It's a bit anoying when, after having fought a dragon for about 10-15 minutes of game time he does that pick-you-up-and-shake-you-to-death critical hit: And you thought you had a reasonably safe number of hit points.

This seemed to stop happening with regular dragons once I had a decent level. Now the game is throwing Ancient dragons at me (and Elder dragons yet to come). The old terrier/rat thing is back.

Is it my armour rating or what?

This happens to my characters with only 100 health all of the time. The opponent gets a critical hit that does enough damage to trigger the Killcam. I can decrease the chances of it occuring by using better Armor, and I know it can be avoided by putting points into Health. I think Stamina also plays a role in the calculation, but I am not sure?

I once had Alduin pick me up and shake me in Helgen at level 1. Needless to say, my character died and I had to go back through character generation.

My experience is this: if you stand in front of a dragon you are drastically increasing your chances of being picked up. I always try to get to the side or behind a dragon. The only time any of my characters have ever been picked up was when they were standing directly in front.

I've been picked up from the sides. And anywhere else for that matter.

I know same thing with the bandits doing that one hit attack. Makes me mad because I'm nearly full on health. Only I, the player, should get an awesome kill cam kill. Not the enemy

You're a chew toy at that point.

Funny when you can get a screenshot of it right at the moment. Dragon Lunch. http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x438/Kicenna/Skyrim/wmplayer2011-12-1713-29-00-45.jpg

Be great if you could, say, do an etherialness shout at the vital moment.

I guess the calculation is just having more hit points than the dragon's critical attack does. No doubt that's a hell of lot with Ancient dragons.

Granted I suppose the dragon is equally entitled to be anoyed by the leaping on the neck thing.

It appears I'm wrong. I found this on UESP: "It depends on the stats of you and the dragon you are fighting, including level, remaining health, armor, critical strike chance, and possibly other factors. I don't know the exact percentages, but higher leveled dragons (elders for example) will have a better chance of lopping your head off. I would advise investing into health or health-fortifying enchantments. Another interesting point is that whether its finishing move happens or not is calculated right before it attacks, so it will kill you even if you were using that split second to dodge, block, heal, etc."

It does throw people off sometimes. You really don't expect it at all. I think it really all just depends on your level versus theirs.

Eh, whenever I meet an Ancient dragon, I just know I'll either get munched on or my head gets bashed in by the tail at least once. I'm kinda used to the munchies, but the tail, that's something else. If it doesn't knock down my character, then it'll smack the ground so my character loses her balance and the dragon gets in another hit. The dragon I last encountered was really something on that matter. Not to mention that bast*rd sometimes somehow went into a real running frenzy (and I mean almost teleport-like) until it was right in my face, only to suddenly proceed with munching on my head. The cheapskate must've used cheat codes to enhance its running speed.

I'm shocked how fast some of them can run. You think you're far enough away and it sprints right for you...always if you're aiming with a bow. Not easy to make a get-away. I guess they have a long stride since they're so big though.

I was hiding behind a pillar at the College of Winterhold once and a Dragon freakin' nocliped it's big honking head through the pillar to shake me like a rag doll and kill me.

There's a bug where enemy kill-cam (all enemies, not just dragon) will ignore your armor rating. So if it's unreduced damage is higher than your current health, you'll be instakilled by higher level enemy. So there's not much you can do except drinking fortify health potions.