Combat and the NPC experience

Between playing mooks to main mod bosses, the goal is always the same. Whether you're fighting someone who plays to win or someone who just wants a good fight, you should always play to entertain. Everyone comes to the game to be entertained, so each of us needs to put in the same amount (if not more) of effort and care into the roles we get as NPCs. It's not about being a good fighter. No one was the best fighter when they first showed up. We've all had to learn how to get where we are. But it's still more important to act the part rather than outfight someone. Some of my favorite encounters as a PC were against the people who put on a good show. If you're out with a giant sword or hammer and only swinging 10s, make it look like you're swinging 100. People are going to appreciate the time you take into making them fight a monster and not just some weirdo in a mask. (Unless of course the character portrayed is a weirdo in a mask in some off the wall Scooby-Doo Style mod.)

There have been plenty of times when playing monsters that I've even been dropped way quicker than expected. But that's good. The PCs are working together to make it happen and that's something we're out to encourage. Always err on the side of the PCs' favor and the courtesy will be returned to you. We want the players (PC and NPC) to have fun, because that's why we're even playing a game. Sometimes that low level dude will do some cool trick to catch you totally off guard and tag you with an incapacitate or something. A+ to that guy for being crafty. Sure you have another dodge or deflect left, but screw it, taking the dive would be so much cooler. Reward player ingenuity and the same will come back to you when you get that lucky shot.

The less respawns you have as an NPC means less chance to make the encounter memorable. So yes, it does become a bit more daunting, but it's a greater chance to shine bright. And who knows, that one shot normally meaningless NPC could even win you NPC of the month.
(www.knightrealms.com/monthly-awards/the-...the-month-12346.html)

If your worried about your monster being too weak and not enough of a challenge, try to go down on a tag skill hit and RP the hell out of it. Even if they feel you weren't a worthy challenge, they still will love to see thier tag skill have great effect. Even a high level has had thier tag skills defended against enough that they can appreciate and get excited watching thier tagged skills be effective.

Haha... good call, I suppose you wouldn't die on a break-limb now would you? But still I suppose the point was people like to see thier tagged skills land :) ...//... yes a tagged skill or periodic skill is basically a skill they can only use once per period per purchase, like crit-attack, break-limb, incapacitate etc..