No, the game has no aggro. You can physically be in the way, or you can present a better target, but there's no guarantee.
The closest thing in the game to it is the Antagonize feat, which is nearly universally hated because, well, it's the closest thing to "aggro" and most people don't want that in their roleplaying games.
Something less mentioned is use of the grid or battlemap. Depending on how far your DM pushes into it, there can be high level of strategy involved. If you've a good group, you stand a fair chance of controlling who gets attacked and when through the use of position, terrain, distance, and so forth.
I wouldn't attempt this in PFS, however. You really do need a group who will work with you.
youre a BARD dont you have all sorts of things you can do to change the hearts and minds of friends and foes alike?
the best defense is a good offense... dude is killing your sorcerer? call some thunder on his azz.
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the best defense is a good offense... dude is killing your sorcerer? call some thunder on his azz.
This. The best way to draw aggro isn't from imaginary MMO threat, it's from being an actual threat ;)
Honestly, If YOU are fighting a group of 3-5 powerful enemies who at any moment could MURDER you or your friends and family; what tactic would you use? Personally, I'd thin the herd, narrow the fight... and the guy wearing a piece of cotton built like a toothpick seems to me like the quickest way about that. Especially if that guy is blasting balls of light that NEVER miss their target!!!
As a DM, the guy build for war is almost never my first target when running intelligent NPCs. And for the record, it only takes an 11 or 12 Int or Wis to be that smart. I usually will try and inhibit them in some way so I can focus on the rest. Depending on the villain this can be a Hold Person, or taunting him into charge attacking the guy on the other side of a concealed pit trap.
But when fighting things like trolls who think a crunchy meal is better, different story...
Lastly, I truly appreciated the almost irritated tone these responses seemed to have with the term aggro. Probably because 4th ED really did try to turn a beautiful thing into a darn MMO. Either way, what I believe we're all collectively trying to say is: look at it from a different perspective. Your not 'grinding dungeons' for 'epic drops'... your dealing with enemies as real as the computer screen your staring at, (unless that IS IN FACT your game style... in which case disregard my whole post).
The Thundercaller can stun if I remember right, just work towards that and it doesn't matter if anyone else has aggro because they'll just eat stuns for their folly.
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Marc, Aggro is short for Aggression.
In computer games , or MMORPGs, (massivly multiplayer online role playing games) as they are commonly called, you have a computer "AI" determining the actions of the "NPCS" and monsters or "Mobs" as they are commonly called. Your character, and the other player characters with you, based on your actions generate a certain amount of "Threat". ( healing, doing damage (Damage Per Second), etc) which ever character has the most "Treat" draws the Aggression or "Aggro" of the monsters you are fighting.
Someone playing a "tank" character is designed to draw the monsters "aggression" and hold it on them, The tank generally isn't the biggest damage dealer (DPS) Damage per Second, but they are designed to take a pounding.
Since these monsters often wander back and forth in a given circle, or hang out in a "mob", often a character will try to "pull" one monster out of the group by attacking it, and drawing its "agro" and have the monster come out and attack. Hopefully you can draw one out at the time, beat on it, and move onto the next monster.
I hope this helps.
As it was posted up thread, there is no Aggro Mechanic in the game. The GM controls what the monsters do. Often if you try and introduce something that emulates "aggro" that will only serve to irritate an old school GM.
I hope this helps
Other than being in the way?
Well you should be a big enough threat to your enemies.
That means really bringing the pain onto them and at the same time not being that hard to hit yourself.
When you grapple someone they're not very likely to try and attack anyone but you.
A potion of Enlarge Person makes it a lot harder for enemies to walk around you.
Also glammered armor in order to appear as the clothes the squishy casters are wearing.
Basically there are no "tanks" in Pathfinder, if you want you can move in such a way that prevents the enemies from getting past you, or do the whole "I hold my action each round until an enemy comes within 10 feet of me, then I 5-foot step and full attack him/grapple him."
There is Compel Hostility which can do what you are looking for. Basically you mock them with a spell, alternatively you can just be first person they see and have your allies ready to attack.
My favorite is still image which in effect can just make a fake wall in front of the rest of the party to make the bard look as though he is alone. Though, you have to do this before the enemies see you, and it wont work if they know the layout.
As someone pointed out there is also antagonizebut this is using your standard to do this to one enemy. A decent DM will probably send at least the same number of monsters as there are PCs or will outnumber them, with a single big-bad-kill you all by itself occasionally.
As a DM the thing that convinces me to attack a "tank" is the lack of a better target. Whether that's through party positioning, ease of access (lower AC or bonuses on the monster's side to hit the tanking PC) or some other factor it doesn't matter.
My group has a holy defender paladin that I largely ignored for about 5 levels. He was ridiculously difficult to hit, could heal himself and was often positioned in a way that made him easy to avoid. Now he regularly uses 2 abilities that make him a threat: he gives his shield bonus (+6) to all allies and he can reduce all damage done by 1 enemy by half if that target hits anyone but him. So now it's very hard to hit his allies and even if I do, it 'a barely worth the effort. So now I focus everything on him.
Feats like the Step Up chain can also help since it makes you more annoying and sticky.
Basically there are no "tanks" in Pathfinder, if you want you can move in such a way that prevents the enemies from getting past you, or do the whole "I hold my action each round until an enemy comes within 10 feet of me, then I 5-foot step and full attack him/grapple him."
There is Compel Hostility which can do what you are looking for. Basically you mock them with a spell, alternatively you can just be first person they see and have your allies ready to attack.
My favorite is still image which in effect can just make a fake wall in front of the rest of the party to make the bard look as though he is alone. Though, you have to do this before the enemies see you, and it wont work if they know the layout.
As someone pointed out there is also antagonizebut this is using your standard to do this to one enemy. A decent DM will probably send at least the same number of monsters as there are PCs or will outnumber them, with a single big-bad-kill you all by itself occasionally.
I disagree there are several ways a fighter can be a tank, in the way of feats and movement....have the right feats and just get in peoples way.
something that, by the way a cavalier can be pretty good at too...since they can generally move more than anyone else.
I disagree[ . . . ]a fighter can be a tank[ . . . . ]
When the term "tank" is used it is used to say that the character can force enemies to attack him, and has the ability to soak or avoid the damage. This is a term that was born from Gen 1 MMOs and prior, but was popularized by the former--Gen 1s--. Since enemy decisions are made based on their tactics and not on aggro, hate, or any other number the enemies tend to do what they set out to do regardless of party composition.
In Pathfinder the abilities that force enemies to attack them are few and far between. There are other abilities, such as trip, grapple, and so forth that allow the PC to use a "soft" version of this since the enemy can just get up and go after who it was targeting originally.
If the DM is sending one enemy then the DM is either a Noob or is already cackling at your eminent demise.
There are no true tanks in Pathfinder, there are resilient characters. My experience is that the more resilient a character is the less dangerous the character is, so the only way to be "tankish" is to a major threat while also being able to absorb a lot of damage. My werewolf is resilient as well as dangerous, but as we get higher levels his resiliency goes down as he becomes more dangerous to enemies--the consequence of not wearing armor--.
Personally 2-handed fighters make fantastic tanks. At level 3 with a crit and a max roll with the great-axe he can do 90 damage in one blow, and not to mention he'll probably do 24 per hit(15[10*1.5]+3[2*1.5]+6[1d12 average]) and will hit often while being able to wear full-plate.
My level 3 werewolf above is stacked into spell damage and, on average, hits for 12 damage aoe with burning hands due to synergy, but that cannot crit to insta-kill things.
True tanks are so dangerous that they take priority. They are not just that guy who runs in first, but instead are just as dangerous as the other front-lines, mid-lines, and back-line characters.
For the best experiences, IMO, the party shouldn't feel as though there is a "tank", but instead feel as though everyone is just good at what they do. John the 2-handed fighter goes in first, but the Cleric stays in the back looking for ambushes.
Maybe it is just me, but I LOVE having the BBEG know what is going on. I like having him watch the heroes, and adjust his minions tactics based upon the heroes. The Nauseating Cloud trap mixed with Skeletons or Zombies is by far my favorite.
Then again I use 5-bad-bands and groups of (Number of players *1) to (Number of Players *4) for this very reason.
Have your bard play an accordion.
I wrote like a whole big thing on this subject.
There is no aggro mechanic. There is simply controlling the pace of the fight.
So is there anything I can do to draw aggro?
Use paint put this on shield.