D&D 5E GM: Who Do You Target? [READ OP BEFORE VOTING]

Who Do You as GM Attack?

  • Fighter

    Votes: 40 32.5%
  • Wizard

    Votes: 21 17.1%
  • Rogue

    Votes: 9 7.3%
  • Cleric

    Votes: 28 22.8%
  • No one; other answer

    Votes: 25 20.3%

Maxperson

Morkus from Orkus
The odds of getting an impactful kill is low so escape should be job #1.

I vote "Misty step (bonus action) & double move, behind cover/concealment if possible". That should be 90ft, meaning the fighter can't catch you to melee. The rogue loses sneak attack from an ally in combat and if you can force the rogue to move to be able to shoot you, they can't take Steady Aim so you'll survive them. 90ft plus whatever range the cleric & wizard were at eliminates a lot of spells, reducing both casters' options. And if you can get cover, that's at least a bonus to Dex saves even if you are in range of an up-cast fireball.
The cleric and wizard can move 30, so the range of spells needs to be 60, not 90.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

tetrasodium

Legend
Supporter
Epic
Cleric because yoyo. Things get more complicated if yoyo is not around or gets fixed, but it seems pretty contrived already given that everyone in the party is beat up enough for this one ability to do the deed. That kind of distribution of attrition only happens because in video games ThatH ave much in common with jrpgs like final fantasy
 
Last edited:

Vaalingrade

Legend
Or maybe the fight is personal, all the BBEG cares about is taking down the heroes with them, and a posthumous revenge as their unleashed menagerie of monsters finishes off the heroes is sufficient.
That would be the definition of petty.

Which is still better than 'because metagaming and the DM doesn't like healing from down and continues to blame the wrong thing for it'.
 

How smart is your boss? Does it have any particular issues with party members?

Generally, I would say you BBEG flees and sends minions to cover their escape. If they aren't in a position to permanently kill anyone there is no point. As mentioned by others, they will assume that if they knock out the cleric another party member will rush over and pour a healing potion down them.

Otherwise they kill the PC they hate the most.
 
Last edited:


CapnZapp

Legend
You are the GM. Who does the BBEG attack? Why? What then?
This is far too inflexible. Don't assume the answer us always the same character/ class.

Some GMs make the reasonable assumption every PC contributes equally and rolls a due to randomly select the vict... target.

If one PC has done something to draw attention to themselves, a GM is likely to "reward" that behavior by targeting him (or making it twice as likely they'll be selected by the random roll)

Most competent glass cannons (a wizard, for instance) will make sure they are not on the BBEGs initial targeting list. Even something as simple as crouching behind an obstacle can mean the DM has his BBEG overlook that character.

If the BBEG knows of the party, there might be reasons why they would make a personal selection.

In any event, ALWAYS gunning for the wizard, or the fighter or whatever, sounds like the least fun approach, so I shan't vote.
 

i'd actually argue picking cleric is the absolute WORST option. all your biggest dangers are still on the field, you likely don't have the maneuverability to get away from all of them (since you gave up your action), AND you've just pissed them all off. the last thing the bbeg needs to do in this situation is catch EVEN MORE smoke.

i agree with the people saying escape is the best choice. don't even bother attacking anyone, just misty step and dash. if i were absolutely required to pick someone to attack, i'd either go fighter or wizard depending on the terrain - if i can move so that i force the fighter to dash and prevent the rogue from getting an angle, i'd hit the wizard because he's the epitome of "RANDOM BS GO!". otherwise i'd hit the fighter to negate any chance of sneak attack, though that wizard would probably then erase me from the space time continuum or something on his turn anyway, so...
 

ezo

Get off my lawn!
Without particulars, I had to pick no one/other answer.

I have no idea of the encounter setting. How is the rogue's cover accomplished? How far away is he? How far away is the wizard? Can the Wizard counterspell the BBEG bonus action? What is the BBEG's primary motivation: killing the PCs or preserving its own life? (For example, a golem has no sense of self-preservation.) There are too many unknowns.

Having read other responses, any of them could work, but it depends on answers to the above questions and more.

DISCLAIMER: All content of this post is the opinion of the author. No infringement on the rights or priviledges of others is intended or implied.
 
Last edited:

TheSword

Legend
In the absence of a specific goal. Then I would say go for the person who is the biggest threat. In this case it’s the Fighter, not just practically but psychologically too. The fighter is there in the BBEG’s grill. That’s hard to ignore unless the foe is a genius (not merely intelligent) then maybe they are dispassionately calculating all the pieces on the board.

In my honest opinion though, I would pick none of the above. If the BBEG is going to retreat, then have them retreat. Once that decision is made it is pretty foolish to risk not getting away because they decide to use an action attacking. Better to escape with a plan B for if that escape fails than use up their spare action with a spiteful attack. It’s not like it will kill the PC anyway unless they can follow up dropping them to 0.
 

MarkB

Legend
It’s not like it will kill the PC anyway unless they can follow up dropping them to 0.
This is where intelligence and experience can get weird. Unless he's fought the PCs before, the BBEG's experience is most likely that when he puts someone down with his big attack, they don't get back up again.
 

Remove ads

Top