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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6702127" data-attributes="member: 6787650">That's not a no-win scenario though. There are two clearly optimal strategies, depending on what the monster wants to accomplish. If it just wants to survive, retreat once the PCs have shown that they have fangs. Even a 10% chance of death isn't worth it--from a monster's perspective, PC parties are almost always double-Deadly threats, quadruple-Deadly threats or worse. But if it doesn't can't (e.g. we're dealing with organized hobgoblin soldiers in a military squad) it can "win" by going defensive locally and Dodging the guy with the greataxe, relying on his buddies with longbows to fill the archer full of arrows. Another strategy (which wouldn't actually work but he wouldn't know it and so might try it) is to grapple/prone the battlemaster to give him disadvantage on everything--and grappling/pushing doesn't trigger Riposte.But let's say we're talking about a lone, fanatical monster whose only goal is to kill as many PCs as possible before dying. E.g. a summoned Goristro who's been given the task of wiping out the PCs. Riposte still isn't helpful. Either the archer is so fast that the Goristro cannot catch him, ever (making the battlemaster superfluous), or he's not. If he's not, the clearly optimal thing for the Goristro to do, whether or not it realizes it, is to ignore the battlemaster and charge the rogue. You take the same reaction attack from the battlemaster that you were going to take anyway, you impose disadvantage on the archer's attacks, you damage the presumably-softer target, you may or may not prevent the battlemaster from getting any regular attacks on you this turn (depends on his movement rate and on the geometry of the battle), you do a ton of extra damage due to charge (because you're a Goristro), and you get a huge opportunity attack on the archer when he tries to flee. There's no comparison between that and "sitting in melee with the battlemaster tanking arrows".Against the battletrickster, of course, that option is illusory. He's too fast for the Goristro to engage in anything but the most cramped, indoor terrain. But in situations where the Goristro has a choice, the archer is a better target.</blockquote>

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