D&D 5E DMs: How Do You Handle Metagaming?

[Flexor the Mighty!]

We handle tricky shots like that with an arcana check.

That's a nice idea. I have an old Warhammer artillery die we call the Determinator that would fit in with that kind of mechanic.

 

[Lerysh]

I really really miss the Dungeoneering Skill. I'm bringing it back in my campaigns. It will cover knowledge of the MM basically. You want to set fire to the troll, roll Dungeoneering, DC 10. You fail, you have no knowledge of Troll weaknesses.

Adventurers talk. There is a reason most adventures start in a bar, and the bar is the first stop for most parties entering a town. Word gets around. It's not unreasonable to think a level 1 fighter knows the troll's weakness. I do want some kind of skill check to recall that knowledge in the heat of battle tho.

Only the most outrageous metagaming is actually bad for the game. The PC's first encounter with a troll he will figure out quickly he needs to light the body on fire, or else they are just playing troll whack a mole, and that ain't good.

The easiest cure for the worst metagamers who think the rules are there to help them, is to break the rules. DM's should cheat. A lot. That monster doesn't die at 0 HP until he stops being interesting. That one bugbear has max HP because he's the leader. The dungeon may or may not have the recommended XP allotment of bad guys. Once the rules are flexible then encyclopedic knowledge of the rules isn't as helpful or game breaking.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Is it metagaming for a wizard 100 feet away to cast a radius spell through a door, over the heads of allies and enemies, framing the outer edge of the spell PERFECTLY so that it hits the bad guys and leaves the PCs unscathed?

Definitely not metagaming, because it's entirely in-character for the wizard to be good at positioning such effects. This is the livelihood, of someone who experiences way more combat than anyone in real life has ever been through.

It's also magic, which is why it goes off exactly where you want and doesn't require the sort of bounce check you sometimes get for grenade weapons.

It's also magic, and always explodes with exactly the same radius every time, also unlike grenades.

With everything else being perfectly reliable, the only real skill involved is in accurately gauging the positions of multiple combatants over an open field, and that really does seem like something that you would get pretty good at with a few weeks of practice.

 

[Piratecat]

I like the "skill checks decide border cases" model, with the DC rising as the player's goal becomes more improbable. Fireball the storm giant's head but not the heroes'? Pretty easy. Get the ogre instead? Tougher.

 

[Astrosicebear]

I like the "skill checks decide border cases" model, with the DC rising as the player's goal becomes more improbable. Fireball the storm giant's head but not the heroes'? Pretty easy. Get the ogre instead? Tougher.

This and the other suggestions above seem like unneeded complexity. The PCs are heroes... this is what heroes do. Is the story about where they placed the fireball? Or is the story about how they killed the ogre king? Let the blunders come from the dice.

Although firing a spell through a door as in one post would be impossible since you dont have line of sight.

 

[Nebulous]

Although firing a spell through a door as in one post would be impossible since you dont have line of sight.

Happened a few games ago, yes. They could see "floor" between the legs of combatants, i guess that counts. But yeah, centering a blast of magic like that should be...tricky, especially when you have six seconds to weigh your options. I don't sweat it too much, it's just a game, but sometimes the players really push it.

 

[Piratecat]

This and the other suggestions above seem like unneeded complexity. The PCs are heroes... this is what heroes do. Is the story about where they placed the fireball? Or is the story about how they killed the ogre king? Let the blunders come from the dice.

We've never found it to be so. It only ever rears its head when whatever is attempted strains everyone's suspension of disbelief AND it gives a mechanical combat advantage. If the player or one of my NPCs is trying to cinematically weasel out of a clever loophole, I'm most comfortable having there be a check involved.

One metagame problem I never have to deal with: vast exposure to the GUMSHOE system has taught me that games are almost always more fun when clues are given (without rolling) to players who have the requisite trained skill. The fun part is watching them put those clues together, not rolling and failing to learn them. If a vital adventure clue is "that staff was carved and enchanted by the former imperial inquisitor herself," I'll give that clue to anyone trained in Arcana or History who asks. No roll needed, so no worries about metagaming.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I've been doing that too. No need for most rolls on skill checks. No need for a lot of rolls if the player can describe what they are doing well enough and its within their means.

 

[Astrosicebear]

We've never found it to be so. It only ever rears its head when whatever is attempted strains everyone's suspension of disbelief AND it gives a mechanical combat advantage. If the player or one of my NPCs is trying to cinematically weasel out of a clever loophole, I'm most comfortable having there be a check involved.

I'm all for checks in a tense moment. And I've been known to require spellcasting or arcana checks for subtle or overt spellcasting shenanigans, but for the most part if the player took time to come up with something out of the box, I reward them... as long as its not pure cheese. When one eyebrow goes up and the other goes down, they stop talking.

 

[ranger69]

Wait... you play on a hex map (presuming a battle mat) but discourage counting hexes? So you play with a grid, but the players have to ignore the grid and play theatre of the mind?

It's not theatre of the mind to expect them to watch the on-going game and have their spell range/area of effect prepared for their turn.