Bonuses for Player descriptions of Character Actions

[Slate]

I ran an Oriental Adventures game where I used bonuses (from +1 to +4) for cool combat descriptions, which I blatantly stole from Exalted. My game was all about high-flying martial arts goodness, so I didn't want to penalize my players for trying cool stunts and the like. I find that D&D tends to discourage players from trying interesting combat maneuvers because it often penalizes them from doing so, and some games turn into "I hit on a 24, I did 8 damage with my sword" kinds of (boring!) combat. I'm more for heroic combat than realism, so the more daring a maneuver, the more of a bonus I gave the player.

I found this worked great. My players tried all sorts of interesting things, and it made combat alot of fun, which was my goal. The PCs didn't do stunts every round, or abuse the system, but I think it did encourage them to try things they would not have without the bonuses.

I've run and played in alot of D&D games since then, but the 4 players that were in my game still reminence about it (espcially their most dramatic combat stunts), so I'm running a new on this summer, using the same mechanic.

Hey my first post!

 

[Slate]

I ran an Oriental Adventures game where I used bonuses (from +1 to +4) for cool combat descriptions, which I blatantly stole from Exalted. My game was all about high-flying martial arts goodness, so I didn't want to penalize my players for trying cool stunts and the like. I find that D&D tends to discourage players from trying interesting combat maneuvers because it often penalizes them from doing so, and some games turn into "I hit on a 24, I did 8 damage with my sword" kinds of (boring!) combat. I'm more for heroic combat than realism, so the more daring a maneuver, the more of a bonus I gave the player.

I found this worked great. My players tried all sorts of interesting things, and it made combat alot of fun, which was my goal. The PCs didn't do stunts every round, or abuse the system, but I think it did encourage them to try things they would not have without the bonuses.

I've run and played in alot of D&D games since then, but the 4 players that were in my game still reminence about it (espcially their most dramatic combat stunts), so I'm running a new one this summer, using the same mechanic.

Hey my first post!

 

[Pants]

If I ever run my Swashbuckling campaign, I will give bonus for awesome acts of bravery and heroism along with coool and over-the-top descriptions.

 

[Mallus]

Therefore, we try to keep the subjective awards to a minimum since those with less experience and/or a different level of comfort with the game do not feel like their missing out, or don't belong.

Not to criticize the way you play, DM, but doesn't the entire game hinge on 'subjective awards'? And isn't that RPG's greatest strength? The fact that you need a real live human being to comstantly adjudicate/implement/fill in/make up rulings for a group of players means, de facto, the rules are going to be subjective. Unlike, say, chess, where no 3rd party needs to rule on the mechanics during play.