Sharing Monster Stat Sheets

[Octavious]

Is it customary to share the monster stat sheet with players in an encounter so they know what they are up against in a fight ?

[Trenloe]

Nope, not at all.

[Redemption77]

Ive never shared a monster sheet on FG or over the table. I even often change the monsters up totally since most of my players have been playing since 1ed and they know every stat of most every monster.

[JohnD]

Personally, I'd be interested in hearing the story behind this question.

[damned]

Do not share the MM and do not share monster stats!

[kmfdm]

I have shared stats to the players after they defeat it, especially bosses. Lets them know it could've gone worse...

[Targas]

I wouldn't do it in this kind of way. However, what I DO is using an optional rule to be found on RPGNow, which I find personally very cool.
Basically it assumes, adventurers should know about specific type of monsters, due to their class, experience, and such.
I put it into my parsed 'Houserules set' along with some other nice rules and things I've come up with.
Thinking about to include diseases, herbs (already included), alchemist class, alignment change tracking or so. Maybe just diseases first :-)
Here is the link:
https://www.rpgnow.com/product/170715/5E-Expanded-Options-02--Monster-Lore-Skill-for-5th-Edition-Fantasy

[Mask_of_winter]

Someone may want to know what their horse, mount or ally can do. These are usually stored in the same database as monsters. I don't share the party's opposition stat sheets though.

[Targas]

True for familiars, however probably more nicely to describe it fully fledged, e.g. young strong male warhorse, proved to be strong in battles and mastered training at best level, or old mare, limping its left hind leg, with grey stubbles of hair around the nose, already weary and with a former cut at its belly, marking it's battle experience. The age is already paying it's tribute, as long travels exhaust it, and you need to take more rests. ...

The 'Monster Lore' skill I mentioned above is not revealing any stats, but at maximum weaknesses, special attack types, common lore, etc.
I think Wizards upcoming product will be a nice addition in this regard, if you want such things:
https://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/volos-guide-to-monsters

[_JackDoor_]

You only share certain parts of the monster when a player is asking about his or her own knowledge about the creature. Or during an investigatory part of RP, such as a dissection or dedicated research.

But even with the latter you dont want to give them all the mechanics, just certain key RP points.

[Trenloe]

I wouldn't do it in this kind of way. However, what I DO is using an optional rule to be found on RPGNow, which I find personally very cool.
Basically it assumes, adventurers should know about specific type of monsters, due to their class, experience, and such.
D&D 3.5e and Pathfinder have this mechanic built in to the RAW - certain knowledge skills allow some info to be gleaned about certain types of creatures: https://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/coreRulebook/skills/knowledge.html#knowledge

You don't get the full stats, but can get some info. And the more you beat the target DC by you get more info.

This means that it is the PC knowledge of creatures that provides info, rather than the player knowledge. Although, of course, a player might know a lot more than their PC - it's then up to the group how they handle role-playing and meta-gaming, each group might handle it differently...