Dear 4e, Please Stop with the Horrible Portmanteaus!

[Dannyalcatraz]

I have to wonder what happened with the makers of ACIPHEX?

Did they never say this word out loud before deciding on the name? It comes out as...

ASS EFFECTS

Then again, it's a drug used for treating ulcers of the stomach and duodenum, gastroesophageal reflux disease!

I can't believe I am not making this up!

I've been thinking the exact same thing for months.

 

[Hussar]

/snip

There were a lot of dumb names in earlier editions, and yet we still find ourselves fighting mind flayers and beholders. So the question, I suppose, becomes: what will 4e's mark be on future games?

Off topic but, I am somewhat ashamed to admit that in the almost thirty years of playing D&D, the number of times I've fought as a player or used as a DM, beholders or mindflayers could likely be counted on fingers.

Do people really use these monsters all the time?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Off topic but, I am somewhat ashamed to admit that in the almost thirty years of playing D&D, the number of times I've fought as a player or used as a DM, beholders or mindflayers could likely be counted on fingers.

Do people really use these monsters all the time?

I think that they are VERY popular mastermind/BBEG villains, like Liches, Dragons or Drow.

So they do tend to pop up frequently...if you look at the set of all possible campaigns.

In a given campaign, you'll probably only find one or 2 of those critter types.

From my own 30+ year history w/D&D, I can say that I've used each one more than once as a DM. And I've encountered each one in campaigns as a player.

I'd say that they're among the few repeat powerful critters I've used or encountered in D&D.

 

[Hussar]

DannyA - totally. I know they keep coming up as the big bads in published stuff- buckets of supplements stretching back for years on both of them.

I've just personally almost never seen them used. I was wondering how common they are in other people's experiences.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

DannyA - totally. I know they keep coming up as the big bads in published stuff- buckets of supplements stretching back for years on both of them.

I've just personally almost never seen them used. I was wondering how common they are in other people's experiences.

Consider yourself lucky!

As a matter of fact, we're in a campaign right now that has beholders AND drow AND desmodu AND salamanders.

If it weren't for a lucky shot that really dinged a Beholder slave-master, we'd have been toast- it dropped the party's lone single-classed caster (a Wizard) with its first or second attack.

 

[Hussar]

Desmodu - aren't those those bat-people?

 

[Votan]

DannyA - totally. I know they keep coming up as the big bads in published stuff- buckets of supplements stretching back for years on both of them.

I've just personally almost never seen them used. I was wondering how common they are in other people's experiences.

I used both extremely frequently as monsters when I DMed in 3.5E D&D. The low save DCs for the 3.5 Beholder made them a bit of a paper tiger.

Back in AD&D I encountered a lot of Mind Flayers (even losing a character to one) but few (maybe one?) Beholders.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Desmodu - aren't those those bat-people?

Yep.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

BTW, in case y'all missed it, this thread contains some nice re-christenings that fit nicely with this thread as well.

 

[Pierson_Lowgal]

Originally Posted by Hussar
I was wondering how common they are in other people's experiences.

Playing for 15 years off and on, never used or faced a true beholder, only used or faced mind flayers once. Too high level, aberrants aren't everyone's cup of tea.