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<blockquote data-quote="77IM" data-source="post: 8061873" data-attributes="member: 12377">Beware of putting too much cognitive load on the DM. I already find that running an encounter with 5 different monster stat blocks is challenging. If you give those monsters even more stuff to do, my head might explode. Spellcasters are particularly bad; having more than 1 enemy spellcaster (mayyyyybe 2, depending) makes an encounter unrunnable for me.I also think it's important to observe the difference between a &quot;puzzle monster,&quot; where you have to figure out its weaknesses or learn its attack patterns, and a tactical challenge. Fighting a puzzle monster requires observation and deduction, plus the monster needs to live long enough for a few rounds of experimentation to occur. A tactical challenge is more about general principles and is more forward-thinking, like, &quot;these guys are hitting us pretty hard, so we should fall back to the hallway&quot; or maybe &quot;that's the enemy spellcaster, somebody toss a monk at it.&quot; You can build an interesting tactical challenge by using boring monsters in interesting environments, with interesting equipment, or just with unusual tactics of their own. Building a puzzle monster is much harder because if you mess it up the encounter could go very badly. I really like your &quot;posing dilemmas&quot; idea as a sort of softer version of the puzzle monster.All that said, gameplay options like this are exactly what I want out of Level Up. I don't give two hoots about character-creation options. Instead, I want cool things to do during encounters, adventures, and campaigns.If you haven't already, check out the bestiary for 13th Age. I really like how they use the natural result of attack rolls to trigger monster abilities; it's almost like the monsters are on auto-pilot. In 5E, many Legendary creatures and lair actions work this way. They seem to have a lot of abilities going on, but the DM really doesn't have very many to choose from at any one time.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="77IM, post: 8061873, member: 12377"] Beware of putting too much cognitive load on the DM. I already find that running an encounter with 5 different monster stat blocks is challenging. If you give those monsters even more stuff to do, my head might explode. Spellcasters are particularly bad; having more than 1 enemy spellcaster (mayyyyybe 2, depending) makes an encounter unrunnable for me. I also think it's important to observe the difference between a "puzzle monster," where you have to figure out its weaknesses or learn its attack patterns, and a tactical challenge. Fighting a puzzle monster requires observation and deduction, plus the monster needs to live long enough for a few rounds of experimentation to occur. A tactical challenge is more about general principles and is more forward-thinking, like, "these guys are hitting us pretty hard, so we should fall back to the hallway" or maybe "that's the enemy spellcaster, somebody toss a monk at it." You can build an interesting tactical challenge by using boring monsters in interesting environments, with interesting equipment, or just with unusual tactics of their own. Building a puzzle monster is much harder because if you mess it up the encounter could go very badly. I really like your "posing dilemmas" idea as a sort of softer version of the puzzle monster. All that said, gameplay options like this are [B]exactly[/B] what I want out of [I]Level Up[/I]. I don't give two hoots about character-creation options. Instead, I want cool things to do during encounters, adventures, and campaigns. If you haven't already, check out the bestiary for [I]13th Age.[/I] I really like how they use the natural result of attack rolls to trigger monster abilities; it's almost like the monsters are on auto-pilot. In 5E, many Legendary creatures and lair actions work this way. They seem to have a lot of abilities going on, but the DM really doesn't have very many to choose from at any one time. [/QUOTE]

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