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Message: <blockquote data-quote="firesnakearies" data-source="post: 4402462" data-attributes="member: 71334">There's a reason why the game has no set rules about deciding who or how a monster attacks.  There's no "aggro" mechanic, and it's a very good thing. The DM is supposed to roleplay the monsters appropriate to their nature, just as the PCs are supposed to roleplay their characters appropriately.  There are a vast variety of different monster types, personalities, levels of intellect, bravery or cowardice, arrogance or caution, grasp of tactics or surrender to instinct. Should a mindless zombie fight the same way as a drow assassin?  I think not.  Should an angry owlbear make the same kind of choices in battle as a cunning succubus?  Certainly not! My rule is that every creature is always aware of the effects of powers used against them, but not all of them process that information in the same way.  - Mindless undead or mindless constructs are just going to continue swinging away at whatever's in front of them, and ignore any other enemies.  - Many beasts and brutish creatures with an animalistic intellect are going to attack whoever hurts them the most, whoever angers them the most, and in many cases may ignore the possible dangers of an action because their immediate, primal drive to do it right then outweighs the dim awareness that it's dangerous for them to do so.  When they are badly injured, they will either go into a frenzy and fight recklessly to the death, or try like mad to get away, depending on the type of critter.  - Mastermind-type enemies, like aboleths, liches, beholders, mind flayers, and drow spellcasters are almost definitely going to do whatever they can to avoid any consequence attacks, and will generally try to get AWAY from melee-types, and incapacitate them quickly or use them against the rest of the party, if possible.  - Hobgoblin archers would surely maneuver to avoid opportunity attacks, but the ogre bashers with them probably wouldn't be very deterred by them, at least until they'd taken a few of those free hits.  - Intelligent undead might gun for whoever is dealing radiant damage, even at the risk of exposing themselves to other enemies.  - Trolls will ABSOLUTELY go after anyone hitting them with fire with a vengeance, not caring about those sword blows which they can regenerate, but extremely concerned about that deadly fire and making a beeline to end its source.  - A lot of creatures which are very intelligent are also very powerful and old and extremely arrogant, so even though they fully grasp the implications of ignoring the punishing powers, they consider themselves so much mightier than these petty mortals that they do as they wish, and think "let the little man tickle me with his sword!"  Dragons, Balors, Pit Fiends, and the like might fall into this category.  I can't see a Balor who really wants to tear the cleric's head off stopping because he's so scared of taking a free hit from some inconsequential fighter or rogue.  - In many cases, it really is smarter to deal with the casters first, as the monsters know that they'll lose if they just beat on the plate-clad dwarf and let his friends toss fireballs and healing spells with impunity.  So it can be a calculated risk to suffer a bit more at the hands of some foes in order to give appropriate priority to eliminating the most dangerous threats.  Any kind of monster of even mediocre intelligence is likely to make this call, unless they're driven by arrogance, rage, personal hatred, or honor.  - On the other hand, there are a lot of monsters which just aren't smart enough or savvy enough or which don't really care about defending themselves.  They'll eat that retaliatory damage every round if they have to, but they won't stop pursuing whatever path their one-tracked mind has focused in on.  Bottom line is, it needs to be a case-by-case basis.  As GM, make every enemy unique and its choices logically consistent with its nature.  Don't punish the PCs by having every single monster react with perfect tactics to these powers and always do the smartest thing to avoid harm, and don't punish the players  by having every single monster totally ignore abilities which are meant to partially control them. Every monster is different.  You can't make a hard-coded policy that says, "This is how monsters will react to these powers in-game."  If you do, you're really stripping a lot of the possible depth out of your combats and your game.</blockquote>

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