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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 4715473" data-attributes="member: 82106">There are several answers to that:1) Monsters may KNOW something but that doesn't imply that they are smart enough to work out whether or not the consequences of their actions are tactically favorable to them or not. This would apply to most monsters of animal or less intelligence at least to some degree. It depends on the DM role playing the monster, but it is still a valid consideration.2) The monster may still feel that the cost is worth it and take the penalized action. Many times it IS worth it for a monster to take the damage/effect anyway. If the monster would have done the same thing if you didn't use the power, then you are still ahead.3) The monster may be unable to avoid the consequence. If a monster is immobilized, then it can't move away from another monster, etc.4) The party may be able to FORCE the monster to take the consequence by sliding it or some similar stratagem.5) The party may be able to arrange things such that the consequence is "the lesser of two evils".6) Even if the monster DOES avoid the consequence, doing so may penalize the monster or force it to use nonoptimal tactics in some fashion. A monster which doesn't attack because it would take damage STILL didn't attack, so you did gain something.7) Finally the monster may just plain WANT to attack anyway. It is mad because its lair was invaded and its buddies are dying, so it hacks away at you. 8) Even though monsters know about the powers you use, they don't know your hit points, defenses, class, or what other powers you may have. Thus they may well just decide the best strategy is "kill em quick" even if that means taking damage, and even if that really isn't the best strategy if they had perfect knowledge.In general I'd look at it this way. The DM already knows what all the powers are and what they do. So no matter what the rules say it is still up to the DM to either act on or not act on the information. By making it RAW that monsters know what powers do it saves potentially endless arguments where players would appeal the actions of the monsters on the basis of "they don't know X, Y, or Z." This just saves a lot of DM grief.Also there is plenty of logic to monsters knowing this stuff. A) They may have encountered these powers before. B) The power may manifest obvious effects that the monster can sense and use to reason out what the power does. C) The monster may be quite intelligent and well aware of how magic works and simply be able to figure it out for themselves.So I would not consider such powers to be lessened in value. In fact these considerations are taken into account when powers are designed. It is assumed that monsters will often avoid triggering effects. However in my play I've determined that most effects are not so dire that they are worth avoiding if it means the monster has to stand around and do nothing for a round. Most monsters hit roughly 50% of the time with their main attacks. Unless the attack does mediocre damage the more dangerous monsters are still gaining by trading some damage for a chance to attack.</blockquote>

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