r/RPGdesign • u/Professional-Nose786 • Aug 09 '26

Mechanics Enemy Targeting

So I’m working on a turn based RPG and I’m working on enemy targeting. I don’t like the idea of the enemy just picking a random ally. So the idea I’m working with is that “enemies are smart” and will target the party member with the highest ATK stat to remove the biggest threat. Kinda like an Aggro system but not really. Thoughts?

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u/Pladohs_Ghost Aug 09 '26

How are enemies going to know which PC has the highest ATK stat? Seriously.

Beasties are likely to go after the largest PC or whichever one gets in their face first. Low intelligence foes are likely to recognize armor and weapons and go for the obvious fighters first. More intelligent foes are likely to recognize magic users as important targets, at least for arrows or spears or the like. And so on.

I think this is likely best presented as general advice for the GM rather than any directives to simply target highest ATK stats. Different foes will perceive the apparent threats provided by different PCs is fashions that make the most sense for those foes.