Combat Descriptions

I'm not big on combat. As a roleplay-heavy GM, I think that combat is better handled by video games than by TRPGs. But even roleplay-heavy campaigns will eventually have combat. My mystery campaign is four sessions deep and still hasn't seen any combat, but it will inevitably happen. And you want your combat to be exciting whether it's the crux of your campaign or not. There are some easy steps you can take to spice up combat, and I'll explain them here. 

The first thing to do with combat is to bulk up your descriptions of what's happening. The dice tell you whether a player succeeds or fails their intended action, but you can do much more as GM. Give every combat action some description to make it leave a mark, even for nonremarkable rolls. 

We can break this up into distinct categories. We have low rolls (2-6), mid-low rolls (7-11), mid-high rolls (12-16), and high rolls (17-21). (I don't include critical success and critical failures--you can read about how to handle those here.) Each of these four categories should be described in particular ways. Let's start with low rolls.

On a low roll, the character fails by a considerable amount. Don't just say that the character misses--add something. "Your axe swings through the air towards the enemy, but they shift in place and your axe goes bouncing across the ground." This gives the player a concrete sense of how and why they missed, and it characterizes the enemy as the sort to step out of the way of a strike. Or you might decide that the player caused their own failure: "You swing with all your might at the enemy, but you try to swing too hard, and your blow lands just shy of hitting them." The important thing is that the low roll is reflected in the way they fail. 

Similarly, a mid-low roll should tap into how and why the character misses. But this time, they're not out-and-out failing. I like to describe misses like these in terms of armor class: "Your longsword arcs through the air and strikes the enemy directly in the chestplate, your sword doing no damage as it bounces harmlessly from their armor." Now the player isn't just missing, but they are still failing to do damage. This is a great characterizing device for combatants, who go from shapeless enemies to hulking, armored foes. You might also take into consideration how the enemy fights. "They parry your blow with the flick of a wrist, and your energy is routed off to the side," or "They raise their sizable shield to absorb the brunt of the blow, your mace skittered off and away from them." The key here is describing a near-hit in a way that highlights the player's near-success in a dramatic way. 

A mid-high roll is the most challenging to describe because it could be a success or a failure, so you need to ride the line between the two. Let's say the player rolls a 12 and the foe's armor class is a 14. We can go the same route as with a mid-low roll and describe a near-miss; we could also describe the way the enemy is especially skillful in avoiding the blow, narrowly dodging a certain attack. Or let's say that the player rolls a 16 and the enemy's armor class is a 14. Now we can describe a borderline success. There's plenty of room for drama here: "You bring your dagger down on the enemy, and they begin to step away from the attack, but you redirect your strike and catch them between cracks in their armor." We want the players to sense that they narrowly succeeded, so our description should match. Finally, let's address an exact hit: the player rolls a 14 and the enemy's armor class is 14. "You smash your quarterstaff down on the enemy's head just as they begin to dodge away, and they seem surprised that you struck them. They seem a bit dazed from the blow." We're emphasizing how close the attack was, so even the enemy is shocked that things played out as they did. Any of these descriptions works well if they're deployed strategically. 

Then there are high rolls. Most of the time, a high roll will hit, but a high armor class may prevent that. In those cases, you want to embrace the spirit of the mid-low roll but in a powered-up fashion. "You expertly turn and slash at the enemy on your left with your rapier. Your attack arcs precisely toward the enemy, who only at the last second turns to absorb the blow with his armor. Your arm twitches as you strike, and so does the neck of the enemy." Reward your player's high roll with description that makes them competent, but abide by the roll. But most of the time you have a high roll, it will be a success. Make these successes exciting, though not quite on the scale of a critical success. "You bring your warhammer down onto the waiting shield of your foe. No amount of positioning can allow him to avoid damage. He crumples under the blow and has to regain his footing." The strike from the player is noteworthy, so we make our description noteworthy. But again, we leave a gap between the effect of a high roll and that of a critical success. 

All of the examples I've offered so far are for melee combat. Ranged combat works similarly, but it can be harder to spice up. Here's my advice: treat them the same way you do with melee rolls and be aware of the environment. Here's why--when you miss with a projectile, the projectile has to go somewhere. Guide it to a target when your player misses, and it will be more dramatic. 

Low rolls for projectiles are simple. "Your arrow flies a few feet wide of your target, burying itself in a wooden support beam just to the right of your enemy." One mechanic I use for help with this is simply rolling a d8 when a character misses a projectile attack. Number the squares surrounding the target on the map and roll--the projectile hits the numbered square you rolled. This may mean that the character hits a different enemy, an ally, or an object. What matters is that you describe the effect of it missing. "Your arrow buries itself in the shield of the enemy next to your target," or "Your arrow plunges into the back of your ally, and they yelp in pain and surprise," or "Just missing its mark, your arrow sinks into the dank earth in the dungeon's wall, the shaft quivering as it strikes." These are all much better than "You miss" and moving on. 

Mid-low rolls for ranged attacks can follow the same pattern as melee attacks. Projectiles can deflect off of armor, be dodged at the last moment, or even be snatched out of the air by substantially dexterous foes. Anything you come up with that delivers the sense that a projectile is on track to hit but is somehow stymied will work. Using the d8 surroundings roll, you can have the arrow strike any target in a dramatic fashion. 

Mid-high rolls are again a challenge, but they also introduce the tool we'll use for high rolls: specific places on an enemy. A mid-high roll that misses should follow the rolls of a mid-low roll, but a mid-high roll that succeeds should hit an enemy in a limited way. Here's where anatomy gets involved. Someone who hits an enemy by rolling exactly their armor class isn't going to land a crossbow bolt directly in the eye of the enemy. That's a lot of damage for a close success. So instead have the projectile strike a non-vital area. "Your bolt flies through the air and lands in the thigh of the enemy, and his hand shoots to the area reflexively," or "The enemy raises an arm to rain down a blow on your ally, but your bolt catches him in the wrist before he can bring it down. He calls out in shock." Give the players some indication of the real damage down by the attack as though it's more than simply rolling dice. 

High rolls are the realm of the most exciting results. With a high roll that strikes, you can get creative. "The stone from your sling rockets across the room and strikes the enemy in the hand holding their weapon, causing them to drop it." It's a shakeup on the combat floor, but it's not as powerful as a critical success. We might go instead for raw damage: "Your arrow pierces the cheek of the enemy, tearing skin away and exposing their teeth on the side of their face." Now the enemy is seriously in pain and will fight harder or be willing to surrender, whatever serves your needs best as GM. You might instead go for a dramatic near-miss: "Your crossbow bolt glances off the hanging chandelier and lands in the chest of the enemy, blood spurting out from the fresh wound. He snaps the arrow off and continues to fight." This characterizes the enemy as frenzied and intimidating, and the strike against him does damage but does not incapacitate the enemy like a critical success would. 

This has all been about describing attacks, but you can characterize damage as well. The key with this is to consider how effective a blow is given the enemy's total hit points. Here's a rough guideline for describing damage:

1-15% total damage - A solid attack that does basic damage - "You cut a groove into the side of your enemy."

16-25% total damage - A strong attack that does considerable damage - "You cut a chunk of flesh from your enemy with deadly precision." 

26-40% total damage - A powerful attack that does serious damage - "You bury your blade in the side of your enemy."

41-70% total damage - A mighty attack that substantially wounds the enemy - "You slice the armor of your enemy open and create a wide gash that runs the length of their torso."

71-100% total damage - A devastating attack the handicaps the enemy - "You swing hard and lop off the weapon-wielding arm of your foe"/"You swing hard and behead your foe."

It is entirely possible to do lethal damage to a foe without rolling a critical success, but it is far more exciting to have scaling effects of results than to rule that a heavy blow isn't spectacular just because your attack roll wasn't perfect. That's why I recommend scaling attacks to this same guideline with the enemy taking ever greater strikes from the party. For instance, the enemy takes 12% damage on their first round of being attacked, then another 10%, and another 12% in the third round. You could describe these attacks as all being solid with basic damage, or you could total the damage done and give the third attack an effect from the 26-40% range to reflect the compiled damage of the combat. This is up to you as GM--you may decide that you want your players to be fighting in more of a realistic combat setting, so sticking to damage per blow could work better. But for most players, scaling their damage to both damage done by an attack and total damage over the combat will spice things up and make each attack more special. 

I've been describing around the physical damage done to enemies but haven't yet addressed the ways that you can use damage descriptors to enhance combat. Essentially, you want to match the level of carnage to the combat's results, but still make it possible for the combat to continue. I'll use the same scale as before and provide examples of bodily harm that are appropriate for each level. 

1-15% total damage - No lost limbs or other handicaps. Enough damage to have a mild effect. - Bruising someone's face, opening a gash in their side, arrow to the leg.

16-25% total damage - Mild handicaps like a round spent clutching a wound or calling for help. - Bashing someone's limb, cutting out a chunk of flesh, arrow to the arm. 

26-40% total damage - Moderate handicaps like being forced to heal or getting into a defensive position. - Bludgeoning someone's head, slicing off a finger, arrow to the chest.

41-70% total damage - Substantial handicaps like using a magic item or going berserk. - Smashing someone's bones, cutting a deep gash in someone's torso, arrow to the neck. 

71-100% total damage - Severe handicaps like calling on a more powerful ally or sacrificing oneself. - Clobbering someone's skull, burying a blade in someone, arrow to the head. 

These are just guidelines--if a player wants to aim an attack at a specific part of their enemy's body, let them at the cost of accuracy (-2 to hit for a torso shot, -4 to hit for a disarming attack, -6 to hit for a headshot, for instance). And if they do want to target a body part, find a way to make the damage they do fit. If they target the head but do low damage, make the strike hit their jaw; higher damage hits the forehead. The trick is to make everything feel as though the numbers reflect the drama. 

I've suggested before letting the players decide the result of a critical roll. You can do the same with damage. While all the resources listed above allow you to take the descriptions into your hands, it is possible to let the players describe their attacks in more detail. It will get them more invested in the process of combat and allow you to focus on the other details you're keeping track of. Here are some guidelines on using player suggested combat rolls. 

When it comes to the "to hit" roll, ask your players to describe how it hits/misses. At first, they'll be a little uncertain, so offer some examples of how they can contribute. You could assign them this article so they have an idea of what you're looking for, or you could just explain that you want them to decide how to describe hits and misses. They'll look to dramatize the combat in a way that you as GM don't have the ability to easily do; they're on one side of the combat, where you're supposed to be an impartial referee, so they'll have a particular sense of what would be dramatic for the party. Let them describe as they choose, and correct things only when the rules of the game are on the line, or when your story may fall apart. 

It's the same process for damage rolls, but your players will be much more actively participating in this part of the equation. They want to decide how much they hurt their foes--it's the end result and goal of combat, so they definitely want to be involved. Use the guidelines above to moderate what is and isn't appropriate. If you need to correct something, keep its spirit but change the relevant parts. A few examples:

Players will generally take the damage too far much more than they won't take it far enough. Not far enough is easy. Let's say a player deals 15 damage to an enemy who has 45 health total (33% of total health done by the attack). The player, unsure of how strong the enemy is, goes too soft: "I hit the goblin in the leg with my arrow." But they've done a lot of damage, and we need to bump it up. Rather than moving the arrow, we add a detail: "You do hit the goblin in the leg, and the shaft buries itself directly in his femoral artery. Blood is spurting out of the wound, and he winces as splinters of wood shift in his thigh." Now the attack is more in the realm of where it should be, and the player's suggestion has been honored. 

Players taking it too far is much more common. Let's say a player deals 10 damage to an enemy with 40 total health, and they say, "I slash with my sword and slice the arm off of the gnoll." But only 25% total damage doesn't lend itself to such a dramatic effect. So we keep the spirit of it but tweak it: "You slash with your sword and slice deeply into the area where the arm connects to the torso. It hangs on by threads, but the gnoll doesn't let go of his flail or back down." This is only a mild correction, so while it doesn't do exactly as the player directed, it still reflects what they wanted to accomplish. Let's consider another example. 

A player deals 20 damage to an enemy with 40 health (50% total damage). The player, recognizing that this is a big hit, says, "I use my spear to run the zombie through, the spear tip coming out the other side with organs dangling from the blade." This is good description and detail, but the enemy is still at half health, and being so dismantled doesn't reflect his state of repair. So we can tone it down a bit and allow the player's suggestion to still come through: "You run your spear through the zombie, the blade emerging from its back as you push. A dead liver dangles from the spear tip. The zombie wrenches itself backward, removing itself from the spear and depositing its crude organs back into its body." This is a little bit of tug-of-war; the player wants to destroy the zombie, but it hasn't been dealt enough damage, so the zombie recovers from this potentially lethal attack to fight again. It doesn't betray our player's suggestion--just reorients it so we can keep fighting. 

Finally, there's the matter of fatalities. When a player kills an enemy, there should be some marker of drama. Even if the player only deals 1 damage to an enemy to kill it, you want it to be a dramatic strike. You can describe these killing blows in fun ways even if the damage is low. Here's how: ask yourself if the damage done by the player is above or below their average damage. If the damage is above their average, even if it's less than 15% total health of the enemy, make it a heavy, damaging blow. "Your sword lodges firmly into the torso of the vampire, rending his top half from his bottom half." Or "You swing your mace into the skull of the werewolf, crushing it completely." With either of these descriptions, get creative. Add bloody details, consider whether nearby enemies would be frightened after the solid hit, describe the player's weapon being momentarily stuck in the enemy--anything that makes the moment more unique. That's what we're striving for: unique moments in combat, which is often very much the same as other combat. 

If the strike is less than the player's normal damage, it would ring insincere to make their final blow so powerful. But you still want the moment to be interesting and reward the player who killed the enemy. So go with something that does a little bit of damage but also finishes the job. "You cut a long slice into the side of the kobold, who readies himself to swing once again at you, but passes out from blood loss as he begins to attack." Or "The displacer beast lashes out to attack you, but you swing your axe into its outstretched tendril, severing it from its body. It goes into shock and passes out." You want something that will communicate that the player just barely did enough damage to the enemy, which can be just as dramatic and fun as walloping that enemy. The key is in the description. Remember to always consider the context and give as much detail as possible without slowing combat down. Generally, two sentences about each attack are enough to characterize things and create tension for the players. 

You can use these guidelines to describe enemy attacks as well. When an enemy attacks a player character, describe the damage in the same way with the percentage of damage table above. This will plant some serious damage on your players, which will not only dramatize combat even more, but also emphasize the role of healing. "You have 21 points of damage," is one way to communicate how badly a player character is hurt, but saying instead, "You have a bloody wound on your left leg, a mangled right arm, and an arrow stuck in your shoulder" is far more dramatic, realistic, and enjoyable. It will make players want to heal and deal with damage as more than numbers on a page. 

In a future post, I'll explain how to manage the momentum of an encounter which you can improvise as you go. Until then, these tips on keeping combat interesting will help you to get your players more invested in combat. Until next time, have fun gaming!

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