Narrate This 3 HP Hit

[was]

chain shirt...leg hit

 

[VictorC]

"Twisting out of the way of the incoming arrow causes a slight muscle pull."

 

[Gadget]

"Twisting out of the way of the incoming arrow causes a slight muscle pull."

Damage on a Miss! Heretic!

More seriously, she is three steps (out of sixteen) closer to defeat and possible (even likely) death. That is all it really means. However the player wants to narrate this is mostly fine. Some cases, like poison, may constrain the narration a bit but that is fine. She could have even put herself in a disadvantageous position for the next round of combat by diving to the ground to avoid the arrow, thereby making it easier for the orc who is running up to engage her sword to sword.

 

[GrahamWills]

According to the most current D&D rules, she is not bloodied yet, so it's minor and superficial damage -- bruising and light sprains. She could shake it off herself if she wanted to, or her leader could inspire her to ignore it or even do magical healing. If she was taking 3 hits when on 5 / 16, then it would be real damage; the 3 points is now much more serious -- no longer is it about 20% of her remaining hits, it's 60% of them -- a much nastier hit.

 

[Jacob Marley]

For those of you who narrate hits and damage:

1. Who handles the narration? DM? Player? Both?
2. Does narration extend to spells, feats and skills (were applicable)? If not, why?

 

[haakon1]

"The orc looses its arrow. At the last moment, Elspeth notices the incoming projectile and twists to evade, but too late to avoid it entirely. The arrow punches through her armour, grazing Elspeth, but not doing serious harm."

Close to what I'd say, particularly the last sentence.

The part about nearly evading I'd say if it was a near miss and she has a Dex bonus (as seems likely).

For someone in full plate, I might describe how the arrow found a weak point, like through the chain of the underarm.

I often roll a d10 for hit location to narrate it. 0 = head, 1 = left upper torso or shoulder, 2 = right upper torso or shoulder, 3 = left lower torso, 4 = right lower torso, 5 = gut/crotch/butt, 6 = left arm, 7 = right arm, 8 = left leg, 9 = right leg. It seems to work fairly well for narrating medieval combat (highest value targets are overweighted because it's not entirely random targeting). IIRC, Boot Hill had something similar, but on a d6.

 

[Yora]

When you take damage, you got hurt. But since you still have hp left and suffer no additional penalties from it, it's not a serious injury of any kind. But if you got a lot of these, blood loss and pain may add up to the point of passing out.
Actually serious individual injuries are only caused by anything that drops a character below 1 hit point.

 

[Klaus]

"The arrow hits Elspeth, but her armor and the padding underneath keep the arrowhead from causing more than a minor puncture on her shoulder. It will sting for a while, causing her some discomfort when she moves. A few more such hits and she might not be able to last much longer".

 

[delericho]

Who handles the narration? DM? Player? Both?

Almost invariably the DM. Though if a player jumps in there first then that's absolutely fine by me!

Does narration extend to spells, feats and skills (were applicable)? If not, why?

Yes, of course. Why would it not?

 

[Aenghus]

I answered other. My response would vary a lot depending on multifarious factors, including the preferences of the player concerned. Any description needs to be phrased to obtain acceptance on all sides - It becomes obvious when the DM disbelieves and/or resents the descriptions they are providing, and some of the poll options above could give that impression over a sustained period. Compromise is essential in this area if people are to successfully play together - sometimes they can't.

This sort of thing can be very personal e.g. some players are very sensitive to damage descriptions and could be freaked out by a description of damage to their PC's ears, while being less affected by a more serious wound in a non-specific region.

If I am in a hurry or the game is fast-paced I might just say 3 hp damage. The most generic description for the described incident is that the arrow makes a grazing impact and is deflected by the armour leaving some bruising. It just doesn't sound like a penetrating hit to me.

The extreme subjectiveness of this issue makes a one size fits all solution likely a bad idea to me.