Why'd they change the Lamia?

[balard]

I really like the new lamia. The serpent-tauric lamia is just too Naga... But i'd rather have then with the name Lamia than this new creature.

But it's the monster that I'm SURE to use in every campaign i run from now on. Its just too freakish cool.


I just wished the hags could have gotten a better treatment.

 

[starwed]

I think the more important question is: where are the nymphs? And erinyes, those were cool too.

Maybe nymphs will be a PC race in whatever book introduces druids and gnomes?

As for erinyes, they're probably hanging out with inevitables...

 

[Verdande]

Are you telling me that you can find a use for what is basically an evil centaur-lion, in a world full of centaur things, and you can't find a use for a beetle swarm that eats people and wears their skin?

You and I must be playing different games.

 

[Revinor]

Horney player seduction? The fact that she is a beetle swarm means she has new and interesting things to do in combat as well.

Let's not limit ourself to combat. Possibilities are endless. Nothing like flexible (really flexible) body...

 

[Tale]

Let's not limit ourself to combat. Possibilities are endless. Nothing like flexible (really flexible) body...

I think I threw up a little in my mouth.

 

[lukelightning]

You slept with a lamia? Dude, you better wash yourself with this special shampoo...

 

[Wormwood]

Whenever something like this comes up ask yourself "Would the anime generation consider it more cool than before?". If yes then you have your answer.

I never knew I was in the anime generation. Did I miss a memo?

The new lamia is just more interesting in play, with combat options that set her apart from other creatures and which should result in more memorable encounters.

 

[Shabe]

Whenever something like this comes up ask yourself "Would the anime generation consider it more cool than before?". If yes then you have your answer.

Hmmm using logic.

Anime generation.

Generation being a span of around 25 years?
The phrase Anime generation indicating that they like Anime.

I like Anime i'm older than you by one year, therefore you must have just missed the Anime generation, poor you.


To get back on topic, i'd probably rename the creature from a lamia to something else, as I think pretty much everyone at my table would get a bit of a head spin from the name, although i doubt my players would complain beyond the first few seconds of what the frell?

 

[FadedC]

I remember we used to joke that a Lamia's touch drained gold pieces. They were completely ineffective in combat, but their touch required you to spend gold on the material components for a restoration. I won't exactly miss the 3e version, though I can understand the OP being annoyed by a radically different creature with the same name.

 

[Hand of Vecna]

They changed the lamia for the same reason they changed orcus. And dryads. And stuff.

Yeah, but at least dryads & Orcus are still recognizable as what they were. That is, they still look largely the same as from prior editions. Dryads are still tree-women, Orcus is still a portly goat-headed bat-winged demon-god-thing of undeath. 4E lamias (lamiae? lamiai?) look absolutely nothing like their prior edition counterparts. Well, except from the waist up, sorta.

Not saying the new one isn't a cool monster -- it is! -- but I'm just curious as to why they called it "lamia" instead of something else.