Players reading the MM

[pawsplay]

I know in my 3.5 game I use virtually nothing but monsters right out of the MM, and I still screw with my players on a regular basis. I can't imagine why they would fare better in 4e.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

I don't have a problem with players reading the MM and being familiar with its contents. On the other hand, looking up what you're facing in the middle of the game is just poor.

Bingo

 

[NMcCoy]

I don't DM much, but my tendency would be to say "no referencing during combat". And I'll be mutating abilities and re-skinning monsters a bunch if I do run, simply to keep them on their toes (and it's fun being creative with monsters, anyway!)

 

[Aria Silverhands]

I make all my own monsters specifically for that reason. I hate people that metagame. I will use the MM as a source for inspiration or artwork, but that's it. I will almost never use a stock monster straight out of any monster manual.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

As far as I'm concerned the player is only spoiling a surprise for themselves.

I'd also ask them to concentrate on the game a little more and put the book down once we started playing. Plus, I have to confess that spicing up the monsters by changing a few things around would also be fun...

 

[That One Guy]

I passed on the vote. Lame, I know. See, in 3.x I never used the MM. Now, I will... and I think if the PCs think they know what's coming will let me try and mess with them in fun ways. Or, if it makes sense for the PC to know about the monster - groovy. I actually like when PCs can use knowledge and insight to understand their enemy's tactics mid-battle.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'd do nothing.

Most of my gaming pals are experienced gamers who can erect a mental "Chinese Wall" between player knowledge and PC knowledge.

A goodly percentage of them also DM- a solid 33% of our 15. Their reading the MM is quite likely to be focused on things they'd like to put in an adventure.

Besides, odds are high that one of them would be looking to play a gnome or the like...

Which makes me wonder what those who have a problem with a player reading the MM would do if one of THEIR players was curious about playing a non-PHB race.

 

[Hellzon]

If you set a 4e MM down near me and I'd never seen it before, I would be hard pressed to resist picking it up and looking at all the artwork. Pretty much my first action upon getting any new rpg book is going through and looking at all the pictures first.

This. "Ooh, pretty pictures."

And I might try to run a game, so I'm definitely getting a MM of my own.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Eventually, everyone in my group will probably end up with his own 4E campaign. It is inevitable that everyone will get to read the MM. I really hope that won't spoil things...

What I don't like is reading the MM during an encounter, if you're looking up the monster - Unless I know it will be a hard fight and one of the PCs made his relevant Knowledge Check. I don't think it ever happened in any other way. (Looking at monster stats for summoning is necessary and acceptable in 3E, though you'd better have most of th stats prepared before the session!)

 

[Grazzt]

For some reason monsters are attracted to that player's character.

We call this tastiness. Some characters have a much higher tastiness then any other stat on their sheet.

Yep. This. The PC becomes a monster magnet for a while.