Tinkering with Monsters/Dice/Tactics during Battle

[MadBear]

I'm very curious peoples thoughts on how they handle their monsters during a given scenario? Which Mindset to you find yourself most aligned with?

Monster Stats (M)
1. Strict: the numbers are the numbers, and I never adjust a monsters stats, once at the table.
2. In-between: I rarely will adjust a monsters stats, but only in cases where I see a glaring error, or to give it enough hp's to at least get 1 action in combat.
3. Loose: the numbers are just a guideline, I use them as needed, and change them just as frequently

Dice (D)
1. Strict: I never fudge dice. If my assassin rolls a critical against your 1 hp character, he's dying and that's just life (or in this case death)
2. In-between: I will occasionally fudge dice rolls. I don't do it often, but once in a while it's a necessary evil
3. Loose: What's the DM screen for if not for some dice fudging. The game should make dramatic sense first and foremost.

Tactics (T)
1. Strict: My monsters know magic exists, PC's exist, and will play smart. Heck, they'll often purposefully target a downed PC just to make sure it stays down.
2. In-between: I tend to play fairly smart, but will sometimes attack people that I know can take it to avoid downing a PC accidentally.
3. Loose: My monsters act in such a way as to let the players be heroes. Sure if they do something extremely dumb, they get what happens, but in general the only real time they risk dying is during a climatic moment where it's dramatically appropriate for it to happen.

Personally, I'm a 3M/2D/2T DM.

[stoutstien]

I'm very curious peoples thoughts on how they handle their monsters during a given scenario? Which Mindset to you find yourself most aligned with?

Monster Stats (M)
1. Strict: the numbers are the numbers, and I never adjust a monsters stats, once at the table.
2. In-between: I rarely will adjust a monsters stats, but only in cases where I see a glaring error, or to give it enough hp's to at least get 1 action in combat.
3. Loose: the numbers are just a guideline, I use them as needed, and change them just as frequently

Dice (D)
1. Strict: I never fudge dice. If my assassin rolls a critical against your 1 hp character, he's dying and that's just life (or in this case death)
2. In-between: I will occasionally fudge dice rolls. I don't do it often, but once in a while it's a necessary evil
3. Loose: What's the DM screen for if not for some dice fudging. The game should make dramatic sense first and foremost.

Tactics (T)
1. Strict: My monsters know magic exists, PC's exist, and will play smart. Heck, they'll often purposefully target a downed PC just to make sure it stays down.
2. In-between: I tend to play fairly smart, but will sometimes attack people that I know can take it to avoid downing a PC accidentally.
3. Loose: My monsters act in such a way as to let the players be heroes. Sure if they do something extremely dumb, they get what happens, but in general the only real time they risk dying is during a climatic moment where it's dramatically appropriate for it to happen.

Personally, I'm a 3M/2D/2T DM.
1M 1D 1T
Your 1 choices are worded in a way that sounds a little bias but still I have to go with them.

The 1 tactic should be more : I try to keep fro. letting my own personal options and knowledge infect the NPC's actions within the game.

the 1 dice : I don't fudge rolls because I roll only when called for because it has a chance of failure and has consequences.

Monster Stats: I avoid changing stats during the same encounter and note necessary changes for the future if needed.

[nickl_2000]

Personally my DMing is either with my kids or one shots to cover times when a DM isn't ready for the regularly scheduled game.

Kids: 3M 3D 3T - They are young enough still that this the fun is way more important. They had a lot more fun with the roleplaying and the out of combat stuff, than the in combat stuff.

One Shots with Adult Group: 2M 1D 2T

[Tawmis]

I'm very curious peoples thoughts on how they handle their monsters during a given scenario? Which Mindset to you find yourself most aligned with?
Monster Stats (M)
3. Loose: the numbers are just a guideline, I use them as needed, and change them just as frequently

Dice (D)
3. Loose: What's the DM screen for if not for some dice fudging. The game should make dramatic sense first and foremost.

Tactics (T)
2. In-between: I tend to play fairly smart, but will sometimes attack people that I know can take it to avoid downing a PC accidentally.


Monster Stats:
For me, especially among other humanoid races (Orcs, Goblins, Ogres), all of which are intelligent enough to be able to train, pray to their gods, etc., I see no reason why a group of Level 7 players wouldn't run into a "Level 7" group of Orcs, including an Orc Cleric who has access to the same Level 7 spells that a player would. So this results in the Monster Stats being open to me. I typically won't change "average" monster stats (like Green Slime, Shriekers, etc., things that don't "have advancement" to grow). But a "named" Dragon who has been tormenting the party might have altered stats, being a "boss fight" (as the video game kids call it).

Dice:
For me, I typically stick to what I roll. However, if I see the party isn't having fun, I will "roll the dice" for dramatic effects. It's important, to me, to be able to read my players. I am not afraid to kill a player who is being foolish ("Oh, it's a Red Dragon's lair? I yell into the cave, and shout, 'Come out sissy worm!'"... guess who is about to make a save vs Dragon breath... at disadvantage, because they didn't see it coming?) But if the party is genuinely doing good, in terms of tactics and trying to keep each other alive, and I roll a Nat 20 that might kill someone, I will fudge it to do "some damage" (enough to take them down a bit more but not kill them).

Tactics:
I play the monsters as if I were a player and they were my PC. As soon as they see someone heal, they might gun for the Cleric first, knowing he/she has the ability to keep the party standing. Take down the Cleric (perhaps at the cost of a few sacrificial members) may be just what they do. Again, this is for intelligent creatures. If it's something like a Gelatinous Cube, I typically look at whose standing in front of it, split the number evenly on a dice, and decide who it's going to attack based on a random roll, since it has no real intelligence.

[Xihirli]

I'm very curious peoples thoughts on how they handle their monsters during a given scenario? Which Mindset to you find yourself most aligned with?

Monster Stats (M)
1. Strict: the numbers are the numbers, and I never adjust a monsters stats, once at the table.
2. In-between: I rarely will adjust a monsters stats, but only in cases where I see a glaring error, or to give it enough hp's to at least get 1 action in combat.
3. Loose: the numbers are just a guideline, I use them as needed, and change them just as frequently

Dice (D)
1. Strict: I never fudge dice. If my assassin rolls a critical against your 1 hp character, he's dying and that's just life (or in this case death)
2. In-between: I will occasionally fudge dice rolls. I don't do it often, but once in a while it's a necessary evil
3. Loose: What's the DM screen for if not for some dice fudging. The game should make dramatic sense first and foremost.

Tactics (T)
1. Strict: My monsters know magic exists, PC's exist, and will play smart. Heck, they'll often purposefully target a downed PC just to make sure it stays down.
2. In-between: I tend to play fairly smart, but will sometimes attack people that I know can take it to avoid downing a PC accidentally.
3. Loose: My monsters act in such a way as to let the players be heroes. Sure if they do something extremely dumb, they get what happens, but in general the only real time they risk dying is during a climatic moment where it's dramatically appropriate for it to happen.

Personally, I'm a 3M/2D/2T DM.

2 M. I don’t tend to care overmuch about keeping mobs in fights and let them die without caring too much about their hitpoints, usually deciding how many they have right after the first damage roll against them is made.
1D. Every roll is in front of the players, they can look. No accidental deaths yet.
2T I guess? I’m fairly forgiving but I’ve been careful to ensure that the primary goal of the threatening villains hasn’t been the death of the PCs in any fight yet, though that’s slowly changing as they draw more and more attention.

[NaughtyTiger]

Monster 2: specifically, make sure the big bad fight lasts 1 round, everyone gets a chance.
Dice 2: make sure the big bad fight lasts 1 round, everyone gets a chance.

Tactics: 1-3. i am limited by my actual tactics... and i kinda suck. but if healing word is on the table, then i go for the kill (i warn the players ahead of time).

we had a huuuuge fight about this last month. some folks view Dice/Monster 2 or 3 as immoral (as denoted by terms like lying, cheating, ...)
so to be clear, I don't cheat, i DM by the rules, fudging rolls and stats is explicitly called out as DM ability.

[JackPhoenix]

Monster: 1- Once the creature is there, its stats won't change arbitrarily. I should've done that during preparations.
Dice: 1- I don't cheat. I also roll openly, unless there's really a reason to keep the roll secret (like Stealth checks for creatures players don't know about, or Deception checks).
Tactics: It seems kinda like loaded question. Let's call it 1, but with a caveat that creatures don't act on metagame informations- Creatures that have reason to know what magic can do, do, ones that don't, don't. Misinformations and superstitions with no real basis are a thing. They act more according to their personalities and circumstances than based on the best tactics possible. Dumb creatures act dumb, smart creatures act smart, but everyone can make mistakes. Cowards run or surrender, fanatics fight no matter the odds.

[Demonslayer666]

I'm very curious peoples thoughts on how they handle their monsters during a given scenario? Which Mindset to you find yourself most aligned with?

Monster Stats (M)
1. Strict: the numbers are the numbers, and I never adjust a monsters stats, once at the table.
2. In-between: I rarely will adjust a monsters stats, but only in cases where I see a glaring error, or to give it enough hp's to at least get 1 action in combat.
3. Loose: the numbers are just a guideline, I use them as needed, and change them just as frequently

Dice (D)
1. Strict: I never fudge dice. If my assassin rolls a critical against your 1 hp character, he's dying and that's just life (or in this case death)
2. In-between: I will occasionally fudge dice rolls. I don't do it often, but once in a while it's a necessary evil
3. Loose: What's the DM screen for if not for some dice fudging. The game should make dramatic sense first and foremost.

Tactics (T)
1. Strict: My monsters know magic exists, PC's exist, and will play smart. Heck, they'll often purposefully target a downed PC just to make sure it stays down.
2. In-between: I tend to play fairly smart, but will sometimes attack people that I know can take it to avoid downing a PC accidentally.
3. Loose: My monsters act in such a way as to let the players be heroes. Sure if they do something extremely dumb, they get what happens, but in general the only real time they risk dying is during a climatic moment where it's dramatically appropriate for it to happen.

Personally, I'm a 3M/2D/2T DM.

1M - I'm pretty strict on playing monster's as is once they have encountered it. If I can't design my encounters appropriately, I don't make it harder on the fly.
2D - Story and fun can override a character getting killed, but it's highly situational (like when I make the encounter more difficult than I intended). But I will kill off a character that continues to make poor tactical decisions.
2T - with the caveat that not all creatures are smart and or tactical, so it depends highly on the creature's ability to comprehend what they are facing.

[J-H]

Monster stats: 2
I'm still fairly new to DMing 5e, and I have bumped monster HP twice (both times in my first session). I also dropped a "resistant to non-magic weapons" property from something at the table because I forgot about it. I was later glad that I had done so.

D: 1
The dice land where they may. Players roll more than I do (6 players, was 7) so they have more chances for crits than the enemy usually does.

T: 1, but subject to the individual monster's INT & WIS score.

[Puh Laden]

Stats: strict (or as I think of it: "fair," though homebrewing up monsters beforehand or adjusting certain monsters to make them weaker or stronger or even just "different" beforehand is also fair in my book. Unless it's a homebrew monster that I didn't have time to test for. But if I tested it myself beforehand, I won't adjust on the fly.)
Dice: strict (or again, I think of it as "fair")
Tactics: role-play. Smart monsters play smart, dumb monsters play dumb. All monsters know how to use their own abilities well. An enraged beast or mindless undead is going to attack the closest thing to it. A prideful juggernaut will seek one-on-one combat with the brawniest looking opponent -- attacking others only to keep them from interfering. A cunning assassin will go for soft targets. A savvy commander will keep their troops coordinated and attempt to pit their subordinates against their best match-ups but if the commander is downed, their troops may become disorganized. Hobgoblins always attack elves, then half-elves, then as good tactics demand. Only mindless undead and starving beasts attack downed foes, unless the downed character is a target of assassination or personal revenge. Though an intelligent opponent will attempt to down healers first.

[Theron_the_slim]

2M - It´s pretty rare I do adjust anything here, except sometimes to grant a cool kill even if the monster would have 1-5 hp left
1D - I roll anything but stealth rolls (of monsters they are unaware of) open, I don´t even want the option to fudge. I don´t even want the shade of a doubt that my players victory is a victory and not a handout ... and also real fear, if they die, they die.
2T - Depends highly on the monster of course. A ogre or troll will probably just attack the closest target or the guy that hurt it the most last round. But when the creature is supposed to be smart, I try to play it accordingly.

[Arcangel4774]

M2: a big part of this comes from changing how many spells an enemy spellcaster has or how much hp an enemy has. Every enemy faced shouldnt be in pristine condition.

D1: fudging rolls against the players seems mean, especially when a dm can essentially control what happens. Fudgin for the players ruins tension, and most people i associate with hate being pitied.

T?: this actually something i take pride on. Tactics are extremely tailored to the enemy. Goblins tend tk run away when losing, especially if the leader is dead. Mundane animals shy away from fire but otherwise attack the physically weak. Seasoned mercenaries fight much smarter than unruly bandits. One of my favorites is to have undead enemies seem to be smart at first but to not adapt to battlefield changes, as if they have jist a shadow of tactica left in them