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<blockquote data-quote="FireLance" data-source="post: 4629160" data-attributes="member: 3424"><p>Since combat is usually a zero-sum game, the monsters will almost always want to do whatever the party does not want. What the defender can do is to offer the monsters a tactical advantage to do something that is in the party's strategic interest. </p><p></p><p>In most combats, it is usually in the party's strategic interest for the monsters to attack the defender because he has more healing surges and more hit points, so that he heals more per healing surge. By marking the monsters, a defender gives them a tactical advantage for attacking him instead of another party member which the monsters may otherwise focus on. Unless the monsters are also thinking strategically (which is seldom the case if the party is fighting a series of battles against enemies that are not allied with each other), there is no reason for them not to take the tactically advantageous action of attacking the defender, thus giving a longer-term strategic advantage to the party.</p><p></p><p>I submit that this ability to trade off a tactical disadvantage for a strategic advantage is the key role of the defender.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="FireLance, post: 4629160, member: 3424"] Since combat is usually a zero-sum game, the monsters will almost always want to do whatever the party does not want. What the defender can do is to offer the monsters a tactical advantage to do something that is in the party's strategic interest. In most combats, it is usually in the party's strategic interest for the monsters to attack the defender because he has more healing surges and more hit points, so that he heals more per healing surge. By marking the monsters, a defender gives them a tactical advantage for attacking him instead of another party member which the monsters may otherwise focus on. Unless the monsters are also thinking strategically (which is seldom the case if the party is fighting a series of battles against enemies that are not allied with each other), there is no reason for them not to take the tactically advantageous action of attacking the defender, thus giving a longer-term strategic advantage to the party. I submit that this ability to trade off a tactical disadvantage for a strategic advantage is the key role of the defender. [/QUOTE]
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