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<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 6458432" data-attributes="member: 1210"><p>Or ones who are careful about the challenges they choose to take on.</p><p></p><p>Honestly, you make it sound like D&D has always had the pcs be entitled to know about monsters. That's actually a fairly recent aberration in the rules, coming in with 3e (at least in the main).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Think of a world without mass printing of National Geographics, without TV shows that show you what a camel is. A world where most people live and die without traveling further than 20 miles from where they were born. A world where a huge personal library is a couple of dozen books, and a huge one in a public space- a Great Library- contains a few hundred or a thousand, and you don't get to go in there and play with those (INCREDIBLY VALUABLE) books at will just because you live in that city. </p><p></p><p>Not every setting is like that, of course, but I think it's fair to say that the template for a typical, average D&D setting is Medieval Europe. And that's more or less what I'm describing. </p><p></p><p>Of course not all settings fall into that template. Some have printing presses, most end up with unbelievably big collections of books in every ruined tower, and of course pcs are generally the exception to the "hardly traveled" rule of thumb. But still, I think you're both vastly overestimating how much information a typical person in a typical D&D setting has access to.</p><p></p><p>Worse yet, as often as not, much of the information they have should be dead wrong! Have you ever checked out the monsters and people described in ancient sources? They were usually written by the scholars of their time, and you still end up with people whose faces are in their chest and so on.</p><p></p><p>So, while every DM's style is different on this, I'm pretty firmly set where I am and am happy with the results. Heck, it reminds me of old 1e and 2e and Basic style gaming! </p><p></p><p>But there's nothing wrong with a group using monster knowledge like crazy. Nothing at all. I don't care for it, but if it works for you, great! However, what we have in this thread is a case of a DM making a judgment call, his players disagreeing, and there being no right and wrong answers. Despite the "there are no DM rulings, only RAW and house rules" that the OP asserts, D&D simply doesn't work that way- especially 5e, since it's re-empowering the DM so strongly. </p><p></p><p>In this case, did the DM err? Not at all- not by the RAW. </p><p></p><p>Are the pcs in error to object? Again, no- but they are in error if they assert that he broke some rule or made a house rule. He made a <em>ruling.</em> And an entirely reasonable one, at that.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 6458432, member: 1210"] Or ones who are careful about the challenges they choose to take on. Honestly, you make it sound like D&D has always had the pcs be entitled to know about monsters. That's actually a fairly recent aberration in the rules, coming in with 3e (at least in the main). Think of a world without mass printing of National Geographics, without TV shows that show you what a camel is. A world where most people live and die without traveling further than 20 miles from where they were born. A world where a huge personal library is a couple of dozen books, and a huge one in a public space- a Great Library- contains a few hundred or a thousand, and you don't get to go in there and play with those (INCREDIBLY VALUABLE) books at will just because you live in that city. Not every setting is like that, of course, but I think it's fair to say that the template for a typical, average D&D setting is Medieval Europe. And that's more or less what I'm describing. Of course not all settings fall into that template. Some have printing presses, most end up with unbelievably big collections of books in every ruined tower, and of course pcs are generally the exception to the "hardly traveled" rule of thumb. But still, I think you're both vastly overestimating how much information a typical person in a typical D&D setting has access to. Worse yet, as often as not, much of the information they have should be dead wrong! Have you ever checked out the monsters and people described in ancient sources? They were usually written by the scholars of their time, and you still end up with people whose faces are in their chest and so on. So, while every DM's style is different on this, I'm pretty firmly set where I am and am happy with the results. Heck, it reminds me of old 1e and 2e and Basic style gaming! But there's nothing wrong with a group using monster knowledge like crazy. Nothing at all. I don't care for it, but if it works for you, great! However, what we have in this thread is a case of a DM making a judgment call, his players disagreeing, and there being no right and wrong answers. Despite the "there are no DM rulings, only RAW and house rules" that the OP asserts, D&D simply doesn't work that way- especially 5e, since it's re-empowering the DM so strongly. In this case, did the DM err? Not at all- not by the RAW. Are the pcs in error to object? Again, no- but they are in error if they assert that he broke some rule or made a house rule. He made a [i]ruling.[/i] And an entirely reasonable one, at that. [/QUOTE]
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