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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dash Dannigan" data-source="post: 812439" data-attributes="member: 6306">It sounds like you did fine Doc, DMs who constantly pander to their players pamper them a bit too much. We're DMs not freakin' babysitters. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />Now, one point I'd like to make though. As long as the results of the damage rolled were described in game terms then the players should be able to take the cues from their PC knowledge to figure out what must be going on. Such as:"Your magically enchanted blade slices into the creature, but it's gash seals harmlessly leaving a thin line and a trickle of blood across its midsection. The were-rat looks up and grins wickedly."In general,  a good DM should never expect his players to behave consistently in-character (i.e. no meta-gaming) if the DM themselves are always referring to results in-game in meta-game "language" (i.e. take 23 points of dmg, etc.).Of course, if a player is particularly thick it saves time and angst to just flat out display the discrepency in the players meta-game assumption:---------------------------------------------Thick Player: "I have magic weapon cast on my sword remember? The damage this thing is taking should have taken it down by now."DM: "As I described, its wounds seem hardly affected by your blade."TP: "What? Hey I don't get it? I have a +1 enchantment on this puppy and were-rats don't have that kind of DR do they?"DM: "Your character wouldn't know any of that. Everyone rolled earlier to see if they knew about lycanthropes. Brad and Kev both rolled high and so they remembered from legends that silver harms lycanthropes. Apparently magically enchanted blades (+1) do not. As far as your character has so far seen."TP: "But..."DM: "Moving on..."--------------------------------IMO you're doing just great Doc! Your players need to be schooled and you are teaching them well. Just save yourself angst from time to time and point out the error of their ways.  Describe things first in game descriptions and if they annoyingly persist, make a point of reminding them of the difference between meta and PC knowledge (I'm of the opinion of reminding non-novice players that if I repeatedly have to do so I will cut a % of their XP, or instead give a bonus to those players who remain in character, acting only on PC knowledge, etc.) Best of luck, and don't get discouraged by your player's meta-gaming. It happens, just continue with the hints and occasional reminder (with consequences/rewards for incentives) and if they are agreeable folk, they will learn.</blockquote>

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