Combatastic Descriptions

[papa_laz]

The burly monk bounces on his feet, sizing you up, then swings his upper body violently and throws a lightning fast house roundhouse kick towards your exposed mid section. You hear a sickening crack as his shin impacts on your ribcage, knocking the wind out of you.

The bastard sword scythes through the air in a wide arc and carves a huge gash through your opponents torso. Blood spurts from the wound, turning the bugbears leather armour red.

 

[Jack7]

If the combat is between two people, or two or more humanoids then we act it out (not like LARPING, you can do what we do in a small room) and that way you can see what body parts are hit, etc.

We call that demonstration and it is sorta like sparring, slow. We don't use dice for that. If the fight is between party members and some not human-like monster then we describe it and often use dice to resolve what happens. But the dice not only determine (a single roll) if a hit takes place but how much damage and where it scores and what the effect is.

So the area on the body hit and by what sorta determines the description of what happens.

For instance if a hammer hits on an elbow that makes a break. A rabdia hits upon an extended forearm for a critical it causes a compound fracture. Hits a skull it causes the skull to split.

If a dagger cuts open an artery then there is a lot of blood and quick blood drain. If a spear impales an internal organ like a kidney then the effect is described rather than the appearance.

So I guess you could say we describe bodily and pragmatic effects.
Stuff like, "the mace hits so forcefully your right arm splinters, the bone fragments protrude through your sleeve, and you cannot hold your weapon. The shock knocks your arm down and you feel nauseous and you can hear the bone segments grinding together."

By the way, as a kid I had my elbow shattered and a resulting compound fracture from a sports accident. I well remember the heat as blood flooded the area and the shock and the grinding sound of the bones. But descriptions like that vary by effect and what is actually damaged of course.

 

[Cobblestone]

The best whiff I've ever read

From one of my players in our play-by-blog game:

Hünfrid Märr watched the Eladrin soldier in front of him slide slowly off the twin blades and crumple to the earth, his dark blood pooling, mixing with the crimson gore dripping from Mira's gaping wound. "Outclassed?" Hunfrid asked softly, staring in shock at Mira's ravaged body. "Then it's the great storm for us Ranger. Save a drink for me on the other side," he added. Hunfrid's eyes slipped into the blackness beneath the oversized cowl of his traveling cloak as he pulled it up over his head and turned to face the Eladrin at I13. His left hand quickly slipped the driftwood staff into a set of leather bands attached to his upper right leg. His right hand raised beneath his cloak to his chest, the fingers working rhythmically, tracing rune after rune on the worn leather armor. His left hand joined the right, moving with practiced speed, a wrenching spasm racking his body the only way to judge where one sign ended and the next began. A thin layer of frost and ice formed on each sleeve, breaking away in chunks as the fabric moved violently with each shudder. The pattern continued, working its way up his body until it reached the weathered exposed skin of his throat. His face contorted in pain as his mouth opened unnaturally, letting out the beginning of a long tortured scream. The yellowed teeth moved further and further apart, the jaw popping as it separated from the skull. The flesh of his lips drained in color to a pale blue and stretched until they were only a thin outline surrounding a gaping hole more than six inches across, barely hidden beneath the fabric of his hood. Hunfrid's head thrust forward, his scream changing in pitch, as his hands completed the last of the runes and the blast of freezing energy burst from his gaping mouth and unfortunately for the group of bloodied Grey Guards rocketed strait up slamming into an innocent goose flying overhead, freezing it instantly and sending it plummeting to the earth with an emphatic thud.