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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 4949166" data-attributes="member: 82106">I pretty much agree with Keteris and Eamon. WHO exactly you focus on isn't all that important. The important point is to disable one of the PCs as quickly as possible if you're all out to win and the monsters are the sort that will use some decent tactics. In an ideal world you might go for the leader first, but I have to ask if monsters would generally know who is a leader? They MIGHT, but a taclord could as easily appear to them to be just another fighter, and they might not really easily distinguish a cleric from a fighter or a "spellcaster" right off either. So I'd kind of consider thinking on the DM's part "I'll go after the taclord for best effect" on turn 1 of the battle as maybe a bit meta-gamey. The best tactic IMHO is for the monsters to do what in the real world would seem pretty logical. Go after whoever looks the most vulnerable first. Pound them to oblivion and then move on. Yes, the leader might be more useful to the party than the rogue in the long run, but that rogue is 15' away from his buddies and 2-3 monsters can gang up on him THIS ROUND. If he's out of the fight, chances are that will turn the tide, and that is going to go for pretty much any of the PCs. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I also concur that OFTEN the defender will turn out to be the logical character to go after. It might seem like it would make sense to go past him, but it usually really doesn't when you consider it means ignoring marks and generating OAs which can easily skyrocket a character's damage output. Better to spend an extra round just pounding that dwarf into the dust, even if it takes hitting him with everything your side has got. Once he's down the party is short a key member and the next phase will be much cheaper. I'm also not so concerned with the effects of healing in terms of bringing people back up. Its certainly a nice thing for the party, but in many cases it doesn't do a whole lot for them. The character has to stand up and often may not be in the best position anymore. Plus they're still down a good bit of hit points and with any luck you can knock them right back to 0 again, only this time there probably won't be another heal right there to hand. This is one area where minions can be handy is just tying up people, literally, or CdGing them. Its actually better with minions to just tie the fighter up and leave him trussed, lol.</blockquote>

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