I know that technically you can have a Minion Group as high as you wanna, but if they have skills and their Group Skill Rank goes up by 1 for every member of the group above the first, doesn't that impose a de facto cap of six as the maximum number in a group? If you try and have more don't you risk giving them so many Skill Dice that they become steamrollers? Hell, even Stormtroopers can become competent at that rate...

The answer is "yes" and "no" at the same time.

• The skill benefit of adding more minions is capped at 6, yes. (Because extra minions add "skills" and the skill cap is 5 period, no exceptions.)
• But you can have 100 minions if you wish that are basically there to tire out the players with the amount of damage they can soak up.
• A Minion groups' size is not determined by its maximum skills, it is determined by what it needs to do. If you need a football team worth of minions because it is a huge facility and the PCs set of every alarm in the place... do it, but you don't get 400000 dice to kill them with, you get the max of the 5 skill upgrades.

Also if you want to add the challenge to the players You can split a minion horde into multiple groups. so 2 groups of 6, or 3 or 100 (just a random high number). Also you can use the Squad/Squadron rules to group large amounts together without needing too many NPC initiative slots.

What is the situation you are trying to design that needs so many people? and why is splitting the groups into small amounts or squad-ing them up not fit (or does it?).

Sorry if my comment is restating what you already know.

As was previously commented on, the skill rank is capped at 5, but that doesn't impose any sort of cap on the minion group itself. You can have a group of 50 minions (not sure why you'd want to!), but there'd be no benefit to group skill checks after its 6th member.

Now, a crowd of 50 could effectively "steamroll" a small group of people regardless of skill dice, so that's something to keep in mind. Zombie-pocalypse style.

More than 6 does serve a purpose as they're ablative bodies for the group before they start losing effectiveness. But honestly it kinda skews the scene if a group of thugs is throwing 4-5 yellow dice with their blaster pistols.

I'd generally cap groups dependent on what type of minion we're using.

Storm Troopers could have a cap of between 5 and 10 depending on the situation. They are disciplined soldiers after all, so a larger single group focusing fire on a target makes sense.

Random thugs and lowlifes. Cap them at 3-4 dudes in a group. If you need to ramp up the difficulty, toss in multiple groups or give them bigger guns/better base stats.

I wouldn't go above 10 in most cases, unless you were fighting an angry mob or something.

I've used 8-minion squads of stormtroopers. They don't start losing effectiveness until after the third trooper drops, so they have quite a bit of staying power.

The most i have used was 5 groups of 3 Rodians, for the final BtR encounter. THat number really made it challenging for the party as i was able to allocate one group per PC.

When all was said and done, 2 pc were down and the other 3 were heavily wounded. Felt very balanced.

Did you have any combat PCs?

Cause a group of 3 basic Rodian thugs wouldn't be much of a threat to anyone with a lightly upgraded blaster rifle, 2-3 yellow dice, and cheap padded armor. I could probably drop two of them in a single round.

Did you have any combat PCs?

Cause a group of 3 basic Rodian thugs wouldn't be much of a threat to anyone with a lightly upgraded blaster rifle, 2-3 yellow dice, and cheap padded armor. I could probably drop two of them in a single round.

Sure that's what they said too. Few choice destiny uses, some environmental setbacks, wise use of actions and initiative.. even slouches can pose a challenge.

True. You must have layed those on.

My character is tough to give setback to. I ignore two setback from environmental effects and I have accuracy 1, pierce 1, and +1 damage on my rifle.

My character is tough to give setback to. I ignore two setback from environmental effects and I have accuracy 1, pierce 1, and +1 damage on my rifle.

Just because you have one Boost die doesn’t mean that the GM can’t throw a whole bunch of Setback dice at you — Start with Adversary 3. Then give them Defensive 3.

My character is tough to give setback to. I ignore two setback from environmental effects and I have accuracy 1, pierce 1, and +1 damage on my rifle.

Just because you have one Boost die doesn’t mean that the GM can’t throw a whole bunch of Setback dice at you — Start with Adversary 3. Then give them Defensive 3.

Also don't forget as a GM all those shots your taking that may not hit. Many times you have 2 or 3 UNcancelled Advantage. Setback here.. Setback there + environmental. At one point i had one PC with 5 Setback dice. Environ/Threat use/Adversary ect..+Destiny uses.

As a GM we had 11 Destiny our game.. i saved them all up and managed to use 8 dark side during the fight for all kinds of nastiness.

I find many GM leave setback and strains on the table unused because they are unsure..

I enforece my players who have uncaceled Threat if its one, Auto strain...Your in a fire fight, your bobing and weaving.. you get worn. IF they have two or more stop and get my attention...

Try it one day, Use every result you roll and apply it somewhere, you will find those pushover fights now become REAL...

My character is tough to give setback to. I ignore two setback from environmental effects and I have accuracy 1, pierce 1, and +1 damage on my rifle.

Just because you have one Boost die doesn’t mean that the GM can’t throw a whole bunch of Setback dice at you — Start with Adversary 3. Then give them Defensive 3.

...or Deflection 3, if you're going up against a rifle

My character is tough to give setback to. I ignore two setback from environmental effects and I have accuracy 1, pierce 1, and +1 damage on my rifle.

Just because you have one Boost die doesn’t mean that the GM can’t throw a whole bunch of Setback dice at you — Start with Adversary 3. Then give them Defensive 3.

...or Deflection 3, if you're going up against a rifle

Or start them at engaged range. Rifles loose their edge in a fist fight. A couple guys hitting you with vibroaxes or swords when you are kitted out for range makes things challenging really quick.