Okay, I've been playing D&D since '83 and I've never heard of "aggro". What does this stand for/mean?

Okay, I've been playing D&D since '83 and I've never heard of "aggro". What does this stand for/mean?

It's a term from MMOs. It's the algorithm the computer uses to determine who to attack, i.e. who is the most dangerous. It's not a popular term on these boards owing to the MMO association.

StoneChild Aggro is short for aggression. The previous poster described what Aggro is in terms of a MMO game. In a pen and paper game, the “Aggro” mechanic does not exist.
There is neither an algorithm nor a computer deciding whom the monsters attack. It’s the DM who runs the monsters and the DM who decides whom the monsters will attack.

I think the OP wanted to design a character that was capable, of grabbing the monsters attention and keeping a monster’s attention focused upon him while letting his allies do the primary damage to the creature

Okay, thanks for the answers

Okay, I've been playing D&D since '83 and I've never heard of "aggro". What does this stand for/mean?

It's a term from MMOs, and it means one of two things. Aggro is the state of being concentrated upon by a foe. One "has aggro" when one is the target of a foe, and one "pulls aggro" or "takes aggro" when one draws the attention of a foe away from someone else. "Aggroing", in this context, is the act of initially drawing mobs into combat.

Aggro is also used to refer to the (sometimes invisible) stat of how much your character has drawn a particular foe's attention. Doing damage and/or healing generate aggro, and a tanking class has to use special abilities that generate more aggro to keep the foe's attention. Synonyms for aggro in this context are "threat" and "hate".

You might try this...just replace "kender" with "class name"

When a kender taunts an intelligent creature,
who can understand the kender's speech;
the creature must make a successful saving
throw vs. spell (Wisdom bonuses apply). If
the creature fails, it attacks the kender wildly
for ld10 rounds, with a - 2 penalty to hit and
a + 2 penalty to his Armor Class because of
the affected being's irrationality.
If a particular victim is assumed to be more::
or less vulnerable to such abuse, the DM can
apply penalties or bonuses to saving throws as
desired.

As a side note to this, I beleive the reason no aggro mechanism was put in place was to prevent it being overly used against players as well.

Players already get narky when they are forced to act outside their preferred actions by things like spells etc. Imagine how shrty everyone would be if the baddies were constantly aggroing them to the point of not being able to play the way they wanted.

Holding an opponents attention truly comes down to the DM's call. Things like intelligence of the opponents, reputation of the PC's, the cultural background of the oponents all make who they choose to fight dynamic rather than leaving it to a mechanic.

posting to track thread

grasshopper_ea wrote:

a quickdraw two weapon fighting bola fighter :) you can just trip everyone every round and be the best battlefield controller(mundane) around. You will want returning bola's.

LOL! That is a pretty cool idea, though REALLY low on damage, maybe next time. You would definitely have aggro. We could really use a Boomerang on our list of exotic weapons. :D

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The Whirlwind/Trip route is fun, I did it about a year before Pathfinder released though with a 3.5E Chain Fighter/Ranger themed on Castlevania (Undead Hunter) and the campaign lasted approximately 2 years. So that one is burnt out for me, for now.

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I think I've settled on Weapon Focus(Waraxe) & Dazzling Display. Followed by Intimidating Prowess. The thought was to cause enemies to become shaken(or worse), in a sense providing my party a better AC through enemy penalties; it's not a taunt, but it works. Then either the TWF or Mounted Combat trees from there on out as a Paladin. Thank you to everyone for the suggestions! I'm glad to see the topic is still one of interest in our community.

I think the bola idea would be fun for a short game series, but not an AP.. would probably get boring. You would probably want throwing axes or some such for when you've tripped people or for people you probably can't trip. 8 trips a round would be pretty respectable control though and achievable by 16

The term "aggro" has been around for a while now (since before the first D&D in fact).

It's current mainstream usage, and the usage intended in the OP, is to mean "attention due to aggression".

It's all shorthand (or slang) for aggression, really.