D&D 5E GM: Who Do You Target? [READ OP BEFORE VOTING]

[Draegn]

Through roleplaying the one that antagonizes the foes the most.

 

[Steampunkette]

i think you'd need way more then a few lucky shots to turn a roflstomp into the situation the OP describes.

I dunno...

Remember, this presumes a single BBEG fighting off 4 player characters and getting to this point. Let's assume the players are second level. Average health would be in the range of...

Fighter: 20 (Con +2)
Rogue: 16 (Con +1)
Cleric: 18 (Con +1)
Wizard: 10 (Con +1)

For them to be able to get people down to "One hit" without defeating them outright their damage needs to be -around- 8 per hit. Assuming they get two swings a round, or are able to deal about 8 damage twice, they need to land -about- 6 hits on the party to get everyone that low on health.

Assuming the Cleric has done no healing, of course. Any healing requires another hit, on average, to counteract.

One hit puts the Wizard at 2. Two hits puts the cleric at 2. One hit puts the Rogue at 8. 2 hits puts the Fighter at 4.

So we'd be looking at Round 4, and none of the players have an initiative coming up, so they've taken their turns.

The BBEG has taken 4 attacks from each party member. 16 swings. And is now "One hit away" from falling. Assuming they're hitting for 8 as well, that's 128 points of damage. And any round in which the Cleric healed and forced the BBEG to take another swing is another 32 damage on average.

So we're probably looking at a BBEG with around 130-140hp fighting level 2 players and spreading their attacks across them fairly evenly in order to whittle down the entire group to their last legs. Now we could go into questions of AC and ToHit bonuses or the actual minutia of Sneak Attacks and Optimal Spell Use but really it's not about getting an exact measure of how much HP the BBEG has so much as getting a comparison between the BBEG's damage and the party's and how long it would take, roughly, to set up the situation in the OP.

So let's not get any more pedantic than we have to.

If the BBEG were looking to Roflstomp the party they kill the Cleric round 2 with the third hit and then swings on the Wizard, negating the issue of healing altogether. Then the Wizard in round 3 with the first swing and the Rogue takes a hit. This alone ensures the BBEG's survival. Then the Rogue drops in found 4 and the second hit for round 4 goes to the Fighter, Fighter drops in round 5 after two more hits.

Being generous and saying it takes the full 6 rounds to drop the entire party, the maximum output assuming every party member lands a hit on every round they can take a swing is an uncomfortable 116. Out of the 130-140hp the BBEG needs to make the situation match the OP. The Cleric got to act round 1 and has been waiting for the inevitable TPK ever since, and has probably been watching Tiktoks for the last hour of the session.

If the GM plays "Bully" in this scenario, it's a roflstomp in which the players didn't really have much of a chance. Even adding in a couple of crits doesn't offset the overall calculation by much and still leaves the BBEG with a comfortable spread of HP.

If the GM plays "Bad guy toying with his food" it's a lot more play for everyone at the table and the party -almost- gets him before he escapes with one party member dropped at the last moment for dramatic effect. And with a couple of lucky shots, the game could've gone the other direction. (Which is generally why your BBEG in this situation should have closer to 150 HP to make it a real squeaker if the party manages a crit over the course of 16 attacks)

Anyway. Yeah. No chance TPK vs. high drama toying with the same bad guy is fairly simple to do, really.

 

[Reynard]

Just as a reminder, the question isn't about theory. The question is about immediacy. You are running the BBEG. No matter how it came about, you are down to one hit's woty of HP and so are the PCs. Who do you target? Why?

 

[Not a Decepticon]

Just as a reminder, the question isn't about theory. The question is about immediacy. You are running the BBEG. No matter how it came about, you are down to one hit's woty of HP and so are the PCs. Who do you target? Why?

My answer remains as before. If Misty Step can be countered, I target wizard and then misty step away and retreat. If not, I target one of damage dealers, misty step and retreat or threaten Cleric

 

[ECMO3]

ok, but did those characters go down in literally the last round of combat? i'm gonna guess probably not. in practical terms, none of the party is dying here.

i think you'd need way more then a few lucky shots to turn a roflstomp into the situation the OP describes.

So in the original post the PCs are "in a fight for their lives" which would strongly imply that is winnable for the BBEG and a TPK is even possible.

That said, I have had two characters die in what I would call easy fights. My 2nd level Goblin Artificer was hit with a crit and then downed by create Bonfire in the first two turns of a fight before she even had a turn. She then failed a death save on her turn, took fire damage from the bonfire the end of her turn causing another failed death save. The PCs killed both enemies in the first round, one of the PCs failed a medicine check to stabilize her and then she failed a third death save on her turn in the second round. This was an easy fight and I don't think anyone else took any damage.

The other character I had die in an easy fight was a level 2 Bladesinger, level 1 Monk. She went down right before her turn in the second round. Failed a death save, then in the 3rd round rolled a 1 on her death save. The rest of the party survived the three round fight pretty easily.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

So in the original post the PCs are "in a fight for their lives" which would strongly imply that is winnable for the BBEG and a TPK is even possible.

That said, I have had two characters die in what I would call easy fights. My 2nd level Goblin Artificer was hit with a crit and then downed by create Bonfire in the first two turns of a fight before she even had a turn. She then failed a death save on her turn, took fire damage from the bonfire the end of her turn causing another failed death save. The PCs killed both enemies in the first round, one of the PCs failed a medicine check to stabilize her and then she failed a third death save on her turn in the second round. This was an easy fight and I don't think anyone else took any damage.

The other character I had die in an easy fight was a level 2 Bladesinger, level 1 Monk. She went down right before her turn in the second round. Failed a death save, then in the 3rd round rolled a 1 on her death save. The rest of the party survived the three round fight pretty easily.

so that's a no, then.

 

[ECMO3]

so that's a no, then.

It is actually a yes. My Goblin artificer went down in the 1st round of combat, which was also the last round of combat. We stayed in initiative because she was down.

My Bladesinger-Monk went down in the 2nd round. I don't remember if the combat ended that round or the 3rd round..

 

[Lanefan]

I dunno...

Remember, this presumes a single BBEG fighting off 4 player characters and getting to this point. Let's assume the players are second level. Average health would be in the range of...

Fighter: 20 (Con +2)
Rogue: 16 (Con +1)
Cleric: 18 (Con +1)
Wizard: 10 (Con +1)

For them to be able to get people down to "One hit" without defeating them outright their damage needs to be -around- 8 per hit. Assuming they get two swings a round, or are able to deal about 8 damage twice, they need to land -about- 6 hits on the party to get everyone that low on health.

Assuming the Cleric has done no healing, of course. Any healing requires another hit, on average, to counteract.

One hit puts the Wizard at 2. Two hits puts the cleric at 2. One hit puts the Rogue at 8. 2 hits puts the Fighter at 4.

So we'd be looking at Round 4, and none of the players have an initiative coming up, so they've taken their turns.

The BBEG has taken 4 attacks from each party member. 16 swings. And is now "One hit away" from falling. Assuming they're hitting for 8 as well, that's 128 points of damage. And any round in which the Cleric healed and forced the BBEG to take another swing is another 32 damage on average.

So we're probably looking at a BBEG with around 130-140hp fighting level 2 players and spreading their attacks across them fairly evenly in order to whittle down the entire group to their last legs. Now we could go into questions of AC and ToHit bonuses or the actual minutia of Sneak Attacks and Optimal Spell Use but really it's not about getting an exact measure of how much HP the BBEG has so much as getting a comparison between the BBEG's damage and the party's and how long it would take, roughly, to set up the situation in the OP.

So let's not get any more pedantic than we have to.

What we're not told is whether the BBEG started with any sidekicks, who the PCs have already taken out before the combat got to this point but who would have soaked damage the BBEG would otherwise have taken. The BBEG might only have started with 40-50 h.p., but now all his meat shields are gone the PCs can spiral on him (and have been) such that his h.p. are now in the single digits.

The presence of sidekicks might also explain how the PCs' hit points fell so relatively evenly; the BBEG couldn't spiral on (or even usefully attack) anyone because up until the last round or so his sidekicks were in the way.

If the BBEG were looking to Roflstomp the party they kill the Cleric round 2 with the third hit and then swings on the Wizard, negating the issue of healing altogether. Then the Wizard in round 3 with the first swing and the Rogue takes a hit. This alone ensures the BBEG's survival. Then the Rogue drops in found 4 and the second hit for round 4 goes to the Fighter, Fighter drops in round 5 after two more hits.

And IMO if the BBEG is a) smart and b) has foreknowledge of the party's composition, then that's exactly what the BBEG should do and-or order his sidekicks to do. Remember, the BBEG is also a sentient entity with a sense of self-preservation and a desire to survive while suffering as little as possible.

Being generous and saying it takes the full 6 rounds to drop the entire party, the maximum output assuming every party member lands a hit on every round they can take a swing is an uncomfortable 116. Out of the 130-140hp the BBEG needs to make the situation match the OP. The Cleric got to act round 1 and has been waiting for the inevitable TPK ever since, and has probably been watching Tiktoks for the last hour of the session.

If the GM plays "Bully" in this scenario, it's a roflstomp in which the players didn't really have much of a chance. Even adding in a couple of crits doesn't offset the overall calculation by much and still leaves the BBEG with a comfortable spread of HP.

Which might point to the BBEG in this case simply being too much for a group like this to handle; and on (or even before) the first PC dropping the best action for the PCs is to run like hell.

 

[Lanefan]

Just as a reminder, the question isn't about theory. The question is about immediacy. You are running the BBEG. No matter how it came about, you are down to one hit's woty of HP and so are the PCs. Who do you target? Why?

Making the question only about immediacy, without reference to situation or history (i.e. how and-or why things got to this point), makes the question itself kinda pointless.

It's like one of those dumb chess problems where you're given a board position without any reference to how things got to that point, and told to solve it. Context is everything.

 

[Steampunkette]

What we're not told is whether the BBEG started with any sidekicks, who the PCs have already taken out before the combat got to this point but who would have soaked damage the BBEG would otherwise have taken. The BBEG might only have started with 40-50 h.p., but now all his meat shields are gone the PCs can spiral on him (and have been) such that his h.p. are now in the single digits.

The presence of sidekicks might also explain how the PCs' hit points fell so relatively evenly; the BBEG couldn't spiral on (or even usefully attack) anyone because up until the last round or so his sidekicks were in the way.

And IMO if the BBEG is a) smart and b) has foreknowledge of the party's composition, then that's exactly what the BBEG should do and-or order his sidekicks to do. Remember, the BBEG is also a sentient entity with a sense of self-preservation and a desire to survive while suffering as little as possible.

Which might point to the BBEG in this case simply being too much for a group like this to handle; and on (or even before) the first PC dropping the best action for the PCs is to run like hell.

Reading your response just tells me that you and I play the game differently.

And that's okay!

Sometimes I -do- have the BBEG come out swinging and not stop 'til everyone is a puddle of blood, forcing the players to beat a hasty retreat. But for me to get to the scenario described in the OP: It's because the BBEG is toying with the party.

You and other people can go on and on about what the BBEG "Should" do or "Must have" done and describe effective tactics or careful use of minions or whatever else. It won't change how I would've gotten to, or handled the final attack, in the presented scenario.