omething that I've tested and seemed to have worked out really well is something that I call elite minions. In 4th ed, minions go down after taking 1 hit. They fill the ranks and make up the grunts of any adversary party. The only problem that I have with them is that once the players figure out which monsters are elites, they focus fire using their at-will powers and try and blown them away with their aoe attacks. This is a good stratagy for them, but as a dm, we need to stay a step ahead of the players always!
Here is the mechanic for Elite Minions:
HP: 2, Bloodied: 1; Threshhold: 10
What is threshold, I hear you asking, well it a new key term that I'm introducing where the number it corresponds to is how much damage needs to be done to kill the monster outright. Otherwise, if this damage is not met, the monster becomes bloodied and then the rules of normal minions apply. In essence, Threshold acts as a sort of damage buffer.
The exact number for the threshold can change per monster I think it should be a constant throughout each teir of play. I'm still playing around with the numbers but it should be either. I tested it at level 7 with a Threshold of 15 and it worked very well. Exp-wise I would just double the exp of the minion to bump it up to an Elite Minion.
TO sum up the Elite Minion Mechanics. They have 2 hp. If the first hit does more then the threshold value in damage they die instantly like a normal minion would. If the damage is less then this threshold they only take 1 point of damage and become bloodied, even if the damage comes from a missed attack. From here, they act as normal minions, with missed attacks not dealing any damage to them. Elite Minions cost double the Exp from their normal minion counter part.
As as side rule to this, you could add for flavor that any critical hit automatically kills the Elite Minion even if the damage is less then the threshold.
Here is the mechanic for Elite Minions:
HP: 2, Bloodied: 1; Threshhold: 10
What is threshold, I hear you asking, well it a new key term that I'm introducing where the number it corresponds to is how much damage needs to be done to kill the monster outright. Otherwise, if this damage is not met, the monster becomes bloodied and then the rules of normal minions apply. In essence, Threshold acts as a sort of damage buffer.
The exact number for the threshold can change per monster I think it should be a constant throughout each teir of play. I'm still playing around with the numbers but it should be either. I tested it at level 7 with a Threshold of 15 and it worked very well. Exp-wise I would just double the exp of the minion to bump it up to an Elite Minion.
TO sum up the Elite Minion Mechanics. They have 2 hp. If the first hit does more then the threshold value in damage they die instantly like a normal minion would. If the damage is less then this threshold they only take 1 point of damage and become bloodied, even if the damage comes from a missed attack. From here, they act as normal minions, with missed attacks not dealing any damage to them. Elite Minions cost double the Exp from their normal minion counter part.
As as side rule to this, you could add for flavor that any critical hit automatically kills the Elite Minion even if the damage is less then the threshold.
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