Nov 28, 2009 -- 3:28PM, Tichrimo wrote:

Nov 28, 2009 -- 12:41PM, Makabriel wrote:

Pulling up both powers in the compendium, I see no mention of "ally""foe"or "enemy"  It's all "target" and "creature".

There are a lot of damaging combat abilities that have a target of "Creature" and they are very specific in the beginning of the Powers section that "creature" can be either Ally or Enemy.

Look at the paladin class feature "Divine Challenge" and the swordmage class feature "Swordmage Aegis" -- that's where the "enemy"/"foe" text appears.

Sorry, I'm not seeing it

Divine Challenge

You boldly confront a nearby enemy, searing it with divine light if it ignores your challenge.

At-Will        Divine, Radiant
Minor Action      Close burst 5

Target: One creature in burst

Effect: You mark the target. The target remains marked until you use this power against another target, or if you fail to engage the target (see below). A creature can be subject to only one mark at a time. A new mark supersedes a mark that was already in place.
    While a target is marked, it takes a –2 penalty to attack rolls for any attack that doesn't include you as a target. Also, it takes radiant damage equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier the first time it makes an attack that doesn’t include you as a target before the start of your next turn. The damage increases to 6 + your Charisma modifier at 11th level, and to 9 + your Charisma modifier at 21st level.
    On your turn, you must engage the target you challenged or challenge a different target. To engage the target, you must either attack it or end your turn adjacent to it. If none of these events occur by the end of your turn, the marked condition ends and you can’t use divine challenge on your next turn.
    You can use divine challenge once per turn.

Special: Even though this ability is called a challenge, it doesn’t rely on the intelligence or language ability of the target. It’s a magical compulsion that affects the creature’s behavior, regardless of the creature’s nature. You can’t place a divine challenge on a creature that is already affected by your or another character’s divine challenge.

Aegis of Assault

You create an arcane link between you and a foe, allowing you to instantly respond to its attacks with a counterassault.

At-Will        Arcane, Teleportation
Minor Action      Close burst 2

Target: One creature in burst

Effect: You mark the target. The target remains marked until you use this power against another target. If you mark other creatures using other powers, the target is still marked. A creature can be subject to only one mark at a time. A new mark supersedes a mark that was already in place.
    If your marked target makes an attack that doesn’t include you as a target, it takes a –2 penalty to attack rolls. If that attack hits and the marked target is within 10 squares of you, you can use an immediate reaction to teleport to a square adjacent to the target and make a melee basic attack against it. If no unoccupied space exists adjacent to the target, you can’t use this immediate reaction.

Unless you are talking about the Flavor text, which has no impact on the power itself.

Nov 30, 2009 -- 8:43AM, darkgp wrote:

Again creature... please do NOT use flavor text for deciding what RAW says.

Given the absolutely astounding number of abilities that depend on the class feature text for its rules I would hardly consider it flavor text.

For example: sneak attack, prime shot, nature's wrath, combat challenge, quarry, censure, barbarian agility, rampage, virtue, song of rest, etc. 

Both the fighter's and warden's ability to mark depend exclusively on the text in the class features.

Nov 30, 2009 -- 1:04PM, darkgp wrote:

true, however I would say in this case, the class feature text is "flavor text" becuase the books provide the actual power text. In other cases (like the ones you listed), I would not claim them as flavor text as they, as you said, are exclusively dependent on this text and are defined in more detail than these are. The issue here is that there is that someone is using the feature text over the power text in defining what the power does.

Class features are either rules or they are not, you can't just cherry pick when you want to apply them. I'm sure a lot of arguments are convenient when you can just ignore half the rules.

Flavor text specifically refers to the blurb under the name for powers and rituals and in no way are Class Features referred to as flavor text.

The issue here is that there are two sets of legitimate rules that contradict each other. Some people argue that the specificity of the power block supercedes the general rule of Class Feature.
I happen to disagree. I think there is an interpretation that settles both the class feature and power block, thus marks can only be used on enemies. Fitz on the other hand argues that PC's should be able to determine who is an enemy or ally at any given time (thus removing any contradiction because all creatures are enemies). I think that's too exploitable, as PC's can prevent being forced moved through squares containing allies, by just claiming that their ally is an enemy for the duration of the forced movement.

Class feaures are not sometimes rules and sometimes flavor text. The entire notion is ridiculous.