Smart DM, Stupid Monsters (possible KotS spoilers)

[the8bitdeity]

Hello,
I'm curious to get people's take on this issue. It's not 4ed specific, but being that I'm going to be running some more 4ed encounters, that will be the context I'm apply the ideas to.

So firstly, I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person (frankly I consider most gamers a cut above). So the question is, what's the best solution to running stupid monsters.

Let's use the Irontooth Encounter from KotS as an example:

Spoiler

So my players waded through the first part rather quickly, but as they moved inside they got pinned down rather badly. Also I had the minions whom were close to the two side entrances double back and surround the PCs. Needless to say it was a TPK after Irontooth became bloodied, and rolled no less than a 8 on his extra damage.

Now, my question is, should a Kobold whom has a reasonably low intelligence have the ability to think tactically in a fight? While they may not be able to read "War and Peace", or do a NY Times crossword, it seems reasonable to assume that they would know how to handle themselves in a fight.

The whole situation made me think about the concept as a whole. What do folks do to adjust tactically running monsters. On one hand I want every monster to be considered a threat, but Intelligence should have some play into this.

What do my fellow DMs do? How do you use monster Intelligence to affect tactics? This is less of a specific question, and more an open thread. I'm curious to hear the results.

 

[Boarstorm]

An 8 int is certainly capable of tactical thinking. They may not be as good at it as a 22 int mastermind, but they're certainly capable of realizing "Hey, if we attack from behind, they can't hit us as easily!"

Heck, even beast-level int is capable of cunning and ambush in hunting.

 

[DM_Blake]

Every creature on the planet (real Earth, or any game world) has certain tactics they favor. This is how nature works.

Consider how wolves hunt in packs, cats stalk their prey in the night, wolf spiders build trap door ambushes, angler fish have biological appendages to lure their prey, etc.

None of those examples have an intelligence higher than 2.

When it comes to monsters in D&D, I figure that every monster is biologically designed to attack and defend in certain ways, and consequently driven by their own survival instincts to take maximum advantage of their evolutionary advantages.

Add an extra layer of intelligence (anything in the range that is high enough to speak a language, even a rudementary language) and now you have a creature who still instinctively uses its biological advantages, but also tries to apply learning, training, and general experiences to improve on those biological advantages.

For kobolds, this means relizing that they are small and weak compared to most of their enemies in the D&D world, so they prefer tactics that involve ganging up on their enemy, surrounding them, eliminating one big foe (all foes are big) at a time, and while they're doing that, they try to be mobile and dodgy to avoid the attacks of their far larger foes.

Which, fortunately, goes hand in hand with their racial abilities. You know, those abilities that increase some of their attack rolls when they are near their friends, and those abilities that allow some of them to take extra shifts to avoid being hit. And even the kobolds who don't have access to these abilities are smart enough to know that they will live longer if they all gang up and work together to beat down one opponent. Safety in numbers. Heck, even antelope and caribou follow this mentality and kobolds are smarter than that.

 

[Tony Vargas]

You don't need intelligence to execute a good tactic. 'Wolf Pack Tactics' for instance, really are what wolves do - they circle a victim, and whichever one it faces away from attacks, when the animal turns and attacks it, it runs and his packmates attacks. You won't see wolves displaying a lot of other tactics, though.

For a low INT creature, go ahead and devise a decent tactic, but stick to it. It's likely something that's worked in the past, so it keeps doing it. If it stops working, it should fall back on very basic tactics, or just run. If it's also low WIS, it might just keep trying the same thing, even though it's stopped working.

 

[Zurai]

Yep, I too was going to point out wolves. You don't have to be Erwin Rommel reincarnated to use battlefield tactics. Most tactics are pretty easy to understand, actually. The complicated part is getting the enemy in a position favorable for your tactics, but in your example the PCs did that to themselves by

Spoiler

not exploring the exterior of the cliff before charging under the waterfall

.

 

[Klaus]

Also, the PCs should fall back from the caves after a couple of rounds, to make use of the sacred circle outside. And liberal use of area effects to clear out the mooks is mandatory. After that, keep Irontooth at bay. Snipe him if possible.