D&D General Art that exemplifies D&D to you.

[Reynard]

Like, the game doesn't let a dragon hold you in its mouth while you hack at its face. That's just not a mechanically viable tactic, so it doesn't happen.

My fantasy heartbreaker ruleset keeps rule complexity low while still encouraging perilous situations like this. I don't like that fights are an effort to grind down the other guy's HP. I'd rather it be an effort to put them into a perilous position, and then delivering a killing blow.

Why not? Dragon grabs you (allowed), you hit it with an axe until it let's you go (allowed). I don't see why that thing in particular can't be done.

 

[Oofta]

Like, the game doesn't let a dragon hold you in its mouth while you hack at its face. That's just not a mechanically viable tactic, so it doesn't happen.

My fantasy heartbreaker ruleset keeps rule complexity low while still encouraging perilous situations like this. I don't like that fights are an effort to grind down the other guy's HP. I'd rather it be an effort to put them into a perilous position, and then delivering a killing blow.

The rules don't allow or is it just a lack of imagination/spelled out rules? There are optional rules for climbing on larger creatures. A dragon can grapple, I've had that very scenario play out with my wife's barbarian in my last campaign (almost took her out with that one).

 

[RangerWickett]

Dragons should never grab you. They gain no meaningful benefit for it. They are better using their reach to fly around clawing and biting and strafing. They never want to be in close, because being in close provides no advantage, only liability.

Imagine if, in an alternate world, you had, say, Hit Points and Wound Points, and while normal attacks can wear out your HP (and make you tired), they can never kill you. The only way to deal WP damage would be to place an enemy 'in peril,' and doing that requires some sort of maneuver that shifts your fighting style.

You might have to grab someone to imperil them, or have them in a space where they cannot move because you've cornered them or immobilized them with a web or something. If you attack someone without any HP and they aren't in peril, your attack just does nothing at all, unless in a single hit you deal damage equal to their entire remaining WP, in which case you knock them out.

Did you ever play the video game Def Jam Vendetta: Fight for New York? It was a brawler game where you could use a variety of moves to wear someone down, but to finish them you had to use one of a small variety of harder-to-pull-off attacks. It ensured that the ends of a fight felt like the other guy was getting thoroughly beaten, not simply falling over because his bar of health ran out.

 

[BrokenTwin]

@RangerWickett: There's a few tabletop RPGs that I know of that employ that style of build-momentum-then-strike combat, but unfortunately I've never had the chance to play any of them. I do think it would greatly encourage more cinematic combat if done right.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Always been my favorite. I have had it on my wall since I was a young lad:

 

[Oofta]

Dragons should never grab you. They gain no meaningful benefit for it. They are better using their reach to fly around clawing and biting and strafing. They never want to be in close, because being in close provides no advantage, only liability.
...

It is incredibly situational. In my case it was a young brash/half mad dragon, the barbarian was grappling/holding on for dear life so it grabbed her in it's jaws. She had been able to grapple because one of the other PCs stopped it cold (I forget how exactly) and knocked it prone. I know I'm forgetting details but the point is that the flying barbarian leaped onto the dragon and was causing it grief.

Maybe not tactically wise, quite possibly bending a rule here and there. Still given another round it was going to crash/dive bomb when it reached the altitude at which it would fall in one round. It would have hurt. A lot.

I may have been channeling that image without realizing it.

 

[Mepher]

More that always jumped out at me. Cyan Bloodbane always stood out as the epitome of evil!

 

[Charlaquin]

I find it interesting that there are so many people evoking art that they would prefer their games be. What's stopping you? the rules? the players? the culture? The publications?

I know the struggle to make 5E what I want, but the D&D I want (tone wise) and I see in the art is still there -- it's just in another edition.

Gameplay feel is a nebulous, subjective thing. 5e just doesn’t have the dark fantasy vibe I get from the Renkin & Bass hobbit or the art of Johan Egerkrans. I certainly try to emulate that vibe in my DMing, but it is aspirational.

 

[Charlaquin]

But this is how I want to play D&D:

View attachment 120595

You should check out Reach of Titan. It’s an RPG designed specifically to emulate Shadow of the Colossus style giant monster puzzle-combat. Last I checked it’s still in playtesting, but it looks pretty sweet.

 

[Yardiff]