Why You Should Know Each Other's Character Sheets
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- While it might sound like metagaming, there's a method to the madness. Join us as we explore why players should dive into the intricacies of their fellow adventurers' character sheets.
#ttrpg #dungeonsanddragons
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I'm a seasoned player who frequently plays with a high number of fairly green players. I'm also usually a DM, so knowing my players character sheets and abilities is second nature to me at this point- and as a *Player*, I think you make a lot of good points. I think from a dnd metaknowledge stand point, if I know someone in my party is a rogue, that's frequently enough for me to do some playstyle setups. So while I might not necessarily need to know what's on another player's character sheet (Stats, Feats, Etc), it's always going to be useful to know how they typically want to engage in combat- IE, "The Paladin is going to want to be up front, and making melee attacks. The rogue wants to be targeting someone who has an ally near them for sneak attack. The Wizard might need someone to body block for them in swarm fights." Etc.
I think you do a good job of differentiating between good meta knowledge (Leave a melee spot for the barbarian, pls...) and bad meta knowledge (The rogue takes half damage from Fireball, they'll be fine.) And I love the idea of player/character knowledge pushing you towards potential character beats- (The Wizard hasn't *talked* about needing a Gryphon feather, but her Player has, and my in game contact just referenced a Gryphon attack on the high pass- Maybe I'll bring it up around the dinner table.)
Great vid! Good thoughts! Pay attention to your fellow players, and your GM's hooks! The GM will thank you, and the player's will feel rewarded for their emotional investment!
Counterpoint: Sometimes you have character secrets on your sheet that you don't want other people to see. I had a game I was in on roll20 where other players could see my sheet. I got permission from the GM to lie on my sheet so I could keep some class features attached to my backstory secret. 10 sessions later, the players were super surprised and horrified when that hidden class feature came into play, and an enemy mage pulled hundreds of ghost fragments out of my body.
I prefer that my character finds out about the others in play.
Perhaps general things, such as character A is the Science Officer, who likes to play canasta, or character B is the navigator, who collects vases, would be fine.
There is no need for me to know how good their skills are, or even their characteristics, such as strength or agility.
As players, I think its good to know each other's character sheets from a technical standpoint. Some games can be really crunchy, some systems even crunchier, and it doesn't hurt to have people be familiar with your sheet, so they can help.
...But I think players need to remember that that's player knowledge, not character knowledge.
Metagaming, I think, is like Min-Maxing...
Its been tied to a negative perception, when there are types that well all aim to do... its the "munchkin'ing" thats the problem.
That's a good point!
Plus sometimes one player can’t make it but someone else can run it
Yes! Very good point