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Should players be aware of their own high and low rolls?
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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8826780" data-attributes="member: 6696971"><p>As we all know, humans (and demihumans et al in D&D) are pattern-finding machines. As expertise and experience (particularly that employed and garnered under duress) increases, mental models typically increase in effectiveness (unless there is an inherent problem with the model that cascades, especially early in the formulation) and always increase in usage rate.</p><p></p><p>Expert martial combatants are going to (a) know things broadly due to exposure to various styles and their clashing over the historical record, (b) be able evaluate opponents immediately based on their movement skills, technical prowess, weight distribution, sequencing attacks and defenses + (a) above, (c) they're going to spend the early clashes probing and feinting while circling and controlling distance in order to elicit responses of their opposition so they can further build out their mental models.</p><p></p><p>D&D barely engages with this fundamental, and paramount, aspect of martial combat. Where it does, its not really part of the core mechanics (which it is in actual martial combat) but it does so as part of niche PC build features/feats etc. <em>If it did engage with this? It would engage with this via players sussing out useful (if not essential) information from GMs via low rolls and high rolls</em> which are <strong>the D&D-equivalent to (a) + (b) + (c) above (particularly the latter two, but the first intersects with them).</strong></p><p></p><p>On the Troll vs fire situation?</p><p></p><p>How often are these encounters taking place in broad daylight? I would think a hefty chunk of them would be in twilight or outright darkness where the PCs are toting torches or lanterns or their magical equivalent. If somehow the information on fire hasn't found its way via word-of-mouth and spread like wildfire through civilization (doubtful imo), then we have to consider your average troll would reflexively cringe from the flickering flame and heat of an oil-fueled lantern or an outright torch right? Cringe, shrink, perhaps audibly whimper in a subtle mewl or something. That is a tell! That is a tell that expert martial combatants faced with death around every corner are going to perceive and pick up on to build out their mental model! That is a tell that is likely to make an expert martial combatant raise their torch/lantern higher or step forward while brandishing it to probe for response (in order to build out their mental model)!</p><p></p><p>Does this (what should be pretty rote social transaction between adventurers and Trolls in all the instantiations of this D&D trope ever) back-and-forth always-and-ever happen at tables where this sort of metagaming is verboten? At what point does the ignorance-cosplaying player get to implicitly declare "I've built out my mental model enough to understand the aversion to fire happening here" with an actual declaration of using their torches/lanterns vs trolls (or escalating to magic or better alchemical nukes) like a tenured martial combatant/adventurer that hasn't succumbed to Darwin's Law long ago (precisely because their mental modeling didn't suck like those that perished)?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 8826780, member: 6696971"] As we all know, humans (and demihumans et al in D&D) are pattern-finding machines. As expertise and experience (particularly that employed and garnered under duress) increases, mental models typically increase in effectiveness (unless there is an inherent problem with the model that cascades, especially early in the formulation) and always increase in usage rate. Expert martial combatants are going to (a) know things broadly due to exposure to various styles and their clashing over the historical record, (b) be able evaluate opponents immediately based on their movement skills, technical prowess, weight distribution, sequencing attacks and defenses + (a) above, (c) they're going to spend the early clashes probing and feinting while circling and controlling distance in order to elicit responses of their opposition so they can further build out their mental models. D&D barely engages with this fundamental, and paramount, aspect of martial combat. Where it does, its not really part of the core mechanics (which it is in actual martial combat) but it does so as part of niche PC build features/feats etc. [I]If it did engage with this? It would engage with this via players sussing out useful (if not essential) information from GMs via low rolls and high rolls[/I] which are [B]the D&D-equivalent to (a) + (b) + (c) above (particularly the latter two, but the first intersects with them).[/B] On the Troll vs fire situation? How often are these encounters taking place in broad daylight? I would think a hefty chunk of them would be in twilight or outright darkness where the PCs are toting torches or lanterns or their magical equivalent. If somehow the information on fire hasn't found its way via word-of-mouth and spread like wildfire through civilization (doubtful imo), then we have to consider your average troll would reflexively cringe from the flickering flame and heat of an oil-fueled lantern or an outright torch right? Cringe, shrink, perhaps audibly whimper in a subtle mewl or something. That is a tell! That is a tell that expert martial combatants faced with death around every corner are going to perceive and pick up on to build out their mental model! That is a tell that is likely to make an expert martial combatant raise their torch/lantern higher or step forward while brandishing it to probe for response (in order to build out their mental model)! Does this (what should be pretty rote social transaction between adventurers and Trolls in all the instantiations of this D&D trope ever) back-and-forth always-and-ever happen at tables where this sort of metagaming is verboten? At what point does the ignorance-cosplaying player get to implicitly declare "I've built out my mental model enough to understand the aversion to fire happening here" with an actual declaration of using their torches/lanterns vs trolls (or escalating to magic or better alchemical nukes) like a tenured martial combatant/adventurer that hasn't succumbed to Darwin's Law long ago (precisely because their mental modeling didn't suck like those that perished)? [/QUOTE]
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