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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DracoSuave" data-source="post: 5096395" data-attributes="member: 71571">This is a disconnect that only happens when you completely divorce mechanical explanation from fluff explanation.  The idea or central concern that players 'should not know game mechanics in progress' and that mechanics get in the way of roleplay... somehow.The problem with this approach in reference to 4e, is that 4e IS a system that relies heavily on game mechanics to get combat across, and HAS made those game mechanics a forefront of the encounter.  It doesn't try to hide the mechanics behind fluff, it revels in the game mechanics and challenges the DM and players to fluff what is going on.  But the idea that players can't use legitimate interractions of items and monsters to legitimately discover the status of those monsters goes WAY beyond simply not telling them at the beginning of the match.  This is HARDLY 'rules sneakery'.  This is having an ability that says 'X are immune to this', using it, finding out they are immune, and determining that they are, indeed, X.  And that explanation doesn't apply to Reaper's Strike, which was another example given above.  Or Hammer Rhythm, or... you get the drill.How you fluff that is a DM limitation, not a player shinanegan.So in the case of Rod of Reaving:'You bond the enemy's fate to doom and destruction.  The enemy's fate is so minor and inconsequential your Reaving Rod has little life force to steal.  He takes no damage'Hey, look, a fluff explanation for what actually happens in game, that follows the DMG guidelines for fair information giving.Welcome to fourth edition.PS:  Your warlock's just wasted a minor action and his cursing for the turn on a minion.  That's actually a mistake, a play error, that should have been avoided by the dispensation of fair information.  At -that- point, if his action can turn up something useful, then he hasn't wasted his time.  Wasting an action, and the use of an ability... that IS the minion being a trap, and that's not what minions are for either.</blockquote>

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