I do agree that it sucks to get nailed with that old trick but whether it's cheap or overpowered is up for debate. for instance if you are enlarged the thief may miss the jack and get beat up a bit (but then he flees and autohides, but thats a different story)

I like the emotes and stuff that would happen while being maledicted, but the reasoning for the yells is to alert other people near and to either get them wanted, or have someone come to your aid (and we all say "game balance")

Also under your thinking here is that anyone who gears for svs really well, or a warrior that has that raging river legacy I believe will be nearly invulerable to necros/ap's/shamans. Look at Eluna, how many times was she slept/maledicted? I like it, but you have to make sure it won't be underpowering maledicting classes.