How about something that is very system non-specific! I want minions in all my games! Here are my thoughts for Pathfinder and DnD Next…
4 minions = 1 regular monster in a fight at an appropriate CR
Do NOT change the ability scores of a minion OR its saves. This is very important! You want the monsters to be able to dodge attacks as well as their normal counter parts.
Like in 4e DnD, a minion essentially has one HP. One hit will kill them.
Their damage is 1/8 of the max for any attack. Find this out in advance. Why 1/8? A minion should trouble a PC, but not kill a PC. Remember, the PCs are the big, damn heroes of the system and they should not die to a random villager/soldier.
A minion will always have mundane equipment and very little if any money, however, if non-mundane equipment bonuses are factored into a normal monster values used for the minion template, do not remove those bonuses from the minion.
Minions do NOT die when a spell effect does damage on a miss. Minions are either immolated by the fireball or jump aside.
That’s it! I plan to start using these in my games. Will you?
Throat Punch Games 