Rping and Metagaming

[Booze Hound]

OK, so now that i think about it, I probably should have made a post about this before starting to do it, but I was too excited to get started. So here goes:

Vind is a ranger scout. He loves being a scout, and I think, and have been told that he does a really good job of it. So I have for quite a long time now played out that aspect of his character, and am always looking for new ways to do it. About a month or so ago, I came up with a new way to do it and add a lot of Rp to my character. A different animal companion. A hawk.

Ranger animal companions are basicaly useless for combat situations, but I was wanting to have one, because he is often wandering the forests alone IC, and an animal friend would be great to keep him from going crazy. So I thought of the hawk, and how perfect it would be to help with him being the best scout in all of Cormyr. And it works beautifully.

What i did today was this: When the party gathered (me Ravenna, Gial, Crom, and Keetena) I emoted a few things about the hawk flying down, and I summoned it, introducing it to the party. I then unsommoned him, but RP'd that he was flying high overhead. Then as we travelled in the outdoors, I had a macro say *Keehar shrieks from above warning of danger* I would do this in places where I knew OOC that a spawn would occur, but the hawk could see it from above. we were then able to prepare for battle, and did very well. The rest of the group thought it was a smart way to use the hawk, and I was happy with it too.

So, I want to make sure that this is cool, and to let people know how I am working this. I don't use him indoors, and he is obviously not infallable, and I will Rp the hell out of it, as most of you know. So anyway, let me know if this is not cool.

Sorry this was so long. Thanks!

[kenny26]

how accurate is your knowledge of the spawn positions?
'cause most of the time you can just sort of guess that a spawn is gonna be triggered, but you can't really narrow it doen unless you've been therre before, and know where the spawns occur.
if you have been there before, then knowing the position of the spawns in that area is not metagaming. it can be rp'ed simply by saying "i've seen trolls wander about in these parts of the forest before..."

so please explain to me how excactely you can know in advance where the monsters will hsow ooc, but not ic...

[Booze Hound]

it's just a way of saying what you just said. in places i know, and have been to before, i know of the spawn locations, and can have Keehar shriek about them.
like i said he is not perfect, so in places where I have never been, things like foliage, and such can keep him from seeing things. so anyway, that's about it. I have just come up with a new way of saying "trolls are often around here" by having a hawk spot them for me and now I can say "Keehar is circling just up the hill to our left"

[DM Valkyrie]

I don't see a great problem with this, the RP idea sounds great. However, always remember, your hawk won't be perfect, and it takes just one curious DM to wander by and ....um....spice up ...the area... ;D

[Booze Hound]

awesome, just the response I was hoping to get from one of you DMs. I had a feelong that something like this might make playing "fool the hawk" a near irresistable game for a few of you guys. Thanks ;D