D&D 5E Any good alternatives to "How do you want to do this"?

[jayoungr]

"Tell me how cool you look when you kill the monster."

 

[Jacob Lewis]

I gave this a lot of thought, and I think Imma start going with:

"So what the #@$! happened?"

 

[tommybahama]

I think Sly Flourish said he asks the player to describe something unique about the enemy before he (Sly) narrates the death blow.

Some players just aren't good at narrating the death blows and may not even like doing it. It might be something to clarify at session zero.

 

[Mercurius]

When a member of Critical Role kills the main big bad in a combat, the DM Mat Mercer always says "How do you want to do this" ala describe how you land the killing blow.

Just curious, what quick alternatives do folks use, if any?

Seeing as players don't know they've killed an opponent until I, as DM, tell them (considering they don't know how many HP monsters have), I tend to just describe it in a (hopefully) evocative way. Like so:

(Monster has 12 HP, player does 12+ HP of damage)

Me: "Your arrow pierces through the air and lodges into the ogre's eye. The ogre gurgles, shudders, and collapses."

Or some such. I enjoy coming up with little gruesome details, and they seem to enjoy it, too. I think it is part of the storytelling aspect of the game: The players describe their actions, and the DM describes the results of their actions.

 

[Charlaquin]

I prefer to stick to the play loop which has the DM narrating the result of the adventurers' actions. Asking the player to do this always seems rather clunky in practice to me since they're used to the conversation of the game flowing a certain way and then it's suddenly subverted.

I agree, although I think it’s worth emphasizing that part of that play loop is that the players describe what their characters do, and the DM describes the results. I think at tables where it’s standard for the players to merely declare their actions and the to DM describe both what the character does and the result, the opportunity to describe a finishing blow might be more appreciated.

 

[iserith]

I agree, although I think it’s worth emphasizing that part of that play loop is that the players describe what their characters do, and the DM describes the results. I think at tables where it’s standard for the players to merely declare their actions and the to DM describe both what the character does and the result, the opportunity to describe a finishing blow might be more appreciated.

Yes, that follows with my experience at some tables.

 

[Puddles]

I ask the player to make a cheesy action move line before they land the killing blow. In our last session the Rogue declared “Petrify This!” as he let loose an arrow into the eye of the Basilisk.

 

[tetrasodium]

Like others have mentioned it makes a mess of things going from gm narrating things to a player suddenly narrating things in the middle(or end) of a battle. In my experience far too many players have no concept of enough or scale & will either try talking up some absurdly involved attack/kill that sends the rest of the players looking to their phones in disinterest or they will describe something completely out of scale including how third parties react. In either case the gm needs to step in to squash that & retcon the silliness making the whole distraction nothing but. d&d is not setup for shared narrative type play.

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

Fond of "describe the deathblow"
For alliteration

Others are:

• How do you kill it?
• Give me the coup de grace
• Finish Them!
• Strike them down

 

[billd91]

When a member of Critical Role kills the main big bad in a combat, the DM Mat Mercer always says "How do you want to do this" ala describe how you land the killing blow.

I've come to really like "How do you want to do this?" and we often use it in the campaigns we play around here. It not only encourages the player to make the descriptions but also make the decision, when applicable, about striking a killing blow or a non-lethal, incapacitation blow. Plus, it really helps set the emotional pace since, as used on Critical Role, it often has the effect of a massive pressure valve. I don't think I'd want to use something that would also be used for any other attack just for those reasons and even if we didn't use the specific words "How do you want to do this", it would be something unique to the combat ending attack.