Monster Stats

[afrorooster]

I am a new DM, and I'm unsure as how to go about conveying monster statistics, such as health. Are you open about how much health monsters have left, or do you describe how they look as an indication? How about what rolls they need for hitting the monster? Do you tell players the number, or when they roll high enough do you just say they hit and describe?

 

[Crothian]

To decribe the monsters health I use vague terms and I never tell the players what the AC is of the creature.

 

[DarrenGMiller]

I am a new DM, and I'm unsure as how to go about conveying monster statistics, such as health. Are you open about how much health monsters have left, or do you describe how they look as an indication? How about what rolls they need for hitting the monster? Do you tell players the number, or when they roll high enough do you just say they hit and describe?

I describe the effects of hits in combat and the appearance of the creature. The past few weeks have been skeletons as the main adversary, so I have described the cracking and breaking of bones, ribs being knocked off, bone chips, and for destructive turning, the bone dust in the air afterwards.

I also never give a creature's AC.

DM

 

[Talmun]

I tend to use phrases like "Slightly wounded" or "Half-dead" which are vague and descriptive at the same time. It also depends on the type of creature; it's easier to gage the health of a humanoid than an ooze.

Edit:I only give the AC of the creature toward the end of long combats, usually after the players have figured it out anyway by rolling on either side of it.

 

[Kelleris]

I try to give some general impression of the monster's AC myself -

"The Broken Tusk clan ogre roars in pain as you cut deeply into his thick hide, and tries clumsily to wrench your blade free." (this guy's relying on his hp)

"The Sorceire retrieval agent attacks you in a whirl, and your attacks do little more than rough up his cloak." (high Dex-based AC)

"Your axe strikes sparks off the blue dragon Screeixitzelchadaen's iron-like hide." (high natural-armor AC)

"The chaos mage doesn't move as your dagger's blade is silently twisted out of the way." (bracers of armor and shield)

And my favorite, "Ilmordan stares down impassively at you as his wound heals as fast as your weapon passes through him." (he'll bother to dodge if you can beat his DR)

Of course, they eventually figure out the exact AC anyway, just by looking at what numbers hit and which didn't, but I think it's a good idea to give some indication of how badly they missed (or hit) and why. Their characters would certainly know how tough injuring the creature is after only a few moments of fighting.

 

[afrorooster]

Alright, thanks everyone
One step closer for me becoming a good DM.

 

[Jolly Giant]

My players sometimes ask questions like "how does he/she/it look by know?", hoping I'll give them a clue to how many HP their enemy has left. I generally just smile and tell them what they've just done: "He/she/it has X cuts from your swords and Y arrows sticking out of his/her/its body". Then they go "Yeah. Right..."

If the opponent, monster or whatever is near dead, I might say something like "He/she/it is really struggling now, but is still putting up a fight". That's all the clues I'll give them, though. We try to avoid meta-game thinking as much as possible.


I try to give the fighter types a hint about what kind of protection an opponent has and how hard/easy he is to hit, as I believe an experienced fighter should be able to judge his opponent somewhat. I might say "You have no problem hitting this guy" or "this guy's good, but you manage to land your strike"; "He easily dodges your strike" or "he barely manages to dodge your strike"; "A magic force deflects your sword, so your attack goes nowhere near him" or "A magic force deflects your sword in the last moment"; "your sword fails to penetrate the creature's hide" or "your sword simply bounces of the creature's thick hide, barely leaving a mark".

I feel that's about as much info as I can give away. It lets them know if it was an easy hit or a near miss; and if they miss by a lot or by a little.

 

[RobJN]

Player: "Your arm's off!"
DM: "The monster merely snarls at you. 'Tis but a scratch!' "

 

[shilsen]

As the previous posters have said, I use descriptions to convey how badly hurt something is. I also track PC hit points myself, so my descriptions have to convey how badly hurt they are too.

 

[Voadam]

I mostly go with verbal descriptions ("you do a massive blow that staggers it for a second", or "you hit it but it merely snarls at your pinprick") but I do most of the mechanics out loud as my group has played since 1e and basic and the transition to 3e mechanics and then to 3.5 is pretty rough, particularly with carryover rule concepts that we don't expect to trip us up but could.

So a player will say "I rolled a 13 which means I hit AC 30." I'll reply "You hit." They then go "5+12, so 17" to which I'll reply "your blow is slowed by the unnatural protections of the demon so five less from DR. The demon is bleeding heavily though." To which they will respond "Man! That's over 130 hit points so far, I hope he drops soon."

Attentive players will then know that its AC is 30 or less, although there is always the options of attacking defensively, etc. that can modify AC.