emil 🏳️🌈#DND DMs of the fediverse - what's your fave way to do combat narrating and directing? it's one of the things i struggle with the most and i wonder what resources have shaped your combat narrating skills!
Bear@thecojsz It's all pacing, in my book. It's got to be quick, snappy, and with just enough flair to carry [Your Style Of Combat] across. Is your world gritty? So is your combat. Serrated blades drag through leather and strip flesh. Is it punchy and mostly showy ala Marvel? Enemies crumble under mighty blows! Description is good, but if it gets in the way of pacing of the combat, then it's not serving its purpose. Practice keeping combat flow, and add little descriptive snippets to practice it <3
@balketh ye i feel like my biggest weakness here is that HPs don't make that much visual sense to me, if that makes any sense? like saying "they hit you for X points of damage" gets super repetitive super fast but i have a hard time pinpointing the practical equivalents of X HPs to translate them into the actual extent of the injuries, y'know?
@thecojsz HP is a bit of an issue until you draw it out to a % of their total capability to stay standing under duress. 50 damage on a 100HP character is -bad-, that's a nasty, bleeding wound that's gonna slow then right down, slipped between the plates. A 10hp hit on said 100hp character means they got clipped, winged, drew blood but not a lot, but they can't keep taking more of those in good conscience, etc.
Damage type is BIG as well, but you're mostly just adding flair.