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*Dungeons & Dragons
The Focus Fire Problem
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<blockquote data-quote="tetrasodium" data-source="post: 8721960" data-attributes="member: 93670"><p>I don't think it's a problem to stop, but there are a few caveats</p><p> to that.</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It winds up feeling like something is wrong & monsters are all braindead because if the monsters ever started doing it with competence it would make for a very fast TPK the GM would get blamed for. This is a problem</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Tools that used to mitigate that & encourage the PCs to focus on easily processed mooks or some kind of chess strategy to mitigate rather than trounce the big guy are no longer present & can not be added easily.</li> </ul><p>[spoiler="here is one"]</p><p>Behind the curtain: Spell Resistance & Damage Reduction</p><p>Too much spell resistance or damage reduction can' make a monster virtually unbeatable at the Challenge Rating you're aiming for. <strong>Too little, and the monster might as well not: have any at all. Since any character will have the caster level or magic weaponry necessary to penetrate the creature's defense.</strong></p><p>Spell Resistance: If you choose to give your monster this ability. you'll probably want to set the resistance number equal to the creature's CR+11 Tim means that a character of a level equal to the creature's will have a 50%”: chance to overcome the monster's spell resistance (Barring Spell Penetration Feat). For example. a 12th-levecharacter has a 50% chance to overcome spell resistance 23, so 23 is</p><p>a good spell res-stance number for a CR 12 creature. You may need to adjust a creature's spell resistance number after</p><p>you finally settle on a CR {or the creature...</p><p>If you want a highly magic-resistant creature. set the monster's spell resistance higher than CR +11 For lesser resistance set the spell resistance lower. For each point of resistance. you'll change the change the chance of successfully overcoming spell resistance by 5%. For example. a 12tlevel caster has a 45% chance to overcome spell resistance 24. and no chance to overcome spell resistance 33</p><p><strong>Damage Reduction:</strong> Assigning a damage reduction value can be tricky. Setting the value. too high can make a creature virtually immune</p><p>to physical attacks. On the other hand. most player characters carry some magic weapons. so setting the value too low can result in an ineffective ability.</p><p>Recommended</p><p>Target CR - Recommended Damage Reduction</p><p>0~2 - None</p><p>3—5 - 5</p><p>6—13 - 10</p><p>14-20 - 15</p><p></p><p>Remember. even if player characters can hurt the monster. lesser creatures in the game world often cannot hurt the creature. nor can the</p><p>player character's cohorts or any creatures their summon.</p><p>[/spoiler]</p><p></p><p>Weapons like flametongue & such were important for regularly being able to do a guaranteed <em>something</em> against high DR monsters not for their ability to mow through trash monsters & mooks. SR:Yes/No spells had very different functions & bolting them on is not the sort of thing that even fits in what could be called a houserule doc that is merely large & things like spell penetration hasn't even been mentioned yet. flat DR & flat resist has more complications of their own.</p><p></p><p>Adding old style flat DR & flat energy resist faces problems with needing to apply it (almost)everywhere or any tools given to players for dealing with it will light any hope of keeping player A & player B on a similar power scale of effectiveness to start but also comes with a secondary problem. Players who started with 5e have no idea what is impeding them and get upset that it's still impeding them even though they have a magic weapon or they ignore any attempt made to explain why other weapons are important & refuse to consider them if those other weapons are not immediately & obviously better in all situations. Either way the result looks like a failure on the GM's part</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="tetrasodium, post: 8721960, member: 93670"] I don't think it's a problem to stop, but there are a few caveats to that. [LIST] [*]It winds up feeling like something is wrong & monsters are all braindead because if the monsters ever started doing it with competence it would make for a very fast TPK the GM would get blamed for. This is a problem [*]Tools that used to mitigate that & encourage the PCs to focus on easily processed mooks or some kind of chess strategy to mitigate rather than trounce the big guy are no longer present & can not be added easily. [/LIST] [spoiler="here is one"] Behind the curtain: Spell Resistance & Damage Reduction Too much spell resistance or damage reduction can' make a monster virtually unbeatable at the Challenge Rating you're aiming for. [B]Too little, and the monster might as well not: have any at all. Since any character will have the caster level or magic weaponry necessary to penetrate the creature's defense.[/B] Spell Resistance: If you choose to give your monster this ability. you'll probably want to set the resistance number equal to the creature's CR+11 Tim means that a character of a level equal to the creature's will have a 50%”: chance to overcome the monster's spell resistance (Barring Spell Penetration Feat). For example. a 12th-levecharacter has a 50% chance to overcome spell resistance 23, so 23 is a good spell res-stance number for a CR 12 creature. You may need to adjust a creature's spell resistance number after you finally settle on a CR {or the creature... If you want a highly magic-resistant creature. set the monster's spell resistance higher than CR +11 For lesser resistance set the spell resistance lower. For each point of resistance. you'll change the change the chance of successfully overcoming spell resistance by 5%. For example. a 12tlevel caster has a 45% chance to overcome spell resistance 24. and no chance to overcome spell resistance 33 [B]Damage Reduction:[/B] Assigning a damage reduction value can be tricky. Setting the value. too high can make a creature virtually immune to physical attacks. On the other hand. most player characters carry some magic weapons. so setting the value too low can result in an ineffective ability. Recommended Target CR - Recommended Damage Reduction 0~2 - None 3—5 - 5 6—13 - 10 14-20 - 15 Remember. even if player characters can hurt the monster. lesser creatures in the game world often cannot hurt the creature. nor can the player character's cohorts or any creatures their summon. [/spoiler] Weapons like flametongue & such were important for regularly being able to do a guaranteed [I]something[/I] against high DR monsters not for their ability to mow through trash monsters & mooks. SR:Yes/No spells had very different functions & bolting them on is not the sort of thing that even fits in what could be called a houserule doc that is merely large & things like spell penetration hasn't even been mentioned yet. flat DR & flat resist has more complications of their own. Adding old style flat DR & flat energy resist faces problems with needing to apply it (almost)everywhere or any tools given to players for dealing with it will light any hope of keeping player A & player B on a similar power scale of effectiveness to start but also comes with a secondary problem. Players who started with 5e have no idea what is impeding them and get upset that it's still impeding them even though they have a magic weapon or they ignore any attempt made to explain why other weapons are important & refuse to consider them if those other weapons are not immediately & obviously better in all situations. Either way the result looks like a failure on the GM's part [/QUOTE]
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