[RPG] DM advice for a very specific type of one-off

dnd-5egm-techniquesone-shot

Uncertain Identity/Memory Loss Scenario

I'm going to run a one-off adventure where the players are given nearly blank character sheets and must investigate my small sandbox to discover who their characters are. For example, they'd need to do ability checks to find out their ability scores, listen to NPC reactions ("not very often I see people travelling with a tiefling" without indicating who the tiefling is) and such indirect means of revealing who they are.

The end goal is for the players to figure out what their race and class is, to win a small prize at the end of the session.

Set up

  1. The players will know their level, sex, current equipment and items,
    as well as their proficiency modifier and speed. I will not tell
    them their ability scores, proficiencies, appearance (see my
    comment) or health (instead I will describe damage like I would a
    monster).

  2. I will describe that they appear blurred to each other, even if they
    look in a mirror. I'll have them all roll an easy Arcana check to
    determine that it must be some kind of illusion curse. A hidden
    aspect of the curse is that any NPC asked to specifically describe
    them will be struck by fear. NPCs can only give info about their
    appearance of their volition, not at the behest of a PC.

My Problem

How should I educate my players when they have an ability that might be usable in a situation, due to their class or race, without totally giving away the class or race? How do I tell them that casting a certain spell or using an ability might be a good idea?

Best Answer

When a player describes an action and during that action it would make sense to use one of their class-features, describe that class feature in a vague manner and ask them if they want to use it. For example, if a player who doesn't know they are playing a barbarian says:

Player: I attack the bandits

GM: The moment you grab the hilt of your weapon, you feel an unnatural anger in your hearth. You feel you could crush these bandits if you give in to that anger, but you wonder if there is someone else who would be even more deserving of it. Would you like to embrace the anger or suppress it?

Player: I embrace the anger.

[... combat which is easier for the player than expected...]

GM: After the combat you feel tired, but your need for violence is satisfied. You don't think you will be capable of a violent outburst like that again until tomorrow.

Player: Ah, that was Barbarian Rage. Thanks!

Any spellcasters who need to prepare spells are difficult, because in order to use their spells they need to prepare them and in order to prepare them they need to know which spells they have. So they would be incredibly weak until they discovered their spells.

This doesn't affect Wizards, though, because Wizards need spellbooks to cast spells. So they would just need to look into it to learn what spells they know.

Divine spellcasters might start the game with a holy scripture to give them a hint what their religion is. That should give them a pretty good idea what spells they can use. If they try a spell they don't know, it should just fizzle.

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