Nothing is going to stop them from looking up the information elsewhere to get all the stats. Trying to hide information from players these days is pointless, unless you create a brand new item from scratch and never share it with anyone else on the internet.
If you wanted to be sneaky, you could use homebrew items and reference it as "Longsword +2" With an Identity tag of 6F23E934FF (all items could have unique identity tags). The identity tag could be tied to a specific DM and Player as part of the generation of a specific item's identity tag. Then have a way for the DM to keep track of cursed or special circumstance items such that when they look at a character sheet for one of their players, for the DM's login the identity tag shows the full stats and conditions. For anyone else's login they only show the player stats. Once it's hidden properties are realized, the player can be updated to have a "Longsword +2 (cursed)" with an identity tag of 6F23D094FC so that the full stats are visible.
Something like that anyway. Not sure how workable it would be. You might be able to do something similar with the copyright material, but I'm not sure they would have the leeway to do so. Just a thought. This would even address BenDunno's metagaming players issue. There are some things you really can't hide from players though. "Sure, it's a prosthetic eye! There are all kinds of magic eyes out there. Some of them so good you can't even tell they aren't natural. Give it a shot, what's the worst that could happen?"
It would be great if within the app you could establish your different D&D groups, and separate the roles between players and DM, this could allow DM to send info to all or some players to avoid meta, and to picture things better. For example, DM should be able to send redacted info on an item they find or a picture of the monster in the encounter, etc. Or even chat when the party is divided or something like that. I remember exchanging papers between the DM and the players to avoid metagaming some stuff and made hilarious sessions.
That's simply a lot of extra work for no benefit, because if a player is going to meta-game, they're going to just look it up elsewhere on any number of the other sites out there that already exist. Any effort made towards displaying things differently for players is just wasted time they could be using to improve something else on the site that actually has value.
YES, if players are going to have the ability to link or download personalized content, especially magic items and monsters, then a DM / PLAYER access option would be fantastic. Practically all magic items in my campaign have distinct differences from the original, or players have only discovered (not identified) a single special property of an item. (Example; players find a new evocation spell. They quickly figure out what comparative level that it is, what type of damage, range, but not the details, such as specific number of dice of damage, any dice rolls for additional effects such as stun, etc., as well as saving throw ability score that is used for the spell.)
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DM/Player: 37 years.
Longest Running Campaign with the same group of players; 15 years.
As a player, I have read and reread the DMG & MM many times. While playing I COULD use my knowledge to my advantage (e.g. resistances, etc.) But I don't. It is one of the hardest habits to cultivate, but the 'what does my Character know' role play method is key. It can spoil everyone's fun (including mine) if I 'break' the game, knowing what's behind the curtain. The suggested feature would be great, but as stated above players could always find stuff, especially outside of a session. DM'S would be advised to caution players against looking up info, for their own good.
That's simply a lot of extra work for no benefit, because if a player is going to meta-game, they're going to just look it up elsewhere on any number of the other sites out there that already exist. Any effort made towards displaying things differently for players is just wasted time they could be using to improve something else on the site that actually has value.
At the end of the day, that's fine if the devs decide it isn't worth the time/cost to implement. But if people like the idea & think its a good one, then we should show our support for it. If enough of the userbase think it might be valuable, they can take that into account.
As you've said, there's no point account for cheaty/metagamey players. This idea isn't for them. It's for DMs who want to give out limited info to players they trust not to just buy a DMG or MM and write down HP & AC values. If one group is going to cheat regardless, there's no point considering them.
I agree with this suggestion. Having the option to see Monster information from a DM perspective and a Player perspective would be great. Players that really want to find the information will find it out one way or another but building this option will give that level of separation that the printed materials do.
There is no level of separation in the Monster Manual. The MM is for DM's, not players. Same here. It is an absolute waste of time for them to spend any resources on adding player only compendium links.
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It would be great if within the app you could establish your different D&D groups, and separate the roles between players and DM, this could allow DM to send info to all or some players to avoid meta, and to picture things better. For example, DM should be able to send redacted info on an item they find or a picture of the monster in the encounter, etc. Or even chat when the party is divided or something like that. I remember exchanging papers between the DM and the players to avoid metagaming some stuff and made hilarious sessions.
That's simply a lot of extra work for no benefit, because if a player is going to meta-game, they're going to just look it up elsewhere on any number of the other sites out there that already exist. Any effort made towards displaying things differently for players is just wasted time they could be using to improve something else on the site that actually has value.
YES, if players are going to have the ability to link or download personalized content, especially magic items and monsters, then a DM / PLAYER access option would be fantastic. Practically all magic items in my campaign have distinct differences from the original, or players have only discovered (not identified) a single special property of an item. (Example; players find a new evocation spell. They quickly figure out what comparative level that it is, what type of damage, range, but not the details, such as specific number of dice of damage, any dice rolls for additional effects such as stun, etc., as well as saving throw ability score that is used for the spell.)
DM/Player: 37 years.
Longest Running Campaign with the same group of players; 15 years.
As a player, I have read and reread the DMG & MM many times. While playing I COULD use my knowledge to my advantage (e.g. resistances, etc.) But I don't. It is one of the hardest habits to cultivate, but the 'what does my Character know' role play method is key. It can spoil everyone's fun (including mine) if I 'break' the game, knowing what's behind the curtain. The suggested feature would be great, but as stated above players could always find stuff, especially outside of a session. DM'S would be advised to caution players against looking up info, for their own good.
I agree with this suggestion. Having the option to see Monster information from a DM perspective and a Player perspective would be great. Players that really want to find the information will find it out one way or another but building this option will give that level of separation that the printed materials do.
There is no level of separation in the Monster Manual. The MM is for DM's, not players. Same here. It is an absolute waste of time for them to spend any resources on adding player only compendium links.