D&D 5E Monster Tactics: Avoiding Fireballs

[Reynard]

This came up in another thread and I thought we could discuss it a little more deeply.

The core question is: do your intelligent humanoid opponents -- we'll use orcs, since that was the inciting instance -- know that they may face fireball slinging opponents, and therefore adjust their tactics so as not to all get caught in one so long as the terrain and situation allow it?

More broadly, in your games, do you have intelligent enemies know about, plan for and counter spell casters on the battlefield? Do you pick and choose which kind of enemies are likely to do so based on their stats? Alignment? Who is leading them? How "special" are the PCs from a demographic standpoint, and does that impact enemy tactics? IS the world you run the game in magical enough that everyday soldiers are trained to avoid area of effects (like we train soldiers to not bunch up to reduce casualties from grenades)?

 

[commandercrud]

Intelligent enemies behave intelligently.

 

[dave2008]

It depends on the campaign setting. Generally I would answer yes; however, in my current campaign world magic is very rare. Therefore, people and intelligent monsters do not generally assume they will be confronted with magic. So unless they have some prior knowledge, they are not likely to use "defense against magic" tactics until they know there is a spell caster involved.

 

[Todd Roybark]

In general, yes...though setting parameters might supersede that.

In a setting like Eberron, which is High Magic and has a long history of war, absolutely yes.
Same for the Forgotten Realms.
Everbody in Ravinica, expects a Fireball spell to go off at any moment, so big Yes!

A race like Orcs, that is routinely depicted as frequently fighting:
Surface Elves, Drow, Dwarves, and Hobgoblins is going to be at least familiar with big explosions, killing half the tribe.

An isolated Lizard Man tribe, that has never encountered any other humanoids in their swamp homeland....probably not.

In a low magic world....it might make thematic sense if Orcs, maybe even humans, might not be familiar with fireball.

 

[Oofta]

It's going to depend on the monster, the scenario and the awareness of the enemy.

If you have a massive army, they're going to be bunched up just because of numbers. May well be the same if they aren't really aware of the enemy or their capability. They may just be uncoordinated or funneled for various reasons. They may be risking bunching up because they're taking a defensive position and there are other threats.

In my campaign fireball (and other AOE effects) are common enough that it's a known tactic. Especially if the group has enough renown that their reputation precedes them. Higher level monsters are more likely to take counter measures as they are more likely to have seen this tactic.

It's also a reasonably common tactic at mid-to-high levels that if the monsters are on the offensive that they'll send in disposable troops to trigger the casters. Not only does that use up resources, it also puts a target on the back of the caster.

 

[dave2008]

It is also worth noting that many pack hunters already use tactics that effectively spread out the attackers. A lion pride or wolf pack doesn't typical attack in one large mob for example.

 

[Shiroiken]

It's really setting dependent. In my Greyhawk intelligent creature know that spellcasters can do all kinds of horrible things, but they don't know anything specific unless they have a decent Intelligence and/or Arcana skill (or have survived a specific spell in the past). They may know that mages can fling fire that blows up an area, but they don't know the range or area of effect. What they don't know is if they're even facing a spellcaster, nor likely the difference between a bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard.

 

[Oofta]

It's really setting dependent. In my Greyhawk intelligent creature know that spellcasters can do all kinds of horrible things, but they don't know anything specific unless they have a decent Intelligence and/or Arcana skill (or have survived a specific spell in the past). They may know that mages can fling fire that blows up an area, but they don't know the range or area of effect. What they don't know is if they're even facing a spellcaster, nor likely the difference between a bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard.

But it doesn't have to be just fireball. There are a lot of monsters that have breath weapons or other AOE attacks. Heck, even a lowly sleep spell cast at the right time could be pretty detrimental.

 

[atanakar]

Intelligent monsters often have shamans in their culture. So, yes they take AOEs seriously because their shaman uses AOE spells against other humanoid tribes.

 

[TwoSix]

Campaign dependent. Ultimately, that isn't something you derive from other factors; how you choose to display this is a strong tool to demonstrate exactly how magic works in your setting.