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View Full Version : [4e] A Certain Minion (my players keep out)



Zaq
2010-09-12, 11:39 AM
Hey folks. It's my turn to take the DM hat for our 4e game (currently level 7). One minor thing I want to throw at the party is a character based on Zero, from the Mega Man X (and Mega Man Zero, technically) series. We often laugh about how Zero dies in every most games in which he appears, so this character will be, technically, a Minion (one hit kills, after all). He'll appear in several different combats (since he always comes back), with, of course, no explanation. I want him to have some kind of Leadery effect, but I haven't decided what yet. I don't need him to match Zero too much more closely than that (I don't want to turn this into a Mega Man campaign, humorous though that may be), but as long as he uses something that I can fluff as an energy sword, has 1 HP, and has some kind of cool effect on his allies, I can work with that. Since we're currently in a Warforged-heavy area, it would make sense for him to be a 'forged, but I'm willing to refluff whatever I need to refluff.

So, any suggestions for how to handle that? I don't know if there are any good minions with leader capacities that I can just refluff, though I imagine not. I'm also not sure where to set his defenses, since I want him to die in one hit, but not necessarily one turn. Can anyone offer anything that Imight use as a base to tweak, or any other suggestions? I'm not very experienced with DMing 4e, so any help would be appreciated.

Sir_Elderberry
2010-09-12, 12:16 PM
Give him an aura, say aura 3, that prevents any minions in it from dying. He himself is a minion, and so will be swiftly targeted and dispatched, making this not an unbalancing effect. However, attacking a minion and having it just stay standing ("It doesn't appear to be hurt at all") would be a pretty memorable experience for a party, and so they'll notice his continued reappearances.

ghost_warlock
2010-09-12, 01:00 PM
Give him an aura, say aura 3, that prevents any minions in it from dying. He himself is a minion, and so will be swiftly targeted and dispatched, making this not an unbalancing effect. However, attacking a minion and having it just stay standing ("It doesn't appear to be hurt at all") would be a pretty memorable experience for a party, and so they'll notice his continued reappearances.

I am so going to use that for my Dark Sun campaign. :smallbiggrin:

mobdrazhar
2010-09-12, 04:29 PM
Give him an aura, say aura 3, that prevents any minions in it from dying. He himself is a minion, and so will be swiftly targeted and dispatched, making this not an unbalancing effect. However, attacking a minion and having it just stay standing ("It doesn't appear to be hurt at all") would be a pretty memorable experience for a party, and so they'll notice his continued reappearances.

Stolen for my campaign

Starsinger
2010-09-12, 05:10 PM
Give him an aura, say aura 3, that prevents any minions in it from dying. He himself is a minion, and so will be swiftly targeted and dispatched, making this not an unbalancing effect. However, attacking a minion and having it just stay standing ("It doesn't appear to be hurt at all") would be a pretty memorable experience for a party, and so they'll notice his continued reappearances.

I also will be stealing this.

kyoryu
2010-09-12, 07:47 PM
Give him an aura, say aura 3, that prevents any minions in it from dying. He himself is a minion, and so will be swiftly targeted and dispatched, making this not an unbalancing effect. However, attacking a minion and having it just stay standing ("It doesn't appear to be hurt at all") would be a pretty memorable experience for a party, and so they'll notice his continued reappearances.

Giving minions a save to avoid death may be a little less... odd. It'd still be noticeable, but wouldn't turn into "where's Waldo"

TheEmerged
2010-09-12, 10:09 PM
I tried something like this once, but it was a hazard that always had 3 "puppet" minions active until you find and disarm it. You might want a "puppet master" type scenario, where you keep seeing the same minions until you find the puppet master.

Shatteredtower
2010-09-13, 06:06 PM
Another idea that might work is to make the minion an embodied fragment of a forgotten, amnesiac god. It goes well with leader powers and auras, has a plausible reason for fluctuating in power, and could become a plot focus if the party wishes it. If not, no harm done.

Great, now I have this image of a solo minion, with 5 hp, that always takes only 1 hp of damage from a given attack. ...Oddly enough, I might have a use for such a creature.