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Message: <blockquote data-quote="firesnakearies" data-source="post: 4342750" data-attributes="member: 71334">The absolute beauty of paper gaming is that there IS a DM, who can make every single event in game customized and appropriate to what's happening. This is why pen-and-paper RPGs will always offer a richer, deeper gameplay experience than computer games. The CRPG industry has come a long way, and has made a really impressive effort at providing a static, coded system which can simulate many of the functions of a DM. But until we develop true artificial intelligence, no programmed engine will ever be able to run a game the way a living DM can. Many of the features that people are used to in MMORPGS are only there BECAUSE there is no DM, so the game devs do the best they can to provide a fair system of action resolution. But in D&D, the DM doesn't need a whole lot of the extra artificial mechanics which are essential in a computer game. Each monster or NPC that you run can have an actual personality, actual motives, actual varying levels of intelligence, perception, and knowledge. You get to decide that. Fighting a pack of zombies should not be the same, for your players, as fighting a band of savvy human mercenaries.  A mindless beast might just lash out randomly at anything near it, or it might charge headlong through the ranks, ignoring all sorts of peril and pain that this subjects it to, to crush some guy in the back who enraged it. But a vampire lord or a mind flayer is going to do the absolutely most intelligent, tactical thing it can think of, which does NOT mean playing into whatever the PCs are trying to maneuver it into doing. I like to ask myself what this particular monster would know about fighting adventurers. Your elite drow assassins have definitely fought other trained, intelligent people of all classes before, so they should react accordingly. They'll understand what fighters can do, know the implications of being marked, but they'll also understand exactly how dangerous the spellcasters are, how they can't allow healers to do their thing unmolested, and so on. On the other hand, a tribe of lizardfolk, while possessing humanlike intelligence, might not be so savvy, might not realize just what will happen if they ignore the fighter's mark, or leave the squishies in the back alone for awhile. But they'll learn, and adapt. The fact that you can make every encounter dynamic, and have the enemies respond appropriate to their nature, is what makes D&D combat so cool. It also makes intelligent monsters much scarier to the players, because they know that a beholder or a marilith isn't going to just stupidly let the PCs do whatever they want, but will be constantly trying to outmaneuver the defenders, shut down the healers, and harry the ranged strikers. An aggro mechanic would ruin one of the very best things about D&D. Nothing beats a DM making each monster's decision individually, according to its mental faculties, and what is happening at that moment. In a well-run D&D game, very few fights are ever tank-and-spank.</blockquote>

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