Comments and dislikes of lore and other changes in the 4th ed MM.

[Twiggly the Gnome]

LIZARDFOLK
why don't they worship gods? that's a tad silly in settings where the gods literally exist! lizardfolk SHOULD have druidic-type priests (ie nature clerics). the "survival of the species" angle of Semuneya worship of lizardmen always seemed very cool to me.

It was probably done to maintain their druidic culture. If Lizardfolk are divorced from the divine, it will be easier to fill those societal roles with Primal classes (Druid, Barbarian, Shaman...) once they're available.

 

[delericho]

Because nothing evokes "pulp/action fantasy world" like scientific binomial nomenclature. Upgrade.

While I agree with your reasoning, Macetail and Bloodspike are terrible names.

 

[fiddlerjones]

Of course they are. WotC has taken the terrible course of the "word+word" nomenclature. Examples: Shadowfell, Feywild, Bloodspike, Deathjump (spider), Deathrattle (viper), I can go on....

The name change from "dinosaur" to "behemoth" was a wise one though, because inhabitants of a fantasy world wouldn't likely know the word "dinosaur."

 

[Destil]

BEHEMOTH
why rename dinosaurs, to behemoths? It's very confusing and not needed. I used dinosaurs in my homebrew campaign in two distinct continents and types of beasts. Players liked them. It seems ot much of a "PC for D&D" change :/

This is the best change ever. It's clearly lifted from Eberron, which may have taken it from someplace else. I don't care, it's too awesome for me to care. It's clearly not a PC change like Tannari.

Eberron has dinosaurs for halflings to ride, of course. But the scientific sounding dinosaur names just don't fit a fantasy world well. So instead we end up with:

Scientific        'Common'           
Allosaurus	 Bladetooth
Ankylosaurus	Hammertail
Cryptoclidus	Fintail
Deinonychus	Carver
Elasmosaurus	Great fintail
Leaellynasaura 	Fastieth
Megaraptor	Great carver
Quetzalcoatlus	Soarwing
Seismosaurus	Thunderherder
Spinosaurus	Spineback
Triceratops	Threehorn
Tyrannosaurus	Swordtooth titan
Pteranodon 	Glidewing
Velociraptor	Clawfoot

I've been literally struggling for years to come up with the generic Eberron word for 'Dinosaur'. Scaleback was about the best I could do... :/

Edit: Ninjaed to hell... ah, well.

 

[Kwalish Kid]

"Just change it!" misses the point that this is basically calling out WotC for being lamer than they could have been, and decrying that we now will have official products based on the new versions, rather than the old versions.

No, saying, "Just change it," is decrying DMs who come whinging to the internet for being lamer than they could have been. The less-lame option is to recognize that one wants to keep certain elements from previous supplements and asking for advice on how to incorporate specifics.

 

[Aeolius]

While we're at it:

HAGS - Gone are the greenhag, annis, and sea hag. Gone are the three hags that have ben with us since 1e. True, the greenhag and annis didn't show up until the 1e MM2, but I have a history with these hags. I have no idea where I will fit the Howling Hag and Death Hag into the Night Hag Family Tree.

STORM GIANT - Never mind the alignment change. These guys used to be able to breathe underwater.

AQUATIC CREATURES - I know, I know... they'll be back. There is a complete lack of playable undersea races; no merfolk, sea elves, or locathah. It's almost as if WotC thinks people want to play core races in dungeon crawls, or something.

 

[delericho]

The name change from "dinosaur" to "behemoth" was a wise one though, because inhabitants of a fantasy world wouldn't likely know the word "dinosaur."

It's no less likely than them using English (or Spanish, German, French, or whatever) at all. The common English word for that type of creature is 'dinosaur', just as the word for a castle is 'castle', for forest is 'forest', and so forth. (Yes, dinosaur comes from another language - but so do a huge number of our words.)

Besides, when the DM says "you see a Threehorn Behemoth", the PCs are going to ask, "what's that then?" At which point the DM either has to describe it in some detail, or show them the picture, leading to, "oh, a triceratops." Might as well just go with the common name in the first place.

 

[gonesailing]

While we're at it:
It's almost as if WotC thinks people want to play core races in dungeon crawls, or something.

Emphasis mine...
Yeah it's crazy of WotC to expect people to use a dungeon as a setting for Dungeons and Dragons.
I hope your post was as funny o you as it was to me.

Other than that I am right with you wanting aquatic races/monsters. But I'm not terribly bummed out about any fluff-related stuff.

 

[Aeolius]

I hope your post was as funny o you as it was to me.

I did forget to add a" " to denote my sarcasm, there. Fixed.

 

[gonesailing]

I did forget to add a" " to denote my sarcasm, there. Fixed.

Good I'd hate to laugh at you when I could laugh with you!