Ideally the encounter is built in such a way that you don't have a plethora of pointless of grinding fights that the player don't really care about.
This is something to remember - and it kind of really highlights the lack of a system in 5e for handing large scale combats, where you'd likely have lots of "trash mob" creatures as well.
There's nothing wrong with ending a combat when the "narratively interesting" part of the combat had ended, and it's clear that the party is going to mop up - just ask the party how they want to mop up ( are they going to capture, or spare any of the goblin raiders? ) and describe the rest in a sentence.
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I think giving players that knowledge OUT OF CHARACTER is fine. If its something where their characters know 'oh, I need to roll an 8 to hit this skeleton' or 'that ogre has 10 health left'.... then it starts getting weird and you cant really give an in-game explanation for it (though of course, if you are just joking around with the idea of that, its fine).
If you have the monster stats printed out just to show players what the monster can do for consistency, and to help keep the game moving thats all well and good.
The only major complication I could see for that is if your players do something you absolutely do not expect and you dont have a stat block at the ready. Other than that, if thats something your players think they would enjoy- go right on ahead.
Also worth noting that if having the statblocks shown are causing a break in immersion or other issues with players feeling like it takes away from how they view encounters or what they get out of the game, then you should look to make changes or remove them.
I would not recommend telling players the monsters' stats. There are some high-level PC abilities that let them figure out stats, and it cheapens these if they just know them automatically. Part of the fun, especially with new players, is letting them figure out what works and what doesn't. If they know, for example, that flesh golems are healed by lightning, then they won't use lightning, but why should they know that? Keep the stats of your monsters a mystery.
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Players get AC if they ask. That's it. And that's only because it makes combat faster and they'll figure it out anyways.
It isn't that I don't want them to have some nebulous advantage. They'll be in 10,000 more combats before this game is over, knowing goblins can withdraw as a bonus action isn't going to kill their immersion. It's that I don't want them thinking of monsters as a collection of numbers. I slightly adjust EVERY monster. Just a tiny bit. + or - 15 HP, raise or drop AC by 2. Just random changes to everything from the stat block. I certainly don't want some dude counting HP in his head and calling me on that shit, because then I have to tell one of my players to piss off and I'd rather not do that. I don't deal with rules lawyers, and they're easier not to deal with if they don't know anything.
I don’t share anything, but when they lower a monster to low health, I like to hint it by saying things like “The Aarakocra’s movements begin to act more sluggishly.” This helps give the players an idea towards how close they are to victory.
The DM's job is to describe and recreate "realistically" what the player's characters would see in_game (fantasizing, of course). So if player cannot see in the dark, will see nothing in a dark room, etc.
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This is something to remember - and it kind of really highlights the lack of a system in 5e for handing large scale combats, where you'd likely have lots of "trash mob" creatures as well.
There's nothing wrong with ending a combat when the "narratively interesting" part of the combat had ended, and it's clear that the party is going to mop up - just ask the party how they want to mop up ( are they going to capture, or spare any of the goblin raiders? ) and describe the rest in a sentence.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
I think giving players that knowledge OUT OF CHARACTER is fine. If its something where their characters know 'oh, I need to roll an 8 to hit this skeleton' or 'that ogre has 10 health left'.... then it starts getting weird and you cant really give an in-game explanation for it (though of course, if you are just joking around with the idea of that, its fine).
If you have the monster stats printed out just to show players what the monster can do for consistency, and to help keep the game moving thats all well and good.
The only major complication I could see for that is if your players do something you absolutely do not expect and you dont have a stat block at the ready. Other than that, if thats something your players think they would enjoy- go right on ahead.
Also worth noting that if having the statblocks shown are causing a break in immersion or other issues with players feeling like it takes away from how they view encounters or what they get out of the game, then you should look to make changes or remove them.
I would not recommend telling players the monsters' stats. There are some high-level PC abilities that let them figure out stats, and it cheapens these if they just know them automatically. Part of the fun, especially with new players, is letting them figure out what works and what doesn't. If they know, for example, that flesh golems are healed by lightning, then they won't use lightning, but why should they know that? Keep the stats of your monsters a mystery.
Are you a DM in need of advice? Want to get it from a DM of nearly 40 years of experience who happens to be an anthropomorphic bear? Join the thousands of readers at the DM's Den. New articles every week. Questions answered! Answers questioned! http://dmsden.tumblr.com
Players get AC if they ask. That's it. And that's only because it makes combat faster and they'll figure it out anyways.
It isn't that I don't want them to have some nebulous advantage. They'll be in 10,000 more combats before this game is over, knowing goblins can withdraw as a bonus action isn't going to kill their immersion. It's that I don't want them thinking of monsters as a collection of numbers. I slightly adjust EVERY monster. Just a tiny bit. + or - 15 HP, raise or drop AC by 2. Just random changes to everything from the stat block. I certainly don't want some dude counting HP in his head and calling me on that shit, because then I have to tell one of my players to piss off and I'd rather not do that. I don't deal with rules lawyers, and they're easier not to deal with if they don't know anything.
"The only difference between reality and fiction is that fiction needs to be credible."
- Mark Twain
I don’t share anything, but when they lower a monster to low health, I like to hint it by saying things like “The Aarakocra’s movements begin to act more sluggishly.” This helps give the players an idea towards how close they are to victory.
The DM's job is to describe and recreate "realistically" what the player's characters would see in_game (fantasizing, of course). So if player cannot see in the dark, will see nothing in a dark room, etc.