What happens to minions/associates on successful Intimidate?

[marick]

So... can we generalize?

Do all unintelligent monsters continue fighting, but since Kobolds have average human intelligence, they recongize the value of surrendering?

Or is there something else going on here that I just don't understand yet? I mean, do I need to know MORE about a monster to figure out what it will do when it's allies are intimidated or killed?

 

[DLichen]

For me, it depends on alot on the personality of the monster.

I think your general rule about intelligence is pretty good though.

 

[Tale]

So... can we generalize?

Do all unintelligent monsters continue fighting, but since Kobolds have average human intelligence, they recongize the value of surrendering?

Or is there something else going on here that I just don't understand yet? I mean, do I need to know MORE about a monster to figure out what it will do when it's allies are intimidated or killed?

You can do whatever you want. Non-sapient creatures would obviously never surrender. Unless they're trained to go by commands. Kobolds can be cowardly, so they're probably already looking for the chance to surrender.

There's nothing "going on." It's a DM call. Base it off whatever factors you want. You can base it off your need to surprise your players. You can base it off the need to characterize the monsters. You can base it off the need to end the encounter.

 

[deleteme123456]

My PCs asked about this use of intimidate when designing characters. I basically said "what happens to the rest of the enemies depends on the nature of the fight," which is what several above posters have said. If they value honor in combat and feel that surrender is a coward's choice, they may become enraged, attacking both the intimidator and the cowardly captain who surrender. (This could also be flavorful if they know that the captain's boss [Big Bad Guy?] would himself kill tha captain if he found out that the captain surrendered, a situation I could see arising in KOTS.)

FWIW I also ruled that attempts to initmidate multiple enemies at once are at a penalty (like -4 cumulative per enemy beyond the first) because logistically it's difficult to threaten that many enemies at once, unless you actually have an AoE that could hit them all. Maybe that was unfair, but I didn't like the idea of getting a large chunk of the battlefield removed for the cost of a single standard action, in the case where you had multiple bloodied enemies.

 

[marick]

Tale:

Your advice is contradictory:

"If it's Kobolds, they definitely surrender."

vs.

"There's nothing "going on." It's a DM call. Base it off whatever factors you want. You can base it off your need to surprise your players. You can base it off the need to characterize the monsters. You can base it off the need to end the encounter."

=====

First you say the Kobolds definitely surrender. Later you say I get to pick whatever I feel like as the GM. Since they can't definitely surrender and ALSO do whatever I want (some of the time), I'm gonna guess the answer is actually somewhere in the middle.

Incidentally, no thanks for trying to make me feel like an idiot for wanting to understand how to GM better. I suspect you would have responded to ANY questions in the same way, and for that, I appreciate your consistency, but I have to ask that you be a bit kinder in your tone. Not everybody thinks it's as obvious as "just do whatever you feel like, you're the GM".

-marick

 

[Tale]

Tale:

Your advice is contradictory:

"If it's Kobolds, they definitely surrender."

vs.

"There's nothing "going on." It's a DM call. Base it off whatever factors you want. You can base it off your need to surprise your players. You can base it off the need to characterize the monsters. You can base it off the need to end the encounter."

One's how I would do it. The other is a more serious and elaborate concession that it's really up to the DM and not a rule. That's not a contradiction. I'd definitely have them surrender. Or run away. But I'm telling you that it's up to you, not me.

Incidentally, no thanks for trying to make me feel like an idiot for wanting to understand how to GM better. I suspect you would have responded to ANY questions in the same way, and for that, I appreciate your consistency, but I have to ask that you be a bit kinder in your tone. Not everybody thinks it's as obvious as "just do whatever you feel like, you're the GM".

-marick

I never once said anything derogatory to you. So drop this junk. All I did was point out multiple avenues you can approach it for your situation, as a DM, and elaborated on it being something other than a codified rule. I have absolutely no clue why you think that's personal.

 

[DLichen]

Chill out marick, I don't think it was obvious that you were a new GM. There are lot of rules debate, so our responses are going to be more geared towards the rules answer, which is GM decides.

If you wanted advice on what to do in the actual game, I suggest something like:

Kobolds:
Roll a d6
1-2 Run away
3-5 Drop their weapons and beg for mercy
6 Tactical retreat

Gobs:
Roll a d6
1-2 Run away
3-4 Drop theri weapons and beg for mercy
5 Tactical retreat
6 Fight on

This might not be viable in long games, but it's fun to have some variety in giving up the fight.