Monster Intelligence and Wisdom

[Red_Death01]

So-- As a DM I have the varying questions come to mind on how a monster would think and to what degree. The issue that always comes to mind is at what point does a monster just "attack whats nearby" to "that guy looks squishy"? This is either a INT or WIS based choice and I need to know the answer as one of my players has chosen to run 'ultra glass cannon' wizard... (He is level 4 with 4 hp). It would defiantly help if someone could lay out a general map or range of what monsters could think with their given INT or WIS.... or both....

[TuggyNE]

Well, FWIW wolves at Int 2/Wis 12 have an instinctual ability to separate out weaker members of the herds they prey on. That presumably doesn't translate over to human(oid)s too well, but it's not completely gone either. And, in particular, it's likely that a heavily-armored dude is going to smell more imposing/alien/dangerous than someone wearing robes and carrying a stick.

Any enemies of even vaguely human intelligence should have a fair chance at realizing "hmm, that guy is shooting fire at us, maybe he won't be so great at taking licks from a sword as this swordsman over here?"

4 HP is just not sensible, sadly. :smallsigh:

[Azoth]

Even base animal intelligence leads to patterns of either ganging up on the strongest threat first, or attacking the weaker members of a herd to thin its numbers. So most anything sentient (Int 3+) should be able to distinguish its primary target after the first round.

This doesn't account for goading or enemies that seek glory first obviously.

Easy way to save a casters bacon against an easily provokable foe is to piss him off and keep his focus that way, but again it depends on the enemy.

[Jeff the Green]

Also note that most animals that have been around humans are very sensitive to what they think is a weapon, either through learning or instinct. Birds don't like having long things like telephoto lenses pointed at them because they look like shotguns, and dogs that have been beaten with sticks are afraid of kids playing baseball. So if that wolf has lost companions to archers or spearmen or whatever, they will either avoid someone wielding hat weapon or take them out first, depending on how well they understand how the weapons work.


Even base animal intelligence leads to patterns of either ganging up on the strongest threat first, or attacking the weaker members of a herd to thin its numbers.

Predators don't attack the weaker members of a herd to thin its numbers. They attack the weaker members of a herd because they're hungry and the weaker ones are easier to kill. Sorry to nitpick, but as an ecologist I'm kind of sensitive to that sort of misconception/misstatement since it has the tendency to make people make erroneous assumptions about nature and conservation.