PDA

View Full Version : DM Help If you were an NPC caster and had to decide who to hit ...



Pinjata
2016-09-07, 03:48 AM
In your generic dungeon, you have as an undead caster guardian waited for a long time for some pesky adventurers to come along to blast them. You have an interesting spell that is sort of a fire arrow that can hit or miss a target. You can fire three of these at a same time only(standard action), but you get to pick who each othe arrows hits. Its probably one of the three arrows will miss, but two hits might drop an enemy.

Finally, the great day comes. Guy in metal armor, sword and shield in hand is advancing toward your dark, wet and moldy room. Guy is followed by another guy in metal plate with hammer and shield and some sort of holy symbol drawn all over his breastplate. He is followed by some guy in leather armor, two daggers and a bandanna. Last in line is a small guy in pijamas with a wand in his hand.

You surprise all of them and decied who to nuke with your three-arrow spell. Who would you hit/prioritize?

hymer
2016-09-07, 04:25 AM
In your generic dungeon, you have as an undead caster guardian waited for a long time for some pesky adventurers to come along to blast them. You have an interesting spell that is sort of a fire arrow that can hit or miss a target. You can fire three of these at a same time only(standard action), but you get to pick who each othe arrows hits. Its probably one of the three arrows will miss, but two hits might drop an enemy.

Finally, the great day comes. Guy in metal armor, sword and shield in hand is advancing toward your dark, wet and moldy room. Guy is followed by another guy in metal plate with hammer and shield and some sort of holy symbol drawn all over his breastplate. He is followed by some guy in leather armor, two daggers and a bandanna. Last in line is a small guy in pijamas with a wand in his hand.

You surprise all of them and decied who to nuke with your three-arrow spell. Who would you hit/prioritize?

Are my fire arrows deflected by armour? What about my other abilities? That could well affect my decision-making, and I'd have had some time to think it over.
Even odds, I'd hit the less beefy types with my big boom if I'm sufficiently clear-minded not to get all focused on the beefy ones. I want to even the odds as quickly as possible, and they're more likely to go down fast.

Edit: If this is 3.5 and my arrows are touch attacks, I'm putting two in the cleric and one in the wizard, if I can be turned.

Frozen_Feet
2016-09-07, 04:30 AM
The last two seem most vulnerable, so it'd make sense to spread the arrows between them in hopes of dropping both.

However, the one openly carrying holy symbols is likely a cleric, paladin or some other annoying do-gooder with anti-undead abilities and attitude. (Presuming, of course, that the symbols are of conflict faith to that of the undead tomb guardian.) So focus-firing on them has the best returns overall.

Lorsa
2016-09-07, 05:35 AM
In your generic dungeon, you have as an undead caster guardian waited for a long time for some pesky adventurers to come along to blast them. You have an interesting spell that is sort of a fire arrow that can hit or miss a target. You can fire three of these at a same time only(standard action), but you get to pick who each othe arrows hits. Its probably one of the three arrows will miss, but two hits might drop an enemy.

Finally, the great day comes. Guy in metal armor, sword and shield in hand is advancing toward your dark, wet and moldy room. Guy is followed by another guy in metal plate with hammer and shield and some sort of holy symbol drawn all over his breastplate. He is followed by some guy in leather armor, two daggers and a bandanna. Last in line is a small guy in pijamas with a wand in his hand.

You surprise all of them and decied who to nuke with your three-arrow spell. Who would you hit/prioritize?

It clearly depends on how intelligent I am and which type of undead I am.

If we go by the assumption that I am a skeletal caster, which quite high intelligence, clearly the cleric with a hammer is the most dangerous of the lot. Throw all three arrows at him in order to drop him the first round seems like a good choice.

After that, I'd send all three arrows towards the guy with a wand (assuming he is a wizard of some sort). Thirdly towards the guy with metal armor and sword. The bandana/daggers guy probably won't get past my damage reduction with his daggers anyway.

As a zombie, things are a little bit different. Then the guy with a sword might actually be a threat, so maybe try to down him first, at the very least to divert the cleric's attention towards healing him.

If I am not intelligent, I'd just throw my magic towards whoever comes first.

Mastikator
2016-09-07, 06:52 AM
Snipe down the guy with the cross, he's probably a healer and his holy symbol is an affront to my grimdark evilness. Just hit the guy with the cross with everything I have, if he goes down I win even if I die. Because they won't be able to proceed without their healer so I have saved my evil necrotic brethren. I go in to hell knowing my death had a purpose.

Quertus
2016-09-07, 07:37 AM
Note: this is a very D&D based answer.

As an undead spellcaster, I'm guessing I've got spellcraft. So, normally, I'd delay until one of them starts casting, and, depending on my level of overconfidence, split them between the apparent casters, or just throw them all at the current caster.

However, in a surprise round, guy with blunt weapon and holy symbol sounds very dangerous. Unless I have reason to believe he could be an ally (no undead in their group, right?), he's going down first.

-----

Now, if my (un)life experiences are vastly different from your typical D&D inhabitant, it could change my tactics.

If faith isn't magical, I may ignore hammer guy as a coward.

If I don't think my bones will be crushed too easily, I may shoot pajamas and steal his wand.

If being a spellcaster means I've cast lots of buffs on myself, I might target whoever seems to be the leader. Or target whoever seems most likely to bypass my defenses. Or whoever is closest / one at each of the 3 closest, to make them underestimate me.

But, most likely, as an immortal spellcaster, my tactics are probably something more like, "shoot one arrow at the hidden trip wire to drop the ceiling behind them + dump Greek fire on them, shoot one arrow to ignite the mix of magnesium powder and <something poisonous when burned> at their feet, and shoot one arrow at the explosives (which will also fill the area with smoke) hidden in the wall." Any two of those should cause some major problems for the poor, doomed adventurers.

EDIT: or, if I've got a lake above me, probably all 3 of those arrows are going towards drowning the poor sods.

MrStabby
2016-09-07, 07:50 AM
So it also depends on if I had other guards they have fought through.

If I am well guarded it means they are powerful - as they fought their way past them.

If the minimum level of power needed to overcome my guards is higher than my own power - or close to it, then I know I am in trouble and will take risks.

This may mean splitting out the attacks to try and down two characters as quickly as possible.

As to which, it may depend on the system and rat of resource depletion/recuperation. If they have fought they way past my undead minions i might be happier to trust that anti undead abilities might be running low. |On the other hand if i am guarded by living humans etc. then I am going to believe any anti undead abilities will still be going strong.

If lightly guarded by non undead - I would target the guy with heavy armour and holy symbol with everything

If lightly guarded by undead I would target guy in pyjamas with 2 and and the guy with the holy symbol with 1

If heavily guarded by non undead then 2 attacks on the guy with the holy symbol and one on the pyjamas guy.

If I was heavily guarded by undead then 1 attack on the guy with the holy symbol and two attacks on the pyjamas guy.

RazorChain
2016-09-08, 10:04 PM
I would shoot all three at the guy with the biggest moustache....as an undead I can't grow my fabulous moustache anymore. It vexes me.

Slipperychicken
2016-09-08, 11:29 PM
Hit the cleric first and fast with all three arrows. Focus him until he's 100% dead. He powers the rest of the gang, and he almost certainly has anti-undead powers too. You really want to make sure he isn't healing them or turning you. If you can perma-kill him (or at least to the point where he can't be potion'd back to keep healing his party), that makes life very difficult for the rest of them. They might even flee if their cleric immediately falls.

Hitting the cleric is primarily to reduce the time it will take to wipe the party. The faster our lich can blast them down, the less time they have to wail on him, the more likely he is to win.

Fable Wright
2016-09-09, 12:40 AM
So, let me get this straight.

1. I am an immortal creature that has been deprived of all contact with external beings for ages.
2. I am an intelligent caster who wants to get the most out of my situation.
3. I see the first sentient beings in a long, long time enter my room.

So, I'm itching for a fight and a chance to show off my magic powers. What's the point of having them if no one is going to be impressed? Unfortunately, they don't plan on sticking around. They're either going to kill me, or I'll kill them, and we're back to square one. Frankly, I want out of this situation, and these four idiots are my best chance at that. So, how about I offer them a game? They send a champion against me, and if I am defeated but spared, I will give them information of the person who locked me down here and let them pass. If they fail, they have to send a second champion. Win or lose, after that champion, I'll let them do as they wish. Get those two resurrected and come back for a second shot at the secret (and I get to see them again!), or let them pass and maybe kill the boss (and I'm free!)—either way is a win for me, and it's probably a better deal for them, too. Much better than just getting myself killed in the middle of my awkward introduction, don't you think?