Monster AI System - How Dimraeth Monsters Think

Dimraeth’s monsters are not spawn-and-chase bots. Behind them sits a full behaviour architecture in the MonsterBehaviour family of classes — one of the most detailed AI systems found in an indie-scale ARPG. This guide maps every layer.

The behaviour stack

Layer	Class	What it does
Core state	Monster / MonsterState	Network-synced state machine (Netcode NetworkVariables)
Behaviour brain	MonsterBehaviour + MonsterBehaviourLibrary	Routes between states
In combat	MonsterInCombatBehaviour	Target selection, ability usage
Out of combat	MonsterOutOfCombatBehaviour	Wandering, returning home
Focus	MonsterFocusBehaviour	What distracts the monster
Reset	MonsterResetBehaviour	Leashing back to spawn
Personality	MonsterTemperament / MonsterAllegiance	Aggression profile and faction
Schedule	MonsterSchedule / MonsterRoutine / MonsterRoutineAction	Daily scripted activity
Reactions	MonsterConditionalModifier / MonsterReaction	Triggered responses to events

Temperament and allegiance

Every monster type carries a MonsterTemperament (how readily it enters combat) and a MonsterAllegiance (which faction it belongs to). This is why Deer and Rabbits flee while Goblins engage on sight — allegiance drives target legality, not just aggro radius.

Daily schedules

MonsterSchedule and MonsterRoutine mean monsters have scripted daily lives outside combat — patrol paths, sleep periods (SleepingDroop is literally a sleeping variant), and area anchoring. Killing a monster in its routine state versus its combat state can behave differently.

Named encounter routines

The CombatRoutine enum maps species to authored encounter scripts:

• DryadEncounterRoutine, CorruptedTreantEncounterRoutine
• DroopSwarmRoutine, DroopKingEncounterRoutine
• WolfEncounterRoutine, TreantEncounterRoutine, RivercallerRoutine

Each routine is a choreographed fight — adds, phases, positioning — not just stat scaling. Boss-tier monsters additionally use BossStage, BossInvulnerability and BossCameraStage for phase management and cinematic camera work.

Empowerment — the elite affix system

Elite monsters can roll one of 12 EmpowermentType affixes: Brutal, Venomous, Swift, Frostbound, Flamecaller, StormAura, Spiteful and more. The Monster class carries a full empowerment state block (EmpowermentModifier, aura spawning, shield timers) synced to clients — so elites visibly telegraph their affix with an aura and icon.

Difficulty scaling

MonsterDifficultyOverride + MonsterStatWeighting allow per-spawn stat remixing, and MultiplayerDamageScaling scales the fight with party size. Allegiance checks keep empowered monsters from breaking faction logic when charmed or taunted.

Data caveats

Exact numbers (HP, damage, temperament thresholds) live in ScriptableObject assets, not code. What the code proves is the architecture — every mechanism above is a real class with real fields, not inference.