with a single hit and which ones still need two hits. The second is that some PCs can do different things against bloodied opponents than they can against non-bloodied opponents. So one hit: bloodied, two hits: dead.
The only exception is on a natural 20. In those rare instances when a PC crits a two-hit minions I’ve counted it as two hits and that minions is destroyed. Now players don’t feel like a crit on a minion is a wasted 20.
As an additional reward to PCs that bloody two-hit minions, I started having the creatures fall prone when they got hit the first time, but not automatically or all the time. The attack score had to exceed the defense the PC was targeting by 5 or more. Originally I had them falling prone all the time on any hit, but it didn’t really make them seem that much better than regular minions. By rewarding a high attack roll in this way the PCs made more effort to work together to flank and get combat advantage on that first hit. It also reinforces the idea that you should always do the math and call out the total attack roll and not just say “I rolled a 17.” Sure a 17 will hit, but if the total isn’t above 21 than the minion is still on his feet.
The whole purpose of using two-hit minions was to add danger and excitement to the encounter. I wasn’t trying to make the minions uber-powerful. I just wanted a way to make them more menacing and to keep them around a little bit longer. I felt that having them fall prone on the first hit (assuming the attack score exceeded the target number by 5 or more) gave players a sense of satisfaction even though they didn’t kill the minion outright. It was also a way to reward the PCs because now that minion was granting combat advantage to melee attackers. If the minion was still alive on its turn it now had to use its move action standing up.
Increased Teamwork and Tactics
When the players learned that two-hit minions were now a mainstay in my encounters, it gave them a real incentive to work together. They actually talked about a coordinated attack pattern to take out the minions and didn’t just leave them for the controllers to handle. Sometimes the controllers worked to bloody all the minions early, that way any PC could kill a minion with one shot. Knowing that there was a good chance of knocking a fresh two-hit minion prone allowed PCs to help allies in distress. Threatened PCs could now move far enough away from a prone minion that they didn’t have to worry about getting attacked on the monster’s next turn.
The other tactic that quickly caught on at the table was for two PCs to delay until they were on the same number in the initiative and then engage the minions together. One PC (usually a defender) went first and attacked the nearest minion. As part of the attack the defender would mark it. The second PC would then attack the same one. If they both hit, then the minions was dead. If either missed then at least the minion was marked and would engage the defender. If the defender wasn’t available then the Ranger usually took point knowing that he had a good chance of killing a two-hit minion himself.
Players also began to see the importance of Wizards and Rangers when fighting two-hit minions. When facing a bunch of typical minions, a Wizard and Ranger can easily take down two a piece on their turn. But with two-hit minions the Wizard can’t kill any by himself. He can bloody many, but they’re all going to be alive and dangerous on their turn (although possibly prone). The Ranger on the other hand is capable of making multiple attacks on the same creature – an important distinction. So he can actually destroy a two-hit minion by himself on his turn. Now there’s one less to threaten the party.
A battlefield littered with bloodied two-hit minions becomes a shooting gallery for a Wizard with Magic Missile. Since Magic Missile always hits (even if the minion is prone), this becomes the fastest and easiest way to get rid of any bloodied two-hit minions.
The strikers more than any other class seem to hate the two-hit minions. Players running strikers often feel that their incredible damage should count for something else against a two-hit minion. After all, even the lowliest PC can destroy a two-hit minion with two successful attacks that each deal 1 point of damage. Meanwhile a striker is likely to dole out significantly more damage on his turn but still need to hit the minion twice. In a game just this week a level 1 Warlock inflicted over 20 points of damage on two consecutive rounds against a two-hit minion (both with at-will attacks). It still killed the monster, but the player really felt that all of that extra damage was wasted.
The lesson the party learned from this was to let the strikers focus on the non-minions and have everyone else take care of the two-hit minions so that the extra damage was put to its best use. I suppose is a valid argument even when fighting normal minions. The exception being Rangers, as we’ve already noted above.
Building Better Minions
Over the past few months I’ve used a lot of two-hit minions with a lot of different gaming groups (most notably at D&D Encounters). After each session I asked the players for feedback and refined the concept based on their comments. All in all the players have embraced the two-hit minions. They really liked the idea that they were knocked prone when first hit and didn’t have any issues with needing a really high attack roll to do it.
The only feedback that I’ve received that I haven’t been able to decide on how to handle is with regards to daily and encounter powers. Some players felt that if they used an encounter or daily power that it should count as two hits and destroy the minions. In a way I understand that argument, after all it’s a more powerful ability so using it and not killing a minions is likely to frustrate many players.
For now I’m still demanding that PCs score two hits, regardless of what kind of power is used and I have a few good reasons for doing so. Many D&D Essentials builds do not have encounter or daily powers in the same way as non-Essentials builds. This means that some PCs would have an edge when battling two-hit minions that other do not and I don’t think that’s fair. Having two-hit minions react differently to at-will, encounter and daily powers means that the DM would have to keep track of one more thing during combat, and that’s not something I’m willing to do as a DM.
Finally I look at how powers are used against minions today. Most PCs, once they realize that they’re facing minions, won’t use anything more powerful than an at-will attack. My though is that if you’re using a bigger power against your opponents then you obviously feel that the situation calls for it. If the target happens to be a minion and you use an encounter of daily power against it then that’s just too bad. In fact just last week my level 20 Warlord used a daily power on a minion. The party was in desperate need of healing and the power would only grant it on a successful hit. The 3[W] damage was absolutely wasted, but the healing it provided was not.
What are you thoughts on two-hit minions? Have you ever used them? Are you likely to use them moving forward? What feedback or criticism do you have on the mechanics as I’ve described them above? My goal is to make the two-hit minions as good as they can be while still being a balanced part of the encounter so please let me know what you think.
Related reading:
- More Than Just Minions
- My Love Affair With Minions
- Building Better Monsters Part 3: Making the Monster Fit the Bill
View Comments (34)
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1 2 3 … 5 Next »I love these little two-hit guys. I will occasionally add other 'spice' to my two-hit minions, like a "vulnerable" flavor that dies on a single hit with their least favorite damage type. I also like to add a power to Leader non-minions that can amplify the threat from two-hitters:
- minions near their leader get to roll saves at the beginning of their turn
- minions get a bonus to attack & damage vs the target of their leader's ire (quarry, mark, etc.)
- bloodied minions do higher damage
I've always like them, as they still remain easy to manage, easy to eliminate, and add a new choice of monster type and challenge to the table.
I do have one particular player, a power gamer mostly, who doesn't like two-hit minions for whatever reason. I do bump up (double) the XP value of two-hit minions, so all should be fair and love and war here, right?
Genius! I've been rather disappointed with minions over the past few levels, and this idea will work wonderfully. My players have treated them exactly as the players you've observed: not a threat/let the controller take them. Oh how the group will freak out when they see the creatures aren't dying in one hit. Lately, I've had to use very synergistic minions just to make them any threat at all.
I'm also a fan of two-hits minions...I feel it is a way to share the spotlight a little better. A thing I tend to do is put an imaginary damage treshold (maybe 2 x the damage a minion does, not quite fixed yet), to consider it an instant kill. I didn't think about the critical hits yet (since they haven't happened in my minions combat), and I'll add the falling prone on high atk rolls next time I run a game. :)
Whilst I love the 'surprise' that keeps you guessing of two hit minions, they often still do static damage, I'd love to see some examples of other things minions could do, and when they do, do damage that something else be used so that it doesn't seem so 'set' which is often another give away, that hey all these guys are minions but just two hit ones?
Perhaps I'm alone in this, but I'd love to see more on this, as we all know combat can drag, minions are great, but if you've decked out an area with mainly minions you want to add something to them to make them more than static damage pawns as well.
I'd be interested in your thoughts, agree, disagree etc.
I was actually thinking of something vaguely similar to this recently after my frustration over Minions in general as well. Two things I didn't think of were Crits and Knocking them prone, that's actually pretty ingenious.
I think this is a great idea partly because Minions are fun for the players but not so fun for the DM, of course you need to balance this out with what PC's are playing with at your table. No controllers and players might have a hard time.
That being said, this is a great idea, I might use this in my next session.
I sometimes use two-hit minions, but instead of auto-killing them on a crit, I set a damage threshhold, beyond which the minion automatically dies. This makes it so a Controller could, for example, toss a Fireball in the midst of a bunch of minions, and actually see them fall.
The threshhold is usually the Minion's Level +5. Any damage below that, and the minion is just Bloodied.
Sometimes instead of, or in addition to the above, I'll set a minimum damage level of around half the minion's level. Below that, and the minion isn't even bloodied.
I've used the two-hit minions before. They were "just okay." I actually found them more trouble to track than they were worth, but that's just me. There are tons of great ways to make minions more interesting without going the two-hit route:
1. Make your minions 5 levels higher than your PCs, even if that means they are higher level than the non-minion enemies. Having 1 hp doesn't matter if the PCs can't hit them every single time. This also increases the minion's attack rolls and damage and makes them an actual threat because they will hit - a lot. When the controller's burst attack takes out 1 and misses 4, then those four minions proceed to bloody the controller, watch your players scramble around and redeploy their resources to deal with them!
2. Tie waves of minions to events on the battlefield. "When Monster A is bloodied, six minions enter the fight" or "When the PCs are halfway through the skill challenge, six minions show up and engage." Elites or solos that "generate" minions are also cool - an undead behemoth is destroyed and spewing from its corpse comes half a dozen skeletons of previously digested victims... that sort of thing. By adding minions to the fight after the party is engaged (and having already picked their ideal combat position), it changes the dynamic a lot.
3. Have your minions do Aid Another instead of attacking. A high damage brute with four minions aiding its attack (+8 to hit!) makes that creature especially dangerous and forces the players to focus on minions first before anything else. Alternately, have them aid a nasty controller's defense (+8 to defenses against the next attack!). For added cruelty, make those minions something like cute little street urchins or hapless peasants under mind control so that the PCs cringe when they have to take them out.
4. Halfling minions. They're just plain awesome because of Second Chance. It forces a reroll on the part of the player, even on crits, but still gives them a chance to take out the minion in one go. Reskin the halflings and that power in particular for anything that works in your story, e.g. cultists of a chaotic deity, a cool James Bond-esque fight in a casino, etc.
The two-hit minion is a quality addition to a game, but mix it up even more to keep your PCs on their toes. I just designed (what I think) is a very cool little minion/skill challenge for an upcoming game that involves the "minions" being "disturbing memories" of people the PCs have killed previously. While they don't do any damage, as long as you can see them, you take a penalty. Skills as minor actions can allow PCs to ignore or destroy them. Since I feel like I'm already taking up half a page with this post, I'll post it if you want to take look - let me know.
I don't play 4e, but increasing minions from one-hit to two-hit (and making them bloodied) looks to me like a wonderful improvement. I've long (since 2e days) had minor monsters be one- or two-hit kills because I couldn't be bothered to keep track of individual hit points.
Lacking figures, we would typically use d4s to mark monsters on our map. '1' meant uninjured, '2' meant injured, '3' was incapacitated or otherwise limited, '4' was dead. It made keeping track during play much, much easier.
Mounts were usually d6s -- partly because they are larger than their riders, but mostly because it's a cube and easy to balance the 'rider' on.
i reaaaly dont like two hit minions bc once you know they are minions, you have to spam your at wills or players will bc nobody wants to use a powerful power on minions