Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 7106919" data-attributes="member: 12731">Monster Knowledge ChecksArcana: Constructs, Dragons, Elementals, MonstrositiesDungeoneering: Aberrations, Beasts, Monstrosities, OozesHistory: Humanoids, GiantsIntimidate: Dragons, GiantsSurvival: Beasts, Monstrosities, Oozes, PlantsReligion: Celestials, Fiends, UndeadFeylore: Aberrations, Dragons, Fey, incorporeal UndeadIf you aren't familiar with the concept, the idea is when you see a strange beast or monster, each character makes a monster knowledge check. The genius is to not use little-used Intelligence skills for all of these; instead the idea is that people proficient in Dungeoneering will know stuff about monsters common in Dungeons and so on. This makes adventurers automatically good at knowing stuff about the monsters they are likely to face.  As with most skill checks DC 10 is a basic success, giving you the monster's name and "common" knowledge (which may be false rumors). Making DC 15 will give you crucial tactics ("don't use fire", "use fire", "stay away from the stinger" etc). DC 20 means you know specific details on resistance and immunities, and what damage forms you should protect yourself against. Then the monster's nature might obviously shift these - rare obscure and high-CR monsters might have their DCs bumped to 15/20/25. PS. Do note I originally tried to set the DC to CR + 10. This doesn't work. For one thing, I mostly WANT to tell the player what the monster is called, so the DC of the basics should always stay low. It's no fun if you have a strange and wondrous beast (perhaps a picture from an obscure AD&D supplement) and can't even tell the players its name.And for high-level threats, the DCs run away beyond what the 5e model expects. Skill DCs above 20 should be reserved for the truly preternaturally difficult checks. I've just run an entire campaign without a single skill check ever being more difficult than DC 20 and it works well. (Of course, there was no Rogue in the party, so I can envision throwing in a few DC 25's just to make him shine)So I tried DC 10 + CR/2... but it just gets fiddly. In the end, I settled on fixed DCs 10/15/20 with just a simple +5 modifier for "extra obscure". This works well, since after all, you WANT characters to succeed - just not all the time. As long as one party member gets a result of 15 for every encounter (and then can tell the others), things work swimmingly.</blockquote>

Verification