D&D 5E Dragon Heist: My Player Wants Volo to Give Him a Copy of Volo's Guide to Monsters?

[Aiden_Keller_]

Greetings,

My players have just finished the first part of Dragon's Heist and when Volo gave them Troll Skull Manner...a wizard asked for a copy of Volo's Guide to Monsters. Would he then be able to actually USE the sourcebook for information while in character?

 

[bedir than]

I would say that they do in fact get the Volo's guide that Volo wrote, full of the lies and misinformation that Volo is known for.

 

[collin]

I envision an in-game copy of Volo's Guide to Monsters would be more like "An Idiot's Guide to Monsters", punctuated with more of Volo's boastings with an egotistical self-congratulatory prose. It would likely not be as practical as the real-world player's version, but still having some helpful information. As the DM, I would control what the book actually says in the game and read from it to the player whenever he/she wants to know something. I would also have Volo ask for a large price for the book, since in WDH he is rather down on his luck and looking for money (which is why he can't pay the players for rescuing Floon but gives them a piece of property in bad need of repair instead).

 

[Parmandur]

Volo is also in Tomb of Annihilation, actively selling his book for 50 GP: Tomb of Annihilation recommends giving the PCs in character any fluff text for anything in the actual book they look up, no stats or anything.

 

[aco175]

I tend to allow the PCs to have most of the player knowledge. When 5e came out, I allowed the cleric to know that you needed magic weapons to hit some of the undead or another PC to know that gargoyles needed magic to hit it, or trolls need fire to destroy. I figure that if you grew up in the world or trained to adventure you would know some of the basic things you would encounter in the first 5-10 levels. Some of the things like which fiend is immune to which element is a bit more and may need to first encounter it.

 

[Satyrn]

I would say that they do in fact get the Volo's guide that Volo wrote, full of the lies and misinformation that Volo is known for.

I think an awesome way to accomplish this, if the OP has them or is willing to buy them, would be to give the player the Volo books from 2nd edition. Most of the fluff will still be true, and any mechanics will be wrong, but often close to right.

 

[Ash Mantle]

Greetings,

My players have just finished the first part of Dragon's Heist and when Volo gave them Troll Skull Manner...a wizard asked for a copy of Volo's Guide to Monsters. Would he then be able to actually USE the sourcebook for information while in character?

Mate, do whatever you feel like that you think will be the most fun for all concerned.

When I was DMing Tomb of Annihilation for my friends, they arrived in Port Nyanzaru and immediately requested accommodations and entertainment. They opened the first tavern door on the street leading from the dock when they first made landfall, after being serenaded by the enticing music and smells of food from within. They found Volo in that tavern, possibly on the run from a jealous suitor, who also apparently thought the best disguise was hosting a book signing as the Famed Volo. He impressed upon the party they would benefit greatly from his lore and his writing and from his latest book, Volo's Guide to Monsters, already signed for them. The party bought his book for the RRP of 50 gold.

After which, whenever they had Volo's Guide to Monsters on their person they benefited from advantage to Intelligence (Knowledge) checks, and whenever they held the book in a hand while in combat they would benefit from a favored enemy effect against the creature they were attacking.

 

[André Soares]

I used the book on Tomb of Annihilation, it was very helpfull for the players. The way I used it was giving them the "fluff" information of the monster they were reading in the book...

 

[Aiden_Keller_]

I tend to allow the PCs to have most of the player knowledge. When 5e came out, I allowed the cleric to know that you needed magic weapons to hit some of the undead or another PC to know that gargoyles needed magic to hit it, or trolls need fire to destroy. I figure that if you grew up in the world or trained to adventure you would know some of the basic things you would encounter in the first 5-10 levels. Some of the things like which fiend is immune to which element is a bit more and may need to first encounter it.

I would agree depending on the class/race and level....

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

After a suitable amount of downtime, I would allow them to use the guide's proficiency bonus (+3 or so) in place of any proficiency bonus they may otherwise have for any associated skill checks. So if the player is untrained in Arcana, and a monster related question would call for an Arcana (Int) check, they could use 3+ whatever their intelligence bonus is. If they know more than Volo does (higher proficiency bonus) then the guide would be of no help.