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Would you change a monster's hit points mid-fight?
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<blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 6570379" data-attributes="member: 22424"><p>I expect players to employ tactics that match up with what their character "would" do in the given situation - so the rage-filled berserker should act differently from the tactically-adept warlord. (Of course, ideally the game should facilitate that by rewarding PCs whose behaviour matches their build.)</p><p></p><p>The reason I mention that is that when running monsters I likewise try to employ tactics that match up with that those monsters "would" do in the situation. That pack of wolves should act differently from the life-hating zombies, which should be different from the super-genius dragon, and so forth.</p><p></p><p>As with all absolute rules, I have an exception:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>There are occasions when I discover that I've screwed up my preparation - most recently because I miscounted the CR of the monsters I was using so that the encounter was vastly more difficult than it should have been and vastly more difficult than intended. In a situation like that, I will indeed revert to suboptimal tactics to give the PCs opportunity to flee.</p><p></p><p>Of course, if the PCs don't flee and continue fighting in the face of near-certain defeat, that's on them - and I won't hesitate to enforce a TPK. But if they <em>win</em>... well, that's the stuff of legends. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="delericho, post: 6570379, member: 22424"] I expect players to employ tactics that match up with what their character "would" do in the given situation - so the rage-filled berserker should act differently from the tactically-adept warlord. (Of course, ideally the game should facilitate that by rewarding PCs whose behaviour matches their build.) The reason I mention that is that when running monsters I likewise try to employ tactics that match up with that those monsters "would" do in the situation. That pack of wolves should act differently from the life-hating zombies, which should be different from the super-genius dragon, and so forth. As with all absolute rules, I have an exception: There are occasions when I discover that I've screwed up my preparation - most recently because I miscounted the CR of the monsters I was using so that the encounter was vastly more difficult than it should have been and vastly more difficult than intended. In a situation like that, I will indeed revert to suboptimal tactics to give the PCs opportunity to flee. Of course, if the PCs don't flee and continue fighting in the face of near-certain defeat, that's on them - and I won't hesitate to enforce a TPK. But if they [i]win[/i]... well, that's the stuff of legends. :) [/QUOTE]
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Would you change a monster's hit points mid-fight?
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