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Message: <blockquote data-quote="tomBitonti" data-source="post: 4806968" data-attributes="member: 13107">Once you have a certain amount of metagame knowledge, the problem is the same for running monsters as for running players.  Even running a player, there are times when you must remain in character and limit your character decisions to just what your character knows.  Not a lot of difference for running monsters.One does need to have a particular view point, which is, to role play the monsters, rather than have them act as if controlled by an optimizing game controller with perfect information.There is extra information tracking, certainly, as each monster has their own state, and cannot simply use the DM's global state information.In the case of the Balor, what the Balor does should factor in Perception, Knowledge, and Intent.  Presumably, the Intent is to lay the smack-down on the players (but, is the Balor taking his time, drawing out the player's certain deaths, or is the Balor wanting to squash the offenders as quickly as possible?)  In this case, the Balor is super intelligent, but, does he actually have knowledge skills?  He might not actually know which player is best to target.  I would say that he very well knows what his ability will do, and what type of target it will work best against.  And even if he knows how to apply the ability, the players might make it hard to figure out which player is best to target.  Players facing a Balor might have very high Bluff and Disguise skills, so the best target might not be obvious, even with a very high Perception skill.Thx!</blockquote>

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