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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pdzoch" data-source="post: 7035378" data-attributes="member: 80982">In regards to rule #1.  Players know how much damage they roll on a damage die, but they do not know what that damage means to the monster other than a narrative.  I do inform them that based on their character's training, the damage felt by the monster was more or less than they expected their blow to have dealt (accounts for resistance and vulnerabilities) or seems to have no effect at all (immunity).  We carried over the "bloodied" description to describe a monster below half HP.  However, they do not know how many HP a monster has or has left.  Though, I still have one player who keeps count of HP damage done to a monster (I do not know why he does it, but it may be a carry over from his wargaming days)In regards to Rule #2.  Players are intimately familiar with their capabilities -- they know their ability scores, their ability bonuses, skill bonuses, armor class, etc.  This informs their decisions during the game.  The character knows if he is a dummy on history and will not waste his time trying to use that skill when another approach is more likely to be successful.  HP is the same way.  The players know about how healthy they are in a fight and if they are willing to risk certain actions that threaten their health.  I do keep track of player HP also, but it is a lot of work. I try not to let it influence my monster decisions, but honestly, it does (I found that the less I know about the player HP, the more honest my monster actions are).I think that my players suffer enough fear and anxiety by just knowing that they are low on HP (and low on heal capacity) and still have some encounters to go before it is safe again. Hiding player data from the players does not seem to add more to that other than possible distrust of the DM.  That would be an element that I am not interested in adding to my game.</blockquote>

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