Is He Damaged?

[Benimoto]

With DR, if I feel like giving an "in character" type description, I usually compare the amount of damage reduced to the hardness of common objects. Thus, something with DR 5 might "have flesh as hard as wood" to common weapons. Similarly, DR 10 might be like iron, etc.

 

[Arnwyn]

I've noticed my players often expect to know things that their characters would have no way of knowing in combat. Here are some of the most common ones.

I disagree on a couple of them - I think the PCs would know. See below.

My question to you, En World, is what do you do in situations like this? Do you just allow the players to have omniscient information about the PCs and NPCs of the world at any time, or do you have restrictions on it?

Some have restrictions in how much info I tell the players, others don't. Again, see below how I handle such questions.

-Did it look like I bypassed his damage reduction?
-Did it look like I bypassed his energy resistance?
-Is he regenerating or simply fast healing?
-How many hit points are you down?
-Are you stunned or just dazed?
-Did he just use a spell-like ability?
-Did you stabilize or are you still dying?

- Simple enough, like you said yourself in your post. "It looks like you injured him a little/lot/whatever." How you do it is pretty much how we do it as well.

- Same as above. They'll know when they've successfully cooked someone.

- "You don't know."

- To the DM (re: a monster): "It's still going strong" or "It's staggering around a bit" or "It's covered in a lot of blood and looks in terrible shape". For PCs, I just let it go and let them ask/tell each other. Those poor schmucks of mine need to improve teamwork and communication as much as possible anyways, or they'll be crushed.

- I tell the players up front, in front of anyone, what happens to them. I don't care if the other players know.

- "You don't know" (though they might guess if a PC got an AoO).

-Our group's policy, made very clear beforehand, is that you can't ask/answer this question. The PCs must take a standard action (looking over their buddy's body) to find out. Everyone in the group is aware of this rule.

 

[Bad Paper]

I started a system in my campaign of green/yellow/red, which is basically when the bad guy's hit points are in the top third, middle third, or bottom third of his total. I can mislead the players occasionally by:
1) not being exactly accurate, ha ha, typically with "yellow" having more bandwidth, and
2) e.g. if a bad guy drinks a potion of bear's endurance and the PCs see him go from "yellow" to "green," they think he drank a potion of healing

I've gotten irritated so many times by my players trying to Spellcraft the casting (rather than the effect) of a spell-like ability or supernatural ability, that I have pretty much trained them only to roll Spellcraft when I say the words "...casts a spell..."

I have tried to train them to recognize Damage Reduction by saying "his flesh is as hard as wood," etc, but that just confuses them and they think they're fighting a golem or something. {why is there no eye-roll smiley?}

I tend to not clue them in too much to energy resistance, or to blur its boundary with energy immunity. I tend to indicate whether bad guy made his save, though.

I think there's only one player who understands the difference between regeneration and fast healing, so I don't run into that question. I get a lot of "You're cheating" from my players, simply because my knowledge of the rules is encyclopaedic , and theirs tends to be field-guide. I let the one player who understands the difference explain it to them when necessary.

The party's cleric has started to memorize and cast Status, so the how-you-doin' question is more meaningful and legal.

As for the stabilized-or-not question, the players are good at assuming "not," and the cleric is quite responsive, so for the most part, they don't cheat so much.

 

[Hypersmurf]

plus someone who is dazed doesn't lose his Dex bonus to AC, someone who is stunned does - so it seems to me that there is a clear visual difference there.

"Is Bob stunned, or just dazed?"
"Dunno. Shoot an arrow at him, see if he dodges."

-Hyp.

 

[calypso15]

I've gotten irritated so many times by my players trying to Spellcraft the casting (rather than the effect) of a spell-like ability or supernatural ability, that I have pretty much trained them only to roll Spellcraft when I say the words "...casts a spell..."

"15 + spell level Identify a spell being cast. (You must see or hear the spell’s verbal or somatic components.) No action required. No retry."

"If the target of your counterspell tries to cast a spell, make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + the spell’s level). This check is a free action. If the check succeeds, you correctly identify the opponent’s spell and can attempt to counter it. If the check fails, you can’t do either of these things."

Spellcraft can be used to identify a spell AS it's being cast. Otherwise, counterspelling would be impossible.

Calypso

 

[Bad Paper]

yes, thank you, c15. Please note that I was not talking about spellcasting.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

My question to you, En World, is what do you do in situations like this? Do you just allow the players to have omniscient information about the PCs and NPCs of the world at any time, or do you have restrictions on it?

Most of the questions you cited are, IMO, not even close to requiring "omniscient" knowledge. They're plainly obvious to someone in a position to know, i.e. someone in the midst of a combat where the questions come up.

There are a couple where I might provide slightly vague information. For instance, a PC can tell that a critter is healing up fast, but not whether it's technically fast healing or regeneration. Likewise I'd probably require a healing check (and the standard action to perform it,) to tell whether someone was dying versus stabilized.

But on the whole, your examples seem like information that is well within the PCs sphere of knowledge. Hardly requiring them to be omniscient.

 

[calypso15]

yes, thank you, c15. Please note that I was not talking about spellcasting.

Sorry, misread. I saw "casting" and skipped the rest. I don't usually associate "casting" with spell-like or supernatural abilities.

Calypso

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

"Is Bob stunned, or just dazed?"
"Dunno. Shoot an arrow at him, see if he dodges."

-Hyp.

Well, okay, he dropped his stuff too. Unless he's a martial artist. Is he dodging in place?

As for DR, there's two types. "Hard as wood" isn't appropriate for material or alignment IMO, but quite appropriate for a barbarian or flesh golem.

 

[Dross]

My view is:

-Did it look like I bypassed his damage reduction?

The SRD states: Damage Reduction (Ex or Su): A creature with this special quality ignores damage from most weapons and natural attacks. Wounds heal immediately, or the weapon bounces off harmlessly (in either case, the opponent knows the attack was ineffective).

If you are a mean DM , then unless ALL damage is negated, you don't know that the attack was ineffective. I'd tend to tell the PC's player that "The strike did not seem as effective as usual" though. Other PCs may need a spot check or have the attacker yell out that he did no/little damage. Also, the wound closing part could be described as regen/fast healing if you wish.

-Did it look like I bypassed his energy resistance?

I tend not to go Yes/No for this one. "You don't seem to have your usual effect" is a good answer, because while it is likely that energy resistance is the reason, it does not explicitly say that it IS the reason. Also some visual clue would be good. A complete negation of damage would likely be visible too (unless naked, absolutely nothing the foe is wearing is singed for example).

-Is he regenerating or simply fast healing?

I don't see a visual difference here (at least not without a lopped off appendage regrowing in front of them). Also note the DR answer above.

-How many hit points are you down?

5 hp to a wiz3 is completely different to a ftr20. make them say, 5 from 7 or 5 from 174. You could also inform them that without things like Status running that the PC has to yell it out for the other PCs, thus alerting their enemies and possibly having them redirect their attacks. What sould be visible should be the rough >75% hp fine/full, 75%-40% hurt, 40%-15% injured 15%-5% badly hurt/staggered <5% almost dead. Of course, you should say that to your players for foes that show this kind of thing as well.

-Are you stunned or just dazed?

Can a PC talk if stunned or dazed? there are obvious in-game effects here, after a few occurances a PC should know the difference.

-Did he just use a spell-like ability?

"He did something, didn't look like he waggled his fingers like a spellcaster."

-Did you stabilize or are you still dying?

Use: There usually isn't a obvious way to tell this, go over and check.
Of course you could roll the stabilising check yourself or have the player roll it so he does not know.
DM: He looks dead, so you need not bother waisting time and spells on him.


To me it it is all about what you can see. A bird diving and a bird falling out of the sky dead look different. A person is laying on the ground after falling from a tall building, was he pushed or did he jump?