PCs knowing about monsters in the MM, MMII, MMIII and FF

[NewJeffCT]

It sounds like a great encounter, until one of the players says, "It's an orc, kill it." and the group hacks it apart.

Consider it one of my pet peeves of D&D, but I know that most players know most stats of most monsters in these books by heart, and know how best to combat them. Even if you tell them that if they don't have the knowledge skill on their character sheet, they don't know about the monster...the players will still react as if they do know because, as players, they DO know about the monster... and I don't know too many DMs that enforce that kind of roleplaying in a standard D&D game session.

So, when the party comes across some trolls, out comes the fire and acid, even if the characters have no clue what it is they are fighting.

Good luck in trying though.

I honestly think the MM books are the most read books in print, even more so than the PHB. By both DMs and players.

I've barely looked at the 3.0 and 3.5 MMs... but, that is because I'm a player most of the time.

However, I've been playing D&D for 25 years now and I still get excited when a good DM runs a low level encounter with orcs straight out of the MM. While the player & the PC may know it's an orc, it can still be a harrowing encounter if done correcly.

Back on topic now. Since 2E days, we have used Knowledge-Monsters as first a Non-Weapon Proficiency and now as a Skill in 3.0/3.5.

However, it is also assumed that players have a general knowledge of the more common monsters – if a village is plagued by constant goblin raids at night, it is assumed that most know at least something about goblins – do not like the sunlight; not strong, but sneaky and crafty; general size and appearance.

It also extends to other things that are fairly common knowledge as well – trolls do not like fire; undead are repelled by holy symbols; vampires are bad mo-fos.

However, if you want to distinguish between a ghoul and a ghast or know about the societal structure of your typical hobgoblin tribe, it requires a Knowledge check.

 

[Orius]

Here's the thing: the "first" encounter with an orc only really works for the players when they are actually encountering an orc for the first time - that is, in their very first D&D session.

After that, they can possibly pretend to not know what they know... but it grows old, very fast. In effect, you are punishing them for the knowledge of the game they've worked hard to attain.

It might be fine in a game based around role-playing and not combat, but all the players have to be on the same page as you.

It really doesn't work with common monsters such as orcs. The suspension of disbelief required to accept that a character in a world (game) where orcs are exceedingly common doesn't recognise one is just too much.

You have to use something original. (There are a few that might fill the void presented in the supplementary monster manuals)

With common monsters like orcs, I tell them they've encounters orcs, goblins, etc. I make things more difficult by tossing on the class levels. So you want to make an orc challenging, make it an orc frenzied berserker. Your players will thank you.

A favortie tactic of mine with goblins is to include a cleric with the Trickery domain and a rogue. The cleric casts invisibility on the rogue, then the rogue sneaks up on the party and stabs one of them in a kidney. This is preferably done while the party is busy meleeing the rest of the goblins. Of course, this works best with fairly low level groups.

Actually I like to include clerics with a lot of enemies my players face. Nothing irrritates the players more than seeing the bad guys get healed. Plus spells like cause fear, bane, silence, darkness, and so on always make life just a bit more difficult for the group.

One of my favorite encounters was the time I ran a group of kobolds that had a komodo dragon for a pet. They pinned down the party with missile fire and when the party started to shoot back, the kobolds sicced their big lizard on them.

Now with other types of monsters, I go with descriptions. Not all players memorize the MM. There was an encounter I ran with a yeth hound one time, I described it as the basic description given in the MM, but my players thought they were facing a hell hound. So it messed up their tactics. It also helped that the warriors all failed the save against the yeth hound's fear ability, and the party spellcasters had to take it out on their own.