Minions

Saibamen, Cell Jrs, an army of Frieza Force Soldiers… Dragon Ball has plenty of minion examples. Minions allow for you to deal with problems without getting your own hands dirty, to gain support against superior numbers, or simply attempt to tire out an opponent while you are given the space to recover energy.

Minions. Minions are classified as characters that are controlled by another character, known as that minion’s Master. They themselves cannot take any Actions unless their Master uses the Command Maneuver. Minions themselves have Two Actions but no Counter Action and one of their Actions must either be a Movement Maneuver or transferred into a Counter Action.

Minions do not have a Capacity Rate or Health Thresholds. If you have multiple Minions, they all share a place in Initiative, each taking their turns in order of highest Agility Modifier to lowest (if there’s a tie, you can decide the order). A Minion’s Initiative Score is always equal to their master’s Initiative Score -1.

Minions are killed if their Life Points reach 0, unless you spend a Karma Point to keep them alive. When a Minion has their Life Points reduced to 0, the character that made the attack which defeated them gains One Action to spend immediately. A character can only gain One Action per Combat Round through this method.

Limited Control. While the Command Maneuver lets you command a Minion, it can only be used once per Combat Round on each Minion. The number of Minions you can control in a single turn depends on your Personality Attribute Modifier. At +1 or higher, you can only use the Command Maneuver once per Combat Round. At +6 or higher, you can use the Command Maneuver twice per Combat Round. At +10 or higher, you can use the Command Maneuver three times per Combat Round.

You can only have a number of Minions equal to half your Personality Modifier.

If you do not give your Minions orders with the Command Maneuver, they use their Actions to instead regain 1d8(T) Life and Ki Points. Increase the amount of Life and Ki Points they regain by the Personality Modifier of their Master.

Minions cannot create a Minion or be the Master of a Minion themselves.

Allies. Minions are generally counted as Allies – there are only three exceptions: Minions created through the Multi-Form Magical Ability, Mini Majins (see: From Goop, Majin) and the Minion created through the Dark Factor Trait of Dark King (see: Variant Transformations).

Statistics. While the capabilities of Minions vary from Minion to Minion, their Life Points and Ki Points remain the same. A minion’s Maximum Life Points is equal to 1/5 the Maximum Life Points of their Master (rounded up), and their Ki Point Pool is equal to 1/2 the base Ki Point Pool of their Master at the time of creation (rounded up).

Increase the Maximum Life Points of any Minion by +1/2 of their Tenacity Modifier for every base Tier of Power they have reached.

This does not count as part of the Minion Creation rules (see below).

Minion Creation

Either through magic, racial abilities, super advanced technology, or good old army conscription, creating a Minion is an easy process, akin to a small Character Creation, but based almost exclusively on their Master’s base Tier of Power. Attributes, Skills, Talents and even the special ‘Minion Traits’ are selected in relation to your base Tier of Power.

Follow the steps below to create your own Minion! It’s heavily suggested to create them before your actual sessions, so as to not clog a session with the creation process, but since it is a relatively quick and simple process, you should be able to temporarily pause combat and create a Minion if necessary.

Minions are treated as if they were -5 Power Levels lower than their Master at the time of creation. If the Master’s Power Level is less than 6, the Minion gains a permanent stack of Holding Back that cannot be removed unless the Master’s Power Level is increased beyond 6 and this Minion becomes an Ascended Minion or is targeted by the ‘Train Minion’ option of the Downtime rules. Minions do not grow stronger with you and remain as they are when created. By default, Minions are either Small, Medium or Large Size (decide at Minion Creation).

Step One: Race. Minions do not come from nowhere and are thus each from a selected Race. At Minion Creation, select a Race (with your ARCs approval) and two Racial Traits from that Race – one Body and one Mind. The Minion is of that Race and gains those Racial Traits alongside that Race’s Saving Throw Proficiency and Skill Ranks.

If that Race has a Subrace, you must choose a Subrace for the Minion as well.

Step Two: Attributes and Saving Throws Select two Attributes; these Attributes start with an Attribute Score of 6 while every other Attribute starts with an Attribute Score of 2. The Minion gains Attribute Points to spend on its Attribute Scores equal to 2x the Power Level of their Master at the time of Minion Creation.

Step Three: Skills and Talents. Your Minions gain 2(bT) Skill Ranks to be distributed as you see fit and 2(bT) Talents.

Step Four: Minion Traits. You can select 3 Minion Traits from the list below. Minion Traits cannot be taken multiple times unless specified in the Trait.

Minion Traits

Monstrous (Minion Trait). Select one of the Beast-Man Racial Traits. Your Minion gains that Racial Trait. You can gain this Trait multiple times.

Different Scale (Minion Trait). By taking this trait, your Minion can either gain the Giant’s Strength Racial Trait or the Pixie’s Grace Racial Trait (see – Custom Species).

They can additionally select Flaws for these Racial Traits.

Specialized Minion (Minion Trait). You gain 10(bT) Technique Points (TP) to make Signature Techniques for your Minion. If it is a Technique you already know, reduce its total TP Cost by -5.

Healthy Minion (Minion Trait). Increase your Minion’s Life Points by +6(bT) and their Soak Value by +1(T).

Regenerating Minion (Minion Trait). At the start of their turn, your Minion regains +4(bT) Life Points.

Generalist (Minion Trait). A Minion with this Trait is able to ignore the requirement of using one of its actions as a Movement or Counter Action.

Phalanx Fighter (Minion Trait). When the Master of a Minion with the Phalanx Fighter trait uses the Command Maneuver with that Minion as the target, all Minions with the Phalanx Fighter trait can be controlled, and are treated as if targeted by the Command Maneuver. However, all Minions with the Phalanx Fighter trait must make the same Maneuvers and every Maneuver used by a Minion with the Phalanx Fighter Trait costs an additional +1(T) Ki Points. If they use the Movement Maneuver, they can move in different directions.

Aggressor (Minion Trait). If this Minion is not given a command through the Command Maneuver, they will still use a Basic Attack Maneuver on their turn against the nearest opponent. If multiple opponents are at the same distance, you can choose which opponent is targeted.

This Minion does not regain the 1d8(T) Life Points and Ki Points if not given a command through the Command Maneuver.

Defender (Minion Trait). If this Minion is not given a command through the Command Maneuver, they still gain +1 Counter Action to use either for the Guard Parry Maneuver or for the Intervene Maneuver.

Sentry (Minion Trait). When this Minion is created or at the start of a Combat Encounter if the Minion is already created, select a Square that this Minion could reach with one Movement Maneuver – the Minion may use the Movement Maneuver to enter that Square as an Out-of-Sequence Action. After this, they cannot use the Movement Maneuver unless it would be to return to the declared Square or move in the direction of the declared Square if they cannot return to it in one Movement Maneuver (they can use other effects that would Move them). If any opponents enter or leave this Minion’s Melee Range, this Minion will use a Basic Attack Maneuver as an Out-of-Sequence Action. Select the Profile of this Attacking Maneuver when you select this Minion Trait, they can only use that Profile for this Attacking Maneuver.

These effects only last until the end of this Combat Encounter.

Dynamic Ability (Minion Trait). Work with your ARC to create a unique ability for your Minion.

Minion Transformations

Minions can gain Transformations like any other character – through ARC permission. Beyond that, when creating a Minion while your base Tier of Power is 3+, you may allow them to gain +1 Transformation (with ARC approval) for each base Tier of Power you are beyond 2 (this includes Manifested Powers). You must have access to these Transformations or a Transformation with an equivalent Tier of Power Prerequisite of the same Transformation Type for your Minion to gain them.

Minions use Transformations like any other character, but they do not benefit from the Ki Multiplier rule when Transforming into an Alternate Form. Additionally, Minions cannot gain access to any Legendary Form aside from the Ascended Form Transformation.