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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 6038669" data-attributes="member: 996">Sure, those are people.  You also might not be able to tell the species of a given butterfly or a given 15' long reptile with a mouth full of sharp teeth - but you'll likely guess which one is more dangerous.  More people can likely identify a notorious Great White Shark than can tell a pelagic from an anadromous eel, but the Shark is probably a 'higher level monster.'  Yeah, 4e edged away from some of the 'gotchyas' of classic D&D styles.  Nothing stops a DM from making knowledge check behind the screen and giving out false information on bad rolls, though, regardless of edition.  Nothing stops players from not even bothering to take knowledge skills or ask what they know, and just read the damn books, either.  And that also gets into the question of 'what is a first level PC.'  A 1st level wizard has learned to twist reality to his will, he might have picked up some other knowledge in the process...  A 1st level fighter, even in 1e, was a 'veteran,' which bespoke some experience, if no experience points...Nod.    Ultimately, it's a game, and if it's going to stand up to repeated play, it can't depend too heavily on player ignorance (nor penalize it too heavily) or player knowledge.  Keeping the mechanics 'above board' helps with playability and keeps the game from degenerating into 'gotchyas' and paranoia.  Such mechanics are usually things the characters would infer from what's going on around them, that the 'slow' effect the medusa dropped on them is turning them to stone, or that the Hexer doesn't need to maintain his Vexing Cloud with an action, but can use an action to move it.  OTOH, there are lots of story elements the DM can include that will give the desired air of mystery, how the medusae came to be in the temple or who the Hexer serves....</blockquote>

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