Again, I see what you are saying. I think that requiring us to manage downed party members is better than having the AI ignore them. Just make sure we have the tools to do so.
It is somethin I mentioned in the "Resting is broken" threads. Almost every encounter is lethal as opposed to difficult. Resting is broken because it needs to be to deal with the encounter system.
D&D encounters are phases with branches:
- A party coming up to an orc cave would have a large open space and see 2 orcs on guard, one which seems to be sleeping. There is an alarm drum next to one.
There are a lot of ways to handle that situation.
- Loud noise to draw them away.
- Cast sleep on the other one as the HP of the second doesnt count as he is already afflicted by the condition (or is he just drunk)
- An arrow shot to the drum (better hit!)
- Charm / Dominate
- A silence spell
- Disguise
- Sneak and kill
- etc...
On alert, they hit the drum. More are coming...Engage, leave, lure them all out into the trap youve set up - you wanted them to chase!
But if the orc cave was simply 12 orcs sitting outside around a campfire, thats a lot harder. I think they have a fundamental issue with encounters having put a wobble into the wheel of all the other mechanics, for sure.
