On The Horrible Naming

[Aeolius]

Such as, say, making one more adept with the spellcasting techniques of the Golden Wyvern order of wizards, which will (if previous articles are to be believed) at least be described in overview in the wizard section of the PHB?

Okay, I'll give you that one. What about Lightning Panther Strike? What is a Lightning Panther and why does it feel oppressed enough to go on strike?

I suppose the undersea equivalent would be Swift Grouper Gobble?

 

[Hussar]

Let's take a closer look at Cleave shall we?

The Free Dictionary defines Cleave thusly:

1. To split with or as if with a sharp instrument. See Synonyms at tear1.
2. To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting: cleave a path through the ice.
3. To pierce or penetrate: The wings cleaved the foggy air.
4. Chemistry To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.​

Now, which of any of those definitions would lead me to think that cleave gives me a free attack if I drop an opponent? To me, Cleave should be a bonus against objects.

Just sayin'

 

[Jinete]

Let's take a closer look at Cleave shall we?

The Free Dictionary defines Cleave thusly:

1. To split with or as if with a sharp instrument. See Synonyms at tear1.
2. To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting: cleave a path through the ice.
3. To pierce or penetrate: The wings cleaved the foggy air.
4. Chemistry To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.​

Now, which of any of those definitions would lead me to think that cleave gives me a free attack if I drop an opponent? To me, Cleave should be a bonus against objects.

Just sayin'

I just have problems imagining somebody cleaving with a spear.

 

[Simia Saturnalia]

Okay, I'll give you that one. What about Lightning Panther Strike? What is a Lightning Panther and why does it feel oppressed enough to go on strike?

I question the selection of that definition of "strike" when discussing the special ability of a barbarian in a game about kicking horrible fantasy monsters in the junk and taking their loot. It seems pretty obvious it's about hitting.

That said, without seeing the description I'm hesitant to declare one way or the other for LPS. If it reminds me of lightning and panthers (I want swift movement, sudden explosion of violence at the end, and some stealth and/or jumping would be nice) I'm okay with it. At first glance, I question it.

I suppose the undersea equivalent would be Swift Grouper Gobble?

No idea. I don't find fish very scary unless "shark" is in there somewhere.

 

[resistor]

Let's take a closer look at Cleave shall we?

The Free Dictionary defines Cleave thusly:

1. To split with or as if with a sharp instrument. See Synonyms at tear1.
2. To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting: cleave a path through the ice.
3. To pierce or penetrate: The wings cleaved the foggy air.
4. Chemistry To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.​

Now, which of any of those definitions would lead me to think that cleave gives me a free attack if I drop an opponent? To me, Cleave should be a bonus against objects.

Just sayin'

Well, from my New Oxford American:

cleave (verb):
1. split or sever (something), esp. along a natural line or grain : the large ax his father used to cleave wood for the fire.
2. split (a molecule) by breaking a particular chemical bond.
3. make a way through (something) forcefully, as if by splitting it apart : they watched a coot cleave the smooth water | Stan was off, cleaving a path through the traffic | [ intrans. ] an unstoppable warrior clove through their ranks.


Definitions 1 and 3 match up pretty well with how I envision a blade-wielding fighter using the Cleave feat. (Though I agree with the above that I have a hard time imagining it with a spear.)

The point is that, even if it's not a perfect name, Cleave still gives you some idea what's going on. How would calling it Purple Troll Slash be better? Deadly Cobra Slash?

 

[Hussar]

I just have problems imagining somebody cleaving with a spear.

Me, I always associate cleaving with sticking to something, so it REALLY doesn't work in my head.

I would say though that Cleave certainly fits the bill for being completely not what it states itself to be.

How about "Deflect Arrows"? It's plural but, I can only use it once per round and I can use it for any ranged attack, not just arrows. Shouldn't it be "Deflect Missile"?

And, what exactly is the difference between "Enlarge Spell" "Heighten Spell", and "Widen Spell"? One of those actually has nothing to do with range or area, but, without looking it up, why would one of the other two only affect range and the other area?

 

[BryonD]

Deities and Domains as the worst offenders, Could you tell me what the Travel Domain did easily?

Diehard (Doesn't make it harder for you to die)
Nimble Fingers et al (ish)

I'm sorry but I find it boggling that you can even try to say these are comparable.

If the travel domain was instead called Purple Unicorn Vision and Diehard was called Red Tree Dance, then you would have a point.

The clues to the ability in the name might not be good enough for you, but at least the clues are there.

Also, nobody is calling for perfection. "That descriptive name might could have been better." is a far better situation than "Screw it, Red Tree Dance will do, let them look it up every time."

 

[BryonD]

Let's take a closer look at Cleave shall we?

If you ask a random person on the street what general effect the D&D feat "cleave" has, they will probably not get in the right direction.

However, if you pick cleave and 9 other feats from the PH and describe them to a random person and then give them a quiz of those ten, they are not going to have trouble making the cleave connection once it has been explained.

If you read the description of Golden Wyvern Adept, Purple Unicorn Vision, and Red Tree Dance, plus 7 other similairly named feats and then quiz them on which does what, they will be lost in no time.

 

[neceros]

A rose, called by any other name, smells just as sweet.

You may not know what Golden Wyvern is now, but I'm sure you'll know quickly enough to recognize it or even use it. The same principal goes for all names, like Evocation. I'm sure when you first heard that name you didn't know what it did.

 

[billd91]

Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus, Weapon Profiency, Weapon Specialisation are nice, generic names, I agree. But they don't really tell me what they do in game terms. I know they probably will improve my handling with a weapon, but how exactly? The only advantage is that they have "Weapon" in their name and thus you know that they are probably good for a fighter and you might want to take a closer look when skimming through the feats section.

At least in the case of the weapon feats, the DM doesn't need to know exactly what they do at play time if he's calculated their effect at prep time. I'd argue it's more important to name feats clearly with some clue what they mean for feats that are conditional.