Describing Sneak Attack damage

[iwatt]

For piercing weapons and light slashing weapons I have no problem describing sneak attack damage for my players. But when the Dwarf fighter/rogue uses his Warhammer while flanking, I have no idea how to describe his "precision" damage. What about for large Slashing (axes and greatswords) weapons?

Thanx, I'm having a lot of trouble visualizing how the stroke of a great axe that can chop a limb off or a maul that can crumple someones rib cage can have precision damage as well. My first though was to limit SA to the rogues weapons, but the RAW doesn't support this at all. And it would shaft multiclassing, which I tend to encourage in my games.

 

[drunkmoogle]

"Headshot."

"Seeing an opening in his opponent's defense, Galgrin swings his mighy maul right into the gnoll's upper torso, striking the creature's sternum."

"With a mighty swing of his axe, Kronk nearly cut the elf in half at the stomach, a massive amount of blood spattering out at the wound."

Just think of it as a critical hit; I'm sure you can imagine those .

 

[Mog Elffoe]

Um, why are YOU describing it?

Let your players take care of describing their own attacks.

 

[GM Iago]

One thing that blunt weapons are good for is crushing things. Bones cracking are a good way to describe a warhammer's damage. Can hear them snap and feel them give way under a warhammer. With a really good damage roll or a killing blow, might even see them puncture the skin from the force.

Also, hitting a kidney or liver might produce visual results a round or two later if the skin is bare. I'm not a medical doctor, but I can only image what some of the symptoms from rupturing a stomach could be.

 

[iwatt]

Just think of it as a critical hit; I'm sure you can imagine those .

This is what I have been doing lately, it's just that it doesn't feel precison like to me. Oh well, I'm not going to beat myself to death over this either

 

[Turanil]

One thing that blunt weapons are good for is crushing things. Bones cracking are a good way to describe a warhammer's damage. Can hear them snap and feel them give way under a warhammer. With a really good damage roll or a killing blow, might even see them puncture the skin from the force.

Also, hitting a kidney or liver might produce visual results a round or two later if the skin is bare. I'm not a medical doctor, but I can only image what some of the symptoms from rupturing a stomach could be.

Gaming is evil, I tell you!

 

[shilsen]

Um, why are YOU describing it?

Let your players take care of describing their own attacks.

I think you'll find that a lot of DMs describe damage rather than leaving that up to their players, although in some cases players may describe what they are trying. One reason is that since DMs know how many hp the monster/NPC has, it's easier for them to use a description that appropriately describes the amount of damage taken.

 

[Mog Elffoe]

Sure, but in these cases the DM can simply elaborate on what the player provides them. If it's a death blow, then take what the player said and go a little further with and add some death throes or whatever you feel appropriate. Other times the DM can say, "Yep, that was a nasty hit--now you've made him MAD."

Of course, players who say, "I cut off its head!" with every attack will be sorely disappointed and can get old pretty quickly. I'm just saying that it's more fun in my experience for players to handle these sorts of duties.

 

[Torm]

Gaming is evil, I tell you!

No, if gaming were really evil, he wouldn't have to imagine what those might look like.

 

[zodiki]

D&D is not really suited to a blow-by-blow analysis since there is no mechanical difference between having 1 hp and 250 hps. For instance if my PC has 30 hp's and I get sneak attacked for 29 hp's of damage, I am near being killed or at least out of combat - but mechanically my PC is no different than he was before the strike. The seriousness of the sneak attack is all predicated on what happens next - an event that of course has not occurred yet. The only thing that's changed is his propensity to being killed.

You can't really describe realistically the sneak attack as bone breaking, organ piercing, sinew cutting etc, because if my PC runs away (which he can at full strength), he can recover to full hp's in just a few days of rest - no serious injury was done.

My advice is that unless the hit puts the target down, not to describe it in any special way. The reaction of the target to the hit, we'll give the necessary feedback.