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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 5208551" data-attributes="member: 66434">If the inhabitants of the game world know anything about the potential deadliness of dragons then the propositiion is risky both on the metagame level and within the game world. The player knows that dragons are tougher than some other monsters because the statblocks say so. The character (unless he/she has never heard of dragons) knows that dragons are frightening beasts that can destroy whole villages.  Assuming the situation with the ranger was purely metagame driven, lets look at that knowledge. The player knew that he was fighting a strong looking half orc wielding a greataxe.  A) The greataxe has the potential to do horrendous damage on a crit, especially if the wielder has a STR bonus.  B) Worst case odds of getting critted are 5% per hit assuming the weapon wasn't special with a nastier crit range. C) A half orc is merely a racial type. He could have had fighter levels, nasty feats, or other templates which could make him tougher than he appeared.  Knowing all this at the metagame level, the player elected to enter single combat simply to earn some coin. Sometimes, making decisions purely on metagaming factors is unwise and thinking as the character would, can avert disaster.  A long time ago in a 1E AD&D game far away, a situation like this came up in my campaign. The PC's found themselves surrounded by a hobgoblin war band. The hobgoblins were honorable (though evil) warriors and offered the PC's free passage if their chosen champion could best the hobgoblin war captain. One of the players playing a 3rd level fighter double specialized in the bastard sword accepted the challenge. The player was very cocky having rolled an actual 18/00 strength. (the only person I have ever seen do this in front of me).  What the player didn't know was that the hobgoblin was a 7th level fighter, double specialized in the flail with an 18/77 STR.  The combat was touch and go. When the hobgoblin didn't drop after 4 solid hits the player began to get nervous. His dice were on fire and he dropped the war chief, having only 3 HP left himself. After the battle, the party was allowed to pass unharmed as the hobgoblins were honorable.  I congratulated the player on defeating a 7th level fighter single-handedly and he turned almost as white as a sheet! He had no idea the war captain was anywhere near that level. He said that had he known what he was fighting then he wouldn't have volunteered.  In this case it was a lack of metagame knowledge and simply roleplaying his overly cocky fighter that saved the day.</blockquote>

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