The Description Bonus

This is an ongoing attempt to provide my answer to the question, "What is role-playing and how can you get more of it in your game?" The way I typically handle complicated issues is to break them up into manageable chunks which I can then deal with one at a time.

One thing which I feel adds to the role-playing atmosphere at the table is good description on the part of the players.

So, to encourage the players to describe what their characters are doing (instead of simply announcing their characters' actions in game terms), I'm thinking of giving the players a +1 bonus which they can add to any d20 roll they make in a round that they do so.

So, a player who says, "My paladin attacks the wight with holy strike." makes a normal attack roll. A player who also says something along the lines of, "Darion calls on Bahamut's holy power, and his longsword flares with radiant energy as he swings it at the wight." gets a +1 bonus.