"Luring" Mobs

[Aromatic Treebark]

Would it be possible to edit an encounter mechanic so that if one member of the encounter\mob is engaged, the other follow it no matter what?

The tactic of "luring" one NPC at a time with an arrow or projectile so that it can be killed whilst the rest of the group remains ignorant is very poor RP. If your buddy is shot next to you & runs away to combat, you are going to follow them & help.

I've even been criticized in-game & in-RP for not luring one NPC away at a time, despite it being completely implausible as realism would have it. I am fairly certain I've read that it is against server rules anyhow.

Thoughts?

[Roketter]

I think this suggestion would only lead to more intelligent mobs, wich in the end would result in more people hanging out in the death area, more frustration for the players facing the encounters at the cost of extra scripting on their AI's.
The benefits I do not see, as generally battles between a full group of mobs and an entire player party involve a lot of clicking and mashing buttons and skills and few lines of text if any.

At least luring allows the party to talk instead of putting every member of the group into a Leeroy Jenkins scenario on every encounter where only characters with good defense and resistance or escape mechanics would survive.

THe luring tactic is not realistic, but neither is the monsters appearing out of nowhere at regular intervals and them just standing there awaiting to be killed.

[IndifferentPerson]

IIRC Mithreas once mentioned that he installed this and didn't quite work out, but don't quote me on that.

[Aromatic Treebark]

Hmmm. I guess the answer is simply the integrity of the RP & to not lure mobs then. Thanks for the responses!

[KregorRanger]

Have been on servers where the mobs have that sort of AI. Yes, it is more realistic, and yes, you die more often. Particularly if you are a player coming from a server without the additional AI.

Also in consideration, would be the need to rebalance all the mobs if suck an AI was implemented. Most mobs seem to be tricked out with extra canonical abilities, DR and etc geared toward being faced in smaller numbers. Causing a whole bunch to swarm the PC/party at once would significantly change the level rating of any given area.

[Aromatic Treebark]

Right, with smarter AI the actually difficulty may need to be nerfed as to preserve balance.

[Marsi]

Hmmm. I guess the answer is simply the integrity of the RP & to not lure mobs then. Thanks for the responses!

I'm eager to see a response from DMs or DEVs about this before we start jumping to conclusions on who has and who hasn't got "roleplay integrity". This is how shadow rules are born.

[What_Evil_Lurks]

*Lays an arrow over his bow, slowly draws back the string, takes careful aim, lets the arrow fly to skim across the cave wall near the monster.*

Then!

*The beast perks its head and comes closer to investigate, shortly after he is hacked, stabbed, and beaten to death by the waiting party of noble adventurers.*

Imagination is important on Arelith, so it rolling with the RP going on at times. Don't sweat the small stuff so much and have more fun.

[Preacher]

*Lays an arrow over his bow, slowly draws back the string, takes careful aim, lets the arrow fly to skim across the cave wall near the monster.*

Then!

*The beast perks its head and comes closer to investigate, shortly after he is hacked, stabbed, and beaten to death by the waiting party of noble adventurers.*

Imagination is important on Arelith, so it rolling with the RP going on at times. Don't sweat the small stuff so much and have more fun.

+1 Like.

This is how I usually see it. I enjoy using tactics when the area I'm in is dangerous

[Winter83]

Group of monsters alarmed at once would simply open up new tactics. Players adapt quickly.
Bottlenecks ,chokepoints, use of traps, other area effect spells, immobilization magic and abilties I'd believe become more of a common choice.
I have no fear when it comes to adaptibility. Players are very creative.

Personally I'd love to see a smarter AI. Would require more Tactics talk, using the environment to your advantage, etc.

[Ecstatic]

My personal opinion only, so take it for what it's worth:

The game engine only allows for so much when it comes to environmental tactics. If I party up with someone that wants to RP out taking the time and effort to split the enemy up so they can be engaged one on one, and the only way they can do it is by tossing a slingstone at one enemy while emoting *intentionally crushes a twig, the snap audible in the quiet night air*, I'm less inclined to be upset with them for making the fight easier than I am glad that they're RPing the adventure and adding flavor for everyone on it, and not just steamrolling through the mob to maximize their XP per minute.

[DM_Ironfist]

When I see people luring with poor RP, I tend to have the rest of the mob wake up and charge. If I see people luring with an effort to create a sense of atmosphere and fun for the rest of their party, I leave them be. Take it how you will.