Ah we finally learn Mialee's Sex!

[Umbran]

How can you cite an article on Godwin's law and not realize you are invoking a (not universally accepted) corrolary to Godwin's law, not the law itself?

'Cause the article also talks about the corollary. And because however technically inaccurate it is to do so, folks use the name of the law to refer to the corollary in common usage. Godwin's law itself is a pointless observation without the corollary.

 

[Clavis]

Elves as a whole are beautiful. Doesn't mean each individual one is. Not every member of a race looks the same.

I always preferred to think that they were all at least very attractive by human standards, because it fits the mythology.

My in-campaign reason was that elves actually left ugly or deformed babies out to die, and considered it a kinder thing to do than condemn someone to live a 1000 years without the gift of health and beauty. Of course, they keep the practice a secret, because the other races just wouldn't understand...

 

[Shortman McLeod]

I prefer Reductio ad Hitlerum...

Fine, fine, Stalin then. [rolls eyes]

 

[Asmor]

Godwin's law itself is a pointless observation without the corollary.

Just because an observation is pointless doesn't make it any less significant...

There's not much of a point to Moore's law, either, but it's still well-known and frequently (and, much like Godwin's law, incorrectly) cited.

 

[Nifft]

Fine, fine, Stalin then.

You're just Stalin for time.

Mussolini'n on the conversation, -- N

 

[Gez]

identify Mialee as female, so from the start, her gender was known.

Ah, but gender and sex are not the same thing! Gender is a grammatical notion. Sex is a biological one. A little German girl (Mädchen) is of the female sex but of the neutral gender. An English ship is totally asexual (it's not even biological) but is of the feminine gender anyway.

Her gender was identified as feminine, but her sex is now shown to be female. This clears up a lot, because all elves are feminine anyway.

No, you've got it only half right. Elven GUYS are beautiful, the woman as a rule all hide their faces, except for the few noteworthy women who look fantastic. In LotR, we saw 2 elven communities, but only saw a few women. The rest had to hide behind the trees or stayed indoors.

Don't mean anything. If you look at the LotR movies, the elven guys should have hidden their faces too. Elrond? Fat elf guy that shows up at Helm's Deep? Bleargh.

From the link: "There is a tradition in many newsgroups and other Internet discussion forums that once such a comparison is made, the thread is finished and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically "lost" whatever debate was in progress. This principle is itself frequently referred to as Godwin's law."

Seems like a perfectly proper colloquial use to me, based on the reference material used.

"Once such a comparison is made" -- that was what was missing. Nobody compared anyone to Hitler, not even Mialee.

"but in recent years the word has become well established in its use to refer to sex-based categories"

Don't care. They're doing it wrong. Grammar über alles!

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I wasn't aware that there was ever a question of her gender.

At least not after seeing the paint up of her metal D&D miniature in the PHB - where she is wearing something a bit translucent... and it was a chilly day.

The Auld Grump

 

[Desdichado]

And for what it's worth:
Gender refers to words in certain languages.
Sex refers to male/female

Not in English. No grammatical gender in English, so there's no way you could possibly have confused the two ideas.

 

[Nifft]

Not in English. No grammatical gender in English, so there's no way you could possibly have confused the two ideas.

English as she is spoke does indeed retain a few genders.

Ships, for an obvious example.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Dragonhelm]

Back to topic...

Clearly Mialee had some kind of mishap with a Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity.

ROTFL!

Thus the dreadful decision in 2e to introduce a "Comeliness" stat (ugh) to reflect one's physical beauty as separate from one's force of personality.

BTW, was "Comeliness" in Gygax's Unearthed Arcana before it was in 2e? Can't recall.

Yes it was. It wasn't used in 2e that I remember. Of course, my first character had a Comeliness score of 5.

Elves as a whole are beautiful. Doesn't mean each individual one is. Not every member of a race looks the same.

And that's fine. It's just that Mialee is supposed to be the iconic elf. If she was a random character, maybe it wouldn't be as bad. But she's supposed to represent the entire race. Iconic elves should be beautiful, IMO.

I really do hope that D&D leans towards another art direction in 4e, partially to show a difference from 3e and partially to get away from some so-so art (again, IMO). I'm not sure what you call the art style of 3e, but it isn't the style I like the best. Is that what they mean by dungeonpunk?

Personally, I'm more of a fan of classic artists such as Elmore, Easley, Caldwell, and Parkinson. New artists I like are Jennifer Meyer and Jason Engle.