D&D 5E Is looking in the books O.K

[titan_warrior101]

I am DMing a game in 5e and was wondering if it was "allowed" or "O.K" for the players to look at the stats of the monster they are fighting in the Monster Manual....i am leaning toward not allowing it because seeing its stats and knowing what can hurt it more or what will do less damage i consider meta-gaming.

 

[pdzoch]

No. Players need to play through their character's experience, not with metagame help. I impose penalties when players do this.

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[Talcoram Cyndar]

I wouldn't

Letting the players know the vulnerabilities and resistances of the monsters leads to meta-gaming. It is almost impossible to not use that knowledge one you have it. Let the characters learn it on their own, that's half the fun of encountering a new monster.

-TC

 

[Shasarak]

Sure, just as long as they do it secretly without letting the DM know to prevent Grudge Monsters from spawning.

 

[Morrus]

Absolutely not.

 

[Ath-kethin]

I'm another vote for "absolutely not." It is the DM's job to play the monsters. If the players want to see what the monsters can do, they can buy the books and run a game.

 

[ccs]

At the table, during play? No.
There's no "rule" against it, but it's just bad form.

BUT:
What do you all do when confronted with players who also DM?
Or have any degree of previous XP?
How do you prevent your players from buying & reading D&D books in general?

 

[Leatherhead]

While they are fighting it? Naw, that's what skill checks are for. During their own time away from the table? It's not like you can enforce that anyway.

Just remember that the DMG has rules for modifying monsters if your players get too familiar with the rules.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

It's entirely up to the DM.

Remember, the characters can see the in-game reality which corresponds to those monster stats. The characters can tell how skillfully a troll swings its club, with far greater accuracy than you can describe that skill to the players. Maybe they can't see everything, like its intelligence or what magical powers it has, but there's nothing wrong with erring on the side of giving too much information rather than too little. It's not like anything in the book is particularly balanced around the fact that the PCs won't be aware of its capabilities.

 

[iserith]

This falls into the category of "Table Rules," which is discussed in Chapter 8 of the DMG. At most tables in my experience, it's not okay. At other tables, it's fine. I personally don't care about it as long as it's not distracting from play.