How does aggro work?

[A Small Cute Cat]

Currently running around with a wizard friend. Whenever she steps into melee, everything we're fighting will drop what they're doing and start attacking her, even though she usually doesn't land any melee hits, cast any spells, or deal any damage. Sometimes she can be standing by a wall

Is there a way to determine, or control, who monsters will target? My character's got plate armor and a shield. I should be the one taking hits, not my squishy wizard buddy.

[aaron22]

the game cheats.. there is no aggro. the mobs attack who they think they can kill easiest by looking at your character sheet.

[samb123]

What's aggro? This is D&D. There is no threat mechanics. There's only fake things, like the Taunt skill (which, imho, is a waste of good skill points). Therefore, it's YOUR job, to round up all the monsters, as the heavy plate guy.

[A Small Cute Cat]

That's what I usually do. Run into a group of monsters and start swinging, and they all stampede past me to go after a wizard who's standing ten feet away doing nothing.

"Aggro" is what I call it, thanks to lots of raiding on WoW, though I'm not sure if this game has a different name for the mechanic.

On the bright side, I'm scoring a lot of sneak attacks!

[aaron22]

The best way to hold agro here is to have your dps friends learn to drop aggro.

[Tekill]

Didn't CHR have something to do with who the mobs attack?
I have always thought my ugly toons got attacked more or before my pretty ones..

[and break 12345]

That's what I usually do. Run into a group of monsters and start swinging, and they all stampede past me to go after a wizard who's standing ten feet away doing nothing.

Your wiz friend needs to sit in the back while invisible with parry toggled on.

[Tsidkenu]

Your wiz friend needs to sit in the back while invisible with parry toggled on.

This. There are 0 reasons for a wizard to be in melee unless they already have levels in fighter+eldritch knight and are wearing decent armour+shield, or they wish to die a quick and painful death.

As for the OP, there is an order of aggro within the AI but I can't quite figure it out. AI does metagame all character sheets and will tend to focus attacks on characters with the lowest AC/HP, or alternatively highest 'threat' rating. Spellcasting classes, especially cleric, wizard & sorcerer are very high on that list and mobs will frequently, if not exclusively, redirect aggro away from an IPA 40 Str fighter/fb/wm to engage them. My 40+ AC cleric always attracts aggro even if she's surrounded by 20 AC/ low HP summons that deal 3x more damage than she does. Mobs will frequently redirect attention to melee burst Sneak-Attack rogues who have just come out of stealth for the same reason.

Your friend's best strategy is not to move into melee range of mobs, and to let you take 'perception aggro', that is, hanging far enough back that mobs only have perception of the highest AC target (you!), and engage them in melee first. As long as your wizard ally does not enter melee range, AI will not break away from their initial melee target although ranged mobs (eg. xvart archer) may change their primary target to the wizard.

[JCVD1]

There is a taunt ability for the Man At arms class, making all around attack him instead. Other than that I do not know!

[Rad-Icarus]

There is a taunt ability for the Man At arms class, making all around attack him instead. Other than that I do not know!

That definitely works with my man at arms character, and man at arms is a good class choice for someone looking to be in the thick of a battle and draw aggro. Just be ready to raise a shield and probably have enough brains to learn expertise.

I've heard aggro used in games like Diablo and Xenoblade Chronicles among others, it's short for aggression.

[Blackman D]

MMOs have aggro tables, NWN2 does not

NWN2 does have a bunch of metagaming AIs tho that will not use abilities that will not be effective and attack the weakest person in a group

aside from that there is only perception range, most mobs have a rather long range or medium and if you enter that range they will attack you

[electric mayhem]

How does aggro work?

A: With a hand and perhaps alcohol.

A-2: He's not working so much anymore, living comfortably in retirement from what I understand.

WARNING: Strong language.


Ahh... the good old years of kids afternoon cartoon television shows.

----

in relation to the OP:

the game cheats.. there is no aggro. the mobs attack who they think they can kill easiest by looking at your character sheet.

I agree with Aaron here.