How specific do the Knowledge skills get?

[Green Eyed Liar]

I am running a module, and my party's Inquisitor exceeded the DC to know something about a monster by more than five. This means I should share some useful information.

1) Should I reveal the information in a "flavor" way, such as "the horrible monster is resistant to non-magical attacks"?

2) Should I reveal the information in a "crunch" way, such as "the horrible monster has DR 5/magic"?

[sunshadow21]

I would personally do both, with the crunch listed after the description in an ooc sort of way. This maintains the in story immersion for the characters, but allows the players to handle that particular adjustment to any attacks they make themselves, freeing you up to handle other concerns. Of course, this assumes that your players are capable of separating the character and in game actions from out of character player knowledge; if that isn't the case, you may need to adjust accordingly.

[Nicos]

Green Eyed Liar wrote:

I am running a module, and my party's Inquisitor exceeded the DC to know something about a monster by more than five. This means I should share some useful information.

1) Should I reveal the information in a "flavor" way, such as "the horrible monster is resistant to non-magical attacks"?

2) Should I reveal the information in a "crunch" way, such as "the horrible monster has DR 5/magic"?

As a DM you "should" whatever you feel you "should". Either of the two option are not bad. Choose 1 if you want some mistery choose 2 if you want the easy fast way.

[Lightbulb]

How to you run combat?

"The orc takes a blow to the face and now looks seriously wounded."

or

"The orc takes a blow to the face and now looks seriously wounded. He is reduced to 8hp."

---

I like the later to be honest. Abstracting damage or not knowing it exact hp does mean you don't 'calculate' everything but I quite like the tactical combat aspect - with cool descriptions to make it come alive.

---

tl;dr I would do both. I would also plan what to tell the PC's if they exceed the knowledge check DC by 5, 10 and 15 ahead of time. Assuming you know what opponents your party will face (which you often will).

[Ravingdork]

Both is best if you ask me.