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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 343704" data-attributes="member: 4937">"We have a player that as soon as he IDs the monster babbles out all the major details of it... even being a DM myself I have always tried not to read more than I need from the Monster Manual... pisses me off a little when he does it."Simply knowing what the monster is and how to defeat it doesn't bother me all that much.  For one thing, alot of the guys I've played with have 20 years experience, twice placed top 2 at DragonCon, and naturally have alot of the old products memorized.  So, I'm just used to it, and in fact, find it somewhat disconcerting when some other party I'm running doesn't know what to do (typically I end up with a TPK or everyone being chased from the dungeon).  For things like Trolls, I expect members of the setting to recognize them and know basically their weaknesses if only from stories told 'round the fire'.  Consider that Bilbo recognizes Trolls immediately, despite his sheltered life.   I don't find that low level adventures breaking out vials of oil to fight the troll to be that much of a problem, in fact, I'm counting on it or I wouldn't have them face a troll at thier level.Besides, I'm pretty darn good at varying the depiction of the monster, using seldom seen monsters, and I make up quite a few monsters or give existing ones new and sometimes suprising abilities.  Ordinary monsters might be given unusual appearances, and unusual monsters might look ordinary.  So, it's never a problem, except when the players _can't_ figure out how to cope.Once the character has in character knowledge of what he is facing, I often simply say 'You see a Bugbear hunting party', or something.And I got to disagree with you strongly on one thing.  As a DM, it is your responsibility to know those books frontwards and backwards and inside out.  If you can't quote passages from it and answer simple questions like 'what is the range on spiritual weapon' without cracking a book, you need to get from behind the screen.  There is nothing worse than a DM that doesn't know the rules, and you HAVE to know not only the rules better than the players do ("No sorry but you can't do that, consult the feats description again, see where it says..."), but you also have to know the rules so well that you can keep track of what all your critters are supposed to be doing.  Forgetting that some creature is supposed to be provoking a save, or has X resistance, can be very embarassing, slow play, and turn a balanced challenge into a push over.  If you don't know the rules, and can't back up your interpretation of them, you are going to be bogged down by endless rules lawyering and attempts to get you to take back something that happened.  Remember, a DM should never have to open a book during play.  Between consulting your notes, answering querries from players, and making new notes, you just don't have time for that.  If you did open a book, you didn't make good enough notes or you haven't spent enough time studing the books one.</blockquote>

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