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<blockquote data-quote="Ancalagon" data-source="post: 7387597" data-attributes="member: 23">HelloSo the adventure I'm running is an old 2nd ed one that gives startlingly powerful item like candy.&nbsp; So I go &quot;nope&quot; and re-roll them.&nbsp; So for one item that was particularly bad I reroll and get the Trident of Fish command.I laugh a bit, wonder if to give it out (who's going to use it?) and figure the PCs can always barter it or something.&nbsp; PCs get it, a bit later long rest, player asks to identify it with a ritual.&nbsp; I say sure.&nbsp; They ask me for stats, so I look it up.As I remembered, no bonus to hit or damage, but it does allow you to dominate fish.&nbsp; Woopty doo right?&nbsp; Except a &quot;fish&quot; is defined as something with a natural swim speed.&nbsp; Suddenly the trident doesn't seem *that* shabby, esp considering that squid men are recurring foes in this campaign!&nbsp; The players are happy so I just go with it.&nbsp; But then I thought about it, and realized that this is actually a very clever joke about the middle ages.&nbsp; Back then, you couldn't eat meat on Fridays if you followed the catholic faith, but fish was allowed.&nbsp; But what exactly is a fish?&nbsp; Given the important religious rule around eating fish, this was not a trivial question, it mattered.&nbsp; The Church's rulings on the issue were sometimes... off.&nbsp; For example, beaver was a fish!&nbsp; So face with this same dilemma (what is exactly a fish in a world with things like mermen?), the designers went with an overly broad definition, thus making a dubious item not that dubious, and - intentionally or by accident - making reference to old medieval beliefs on the issue.&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ancalagon, post: 7387597, member: 23"] Hello So the adventure I'm running is an old 2nd ed one that gives startlingly powerful item like candy. So I go "nope" and re-roll them. So for one item that was particularly bad I reroll and get the Trident of Fish command. I laugh a bit, wonder if to give it out (who's going to use it?) and figure the PCs can always barter it or something. PCs get it, a bit later long rest, player asks to identify it with a ritual. I say sure. They ask me for stats, so I look it up. As I remembered, no bonus to hit or damage, but it does allow you to dominate fish. Woopty doo right? Except a "fish" is defined as something with a natural swim speed. Suddenly the trident doesn't seem *that* shabby, esp considering that squid men are recurring foes in this campaign! The players are happy so I just go with it. But then I thought about it, and realized that this is actually a very clever joke about the middle ages. Back then, you couldn't eat meat on Fridays if you followed the catholic faith, but fish was allowed. But what exactly is a fish? Given the important religious rule around eating fish, this was not a trivial question, it mattered. The Church's rulings on the issue were sometimes... off. For example, beaver was a fish! So face with this same dilemma (what is exactly a fish in a world with things like mermen?), the designers went with an overly broad definition, thus making a dubious item not that dubious, and - intentionally or by accident - making reference to old medieval beliefs on the issue. :) [/QUOTE]

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