[RPG] Do enemies know that a character is using the Sentinel feat

dnd-5efeats

The Sentinel feat grants a number of benefits (PHB, p. 169-170):

  • When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, the creature's speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn.
  • Creatures provoke opportunity attacks from you even if they take the Disengage action before leaving your reach.
  • When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (and that target doesn't have this feat), you
    can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the
    attacking creature.

If a character has the Sentinel feat, would enemies know, so that they avoid attacking someone else or disengaging? Or when/how would they find out if they don't know to begin with?

As far as I can see there is no "official" answer so I am looking for the community's consensus. If you can point me to a rules as written answer that would be great.

My thoughts are that an enemy would not know unless they also had the Sentinel feat (or other martial prowess?). One without the feat would figure it out after being attacked (or maybe hit?) by a use of the feat.

Best Answer

Characters in-universe have no concept called the Sentinel Feat.

Rather, they experience its application in the fiction. Most of the rules and features in the game do not correlate to tangible things in the fiction of the universe. Things like spells do, somewhat, but the Sentinel Feat translates to "this person is really good at pinning you down in a combat" - and this is something that is learned through being pinned down in melee combat.

Now, if a character with the Sentinel Feat was widely known for being good at pinning people down in melee combat, enemies who had heard of this character's skills might be able to strategize against this tactic.

In response to this question: Is there a way to ask in game (i.e. in a non-meta way) what a character's class is? , T.J.L. nicely lays out the distinction between game mechanics and the fiction of the world:

class is a metagame construct: from the characters' perspective, it doesn't exist. There is no good way to determine "class" as a hard fact for the character, because a particular set of abilities does not cleanly map to the character's identity and societal position in-world.

To put it a different way (using D&D 5E terminology)...

  • You have a two characters who wear heavy armor without discomfort, swing a greatsword with skill, and call on the powers of a deity to enhance their abilities and destroy their enemies. Are you dealing with a War Cleric or a Paladin?

  • You have two characters who wear medium armor, wield a longsword, and cast arcane spells. Are you dealing with an Eldritch Knight Fighter, or a multi-classed Fighter/Wizard?

To emphasize the difference even more... all four of these characters, if asked in game (without metagaming), may call themselves a knight.

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