D&D 5E How do you handle monster knowledges in your game?

[Stalker0]

How much info should PCs glean from a high monster knowledge check? If a Pc rolls a 25 or even a 30, do they learn just a few tidbits, every immunity and weakness the monster has....do you just give them the statbook?

Just how much can a PC gain about a monster from a monster knowledge check?

 

[Micah Sweet]

How much info should PCs glean from a high monster knowledge check? If a Pc rolls a 25 or even a 30, do they learn just a few tidbits, every immunity and weakness the monster has....do you just give them the statbook?

Just how much can a PC gain about a monster from a monster knowledge check?

In the Level Up monster books there are a series of progressive facts about each monster gated behind knowledge checks. That's what I'd across the board.

 

[DEFCON 1]

We pretty much don't use them because almost no monsters have any 'Gotcha!' abilities that would warrant spending any amount of time trying to figure them out before a combat, rather than discovering them in the midst of fighting them.

A monster is immune to something? Then one of the players figures it out when they attack and it doesn't do anything. All that means is that one player loses a turn's worth of action but then everyone is now up-to-date. Not a big loss for anyone to worry about.

 

[AlViking]

I base it on how common the monster is and present knowledge in a world centric poin of view. I will never reveal the actual stat block. Sometimes a creature has never been seen before and there may be some similarities to other creatures that might give some insight but it's not guaranteed.

 

[billd91]

I would never hand over a stat block - that's just too meta for me. But letting them know about immunities, vulnerabilities, resistances, major attacks or abilities and prominent stats - sure. I do try to explain them in plain English terms - in a way that a PC might have learned about those things. I'll even try to tie that info into some of their non-game-stat lore.

 

[Chaltab]

If the player doesn't know something about the monster, they can roll a relevant knowledge check.

If they do know, it's up to them how they want to play the character's knowledge or ignorance of the topic.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

The 2024 DMG's writeup on the study action is a good rule of thumb for which skills to use for creature knowledge. From there, I use "passive knowledge" by analogy to "passive perception"; a cleric with a +5 in religion is assumed to have knowledge of a monster equivalent to what they might get with a roll of 15.

This is actually GREAT for roleplaying because rather than the barbarian saying "I roll arcana, what do I know about the devil?", I just privately tell the wizard what they know about the devil and then encourage the barbarian to ask the wizard.

 

[Reynard]

I like the idea of having a chart with, say, 6 things on it about the monster -- 2 of which are false. If the PC rolls an appropriate check DC 10+CR, they learn one thing, plus an additional thing for every 5 points above. These are rolled randomly and may include the false information.

of course, this requires a bunch of prep or being able to do it on the fly.

 

[billd91]

The 2024 DMG's writeup on the study action is a good rule of thumb for which skills to use for creature knowledge. From there, I use "passive knowledge" by analogy to "passive perception"; a cleric with a +5 in religion is assumed to have knowledge of a monster equivalent to what they might get with a roll of 15.

This is actually GREAT for roleplaying because rather than the barbarian saying "I roll arcana, what do I know about the devil?", I just privately tell the wizard what they know about the devil and then encourage the barbarian to ask the wizard.

This is a good point. I have a cheatsheet about my players' PCs listing their passive perception, passive insight, special notes, and the knowledge-type skills in which they are proficient. Then, in play, if a topic comes up, I give the proficient players information about it. It helps me decide if its a Yes/No/Roll situation for any individual PC.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

It's... unfortunately complicated.

I presume that characters have some baseline level of knowledge about their world. And that individual classes / backgrounds / backstory elements provide some further body of general knowledge. So a commoner is probably aware that something particularly infamous like a dragon can breathe energy and quite possibly furthermore which type. Druids have an easier time recalling information about beasts, fey, and plant monsters. A specialist Enchanter is likely to be familiar with the major monster types that are immune to enchantment spells, etc.

As far as knowledge checks, I ONLY ever provide qualitative information. I don't have any hard rules with information provided but ON AVERAGE, a roll of 13-16 will provide somewhat credible rumors. A roll of 17-20 will provide a fact. A roll of 20-25 will provide two facts. The DCs will be up or downgraded based on monster obscurity and character class / background/ etc.