How often do DMs draw opportunity of attack

[Final Attack]

I've begun running a few 4th ed games and I've noticed a few powers/abilities/feats/class features all to do with opportunity of attack. Now these are pretty useless abilities if the DM will always try to avoid OoAs, so I've been playing a few dumb animals/goblins as occasionally ignoring OoAs.

Players can force OoAs by pinning a ranged creature, however I find this is typically difficult to do unless it was the base strategy of the party. Typically ranged creatures will be behind other soilders, or will have a melee weapon if enemies close in.

As a DM how often to you draw opportunity of attacks? I'm doing at least 3 a night so that they are becoming more of a common place in battle. Maybe encourage players to risk OoAs too.

If I play 'serious' DM I can always avoid mistakes and only tactically position my forces, but I think its more interesting this way and makes those feats/powers that give bonuses to OoAs worthwhile.

 

[Reaper Steve]

I wholeheartedly agree that those the DM has some responsibility to intentionally provoke OAs since many powers rely on them. That has to be tempered with giving a fair challenge.

I tend to base my play on the monster's intelligence. I'll intentionally make more 'blunders' with lower INT creatures. If the fight is going well for me (as the DM), I'll also become more reckless.

Realize, too, that the threat of an OA is part of the power. If you would have moved a creature but didn't beacuse you didn't think it was worth thr risk of the OA, then that power did have an effect, even though it didn't create an attack roll.

 

[cmrscorpio]

Ideally, how often my monsters cause OAs depends on the creature that the PCs are fighting. Mindless undead are heedless of OAs, causing them quite often. Monsters like orcs and trolls generally don't care if they cause OAs since they fight recklessly to begin with. Goblins and animals that hunt in packs (like wolves) rarely cause OAs. Hobgoblins have mastered Sun Tsu's The Art of War, causing OAs only if absolutely necessary

 

[King-Panda]

It really depends on the NPC's the DM is running. For simplicity, I lay out the "tactical intelligence" of a monster into one of three categories:

Animal-Very Low intelligence: Doesn't use a whole lot of tactics. A really stupid non-animal might try to work his way around a target if they have been hit hard by them, and realize that person hurts. Creatures of animal intelligence and lower should be a little worse, and enraged animals shouldn't try to use tactics at all.

Low-Decent intelligence: This is a larger group than Animal-Very Low, and therefore has a little more spread. Goblins/ogres/etc would be at the bottom of this tier, and trained soldiers would be at the top. Goblins/Ogres might not be able to tell a enemy A is a rogue, and that they shouldn't let enemy A flank them. Those on the other end of the axis would. The top tier of this group should use good, sound tactics, but won't think tactically more than a turn or two in advance.

Good intelligence and up: Here is where your sly rogues, spellcasters, Illithids, mini-bosses and bosses come in to play. Buffing before combat, using debuffs effectively, setting up traps, retreating, planning 3-8 turns ahead, go all out. Pretty easy to imagine.

So yeah, got totally off track there. You were speaking about OA's specifically. Well, I think you can get a good idea from the above. The bottom tier should draw them often-constantly, the middle a handful of times, and the last tier should draw as little as necessary. Even a boss will draw a few in a hasty retreat if they are sure they can survive the hits and make a getaway. The rest is up to you.

 

[brehobit]

I generally don't have them pull AoO unless it is tactically sound or they _really_ want to kill someone (so ignore the rest). On the whole, I'd expect mindless things to go after the thing closest to them. That means no AoO due to movement at least.

Mark

 

[deleteme123456]

Mindless could also be "kill that which hurt me" which might be the ranged attacker on the other side of the board.

 

[fba827]

It is a matter of the monsters/NPCs in question. But some general guidelines I use are:

* Intelligence of the creature in question (sometimes they are just dumb and don't realize the tactical situation)

* Goals of the creature in question (sometimes they are so focused on one individual they will ignore the others -- perhaps they are under orders, perhaps one PC killed her mate, etc)


So with that in mind, in my games, OA from monsters has come up about once every five combats -- that is, speaking on average, since more often than not, it is one combat where a creature provokes it frequently (for one of the above two reasons) followed by a few encounter of more intelligent/less focused monsters where OAs aren't provoked as often.

 

[Mengu]

It depends. With Skirmishers and Lurkers, I'll risk the occasional opportunity attack, for better positioning. With Brutes, I'll just about never risk it, they are typically focused on attacking one thing. With Soldiers it depends on their goals, but they'll rarely provoke opportunity attacks. For Artillary and Controllers, it will depend on their abilities. For Solo's, I'll try not to draw too many opportunity attacks.

Marked monsters typically attack their marker, but will take opportunity attacks against others, even if it invokes the wrath of a Paladin or Fighter.

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

I will take actions purposefully so the players can get opportunity attacks. I use it as a tool to bring the level of play closer to moderate difficulty, as I stack all my encounters with hard difficulty foes.

 

[Nail]

As a DM how often to you draw opportunity of attacks?

Hardly ever. Perhaps once every three sessions.