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Message: <blockquote data-quote="eamon" data-source="post: 5559515" data-attributes="member: 51942">There are several powers in the game that are entirely pointless if the target of the power knows its effects.  I don't think that's the best way to play.  Certainly RAW is explicit - creatures only know of the effects on them, not the of the power itself.I think they should know.  As I mentioned in the paladin example in the post you replied to, the more reasonable interpretation is that the threat of punishment itself is an effect they should know.  I merely noted that it's not as clearcut as might seem; you could interpret that rules blurb differently. Your phrasing is misleading: the powers themselves do not let the monsters know any such thing.  However, the effects the power impose are known - which means the creature knows.  The distinction matters for other powers.In general, it's pretty hard to play dumb.  You just get used to certain effects, because the PC's use them again and again.  So it's entirely natural for a DM to do play defensively against such abilities even if the creatures in this combat haven't yet seen the abilities.  That's just unavoidable.  Indeed, your entire combat strategy will habitually grow depending on the party abilities.  If a party has a bunch of large burst/blast users, you'll avoid bunching up.  It's just habit... As a general rule, when in doubt, assume the creatures don't know what's going to hit them.  Not only is that more reasonable, it will compensate for the inevitable tactical DM knowledge leaking into the monsters.  It's also more fun; although deterrent is effective, after spending all that character juice on abilities it's disappointing to almost never see them in action - even if in some cases the deterrent effect is actually more powerful than the punishment.</blockquote>

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