How Visible To players Should The Rules Be?

[Reynard]

Or I could say "he has 5 hit dice, one attack, and a Strength of about 20 and a (surprisingly good, based on the description) 16 AC." Now, I know the players can make a proper tactical asassessment.

I have literally never seen this happen over decades of gaming with many different groups, including at cons.

 

[soviet]

I normally say monster stats when they come up and roll everything on the table. PCs attack the monster? OK it has Armour Class 20 because of its thick scales. Monster attacks the PCs? OK I get two claw attacks at +10, I just rolled 12 and 3, so I hit AC 22 and 13. That's a hit? OK it's 3d6+5 damage because of its incredible strength and an extra 10 poison damage so that's... 19 in total.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Obviously. But we are not talking about in-character speech, we are talking about the GM conveying information.

When the GM gives a description of the scene, I see them giving that information to the PCs, from their perspective.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

When the GM gives a description of the scene, I see them giving that information to the PCs, from their perspective.

I see. So when an enemy hits a PC, how do you communicate how much damage is dealt?

 

[Micah Sweet]

"In the clearing ahead, you see a pair of 9' tall humanlike figures. They seem very thin and have minor deformities- one has an obvious club foot, and the other's face looks like it's partially melted due to a malformed jaw. They wear furs and hides with pieces of metal armor stitched into strategic places, and wield spears."

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From this description, how does one tell, exactly, if they are dealing with an easily dealt with threat, or a deadly encounter? You can metagame that the DM isn't going to use an encounter of two easily defeated mooks, but you really don't know. Are they as tough as giants? Trolls? Ogres? Bugbears?

No idea. Should you alpha strike by using a powerful spell, or attempt to use minimal resources? No amount of experience can let you make an informed decision, unless you know exactly what these things are from player experience.

Or again, you could metagame and think "well, this is the second encounter, we might face up to 6 more today. Or not."

Now, I could say, "this is a Verbeeg, it's slightly more dangerous than an Ogre." And maybe that's enough.

Or I could say "he has 5 hit dice, one attack, and a Strength of about 20 and a (surprisingly good, based on the description) 16 AC." Now, I know the players can make a proper tactical assessment.

D&D is a game where a little bunny rabbit can actually be a horrible abomination. Description doesn't actually tell the player very much about what they are dealing with. There are, however, cues a trained combatant can glean from someone's stance, how they carry their weapons, the condition of said weapons, and a hundred more intangibles that I don't have the time to describe (or think about in the moment).

Some feel that you should have to have a special feature, like the Battlemaster, to be able to size up foes. I'm in the opposite camp- everyone should be able to do this if they're in the business of facing down deadly foes on a daily basis.

And note, there's still lots of room for surprise, even with the information I just shared! "Hey, Fighter, did you know that when enraged, a Verbeeg Smasher can score critical hits on a 19 or 20?"

"No...I didn't."

"Now you do!" : )

The description you gave, provided that it's accurate, seemed perfectly reasonable to me as it is. If you think the PCs have reason to infer more from it, feel free to add to your description.

 

[Micah Sweet]

So who decides how much ignorance?

It's a collaboration, based on what the GM knows about the setting and what the player knows about their character.

You know, like everything else.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I see. So when an enemy hits a PC, how do you communicate how much damage is dealt?

For ease of play, I give them the damage so they can maek it off. But I do my best to keep that sort of thing to a minimum, because I prefer not to throw numbers around in description.

Feel free to call me a hypocrite because I don't follow my ideals 100% of the time.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

For ease of play, I give them the damage so they can maek it off. But I do my best to keep that sort of thing to a minimum, because I prefer not to throw numbers around in description.

Feel free to call me a hypocrite because I don't follow my ideals 100% of the time.

No, I get where you're coming from, and it is a personal preference where we draw the line. Some just feel the same way about the AC and the DCs than you do about the damage.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I don't see how your opinion of the popularity of a preference is in any way relevant, and in this case borderline insulting IMO.

It seems at least as relevant as Lanefan's response to me was.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Not my problem.

Oh, I think they were.

I was around then too, and I don't. And I don't think you have more evidence than I do here.