D&D 4E Should spellcasters still be priority targets in 4e?

[AllisterH]

Well, the reason why I say "healer 1st" is back when I was a wee player during 1e, the accepted strategy was that if you took out the healers, it didn't matter if you lost THAT encounter, the monsters would win the WAR since the party now has to go back to home base and get the healer raised.

Kill the controller/wizard in one battle didn't necessarily mean the war was won since the healer could simply raise the wizard after the fact.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Well, the reason why I say "healer 1st" is back when I was a wee player during 1e, the accepted strategy was that if you took out the healers, it didn't matter if you lost THAT encounter, the monsters would win the WAR since the party now has to go back to home base and get the healer raised.

Kill the controller/wizard in one battle didn't necessarily mean the war was won since the healer could simply raise the wizard after the fact.

Seems like the difference between Tactics and Strategy. To win a single encounter, it might be more useful to take out the Wizard. But a single encounter does not "win" the dungeon, so it might be strategically better for the monsters to take out the healer.

But tell that to the monsters that die at the hands of the Wizard!

 

[curingo]

Same opinion on the leaders.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Same opinion on the leaders.

I love the Shadowrun phrase "Geek the mage first!"

It translates generally into "Take out the most dangerous thing that you can deal with first."

So, a caster may not be the most impressive thing on the battlefield. In one game I'm in, my minotaur battle cleric gets the majority of the attention, being the biggest thing in the party, the healer, and looking like a demon to the natives.

Brad

 

[Minigiant]

I'm against taking the healer.

The leader only packs 2-4 heals a fight now. Once those are gone, they don't heal much, mostly buff. Most of the heals are minor actions or parts of attacks and it's hard to drop anyone in the first 3 rounds if they play smart...

so it's HARD to stop the leader from healing if they want to. So killing the leader is not neeeded.

But getting them to spend the heals fast is powerful. Don't kill the leader, just hurt someone bad fast and get them to waste heals. And controllers (PCs and monster) are easy to hurt.

 

[kilpatds]

I love the Shadowrun phrase "Geek the mage first!"

It translates generally into "Take out the most dangerous thing that you can deal with first."

In my SR experience (3, not 4), there seemed to be an interesting Rock/Paper/Scissors dynamic going on. Streetsams could take out mages easier than another Streetsam, mages could take out Streetsams easier than another mage. So Geek the Mage first was the battlecry of a street samauri, because otherwise the mage would geek him on the mage's first initiative pass. ("Pleased to be resisting 9D with just your 3 willpower?")

But as the streetsam, I generally asked my Mages to kill the opposing thugs. If I went first, the mage was dead, but it might take me 2 initiave passes to actually finish off a tought thug, where it would only take the mage 1.

 

[Ryujin]

I love the Shadowrun phrase "Geek the mage first!"

It translates generally into "Take out the most dangerous thing that you can deal with first."

So, a caster may not be the most impressive thing on the battlefield. In one game I'm in, my minotaur battle cleric gets the majority of the attention, being the biggest thing in the party, the healer, and looking like a demon to the natives.

Brad

Likewise, my Feylock is frequently ignored because I don't do a whole lot of damage or status effects, just bop around the battlefield being tough to pin down. That usually lasts until round 4 or so when I have 5+ things cursed, then cut loose with Cursegrind followed by Cursebite (Twofold Pact to Darklock). Add in Gloves of Eldritch Admixture for the particularly nasty individual on the field and it can get a little messy.