4e: Quick Comparison of 5 Level 21 Minions vs. 1 Level 22 Brute

[wodan46]

Here is a quick comparison between a Legion Devil Legionare, a Level 21 minion, and a War Devil, a level 22 Brute/Leader, who is worth 5 times as much exp, and can be presumed to be equal in value to 5 minions.

Basic Stats
------------Minion-------Brute/Leader
HP---------5 hits--------255
Initiative----11----------17
AC----------37----------35
Fortitude----33----------34
Reflex-------32----------34
Will----------32----------30
Resist Fire----15----------30
Movement---7, teleport 3--8, fly 8(clumsy)
Base Attack +26 vs AC--- +26 vs AC
Base Damage 8 damage----1d6+8 damage (11.5 average damage)

Minion Abilities
Squad Defense: +2 to defenses when adjacent to 1 or more legion devils

Brute Abilities
1. Trident(standard attack, recharge 50%): Reach 2, 4d4+8 damage and ongoing 5, target slides to war devil and is prone, +26 vs AC, recharges 50% of time.
2. Besieged Foe (minor; at-will): Ranged sight; automatic hit; the target is marked, and allies of the war devil gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls made against the target until the encounter ends or the war devil marks a new target.
3. Devilish Transposition (move; at-will) Teleportation: Ranged 20; the war devil and an allied devil within range swap positions.
4. Fiendish Tactics (minor; recharge 33%): ranged 10; affects up to 2 allied devils of the war devil’s level or lower; each target can take a move action or make a basic attack.

You can see how the minions, while dying in 1 hit, actually have better defenses than the brute, and can mob players, allowing them to do a ton of damage as they wrack in bonuses from combat advantages, flanking, squad defense, tactics, and besieged foe. The bonuses give them at least average chances of hitting a similarly leveled player, meaning that they will do 20 damage a round until the player does something about them.

For Minions and Brute/Leaders, the whole is more than the sum of their parts.

[Human Paragon 3]

Interesting comparison, thanks!

The better encounter, of course, would be to include both a squad of minions and the brute, and possibly an artillery devil (or a couple of the nifty ice archons from today's preview!). The brute's transposition ability, mark ability and tactics ability will mesh v. well with the minions' swarm tactics. Plus, whenever the mele'ers get close to the artillery, he can swap with them, then trident them prone into the middle of a minion squad.

And so you see the brilliance of the 4e monsters.