Cool ways to describe "lame" spells/abilities

[PancakeUniverse]

Hello all. My players are levelling up soon , and are going a bunch of new abilities, such as new levels of spell slots. What I am worried about is that they will not choose some abilities in favor of the "cooler" stuff. I would rather have role players than roll players, but I think most of these "cool" spells will end up as just blast spells like fireball. I can understand their logic, as it feels more awesome to fry the guard's face off than to charm him to get crucial info. This also applies to other class abilities. I just don't want them to always revert to the "hit it 'till it dies" method.

What I am asking for is to provide a cool description for abilities that provide interesting opportunies., but don't have as much of an "oomph" fluff-wise, so they can still feel as awesome as if using a more flashy spell.

Examples:

revivify: A single tendril of pure light comes out of your hand and touches the target. the target briefly glows white before reviving.

true resurrection: Hundreds of light tendrils shoot down from the sky and onto the target's remains/ an empty space and form an outline of the creature. They then explode in a brilliant cloud of glowing smoke, leaving behind the revived creature, which floats down to the ground.

other resurrection spells vary in intensity between the two above.

[Aett_Thorn]

Are these fairly new players? If so, let them fall into the trap of the "cool" spells, but work in situations where using these makes things more difficult (not impossible).

So they blew up the guard with Fireball. Well, he was carrying the key to the next room, and now it's melted. There's a way around, but it's filled with more enemies. Give them illusionary enemies to "blow up", wasting some cool spells that would have been less costly if they had used Detect Magic or done some investigation. They Fireballed a guy in a wooden house? Well now the house is on fire and they are still inside.

There are ways to nudge players into taking some of the less "cool" spells without needing to refluff. Especially for new players, you can give them story reasons for why these cool spells should be reserved. It just might take a bit of time for them to sort it out themselves.

[RickAllison]

What abilities in particular are you thinking of, and who would be using them? When fluffing abilities, I find that it is most important to describe it particular to the person rather than a lump description. Like I had an Aarakocra Monk who would incorporate his wings as part of his fighting style. His Fourry of Blows involved lashing out with his wings, his Evasion would be whipping into a spin with his wings before using them to assume a protective ball, and so on. It wasn't about giving the ability an exciting description, it was about making it exciting for my character.

[PancakeUniverse]

I try to describe the individual player's actions as best as I can. For example, the cleric of Mystra's spells usually involve red smoke and silver flame, while the Wild Magic Sorcerer's spells warp and spark like a broken machine. If they choose an ability, I will do my best to fluff them well. I just need a way to give them incentive to choose those spells and abilities in the first place. All I want is some interesting ways to fluff spells and abilities that don't really specify themselves fluff-wise, and still make them feel like super-cool-hero-dudes when they use them.

[Kalyth]

I would throw in some challenges that can not be solved easily with the "Cool" abilities. Challenges that are easily circumvented with "lame" abilities.

Example: The baron has vanished while out hunting and only his loyal hunting dog returned home. Speak with animals would rock in this situation sadly fireball would not help so much.

Be sure to include situation that reward the player for choosing these less optimized choices. Nothing stings more than taking a cool "in theme" or "role playing" ability only to have the situation never come up. If you can pick one third level spell you would want it to be useful pretty often. Combat generally will happen often so Fireball is a good choice. Nondetection is an awesome spell but sadly the times when it is really useful pop way less often than fireball. So just contenure to present them with challenges where the less "roll player" and more "role player" choices are more useful and they will adapt and start choising some of those options.

[Baptor]

Your descriptions sound just fine to me, I prefer a more subtle approach, but only slightly so.

I always liked the graphical description of raise dead in PS: Torment, where the ghostly soul is pulled from nothing and gently laid on the remains. There is a flash, and the person breathes again, alive.

I tried to find a gif of this spell but alas to no avail. If you've never seen it then I suggest buying the game from GOG.com because it's probably one of the best D&D computer games ever made.

[Addaran]

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?503540-Adding-Divine-Flavor-to-Cleric-Spells&highlight=Auril

This thread got some ideas, for even "lame" spells. =)

[MasterMercury]

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?503540-Adding-Divine-Flavor-to-Cleric-Spells&highlight=Auril

This thread got some ideas, for even "lame" spells. =)

Man, that thread was great. Is it too late to add more?

[Plaguescarred]

Using detection spells with auras and intensity help give them flavor. Detect Magic cast on a magic items or spells could vary in hue and intensity depending of its school and level i.e invisibility could be white for illusion and of low intensity being 2nd level. Similarly a Detect Good or Evil could let the caster see a black aura around some polymorph fiend etc...