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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ferghis" data-source="post: 6041468" data-attributes="member: 40483">Although knowing the powers of specific foes is tactically valuable, it's just an advantage, and I don't see a problem with living in ignorance in that respect. What I need is knowledge of the encounter as a whole that helps me decide whether to use those dailies (and AP) or not as early as possible. I must stress the importance of sorting this information out early, because most (if not all) dailies have much more impact on an encounter if used early in an encounter. I'm not just talking about dailies that have encounter-long benefits. Even those dailies that merely do a lot of damage, and help remove one enemy (or more) provide an advantage that is best used as early as possible. Here's the part that is disputable: I think that it's this early use of player resources that moves a tough encounter from a potential TPK to not-a-TPK. But whether you agree with that or not, it's pretty indisputable that dailies and APs are best used in tougher encounters, and there should be means to adequately make that determination as early as possible, or at least earlier than "oh my gods, we're all dying..."I agree in part with this. PCs of a certain level can be (in)famous enough to be somewhat well-known. However, the books fail to adequately highlight that DMs should play as if monsters did not know of the extra punishment that a fighter can impose on a marked creature, and so on. In that sense, you make a very good point. I agree that the rules should support realistic play. The point many (including myself) are making in this thread is that there are many clues that our characters pick up that the DM cannot possibly convey in narrative terms. We may disagree (or agree) that a fencer may not be able to tell the rank of a marine in civilian clothing, but a combat veteran should be able to gather some extra knowledge about another creature's combat abilities simply by observing them (relative to someone who, like me in real life, has no experience with combat). Conveying these details would be laborious for the DM and a player might not have the means to use the details to frame a guess regarding any given opponent's abilities. Giving away some of the crunch is shorthand, mirroring for the gaming group what would go on on for the characters in the imaginary gaming environment.</blockquote>

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