Minions having a Blast!

By aljovin, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

Ok, we've encountered a situation that I didn't expect, the PCs were being shot at by 2 squads of Stormtroopers. One squad got behind a pillar to get cover against the PCs. One PC threw a Frag grenade (hit) and use the Blast on the group.

This is where it gets tricky...

Grenade hit 8+ 2 success = 10 damage

Blast = 6+2 success = 8 damages

There are 3 Stormtroopers, having 5 Wounds threshold each total of 15 with a soak of 5

Here is how I've dealt it:

First hit, is the grenade: 10- 5 soak = 5 wounds (tot 5)

Second each remaining Stormtroopers : 8- 5 soak (tot wounds : 8 then 11)

So in the end, the minion group is at 11 wounds, so 2 Stormtroopers are dead.

Is this correct? Am I misinterpreting something?

interesting question this is.

Blast, as worded combined with minions as worded makes Blast not very effective against Minions. If I were GMing, I'd probably be more willing to treat the Minions as individuals just for the purposes of explosives, since that makes logical sense, and it wouldn't be hard to argue.

I would apply the damage to each minion separately.

That is precisely how I am planning on doing it! It only makes sense that grenades and blast weapons would mess up groups of minions. I'm especially excited to see a flame thrower tear some people up!

Lorne's Rule of Minions: as the target of an attack, each minion is a special snowflake -- a unique person with his own hopes and dreams soon to be splattered on the concrete behind him; but when it's GM Lorne's turn to roll their attacks, they act in concert like the New York Philharmonic.

I'm personally not a fan of that rule. Not being able to ice multiple minions in one (normally single targeting) attack is going to slow down combat dramatically. If someone runs in and rips up a group of 5 stormtroopers and rolls something like 30 damage with a vibrosword somehow, they're so taking out the whole group. XD

Oh, there's lots of ways to take out multiple minions at once. No worries there.

Lorne's Rule of Minions: as the target of an attack, each minion is a special snowflake -- a unique person with his own hopes and dreams soon to be splattered on the concrete behind him; but when it's GM Lorne's turn to roll their attacks, they act in concert like the New York Philharmonic.

Like this it makes perfect sense.

Rule of Minions: as the TARGET of an attack, each minion is a special snowflake -- a unique person with his own hopes and dreams soon to be left splattered on the concrete behind him.

Edited by SavagePanda

A simpler way to do it would be to just add blast to the base damage versus minion groups.

So, instead of

Grenade hit 8+ 2 success = 10 damage
Blast = 6+2 success = 8 damages

We get

8 (base) + 2 (success) + 6 (Blast) - soak = 16 - soak.

A simpler way to do it would be to just add blast to the base damage versus minion groups.

So, instead of

Grenade hit 8+ 2 success = 10 damage
Blast = 6+2 success = 8 damages

We get

8 (base) + 2 (success) + 6 (Blast) - soak = 16 - soak.

Also legitimate, but that increases the damage against minion groups, and thus makes blast weapons even stronger. If you're okay with that, then by all means! I might do it this way still. I'm not sure.

What the next person said...

Burleaf

Edited by Burleaf

If I'm understanding Blast correctly, it can affect an individual/group differently depending on the roll:

Failure, and no Blast: No damage to anyone, and not enough Advantages (Blast needs 3 to activate) or a Triumph to activate the Blast quality

Success, but no Blast: Enough Successes but not enough Advantages or a Triumph ... Target takes weapon damage (8 + additional successes), but nobody else gets any damage

Failure, and Blast: Not enough Successes, but 3 (or more) Advantages and/or a Triumph ... Nobody takes weapon damage, but everyone in the vicinity (i.e. - "engaged") of the Blast radius (depending on how it is interpreted by both players and GM relative to how close the characters are or how small the area is) takes Blast damage (+6)

Success, and Blast: Target gets weapon damage, all other characters "engaged" with the target get Blast damage (6 + extra successes)

The question with Blast damage and Minions is whether each of the minions takes the damage (and stacking it) or if the group as a whole does (of course, damage gets reduced by Soak) ... and ultimately, I think that needs to be determined by the group and, in the end, the GM. I personally think it's reasonable that each one takes damage individually, however, you might find that the PC's end up mowing though enemies too easily, in which case, it could be ruled that it affects the group as a whole.

In your example, your Minion group would be left with either 8 wounds and 1 dead (if treated as a group) or 11 wounds and 2 dead (if you affect them individually), so it depends on how the group wants the encounter to play out and either way could be described in the narrative in how the grenade landed, where it landed, were 1 or 2 of the NPC's shielding the other(s), etc. ... so, in reality, as the situation dictates, the GM could rule 8 wounds at one time (maybe they are out in the open and have the opportunity to try and dive out of the way), and 11 wounds at a different time (maybe they are backed into a corner or stuck in a room).

That's one of the things I really like about this game system ... there is no cut and dry resolution or cookie cutter results. Every situation is different making this a more living/breathing adventure.

Edited by oatesatm