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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lizard" data-source="post: 4161252" data-attributes="member: 1054">Actually, it inspires me to think "Why do the folks at WOTC insist on putting their pet campaign organizations in a generic rules set?" Bigby, Tensor, et al have the excuse of "No one knew any better at the time". To do it today...well, it's akin to 3e featuring feats named 'Drizzt's Slashing Assault', or spells like 'Elminsters Cunning Seduction'.Yes, it is. Unless you can tell me what 'White Raven' has to do with 'Command and Leadership'. Even animal-named kung fu styles generally describe their inspiration and look, and phrases like "Strong as a bull" or "graceful as a cat" are common English idioms. But I've never heard "As tactical as a white raven" in my life, nor in my studies of heraldry has there been any particular symbolism associated with white ravens (I admit I might be missing one somewhere, there's a LOT of heraldic lore), etc. It's something someone rolled up. ("Lessee....18....that's white...and roll on 'Animal'....14...that's 'Raven'.")OK, in the interests of fairness, there is this:<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven_banner" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven_banner</a>So it's a common battle symbol in Northern European lore. And maybe the designer was referencing that. But to use a Hongism, it's so out of the Zeitgeist that it's a failure -- it doesn't mean anything to most people, it has no current resonance. Also, according to lore (and the song I remembered which got me to look this up in the first place), whoever bears the banner dies. So, if one goes by that, what 'White Raven' means to me is self-sacrifice and granting luck to others at the cost of one's own good fortune -- probably not the designer's intent. That's what it would 'inspire' in my imagination -- and it doesn't match the rules. In any event, the fact the only way one can justify the term is by pointing to that historical use goes back to my "carrying cultural baggage" argument -- akin to giving all fight feats "martial arts" names and then saying that your Medieval France themed culture had knights who used 'Leap Of The Seven Golden Monkeys' and 'Stance Of The Crouching Fox'.Yup, but there's been no Bigby for the past 8, either. I guess I'm a failure as a DM, because I ignored someone else's unnecessary flavor text.</blockquote>

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