Why'd they change the Lamia?

Hand of Vecna

First Post
Simple enough question, though I cannot see if it's been asked before so apologies for repeating it if it's been already beaten beyond death.

Why'd the lamia get changed from a Wisdom-draining tauric lion-woman to a swarm of bugs that devour eladrins from the inside out & wear their skins as disguises?
 
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Because the game already has centaurs. Oh, wait, not in the MM....

Seriously though, I vaguely recall some design article mentioning it; something about letting the Lamia be more of an infiltrator and less of a beastwoman.
 


Why'd the lamia get changed from a Wisdom-draining tauric lion-woman to a swarm of bugs that devour eladrins from the inside out & wear their skins as disguises?

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.
 

Wait, are you saying it isn't cooler than before? How odd. And I'm not even part of the "anime generation", whatever that is. Oh and anime has existed for over 30 years now, at least...
 

This is the internet so some where there is some one who likes just about anything. Which is good.

For most people I think the old lamia was an ehhhnnn monster. There are more iconic, more evocative tauric monsters out there. The wemic, centaur, and sphinx all come to mind. What did the lamia do? She drained wisdom (well in third edition anyway). That's gone from 4th ('cause stat drains are too much math for not at work time). She was supposed to be hawt but I think very few people find lion butt attractive.

Now she is a nifty undead-ish fey thing made up of beetles animating a the beutiful skin of sexy eladrin chick. You can tell more stories with that. What if one was the lover of a powerful eladrin lord and used her proximity to power for nefarious ends? Horney player seduction? The fact that she is a beetle swarm means she has new and interesting things to do in combat as well. From my perspective how is this not a win? We went from a monster I never used because it had no place in my imagination never mind in the game to a lurking menace able to manipulate all kinds of stuff.

As a red blooded male you can not have too many sexy chixor monsters.
 

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.

How do you define the "anime generation," exactly? If you mean "people younger than you are" or some variation thereof (and according to your profile, you're not old enough to be complaining about an entire generation of people yet), I can say that this particular member of that generation prefers mythological accuracy over "coolness" anytime. Don't get me wrong, a beetle swarm that eats and impersonates eladrin is a great idea...just don't call it a lamia.
 


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.

This. My favorite anime is all about women who are actually swarms of beetles wearing the skins of women, so I'm totally behind the change.
 


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