D&D 5E DMs: How Do You Handle Metagaming?

[edutrevi]

Metagame: player knowledge X character knowledge The player is roleplaying a novice fighter in his first adventure; then the character meets a troll for his first time in life. The player already knows the entire MM and knows the weakness of the monsters and uses this to take advantage in the game for his character setting fire in the troll... How the DMs should handle that?

 

[mcbobbo]

Ask whether the player believes the character would have that knowledge, and if so how. If the character has any plausible link in its back story, let it slide. If not ask for a Knowledge roll or similar. If that fails, simply remind the player that the character doesn't seem to know yet.

Don't interrupt the game at the table beyond this. Let them have their temporary advantage if it comes to it. But outside of the game, set a clear expectation and stick to it.

 

[Nebulous]

You could have the character roll an Insight or knowledge Lore check to remember troll weaknesses. OR, you could just say it is common knowledge that trolls need fire to kill them.

I don't have any problem with meta-gaming as long as it is not wildly out of control. In small doses it is humorous and fun.

 

[edutrevi]

The troll weakness was only a example ^^

 

[MasterTrancer]

Well, first of all I'd describe the monster, without actually saying it's a troll; after that, if exploiting its weaknesses is likeable ok with that, otherwise I'd ask the player if he thinks his PC would actually know that, for example, the troll is vulnerable to fire. But only if the troll AND his strengths were meant to be a challenge, otherwise just have fun!

 

[KarinsDad]

It depends on what you are talking about.

If you are talking about one or two players who know the MM inside and out doing this a lot, then as DM, you should feel free to discuss it with your players. If that does not resolve the issue, then change the monsters in the MM.

If you are talking about one or two players who once in a blue moon doing this, then I would suggest blowing it off. There are a lot of metagaming aspects that occur all of the time. For example, a player playing a Wizard PC might move to the side of the room where he is away from the Wights, but near Zombies. Does an arcane low level PC really know that the Wight is more deadly? Probably not. But it's not worth worrying about when players make quasi-informed decisions.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I just go with it 9 out of 10 times... the times I want it to matter I remind the players ahead of time, or just change the monster.

I had a 6 armed goblinoid like race in one world that regen like a troll, except in order to stop it you had to use cold... and all fire attacks where half damage...

 

[Wolfskin]

I roll with it unless it's too blatant- I don't mind meta-gaming about monster-specific weaknesses, but I do about the specifics of a setting or adventure a character shouldn't know. Either way, if I'm uncomfortable with meta-gaming, I'd talk to the player after the session instead of interrupting the story.

 

[ExploderWizard]

A heavy helping of monsters that are altered or just unknown to the players usually does the trick. A giant lizard that appears to be a basilisk, may actually be a rare Got-chu monitor that has no power to petrify but might vomit forth green slime upon the poor fools stumbling around in front of it with their eyes closed.

Proper caution and fear can only be achieved when the PLAYERS have no idea what's in store for them. Not to say that EVERY monster needs to be unique or unknown, just enough so that the players cannot become complacent just because they know the contents of the MM.

 

[Iosue]

Depends on the situation, but if the player can metagame knowledge of monster strengths and weaknesses, I can metagame a new set of strengths and weaknesses.

Really, more than that, my main metagame buggaboo is players conferencing during a fight. Stuff that they could reasonably call out in the course of battle ("Go after that guy!") I can roll with. But "Don't move there! Move here so we can get the flanking bonus!" or "Wait, don't attack that guy, I'm going to use a spell that will tie all these guys up. Go after that guy because he's already heavily wounded." Ugh.