Determining EL of an encounter (from the players/characters point of view)

[azmodean]

I like running a simulationist type game, where the encounters the party runs into are determined more by what they do and where they go then who they are. The problem I encounter in trying to do this is I lack a method for letting the players/characters know (via some in-game mechanic) how difficult an encounter will be without resorting to something lame.

Any ideas on mechanics (skill checks most likely) the characters could make to determine if they should fight or flee?

 

[Crothian]

sense motive check, in one of the complete books I thought I read something like this.

 

[Whimsical]

I like running a simulationist type game, where the encounters the party runs into are determined more by what they do and where they go then who they are. The problem I encounter in trying to do this is I lack a method for letting the players/characters know (via some in-game mechanic) how difficult an encounter will be without resorting to something lame.

Any ideas on mechanics (skill checks most likely) the characters could make to determine if they should fight or flee?

I'm glad that you are thinking about this. There seems to be a good sized group of DMs and module writers who create an encounter and think "well the players will realize that they are outclassed and if they are smart they will avoid it." But D&D is the story of people doing insanely suicidal things on a regular basis. Even if it's following a kobold into it's cave, theoretically the danger level could be set at any level. Will it just be a matter of cornering the kobold and taking it out in one hit, or is the kobold leading you into it's mazelike trapladen home which houses the ancient red dragon that it serves?

As far as your question, one thing that you could do is have your fantasy society have a very strong understanding of the creatures of the world, codified by centuries of scientific teams exploring and codifiying the world, and have this knowledge available to educated PCs with the appropriate knowledge skill. Just to make sure that you know, in 3.5 the various Knowledge skills can grant characters knowledge of the creatures they encounter. You may make this easier by making it DC 10 + CR instead of DC 10 + HD. Or just have basic knowledge of every creature start at DC 10 and the character can get more information by rolling higher. After all, whenever we learn about the animals of our world, we tend to pay special attention to the ones who can kill us. So, the first thing that a basic knowledge check would reveal about a creature is it's most obvious attack method.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

sense motive check, in one of the complete books I thought I read something like this.

Complete Adventurer.

It uses sense motive to give you a CR-to-CR comparison of you vs. a single target that you're observing.

A successful check (can't remember the DC) tells you two categories. The creature is in one of them. As an example, a kobold warrior 1 will "ping" as "Very Easy" or "Easy" to a Fighter 6.*

There's a feat you can take which has a couple effects. First, it causes all responses to be a single category. Thus, the above kobold would "ping" as just "Very Easy." Second, it reduces the time needed to evaluate an opponent (standard action? to free action 1 / round?). Finally, it gives you a +1 competence bonus to melee attack rolls against any foe you hit with a melee attack in the last round.

* Note that I may not have all the specifics correct, but it's probably good enough for illustrative purposes.