Minion attack mechanic

[Catharsis]

One thing I noticed in my playtest so far is that having a large number of minion-type enemies (like the centipedes or skeletons) can result in a stupenduous number of attack rolls, sometimes concentrated on a single PC. This is not only exceedingly dangerous for the PC (even at -10, an attack is still dangerous), but also requires a lot of die-rolling.

I'm wondering whether it would be worthwhile to change the way attacks work for minion-type enemies. Rather than rolling 2 or 3 attacks, they only roll 1 attack and get a +1 damage bonus for every extra attack they could otherwise have gotten. Sound fair? This sort of attack could be hard-wired into some enemies and could also simply be applied on the fly to regular enemies used as minions at higher levels.

It would streamline the «large mass of enemies» scenario, making it more enjoyable for everybody at the table and more survivable as well.

[Alchemic_Genius]

As far as streamlining, I usually run these encounters by having a pregen sheet of rolls and just ticking down. Makes the game faster, but it doesn't address the lethality factor you mentioned

[Catharsis]

Just wondering — has any thought been given to this in the post-playtest overhaul?

[Edge93]

I can safely say I haven't seen it considered. It hasn't been a problem at my table to be sure. First if you have a lot of enemies then they should be much lower level than the party, meaning they will not be particularly threatening. If a bunch of foes are attacking one player then it's a simple matter to figure out what number is needed to hit for each attack (With level disadvantage and MAP this will likely become Nat 20 only fairly quickly) and make rapid-fire rolls watching for those numbers.

Also having other things to do with their actions can help. First round they should need to move at least once first unless the player closes first, and with their level disadvantage their numbers should fall very quickly.

I mean, it's not the worst idea, but it feels unnecessary. Plus minion status is a bit relative. A threat at one level is a punk a few levels later.

But it's not a bad idea for something like a Troop, a single foe representing a group of lesser foes. I think Paizo has already confirmed they are doing a troop template type of thing. The "On a failed attack but not crit fail, deal minimum damage" isn't a bad idea for troops either.

Honestly though making one attack with an extra +1 or 2 is going to be more deadly than one attack followed by one or two that are almost certain to miss if we are talking about punk-level enemies. So if you are aiming to reduce the deadliness of a bunch of weak foes I think it possibly backfires.

[Captain Morgan]

I was confused on first read-- Minion is a specific trait now, and I was like "How many actions does their boss even have to command them, he can only command 3 a turn."

Anyway, Paizo may have some changes in mind for low level minions. In the surveys, they always seem to ask GMs how useful a monster's third action was. No idea what they are thinking though.