Shield block

Do you get told the amount of damage before choosing to block or choose without knowing the total damage?

You get told the amount of damage.

You get told the amount of damage.

That's what I say too, but is there a specific set of text in the rules for me to point out to a group member that disagrees and says it's meta gaming to know the number before choosing?

Captain Morgan wrote:

You get told the amount of damage.

That's what I say too, but is there a specific set of text in the rules for me to point out to a group member that disagrees and says it's meta gaming to know the number before choosing?

It's been stated by the designers few times. If you go through Mark Seifter's posts long enough you'll probably find it.

Do you get told the amount of damage before choosing to block or choose without knowing the total damage?

I think there is a rule saying you can hear the damage first in the shield block feat, but if it doesn't say it still not meta gaming that much, that is like someone saying asking someones health is meta gaming

that is like someone saying asking someones health is meta gaming

And many people consider that metagaming too. It depends on the group and the rules you are using. 2E does remove the stigma with a number of things that were considered metagaming in 1E. Those rules come right out and say, or at least strongly suggest, that some metagaming is expected in 2E. If you make people use the shield reaction without knowing the damage first, no one will ever do it. The risk of losing the shield and the +2 to AC is too high.

The rule that tells us that you know the damage before you choose whether or not to use Shield Block is the step-by-step process of damage found on page 450 of the core rules.

Specifically; Step 4 "If any damage remains, reduce the target's Hit Points by that amount" of those rules combined with "you would take damage" from the Shield Block trigger description. You can't get to the point of knowing you would take damage without also knowing the value of that damage.

This has been discussed a bunch of times. To quote myself from an earlier thread...

It's triggered when you 'would take damage from a physical attack', which is step four of damage, after applying resistances, immunities or the like (if an attack did 4 piercing damage and 6 fire damage to a skeleton, but the skeleton had Piercing Resistance 5, it would take no physical damage, for instance). Thus, you should know exactly how much damage is coming of what types, from how I read the book.

And ninjaed while I looked it up. Ah, well.

Captain Morgan wrote:

You get told the amount of damage.

That's what I say too, but is there a specific set of text in the rules for me to point out to a group member that disagrees and says it's meta gaming to know the number before choosing?

SHIELD BLOCK [reaction] FEAT 1

GENERAL
Trigger: While you have your shield raised, you would take
damage from a physical attack.
You snap your shield in place to ward off a blow. Your shield
prevents you from taking an amount of damage up to the
shield’s Hardness. You and the shield each take any remaining
damage, possibly breaking or destroying the shield.

Damage

In the midst of combat, you attempt checks to determine
if you can damage your foe with weapons, spells, or
alchemical concoctions. On a successful check, you hit
and deal damage. Damage decreases a creature’s Hit
Points on a 1-to-1 basis (so a creature that takes 6 damage
loses 6 Hit Points). The full rules can be found in the Hit
Points, Healing, and Dying section on page 459.
Damage is sometimes given as a fixed amount, but more
often than not you’ll make a damage roll to determine
how much damage you deal. A damage roll typically uses
a number and type of dice determined by the weapon
or unarmed attack used or the spell cast, and it is often
enhanced by various modifiers, bonuses, and penalties.
Like checks, a damage roll—especially a melee weapon
damage roll—is often modified by a number of modifiers,
penalties, and bonuses. When making a damage roll, you
take the following steps, explained in detail below.

1. Roll the dice indicated by the weapon, unarmed
attack, or spell, and apply the modifiers, bonuses,
and penalties that apply to the result of the roll.
2. Determine the damage type.
3. Apply the target’s immunities, weaknesses, and
resistances to the damage.
4. If any damage remains, reduce the target’s Hit
Points by that amount.

You don't take damage until step 4. Shield Block triggers when you would take damage. It is impossible to get to step 4 without knowing the damage.

some people (a lot of them actually) get too hung up on what is or isn't "metagaming" and forget to let things which their character absolutely should have an idea of translate.

Relevant example: You getting to know how much damage your attacker is doing before you commit to blocking with your shield let's your character be able to see how threatening their opponent's attack appears to be.

Not having the damage total leaves your character blindly guessing at whether the attacks coming toward them are trivial slaps, bone-crushing thuds, or somewhere in between.

And the worst is when the player is trying so hard to not "metagame" that they actually do use just as much of the out-of-character information but deliberately make a bad choice for their character with it - like unintentionally seeing the big dice pool rolled for damage by a monster, not wanting the allegedly unfair advantage of their character thinking "that looked extremely dangerous" and then making whichever choice is worse for their character (could be not blocking and getting knocked out as a result, or blocking when clearly that'd destroy the magical shield they don't want to lose).