Help new DM with descriptions

[Plecak]

Hi guys,

I am going to start my adventure as a DM very soon and need a little bit of your help with some descriptions. Ideally I would like to deliver a lively and climatic description for each of the monsters listed below. I have been able to come up with several characteristic features already, however, these features are still lacking. Moreover, I have problems putting them together into one epic piece of monster description.

A charging fire giant:
- coal black skin, fiery orange hair and eyes, long beard and eyebrows
- large, stout, blackened armor and helmet, waving huge two-handed sword
- facial features express evil, cruelty, hate, anger
- smelly, stinky breath, sweat, urine,
- yelling, raging, the ground shakes when it charges
- humanoid skulls with parts of rotten flesh attached to the belt

A charging nessian warhound:
- pitch black fur, fiery breath, the eyes resembling pits filled with lava, red teeth
- large as a horse, swift hunter, powerful bite
- howling before charging
- smells of sulfur, radiates heat

A slowly approaching balor, assured of his advantage
- large, wielding a large sword and a whip, both sheathed in fire
- muscular, dextrous, seems like a spring
- evil grin, self-confidence
- asks questions and answers them himself
- smells of sulfur, radiates heat

I will be grateful for your input.

 

[kaomera]

Wow, cool descriptions. I wouldn't, personally, worry too much about fitting all of that into "one epic piece of monster description". Rather, give them each a short (no more than thee lines) description, then bust out one or two additional facts each round when describing their actions. This will a) avoid a long-winded description up front, and b) make the encounter that much more flavorful.

YMWQLV...

 

[Mark CMG]

This thread will help -

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=174487

 

[Odhanan]

Hello Plecak. Welcome to ENWorld!

The key to monster description is that you don't have, sorry, should not put them together prior to the game. What works best IME is to just know what a monster looks like, imagine it in your mind's eye, and then try to see it from the character's point of view during the encounter.

Describe from the characters point of view. Think about all senses: sight, smells, touch if there is contact, taste is there is poisoning/bite and such, and so on. Try to visualize encounters as they happen as if you were watching a movie. Then describe what you see to the player from his/her character's point of view.

It takes some training, but that's what really gets players to be part of the action!

Good luck!
Benoist.