Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

i know ai hates those dealing a lot of damage, ranged attackers, rogues, and casters

but there is an order in which they hate them? it seems casters are the most hated by the ai? i swear i had a list somewhere with the order of mob hate, but i cant find it

also, how does mob ai determine what you are? does it see the class you took at level 1? or can it see all your classes? IE, if you want to tank and hold agro, and you have cleric in your build, would it be beneficial to take cleric at lvl 1?

there is no mmo style threat table to the AI, it simply metagames info like a boss

generally the AI simply attacks the closest person to it but depending on what the mob can do and who is attacking it then it may switch off to metawhoopass

like if a rogue is attacking someone unbuffed that happens to have a mords, and then someone buffed to the teeth with wards shows up, the AI will likely switch to drop its mords

if the AI has a decent damage fire attack and there is someone with EI fire, another with a fire 20/- ammy and someone with nothing then they will hit the guy with no wards against fire

as far as tanking goes, assuming you are all buffed up equally then you simply need to be the first one in its perception range and it will target you and if there is nothing for it to meta (bc you are all buffed equally) then it is unlikely to switch, unless someone with lower AC gets in melee range, then it might pick the easy to hit target

but the AI is highly sensitive and highly prone to metagaming rather than following some set order

always knew nwn 2 had no true taunt mechanic, and that the ai is wonky, but i still thought there was some kind of order to the hate. like if there were two exact duplicate builds side by side, one wielding sword, the other bow, the ai would attack the bowman first

i'm normally first in, and they normally stay on me. i'm a tank, and that's a good thing. just noticed they sometimes peeled off onto others, and wanted to verify why

i thought it was due to higher damage output, ranged, or being a caster, etc

but with what you are saying, it's likely because those that the mob are peeling off after, have lower ac than me. archers, etc

could a true taunt mechanic be made? something to fool ai into thinkin the tank has 1ac, low hps, and is vuln to every element?

Yes.

The game definetly metagames your immunites, and if it can it tries to remove them first. Casters are the most obvious example, they won't use a spell you are completely immune to.

it's amusing when they waste dispels or mords, to strip 1-2ac or haste

The morale of the story is that a purpose built tank struggles to maintain aggro so long as anyone more vulnerable charges in.

AlwaysSummer Day wrote:The morale of the story is that a purpose built tank struggles to maintain aggro so long as anyone more vulnerable charges in.

Actually I say that "tanking" is not something DnD rules really supported, like ever. There are a few feats and such, but unless the DM is nice, NPCs are not obliged to attack the big guy with the shield and not the archers (who are usually way too close for their own good, like wtf are you doing with a bow in close quarters ).

putting point blank shot to use

but yea tanking in D&D is better in pnp, even then its not possible but you can actually do things like provide cover or get a mob off of someone else

no surprise that mezzers and KDers are popular

sad when the mob is immune to either, or both

Try bieng a ranger....ten people pounding on the baddie...baddie drops what its doing...runs twenty feet to go run down the support class ranger.

have had a couple archers here. each has been part rogue. i feel your pain