The Art of Violent Expression - A DM's Resource

[Herremann the Wise]

I thought I'd start a thread that will hopefully grow into a nice resource for DM's.

One of the most important things in combat is providing adequate and believable description of events. Being able to describe the Barbarian's slashing blow to an opponents ribcage or the Rogue's rapier thrust deep into a combatants vitals can really reward your players. Having a good list of descriptions that you've read a few times will normally give you the instantaneous response your players deserve. I've played in very muted games where the first description is something like - "you take 6 points of damage" as against "your chest is violently compressed as the ogre's mace delivers a stinging blow".

However, before I start, it might be worth reviewing some of the basic things to think about so you can decide upon the correct thing to say:
- Is the blow a slashing, piercing or bludgeoning action?
- Is the blow a critical hit?
- Was the blow ineffective even though it still hit the opponent?
- How much damage did it really do?
For example you might have a strike do 18 hp's damage however, on one occasion, it takes a PC or Monster down to 70% and on another it takes them right down to 10%. In the first instance, you might describe the strike as "an accurate thrust that elicits an intake of breath" where as the second instance would be far more dramatic "The blow rattles your opponent to his knees as a flood of blood gushes from under his ruined armor, spewing to the floor".
For this, I normally work on a scale as follows:
100% to 60% - standard bumps, scratches and flesh wounds.
60 to 25% - a little more vigorous but nothing too dramatic.
25% and under - this is what you save your good ones for.

Anyway, I might as well get the ball rolling with perhaps one of my favourite descriptions of all time, that from Tad Williams' Stone of Farewell [adapted and transposed out of the 3rd person]:

1. "Your blade snakes out of the reach of your opponent and then only a moment later it returns; its point slides beneath your opponent's chin and then hammers upwards a hand's-width or more, through the jaw and into the braincase!!! You roll free of his spastic clutch and struggle to your feet."

A nice way to have the Heroes kill the villain they've been chasing for the last 16 months of real time.

However, sometimes it is not the epic descriptions that are needed but the mundane.

2. "You avoid the main slash but unfortunately your body is collected by the weapon's guard."
(The blow that just hits)

3. "With barely an effort, the sword tip slices into a gap in your armor."
(The blow that easily hits but does little damage)

4. "Both blows hit, with the second biting deeper into the shoulder than the first."
(For the double hit)

However, as usual, it is the more expressive that make the criticals FEEL like criticals.

5. "The blackened mace thunders into the fleshy side of your jaw forcing you back onto your knees. You stand back up and shake your head only to see a decent sized puddle of blood and gore on the ground"
(I suppose the trick is not taking away any vital body part that the would adjust the PC's abilities)

6. "You crack your whip full into your opponent's face only to have it wrap around their unprotected neck. With all your strength you pull the hide free but with devestating result as their wail of pain is choked into silence."

7. "With an economy of movement, your subtle blow takes your opponent in the groin. It is when heads turn to see the scream of agony howling from deep within your opponents throat that you know the blow has done significant damage"
(This one's bound to get a chortle or two as the player's imagine what might of happened)

I could go on but this thread is not supposed to be all about my descriptions but yours. Feel free to add or make up whatever you like - even adding a possible scenario if you wish. I'm hoping with enough responses, we'll have a good resource for DM's to look through for finding the simple, poetic, verbose, humourous, imaginative or just plain violent description they are after.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[BLACKDIRGE]

What fun! This is a really cool idea. Having done SCA and full contact live steel combat for some years now I have learned a thing or two about the nature of melee combat. First of all its rarely "pretty", even the best fighter will look nothing like the movies when in the thick of it. Economy of motion is the key not flashy moves which more than likely will just gey you killed. That said I do like a rousing description of combat from a writer who at least understands the basics of armed combat.

One thing to remember is that weapons rarely land where you want them to, which is not necessarily a bad thing. A good way to spice up combat description is to describe the blow landing in a place your mind would not normally jump to. Here is an exmple of what i mean from one of my rogue gallery threads.

"Grummok pistoned his arm up and over Thagmot’s open faced helm plunging his dagger into the bugbears face twice before Thagmot, writhing in agony, managed to shake the tenacious gargoyle off of his back. Grummok hit the ground and rolled to his feet his dagger poised to strike, but there was no need, the blackguard had lost all interest in the deadly assassin. Thagmot had stumbled back away from Grummok clutching the ruins of his face and howling in absolute torment. Grummok’s two strikes had inflicted grievous damage removing the bugbear’s right eye with the first while the second had plunged deep into the blackguard’s mouth, taking most of his upper lip and good portion of his tongue along with it."

Here you have two vicious blows that would more than likely reduce an opponent to less than half his current hit points. Getting stabbed in the mouth would really ruin your day and in the thick of things is a very real possibility. Attacks like this are also good for reoccuring villians as they tend to leave horrible scars and give the bad guy something to really hate your PC's for.

Another good trick is to describe defense as much as offense, take a good attack roll and describe it as a riposte or as a response to an oppoent's attack. Again from my rogue's gallery thread.

"As Hek darted in with a double thrust aimed at Grummok’s throat the gargoyle spun his body to the side allowing Hek’s thrust to sail past its target. Surprised by the sudden change in his rhythm Hek was momentarily off balance and his speed simply was not enough to retract his blades and vulnerable hands in time to save them from Grummok’s blade. The wickedly sharp drow longsword arced up in vicious undercut slicing clean through Hek’s right wrist and sending his severed hand, still clutching the flaming dagger, twitching to the ground. Grummok followed his cut by pivoting his body back to face Hek and slamming his buckler with all his might into the human’s stunned face. The crunch of cartilage and bone as Hek's nose and cheekbone shattered was horribly loud in the echoing space of the trophy room. The force of Grummok’s blow knocked Hek of his feet where he lay in stunned silence blood jetting in crimson spurts form his ragged stump."

In the above clip you have what could be a critical hit with the removal of the hand and a finishing blow that would put the opponent into negatives.

Once again great idea, I will post more as they come to me.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Describing the effects of heavy blows is good, and it adds a lot of drama, but sometimes, less is more. Too much description of the effect can desensitize your audience, and sometimes its good to leave it to their imagination.

"Korimyr snaps his wrist casually, slamming the uncharged stun baton into the bridge of the Governor's nose."

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Describing the effects of heavy blows is good, and it adds a lot of drama, but sometimes, less is more. Too much description of the effect can desensitize your audience, and sometimes its good to leave it to their imagination.

"Korimyr snaps his wrist casually, slamming the uncharged stun baton into the bridge of the Governor's nose."

For this sort of description (terse, direct, simple), I'd suggest checking out some hard-boiled or noir fiction; either that or watch a couple of old film noirs or neo-noirs. Look at stuff by Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, the other Black Mask guys, James Ellroy (for some newer stuff). Look at films like <i>Chinatown</i> (frex, the nose scene — if you've seen it, you probably know what I mean). This type of stuff should give you a sense of action that's packaged in a way that conveys a lot but uses very little. Hammett (check out <i>Red Harvest</i>, <i>The Maltese Falcon</i>, and his other stuff, although <i>The Thin Man</i> is somewhat different) in particular is great at this type of minimalism in his prose. You can find it in some Hemingway, too, although not always.

Best,
tKL

 

[ThoughtBubble]

Keep in mind that a lot of my DMing expierence was in halfhearted knowledge of a 2nd Edition campaign, and so I freeformed a lot of things that I know there are rules for in 3rd Edition.

The relative importance of the blow is another thing to keep in mind. When wading through thugs that the fighter takes out in one hit, it's time to bring out descriptions of the flow. "Your sword bites into yet another orc, ending his life." In that situation, you don't want much of a blow by blow. So an orc hits him for some damage, big whoop. On the other hand, a potent foe deserves more respect.

Building style with the individual characters can be fun. In the case of a sturdy cleric, they might simply absorb or ignore many low damage blows, relying on their armor or shields. A more nimble fighter might "flow along with the mace's movements. It strikes only a glancing blow." In one campaign, we had a thief with high AC but poor attack. The descriptions I used for her began taking on the flavor of a sixth sense that warned her of danger, but often instinctively threw her into dodges and ruined her attacks.

Collateral damage is another fun one. Sure, the attack didn't hit, but that doesn't mean it didn't affect other things. Tables, chairs, loot, nothing is safe. And it can often add a lot to the encounter.

Omitting details. Sometimes it's fun to drop out senses or portions of the results. Instead of describing the blow itself, describe the aftermath. "Your blade jerks as his body slides off of it." Or even just leading up with a sense you don't normally use (or in a manner you don't usually use it in) can cause a tremendous break. "Warmpth seeps down your shoulder as his blade withdraws."

So, how would you DM's handle attacking a creature that has DR? Or how about an opponent that has the PC's outclassed?