D&Disms That Make You Go "Huh?"

[CanadienneBacon]

In the spirit of sharing and well-humored enlightenment, there are at least two D&D terms of phrase that make me scrunch me nose and quirk an eyebrow in query when I see them.

• Gish: A multiclassed fighter-mage.

• Christmas Tree Effect: Actually, could someone please fill me in on what the heck this term means?

I only just found out what the devil "gish" means this past summer. I'm still hoping someone will fill me in on christmas tree. Anyone else out there serially confuddled about a particular word or phrase?

 

[Doug McCrae]

• Christmas Tree Effect: Actually, could someone please fill me in on what the heck this term means?

A PC with lots of magic items, like decorations on a Xmas tree. As WotC first used it, it also referred to buff spells, but it mostly seems to just mean items.

 

[airwalkrr]

More specifically, the Christmas Tree Effect refers to a character casting detect magic and viewing a character loaded down with magic items, buff spells, and other effects that make the character "light up" like a Christmas tree.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

I don't kow if this is what you are after but:

"muscular action closes the hole".

Whenever I read that in the monster manual, it makes me go "huh". Its just... one of those things that makes me go "only in D&D".

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Psion]

I don't kow if this is what you are after but:

"muscular action closes the hole".

Whenever I read that in the monster manual, it makes me go "huh". Its just... one of those things that makes me go "only in D&D".

Ah... part of the whole "no grievous injuries until you run out of hp" thing.

Along with that go such oddities as spells that repair limb loss but an odd scarcity of effects that cause limb loss.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

"Muscular action closes the hole" has always made me think of sphincters.
I only found out what Gish was on this forum about a month ago. Really what the hell is wrong with 'Fighter-Wizard" anyway?

There's alos loads of acronyms that are used here that I am only slowly working out.

 

[Nifft]

Gish

Back in 1e, it wasn't easy to be a Fighter and a Magic-User at the same time. Apparently Githyanki could do it, and they had a special word for it.

In 3.5e, it's come to mean a specific kind of combat mage: uses arcane magic, buffs himself (rather than using attack spells), deals damage using melee attacks. (Note that there are other viable strategies for Wizards with a high BAB, notably Ray attacks -- "gish" means more than just fighter/mage, it implies a play style as well.)

Christmas Tree Effect: Actually, could someone please fill me in on what the heck this term means?

When you cast detect magic, he lights up like a Christmas tree.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Aeric]

THAC0, baby!

Maybe not -isms, but the collection of monsters in the various MMs that seem to have evolved for the sole purpose of screwing over adventurers: the mimic, the piercer, the trapper, the gelatinous cube...I could go on and on.

 

[pawsplay]

I still don't acknowledge "gish" as a real word people use. It's a shibboleth for hanging out on certain Internet discussions fora, and I'm very sad it leaked over to here from the Wizards boards where it originated in the Character Optimization forum. Even if you like the word (and who does?), doesn't it cheapen the identity of githyanki fighter-mages if the word is used more generally?

 

[Creamsteak]

So that's where Gish comes from. Someone was using that word with me earlier and I thought it sounded odd. I don't like it. It seems to belittle warrior-mages and githyanki at the same time when used like that.