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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tatsukun" data-source="post: 1859356" data-attributes="member: 15511">Well I guess you could call me a grammar professor. I teach English composition, grammar, TOEIC and TOEFL classes. Oh, and yes, I'm a native speaker. But that's not really the point. The point here is that you opponent is imagining things. The sentence in question states that unarmed attacks usually do non-lethal damage. Now the word 'usually' means, in a strict sense, 'more often than not' or 'more than 50% of the time'.  So the sentence as written doesn't really tell us more than that unarmed strikes do non-lethal damage more often than they don't.So the argument your opponent is making seems to be that the other option would be to do no damage. Your argument (and mine) is that the other option is to do normal damage. It is not defined by the sentence at all. One could argue that the other option would be that a large group of squirrels appears and dances the Macarena. So, who is right? Well, like all things in English, being the bastard son of many other languages, you need to look at context. Has your opponent, anywhere in the books, found any reference to attacking and doing no damage (before of DR). I would guess not. In DnD one simply cannot attack and do no form damage (before DR again). So, the next logical step is to ask what other kinds of damage there are, and who might have access to them. Well BEHOLD, the next sentence! It gives us a clear example of a monk doing normal damage. There you go, both questions answered.Now, from a strictly grammatical reading, we don't know if there is a third option. Those who vote for the Macarena squirrels could be right; nothing in the rules prohibits it (maybe the 3rd level bard spell "summon novelty dancers"?). But your opponent is wrong, as you cannot attack and do no form of damage in DnD. Ok, I have rambled (I'm not even at work!). Let me sum up…1)The sentence in question tells us that unarmed attacks do non-lethal damage more often than they don't. 2)It doesn't define what the other option(s) are. 3)One of the other options is to do normal damage.4)One of the other options can not be to attack and do no damage5)"Summon novelty dancers" would be a great spell. Ok, time for breakfast. Good luck!      -Tatsu------Professor Joshua "Tatsu" SargentWaseda University English Department</blockquote>

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