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<blockquote data-quote="Retreater" data-source="post: 8083303" data-attributes="member: 42040">First, let me start with that this isn't a gripe against a specific system, because it's happened with all modern versions of D&amp;D and adjacent rules. Second, let me add that I don't have the exact spell and effect listed, but the gist is correct.A couple weeks ago I was GMing for my brother-in-law in a game of PF2. It was his first session as a cleric, and he had picked out a list of spells he thought were going to make him be a badass. Finally, staring down a white dragon, the party was growing desperate, he called out to the gods in dramatic fashion and cast something named like &quot;Terrifying Visage.&quot; He read aloud the flavor text &quot;You become wreathed in halos of burning flame as chains swirl around you, imprisoning souls of the damned as they scream in the presence of your god's divine power.&quot;Reading this aloud, he had saved this in his back pocket for the most desperate moment, calling on his god to terrify the dragon into fleeing from his dying companions. &quot;Uh ... That just gives you a +2 to Intimidate checks,&quot; one player sheepishly commented after looking up the spell effect.And just like that, the game was less cool for the new player. Magic lost some of its mystery. Now I take some of the responsibility. As GM I should have let it happen as cool as it was in his imagination, at least just this first time. But why do designers write flavor text like this? Why make something so mundane as &quot;+2 to Intimidate checks&quot; sound like the very gods are thundering through your character? Either make your magic sound trite, or if you're going to make it sound badass, have it actually do something badass.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Retreater, post: 8083303, member: 42040"] First, let me start with that this isn't a gripe against a specific system, because it's happened with all modern versions of D&D and adjacent rules. Second, let me add that I don't have the exact spell and effect listed, but the gist is correct. A couple weeks ago I was GMing for my brother-in-law in a game of PF2. It was his first session as a cleric, and he had picked out a list of spells he thought were going to make him be a badass. Finally, staring down a white dragon, the party was growing desperate, he called out to the gods in dramatic fashion and cast something named like "Terrifying Visage." He read aloud the flavor text "You become wreathed in halos of burning flame as chains swirl around you, imprisoning souls of the damned as they scream in the presence of your god's divine power." Reading this aloud, he had saved this in his back pocket for the most desperate moment, calling on his god to terrify the dragon into fleeing from his dying companions. "Uh ... That just gives you a +2 to Intimidate checks," one player sheepishly commented after looking up the spell effect. And just like that, the game was less cool for the new player. Magic lost some of its mystery. Now I take some of the responsibility. As GM I should have let it happen as cool as it was in his imagination, at least just this first time. But why do designers write flavor text like this? Why make something so mundane as "+2 to Intimidate checks" sound like the very gods are thundering through your character? Either make your magic sound trite, or if you're going to make it sound badass, have it actually do something badass. [/QUOTE]

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