Henchmen/Minion Max

[Sketchpad]

I've been working on building a few organizations that use minions and was wondering what other GMs consider maximum points for baseline minions. I'm thinking of Hydra/Cobra/Intergang kind of troops before they get any fancy gear or vehicles. 

[Duke Bushido]

5e and prior, for me, and specifically _for minions_ as opposed to agents, troops, etc-  the pawns; the nobody's, the cannon fodder-  minions:

 

20 pts characteristics and skills plus the base level equipment for their mission.

 

 

[Grailknight]

 

 

4 hours ago, Sketchpad said:

I've been working on building a few organizations that use minions and was wondering what other GMs consider maximum points for baseline minions. I'm thinking of Hydra/Cobra/Intergang kind of troops before they get any fancy gear or vehicles. 

 

Don't worry about points worry about capabilities and campaign feel.

 

How many agents does it take to challenge an average hero?  If it's 1 or 2 then they are too good, if it's more than 6 or 7 then they may be too weak. This should vary some by organization.

[Pattern Ghost]

I'd just use abridged character sheets with the minions' combat stats and not worry about points. If they're true cannon-fodder level, I'd also use the "they go down in one shot from a PC" option.

[Sketchpad]

On 9/21/2023 at 6:54 AM, Pattern Ghost said:

I'd just use abridged character sheets with the minions' combat stats and not worry about points. If they're true cannon-fodder level, I'd also use the "they go down in one shot from a PC" option.

 

So along those lines, when building Henchmen, do folks give them low STUN, such as STUN 1, just so they're a one-hit drop? Is this more of a rule in a book? Or more of a house rule?

[Pattern Ghost]

1 hour ago, Sketchpad said:

So along those lines, when building Henchmen, do folks give them low STUN, such as STUN 1, just so they're a one-hit drop? Is this more of a rule in a book? Or more of a house rule?

 

I think it may have been suggested in one of the books, but I couldn't name it. If they go down in one hit, they don't really need a STUN stat. Or PD/ED stats. Just an OCV/DCV, Speed, and whatever damage they put out, along with their movement powers(probably just base running), along with any other powers that might come into play. This, of course, is for the lowest of the low. Those hordes of mooks that only exist as cannon fodder for the villain. Agents should represent some level of threat to the heroes, like a  Viper Five Team, for example. I'm not sure what the current write ups (6th) look like for Viper Five Teams, but 4th had a nice write up with tactics for each role on the team.