D&D 5E How do you roleplay your PC actions in combat?

[Psikerlord#]

How do you roleplay your PC actions in combat?

1. Narrate the attempted action (before seeing the "to hit" roll or saving throw etc).
2. Narrate the result of the action (after seeing the "to hit" roll, saving throw, damage etc).
3. Narrate both the attempted action (before any rolls) and the result of the action (after the rolls).
4. I mostly stick to using mechanical game terms to describe my PC actions. The DM does the narrating (if any).
5. Something else?

 

[Saeviomagy]

For most actions in combat, I find narration to be pointless and tiring. Most of the time "I hit it" suffices, and trying to get more narration than that feels forced.

However every so often either the dice or situation dictate that something special is occurring, and in those situations I will narrate things that are certain up front and then the results after the dice decide them.

ie - "I run to the edge of the chasm, and then leap...." (roll) (success) "... across, swinging a sword at the goblins and ..." (roll, crit) "... impaling one".

That could easily have been "I run to the edge of the chasm, and then leap...." (roll) (fail) "... straight into it, disappearing from view as I fall several stories to my ..." (roll) "... death"

 

[ehenning]

narration is important to creating the atmosphere, but I (the DM) usually provide the result narrative based on what the character decides to do. Also, as DM, I reward players for creative narrative when describing what they are trying to do. If they can spin a great description of an amazing attack or defense or flying jump with Acrobatics, I will consider that in the roll to see whether they succeed or not.

Our games are about high fantasy, and each player is there for the role playing just as much as the combat.

 

[Shiroiken]

In our group, the player typically describes what they're trying to do. This can range from a descriptive attack to simply "I attack." The DM then describes the outcome of said attack.

 

[Minigiant]

I call my attacks and call the combos if they hit.

"I do a standing short slash standing forward, If it hits, combo into EX Collosus Slayer then spell-cancel into Ensnaring Strike".

 

[Raith5]

When I play 4e I narrate the action in terms of naming the power I am using - sometimes with a daily power I might narrate the action/activity a bit more.

When I play 5e I roll the dice and the DM does the narration - except when spell requires a save I dont even get to roll

 

[Sunseeker]

For most actions in combat, I find narration to be pointless and tiring. Most of the time "I hit it" suffices, and trying to get more narration than that feels forced.

However every so often either the dice or situation dictate that something special is occurring, and in those situations I will narrate things that are certain up front and then the results after the dice decide them.

ie - "I run to the edge of the chasm, and then leap...." (roll) (success) "... across, swinging a sword at the goblins and ..." (roll, crit) "... impaling one".

That could easily have been "I run to the edge of the chasm, and then leap...." (roll) (fail) "... straight into it, disappearing from view as I fall several stories to my ..." (roll) "... death"

This.

I narrate when it matters. I'm not going to narrate for every punch, kick and slash I do unless I'm specifically wanting that attack to appear special. Since most of the classes are play can be summed up as "hit, hit, hit, hit, hit again." Describing every sword swing is tedious and unnecessary.

I also dislike narrating otherwise simple actions because some DMs will take specific wording to mean something more than you, the player intend.

EX: The Vampire tried to bite at your neck and failed, make an AoO.
"I slash my sword out at the ugly creeps face!"
"Oh well you're trying to hit his face that's a called shot so you need to roll *specific number* or *extra amount higher*."
then you either go with it, with no extra reward for the extra difficulty forced upon you, or you break immersion and say "wait no, it's just a regular attack I was just being descriptive." At which point the DM either accepts this, sticks to his guns (essentially punishing you for your choice in flavor text) and what should have taken less than 10 seconds now has stretched out into multiple minutes.

So, unless I WANT to do something special, I will usually not narrate.

 

[Celtavian]

I narrate common fights and effects, especially key events.

I l encourage the player to narrate big hits or extraordinary effects.

I don't need every hit to be narrated. That becomes tedious. As long as the player has an idea in his mind's eye of how his character if fighting, I leave it be.

 

[Psikerlord#]

My personal preference is to roleplay after seeing the dice, and describe using game terms before (eg: attack action on orc 1, then bonus action attack to throw dagger at orc 2 ... the roll dice... then roleplay the results).

Narrating actions is something I've come to enjoy over the years. I didn't start out doing it. I couldn't play now without doing it, however. It would seem too mechanical in comparison. I understand not narrating all the time however, it can be taxing creatively, get a bit forced/samey, but I certainly try and do it more often than not.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

As DM I usually provide at least minor or sporadic narration. Most of the time I describe where attacks hit and what they do (pierce a shoulder, smash into a thigh) or why they miss*. When PCs they take out important opponents I usually specifically invite their players to describe it.

As a player, I kind of follow the DM's lead on whether he wants us to narrate or not. I think there is also that wariness of jumping in and narrating in another DM's game, just because of the memory of how new players often have a desire to immediately jump in and narrate both the attempt and results of their actions, before those results are determined.

Makes me think though, that now I might want to encourage my players to narrate their attempts if they wish. It's just easier for me to narrate results though.

* Even though it's not a thing in 5e, I keep track of "touch AC" so I can describe whether an attack misses because you dodged or parried it, or whether your armor protects you. If they know that when I say that you dodged it, blocked it with your shield, or were hit but uninjured due to your armor--it really means that those results are tied to a particular and consistent attack roll result, they then can feel cool about how their Dex is helping them a lot, or value their heavy armor that is doing the lion's share of protective work for their character.