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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 1929272" data-attributes="member: 99">I'm a big fan of this kind of thing when running the "easy" combats against my players.  I like it primarily because tactics is one of my favorite things about the game and running the bad guys lets me try out all sorts of varied situations with different goals, abilities and terrain.As mentioned, I always try to restrain myself to the level of tactics available to the adversary in question.  And I also try to keep in mind what the NPC or monster is trying to achieve.  They may wish to simply survive and escape.  But it could be that they want to kill a particular character, do as much damage as possible, destroy or steal an item the party carries or all sorts of other things.  So I try to sit for a few minutes considering the abilities, intellect and goals of the enemies for each encounter before the game session starts.One quick tidbit for those wanting to employ this technique more is that an enemy with the initiative has a BIG advantage over one that doesn't.  I don't just mean that they rolled higher on the Initiative, I mean they picked the fight with the PC's and determined its location and circumstances.  Also, if they lead off with some sort of area of effect spell (either damage or area denial like Web, Entangle or Darkness) then they set the tone of the battle and the PC's find themselves reacting instead of acting for the first few rounds.In many ways I think this has taught me to be a better player (from a tactical standpoint, although it might have given a slight boost to my roleplaying skills from the fact that I have to portray so many varied goals and intentions).  What I've found is that in those first few moments of combat, the best thing you can do is try to disrupt the enemy plan rather than throw up protections to "buff" yourself.  Casting Stoneskin and Shield will certainly make you more likely to survive the combat but casting Glitterdust on the enemy formation will help your team regain the initiative.In other words, the best defense is often a good offense.  And this philosophy applies to intelligent NPC's who get ambushed by the party as well.</blockquote>

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