Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Ways to assess an encounter early
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Ferghis" data-source="post: 6036753" data-attributes="member: 40483"><p>I agree that monster knowledge checks are poorly implemented. Better known monsters (such as orcs and dragons) should be simply better known, and even common peasants should know that dragons have breath weapons. </p><p></p><p>Perhaps monsters should be divided up into three categories (well-known, known, unkown) referring to how much knowledge has been distributed about them. I also abhor the fact that skill check DCs change as characters go up in level. What do you think of something like the following DCs and the knowledge yielded, where better results include the lesser results, and "description" means that the DM doesn't have to give the details, just a vague description:</p><p></p><p>10: type, role, temperament, and habitat of well-known monsters</p><p>15: approximate level (relative to characters), description of basic attacks and aura or main trait (selected by DM) of well-known monsters</p><p>20: trained skills (including perception), description of encounter and rechargeable powers of well-known monsters</p><p>25: description of vulnerabilities and resistances, at-wills and secondary traits of well-known monsters</p><p></p><p>20: type, role, temperament, and habitat of known monsters</p><p>25: approximate level (relative to characters), description of basic attacks and aura or main trait (selected by DM) of known monsters</p><p>30: trained skills (including perception), description of encounter and rechargeable powers of known monsters</p><p>35: description of vulnerabilities and resistances, at-wills and secondary traits of known monsters</p><p></p><p>35: type, role, temperament, and habitat of unknown monsters</p><p>40: approximate level (relative to characters), description of basic attacks and aura or main trait (selected by DM) of unknown monsters</p><p>45: trained skills (including perception), description of encounter and rechargeable powers of unknown monsters</p><p>50: description of vulnerabilities and resistances, at-wills and secondary traits of unknown monsters</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ferghis, post: 6036753, member: 40483"] I agree that monster knowledge checks are poorly implemented. Better known monsters (such as orcs and dragons) should be simply better known, and even common peasants should know that dragons have breath weapons. Perhaps monsters should be divided up into three categories (well-known, known, unkown) referring to how much knowledge has been distributed about them. I also abhor the fact that skill check DCs change as characters go up in level. What do you think of something like the following DCs and the knowledge yielded, where better results include the lesser results, and "description" means that the DM doesn't have to give the details, just a vague description: 10: type, role, temperament, and habitat of well-known monsters 15: approximate level (relative to characters), description of basic attacks and aura or main trait (selected by DM) of well-known monsters 20: trained skills (including perception), description of encounter and rechargeable powers of well-known monsters 25: description of vulnerabilities and resistances, at-wills and secondary traits of well-known monsters 20: type, role, temperament, and habitat of known monsters 25: approximate level (relative to characters), description of basic attacks and aura or main trait (selected by DM) of known monsters 30: trained skills (including perception), description of encounter and rechargeable powers of known monsters 35: description of vulnerabilities and resistances, at-wills and secondary traits of known monsters 35: type, role, temperament, and habitat of unknown monsters 40: approximate level (relative to characters), description of basic attacks and aura or main trait (selected by DM) of unknown monsters 45: trained skills (including perception), description of encounter and rechargeable powers of unknown monsters 50: description of vulnerabilities and resistances, at-wills and secondary traits of unknown monsters [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Ways to assess an encounter early
Top