I've seen a lot of characters one shot an entire minion group. What do you guys and put minions soak as. A soak of 2 means most likely, any pistol won't kill more than one minions.

If I'm using stock NPCs from the book, I just use the figures as given.

If I'm building the Minions from scratch, I use the standard way of calculating Soak: Brawn + armor. If the NPC is a beastie that's bigger than Sil 1 (and yet somehow still a Minion?), I'll give it extra Soak per Silhouette.

The big question is how to determine a Minion's Wound Threshold. Usually I'll add the base values for both together and then divide by 4, although if I'm in a rush I'll just use 5 and call it good.

Minion stats, like all NPCs, should be based on the character, narrative, and encounter intent.

Soak will typically be Armor+Brawn. So a average goon will have a soak of 2-4 depending on brawn, and a more tactical goon will have something in the 4-5 ranged.

But that's the whole idea. The Hutt's brute-squad are just a bunch of a-holes with guns. So soak of 3 (2 Brawn+Heavy Clothing or equivalent). The stormtroopers, as front line combat troopers, will have a soak of 5 (Brawn 3 +2 for Armor). The Mercs hired and equipped to defend the facility in steaming jungle will have a soak of 4 (Brawn 3 +1 Clothing, no penalty for the heat and humidity).

From there you have to generate the equipment, body count, and grouping based on what makes sense, and the intended difficulty of the encounter.

If the minion group is being one shoted then either they are weaklings or your starting the group too small. Unless they are super tough minions then I like at least 6 to start with, the reasoning being that some punk PC is probably going to take out 2 before they get to act.

As a DM tip, if you've got two minion groups of 4 in each, then if a couple minions go down in each group ... no reason why you couldn't combine the remaining minions into a group. Assuming they are of the same type and all ... even then, I would combine thug minions and bounty hunter minions just being mindful of their group skills and all. If one group only has Ranged (Heavy) and the other group has Ranged (Light) for a blaster fight, I might not do this. Just saying.

Z

Also if you have a very large group nothing stops you splitting them up for a bit either, a group of 15 split and shoot 3 different targets, 5 shooting each, then they form back together next round to move etc.

Thanks. I've noticed that many PCs have one shooted entire group of battle droids.

Thanks. I've noticed that many PCs have one shooted entire group of battle droids.

Can you give us a little more detail? There might be more to the problem than just the soak of the minions if the players are wiping out groups of 3+ minions in a single shot.

Thanks. I've noticed that many PCs have one shooted entire group of battle droids.

Can you give us a little more detail? There might be more to the problem than just the soak of the minions if the players are wiping out groups of 3+ minions in a single shot.

I don't know about the OP, but the PCs in my group include an assassin that IIRC took a beeline for Deadly Accuracy & uses a carbine (thus 1 success & 3 advantage will crit & take down 3 battle droids) and a Brawn 4 marauder with some Feral Strength and a vibrosword (so 2 successes and 2 advantage will take out the battle droid trio), so it's not too rare.

(I guess the gunslinger with the Accurate 2 pistol, Quick Strike 2, Quick Draw, & the electronic sight that usually gets to roll 6 boost dice once per combat might be able to pull off a triple droid takedown, too.)

Minion groups are the system's way of recreating those scenes where there heroes fight a dozen Stormtroopers and live to tell about it. They're not supposed to last that long they're there to soak up fire and keep your Rivals and Nemeses alive longer. They are still dangerous because enough of them can deal out some good damage so a smart group won't ignore them. If you find though that your Player's aren't feeling like there's any challenge to combat then consider using more Rivals along with those Minions and then later consider using Squad rules (AoR GM Kit).

It's important when describing Attacks to use language that implies many shots and swings over a minute or so, not just a single one, otherwise it will seem like they are just cardboard cutouts. A minute is a long time in combat and an Attack roll represents the end result of that minute's worth of combat. So if you don't narrate well it will seem like everything is happening too quickly.

Also Minions and Rivals especially, but Nemeses as well, do not necessarily die when they reach their Wound Threshold they are no longer a threat and that could mean they are dead or dying, or you can have them run away or surrender if that makes more sense in the scene.

If you know there's a good chance of 3 Minions being taken out in a single hit then add 3 to every minion combat group.

Thanks. I've noticed that many PCs have one shooted entire group of battle droids.

Can you give us a little more detail? There might be more to the problem than just the soak of the minions if the players are wiping out groups of 3+ minions in a single shot.

I don't know about the OP, but the PCs in my group include an assassin that IIRC took a beeline for Deadly Accuracy & uses a carbine (thus 1 success & 3 advantage will crit & take down 3 battle droids) and a Brawn 4 marauder with some Feral Strength and a vibrosword (so 2 successes and 2 advantage will take out the battle droid trio), so it's not too rare.

(I guess the gunslinger with the Accurate 2 pistol, Quick Strike 2, Quick Draw, & the electronic sight that usually gets to roll 6 boost dice once per combat might be able to pull off a triple droid takedown, too.)

I'm assuming that you're referring to the Precise Aim talent, which reduces target defense, not soak? The Lethal Blows talent wouldn't matter much vs. minions.

In any case, a bog standard blaster carbine does 9 damage, so 10 with a single success. Battle droids have 4 soak and 4 WR, meaning that 10 damage kills one and damage another. Then you crit and kill one more. That's two, not three droids. You could probably get that third one more reliably with upgrades or better skills, but still it's not a gimmie. And rolling three advantage on a check isn't a gimmie, either.

Thanks. I've noticed that many PCs have one shooted entire group of battle droids.

Can you give us a little more detail? There might be more to the problem than just the soak of the minions if the players are wiping out groups of 3+ minions in a single shot.

I don't know about the OP, but the PCs in my group include an assassin that IIRC took a beeline for Deadly Accuracy & uses a carbine (thus 1 success & 3 advantage will crit & take down 3 battle droids) and a Brawn 4 marauder with some Feral Strength and a vibrosword (so 2 successes and 2 advantage will take out the battle droid trio), so it's not too rare.

(I guess the gunslinger with the Accurate 2 pistol, Quick Strike 2, Quick Draw, & the electronic sight that usually gets to roll 6 boost dice once per combat might be able to pull off a triple droid takedown, too.)

I'm assuming that you're referring to the Precise Aim talent, which reduces target defense, not soak? The Lethal Blows talent wouldn't matter much vs. minions.

In any case, a bog standard blaster carbine does 9 damage, so 10 with a single success. Battle droids have 4 soak and 4 WR, meaning that 10 damage kills one and damage another. Then you crit and kill one more. That's two, not three droids. You could probably get that third one more reliably with upgrades or better skills, but still it's not a gimmie. And rolling three advantage on a check isn't a gimmie, either.

No, not Precise Aim - Deadly Accuracy. It lets you add damage equal to your ranks in the skill to one hit of a successful attack. IIRC, the character's skill is 2 right now, so a 1 success hit does 9+2+1=12 damage, plus 5 for the crit to take out 1 minion gives 13 damage after soak, and three minions go down. The character will be even more terrifying once she buys her skill up.

Throw a squad of 15 at her, after 3 turns of laying waste and their dice pool still hasn't changed from AAPPP with boost for aiming she may be ready to run. Sometimes PC's need to know when it's time to leave.

Throw a squad of 15 at her, after 3 turns of laying waste and their dice pool still hasn't changed from AAPPP with boost for aiming she may be ready to run. Sometimes PC's need to know when it's time to leave.

and sometime you need some squads of 20... Sith-i Makakashi duellant, with dual wielding paired Lightsabers 10dmg, crit 1, accurracy 2 and Deadly Accuracy (skill 4)... basicly one success means allready 15 dmg... and 3 advantages will activat linked (=30dmg) and two crits (1 per hit), 7 down and one stormie at the brink of death (on a bad dice throw, now imagine what happens if she rolls well with let's say 6 successes ) so she is mowing down any minions within some seconds/one minute... but well sometimes you just have to let it go and throw in some TIEs to hunt the players... (at least then they will start running)

A good trick for bringing Linked characters unstuck is lots of Rivals, linked can only hit the original target so they can roll till the cows come home and they still only kill one target a round! But yes she sounds like a monster and probably a whole heap of fun.

yes she is a Monster... until I pulled out the stun Grenades... players have sometimes really trouble to adapt a new situation... like "Here comes a stun grenade... Oh and please don't bother with this Lightsaber of yours... you can't deflect this"

start nagging on theire strain and the are running like rabbits.

A good trick for bringing Linked characters unstuck is lots of Rivals, linked can only hit the original target so they can roll till the cows come home and they still only kill one target a round! But yes she sounds like a monster and probably a whole heap of fun.

Or if you want an easier encounter, ungroup the minions. Grouping is an option, not a requirement.

Very true.

yes she is a Monster... until I pulled out the stun Grenades... players have sometimes really trouble to adapt a new situation... like "Here comes a stun grenade... Oh and please don't bother with this Lightsaber of yours... you can't deflect this"

start nagging on theire strain and the are running like rabbits.

Technically by RAW the Reflect talent works on all ranged attacks; Ranged (Light), Ranged (Heavy), or Gunnery. So it would also work on grenades or slugthrowers.

It's only when you use Reflect (Improved) to try to deflect attacks back at the attacker that you start caring if the attack was a blaster bolt or other energy attack.

i doesn't work on Blast though, so if your not the primary target and just caught in the blast then you cant activate it.

i doesn't work on Blast though, so if your not the primary target and just caught in the blast then you cant activate it.

True. I think if you set someone on fire the burning damage won't be mitigated either.

One thing to remember on Minions They go down after EXCEEDING their Wound threshold. So If a minion has 5 wounds they die on the 6th one. Which is the first of the next minion. Which means when counting minion wounds you need to be careful in how you do the math. 3 5 wound minions are wiped out on the 16th wound.

It sounds like a few people are allowing multiple crit triggers to take down a minion each crit. I allow this, as I'm prepared with bigger groups, but it's not RAW. By RAW, extra crits on a target only add +10 to the crit roll ... which isn't rolled because it's an auto-kill, but still...

It sounds like a few people are allowing multiple crit triggers to take down a minion each crit. I allow this, as I'm prepared with bigger groups, but it's not RAW. By RAW, extra crits on a target only add +10 to the crit roll ... which isn't rolled because it's an auto-kill, but still...

Per RAW you crit once per hit. So attacks that hit multiple times do create multiple crits. Auto-fire and Linked qualities as well as two weapon combat are examples of doing multiple hits in one attack. That's how you're able to take out multiple minions by critting more than once in an attack.