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

[Scott Christian]

I say rogue.
They benefit from the rogue's cover, and they get rid of the character that can do damage via long distance. The wizard, if they have some good saves, might do very little. And the fighter might have to spend their turn getting to them. In that turn, they can punish the rogue by giving them an auto-fail on two death saves. This forces the cleric's hand.

 

[carmachu]

I go with old Shadowrun wisdom:

geek the mage first.

 

[Lanefan]

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.

If the BBEG misses on its first few attacks, or hits but rolls pathetic damage, that's when I'll (half-)joke that it's just toying with the party and-or playing with its food.

And unless the BBEG really is toying with the party (at cost of its own life, note; meaning the BBEG probably has a Wisdom score of about 4) then the even-ness of the four PCs' condition almost has to be explained by elements other than just what the BBEG has done so far in the combat.

That said, yet another parameter we're not told in the OP is whether those four characters are all the party had to begin with. For all we know, x-number of other party members might already be down and dying/dead; and their actions before dropping might help explain how things got to this here-and-now point.

 

[imredave]

Use your breath weapon (or other area of effect) and hit them all.

 

[Starfox]

This is a role-playing decision. Is the monster tactically minded? Does it have a history with any of the characters, or with the archetypes they represent. Should it simply run away instead, or does it have something in the fight that if would risk its life for?

I strongly try to avoid playing NPCs/Monsters in pawn mode, just using them as tactically efficiently as possible. In my experience, this makes the players do the same, and once a player enters pawn mode its very hard to get back to any actual role-playing.