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Re: Some questions on monster behaviour during combat
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:58 am
by bluejay
Corvo wrote:After some doubts, I decided that monsters should spend their hate liberally, to the point they are weary and craven.
My reasoning is that Heroes cannot choose if and when they are tired. Heroes can start the combat already fatigued, while monsters are always fresh and dandy. The heroes can start a fight already depleted of Hope, while monster can't.
To use AngelaLex words, looks like fatigue rules are created to screw the PCs.
I want the players understand that goblins are craven -otherwise they looks stalwart as Uruk- or that the Troll is exhausting himself -so when that Big Bad isn't tired at all, they appreciate that that guy is really different-.
The only way to show this is spending liberally the Hate points.
We'll this isn't the only way to do it. There are two adversary special abilities which deplete Hate (Fear of Fire and Hates Sunlight). Any adversary with Hideous Toughness is likely to blow through Hate rather than go down. Also Intimidate is a very strong tactic against low level troops (participatory Craven ones) but it can be also very effective against trolls as well (wearying them to make them easier to wound).
One thing I've found with the game is that a lot of the idiosyncrasies of the rules are very much by design and this feels like another example.
Re: Some questions on monster behaviour during combat
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 9:13 am
by bluejay
To answer the second question of the original post, I think there may be some confusion regarding using Favoured skills for adversaries. I recommend re-reading page 64 of the Loremaster's Guide, particularly the section about Attribute Levels. Adversaries do not work the same way as PCs, they automatically add their attribute level to favoured skills without spending any Hate at all.
Re: Some questions on monster behaviour during combat
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 3:06 pm
by Otaku-sempai
I look at it this way: Monsters, especially creatures with low intelligence, are no more aware of what "Hate Points" are nor of how many they have as you, yourself, know how many "Hope Points" you possess. The concept is meaningless to them. Wnen they are out, they're out.
A highly intelligent foe has a better grasp of his capabilities and limitations; he can manage his resources better even though he isn't thinking about them in "rpg" terms.
Re: Some questions on monster behaviour during combat
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:38 pm
by Yusei
Angelalex242 wrote:Monsters should essentially be played as Kamikazee warriors who want only to kill PCs and spend every drop of Hate they've got trying to do so, for they know there's 500 more of them waiting to wear PCs down.
You're essentially advocating playing monsters as a primitive videogame AI. Those can be fun to fight once in a while, but I'd rather play the ones with better graphics. When I'm playing a tabletop RPG, I usually expect the "AI" to be better and more challenging.
I'm not sure how I
should play monsters, but my craven monsters will not run themselves out of Hate unless necessary, my chieftains will not use their Commanding Voices unless it accomplishes something, and my trolls will sometimes use their Horrible Strength until exhaustion, sometimes not. Otherwise, I'd be too bored to play.