Just new to the game system and while my players and I are enjoying the heck out of there is a bit of a learning curve for some things.

I get that Minions don't suffer strain and simply take wounds (and that they can't voluntarily take strain) but what happens if my minions roll Advantage? Can I use some of that to recover Wounds that were initially strain?

This is a very interesting question and something that in two years of playing has strangely never come up. Maybe it is that minions generally dont last long enough for it to be an issue or get taken out by one stun blast.

I'd go that if they had not been removed from play (by having enough damage to take out a complete minion), then yes (unless the rules say otherwise). If the minion in the group has been dropped (by hitting the wound threshold), then no (once out, they are out of the combat completely).

I'm looking at it more as a mechanically sound pacing mechanism. Like if the combat is going a little faster than I prefer then there's a way to stretch it out a tad without relying on simple GM Fiat.

I hardly think it's game breaking if you wanna run it like that. Probably extend the shelf life of minions with your PCs as well. The bookkeeping might get clunky for you and it might just be easier to use more minions though.

Well, that's odd. In all this time playing, i never considered doing that. Minion One only had his bell rung and Minion Two helps him back to his feet and he woozily starts returning fire. Thematically, I have no issue with this.

Stupidly Simple...

RAW, they don't have strain to recover so they can't use that option. Aside from that, giving boost dice to their allies and/or setbacks to the PCs is generally the easiest option for bookkeeping and it won't create unexpectedly durable minion groups (especially with larger groups).

I feel you can't recover strain if you don't take strain to begin with.

2 minutes ago, Garran said:

RAW, they don't have strain to recover so they can't use that option. Aside from that, giving boost dice to their allies and/or setbacks to the PCs is generally the easiest option for bookkeeping and it won't create unexpectedly durable minion groups (especially with larger groups).

It's also way more cinematic.

...on the other hand there is nothing saying they can't use Stimpacks..."I'm not dead yet!"

9 minutes ago, Garran said:

RAW, they don't have strain to recover so they can't use that option. Aside from that, giving boost dice to their allies and/or setbacks to the PCs is generally the easiest option for bookkeeping and it won't create unexpectedly durable minion groups (especially with larger groups).

So does that mean they're invulnerable to Stun setting? If they don't have Strain to lose they can't be hurt by that logic path.

You could say that they are RAW ("unless otherwise specified, minions do not suffer strain"). It's just that they take an equal number of wounds because that's called out as happening. There's no such call-out for recovery though.

While not totally RAW, it is an interesting thing to keep in mind to have minions last a little longer...also, Stim Packs are always an option.

1 hour ago, 2P51 said:

I hardly think it's game breaking if you wanna run it like that. Probably extend the shelf life of minions with your PCs as well. The bookkeeping might get clunky for you and it might just be easier to use more minions though.

I'm with 2P51. I can't see how i would hurt to do it but I'd rather save my advantages to boost the attacks. In my experience it is rare that 1 or 2 hp make much of a difference on a minion but 1 or 2 boost dice can certainly help the next guy in line hit the player.

The one situation I have used this rule in is when running social encounters. I had a player who was scathing tirading is opposition in a series of social encounters with minions. I figured since all the damage was none physical it made sense to allow them to heal it like it was strain. Kind of a niche situation though.

1 hour ago, Stan Fresh said:

I feel you can't recover strain if you don't take strain to begin with.

Ah, damnit. I knew there was an angle I hadn't considered with this. Strong point.

Still, I don't see anything thematically wrong with this. I don't know how much I'd do this - perhaps only with my Special Ops minion groups, the ones I give Adversary or Autofire to.

Way I look at it; Minions have a Collective Pool of "Damage" points they can take Physical or Strain damage on.

So the type of damage that could be healed would be based on the type; ie Physical Dam with Stimpacks and Strain with Advantages.

Unfortunately it requires a bit more damage tracking on the GM's part...but its sensible.

45 minutes ago, Desslok said:

Ah, damnit. I knew there was an angle I hadn't considered with this. Strong point.

Still, I don't see anything thematically wrong with this. I don't know how much I'd do this - perhaps only with my Special Ops minion groups, the ones I give Adversary or Autofire to.

The thematic issue is that minions are just window dressing. They're the people the PCs can take out by the dozen. The only time a minion should get back up is when he tries to shoot a hero in the back after the fight is over, that sort of thing. And there's no need to introduce the recovery mechanic into it. That's just a cool thing a PC does because they're a PC.

Or, Advantages spent to "recover strain" represent reinforcements showing up Same, diff as recovering strain if you hold off a round or so for the one or two extra minions to get there.

I do quite like the idea for one particular reason: It is putting a (albeit minor) speed hump in front of the widespread blasters-always-on-stun (but in long range engagements) tactics.

While there's nothing inherently wrong with allowing minions to spend Advantage to recover (wounds taken as) strain, I can't help but feel it's a little overly complicated. They're minions, after all, which basically means "cannon fodder mooks". If you want to present your players with something more challenging, consider upgrading them to rivals instead, or maybe adding one or two rivals to a group of minions. The whole point of using minions, after all, is to streamline encounters and keep bookkeeping to a minimum.

20 hours ago, 2P51 said:

So does that mean they're invulnerable to Stun setting? If they don't have Strain to lose they can't be hurt by that logic path.

No. Direct quote from EotE book (page. 390), which should answer your question: "Unless otherwise specified, minions do not suffer strain. Anything that inflicts strain on a minion inflicts wounds instead. They also cannot voluntarily suffer strain. This means that when a minion is taken out of combat due to exceeding his wound threshold, it is up to the GM whether he was incapacitated or killed, depending on the circumstances. " Also note first three words (and last sentence), which opens many possibilities. Now, If I miss the part where it is specified otherwise, please enlighten me.

So RAW, minions cannot use advantages to recover strain. I believe reason to this is to keep things simple. And if you want to complicate thing for yourself, and keep track what damage to minions came from wounds and which from strain, then OPs idea would be good. (Even simpler minions can always recover wounds with advantages might be usable, but would easily make minions too powerful. Personally I'd set a upper limit how much can be recovered in round.) I don't think allowing advantages to recover wounds inflicted by strain would break anything, but I believe it would add unnecessary complexity. If that's not a problem, then go with it! Just remember what role minions should fulfil: "Minions will rarely be more than a minor obstacle to most parties of characters, a delaying tactic that can stand in the way of achieving a goal that a more powerful enemy wishes to see prevented." But rivals. There I'd may actually use OPs idea.

Personally I use advantages to give boost/setback dice. Or to make an alarm and call for backups.

In my games, minions are meant to be burn brightly and quickly. They come out swinging and die easily, so I wouldn't bother recovering strain even if it was RAW.

However, Rivals do not have a strain threshold either, but I would probably spend advantage to recover wounds.

Minions take strain as wounds, so they can't spend advantages to recover strain.

I guess the real question would be: Why do you need minions to live longer while accomplishing less?

7 minutes ago, Aetrion said:

Minions take strain as wounds, so they can't spend advantages to recover strain.

I guess the real question would be: Why do you need minions to live longer while accomplishing less?

Exactly. What is the point in spending Advantages on recovery, when you could spend them on Boosts or Setbacks or other interactions with the PCs and the environment?

1 hour ago, Stan Fresh said:

Exactly. What is the point in spending Advantages on recovery, when you could spend them on Boosts or Setbacks or other interactions with the PCs and the environment?

To surprise the PCs? Imagine their faces when reinforcements just keep showing up and they realize that they're recovering and/or reinforcements are showing up. Obviously this shouldn't be used all of the time, but it would be good in a time crunch type of situation.