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<blockquote data-quote="Sir Brennen" data-source="post: 7231696" data-attributes="member: 553">My players recently ran with their tails between their legs from the Earth Cult in our Princes of the Apocalypse game as a result of the NPCs behaving intelligently. Several guards who had a view through windows into the room where the PCs started combat ran to get help rather than join in the fight immediately. The players noticed what was happening and put all their effort into taking down the current threat and getting the heck out of there. They were fighting gargoyles, and have only one magic weapon at this time (third level). Shatter was a logical option (gargoyles have disad on save), but the loud sound alerted yet another room to the party's presence. Rather than chase the party, a priest of the cult went up to a window and waited. The party had to pass through the room he was looking into and he blasted them when they came by, having a relatively safe position to do so.Most of us grognards (or just newer players/DMs) started with dungeon clearing, one-room-at-a-time fights. It does take a while to think in terms of running an encounter like I described above, sometimes needing an &quot;aha!&quot; moment to begin thinking of dungeons more holistically, and not just each encounter in a vacuum. What are an NPCs options based on what's nearby? That includes terrain or other features of the encounter space as well as other rooms close at hand. What are the options for PCs based on the same? Are there potential consequences for PC actions that might not be immediately apparent?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Sir Brennen, post: 7231696, member: 553"] My players recently ran with their tails between their legs from the Earth Cult in our Princes of the Apocalypse game as a result of the NPCs behaving intelligently. Several guards who had a view through windows into the room where the PCs started combat [i]ran to get help[/i] rather than join in the fight immediately. The players noticed what was happening and put all their effort into taking down the current threat and getting the heck out of there. They were fighting gargoyles, and have only one magic weapon at this time (third level). [i]Shatter[/i] was a logical option (gargoyles have disad on save), but the loud sound alerted yet [i]another[/i] room to the party's presence. Rather than chase the party, a priest of the cult went up to a window and waited. The party had to pass through the room he was looking into and he blasted them when they came by, having a relatively safe position to do so. Most of us grognards (or just newer players/DMs) started with dungeon clearing, one-room-at-a-time fights. It does take a while to think in terms of running an encounter like I described above, sometimes needing an "aha!" moment to begin thinking of dungeons more holistically, and not just each encounter in a vacuum. What are an NPCs options based on what's nearby? That includes terrain or other features of the encounter space as well as other rooms close at hand. What are the options for PCs based on the same? Are there potential consequences for PC actions that might not be immediately apparent? [/QUOTE]

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