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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7582782" data-attributes="member: 97077">It's totally a manufactured problem, a self-inflicted wound, that comes from setting a requirement that a character needs to know something to take action. I've already shown a couple of examples where these are decoupled: You don't need to know the troll is weak to fire to lob a fire bolt at it. You don't need to know that gargoyles are weak to adamantine to hit a statue with an adamantine blade. Still, you assert that these actions are only valid in certain circumstances, a requirement which is in no way supported or suggested by the rules of the game, and take it a step further and say that trying to get around this tacked-on requirement is somehow cheating.Meanwhile, this thing you've added just creates a new game of trying to meet those requirements which sets the stage for more metagame thinking, not less. It's an approach that basically trades one form of "metagaming" for another (and sometimes you get two for the price of one).Contrast this with how I handle "metagaming:" I don't care how you make decisions for your character - that's your business, not mine or anyone else's. But, be advised that I realize that fire-weak trolls have been around for nearly half a century and that, if I want knowledge of the troll's strength and weaknesses to be an important part of the challenge, I'm going to change those weaknesses to something other than fire and acid. Or stick normal trolls in a swamp filled with explosive swamp gas. And I'll telegraph that change somehow when describing the environment. Now your knowledge as a player and the knowledge of the character have more parity. It's risky to lob that fire without first trying to suss out the troll's weaknesses. You don't have to pretend you don't know something because you actually don't (at least, not with certainty). The problem, such as it is, is solved right there on the DM's side of the equation without playing the metagame of who knows what so they can take the action they want to take.</blockquote>

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