Im ready to kill the warmage....

[Felon]

Kanithardm, how did you react when the player pulled this? Did you make it plain and clear that you thought what he did was uncool?

That's the obvious disconnect here. A player is doing something that he seems to think is perfectly acceptable. Have you given him any reason to think otherwise?

 

[Old Gumphrey]

I'm never too worried about OOC information because I judiciously use knowledge checks. If you don't dice it, you don't know it, period. So a level 5 wizard with +12 knowledge arcana basically knows everything about 3 HD and less creatures that fall in that category without even rolling, unless they are really rare. That said:

1) I support talking things out. There is a lot of value in expression and communication.

2) I would in addition to mentioning you don't want him peeking over your screen that he has to roll up his knowledge. If he's a high int wizard with 5 knowledge skills at +23, so be it, he knows everything.

Despite everyone clamoring that he shouldn't get to know these things, I've often thought that characters are going to know at least as much about their world as players do, if not more, even without requisite knowledge skills. I don't know how you would represent that in game mechanics, but a lot of times I don't really think it's a huge deal. There are so many sickeningly disgusting tricks that a DM can pull that I honestly don't believe a character knowing whether or not something is resistant to acid or has DR/cold iron is going to upset the game balance too much.

 

[Greylock]

I have a pretty decent knowledge of monsters. But that is me, not whatever character I play. Whenever I know that I am up against something I, the player, know, I ask the DM to let me roll a Knowledge check for my char. Then I act on whatever the DM allows.

With the caveat that no DM I know plays any monster "straight-from-the-books", I'd say all the suggestions above are cool, but do them in order:

1. Screw around with the monsters.
2. Require "Knowledge" checks.
3. Take the player aside and smac... have a word with him.

Failing all that, 4. Kick him to the curb. Most meta-gaming players are resistant to change.

 

[Wasteland Knight]

The problem you are describing, the metagaming and disruptive behavior, are due strictly to the player, not the character. Warmage, rogue, paladin, sorceror, whatever the guy was running is immaterial since the behavior is still the same. Disruptive metagaming is what I'd call an out-of-character problem, and you can't fix an out-of-character problem with in-game actions. You have to solve this face to face with the player, not with his character. merelycompetent sums it very well in his post, so I won't go over the same ground again, but suffice it to say if the player won't shape up he needs to leave.

I've been gaming for many years, and while the majority of gamers I've encountered have been decent folks, from time to time you run into a jerk who seems to gain all of their enjoyment from acting disruptive, and every time you're better off without them. Give him a chance to mend his ways, but if not then ask him to leave. Good luck!

 

[RangerWickett]

Im ready to kill the warmage.... Ok not really the warmage, more the warmage's character.

Linguistically, you just implied that you have a warmage that you know personally, who plays a character in your D&D game. What kind of character does the warmage play? I mean, to be honest, some would find this story hard to believe, but I don't. Then again, I have a dark elf for an imaginary friend.

Oh, she wants me to tell your warmage buddy hi, and to ask him to try not to intentionally cheat. She also suggests that you try harder not to give away the secrets in your game. I mean, imagine you were watching a murder mystery, and the cameraman accidentally included the face of the killer in the frame when he was just supposed to show the body. It wasn't intentional, but you certainly can't blame the audience for picking up on your gaff. In a way, the problem is your fault, not his.

Of course, I don't always agree with Trin. She is imaginary, after all.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I would suggest changing things up. It can be as simple as using the description from one monster and the stats for another. As long as they are not too different such as a creature with no arm rending then your players won't know the difference. Little things such as changing fire resistance to cold resistance or alignments from evil to good or neutral can also work without requiring much effort.

The look on your metagaming player's face will be pricesless when you tell him that the fireball seemed to heal the monster, not harm it. When he complains about it, ask him how his character knew what the creature was in the first place.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Dagger75]

P.S Ive already killed him twice in three sessions, so ummm no suggestions of killing his character.

Maybe he is tired of dying all the time and needs an edge against the DM. Maybe he feels is the DM vs the player type of thing.

I know for a fact last time I got to play I got tired of having characters die every other game so I metagamed the hell out of it. I would have min/maxed but when your total stat bonuses are +4, its kinda hard.

 

[airwalkrr]

1) Every time the player uses knowledge that his character doesnt have the character gets ZERO xp for the module or Session

While this might drive the point home, it's a heavy-handed way of handling it. I would recommend half XP so at least he doesn't fall pitifully behind the group. But what others have said already: talk to him. Tell him it just isn't appropriate. Also, he deserves no XP for roleplaying if he is acting like this (if you even award rp xp). He is playing himself, not his character. His character hasn't memorized the rulebook, he has, and it is his responsibility as a player to separate player knowledge from character knowledge.

If you don't award rp xp, then start doing so at the beginning of the next session, along with the caveat that "this xp award only goes to those who play their character well, including, but not limited to abstaining from metagaming." That way you really aren't taking anything away from him, but you are making your point crystal clear.

 

[airwalkrr]

I would have min/maxed but when your total stat bonuses are +4, its kinda hard.

Not true. I've often said I can build a cheesier character than you can imagine from any character class with just five 10s and a 14. I have yet to see anyone take me up on the bet, probably because they know it is possible to min/max without stats.

 

[Drowbane]

Tell him to cut the crap or he's out of the game. No point beating around the bush.

That and dock some XP while you're at it.