What do you do when a player cannot roleplay at all?
I joined a game about a month back. I rolled up a magic-user, and there's one other mage in the party + two martials. On my turn, I make it a point to describe what my PC's casting looks like, the words he says, the gestures he makes, and all that shit.
The other magic-user just says, "My guy points a finger and casts Chill Touch." It's the weakest shit ever.
How do I make the player better at describing their spellcasting?
Please clap...
First you need to learn what parts of roleplaying matter and what parts are superficial timewasting.
Making a decision that your character would make is the part of roleplaying that matters.
Taking a long time to describe an action that your character is likely to be taking repeatedly doesn't matter. Describing it once or twice can be interesting, after that it just wastes time.
This.
Not all players like roleplaying the combat. And it can get repetitive pretty quickly - and it's difficult even for people who think quickly and work at it.
What if it's literally "I cast the spell" every turn?
I'm not exaggerating. It's either "I cast Chill Touch" or "Mandalf the Gay casts Chill Touch", nothing else.
Still better than dragging out what is the already time consuming process of combat with what equates to self fellatio
Let him do it. He is trying to not take too long on his turn.
>How do I make the player better at describing their spellcasting?
You don't because the only time you should be RPing combat is when you're doing something not quantified by the game mechanics.
If you want to RP combat, go play SWRPG/Genesys
That's not a big issue. There's more than one way to play D&D, and it doesn't hinge solely on giving massive descriptions to everything.
Combat can take a while as it is, and while giving yourself an arrogance-boner from your superior spellcasting description might build immersion, it doesn't necessarily build fun.
In my group, the players get the most interest from solving mysteries and interacting with NPCs. Combat occurs to give them a sense of risk and tension - but they prefer to do it mechanically. The only description that goes into it is me describing particularly eventful blows and hostile deaths.
I'd argue that there is value in these kinds of descriptions of actions in terms of roleplay if you view it as a way of fleshing out how the character uses their magic. If one wizard manipulates charms and talismans while muttering under their breath in an ancient language, and another yells a poem-like incantation whilst crackling with arcane power, it says something about the world (in the form of the different schools of magic that exist) and their personalities and backgrounds. You can do the same with how martial characters fight, it speaks to how they learned to fight, which informs about the world, their backstory, and as a result, their character. How the character does something is as much a roleplaying decision as what they do, you don't need long purple-prose style descriptions for everything obviously (and probably shouldn't) but adding some detail to your actions can be useful for roleplaying.
You give them a reason to use some other spell.
I don't disagree. But which of the following scenarios do you want to play out over the campaign:
- The player gives the same long description every single time they cast that specific spell.
- The player makes up a new description every single time. Which sounds like it would ruin the "How the character does something is as much a roleplaying decision as what they do" part.
- They give a description the first time or two. Then switch to "I cast x".
Some people don't like that. I know I generally prefer almost entirely mental magic, it's more impressive and terrifying to me. I like the idea of assailants being destroyed by an old man who literally doesn't even lift a finger of his walking stick, just maybe has to take an extra deep breath.
some people treat ttrpgs as a problem solving exercise. It is just a different way to enjoy the game.
I've always liked minor gestures, myself. The wizard points to a pile of bowls that then stack themselves. A crook of the finger is an energy drain. A clench of the fist creates crushing pressure. Tilting the staff sends out bolts of negative energy. That sort of thing.
>They give a description the first time or two. Then switch to "I cast x".
this is probably preferable, once how your character fights or casts or talks or whatever has been established a quick reminder is sufficient. Unless of course, it would have changed for whatever reason.
IMO just make the other caster mad jelly of your sick-ass descriptions.
It literally didn't occur to me that I should be taking creative freedoms describing my spellcasting up until I read some dude
"calls forth a rapidly growing ball of flame into the void of his grasping hand, bounces it off the floor several times, and then with two hands stabilising it, launches it in an arc to obliterate the soldiers."
>calls forth a rapidly growing ball of flame into the void of his grasping hand, bounces it off the floor several times, and then with two hands stabilising it, launches it in an arc to obliterate the soldiers."
How long does a round take in whatever system you're playing ?
Because a minor problem I've seen with flavorful descriptions is that fitting them into whatever the round length is often doesn't work.
In D&D it's 6 seconds, so that's plenty of time.
The description gives can fit easily into a 6 second round, even when other stuff involving his character is happening. I'm sure I've run into systems using 3 second rounds. Which is a bit short for his description.
I've also had the misfortune of seeing players getting into an argument over if one players flavorful description could take place in the time the systems rounds take.
>getting into an argument over if one player's flavorful description could take place
You'ore shitting me.
Nobody RPs combat. You're the weirdo. If anyone the gm should be describing everyone's combat actions, what with being the designated narrator
I like describing my attacks, although when I play I type it out beforehand, making slight adjustments in regards to what other players do. Something like
>/me hops down from the railing that he was standing on, his three-section moonsilver staff clutched with both hands swinging above him and slamming down with all the strenght the young Lunar can muster, cracking the ground below and- hopefully- that evasive Sidereal.
Autism is a common issue among ttrpg fans
Weak bait.
Want about the two martial characters?
I'm glad you know what makes you happy, at least.
I'm also glad you wear your heart on your shoulder so I could screen you that much easier should we ever meet for a game.
>when I play I type it out beforehand
At least you're not making everybody wait for you to finish your description.
Though I do question how you plan to hit your opponent when you're aiming your staff at the ground.