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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 4863240" data-attributes="member: 58197">Gonna have to go with Raven Crowking on this one, and I say that as a 4E DM who has no desire to go back to 3.5. I do think this DM needs to put a whole lot more thought into the mechanical impact of his rulings (in particular the immobilize = stun thing, which is a drastic change), but his basic approach is not one that I have a problem with.Terminology matters. I had a bard at my table with the Vicious Mockery power. So he'd say, "I use Vicious Mockery on the cultist over there," and the cultist, being a minion, would die. Totally wrecked my suspension of disbelief, to the point that I banned Vicious Mockery* after that session... not because I had a problem with the mechanics but because the name and the fluff text had everybody imagining the bard yelling insults at people who then dropped over dead. Which is funny, but the funny wears off fast.(If the player had wanted to, I would have allowed him to re-name and re-skin it, so long as he was careful to use the new name consistently. However, I find most players - quite understandably - don't want to have to constantly remember that the effects of "Psychic Lash" are listed under "Vicious Mockery" in the rulebook.)There is a certain amount of "English to D&D" translation that I am willing to do at the table. I don't have a problem with terms like "push" and "pull," because the words are succinct and non-evocative, and they perform a valuable function; they distill a huge variety of effects into a few very simple words and rules, which makes everybody's life easier.On the other hand, a power named "Vicious Mockery" should have an effect resembling that of, well, vicious mockery... which does not include three people dying from it in the course of one fight. Even if the designers try to handwave the problem by saying <s>a wizard did it</s> it's "laced with magic."[SIZE=-2]*Actually, I banned the entire bard class, since several other powers were giving me similar narrative heartburn.[/SIZE]</blockquote>

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