OK, so this cropped up, and confused myself and my group a little.

Escape from Mos Shuuta.

Security Droids outside the Docking Bay.

I was running them as a single Minon Group, since each droid has a WT of 8, the Group would have a WT of 32.

And for every 8 wounds inflicted, one droid would die.

Originally I assumed that meant they had to inflict 8 wounds in a single hit to take out one droid. Therefore, if one PC hit the group for 9 Points, one droid died, and the ‘spare wound’ was ignored.

One of my players pointed out there this meant her weapon had basically no chance of killing anything unless he rolled significant successes. (Holdout Blaster, Dmg 5. Droid Soak was 3, requiring damage 12 to kill one) so she would need 7 success’s to hit to destroy a single droid.

So ridiculous this seemed, that I decided (And she said she would want house ruled if otherwise), that wounds would carry over onto other members of the Minion Group.

Which is fine, but when our Melee monster hit a droid, causing enough damage to kill one, and damage a second, who was spread out, it seemed… odd.

I know the FAQ addressed a similar question but it didn’t really clear things up for me, as it merely explained that the loss of a minion would reduce the skill ranks available to that group.

Granted, I can fix this on a case by case basis (melee doesn’t carry over if no suitable target is close enough), but I wanted to know if I had this right.

Cheers

RD

Minions take wounds as a group on page 390 of EotE it states that whenever a part of the group takes damage it applies to the group. So you add all the droids wounds up and each time 8 was done a Droid would fall. Each hit subtracts from the total pool it is meant to be more cinematic in that it doesn't matter what their individual wounds are as you just narratively work it out. What I mean is lets say that holdout blaster did 7 and then the wookie did 9. That would kill two droids but you narrate it out like "Your truncheon crushes the droids metallic skull into many prices. As well the Droid damaged by the blaster shot has malfunctioned and shut down."

I am sure you could come up with something better narratively but that's how I have been doing it.

Ok, a few things here.

• Minions CAN operate in groups. The are not REQUIRED to operate in groups.
• To remove an NPC character from play you need to inflict total wounds exceeding their threshold, so you were right on it requiring 9 W to take out the droid. This does not have do be done in a single attack though, and wounds inflcicted stay with the character until removed through healing, stimpacks, ect. So the character with the hold-out blaster might have trouble taking out a character with a single shot, but over a few rounds of shooting should do just fine.
• Yes, wounds do carry over from one minion to another when they are operating in a group. Essentially the group is acting as if they were a single character.
• For the last point, see the first point. If the droids were spread out enough that it would be hard for a character to hit more then one of them at a time (say more then a dozen or so feet apart) then you should probably be running them as separate characters, not as a group.

There's some additional odds and ends to this but that covers the core.

Also just noticing some of your other questions I have to ask:

Are you using the Core Rulebook, or just the Starter Set?

If you are just using the starter set that may be part of the problem. Its a great set for teaching basic rules, but they did simplify several things that the core book addresses more properly. Also the Space encounter at the end is garbage from a learning to GM space encounters perspective....

Right.

I think Ill be more narrative in future... if the engaged target takes enough wounds to kill it, with wounds left over... if no target is within narrative range to take the additional damage, im going to ignore it.

Houseruled maybe, but its makes more sense in my head.... and this is why I love this system.

A Hail of blaster fire however, might cause damage to additional targets, but in my example above the Droids were so spaced out that it made little sense of extra damage to hurt a second droid given the distances I had them placed at.

But thanks for clearing up the mechanicals!

@Ghostofman.

I am using the Core rulebook, but using the Intro adventure with original created (not pre gen) chracters, and this is the first time any of my group has played this system in anyway)

But thanks for your input, I will be tweaking the way I run things based on the advice so far!

RD

I think Ill be more narrative in future... if the engaged target takes enough wounds to kill it, with wounds left over... if no target is within narrative range to take the additional damage, im going to ignore it.

Houseruled maybe, but its makes more sense in my head.... and this is why I love this system.

While you didn't mention it, I would caution you to be consistent in your application of all minion rules. The main strength of minions are the use of group skills, which gain ranks for each minion beyond the first. Four stormtrooper in a minion group firing at medium rangewould roll 3Y2P, which has a higher chance of hitting once and generating critical hits. So to be fair, if a group does not contain a single wound threshold, they should not make the single attack with greater skill. If minions fight independently, they roll initiative separately, and make separate attacks using just green dice. It is debatable that the party would prefer to take their chance against 4 separate 3G2P Blaster Rifle hits!

This system doesn't' run like D20 and it's relatives and takes a bit of getting used to, so feel free to ask questions.

I don't track the individual minion points.

Adding the narrative flair is all it takes.

Heavy hit from a melee player that does more than 1 enemies WT. He killed that character and in an impressive flourish moved to closer to target B and hit him with a glancing blow.

Or just consider that not all enemies have the same health. Not every marine would act exactly the same way in battle if you shot him in the arm. Some would have higher pain tolerance and continue to fight while others would be overcome by the pain.

So WT+ a little doesn't really matter.

I had one melee attack in an adventure do a considerable amount of damage with triumphs and a critical hit. Basically enough to wipe out the entire minion group, but they were a pack of enemies that had taken up defensive positions back to back in an alley. The players were attacking from both sides.

2 ways to do it (probably more), both cinimatically/narratively.

The character didn't stop and swing over the defensive barrier, but vaulted over it kicking one guy in the face and breaking his nose/killing him. He then took a huge swing with his axe and struck all three of the other enemies in a brutal attack.

The character moved in from out of sight and with a massive swing of his axe took the head clean off two of the defenders while letting loose a blood curdling scream. The other two defenders in shock and surprise turned to react to the onslaught only to be shot in the back by the rest of your team.

The first one was player based, the second was team based. Just depends on the situation and how you want to present it. The entire system is very narrative based and gives you a lot of freedom to adjust things. The reason this game can really shine is that it isn't "I move to this square and swing my axe. I roll and hit him, he takes 10 dmg." It's the action that the game really allows and encourages you to integrate. It's a tough transition from more static, rules heavy, mini based games, but one that is worthwhile.

The reason a ranged player can kill more than one is that in reality, he's firing multiple shots during combat, not one at a time, taking turns with the enemy. The reason an advantage can give another player a bonus die is because his attack is distracting the target allowing someone else to get a better shot. Just because 1 guy rolled amazing doesn't mean the others weren't there to aid him or take advantage of the situation.

Here's some other ideas for off the cup melee damage to minions that aren't close...

(for damage)A helmet gets knocked away at a high velocity and beans another enemy in the back of the head.

(if last minions are getting killed) You dispatch the trooper melee range with you, then noticing the other trooper has his back turned towards you, you chuck your weapon overhead at him driving it deep into his back.

He attempts to turn and retreat from your attack only to be hit firmly across his spine, killing him and causing his finger to tense on the trigger of his blaster. The shots from his blaster actually find a mark with one of his allies.

The grenade he was removing from his belt to use in his next attack was armed when you caused the massive compound fracture to his arm. The resulting catapult like movement made by his arm vaulted the active grenade right to the feet of two of his allies.