Bonuses for Player descriptions of Character Actions

[tjoneslo]

Thom's poll of the week. Do you (as a DM) give or (as a player) get bonuses to your action rolls for a good description of the action. For example, giving a flourishing description of your attack gets a bonus to hit. Or a description of a clever ploy gives a bonus to your bluff check.

 

[takyris]

I said "All the time", but that's not quite accurate. I reward players who try for creativity, but I try to do it within the rules. Vaulting up onto a table is going to get you a bonus, sure -- a +1 "I'm higher than you" bonus -- but you have to jump up there to do it. If your d20 Modern guy wants to pull a Bo-Duke across the hood of a car to kick the gun out of somebody's hand, I'll let him Tumble or Balance (for the slide) to try it, and if he succeeds, I'll let him treat the whole action as a charge attack with an additional +2 bonus.

So I'm big on bonuses, but most of those bonuses take move-equivalent actions and skill checks to set up.

 

[FireLance]

I wouldn't as it blurs the distinction between player ability/knowledge and character ability/knowledge. I wouldn't give any bonus to a black belt in karate who describes how he goes about making an unarmed strike, a trained first aider who describes how he's going to stabilize a dying comrade, or a naturally persuasive person who tells me what he's saying to an NPC.

 

[The_Gneech]

I chose "all the time," but it's not really accurate ... it probably happens every two or three game sessions. I adopted a concept called "drama dice," where a particularly cool idea, slick move, or brilliant plan could get a bonus, e.g....

A neat stunt or idea (dive through the plate glass window and tackle the cult leader from behind): +1d4 applied either to the to-hit roll or damage roll

A really neat stunt or idea (tie a rope around an incapacitated henchman, using him as a live counterweight as you bungie-jump out the 10th story window): +1d6 applied to your skill check

An incredibly neat stunt or idea (have an army of ghosts come pouring out from behind you as you surprise-charge the orcs standing patrol on the shores of Osgiliath): +1d8 applied to the party attack rolls for the round as the orcs stand around frozen in shock and horror

You also get an experience bonus of (your level x 10 x the drama dice result).

The caveat is that you can only get one bonus of each type per game session, and successive ones have to be larger -- i.e., if you do something really cool at the beginning of the session that gives a +1d6 drama die, you can't go back and earn a +1d4, but you could still potentially earn a +1d8.

For more mundane "favorable/unfavorable circumstances," I just use the generic +2/-2 ... which is more reliable than +1d4, but doesn't give you an experience bonus, either.

-The Gneech

 

[hong]

IMC, doing something that makes the group go "that was effin' COOL!" gets you a hero point. Coolness generally involves flashy visuals, but this isn't strictly necessary; the last time was when the knight told a BBEG in no uncertain terms where to go. You also get 2 hero points every time you level up. You can use a hero point to get a bonus equal to your character level to one d20 roll, AC against one attack, or the DC for one save.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

IMC, doing something that makes the group go "that was effin' COOL!" gets you a hero point. Coolness generally involves flashy visuals, but this isn't strictly necessary; the last time was when the knight told a BBEG in no uncertain terms where to go. You also get 2 hero points every time you level up. You can use a hero point to get a bonus equal to your character level to one d20 roll, AC against one attack, or the DC for one save.

When do you make the player decide to use the point for AC? Before or after they get hit? And do you tell them if the hit lands before they use the point?

 

[hong]

When do you make the player decide to use the point for AC? Before or after they get hit? And do you tell them if the hit lands before they use the point?

You decide whether to use it before the roll is made. Most people have 1-3 hero points at any one time. I think the knight had 5 a few months back, just before they all got blown on having to make 10 Reflex saves in one round....

 

[Li Shenron]

Thom's poll of the week. Do you (as a DM) give or (as a player) get bonuses to your action rolls for a good description of the action. For example, giving a flourishing description of your attack gets a bonus to hit. Or a description of a clever ploy gives a bonus to your bluff check.

We simply don't. We don't want the game to be a literature contest

The example about Bluff is very different: of course depending on which lie you choose to tell you get circumstance modifiers, that's the whole player's part of the bluff.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I'm in the "I said all the time, but with a caveat" camp.

I'll give bonuses to anything if the description is cool enough. But "cool" doesn't mean "accurate." I don't care if someone's a black belt and knows the proper name for a particular move; that's not the sort of description I reward.

I reward creativity in description. I give bonuses if someone has a really cool idea, not because they're meticulous. If, for instance, I've described a massive blow from a giant that sends the PC stumbling--and he incorporates that stumble into his next move ("I let myself fall back more than I actually have to, to draw him out, and then strike at his leg as he steps forward"), rather than just ignoring it ("Okay, I recover and swing at him"), I'll give a bonus point or two.

Granted, this doesn't come up often, but I'm happy to do it when it does.

 

[Gort]

Okay Hong, I'll bite. Why did he have to make ten reflex saves in a round?