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

[Grazzt]

Forsooth! Twould that be a protein polymorph in thy bag of tricks or art thou just happy to see me?

Ah- but what about the Magnesium Spirit?

 

[pawsplay]

That's really what it comes down to.

Do you know why latin, greek, etc languages are used to describe creatures? Because peasants DON'T NAME CREATURES. Dinosaurs aren't "bloodspikes" to them, nor are they "thunder lizards." They're "that 'orrible thing what lives in the forests and ate our Jan when he was just trying to get to mum's house."

They named the dragon.

 

[IanB]

I'm not sure why I should think the fact that a bunch of monsters from Greek myths have Greek names (truly shocking) has anything to do with scholars naming monsters.

I'm firmly in the pro-behemoth camp. Naming things the same way modern scientists do is a bit immersion breaking for me.

 

[pawsplay]

I'm not sure why I should think the fact that a bunch of monsters from Greek myths have Greek names (truly shocking) has anything to do with scholars naming monsters.

I'm firmly in the pro-behemoth camp. Naming things the same way modern scientists do is a bit immersion breaking for me.

And naming them according to 20th century folk biology makes you feel better?

EDIT: And the behemoth/Bahamut thing just bugs me. It's the same name.

 

[frankthedm]

EDIT: And the behemoth/Bahamut thing just bugs me. It's the same name.

I think most folks who pick up the books can keep the two mentally separated. They may have the same roots, but there is plenty of difference in their current gaming usage.

 

[pawsplay]

I think most folks who pick up the books can see the difference between the two words. They may have the same roots, but there is plenty of difference in their current gaming usage.

At least they went with Elves and Eladrin instead of Elves and Alfar. And giants and titans instead of giants and gigantes.

 

[MinionOfCthulhu]

I'm surprised nobody has touched on this one...

Unicorns - since when are they unaligned? Aren't they the very embodiment of good?

This is what I was going to post about, along with phoenixes. At least the unicorn, despite being unaligned now, isn't TOO different. I mean, it's still intelligent. The phoenix, on the other hand, went from a noble intelligent paragon of good to an unintelligent cousin of the roc. On fire.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

Ok, how the hell is "Behemoth" gonna fit in with....raptors and all the other non Huge dinos, eh?! haha!

 

[Shadeydm]

The problem I see with Wordword Behemoth is this:

DM: A wordword behemoth charges you.
Player 1: A what?
DM: [Shows picture or mini]
Player 1: Oh, a T-Rex. I have to get out of here!

Alternative world where 4e designers used real-world words for things:

DM: A T-Rex charges you!
Player 1: I have to get out of here!

Why the extra baggage?

QFT!

 

[fiddlerjones]

That's fair enough, but I think IanB hit the proverbial nail on the head. Using names like "minotaur" and "chimaera" works for me because in my mind they are mythical beasts. The name dinosaur, however, does kind of break the immersion for me.

I agree with the criticisms of the phoenix changes. Is it just me or do the roc variations seem a little too Pokemon?

Finally Re: my complaints on the Wordword naming convention. It's perfectly fine but it seems very much overused, often completely unnecessarily. For example, in the Ashen Covenant Dragon article, they Eye of Fear and Flame (good name) is redone - and very well I might add - but is unnecessarily renamed "Flameharrow."