Hello everybody,
im struggling with a method how/if my players realize the effectiveness of their weapons/spells.
Let's say:
Evil enemy with DR 10/slashing, vulnerable to fire and immun to cold, acid.
Player "1", Paladin, swings a holy greatsword +1 and smites, without knowing if the enemy is evil or not.
a) It's a slashing weapon -> she beats the DR -> but did she realize?
b) It's holy -> she makes extra damage -> but did she realize and can she tell others?
c) Her smite is functional -> she didn't know her enemy is evil, did she "feel" it right over her successful smite?
Player "2", Ranger, is firing with an +1 flaming bow.
a) Piercing weapon does not penetrate the damage reduction -> realize?
b) Fire rules -> realize?
and so on...
I've always ruled it in this way:
DR - if they attack with an inappropriate weapon-type -> "your weapon seems not to be very effective"
Vulnerabilities -> "The plant seems to be horrified by fire! Good choice!"
Immunities -> feedback if 0 damage was made
Smite -> no information if effective or not
Weapon Bonus and triggering the mentioned situations -> problematic
Specially the last part: Let's say Player "1" roles her 2d6+2d6 without knowing if her enemy is evil or not.
She roles 10+2 for 12 or 2+10 for 12 or 6+6 for 12. Ingame it would result in the exact same damage outgame she knows "Enemy is evil" (or not). And she saves on her detect evil (more important: the "action" to detect evil).
Short: Let you test your players propriate damage types and their effectivness through their weapons?
It makes the knowledge skills to identify monsters weakness obsolet.
Smite: It's clear that monsters/enemys know if they are subject of a "smite" (cause there are several abilities that can decline the smite). But does the player who smites know it?