Concept: All-minion combat
Tested in: The Great Tower of Oldechi
What it is: In D&D 4E, minions were a creature type with static damage and only one hit point. They rarely had more than two powers (a melee attack and a ranged attack, or an attack and a movement power, etc.) and almost never had any consumable power. They were intended to supplement an encounter and give the PCs some roadblocks on the way to the actual monsters, serving as fodder the party didn’t have to focus on but couldn’t ignore either.
The rules said that four minions equaled one normal monster for the purposes of the XP budget (though later rules suggested using five minions at mid-level and six at high-level, to account for their low damage growth and the PCs’ increased access to multi-target powers). Since 4E was based around five monsters per combat, that meant a combat with twenty minions was technically a fair encounter. I had a party exploring a coastline, so I decided to hit them with a horde of murlocs, the numerous, irritating creatures we all knew from World of Warcraft. Continue reading