D&D 5E Dinosaurs in 5E?

[Scribble]

This has been a bit of a pet peeve of mine in D&D, so I generally replace the word "giant" with the word "Dire." "Giant" has some specific meanings in D&D aside from "Friggin' big."

Yeah mine too- it just seems goofy to call them giant.

 

[CM]

Let me just quote myself from the blue dragon thread and simply say "Both, please."

 

[blalien]

The question you need to ask is: what would people name dinosaurs if they lived at the same time as them? Dinosaurs were named by scientists millions of years after the fact using Greek and Latin origins. But we don't call dogs canis lupus familiarus, we call them dogs because it's easier to say. If a tyrannosaurus rampaged in a backwater town, what would the peasants be calling it: a tyrannosaurus or a bigtooth? I think a good compromise would be to give the dinosaurs medieval fantasy names (and make those names not suck) and put the actual dinosaur names in parentheses.

 

[GreyICE]

If I was a villager in a village and I needed to name a T-Rex I'd name it "OH HELL RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

Very descriptive, in its way.

 

[13garth13]

For those who object to Latin or Greek names in their fantasy...

Do you use different names for rhinoceros, or hippopotamus, or octopus, or even for the mythological hippocampus?

There's a lot of words/animal names which are derived from Latin or Greek, so I'm genuinely curious as to why dinosaurs need to be renamed to maintain fantasy world verisimilitude, but not all the others.

Not trying to be snarky, I really am curious.

Cheers,
Colin

 

[Libramarian]

Real world names for things, even if (especially if?) they are obscure and antiquated are much more flavorful than made up fantasy names I think.

Gene Wolfe uses real-world names for everything in the Book of the New Sun. I don't recall his justification for it. Maybe he just thought it was lazy for a writer to make up words. I think he went overboard with the idea, but leaning more in that direction would be good.

So bring back Latin dinosaurs. And bring back French polearms too. I want to take on a Deinonychus with a ranseur.

I know that is a weird clash of connotative meaning, but it's a bizarre situation for many reasons. I like that. That's D&D.

 

[Warbringer]

If I was a villager in a village and I needed to name a T-Rex I'd name it "OH HELL RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

Very descriptive, in its way.

Or the "Run for your lives, we're being attacked by something that's been dead for 65 mm years!!!!"

Sorry, no dinos for me .... I know, party pooper

 

[Hussar]

I agree with [MENTION=41954]blalien[/MENTION]. Why not both? You could easily do what they used to do for dragons back in 1e - common name (Bugs Bunny Latin Name). I think that would make everyone happy.

 

[blalien]

Do you use different names for rhinoceros, or hippopotamus, or octopus, or even for the mythological hippocampus?

There's a lot of words/animal names which are derived from Latin or Greek, so I'm genuinely curious as to why dinosaurs need to be renamed to maintain fantasy world verisimilitude, but not all the others.

I think the difference is that rhinos, hippos, and octopi were named by people who had to interact with them on a daily basis. Dinosaurs were named by scientists out of intellectual curiosity, and there is no practical application to knowing their names. I think if we lived in a world where people actually needed to know what dinosaurs are, they would have been named differently. That's why I supported the compromise idea. The scholarly wizard can call it a triceratops while the 8 INT fighter can call it a threehorn.

 

[slobster]

I think the difference is that rhinos, hippos, and octopi were named by people who had to interact with them on a daily basis. Dinosaurs were named by scientists out of intellectual curiosity, and there is no practical application to knowing their names. I think if we lived in a world where people actually needed to know what dinosaurs are, they would have been named differently. That's why I supported the compromise idea. The scholarly wizard can call it a triceratops while the 8 INT fighter can call it a threehorn.

Agreed (except that it's octopuses ).

Threehorn or trihorn isn't even that bad, as names go. We still call them unicorns, after all.