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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Adso" data-source="post: 4055515" data-attributes="member: 6706">Yes, that's what I’m saying. Not only that, there are only so many simple names and phrases we can bat around. Let's see, dodge is taken, how about "duck,” “dart,” "shuffle to the side,” "get out of the way,” “evade.” Drat, we’ve already used that last one.  I would also say that tornado strike is descriptive and evocative, so it is one of the places where we were able place a dead-simple description.  You just seem to have issue with the particular set of things a tornado does that it’s describing. Sorry. I'll try harder next time.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />  Don't mind my snark here Joshua, it's harmless. Personally, I think it was a fine a decent rationalization, and I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree about the level of my whelming on this one.  I think decent number of people will get what the power does without asking “where the heck’s the circular motion?” I understand they're very simple names, and names help us remember, but there is nothing in those names that instantly tell us the particulars of their effect. You still have to look in the Player's Handbook. The title "Dodge" tells me that my character will be harder to hit if I take it, but I don't  instantly apprehend the fact that it's a +1 dodge bonus against a single target that I designate during my turn. There're all sorts of ways that you could conceivably make it harder for you to hit with a dodge in D&D, and at some point (and usually multiple points when you're first starting to play the game) you're going to have to refer to the book to see what Dodge does exactly. We know it by heart now, because we’ve used it time after time after time. I also think that we can have new and exciting names that may sing more to story than pure description, and that we can create a meaning through the game and their use. D&D has done that in the past and will continue to do it. Those types of names serve as mnemonic devices. You remember the story, you remember what it does.  I can tell most of my friends something is a Kobayashi Maru, and they know the hopelessness of the situation we are in. The phrase without the story mean next to nothing (at least in English). In context, the words are concise and evocative, though they mean something entirely different from the loose Japanese translation. This kind of name-game activity happens at game tables all the time. The game creates and evolves its own parlance constantly. Ask the typical person what a cantrip is, they’ll stare at you blankly. On the individual game group side ask my players what Volo’s Law is, and they will tell you without hesitation. Other D&D players will just stare at you blankly. I don't think the creation of this gaming parlance is avoidable or necessarily undesirable.</blockquote>

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