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General Tabletop Discussion
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Can a character tell when they are in danger of drawing an Opportunity Attack, notably in regards to Sentinel & Polearm Master?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lancelot" data-source="post: 6407809" data-attributes="member: 30022"><p>I voted "no", but I would prefer that there was an option for "sometimes".</p><p></p><p>Smart players will know when a monster has threatening reach or some similar ability which provokes unexpected opportunity attacks. They might find out the hard way the first few times. As DM, I'm not going to tell 'em. So, no, I'm definitely not going to give them the flava text that they suspect a monster will get a free shot if they try to disengage. But they'll work it out eventually... and then they'll apply that knowledge to future PCs, whether or not those PCs have any experience with that particular monster. If they take the time to do a Monster Knowledge check as a Bonus Action, I may give them a strong hint about the possibility of Threatening Reach (or Polearm Mastery, or whatever). That's probably a DC 15 or 20 Monster Knowledge check in one of my games. They'll also get a summary of other information about the creature, of course. e.g. <em>"You reckon it's a bone golem! These legendary creatures are created by evil necromancers. They're highly resistant to magic, and outright immune to most mind-affecting spells. You really don't want to get close to their 4 sword-wielding arms, and you suspect that it'll be very difficult to disengage once you're in melee. However, you also recall that they have a weakness to some types of bone-shattering energies..."</em></p><p></p><p>Monsters should be about the same. Stupid monsters won't care. They will provoke the Opportunity Attack if they feel the need to move, and will do so repeatedly under some circumstances. That's good, because it makes the PC feel like they're getting value from their feat. Smarter monsters might fall for it once, then make an informed decision thereafter. REALLY smart monsters (genius+ foes; pit fiends, liches, dragons, etc) might be so long-lived and experienced that they automatically recognize the tell-tale signs of Polearm Mastery (etc) even before they provoke the first attack.</p><p></p><p>If a player knows enough that trolls are killed by fire, and liches have phylacteries, and undead are immune to sleep, and black dragons have an acid breath (even before any of these abilities are actually visible in combat)... then certain monsters will know that the adventurer with a halberd is almost certainly going to have the Polearm Mastery feat. Those tricksy, tricksy adventurers... we hates them all...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lancelot, post: 6407809, member: 30022"] I voted "no", but I would prefer that there was an option for "sometimes". Smart players will know when a monster has threatening reach or some similar ability which provokes unexpected opportunity attacks. They might find out the hard way the first few times. As DM, I'm not going to tell 'em. So, no, I'm definitely not going to give them the flava text that they suspect a monster will get a free shot if they try to disengage. But they'll work it out eventually... and then they'll apply that knowledge to future PCs, whether or not those PCs have any experience with that particular monster. If they take the time to do a Monster Knowledge check as a Bonus Action, I may give them a strong hint about the possibility of Threatening Reach (or Polearm Mastery, or whatever). That's probably a DC 15 or 20 Monster Knowledge check in one of my games. They'll also get a summary of other information about the creature, of course. e.g. [I]"You reckon it's a bone golem! These legendary creatures are created by evil necromancers. They're highly resistant to magic, and outright immune to most mind-affecting spells. You really don't want to get close to their 4 sword-wielding arms, and you suspect that it'll be very difficult to disengage once you're in melee. However, you also recall that they have a weakness to some types of bone-shattering energies..."[/I] Monsters should be about the same. Stupid monsters won't care. They will provoke the Opportunity Attack if they feel the need to move, and will do so repeatedly under some circumstances. That's good, because it makes the PC feel like they're getting value from their feat. Smarter monsters might fall for it once, then make an informed decision thereafter. REALLY smart monsters (genius+ foes; pit fiends, liches, dragons, etc) might be so long-lived and experienced that they automatically recognize the tell-tale signs of Polearm Mastery (etc) even before they provoke the first attack. If a player knows enough that trolls are killed by fire, and liches have phylacteries, and undead are immune to sleep, and black dragons have an acid breath (even before any of these abilities are actually visible in combat)... then certain monsters will know that the adventurer with a halberd is almost certainly going to have the Polearm Mastery feat. Those tricksy, tricksy adventurers... we hates them all... [/QUOTE]
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Can a character tell when they are in danger of drawing an Opportunity Attack, notably in regards to Sentinel & Polearm Master?
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