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General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
At what point do players know they're fighting Minions?
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<blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 5092408" data-attributes="member: 2011"><p>Err, so?</p><p></p><p>If your players are using Lasting Threat against one of several similarly looking foes before knowing how tough they are, than the issue isn't with minion knowledge. The same can occur against a bloodied foe. Is the foe half damaged, or does he have one hit point left? A player who is clueless might attack the one hit point bloodied foe with Lasting Threat and still mostly waste it. Oh well. It's still not big of a deal in the large scheme of things.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>So you are a firm believer that players should know specific creature metagaming knowledge (note: the Tarrasque's defenses are majorly in error if following the DMG monster guidelines)?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And to me, this is what knowledge rolls should give. Dragons breathe, stun, and do nasty claw/claw/bite and tail attacks. A given dragon color might indicate lightning attacks.</p><p></p><p>It should not indicate that one dragon is a solo and another is not.</p><p></p><p>Solo is a game mechanic term. Just like Minion.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Which is the big question. keterys- is your group really into knowing? Or is it more of a 'Don't worry, I'll take care of you baby, you need to know'.</p><p></p><p>Seriously. It's about handing out metagaming information ahead of time.</p><p></p><p>Leave the mystery in when it should be (i.e. leave out metagaming knowledge) and the players will figure out most of the rest in due course without the DM holding their hands.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>They can tell the difference. When two same race foes have chainmail on and one of them dodges attacks easier than the other, then they know.</p><p></p><p>The fun in the game is the discovery of stuff. Discover a secret door, discover a pit or trap, discover how tough your foes are, discover a new magical item. Sorry, but just being told is not as much fun as exploring and discovering.</p><p></p><p>Why would you want to just state: "Hey guys, this foe over here has a higher AC", wait shoot, shouldn't have said it that way. "Hey guys, this foe over here has really fast reflexes", err, that's not right, that implies Reflex defense, "Hey guys, this foe over here is a tank, even though he's in the same chainmail as the rest of them"?</p><p></p><p>Play the semantics game however you want with your players, but handing out metagame information should rarely be done unless there is an obvious reason that the PCs would know it. Like, the guy over there is in plate mail. He seems like a seriously armored foe.</p><p></p><p>I don't consider minions to be any different than any other foe from an observational perspective. Size of creatures does not matter. Small creatures can be real nasty. Size of weapons does not matter. Undead with the shabbiest of clothes or armor can be the most deadly of foes. A skeleton with a rusty sword could slaughter a PC.</p><p></p><p>By inserting these visual cues that a foe is a minion, the DM is merely handing out metagaming information for free. I just happen to be strongly opposed to that type of DMing habit.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="KarinsDad, post: 5092408, member: 2011"] Err, so? If your players are using Lasting Threat against one of several similarly looking foes before knowing how tough they are, than the issue isn't with minion knowledge. The same can occur against a bloodied foe. Is the foe half damaged, or does he have one hit point left? A player who is clueless might attack the one hit point bloodied foe with Lasting Threat and still mostly waste it. Oh well. It's still not big of a deal in the large scheme of things. So you are a firm believer that players should know specific creature metagaming knowledge (note: the Tarrasque's defenses are majorly in error if following the DMG monster guidelines)? And to me, this is what knowledge rolls should give. Dragons breathe, stun, and do nasty claw/claw/bite and tail attacks. A given dragon color might indicate lightning attacks. It should not indicate that one dragon is a solo and another is not. Solo is a game mechanic term. Just like Minion. Which is the big question. keterys- is your group really into knowing? Or is it more of a 'Don't worry, I'll take care of you baby, you need to know'. Seriously. It's about handing out metagaming information ahead of time. Leave the mystery in when it should be (i.e. leave out metagaming knowledge) and the players will figure out most of the rest in due course without the DM holding their hands. They can tell the difference. When two same race foes have chainmail on and one of them dodges attacks easier than the other, then they know. The fun in the game is the discovery of stuff. Discover a secret door, discover a pit or trap, discover how tough your foes are, discover a new magical item. Sorry, but just being told is not as much fun as exploring and discovering. Why would you want to just state: "Hey guys, this foe over here has a higher AC", wait shoot, shouldn't have said it that way. "Hey guys, this foe over here has really fast reflexes", err, that's not right, that implies Reflex defense, "Hey guys, this foe over here is a tank, even though he's in the same chainmail as the rest of them"? Play the semantics game however you want with your players, but handing out metagame information should rarely be done unless there is an obvious reason that the PCs would know it. Like, the guy over there is in plate mail. He seems like a seriously armored foe. I don't consider minions to be any different than any other foe from an observational perspective. Size of creatures does not matter. Small creatures can be real nasty. Size of weapons does not matter. Undead with the shabbiest of clothes or armor can be the most deadly of foes. A skeleton with a rusty sword could slaughter a PC. By inserting these visual cues that a foe is a minion, the DM is merely handing out metagaming information for free. I just happen to be strongly opposed to that type of DMing habit. [/QUOTE]
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At what point do players know they're fighting Minions?
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