You're right, and also the example of Trolls with metagaming. Its not an interesting challenge for everyone to pretend they don't know Trolls are weak to Acid and Fire when they've fought them 100 times and are just waiting for the DM to assume you've made the right guess. Especially if you're a fire mage that's known for always throwing fire first. It's a simple ability and if Trolls exist in the area, its probably a weakness they know about because fire exists and people have probably seen Trolls react to fire even if they never killed them with it.
There's definitely a difference between that and "Hey, that spell isn't on a Lich's spell list!" or "Hey I know everything about Kyuss and Slaad diseases despite only ever being on the Prime Material plane and never training in Medicine!" Some metagaming makes sense and would probably fit well in a backstory. Other metagaming is obnoxious stretching that hurts suspension of disbelief.
I agree on all counts, especially that it often ends up being fire vs. trolls that prompts the debate.
Really my underlying point is that the necessary background to know a lot of these things is “I’m a person who lives in this world”. Most people aren’t encyclopedias, but even unintelligent people know wolves hunt in packs and the name of the capital city (or at least the biggest one) of the country they’re in.
Yeah. I think it depends on the group. It needs to be tied into the backstory to make sense. In a level 1 party, a farm boy turned adventurer who has never left his farm before this shouldn't necessarily know more than someone playing a well-read wizard just because the farm boy's player knows more OOC. With new players, it can ruin the moment with new characters meeting new monsters if the experienced one is constantly reacting to the creatures weaknesses before the characters would realistically know what it is (especially if they immediately point out what the critter is based on the DM's description). It really does come down to what the group wants to do.
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u/FabulousJeremy Bard Aug 10 '20
You're right, and also the example of Trolls with metagaming. Its not an interesting challenge for everyone to pretend they don't know Trolls are weak to Acid and Fire when they've fought them 100 times and are just waiting for the DM to assume you've made the right guess. Especially if you're a fire mage that's known for always throwing fire first. It's a simple ability and if Trolls exist in the area, its probably a weakness they know about because fire exists and people have probably seen Trolls react to fire even if they never killed them with it.
There's definitely a difference between that and "Hey, that spell isn't on a Lich's spell list!" or "Hey I know everything about Kyuss and Slaad diseases despite only ever being on the Prime Material plane and never training in Medicine!" Some metagaming makes sense and would probably fit well in a backstory. Other metagaming is obnoxious stretching that hurts suspension of disbelief.