Attack descriptions

Attack descriptions are fun but why do GMs discourage this?

Player: Rolls a 20-sided die Not bad! Alright, so my character, Grimgar the Barbarian, hefts his massive greataxe and with a determined grunt, charges straight at the hulking orc. As he closes the distance, he swings his axe in a wide arc, aiming to catch the orc off guard and strike it right across the chest

GM : OK you need a 19 for the called shot ?

Player : Never mind I just Swing

GM mistake

While I understand that players will often use descriptions to get special effects from an attack and an extra high target number should be used. We have to consider that if a player makes a description of an attack it’s part of the game and actually makes the game more interesting.

Penalising the player because of a description will make the game boring

“I roll to hit”

“I roll to hit”

“I roll to hit”

“I roll to hit”

“I roll to hit”

“I roll to hit”

“I roll to hit”

At that point why have descriptions at all?

Options to prevent this

Variable Target Numbers.

While there does not need to be a special effect added to the attack. Tell the player if they roll a crit they get the special effect. But if they make the attack roll target they just hit. Monte Cook Games uses this in Cypher System

Bonus for Better Descriptions :

Give a tiny bonus for attack descriptions that sound exciting. We use a house rule that they can’t use the same description twice.