When you kill your monsters do you kill the boss one last?

[Turtlejay]

Wow. . .our party usually runs around attacking whatever is convenient, not always focusing fire or even *knowing* which one the boss is.

Usually the enemy doesn't play fair with lining up in a phalanx with the boss standing behind. More often they are scattered throughout, and we spend the fight regrouping.

And it is always a lot of fun, so. . .yeah.

Jay

 

[fba827]

If we were trying to be -efficient- we'd (as many people stated above) hold down the boss while taking out the mooks. However, ....

Wow. . .our party usually runs around attacking whatever is convenient, not always focusing fire or even *knowing* which one the boss is.

Usually the enemy doesn't play fair with lining up in a phalanx with the boss standing behind. More often they are scattered throughout, and we spend the fight regrouping.

And it is always a lot of fun, so. . .yeah.

Jay

... our group plays a lot like Turtlejay's -- we just run around attacking whatever is convenient in all out chaos. Is it a good or efficient system? Heck no. Is it effective? sometimes. Does it allow for equal fun compared to efficiency? usually (for us at least) though depends on our mix of moods and who is there. So, yeah, it's all good really.

 

[KarinsDad]

My general answer will be, whatever enemy you can focus fire on and take down fast, is the enemy to attack.

This.

As a general rule of thumb, it is better to take out lesser foes because they are a) easier to hit, b) easier to access (typically, the small fry are closer and mixing it up), and c) they have fewer hit points and can be taken out quicker.

But that doesn't mean that the PCs shouldn't take out the BBEG if given the chance. In an n+4 encounter yesterday, the players surprised me by doing focus fire on the BBEG and with a few Dailies, took it out in the first 2 rounds.

 

[unan oranis]

4e's been pretty good at busting up the focus fire (for my group) - but when they can they seem to be most freaked out by buffs/heals and focus on the controllers first, whom I typically favor as the leader/bbeg.

When it's chaos mode, I'd say artillery ends up being the first to fall, as my groups instinct is to cause some hurt in the back-lines.

Against the apparent trend, lurkers get a lot of hate too even though they often don't get busy until a few rounds in.

 

[DracoSuave]

While I don't offer much input on this topic...

(it's a "depends on the encounter" response....)

Kudos on the old-school Smarties reference.

It made me lawl.

 

[Shin Okada]

It depend largely on PC party's configuration, monster party's configuration, and the situation.

But in general, in our play group, boss or not doesn't matter much. Monster rolls do matter on the other hand.

Controllers and artilleries tend to be the first target. Because the former strengthen the entire monster party and the latter tend to attack PCs which players don't like to be attacked.

Then, the next priority is "Kill whom you can kill fast".

The same method can be taken by DMs when playing clever monsters. Attack PC leaders as long as it is possible. Then maybe PC controllers and ranged Strikers.

 

[Tale]

My Sorcerer hasn't fought a boss yet, but I do see myself focusing Chaos Bolt on the boss, while sending out the secondary attack to take out minions. Whether the boss is killed first or last will then depend on the encounter setup and how often I roll even.

 

[Doctor Proctor]

The main thing really is to remain flexible and able to adapt to what the DM throws at you. If the "boss" is a huge brute that's trying to kill your healer, you might want to take him out first. If it's an artillery or controller type enemy, you might want to send the Fighter in to lock it down (there's a great daily that doesn't let the enemy shift while the Fighter is adjacent, it's perfect for that sort of situation) while the rest of the party eliminates the other enemies.

So mainly, just avoid getting locked into the idea that there's "one way", and instead focus on what types of enemies your party is good at taking out(both as a whole, and for each party member). Feel free to play to those strengths as the encounter dictates. The aforementioned strategy of sending in the Fighter to lock down a problem boss is a good example of this because you're using his strengths (ability to lock down combined with the survivability to handle the boss' backlash) in order to give the rest of the party time to take out the other guys.

 

[hemera]

Wow. . .our party usually runs around attacking whatever is convenient, not always focusing fire or even *knowing* which one the boss is.

Usually the enemy doesn't play fair with lining up in a phalanx with the boss standing behind. More often they are scattered throughout, and we spend the fight regrouping.

And it is always a lot of fun, so. . .yeah.

Jay

That's how my group has been handling fights since the start of the campaign. It's a lot more fun than my last group.

 

[Mengu]

Wow. . .our party usually runs around attacking whatever is convenient, not always focusing fire or even *knowing* which one the boss is.

Usually the enemy doesn't play fair with lining up in a phalanx with the boss standing behind. More often they are scattered throughout, and we spend the fight regrouping.

And it is always a lot of fun, so. . .yeah.

Depends on DM a lot. I ran for a group like that, and it took me a moment to realize level+2 encounters were way too tough for them, and stuck with level+1 and lower level encounters for that group. After a few player changes, the group became better tactically oriented and I was able to start increasing difficulty. I still rarely do level+3 encounters. In our other group, we have faced down a few level+4 and level+5 encounters (and most of us survived). So it really is in the DM's hands if an optimized or unoptimized approach will lead to TPK, or cakewalk, or something in between that everyone can enjoy. The most important thing is inner-party balance (so you don't have half the party staying out of the way while the other half owns the encounter) and the DM can guide the players through that (and make adjustments as needed). Communication within the group also helps of course.