So, I think I'm going to change how the tentacles work again; they have 0 health, and a single hit will kill it.  Half of the damage from the hit is also dealt to the main monster.  Tentacles can keep respawning though, so killing them is only a temporary reprieve; but for someone like Naia who's stuck with a +8 to her escape DC, that might be the only way to get out.<br/><br/>Not sure what to do about area attacks like Fireball, though.  I might rule it like 4E's minions, where it takes an actual hit (in this case, failing the save) to kill it.  The monster only takes the damage once though; the damage from killed tentacles won't transfer if it gets hit by the main blast.