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Laserlight
2016-06-17, 11:52 AM
Inspired by Tucker's Kobolds and this Trilemma post (http://blog.trilemma.com/2014/10/non-mechanical-difficulty-levels-for.html), I'm working on describing how monsters respond to intruders

1. Perception: how likely are they to notice you (Oblivious to Omniscient)
2. Aggression: How likely are they to fight you (Avoid, Indirect Harassment, Attack, Relentless Pursuit)
3. Preparation: "None" to "Elaborate fortifications with layers of traps"
4. Cohesion: "Every man for himself" through "Trained and drilled together" to "Hive mind"
5. Morale: "Flee at first casualties" through "Fight to the death"
6. Innovation: "Never learns" to "learns lessons from the last battle" to "adapts instantly"

Anything else?

Tohron
2016-06-17, 10:26 PM
Cleverness (ranging from "always frontal assault" to "uses knowledge of PC behavior to trick them")

Ikitavi
2016-06-18, 12:14 AM
Not sure how to categorize this, but metabolism/activity cycle.

Like a dragon would be less aggressive after eating, shadowy creatures would be more active at night and stay out of direct light.

Does the monster go out hunting or stay in a lair. Does it have regular activities where it patrols its traps, builds or crafts, or even socializes. How likely are the players to overhear a conversation?

How does the monster bargain? The troll under the bridge demands a toll, will it in fact be bought off with a toll? Does the monster want stories or riddles, gold or magic items? Does it want to feed or just to HURT something, or maybe it is obeying a command.

Is the monster satisfied with its current position, is it constrained to be there?

Madbox
2016-06-18, 06:00 AM
Experience - do they have a history of fighting groups of intelligent humanoids? Do they already know that the guy in the robes is exceptionally bad at dealing with a melee fight? Do they recognize that the guy in plate armor is displaying holy symbols and probably can heal? Do they know the guy in black leather is sneaky and can do massive damage to a single target if they can hide well? Or is their experience limited to dealing with commoners with torches and pitchforks?

Laserlight
2016-06-18, 09:50 AM
Cleverness (ranging from "always frontal assault" to "uses knowledge of PC behavior to trick them")

I'm inclined to fold this into Innovation. It's not quite the same--for instance, you could face an enemy whose response to Situation A is clever because he's following a professional tactical manual, but every time he faces Situation A, he does the same thing by the book--but I also don't want too many characteristics.

Laserlight
2016-06-18, 10:06 AM
Not sure how to categorize this, but metabolism/activity cycle.

Like a dragon would be less aggressive after eating, shadowy creatures would be more active at night and stay out of direct light.

Does the monster go out hunting or stay in a lair. Does it have regular activities where it patrols its traps, builds or crafts, or even socializes. How likely are the players to overhear a conversation?

How does the monster bargain? The troll under the bridge demands a toll, will it in fact be bought off with a toll? Does the monster want stories or riddles, gold or magic items? Does it want to feed or just to HURT something, or maybe it is obeying a command.

Is the monster satisfied with its current position, is it constrained to be there?

Might need a "Will Communicate with PCs" scale, ranging from "Zombie" to "You find yourself talked into doing a quest for the monster"

And also a "Survivability of Losing", ranging from "Fallen enemies are immediately CdG'd" to "Hold for ransom" to "You fought bravely, go in peace"

Traab
2016-06-18, 10:16 AM
I would also include strategic reactions. As an example, lets say you invade the evil lair of Lord Contingency the Vile. This man has dedicated much of his time to determining how his people are to react to any scenario, so if upon ambushing the gate guards one escapes, there WILL be an alarm raised that sees a highly organized response of overwhelming force. Of course, killing the guards will ALSO raise an alarm, just as soon as the regular shift change shows up and notices the dead/missing bodies, but at least then you have some lead time and they have less information on who is attacking (or possibly who is escaping)

On the other side of the scale, you have Lord Lazy the Slovenly. His troops are barely trained enough to be considered such. Dead bodies arent that unusual because fights are constant, so noone really cares if they stumble across a dead patrol or two. They probably got drunk and fought each other to death. Its still possible to set off an alarm, but the response is likely to be dribbles and drabbles of responders after the surviving guard who escapes runs into people at random screaming about being under attack.

Honestly, thats always been my major sticking point to most dungeon runs, is the lack of the overwhelming response to a group going for "strong through the door" as their attack strategy. Unless they are able to quickly and quietly overwhelm every enemy they find, and then hide the bodies in such a way that evidence is not left behind, there shouldnt be a single safe place to take a breather, let alone rest and regather spells.

Laserlight
2016-06-18, 10:32 AM
I would also include strategic reactions. As an example, lets say you invade the evil lair of Lord Contingency the Vile. This man has dedicated much of his time to determining how his people are to react to any scenario, so if upon ambushing the gate guards one escapes, there WILL be an alarm raised that sees a highly organized response of overwhelming force. Of course, killing the guards will ALSO raise an alarm, just as soon as the regular shift change shows up and notices the dead/missing bodies, but at least then you have some lead time and they have less information on who is attacking (or possibly who is escaping)

On the other side of the scale, you have Lord Lazy the Slovenly. His troops are barely trained enough to be considered such. Dead bodies arent that unusual because fights are constant, so noone really cares if they stumble across a dead patrol or two. They probably got drunk and fought each other to death. Its still possible to set off an alarm, but the response is likely to be dribbles and drabbles of responders after the surviving guard who escapes runs into people at random screaming about being under attack.

Honestly, thats always been my major sticking point to most dungeon runs, is the lack of the overwhelming response to a group going for "strong through the door" as their attack strategy. Unless they are able to quickly and quietly overwhelm every enemy they find, and then hide the bodies in such a way that evidence is not left behind, there shouldnt be a single safe place to take a breather, let alone rest and regather spells.

I'd put that Cohesion--Lord Lazy's troops are towards the low end, because they only respond to what's attacking their own squad, whereas Lord Contingency's at the high end although not up to Hive Mind status.