For starters, I was rusty. My lexicon of hits, misses, crits and fumbles was far away. I was also nervous.
I also put in there a dragon that had more HP that I was prepared to handle... this is where my narrative started to fall flat and sound repetitive.
Luckily, I had elements to save me: I was gaming with children who are blessed with a love for silliness. And they were vocal about their likes, anticipations and were ready to propose descriptions when I was falling short.
A bit of practice will bring the lexicon back... but I half-remember a technique I used to use.
"Rule" 1
I suspect a lot of DMs do it that way - the farther away you are from the target, the most spectacular the hit or miss. That's an easy one.
"Rule" 2
What makes a die roll and a defense score is more complex than the silly number that represents it. For me, it feels especially rich in 4.0.
The die roll modifier (I almost wrote "thac0" - my lexicon is resurfacing) is a combination of experience (half level), abilities (ex: strength), feats, characteristics. The die roll is luck. Same with the defense score - experience, ablities and feats.
I try to layer them by importance.
For an attach score of 17, we can have a hit:
- 10 from the dice, for luck - "you just got lucky".
- 3 for strengh bonus - "you hit so hard you pierced the armor"
- due to training - "he blocked your hit, but anticipating his parry, you pivot on your left leg and score a hit"
- due to experience with this or another opponent or situation - "kobolds always dodge on their left first. dumb farts"
Already a nice palette to narrate a hit. The narrower we hit the DC, the more the hit goes towards the "luck" end of the spectrum. The higher we beat the DC, the more I go towards the training and experience end of the spectrum.
Misses can use that same scale, but we can do the same thing with the defense score. AC could be 18:
- Basic 10 - "you stand still, but the attacker misses" ... or just use the attack score scale :)
- 3 for the armor - "his axe hits you straight in the chest. You step a few steps back, gasping for breath. You reach for your chest - your armor has taken the hit. And someone must pay."
- 5 for a dex bonus - "his flail is coming straight at you. but you're not there anymore".
"Rule" 3 - Preparing a bit in advance
It's hard to use just like that without pausing and thinking about what constitutes the scores... but if you are prepared a bit in advance, you can have a general idea of how the various scores are composed - especially your players' scores.
I suspect we could devise a little hit/miss table that could be filled for each character and that gives descriptions for hits or misses based on how far the attack score is from the target DC.
Hmm... I like this idea.
"Rule" 4 - Practice
I'm a total designer geek and like to build rules and structures around things. It makes them simpler for me... but it sometimes makes them feel more complex and difficult for others.
A few practice rounds with have you get the gist of it... and you probably don't need anything more.
Except, of course, if that table idea from tip3 pans out...
hmmm...
