Search results

mithril/mithral

The Avars aren't Turks, they're Caucasians. I've never heard the Turks described as large. Regarding the original question of this thread, I believe the ogre<=orco theory, with later additions to the myth based on the folk etymology with the Magyars (aka Onagar and Ungar). On a related note...

Ah, but what's orc in Swedish? What're killer whale and ogre? For that matter, since Tolkien based elvish on Finnish, what're those words in Finnish? Reminds of a story I heard about an MTG tournament in Norway. There's an MTG monster called the Lhurgoyf, which is (like many MTG monsters) an...

You can have a lot of fun with fake etymologies. IMC, there used to be a group of people called the Arakh. They were really good at magic, hence the "modern" (in campaign) term arcane to describe magical things. One magical experiment they did went horribly wrong, and the result was the orcs...

Old English got orc from Latin "Orco" and "Orcus", meaning monster or demon. It then got narrowed down to "sea monster" (as in orca - killer whale). Ogre is another derivation of orco. Tolkien took the word in its older sense and used it synonymously with goblin, just as he took ent (meaning...

I'm sure Final Fantasy had them before Diablo. IIRC, they were called materia. Any FF fans like to comment?

Well, China has a wild west - Xinjiang (AKA Uighurstan) and Qinghai. If you've seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, you'll have seen a romanticised view of the area. Looking the other way, there are lots of superficial cultural similarities between some East Asian/Siberian peoples (such as...

Gnolls. Hyenas play a similar role in some African mythologies to wolves and werwolves in Europe, so gnolls'll fit right in.

The Arabs pinched him from the Assyrians, who pinched him from the Greeks. Yes, Iblis is just Diablos (i.e. Devil) with a bit of linguistic mangling. See my favourite online dictionary for more info.

Some snail I found in a clip art collection.

You mean neanderthals, surely? Cro magnons were homo sapiens. Another archetype: Big hairy humanoid. Think wookie, wood-wose, sasquatch, Earthdawn style troll or Tarzan's apes.

Xvarts? I know they were updated in one of the Living Greyhawk pamphlets. Interestingly, Xvarts were changed from Svarts for copyright reasons (Alan Garner's novels).

Peter Moorwood's Horse Lord series. Real world Etruscan, Circassian and Tungusic mythology (not all in the same place - that would be too weird!). Currently trying to find some decent sources for Slavic and Berber/North African mythology.

There're some in Complete Mage and Complete Scoundrel, including an interesting 1st level one which turns you into a small bird for 1 round as a swift action. Can't remember off-hand if there're in any PHB2

One idea: It's unique because it's killed every other member of its species. Or it's the last survivor. This works best for demons - there's an infinite variety after all. For devils, the fiendish codex makes it clear that they're either fallen celestials of great power (Asmodeus, Dis and...

<pedant>The bucklers get swashed, not the other way round</pedant> Dead on! If it's been a well-used cliche for 600 years, then you can bet that it's a good cliche.

Sold off all nearly my MTG about 8 years ago. Never regretted it. Currently selling off most of my old RPG stuff on ebay, and not regretting that either. I'll be keeping a few modules and accessories, but otherwise it'll all be gone in a couple of years. What'll I do with the money? Complete my...

He's starting as a duskblade. I wouldn't that sort of combo past him :uhoh: Anyway, sounds like to 8th level should be fine.

I'm DMing a new adventure soon, and one player wants to be an ur-priest. The alignment and concept aren't a problem, providing that the rest of the party are happy with his choice, but I am concerned about power. While I appreciate that at mid levels the ur-priest's magic overtakes conventional...

I might go. I've never been to GenCon, but I know Reading quite well and its quite close to me. Don't know any pubs but I know lots restaurants :D