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| Do you hide NPCs stats? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 6 2016, 09:51 AM (2,131 Views) | |
| Kaede11 | Jun 6 2016, 09:51 AM Post #1 |
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Unlucky GM
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This is a question for other GMs purely out of curiosity... Do you hide your NPC stats when playing? I sometimes try to do it, but my players usually start calculating the total damage output to discover their attack and sp.attack stats... I know I could hide my rolls, but we enjoy when everyone can see the dices rolling on the table, even if that means the GM can't cheat to help the players if something goes utterly wrong. Defense is somewhat easier to keep secret, but I really don't know if it adds a lot to the matter hiding it from the players. If the stats are known they usually help with the math which makes combat run faster and it's easier to just focus on the battle. The same is true with Speed stats. I could keep them hidden, but it's just easier to say out loud the initiative numbers and let the players make the turn order list. What do you do? Do you keep it secret? Do you think is it really game changing? |
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| BatiroAtrain | Jun 6 2016, 10:03 AM Post #2 |
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Pyramid King
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That's a huge metagaming habit that I would stop at my table if it was occurring. Mechanical knowledge like that should not translate to IC knowledge so directly. If your PCs take a strong hit, their characters should think 'that was a strong hit, I probably shouldn't take that again'. It shouldn't be 'he used Water Gun, so his Special Attack is 15, therefore I can take 3 more hits before going down', if that's what's happening. As a GM, it's definitely best to keep the stats of your NPCs hidden as much as possible, if not for your own benefit (changing things around to make things more balanced or challenging; your players don't need to know if you do this), then to keep your players from doing what you're describing. You can kind of circumvent this by saying your opponents are using 'a forceful stream of water' instead of Water Gun, or 'an incredibly fast dash attack' instead of Quick Attack, but if it's bothering you (as it would me), just tell them to stop because it limits the amount of fun and surprise of things you can throw at them if they just meta-figure everything. Edited by BatiroAtrain, Jun 6 2016, 10:06 AM.
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| Punkish Rogue | Jun 6 2016, 10:04 AM Post #3 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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I've never had a huge problem with it because I have a small group and it speeds combat up. I can see the issue in other groups, but given that we try to speed up combat as much as possible, them trying to work out numbers is fine with me. I would never explicitly say the stats though
Edited by Punkish Rogue, Jun 6 2016, 10:09 AM.
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| Flamewolf9 | Jun 6 2016, 12:23 PM Post #4 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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Before I give my opinion, if you have an issue with it then talk to your fellow players about it. Maybe they enjoy the practice of figuring out the metadata of their opponents and see what kinds of interesting combinations can be made. Maybe it's so they can end the battle as soon as possible and get on to more fun aspects of the game. Could be something else all together. If it doesn't bother you, then play on. ![]() I make no effort to nor am bothered if players figure them out. Battles against a particular opponent such a small part of the game that it really doesn't matter in the long run. Long Answer
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| Kaede11 | Jun 6 2016, 03:31 PM Post #5 |
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Unlucky GM
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It's not that I'm that bothered with it, in fact, one of the players really enjoys figuring out the stats of enemy pokémon, he just thinks it's fun and other players don't care about it. Anyway I try to make it difficult for them to guess the stats of the enemies because as BatiroAtrain said, it feels like metagaming. But I don't get mad if they figure it out. I just wanted to know how other GMs deal with it. |
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| Couch | Jun 8 2016, 12:01 AM Post #6 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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HP at least is useful to keep public, either as the raw value or as a percentage like in the games, since knowing what amount of HP an opponent's at is an important factor in capturing. Generally in the games I play in the other stats aren't disclosed, but we're told the damage and then apply our defense stats manually so it's fairly easy to tell the general band of an opponent's attack and defense stats. Calculating the actual numbers in the middle of battle isn't all that useful for the effort, the important thing is to figure out "this Pokemon has high SpAtk and Def but low SpDef". |
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| Dark Shadow | Jun 8 2016, 12:27 AM Post #7 |
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Reploid
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I don't reveal HP, but what I do make sure to do is reveal every time an opponent takes one (or more) injuries, so that players have a rough estimation of things. If a Pokémon has taken 1 injury, then that means you've managed to get it past 50% hp. If 2 injuries, then it's taken 50% damage with a single attack. I find this works, more or less, because it still removes actuall knowledge of HP/DEF/SPDEF combinations. |
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| Kaede11 | Jun 8 2016, 01:26 AM Post #8 |
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Unlucky GM
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I find HP to be one of the best stats to keep hidden just for drama and tension. I know it's useful for catching pokemon but I prefer to tell my players something like "The poochyena looks winded and is obviously in pain" than Poochyena has 1 HP left. It just adds to the experience - or that's what I feel. |
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| Gamesdisk | Jun 8 2016, 09:23 AM Post #9 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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I dont normally stat anything. I just run it on what feels right. Weak mon take 1 hit, Med pokemon a few, High mon will need to be hit by everyone a few times. |
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| Lord Fhalkyn | Jun 8 2016, 08:03 PM Post #10 |
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The one and the only
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I hide the NPC stats, and there are several reasons behind it. First, if the PCs are having too easy a time of it, I can easily sneak in abilities that the NPC may not have already had, to make the fight a bit harder and challenge them more (but as a rule, I never add something I cannot explain away in-game.) Second, it helps me fudge the rolls; for example, if the NPC gets 3 crits in a row, I can secretly turn one crit into a normal hit (that being said, there are times when I don't. Getting creamed by the main antagonist is tragic, but can be incentive to come back for more, with a bit of training. Having a random minion mysteriously do four times as much damage as it normally can is just unfair.) |
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