D&D General Drow & Orcs Removed from the Monster Manual

[Scribe]

What I find funny is that there is apparently a group of players who are offended that there isn't a tenuous connection between a Jewish holy item and the vessel an evil undead magic user keeps it's soul in. Even if nobody is offended, what is the harm being caused by changing it to something that better describes it's actual purpose?

Please, enlighten me how WotC, Paizo, and Bethesda (among others) have harmed you by removing the word phylactery.

Nobody is harmed, just as nobody was harmed by having it called a Phylactery. I mean seriously, 'harmed'....

Did it need to change? No. Is Wizards within their rights to change it? Of course. Does the reasoning matter to anyone? No. Will some claim it was offensive, in the face of some members of said 'offended' group saying 'no actually, it wasnt an issue'? Why yes of course, welcome to post 2018.

Either way, its just another drop in the bucket of the same type of issue/non-issue depending on what side of the line you care to be standing on at the given moment.

Subjective.

 

[Chaltab]

View attachment 396062

What game is that statblock from?

 

[Bedrockgames]

Ok, is the fact that the magic item the lich uses called a phylactery vital to the game? Per everyone, it's an archaic word for amulet. The game has plenty of magical amulets that aren't called phylacteries. Does it ruin anyone's game that that a company calls it a spirit jar or soul vessel?

I think there are two reasons to keep phylactery. It sounds way cooler than spirit jar (which sounds kind of dumbed down to my ears) and it is more consistent with previous lore (which does matter to people)

 

[Scribe]

What game is that statblock from?

The righteously, objectively, great, Shadowdark.

 

[Remathilis]

Either way, its just another drop in the bucket of the same type of issue/non-issue depending on what side of the line you care to be standing on at the given moment.

I mean, that's my point. The change may not be needed, but nobody was harmed by the change. So Arguing if it was necessary is a moot point. Three different publishers have opted for the change there has been no harm done to anyone for that. Unless you can show the change itself was more harmful than the original word, I doubt any of them are going to change it back.

 

[Remathilis]

I think there are two reasons to keep phylactery. It sounds way cooler than spirit jar (which sounds kind of dumbed down to my ears) and it is more consistent with previous lore (which does matter to people)

What's your opinion on soul cage or soul vessel?

 

[Scribe]

I mean, that's my point. The change may not be needed, but nobody was harmed by the change. So Arguing if it was necessary is a moot point. Three different publishers have opted for the change there has been no harm done to anyone for that. Unless you can show the change itself was more harmful than the original word, I doubt any of them are going to change it back.

Yeah, nobody is changing anything back, fully agreed there.

 

[Voadam]

Ok, is the fact that the magic item the lich uses called a phylactery vital to the game? Per everyone, it's an archaic word for amulet. The game has plenty of magical amulets that aren't called phylacteries. Does it ruin anyone's game that that a company calls it a spirit jar or soul vessel?

Ruin? No.

I find it has annoyed me everytime I read about a lich's soul cage though since Paizo made that change. A minor negative, an unfortunate irritant.

I expect to feel the same going forward with WotC's description change.

 

[Remathilis]

Ruin? No.

I find it has annoyed me everytime I read about a lich's soul cage though since Paizo made that change. A minor negative, an unfortunate irritant.

I expect to feel the same going forward with WotC's description change.

For me the only annoyance is once again a word was changed and there is no consistency on what word is used to replace it. It reminds me how there is no clear successor to "race" so everyone uses a different word with no consistency between them.

 

[Bedrockgames]

What's your opinion on soul cage or soul vessel?

I am not a huge fan of that. To me, and this might just be due to my age and not being very plugged into certain media, but it has the kind of name that reminds me of the language I hear from superhero movies or video games (and am not knocking those, but that isn't the kind of flavor I like in fantasy). That said, context matters. I think that is a spell. One little spell in the game might be less on my radar in the context of a game, than something like Phylactery being changed, which leaps out if you have used Liches a lot as a GM