Is the Dodge action perceptible to other characters?

Question

Consider the following scenario: On its turn, a monster uses some movement and ends its turn without taking an obvious action. Secretly, it has taken the Dodge action. On the player's turn, the player attacks the monster. The DM instructs the player to roll with disadvantage, as the monster is dodging. The player might not have chosen to attack that monster if s/he had known it was dodging. (Of course, an observant player might deduce that the monster is dodging, as it took no obvious action.)

Should a creature be able to detect that a target is dodging before deciding to attack?

Answer 1

1. Yes

Of course it is; we are playing a tabletop role-playing game and the players can only make intelligent choices if the meta-constructs of the mechanics have some perceptible in-world difference from one another.

To think otherwise makes the game impossible to play.

2. No

Of course it isn't; we are playing a tabletop role-playing game and the players can only perceive what their characters can perceive. When you Dodge you "focus entirely on avoiding attacks", which is a purely internal situation and is not differentiable from other actions that don't require you to do anything until the world impinges on you, such as Disengage or Ready.

To think otherwise makes the game impossible to play.

Both answers are right

... and they sit at the ends of a continuum of equally right answers between concealment and revelation.

Whatever is the agreed-upon situation at your table is 100% correct. It would be nice if this was agreed up front, but when you have players with mismatched expectations, they generally don't know they are mismatched until something like this happens. When it does happen, deal with it and move on.

Just be consistent - what works for the monsters works for the players.

Answer 2

Sometimes. Narrate it.

I disagree with some other answers saying that focusing on avoiding attacks is not perceptibly different than, say, readying an action to hit someone with a hammer. Those actions are likely to look very different. How the Dodge action looks depends on the characteristics of the NPC and the situation:

• The orc lowers into an athletic stance, shifting weight back and forth and keeping his eyes on his opponents, but takes no other action.

• The kobold looks tense, rapidly shifting his eyes between you and the door. He seems to be afraid, but for now is standing his ground.

• The grandmaster stands calmly with his hands behind his back.

All three of these NPCs have decided to spend their turn focusing on avoiding the attacks of their enemies. Someone who attacks the orc should not be surprised when the orc is prepared for it. Someone who attacks the grandmaster may be very surprised when he deftly moves out of the way.

If an NPC is trying to intentionally conceal the fact that their current tactic is focused entirely on defense, you may want to use a Deception check. Note that highly experienced combatants would probably be very good at intuiting what their opponents are trying to do, unless their opponents are equally experienced at hiding it.

Answer 3

There is no Dodge action in the game world

When a character "focuses entirely on avoiding attacks", we simulate this via the Dodge action. Actions and turns are the part of the mechanics, they are subject of players' discretion. The Dodge action is not a spell, that magically hinders enemies when they are trying to attack you. Its is a part of the game mechanics, that we use to model a particular kind of behavior (trying not to be harmed). Is someone's behavior perceptible to other creatures? Of course. Is the Dodge action perceptible to other creatures? I'd say no.

Should the DM explicitly say "this creature takes the Dodge action"? It entirely depends on the table.

Answer 4

The DM has effectively already told the player that the monster is preparing to dodge.

The player's character and the player both know the monster could attack, and is choosing not to. It isn't casting a spell. It's not become less aggressive towards the PCs. Therefore it's almost certainly preparing to dodge attacks instead.

This translates rather well into the real world, and the difference between aggressive and defensive fighting. In the real world, this may be down to the defensive fighter letting the other person wear themselves out, or waiting for them to make a mistake which can be exploited, or simply down to fighting style. The defensive fighter may adopt a defensive guard, but as much of it may be simply down to focus.

If the player chooses not to notice this, that's the player's problem. The DM does not have to explicitly spell this out, unless the player is new and is unaware of the possibility of dodging,