Describing critical hits: finishing moves from God of War

[Noumenon]

This list was compiled from this video, might make your game more cinematic. Ways to execute a critical hit:

Unarmed:
• Take him prone, then with a knee on his back force his head back and twist till his neck snaps off.
• Make him drop his weapon, then finish him with it.
• Grab a guy by the neck, stick your other hand in his gut, and rip him in half
• Throw him into the air, then jump and throw him back down.
• Pick him up with one hand and slam his face into a wall
• Smash his face repeatedly into the floor.
• Elbow strike him so he falls grasping at your knees, then curb stomp him.
• Versus flying monsters, leap into the air to catch it and throw it down to the ground. Or, rip its wings off.

With a weapon:
• Lock swords for a moment, then break the lock, spin, and stab him.
• Catch a guy on the tip of your weapon, spin around and throw him far
• Leap high with sword in two hands over head and slash down
• Take him down and stab him with two weapons over and over
• Strike up into his belly once, twice, three times, the third stabbing all the way through.
• Force your sword into his face, as he struggles desperately to hold your arms back.

Versus huge monsters:
• Force monster's mouth open from inside it, then slash across it.
• Jump off monster and slash on the way down.
• Drop/push over a piece of scenery onto the monster
• Jump on head with two swords and plunge in
• Drag some part of the boss's anatomy in a painful direction or toward something sharp
• Stun him where you can finish him off with a ballista.
• Dart between his legs, run up his back and stab him in the head.
• From his back, swing around on one of his horns to stab him in the face.

 

[Zireael]

Love the ideas!

 

[frankthedm]

Good critical hit descriptions are a must, but it is important to have an idea how much damage living tissues can actually take. Media is full of material that forgets this; Made of Plasticine, Ludicrous Gibs, Bloodier and Gorier. See also the Chunky Salsa Rule and Overdrawn at the Blood Bank. And, of course, Bloody Hilarious.

 

[Noumenon]

We can sort of balance out the anti-realistic forces: 13 slashes with a sword won't kill you, but that finishing crit will turn you into confetti.

I've also got a demon bloodline with two claws and Arcane Strike going for me (thank you Pathfinder), so I'm not just ripping people's torsos in half with my bare monk fists. My maximum normal damage in a round is 28 with Chill Touch charged up, at those times I am looking for something bloody to narrate.

 

[Rechan]

Doesnt' this assume the crit kills the target?

 

[Noumenon]

I guess for non-finishing crits I should go look up a pro wrestling video.

My DM has been using a lot of mooks lately, the crit and finishing move are one and the same. (My last crit the DM narrated, I picked up the kobold I was fighting in a treetop elf village and threw him across the platform, knocking off another kobold I couldn't even reach, just because I did enough damage to have killed both of them.)