Within the established rules that exist in Thera, I can use my imagination to picture a form of mental communication that is possible in a magical world.

I can further imagine how, in a magical world, a person can eat some seaweed and be able to breath water.

I can mentally picture a person being beat to hell and heal differently in a magical world.

The pies, you are right, a person would get sick, and as for the dump, but as for the crap, I am more than happy to assume that those things happen but we do not get echos for them.

However, when I am fighting, I like to picture my character in the act of fighting, I like to picture him swinging a sword, I like to picture his blows getting parried, and yes, I like to picture him punching if he is punching. What I am not able to picture is a guy holding an instrument and a shield and still being able to punch. You are acting as if this change hurts you more than me.

Having played numerous bards to hero, this realistic, yet not crippling blow comes as welcome to me, even though it will probably hinder me somewhat in the future. As a matter of fact, a few years ago I used the instrument/shield combo regularly, but the whole time I was thinking to myself that it wasn't realistic and ended up not doing it anymore for that reason.