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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 9439477" data-attributes="member: 2067">Dissonant Whispers has always been a pretty straightforward spell with direct, uncomplicated effects. The discussion is about taking a game mechanic that once had a possibility for nuanced, creative, spontaneous play experiences, and turning it into something straightforward, direct, and uncomplicated. There is no inherent problem with straightforward, direct, uncomplicated attacks. They're a welcome addition to any turn where you just want to deal damage and move the game along and not think too hard about what you're doing. They're an "I hit it with my sword" mechanic, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's essential, even!But when I choose to learn and cast command and I choose to do something off-script with it (and we're now three choices deep, so I've been well prepared for this), I am inviting the DM to play with this thing with me, to riff off of me, to build something much more interesting than another bit of damage, to imagine this as a collaborative story-building moment and not a moment of "subtract number from other number until it's 0." Part of the fun (as a player AND a DM) is that it lets me do something more creative than that. It's entirely legit to criticize the designers for removing something that was fun about the game. D&D is not a game about monster fighting, as much as overly analytical designers and online discussions might focus on that, entirely missing the forest for the trees when they do.</blockquote>

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