Just thinking out loud here....
What do you think of giving tangible, mechanical rewards for great, dramatic roleplaying during battle?
For example: To discourage your standard, "OK, I attack," and the player rolls his d20, how about something like this.
GM: Freddy, it's your turn.
Freddy: "I raise my steel high above my head, screaming at the top of my lungs a war cry that seems to come from deep within my soul, and I charge that bastard, spit errupting from my mouth as I yell. My eyes burn with hate as I use all of my strength to slam down my blade upon my foe." (Player moves his PC's charge and rolls his attack die.)
So the GM rewards this kind of play by allowing a Demoralize Enemy combat maneuver to be combined with the charge as one action (not unlike allowing a character to combine the pulling of his weapon with the Move action).
If the roleplaying doesn't deserve the perk (the combination of the actions), then the rules remain standard (as in, Demoralize Foe is a separate action).
I was thinking that this type of thing can be used to: 1 - encourage more roleplaying during battle, 2 - make battles more interesting, and 3 - promote the use of combat maneuvers like the Feint and the Demoralize Foe use of the Intimidate skill. Trip (as a result of a combination of great combat roleplaying and an attack that does a lot of damage--allowing a trip from a shove or a kick or in response to a massive blow), Unarmed Attack (a head butt, right cross to the face, or an elbow to the gut), Disarm (akin to the Trip results)....maybe even a Sunder.
The reward for great roleplaying is the elimination of the Attack of Opportunity that the foe usually gets when one of these maneuvers is usally attempted.
If you get in a situation where your players are always arguing with you about what they deserve for their roleplaying, then simply combine a diceing requirement to the reward so that it is part under the player's control (the combat roleplaying) and part random (the dicing requirement). Thus, if a player never combat roleplays, then his character is not elligible for one of these combat perks. If a player always combat roleplays, then his character is elligible, but the actual perk only kicks in when the dice comply with the roleplaying.
The same rule goes for the GM and the baddies. A GM can easily fall into an "OK, the baddie attacks..." mode as well.
The thought here is to keep the descriptions visual and lively, and to occassionally bring in something other than the I-go-you-go of d20 combat.
If a player's character hits a foe with a natural 20, but the critical check is failed, then the result is a normal hit.
But, combine that dicing result with some good combat roleplaying...
"I swing my wide, momentum on my side, giving it all I've got with both hands into the side of my foe..."
Then, in addition to the hit, the GM allows the player a Sunder attempt on the foe's shield....or maybe decides that blow was so hard, that the PC is given a Trip attempt against his enemy (where the blow, basically, knocks him off guard).
Thoughts on this?
What do you think of giving tangible, mechanical rewards for great, dramatic roleplaying during battle?
For example: To discourage your standard, "OK, I attack," and the player rolls his d20, how about something like this.
GM: Freddy, it's your turn.
Freddy: "I raise my steel high above my head, screaming at the top of my lungs a war cry that seems to come from deep within my soul, and I charge that bastard, spit errupting from my mouth as I yell. My eyes burn with hate as I use all of my strength to slam down my blade upon my foe." (Player moves his PC's charge and rolls his attack die.)
So the GM rewards this kind of play by allowing a Demoralize Enemy combat maneuver to be combined with the charge as one action (not unlike allowing a character to combine the pulling of his weapon with the Move action).
If the roleplaying doesn't deserve the perk (the combination of the actions), then the rules remain standard (as in, Demoralize Foe is a separate action).
I was thinking that this type of thing can be used to: 1 - encourage more roleplaying during battle, 2 - make battles more interesting, and 3 - promote the use of combat maneuvers like the Feint and the Demoralize Foe use of the Intimidate skill. Trip (as a result of a combination of great combat roleplaying and an attack that does a lot of damage--allowing a trip from a shove or a kick or in response to a massive blow), Unarmed Attack (a head butt, right cross to the face, or an elbow to the gut), Disarm (akin to the Trip results)....maybe even a Sunder.
The reward for great roleplaying is the elimination of the Attack of Opportunity that the foe usually gets when one of these maneuvers is usally attempted.
If you get in a situation where your players are always arguing with you about what they deserve for their roleplaying, then simply combine a diceing requirement to the reward so that it is part under the player's control (the combat roleplaying) and part random (the dicing requirement). Thus, if a player never combat roleplays, then his character is not elligible for one of these combat perks. If a player always combat roleplays, then his character is elligible, but the actual perk only kicks in when the dice comply with the roleplaying.
The same rule goes for the GM and the baddies. A GM can easily fall into an "OK, the baddie attacks..." mode as well.
The thought here is to keep the descriptions visual and lively, and to occassionally bring in something other than the I-go-you-go of d20 combat.
If a player's character hits a foe with a natural 20, but the critical check is failed, then the result is a normal hit.
But, combine that dicing result with some good combat roleplaying...
"I swing my wide, momentum on my side, giving it all I've got with both hands into the side of my foe..."
Then, in addition to the hit, the GM allows the player a Sunder attempt on the foe's shield....or maybe decides that blow was so hard, that the PC is given a Trip attempt against his enemy (where the blow, basically, knocks him off guard).
Thoughts on this?
