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Whats the best way to describe/handle what the players "see" when they first encounter a monster/NPC?
[b]Example:
The Party encounters a Female Human Cleric(armed with a mace, and a couple of Bugbear Zombies.[b]
Is it best to tell them right off the back they are facing the above? Or do you describe to the PC's that they see: a female with a mace and two sickly looking beastly humanoids (or something simpler/ similar) and have them make checks to find out what class/race/monster type etc?
I have gmed mostly Homebrew (4e) games where I/we would describe the monsters outright without using checks(for class/race/etc) and interested in doing it another way, and noticed at the couple of PFS games I have played/GMed people tend to do it a little differently.
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Human woman with a mace (or probably a bit more than this, but along the same lines of visible physical appearance and actions)
Two shambling bugbear corpses. Does anyone have Knowledge (religion)?
To me, this rewards players who spend resources on skills, listen to descriptions and learn a bit about the setting. Some things are obvious to a character (visible items, unique class abilities, well-known races), others not necessarily so (difference between one kind of undead and another).
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You should describe what the characters can perceive in-game, rather than mechanical details.
Even if characters make a knowledge roll on a creature and one of the pieces of information the ask for is defenses, I'll say something like, "fire doesn't hurt it very much," instead of, "it has fire resistance 10."
In the case you give, I'd describe it as," a human woman wearing x armor and carrying a heavy mace, accompanied by two dark-furred humanoids. What you can see of their skin outside their armor appears to be rotting in places."
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PCs aren't the only ones who blow their Knowledge skill rolls...Played a game where the Judge cast a sleep spell on my (Elven) wizard.
I'm waiting for the game where the judge casts Hold Person on my Tiefling...
A party was saved one time when the GM asked for saving throws, and four people missed; the GM then told us it was Sleep, and three of us said "Elf!" or "Half-Elf!" and gleefully continued pounding on the caster. :)
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Is it best to tell them right off the back they are facing the above? Or do you describe to the PC's that they see: a female with a mace and two sickly looking beastly humanoids (or something simpler/ similar) and have them make checks to find out what class/race/monster type etc?
More like this, but every GM has a different style.
My style, I would prefer to give the PCs their first impressions of the cleric, which would mean I'd describe slightly more information (does she seem aggressive/passive, rich/poor, wearing heavy armor, robe, obvious symbol, obvious spellcaster). Sometimes it's obvious what they are, sometimes not. Perception check to see a small holy symbol is their hand.
Zombies don't look sick, they look like zombies. I'd tell everyone they look like some kind of undead and ask for K-Religion roll. Since they're just zombies (and the check is easy < DC 10), I'd probably tell them that instead of passing a note at the table.
More information is available after interacting with them of course.
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It's also a good idea to get a description of what each PC looks like as well. That way you can "introduce" them to your NPCs and monsters as well. An intelligent melee type NPC might avoid the heavily armored PC if given the freedom to choose..
Excellent point because a lot of time bad guy tactics say stuff like that. That's why I usually bring my minis and if the one the player has doesn't quite work (i.e. they have an armored fighter mini for a rogue) I'll offer them one that's more appropriate for their class. I don't force it on them naturally but I do explain that it helps me get general idea of what the bad guys are seeing.