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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7665529" data-attributes="member: 42582">I think this is another of those things that is reader/player-dependent.When I first read the PHB for 4e, I didn't get an aesthetic of every class looking the same. I could see the fighter's STR-based melee AoEs and spike damage powers, the warlord's inspirational buffs, the CHA-paladin's projection of divine grace, etc.I've read a lot of 4e power blocks, but have probably read less than half of that italic flavour-text. In most cases I don't need that to tell me what is happening in the game when the ability is used: I can tell from the ability name and its mechanical details.For me, it harks back to the tradition of B/X and OD&D spells: names that are descriptive ("fireball"), evocative ("contact other plane") or both ("bless"), clearly-presented mechanics ("creatures in the area take Xd6 damage" - 4e adds the keyword "fire"), and imagination informed by an understanding of what that stuff means in mechanical terms doing the rest.</blockquote>