If players are paying attention, they will usually know if an opponent is capable of making an opportunity attack but is it obvious to PC’s and NPC’s if an opponent can make an opportunity attack? Should you tell the player that their opponent seems distracted if it cannot make an OA?
Should DM’s play NPC’s as if they know the PC can or cannot attack them with an opportunity attack?
And what about attacks from Sentinel feat or other similar attacks?
Personally, I would want to give the PC’s a chance to use their abilities but once the monsters observe the effect, they would try to avoid it. But then you have to decide if the monsters are intelligent enough be aware of it and actually figure out the right countermeasure.
Any anecdotes you have from DMing would be appreciated.
I would ( and do ) play NPCs/Monsters as being aware of the possibility of opportunities of attack. That's a universal thing in the mechanics of the game world.
Feats and other abilities which grant additional attacks are rare - so I wouldn't allow creature foreknowledge of that, unless the creature had observed the player character demonstrate that ability.
I wouldn't put in super complex mechanics for attempting to figure out if the creature had noticed someone use the Sentinel Feat, for example - I'd probably just wing it. At the very most, I'd give any creature that might need to consider the feat's effects a Perception check to have seen it previously, with a DC reflecting how crowded, or covered, the battlefield happens to be, once the player character had used the ability.
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I would play enemies according to their intelligence on this. If you have intelligence/wisdom 10 then you know that moving in certain ways add risk. That said, I might not play an enemy as if he knew they have Sentinel before they actually use the ability.
If an enemy have int/wis 15-18 then I try to play them as well as I can, after all they are incredibly clever.
The way i see it the rules were made so that you can _force_ opportunity attacks, so enemies should do what the PCs do - try to minimize the chance of it happening to them, but it will eventually happen due to constraits etc.
I originally thought along this line as well - smart creatures will know the inherent risks of opportunity attacks; dumb ones would not.
But picture a wolf or dog attack; natural instinct actually lends a pretty good tactical sense.
I think you'd have to get down into pretty mindless, or insensate, creatures ( oozes, molds, jellies, etc. ) before they lacked both the intelligence and the instinct to give them a grasp of opportunity attacks.
Feats - which is almost impossible to predict who has them and who does not - is another story.
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
If players are paying attention, they will usually know if an opponent is capable of making an opportunity attack but is it obvious to PC’s and NPC’s if an opponent can make an opportunity attack? Should you tell the player that their opponent seems distracted if it cannot make an OA?
Should DM’s play NPC’s as if they know the PC can or cannot attack them with an opportunity attack?
And what about attacks from Sentinel feat or other similar attacks?
Personally, I would want to give the PC’s a chance to use their abilities but once the monsters observe the effect, they would try to avoid it. But then you have to decide if the monsters are intelligent enough be aware of it and actually figure out the right countermeasure.
Any anecdotes you have from DMing would be appreciated.
Opportunity attacks are part of RAW rules. The way I judge it is that everyone gets an opportunity attack regardless of if your PC or the monster in the game “know it” or not.
I believe it makes for more interesting combat. You have to think about your movement. If a PC moves away from a monster they will get hit. If a monster willingly moves away from a PCs or multiple PCs they will also get hit.
Also, an attack of opportunity is a REACTION. You can only take ONE REACTION PER TURN.
The rules also give you options for being able to avoid attacks of opportunities.
Lastly, “In a fight, everyone is constantly watching for a chance to strike an enemy who is fleeing or passing by. Such a strike is called an opportunity attack.”
EDIT: IF you’re worried about your PCs getting the best of your monsters during combat because of attack of opportunities, you really just need to BUFF your monsters. Make them stronger to match your PCs abilities.
I enjoy tactical games and a D&D combat can be played as a tactical game. It is easy for me as a DM or as a player to get so caught up in the tactical game that I can start to use information my character or the monsters I’m running do not know, hence the metagaming. I don’t think a game mechanic is needed to resolve whether a combatant knows if an opponent has used its reaction already, so I’m left with either the combatants always know or they can never be 100% sure. If they always know then as DM I might say “your opponent seems distracted” meaning you can leave its reach without an OA.
Another question is whether the monster cares if it triggers an OA or not. A very cautious monster may never do anything to trigger an OA but a very reckless one may not care, for example, an orc who really hates wizards or a leader monster may order his troops to charge right through if he perceived a tactical advantage.
After reading the 1st chapter of Storm King’s Thunder and seeing how they named all the goblins, I at first thought why? But then I realized that it is easy to play goblin #1 like a pawn on a chess board but Fuzzie the goblin is a character in a roleplaying game.
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If players are paying attention, they will usually know if an opponent is capable of making an opportunity attack but is it obvious to PC’s and NPC’s if an opponent can make an opportunity attack? Should you tell the player that their opponent seems distracted if it cannot make an OA?
Should DM’s play NPC’s as if they know the PC can or cannot attack them with an opportunity attack?
And what about attacks from Sentinel feat or other similar attacks?
Personally, I would want to give the PC’s a chance to use their abilities but once the monsters observe the effect, they would try to avoid it. But then you have to decide if the monsters are intelligent enough be aware of it and actually figure out the right countermeasure.
Any anecdotes you have from DMing would be appreciated.
I would ( and do ) play NPCs/Monsters as being aware of the possibility of opportunities of attack. That's a universal thing in the mechanics of the game world.
Feats and other abilities which grant additional attacks are rare - so I wouldn't allow creature foreknowledge of that, unless the creature had observed the player character demonstrate that ability.
I wouldn't put in super complex mechanics for attempting to figure out if the creature had noticed someone use the Sentinel Feat, for example - I'd probably just wing it. At the very most, I'd give any creature that might need to consider the feat's effects a Perception check to have seen it previously, with a DC reflecting how crowded, or covered, the battlefield happens to be, once the player character had used the ability.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
I would play enemies according to their intelligence on this. If you have intelligence/wisdom 10 then you know that moving in certain ways add risk. That said, I might not play an enemy as if he knew they have Sentinel before they actually use the ability.
If an enemy have int/wis 15-18 then I try to play them as well as I can, after all they are incredibly clever.
The way i see it the rules were made so that you can _force_ opportunity attacks, so enemies should do what the PCs do - try to minimize the chance of it happening to them, but it will eventually happen due to constraits etc.
I originally thought along this line as well - smart creatures will know the inherent risks of opportunity attacks; dumb ones would not.
But picture a wolf or dog attack; natural instinct actually lends a pretty good tactical sense.
I think you'd have to get down into pretty mindless, or insensate, creatures ( oozes, molds, jellies, etc. ) before they lacked both the intelligence and the instinct to give them a grasp of opportunity attacks.
Feats - which is almost impossible to predict who has them and who does not - is another story.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Opportunity attacks are part of RAW rules. The way I judge it is that everyone gets an opportunity attack regardless of if your PC or the monster in the game “know it” or not.
I believe it makes for more interesting combat. You have to think about your movement. If a PC moves away from a monster they will get hit. If a monster willingly moves away from a PCs or multiple PCs they will also get hit.
Also, an attack of opportunity is a REACTION. You can only take ONE REACTION PER TURN.
The rules also give you options for being able to avoid attacks of opportunities.
Lastly, “In a fight, everyone is constantly watching for a chance to strike an enemy who is fleeing or passing by. Such a strike is called an opportunity attack.”
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Combat#toc_40
https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/99152/how-many-opportunity-attacks-can-a-pc-take-during-a-round
EDIT: IF you’re worried about your PCs getting the best of your monsters during combat because of attack of opportunities, you really just need to BUFF your monsters. Make them stronger to match your PCs abilities.
I enjoy tactical games and a D&D combat can be played as a tactical game. It is easy for me as a DM or as a player to get so caught up in the tactical game that I can start to use information my character or the monsters I’m running do not know, hence the metagaming. I don’t think a game mechanic is needed to resolve whether a combatant knows if an opponent has used its reaction already, so I’m left with either the combatants always know or they can never be 100% sure. If they always know then as DM I might say “your opponent seems distracted” meaning you can leave its reach without an OA.
Another question is whether the monster cares if it triggers an OA or not. A very cautious monster may never do anything to trigger an OA but a very reckless one may not care, for example, an orc who really hates wizards or a leader monster may order his troops to charge right through if he perceived a tactical advantage.
After reading the 1st chapter of Storm King’s Thunder and seeing how they named all the goblins, I at first thought why? But then I realized that it is easy to play goblin #1 like a pawn on a chess board but Fuzzie the goblin is a character in a roleplaying game.