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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 6341255" data-attributes="member: 5143">It happens a lot less at higher levels, but back when 0 was death and Wizards had 1d4 hitpoints, most sword hits killed them in one blow.  Wizards often had AC 10 and it was really easy for monsters to hit them.  So choosing to attack them meant you were choosing to kill them.Obviously some people played with optional rules about not dying at 0 that helped to mitigate that, and it became the standard rule later.  But when I started, the DM choosing to make an attack roll against the Wizard meant you were purposefully choosing to kill off that wizard.It's certainly not just me.  This topic has been brought up a number of times on these message boards.  Specifically it became really popular at the beginning of 4e when a bunch of DMs posted saying "I'm so glad there's a real mechanic for 'taunting' enemies off the Wizard so that the Fighter can do something more than say 'But I was standing in front of the Wizard, surely they'd attack me instead of him!'"  A number of DMs in those threads admitted that it was an unwritten rule in their games in 1e, 2e, and 3e to just simply NOT attack the Wizard to avoid killing them all the time.We had a couple of DMs who were bastards who would have enemies purposefully kill off Wizards since "They are wizards, wouldn't you target the guy with the fireballs first?"  When 15 kobolds all run past the rest of your party as if they weren't there and make attacks against your Wizard, it seems like your DM has it out for you.  There were arguments over it a number of times when it felt like the DM was "unfairly picking on the Wizard".  It ruined people's day a number of times when they felt they had just spent the time to roll up a new character and the DM "purposefully" killed them.Since people were so sensitive about it, it became a thing that unless the enemies had no other choice, they would attack the non-wizards first.It happens, though fairly rarely in the games I've been part of.  Most combats involve the PCs coming across enemies rather than enemies hunting them, so the enemies rarely have the time or opportunity to surround them.Though, when these incidents happen they are considered to be some of the more deadly encounters...specifically because the DM will often say "well...these ones at the back see the Wizard first, so they attack the nearest target".  Which often involves the Wizard dying...or at least dropping.</blockquote>

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