Hitting a PC while their down...

Teramotos wrote:Found it, DMG pg 40

Monsters and Fallen Characters - Don't hit people when they're down. When a character falls unconscious, monsters turn their attention to enemies who are still up and fighting. Monsters don't usually intentionally deal damage to fallen foes... ...so the other characters should always have a chance to rescue their fallen allies.

True, but what if it's a single attack power that has multiple attacks?

The attack the monster used on Kaddim is four separate attack rolls. Does this mean the monster will stop as soon as the PC falls unconscious?

Or do they finish out the attack.

I can see them stopping if there was another PC around so they can focus on the next target, but if there is no other target available to they loose the attack?

I think that is purely up to the DM. If you're asking me, the spirit of the text is that if the player is making every effort to fight the good fight, then I'd say the monster doesn't continue with "to hit" rolls after the PC is down, even if the additional to hit rolls are all part of a single attack power.

If the DM wanted to "send a message" he could finish out the attack rolls.

This is on a side track, but if a PC were doing something clearly unwise, e.g. chasing down a fleeing minion while the other PC's were being hard pressed by the front line enemy soldier type monsters and the enemy boss, and the minion decided to turn and fight after a couple rounds and got really lucky, I'd be tempted to have the minion do a coup de gras before fleeing.

Also, if building up the monsters to be especially dangerous, e.g. "The Night Blades are a troop of unmerciful skilled swordmen who always finish off their opponents..." having monsters such as these finish off an allied NPC for story impact or hitting an unlucky PC once after they're down, might raise the sense of danger.

Back on track, I'd say, in general, the monsters stop inflicting damage after the PC falls.

Depends what the monsters motivation is. If it's to kill then yes he should finish the attacks. If it's to down the enemy then he'd stop. Just think of what a PC would do.