D&D 5E Monster Tactics: How Ruthless a DM are you?

[Riley37]

Do you ever run NPCs as *pro-actively* clever and ruthless? For example, if you're a leader in the Cult of the Dragon, and "those meddling kids" have interfered with your plans three times already... do you send someone to spy on them, so that next time you'll know where they are and know where to re-allocate resources?

Hm, this is about to be its own thread, the OP was tactics and this is strategy.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Do you ever run NPCs as *pro-actively* clever and ruthless? For example, if you're a leader in the Cult of the Dragon, and "those meddling kids" have interfered with your plans three times already... do you send someone to spy on them, so that next time you'll know where they are and know where to re-allocate resources?

It's not often that the party leaves witnesses to report back to the boss. If the Big Bad can pinpoint the PCs as the cause of her problems, she would have to be quite powerful indeed.

 

[DaveDash]

Do you ever run NPCs as *pro-actively* clever and ruthless? For example, if you're a leader in the Cult of the Dragon, and "those meddling kids" have interfered with your plans three times already... do you send someone to spy on them, so that next time you'll know where they are and know where to re-allocate resources?

Hm, this is about to be its own thread, the OP was tactics and this is strategy.

Yes.

Scrying, arcane eye, familiars etc, all make great spies. Then send summons (Planar Binding) after them to wear down their resources, then ambush them when they sleep with a hunter killer team.
NPCs also set up reactive defenses of their own (Spectral Guardians, Guards and Wards, Glyphs, Symbols, etc), taking apart furniture and setting up barricades, illusions, or simply packing up and going somewhere else.

My group is extremely paranoid however, the Wizard puts alarm spells everywhere, and they all sleep in a Leomunds Tiny Hut. They will usually short rest under water (water breathing ritual) if they can find it. The Bard is getting magnificent mansion soon, so I will have to get creative in my strategy. If I was playing the roleplaying type game I'd probably start going after their friends/family instead.

You can also resurrect some important NPCs if your BBEG is powerful enough, or bring them back as Reverents (see the Monsters Manual).

 

[Blue]

The monsters attack to the best of their abilities ... but that's often not close to the best of my abilities. Animals going after who is closest or hurt them, and running when badly wounded. Orken berserkers favoring aggression over defense - better to take 3 hits to land 1 then not to land any. Many foes will tend to stick with the same target unless they are missing a lot.

In one campaign (13th Age, but very applicable to 5e) they've been fighting a lot of low intelligence or mindless foes (and one insane, ah Derro) and doing well. Especially with a very tank-y fighter. I'm waiting for the next time they go against disciplined troops thathave a bunch of archers focus fire and feather the (obvious) sorcerer and then go after the cleric if he's given himself away with any healing.

So yes, tactics say quite a bit about how dangerous foes are, definitely modifying CR for encounter balance just as terrain or other factors outside the foe's inherent stats.

As a side note, I'll often load the monsters to be more than a fair match for the players, and will run them as they want to win, but when we're at the table I root for the players. I celebrate their victories, and make those worthwhile by making them earn them.

 

[TarionzCousin]

I didn't even know Dr. Doom was in 5E.


I need to be more ruthless with my current group. They are tactically smart and defeating most of my encounters far too easily.

 

[Riley37]

All of this requires some thought about your monsters before you are rolling dice.

Key quote of the thread, IMO. You're using D&D as a game to play out a story which happens in an imaginary world, with more depth than a tabletop emulation of "Age of Mythology".

Actually, that doesn't give AoM enough credit; the single-player campaign mostly has a background reason for every foe to be where it is, doing what it's doing. Okay, more depth than a tabletop emulation of NetHack.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I try and look at nature and how animals attack and place monsters into a bunch of groups. Things like: do they actively hunt the "races", are they stalkers, ambushers, territorial, pack hunters, opportunity hunters, scavengers, just mean, mindless, etc. Once I have that I will build my tactics.

Example: goblins in my game are pack opportunity territorial in my games, that means they will attack in their lands, when they have a force greater than the one they are about to fight, and will take any opportunity to weaken that force; like driving another monster into the party or trying to weaken it from a distance but they will not engage as long as they think the party is more powerful.

Example: Displacer Beast is an active stalker & opportunity hunter, they will pick a target out of a group and focus on it waiting to attack. they will only stop hunting IF the creature escapes from an attack.

Example: Owl Bears are territorial and just mean; you enter their territory they will attack.

 

[Nebulous]

Yeah, I had two hobgoblins flee in our last encounter. They'd just watched four of their comrades die, and no PCs had dropped, there's no way they would logically stick around and fight to the death. And they had an easy out, jump on their horses and haul butt.

 

[Derren]

I wonder how many DMs really exploit the weaknesses from the PCs and if they do it to the ultimate end.
Lets say do you really engage a party with hardly no ranged capacity with flying enemies and play them smart meaning they do not land at all making melee characters useless, etc?

 

[Nebulous]

I wonder how many DMs really exploit the weaknesses from the PCs and if they do it to the ultimate end.
Lets say do you really engage a party with hardly no ranged capacity with flying enemies and play them smart meaning they do not land at all making melee characters useless, etc?

I would absolutely do it in moderation, and rarely at that, for those very reasons - it would frustrate players. In the right dose, it is just plain scary.