Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Monster Knowledge Check, Monster Roles? Minion or not?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 4939748" data-attributes="member: 2011"><p>How so?</p><p></p><p>The minions fall just as easily from any damaging power. The PCs are still heroes killing them, regardless of them pulling out the simple At Will every single time vs. the occassonal pulling out the Daily.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>More so than having the players be bored because the DM spoon feeds them.</p><p></p><p>When I walk into an encounter as a player, I don't know much. I can see the foes, but do they have poison? Do they cause disease? Should I use my Shield spell on the first attack against me? Should I throw an area effect against many of them, risking the chance that they are not minions and might focus fire on my PC?</p><p></p><p>This is interesting. This is exciting. This gets my adrenaline pumping.</p><p></p><p>Knowing the exact roles of monsters defeats the purpose of this. Sure, the big guys rushing in are probably not Controllers, but they could be Soldiers or Brutes or even Skirmishers.</p><p></p><p>The moment that players know roles is the moment that their decision making process because limited and sometimes even non-existent. Minion is one of the worst offenders here, but many other types have known typical monster role weaknesses.</p><p></p><p></p><p>You claim that giving the players a clear tactical decision is fun, but how so? What makes automatically (or nearly automatically) knowing the best move (and typically just using it) fun? It is the unexpected in the game system that is fun, not the well worn path.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, that's a Lurker back there. Wizard, hit him with a Will attack (yet again)."</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This issue is similar to cross table talk. We have a player in our game who often makes suggestions to the other players across the table most rounds. I find myself telling him to let the other player make his or her own decisions multiple times per night.</p><p></p><p>Sure, some people like to hear suggestions around the table and then pick the best one. But, there are other players who prefer to make their own decisions and to learn from their mistakes.</p><p></p><p>But this takes away a lot of the fun. To me, it's fun when the Defender does an unexpected move and the Invoker suddenly has to change tactics because things have changed. Not the Invoker saying 'Hey, I wanted to do xyz, don't do that" and the player of the Defender being expected to do what the player of the Invoker wanted.</p><p></p><p>Combat should be chaotic, not pre-defined and clear tactical decisions.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="KarinsDad, post: 4939748, member: 2011"] How so? The minions fall just as easily from any damaging power. The PCs are still heroes killing them, regardless of them pulling out the simple At Will every single time vs. the occassonal pulling out the Daily. More so than having the players be bored because the DM spoon feeds them. When I walk into an encounter as a player, I don't know much. I can see the foes, but do they have poison? Do they cause disease? Should I use my Shield spell on the first attack against me? Should I throw an area effect against many of them, risking the chance that they are not minions and might focus fire on my PC? This is interesting. This is exciting. This gets my adrenaline pumping. Knowing the exact roles of monsters defeats the purpose of this. Sure, the big guys rushing in are probably not Controllers, but they could be Soldiers or Brutes or even Skirmishers. The moment that players know roles is the moment that their decision making process because limited and sometimes even non-existent. Minion is one of the worst offenders here, but many other types have known typical monster role weaknesses. You claim that giving the players a clear tactical decision is fun, but how so? What makes automatically (or nearly automatically) knowing the best move (and typically just using it) fun? It is the unexpected in the game system that is fun, not the well worn path. "Oh, that's a Lurker back there. Wizard, hit him with a Will attack (yet again)." This issue is similar to cross table talk. We have a player in our game who often makes suggestions to the other players across the table most rounds. I find myself telling him to let the other player make his or her own decisions multiple times per night. Sure, some people like to hear suggestions around the table and then pick the best one. But, there are other players who prefer to make their own decisions and to learn from their mistakes. But this takes away a lot of the fun. To me, it's fun when the Defender does an unexpected move and the Invoker suddenly has to change tactics because things have changed. Not the Invoker saying 'Hey, I wanted to do xyz, don't do that" and the player of the Defender being expected to do what the player of the Invoker wanted. Combat should be chaotic, not pre-defined and clear tactical decisions. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Monster Knowledge Check, Monster Roles? Minion or not?
Top