Say I have a Minion group of Antiquated Battle Droids (as shown on Adversaries chapter of the EotE rulebook).

Their Agility is 2 and group skill would be Ranged (Heavy).

If I had a Minion group of 4, that would mean 2 Agility + 3 ranks in Ranged (Heavy), coming out to 2 Proficiency 1 Ability when rolling for a Ranged (Heavy) attack?

Yup.

That can be pretty brutal... sounds like Minion groups should not be used against brand new characters.

Maybe not four of them.

Consider the weapon's base damage before the number of minions. If they're wielding holdout blasters, pile on the minions. If they're wielding heavy blaster rifles, go light on them.

Remember, hitting is absurdly easy in this game (for the most part), so base damage is very important to understand.

Ok that helps tremendously. Some of these guys are armed with regular blasters and stuff.

Could I just choose NOT to use group skills as well as keep the blasters weak?

Yes, but minions deployed separately are more dangerous. They get more rolls to hit, and PCs have to take them out individually.

Alright, the plan is to hold back on group skills but keep them as groups. Thanks so much!

How do I handle a minion group if some are attacking at range and some would be attacking close up? Is it better to separate into individual minions at that point?

There is no rule that says minions have to be deployed at some given distance from one another, common sense and good tactics would be to not stand all within grenade and Blast radius. However, if you group them, they make one attack, and if it were a melee type attack then it would stand to reason they are all on top of the target.

Alrighty, I had some ambush moments planned in which they would be in separate locations and some where they would be grouped together. I will keep the separated ones as individual minions instead.

A group can mean 2. The rule is to allow a GM to get more mileage out of minions, either by beefing up their lethality, massing them to allow PCs the heroic feel of taking down a bunch of opponents, and bookkeeping, to make a GMs math a little easier. So whatever works for you.

A basic rule of thumb is no more target groups than number of PCs if you want to challenge without annihilating your players. That is very general though, and can vary wildly depending on group make up and relative combat capability.

Now by target groups do you mean individual minions or groups of minions?

As in, say, there's 6 PCs, so only have 6 adversaries or just 6 targets, whether they be minion groups or individual adversaries?

Six separate things to shoot at, one thing for each PC to engage. Then match the target groups to the PC level. That doesn't mean any ol six opponents, because 6 rivals combat focused would likely wipe a new group. You have to have an idea of what your given group of PCs is capable of. The most accurate way to be sure is just do some test rolls yourself with the PCs and opponents you are considering before having the session to give yourself a good idea of what they can do.

Yeah I just kinda threw in minions from the back of the rule book. I wasn't sure how many would be appropriate so I put in around 3-4 per combat. The group will be 6 PCs.

Test rolls, best way to be sure you will be challenging PCs without wiping them. Once characters get some xp, and of course as always, the make up of the group, you don't have to be quite as ginger, as they'll have gear, talents, extra wounds strain and such, mostly to start out you want to be conservative.

When using melee weapons like a combat knife, to calculate damage dealt, it's Brawn + 1 for the combat knife + 1 for each uncancelled success rolled?

Yup

Yes, but minions deployed separately are more dangerous. They get more rolls to hit, and PCs have to take them out individually.

Wait... they do?

I was under the impression that under RAW, the minions still get one attack each, they don't attack "as a group", just once.

Yes, but minions deployed separately are more dangerous. They get more rolls to hit, and PCs have to take them out individually.

Wait... they do?

I was under the impression that under RAW, the minions still get one attack each, they don't attack "as a group", just once.

individual minions get their own attacks and are targeted separately.

minion groups have a group health level, are targeted as a group and attack once for the group per round.

Yes, but minions deployed separately are more dangerous. They get more rolls to hit, and PCs have to take them out individually.

Wait... they do?

I was under the impression that under RAW, the minions still get one attack each, they don't attack "as a group", just once.

Yes, but minions deployed separately are more dangerous. They get more rolls to hit, and PCs have to take them out individually.

Wait... they do?

I was under the impression that under RAW, the minions still get one attack each, they don't attack "as a group", just once.

individual minions get their own attacks and are targeted separately.

minion groups have a group health level, are targeted as a group and attack once for the group per round.

What GG said.

I've found that, as a rule, 1 group of minions (vary the number by the power level) per combat focused character and 1 group of minions (vary the number by the power level) for every 2 non-combat focused characters tends to make a reasonably balanced encounter. Rivals can be substituted for groups of minions, but that would increase the challenge. For extra challenge levels, add 25% of the current numbers of Rivals or Minion groups per level of difficulty you want to raise it.

This isn't quite related but I wanted to understand additional obligation better. My group will be 6 PCs which means their starting obligation is 5 per PC. With a total of 30 obligation, from what I understand in the rules, a PC could take additional obligation but it cannot exceed the group's total starting obligation. Could all members of the party do so?

This isn't quite related but I wanted to understand additional obligation better. My group will be 6 PCs which means their starting obligation is 5 per PC. With a total of 30 obligation, from what I understand in the rules, a PC could take additional obligation but it cannot exceed the group's total starting obligation. Could all members of the party do so?

Yes, but each player may only take an additional obligation equal to -their- starting obligation. Which, if all players elected to do so, would double the entire party's starting obligation.