I have been DMing a group for about a year now. One of the players plays intermittently. When she is not there, her husband plays her character. Overall it's a great group and we have a lot of fun, but there are times when she asks questions that I need to answer better. As an example, there was an encounter with a creature they had not seen before ( a pixie). She has an amulet that gives her advantage on CHA checks with nature aligned creatures, which this pixie is, but she doesn't know if it is or not. So, she asks, "Will I have advantage on this if I do a CHA check?" Fair enough question, and I answered "You don't know this creature, so you may or may not have advantage."
She thought I was being evasive, and to be honest I thought she was trying to metagame a little, as she has asked questions like this before. I know she is a noob, for all intents and purposes, so I need to find a better way to answer her questions, and maybe coach her to ask them better, like "I am going to make a CHA check. If this is a nature aligned creature, I have advantage."
The two ways I could see of approaching the specific example given above is to either say "It is a nature aligned creature." or have her do a nature check to see if her character knows if the creature is nature based. If she succeeds on the nature check, then she knows that the creature is nature based, if she fails then say "your character doesn't know if the creature is nature based."
I honestly wouldn't worry about meta gaming with someone who is so new. That can come later when they have more experience with D&D and roleplaying in general. With new players you kind of have to just accept that there is going to be some form of meta gaming going on since they'll want to stuff as a player as well as a character. If they ask about something then just tell them (within reason of course), and then let them have fun making informed choices and decisons.
It depends how strict you are with metagaming for experienced players.
Do your experianced players tend to use meta knowledge to choose actions that are advantagious, for example how often does does a caster with two offensive cantrips use the optimal one when their character is facing a creature for the first time.
I would tend to give a player an ability check for "meta" knowledge. In this example I would ask them to roll a nature check and if they meet the DC they will have heard / read about pixies or maybe see similarities to something else they have encountered. (This also works for experianced players to get the balance betwwen meta gaming and anti-meta gaming (e.g. making bad decisions to avoid looking as if you are meta gaming). If you don't wan't to use ability rols I would de careful to differentiate between the player and the character, in this case say "your character has not meant this type of creature before so does not know whether it is neutral or not".
The two ways I could see of approaching the specific example given above is to either say "It is a nature aligned creature." or have her do a nature check to see if her character knows if the creature is nature based. If she succeeds on the nature check, then she knows that the creature is nature based, if she fails then say "your character doesn't know if the creature is nature based."
Yes, definitely encourage her to ask question like "is it a nature aligned creature?" rather than asking directly if an ability will work.
Err... in my games I'd like to think I'd say it's rather more important what you want to say to this strange creature Pixie and when it comes to any appropriate check intimidation persuasion I'll say if you have advantage but thanks for reminding me about the amulet...
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“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
If it's something that the Character would or should have known, I would probably just give the information to the player. As far as encountering creatures that they - the group - had not seen before, I can see being abstract when answering that question. If you consider that the player has not been with the group the entire time, there exists the possibility that the player will not know what the character knows in game.
If you are going to coach your players, coach them to describe their actions instead of dictating to you what skill applies to what thing they wanna do. Players describe action, DM adjudicates. Those are the rules.
I can also see some validity in using Nature or History to determine if the PC would be able to lean on book learnin or ledgends and myth to discern the creature they face.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
"Will I have advantage on this if I do a CHA check?"
"That's a really good question! What could we check to see if your character knows the answer?"
Nature, Perception, Insight, and History... might all be used if they might provide a fun way forward. Otherwise, if it could also be fun for you, just give the answer.
Err... in my games I'd like to think I'd say it's rather more important what you want to say to this strange creature Pixie and when it comes to any appropriate check intimidation persuasion I'll say if you have advantage but thanks for reminding me about the amulet...
Knowing whether you had advantage might influence how you went about your deception, intimidation, performance or persuasion within what you might want to say.
Err... in my games I'd like to think I'd say it's rather more important what you want to say to this strange creature Pixie and when it comes to any appropriate check intimidation persuasion I'll say if you have advantage but thanks for reminding me about the amulet...
Knowing whether you had advantage might influence how you went about your deception, intimidation, performance or persuasion within what you might want to say.
True True I was just giving an honest answer to OP of what I might say in that situation... trying to emphasis the RP
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“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
Heavily disagree with most of the answers in this thread, assuming that the specific wording the OP used is correct.
She has an amulet that gives her advantage on CHA checks with nature aligned creatures, which this pixie is, but she doesn't know if it is or not.
The amulet functions without the knowledge of the character. The item may be poorly designed, in that it requires the DM to reveal a creature's alignment when checks are being made, but that's not the player's fault. You get a similar thing where Bloodhunters get advantage tracking certain types of creature. They should get the advantage whether or not they know what they're tracking - its tracks are its tracks.
One thing you can do is say: "You aren't sure. Roll once, give me the number, then roll again. If you had advantage, I'll use the highest number. If you didn't, I'll just use the first number."
assuming that the specific wording the OP used is correct she asks, "Will I have advantage on this if I do a CHA check?" which is the kind of thing that might become relevant if she decides to "do a CHA check".
A respose "You aren't sure" is little different from "You don't know".
Err... in my games I'd like to think I'd say it's rather more important what you want to say to this strange creature Pixie and when it comes to any appropriate check intimidation persuasion I'll say if you have advantage but thanks for reminding me about the amulet...
Knowing whether you had advantage might influence how you went about your deception, intimidation, performance or persuasion within what you might want to say.
Good point, and in a situation where the player is comfortable in her character's knowledge, she does that well. This was definitely an error on my part.
Heavily disagree with most of the answers in this thread, assuming that the specific wording the OP used is correct.
She has an amulet that gives her advantage on CHA checks with nature aligned creatures, which this pixie is, but she doesn't know if it is or not.
The amulet functions without the knowledge of the character. The item may be poorly designed, in that it requires the DM to reveal a creature's alignment when checks are being made, but that's not the player's fault. You get a similar thing where Bloodhunters get advantage tracking certain types of creature. They should get the advantage whether or not they know what they're tracking - its tracks are its tracks.
One thing you can do is say: "You aren't sure. Roll once, give me the number, then roll again. If you had advantage, I'll use the highest number. If you didn't, I'll just use the first number."
I think you are shifting this a little. As a DM, I don't remember every advantage/disadvantage they have off the top of my head. Funnily enough, we have a bloodhunter character and he has asked the question on if it is a fey, fiend or undead enough that I remember it, but for the rogue, nature aligned, I did not remember it. And there is no way to get an advantage on an alignment designed in homebrew as far as I know. So, while I have no issue with her reminding me, it is how she asks the question that was my concern.
If she says, "I want to make a CHA (Persuasion) check. if it is a nature aligned creature, I have advantage" that is great. If she says "I want to make a CHA (Persuasion) check if it is a nature aligned creature, as I have advantage" that is the issue.
As I said before, she is a noob and I need to coach her better, to get to the point where the conversation is more like, Her: "Do I know if this is a nature aligned creature?" Me: "Roll <whatever roll seems appropriate>." Result comes out. Her: Takes action as she sees fit based on result of roll... maybe tries for persuasion, maybe for intimidation, or maybe just gets all stabby...
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I have been DMing a group for about a year now. One of the players plays intermittently. When she is not there, her husband plays her character. Overall it's a great group and we have a lot of fun, but there are times when she asks questions that I need to answer better. As an example, there was an encounter with a creature they had not seen before ( a pixie). She has an amulet that gives her advantage on CHA checks with nature aligned creatures, which this pixie is, but she doesn't know if it is or not. So, she asks, "Will I have advantage on this if I do a CHA check?" Fair enough question, and I answered "You don't know this creature, so you may or may not have advantage."
She thought I was being evasive, and to be honest I thought she was trying to metagame a little, as she has asked questions like this before. I know she is a noob, for all intents and purposes, so I need to find a better way to answer her questions, and maybe coach her to ask them better, like "I am going to make a CHA check. If this is a nature aligned creature, I have advantage."
Suggestions?
The two ways I could see of approaching the specific example given above is to either say "It is a nature aligned creature." or have her do a nature check to see if her character knows if the creature is nature based. If she succeeds on the nature check, then she knows that the creature is nature based, if she fails then say "your character doesn't know if the creature is nature based."
I honestly wouldn't worry about meta gaming with someone who is so new. That can come later when they have more experience with D&D and roleplaying in general. With new players you kind of have to just accept that there is going to be some form of meta gaming going on since they'll want to stuff as a player as well as a character. If they ask about something then just tell them (within reason of course), and then let them have fun making informed choices and decisons.
It depends how strict you are with metagaming for experienced players.
Do your experianced players tend to use meta knowledge to choose actions that are advantagious, for example how often does does a caster with two offensive cantrips use the optimal one when their character is facing a creature for the first time.
I would tend to give a player an ability check for "meta" knowledge. In this example I would ask them to roll a nature check and if they meet the DC they will have heard / read about pixies or maybe see similarities to something else they have encountered. (This also works for experianced players to get the balance betwwen meta gaming and anti-meta gaming (e.g. making bad decisions to avoid looking as if you are meta gaming). If you don't wan't to use ability rols I would de careful to differentiate between the player and the character, in this case say "your character has not meant this type of creature before so does not know whether it is neutral or not".
Yes, definitely encourage her to ask question like "is it a nature aligned creature?" rather than asking directly if an ability will work.
Err... in my games I'd like to think I'd say it's rather more important what you want to say to this strange creature Pixie and when it comes to any appropriate check intimidation persuasion I'll say if you have advantage but thanks for reminding me about the amulet...
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
If it's something that the Character would or should have known, I would probably just give the information to the player. As far as encountering creatures that they - the group - had not seen before, I can see being abstract when answering that question. If you consider that the player has not been with the group the entire time, there exists the possibility that the player will not know what the character knows in game.
If you are going to coach your players, coach them to describe their actions instead of dictating to you what skill applies to what thing they wanna do. Players describe action, DM adjudicates. Those are the rules.
I can also see some validity in using Nature or History to determine if the PC would be able to lean on book learnin or ledgends and myth to discern the creature they face.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
"Will I have advantage on this if I do a CHA check?"
"That's a really good question! What could we check to see if your character knows the answer?"
Nature, Perception, Insight, and History... might all be used if they might provide a fun way forward. Otherwise, if it could also be fun for you, just give the answer.
Knowing whether you had advantage might influence how you went about your deception, intimidation, performance or persuasion within what you might want to say.
True True I was just giving an honest answer to OP of what I might say in that situation... trying to emphasis the RP
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
Heavily disagree with most of the answers in this thread, assuming that the specific wording the OP used is correct.
She has an amulet that gives her advantage on CHA checks with nature aligned creatures, which this pixie is, but she doesn't know if it is or not.
The amulet functions without the knowledge of the character. The item may be poorly designed, in that it requires the DM to reveal a creature's alignment when checks are being made, but that's not the player's fault. You get a similar thing where Bloodhunters get advantage tracking certain types of creature. They should get the advantage whether or not they know what they're tracking - its tracks are its tracks.
One thing you can do is say: "You aren't sure. Roll once, give me the number, then roll again. If you had advantage, I'll use the highest number. If you didn't, I'll just use the first number."
assuming that the specific wording the OP used is correct she asks, "Will I have advantage on this if I do a CHA check?" which is the kind of thing that might become relevant if she decides to "do a CHA check".
A respose "You aren't sure" is little different from "You don't know".
Good point, and in a situation where the player is comfortable in her character's knowledge, she does that well. This was definitely an error on my part.
Thanks everyone for the great answers! Definitely an error on my part that I can improve on.
I think you are shifting this a little. As a DM, I don't remember every advantage/disadvantage they have off the top of my head. Funnily enough, we have a bloodhunter character and he has asked the question on if it is a fey, fiend or undead enough that I remember it, but for the rogue, nature aligned, I did not remember it. And there is no way to get an advantage on an alignment designed in homebrew as far as I know. So, while I have no issue with her reminding me, it is how she asks the question that was my concern.
If she says, "I want to make a CHA (Persuasion) check. if it is a nature aligned creature, I have advantage" that is great.
If she says "I want to make a CHA (Persuasion) check if it is a nature aligned creature, as I have advantage" that is the issue.
As I said before, she is a noob and I need to coach her better, to get to the point where the conversation is more like,
Her: "Do I know if this is a nature aligned creature?"
Me: "Roll <whatever roll seems appropriate>." Result comes out.
Her: Takes action as she sees fit based on result of roll... maybe tries for persuasion, maybe for intimidation, or maybe just gets all stabby...