8 Combat Narration Pitfalls in D&D | Don't Make These Mistakes!
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- Опубліковано 13 лип 2024
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Combat is an integral part of Dungeons & Dragons. And so is describing what happens in D&D combat. However, describing D&D combat isn't always easy for dungeon masters, even though it's incredibly important for maximizing player enjoyment. The great news is DMs can get better at narrating combat in the D&D games. In this video, we discuss eight combat narration pitfalls in D&D and what dungeon masters should do instead.
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#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #combat - Ігри
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IT wasn't a segway. I can't stop laughing
In answer to your question about bacon substitutes...yes, these do exist. Turkey bacon is perhaps the most prominent that came about as a slightly healthier and often cheaper alternative, but there is also vegan bacon. I've tried the LightLife brand vegan bacon and it wasn't great on its own, but I guess if you want a sort of bacon-like flavor added to a vegan dish, like bacon bits on a baked potato or salad, it might do the job well enough. Turkey bacon falls into that same category - it isn't quite the same as real bacon, but its a close enough approximation that you could use it as a substitute in some things if you couldn't use regular bacon for whatever reason.
I usually describe the actions after a turn has ended, so, instead of describing each individual attack, I would wait and describe the whole turn of movement and attacks together. I also often sum up the battlefield situation at the start of a turn, especially if the player whose turn it now is had been distracted with something important.
It's a good opportunity to summerize the action in a way that depicts more teamwork than turn after turn combat suggests.
It also allows to turn some frustating failed rolls into a narrative success. "While the hold spell didn't last more than a fraction of second before the fiend broke free, it gave the fighter just the opening to land his devastating blow, seriously wounding the devilish creature."
That's a really great idea. It does require a fair amount of extra work on your part. And you've got to be creative, and be able to think on the fly. But if you can pull it off, I'll bet the end result is very nice.
One of the thing I do is turn critical hits over to the players to describe--if they roll the 20 and follow up, I'll let them know if it's a killing blow or not, but they get to describe the cool thing their character did. What I have found is that it engages the players even more during combat. Another thing that is sometimes really helpful, is describing near misses, too. "The orc races forward and swings his spiked axe, you feel the blow impact your body, and the scrape of metal on the boss of your shield, or or sliding across the mail rings of your armor. you take no damage." Include the equipment the player has chosen in your descriptions, it rewards their choices.
The exception to the rule of being overdramatic, I go overboard on brilliant or clutch plays. It helps remind the players that the DM is cheering for them.
From my time DMing, simply asking players what their spell/attacks/successful skill checks look like just once in a game really encourages them. It's not about getting them to be descriptive, but as a DM you want to convey that you are INTERESTED in hearing it and then implementing their description so it has narrative impact and weight.
In our most recent 5E fight, a battle master fighter was using sweeping blow against two shadows, and my inquisitive rogue set up advantage (to get sneak attack dice) and ran in, then slid under the fighter's swings (so as to not get in the way of his two-handed sword!!!) to stab upward and finish off one of the undead.
I took the standing up penalty by my choice the next round, to reflect the "Owie!" of doing a power slide on an uneven wooden floor.
@@MonkeyJedi99 That's so cool to visualize! Props to you for narratively fitting combos with your teammates. I haven't had many players do that!
I never thought to ask about what a skill check looks like. I bet that would be less intimidating for my party to describe. Thanks for the idea!
You creep into the darkened room, an enticing aroma permeates... your wisdom save fails and you find yourself enchanted by it. A low sizzle can be heard from a contraption in the room... and on a metal sheet you see it, the supernatural force that has charmed your senses... several strips of bacon cooking in their own juices... you are powerless to resist.
I signed up for Dscryb a while back using your code. I've definitely used it a few times but boy are the descriptions a bit long winded...
You don't have to use the whole description. If you feel it would drag on you can edit it to make it shorter, cutting out what you don't need and only keeping the best and most important bits.
@@studentofsmith obviously. Just saying that they tend to be a bit long
@@DungeonsAndDrams Probably because it's easier to cut stuff out to make it shorter than add stuff to make it longer. If I was writing those descriptions I'd err on the side of longer rather than shorter as well.
@@studentofsmith unfortunately you do have to use the whole thing. It's just the rules. You can't trim them or even use them as inspiration for an original thought. You are literally, legally bound to the words that the program offers you upon your request and there is no turning back
That's weird, I find the descriptions are almost all too brief... but something might be wrong with me...
For DMs, a simple mechanic to encourage player descriptions: repetitive attacks give the target a small defensive bonus (like +1 AC) because a repetitive attack is easier to predict & counter.
An attack is defined as “repetitive” entirely by its description, and descriptions can be very simple. If you just say “I hit them with my sword” 3 times in a row, then the target gets a defensive bonus against those last 2 attacks. But if you just vary your descriptions-“I chop them in the shoulder”, “I swing at their gut”, “I run them through with my sword”-then the target gets no defensive bonus, even though the actions are _mechanically_ the same.
A few tips:
- I think it’s important for the defensive bonus to be small-you don’t want players to feel like they’re getting booed offstage at an open-mic night. But even a small defensive bonus to targets will incentivize players, because it’s so easy to avoid. And the more they do it, the better they’ll become at it.
- Don’t be an art critic. Even short, crappy descriptions are fine, so long as it sounds different from their previous action. The purpose of this mechanic is to gently encourage players, not to punish or demoralize them. When in doubt, err on the side of the players.
- This mechanic applies to NPCs as well. It might sometimes be a little bit of a pain for the DM… but it can also be useful. Maybe you want to throw a mob of especially dumb goblins at your group. Their repetitive attacks will help sell their stupidity, make your players feel a little more bad-ass, and (slightly) help balance out the size of the mob. Or it can help sell them as a disturbing threat: they’re making progress against the group, despite their demonstrably dumb, brutish violence.
Number 9 : Not narrating weaknesses and resistances. Narration is one of the best tools to let your players know about weaknesses and resistances of creatures they are fighting.
Number 10 (and this goes for non-combat narration too) : Making everyone a mind reader. People generally are not mind readers so don't narrate what characters are thinking. Others can not act on this thought anyway unless they are metagaming.
Number 9 is a good one. Our DM does that for us and it really works well and helps us understand the kind of creatures in that area of the world.
@@yoavpilowsky-bankirer3808 yep, that's something I do. "Your chromatic orb of lightning hits the creature, and as the lightning crackles across it's body...it doesn't seem to have had any effect."
Decades of using Rolemaster with its descriptive and sometimes hilarious critical hit table entries has made all of us a lot better at narrative combat in all game systems.
One of our favorite killing crits, "Strike through heart makes life difficult for foe."
One of our favorite fumbles: "You trip over an unseen deceased giant turtle and fumble your weapon for two rounds."
Thanks for the tips! I’ve been trying to work my way around descriptions for quite some time now, and this was very helpful!
Narrating combat is my weakest point and generally dislike it, so I found your video very helpful on the subject.
Combat narration! THANK YOU! I've been struggling
Thank you for the video. Liked and subscribed! Love bacon as well. Group chemistry helps a lot in narative description.
Always appreciate different thoughts and approaches to being a dm. Thanks.
I've just started my DND journey. I'm a storyteller who's brother gave her the DM Book set and said LET'S GO! I have to say, your videos have really helped me not be so hard on myself as a new DM and has encouraged me to write my own campaign. Your down to earth delivery makes all the difference for me.... Saving up for your Fey Campaign Book...Feywilds is my favourite realm.
On the first two points; I do full descriptors on round 1, and slim them down with each passing round, eventually stopping with the fluff at a certain point and only focusing on important things as you said.
Thanks Luke, very helpful information.
Thank you Luke!! Love the topics lately!!
Luke is one of the best online DM Advice channels for sure
Thank you. Great advice as always.
I want to thank you for what you do you put a lot of AWSOME INFORMATION that has helped me to be a better DM THANK YOU I love your Channel
Having a decent grasp on how to describe things in game is very important for DM, it's definitely brought my games to the next level for my players.
Another great video, thanks Luke!
Short and sweet and help from the players is great, it gets the whole table into the game.
I'm somewhat new to dm'ing. Some of the tips in this vid I was already doing, but certain things ling the enemy reactions are a real cool addition. A lot of your videos give me a lot of tips and ideas for my sessions. Thanks 😎
5:25 but I'm so hooked at this description now! I should go back to reading books, those were great times XD
With combat, I like to give a brief, narrative description for how an attack missed its target. If it barely missed it was deflected by the armor. If it missed by more and they had a shield it was brought up in time, and/or if they are nimble they narrowly dodged the attack. An even lower roll will have the target parry a blow, and low rolls will simply miss. I generally base the descriptive part based on how the target's AC is calculated, as I'm able to do the arithmetic quick enough in my head. I've found it keeps my players a lot more engaged than simply saying they missed, and when I'm being cagey with the NPC's AC it gives them more of a feel for what the number could be.
Great point about reading! I’ve actually started gathering and reading highly recommended D&D novels. It’s allowed me to tap into my inner child and describe simple combat moves and stay away from worrying too much about EVeRY single roll.
Reading some of the pulp westerns is a great way to get landscape descriptions. Louis l'Amour in particular.
Great stuff friend 👏 👍
Luke though I play pf2e I have really appreciated your advice which I find mostly relevent to either system. Thank you.
Yes. Describing the monsters reactions should be your bread and butter. Spring boarding off the players description keeps the action moving forward. And validates the players creative additions.
I DM at my local game store every week. One of my players is blind. I appreciate how much my games have improved since he joined my table.
Whenever I describe combat, either as a player or a GM, I almost always declare my attack, maybe with a teensy bit of flavor, then wait until after the roll and everything that comes after is resolved before I decide whether I want to narrate it and how much detail gets devoted to the attack. Keeps things quick without as much risk of it either becoming stale or passionless. Hell, whenever my players do things, I encourage them to hold them to similar standards. How much detail and pomp do they think is warranted for their actions? Sweet! I fully support them no matter what, while always gently pushing them to improve!
I really love the ease your players into descriptions. That's such a great idea there's a couple people in my group that just don't describe where they go or what they want to do and I think that's a great way to ease them into it especially new players. And I feel a good substitute for bacon would be pork belly unless you went were vegetarian or vegan, in that case not really. Bacon is God tier of food.
Honestly my kobold rogue in Curse of Strahd is what helped me to describe combat stuff with a bit of flair sometimes, as well as make more interesting maps for my own D&D games. I don't always go into detail about my actions, but occasionally I'll see a stump and describe how "I run forward, my small body going unnoticed as the opponent is locked in combat with the paladin. I leap atop the stump and spring up, plunging my rapier directly down into the unaware foe's shoulder!" 70%+ of the time, however, I just say "Molgo casts Stabby-Stab." This dicotemy is one of the big reasons I love kobolds so much. Sometimes they're surprisingly tactical, other times they just stabby-stab. Really fun to roleplay.
Thanks for everything bro you the best
Thank you I learned something. I really wasn't describing enemies reactions at all, and maybe I don't need to make deeper more frequent descriptions. Maybe it's already enough, it just needs better quality.
The biggest thing is just not to go on too long narrating it. This is especially true at high level with multiple attacks happening for every character involved. Don't narrate EVERYTHING just narrate the most important or coolest things. Also if we're running out of time in a session I will cut the narration right down so we can wrap up the combat and end when everyone agreed we would.
R. A. Salvatore really is MASTER at combat description! It was always the best part of his books.
Handy bit of info.
Not every person can actually visualize things in their head. WOW, right. Mind blown.
I have a daughter that literally does not reference memory in any visual fashion. She has no minds-eye experience to call upon. Everything is context and information. Yet, she is an amazingly creative person. A wonderful illustrator and fashion designer. Not to mention one of the best role-players at any table.
My general rule of thumb, as a player, is that I describe what my character physically does, not what that action does to my target. It's up to the DM to describe what my actions do to the target. The exception to this rule is, of course, "How Do You Want To Do This?" That phrase gives me carte blanch to do whatever the Hell I want to the target since, you know, I'm killing them with this action. That why I don't, as the video mentioned, attempt to eviscerate my target with my opening volley of 5 whole damage. :D
Holy crap, never been this early, normally I see your old videos.
Thank you for number 4! it's so difficult to get a lot of players to start describing anything unless they are the type who want to spend three minutes unrealistically describing both their action as well as how the monster & environment well beyond the player's influence.
So much #4. DMs do themselves a big favor when avoiding the word "you" - especially in conjunction with how the PC is thinking, feeling, or acting - when narrating results.
The DM significantly improves their workload significantly by only describing the *mechanical results* of the PCs' actions - i.e. how those actions have changed the environment/baddies.
For players, I think the key is to briefly describe your *action* (not its mechanics) in a way that conveys *emotion.* Just a brief, single sentence that would make sense outside of D&D, like:
“I cleave him in twain!!!”
“I scramble backwards, wildly slashing at them!”
“I put a bolt right between the stupid eyes on their stupid face!”
“Ohhhhhh yeah… I’m lighting this jerk on fire.”
Sometimes it helps to accompany descriptions with some light pantomime _(light_ pantomime):
“I draw my bow, take aim, and let an arrow sink into their chest.”
“This guy’s really pissing me off, so I start shanking. him. in. the. gut!”
And of course, mix it up a little. Don’t be that person who “cleaves them in twain!!!” ten times in a row.
None of that’s much more difficult than saying “I hit them with my sword”, “I shoot them with my bow”, or “I cast fireball”, but it’s a lot more interesting, especially after the thirtieth time you’ve swung a sword. Combat is an emotional experience-for characters _and_ for players. That emotional experience is what makes it interesting, and it’ll make your descriptions interesting, even if they’re not super literary.
Getting into that habit also helps with more complex descriptions. If you’re comfortable with short, off-the-cuff descriptions, you’ll have a better sense for which moments deserve longer, more intense ones, and they’ll flow more freely when it’s time for them.
Bob Salvatore is the person I emulate the most when describing combat. It adds such a huge degree of fun and he has given me an enormous vocabulary for action.
I've been trying to make my own narrations for what my character is doing during combat on my turns to try and help out my group's DM a little bit, and it's actually a lot of fun! My DM still likes to narrate killing blows himself, which is honestly fine with me lol. But it definitely is good to not try to force your DM to do ALL of the narration themselves!
Useful content
In my session zero I'm planning on laying down a framework for final blow descriptions. If I say, "Describe your final blow" or "Describe your critical hit," and they don't want to be put on the spot or can't think of anything, they can just say, "Manager's special," and I'll take it from there. I've had quite a few final blows where I couldn't think of anything and just wished the DM would take over without me trying to beg my way out of the improv.
Also, bacon substitutes exist but I've never had the real thing (lifelong vegetarian) and I'm allergic to the substitutes. Sounds like I need to come up with my own.
There are only two acceptable bacon substitutes.
1) bac-o-bits on your salad.
2) beggin’ strips for your dog
I actually got to meet R.A. Salvatore in 2016 at a convention. He's really cool and signed my book for my birthday.
A thumbs up for bacon and a quick D&D related bacon story. A friend of mine played a dwarf who rode his trusty stead bacon the boar in to combat only because his previous boar mount Ham Sandwich was killed by a giant.
Yep, I love the first point too descriptive is definitely going to slow the game to a crawl, and on top of that, it's going to make you have to be as descriptive if not more in the non-encounter portions of the game or else the party is going to act as if the encounter portion is the only thing that matters. The non-descriptive second point turns the game into a board game where it's the rules that is in play, not the game aspect. About the let the player describe, that is great, you'll see them getting more comfortable over time (and I'll be honest, D&D has turned me into a much better public speaker, convincing the players to participate will probably create a real life skill that they will use later in their life, whether it's a job interview or some other public interaction) on top of asking them to describe their actions, reward them for doing it, if they talk about how they attack, and you can find a way to create a bonus for them doing it, they will be more apt to do it again.
I have a chart that requires the players to roll 2 20s and see where the hit that kills is so a 20 for general body area and then another 20 for specific part in that body, like head, ear and this helped my son describe his killing blows , he enjoys it so much now that he gets super excited and does great descriptions where before he wouldnt say anything or just say he doesnt know. Try making a chart, it will help players and it doesnt happen too often so it doesnt bog down the game :D if there are lots of little mobs i do a quick description of the death or sometimes it can be a critical death blow.
Funny, I usually roll an extra die to help focus my narratives. A enemy creature dies roll a 1d4, 1 = humiliating, 2 to 3 = normally, 4 = awesomely. Basically a word association thing. I call them story dice (or roll), but many call them personal dice or a personal roll.
tip 8 is also great for ways to keep party members engaged even when it isn't their turn. Not just transition into the next person on initiative order, but to keep the game fun and engaging for those waiting for their turn to come back around.
I love watching these videos and then realizing that I already do most of the things he talks about XD
The senses-tip is good. I should write that down. On a post-it-note that I have in front of me at all times while DMing....
Great review of ideas, Luke! I will definitely try the "gentle ask" for the players to describe their own crits and kills; I think I've been doing too much of this on my own. Let *them* be creative! (If they want to be...)
However, I have recently found that #8 - Narrative Transitions - has become a crutch for some of the players! They don't pay attention, counting on the narrative transition to fill them in when it's time for their turn! D'oh!! (The issue is "player attention", of course, not "narrative transitions"...) Just wanted to point that potential out.
And yeah, Turkey Bacon... 99% lean, more meat + less fat. Still not "real bacon" though. So glad when we went back to the good stuff!!
spatter/spattered is the noun/adjective form, splatter is the verb form. if you have bloody-clothes, they are spattered after being splattered with spatter. splattered only becomes an applicable verb/adverb if a thing is CRUSHED so violently it splatters spatter on surrounding objects - the object is splattered (crushed till juices leak out) the leaked out juices are spatter. "the surrounding objects are spattered by being splattered with the spatter of his splattered-bladder" xD
thanks!!! now i want a swhord
I had that mage who also is an artist. For casting spells he had a wand with a tip shaped like a paintbrush and would use that for painting the spell into reality. For example for casting fireball he would paint a fireball on a translucent canvas that appears magically when he starts casting a spell and when he finished painting it he tips the painting with his wand and that casts the spell. I described every big spell being cast for the first time in detail coming up with paintings to represent the spell but after that I was mostly just saying paintbrush is out, I paint a fireball and cast the fireball spell.
That way everybody was still reminded of my character doing that painting thing, but I didn't take like 10 minutes per turn describing it every time.
I saw a bacon substitute on shark tank, so can confirm lol. Great video man!
“Tell me what this looks like” sounds way better to me now than “how you want to do this”.
Turkey bacon. Oscar Meyer has some of the best options. It cooks well, crunchy, and looks enough like bacon to replace it. Spouse doesn't eat hoofbeast so it's the next best thing. Thick cut isn't recommended and other brands don't quite cut it. Bacon fan that cooks for a non pork eater.
Thanks for the Bacon substitutes. Thumbs up for that! (PS, it's true, there are very few good substitutes)
The best way to descriptive narrative, is to the point, colorful, simplicity.
For spells same thing.
Critical hits visualize, colorful, painful
Critical hit that kills, say this to the pcs..describe his death style.
That's what I do.
I should have said this first the scenery...here's where a dm should use his experience in shitty weather, good weather ect. This will nail the image in the head of the players
The few I keep in mind:
Number 5 lends itself to the old “bloodied” mechanic at 50% HP loss. Maybe not just 100/50/0, but pick milestones and describe bigger at those points (at least on big guys).
Steal from movies and TV and any other visual media you like. An arrow hits a kobold for 32? “The impact drives the tiny body backwards, disappearing into the surrounding brush.”
Misses aren’t always whiffs-the blade turns off an armored forearm, an arrow finds a metal buckle instead of weaker cloth armor, the nimble goblin dodges...
There ARE bacon substitutes and it is a beautiful thing for someone like me who gave up pork but still likes the taste. It’s called turkey bacon or beef bacon! Same with pepperoni cuz pizza’s just not the same (or as delicious) without it. Great content btw. Really appreciating the info as a new DM. 👍
Beef bacon is amazing
Luke approaches the monster... a bit of sweat gathering on his brow... as he Stares down the owlbear he's reminded of a stuffed owlbear he had as a child in the town of Smalltown. Ah yes... smalltown a large town on the outskirts of Tiny-city... a large city on the continent of Landia...
Uhghhhhj
I've had bac-o's on salad, but not since I was a child. Oddly enough, that was before soy burgers and toufurkey were popular. I'd forgotten that was a thing until you mentioned it, so thanks for that.
Sometimes, depending on the weapon being used and the size of the target, I'll describe even high damage hits (as long as they don't outright kill said target) as a very near miss. The loss of HP in this case representing things like exhaustion or strained muscles from barely avoiding being cut in half or crushed to bony jelly.
I tried having my players describe their killing blows, but it brought everything to a screeching halt as they tried to figure out what to say and turned the moment anti-climatic. Between that, and what appeared to be reticence on their part, I took back the narrating duties.
My ask to players is to just occasionally describe how they want to perform an action while they are declaring it, rather than putting them on the spot to describe something when they weren't expecting to do so. That gives them the opportunity to describe stuff how they envision it when they are ready to do so, which lets them think of how they would describe it beforehand. Hearing other players describe their actions will usually get the reluctant players to join in willingly, whereas they are likely to be frustrated if forced to do it.
tip 8 was solid
I mean, there's turkey bacon ... so that's kind of a bacon substitute. I mean it certainly isn't "real" bacon ...
4. Saw that coming 😅
I had some vegan bacon in a little breakfast place on vacation. It was amazing!
the last part I need to do more. Not the bacon substitute thing that's chaotic evil,
Read some David Gemmell, awesome heroic fantasy action with great characters, cant go wrong with Robert E Howard either
"where is it written that the dungeon master has to do everything."
From the PHB How to Play section found in the Introduction.
Step 1. The DM describes the environment.
Step 2. The players describe what they want to do.
Step 3. The DM narrates the results of the adventurers’ actions.
Step 2. The players describe what they want to do.
IE: the players narrate their own actions.
I tend to find it is easier for me to narratively describe other player's attacks than my own. Maybe it's because on my turn I'm focused on executing my turn quickly rather than visualizing what is happening in game... but I almost never narrate my attacks unless prompted. Granted, there's only so many ways you can narrate an Eldritch Blast...
Well placed ad is well placed
Bacon substitutes deserve the action that Ron Swanson in Parks & Rec has, throwing them in the trash then asking for another to throw in the trash to "Make sure nobody has to eat it".
With regard to describing severity of injuries, I don't describe any kind of noticeable damage to creatures above 50% HP. They are suffering from minor nicks and bruises or are looking a bit winded at worst. HP represent combat endurance, not physical health, so descriptions should reflect that. Once they are below 50% health, their endurance is starting to wane and they start taking more serious hits, a small cut here, a welt there, their breathing is labored and they are struggling to stay standing. Under 25% is when things start getting more grisly, with deep cuts that gush blood, bones cracking, and they are only able to leap into action in short bursts, with every movement an act of desperation as they are now running on fumes.
As you said, only the killing blow should describe something that would be a fatal blow.
I use dscryb for encounter building and it’s pretty amazing for that. Also, I prefer sausage over bacon. Please no hate.
As a player and as a Dm i personally never use i attack and do this much damage, but i defs dont go into vivid detail everytime but i like to atleast provide the a tiny inkling as to what happened Ie, was it a punch or kick, a slash or stab etc
Hey algorithm, this guy doesn't suck! Also yeah turkey bacon is a thing. Tastes totally different, but it's tasty.
BACON!!! (Turkey bacon is pretty good too!)
"DM does everything" is on page 74 in the DM guide.
In one of the last sessions I played, we had a combat with some undead. It was as boring as it sounds. To add to the points of the video:
Have almost always some kind of buildup to a fight. Sometimes you really don't need it. But in the most cases it feels so much better if you can tell something isn't right instead of having a group of skeletons and zombies randomly show up. For example: If you want your players to encounter wild animals like a pack of wolfs, have the wolfs howl in the distance. A few minutes later let the players hear some noise in the bushes, maybe a stick snapping until they eventually hear growling and see pairs of eyes flashing between the bushes and trees. Don't just throw things at them because its awesome and cool and what not, believe me, it's probably not.
Give the players some freedom mid-combat. My character wasn't aware what was going on, as she was sleeping when the combat started. I walked out the portable house and asked the other PCs what the hell's going on. The DM quickly shot this bit of roleplay down as he didn't allow us to have this small conversation in combat, but we could talk on each of our turns. Felt incredibly bad. Having a little freedom makes combat a lot more "fluid" and interesting. Yes the rules may state that you can't, but your players will have much more fun and players having more fun means the DMs having more fun as well.
To sum up the rest of the encounter in Lukes points: Give the players the freedom to describe their actions and describe what's happening beyond "It attacks".
In doing what the DM did there I lost all motivation to put in any effort, just like the DM wasn't putting in much effort in the combat. The combat itself felt like it happened because the DM wanted it to happen, rather than we as the players walked into it or at least get a clue that there was *something* out in the forest. By denying me of roleplaying that little bit it demotivated me even further. I was like "Oh, we can't talk? Well, then scrap that, imma go into rage and hit that skeleton. I deal 17 damage." Needless to say, the other players weren't motivated either to describe their actions any further than "I hit it".
Sounds like you need to share this video with your dm! In the politest possible way, of course :)
Even though the rules state that you can only talk on your turn, if that is really a concern for whatever reason, I would allow each player to say something in response to someone talking on their turn, and just have those responses count as their allotted "talk time" for their next turn instead of making everyone wait for their turn to respond. Combat is "paused" until everyone has said something or declined to do so, then combat resumes as normal. You couldn't have a full on conversation while combat was paused, but you could say "Huh? What's going on?" and your allies could respond with "We're being attacked", "Kobold ambush" and "Get up and fight, you fool!" or whatever. This allows a fluid response to whatever is said without breaking the mechanics.
Stopping combat for a full party discussion that goes on for several minutes is extremely immersion-breaking, so I understand why the rule exists as it is, but a little leniency for a quick call-and-response interaction can go a long way to resolve the equally immersion-breaking turn-based combat system.
I love bacon. Wait, is that too short a description? Hmm, enough said: I love bacon.
Apparently: To spatter means to scatter small particles of a substance. To splatter means to scatter large particles of a substance.
I use bacon substitute, but I assure you I can be a very good friend ! :P
THICK-CUT, APPLE WOOD-SMOKED BACON!!
LUKE!!! What sauce do you put on your bacon?
HP Fruity rules!
I personally like long descriptions a d players that have a dramatic affect when they play, but at times it can be much however it makes game play fun and exciting. In my opinion anyways ...
How difficult is it to reskin your source material to pf2e?
6:17 - Is this true? Is this a common practice? I have been playing D&D and/or Pathfinder since about 2004, and I have never once had a DM offer to help me make my character. Each and every DM has given a list of character creation stipulations (starting wealth, starting point-buy amount, etc.) and then waits for me to send them a finished character sheet.
On a tangentially related note, I think only one has ever even incorporated the backstory they insisted that I write up for them.
I like both bacon and bacon substitutes but I really like that you waited until later in the video to ask for likes 😊
Bacon & #8 are both very important
Bacon substitute?! STONE THE INFIDELS!