Dragon 376 - Creature Incarnations: Fell Taints

[Derulbaskul]

Great article. Personally, I quite like the names. "Taint" is not an issue for me. I simply refuse to believe in American (pseudo-) English, slang or otherwise.

I really like the art that goes with the article.

I've got plans for a very Far Realms-oriented campaign after I finish running my Fimbulwinter game. These creatures will certainly get some use so I'm very happy with the article.

(DC 20 Search check with a –10 penalty to the check if the area is wet).

Editors, start your engines: there is no Search skill in 4E.

 

[Asmor]

I'm really liking the fell taints. Unfortunately my last two campaigns were heavily "far-realms-invasion" themed, so I'm consciously avoiding the far realms in the campaign I'm starting next week. :/

Hmm... A floating orb with tentacles. 'Taint quite a beholder and 'taint quite a mind flayer.

 

[Alikar]

I don't get it either, maybe it is an American thing?

Well I'm in the middle of the country and I don't understand the hatred towards the use of "Fell Taint." Frankly its way better than something like "Uigulor Fransew Molechors" or some such nonsense.

 

[wedgeski]

Not english native here, why is "fell taint" so bad?

"Fell Taint" is fine, it's the names of the individual types of monster where it comes a bit unstuck.

 

[Spatula]

...having a degree in English makes one good at coming up with names for made-up things?

 

[Mistwell]

Fell taints attack your nads?!?!?! Well, I guess it makes sense kinda . . .

NADS? CdGing? Unfamiliar acronyms make my head hurt . . .

I agree. Particularly CdGing. It smells of someone trying to avoid misspelling a phrase by hiding it with an uncommon acronym.

Come on guys...this isn't texting or twitter. There isn't a character or word limit. It doesn't take that long to type out what you actually mean, so that a wider array of your audience actually understands what you are trying to communicate.

 

[avin]

Or one could look here for a more "colorful" version. *Warning* this offsite linked definition is probably not grandma-safe:
Urban Dictionary: taint

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

best name ever!

 

[Mouseferatu]

I'm sorry but if they only used words that never had slang definitions for anything there wouldn't be any words left to use.

Yep, this. A thousand times, this.

English is simply too fluid a language--and too prone to puns and slang and entendre; given how many puns I make, I should know --for writers to reject every word that might have an unintended meaning. "Taint" is an especially egregious example, since it has a long tradition in D&D, and its slang term is relatively recent.

(Now, I'm not especially fond of the name "fell taint" myself, but that's purely due to the aesthetics of how the two words sound together. I have no problem with either word individually being used as part of a monster name.)

 

[Asmor]

I agree. Particularly CdGing. It smells of someone trying to avoid misspelling a phrase by hiding it with an uncommon acronym.

Come on guys...this isn't texting or twitter. There isn't a character or word limit. It doesn't take that long to type out what you actually mean, so that a wider array of your audience actually understands what you are trying to communicate.

WDYHAA? (What do you have against acronyms?)

Seriously, though, while I've never seen CdG or NADS before*, I was able to figure them both out pretty quickly (even though NADS should really be NADs). And frankly, acronyms do help alot if it's a term you're going to use frequently. Probably not necessary in this case, but imagine a discussion in the rules forum where you're discussing the merits of AC-based attacks and attacks against other defenses. "Non-AC defense" repeated over and over would get quite, err, repetitive, if you'll excuse the redundancy. Not to mention "NAD" is a lot more succinct and less clunky than "Non-AC defense."

Acronyms have always been a major part of every community. Whenever you've got people with specific knowledge about a common field, I guarantee there will be clunky, but frequently used, terms which will be reduced to an acronym, because they're easier to think about, easier to write, and easier to read if you're already familiar with them, as the expectation would be.

Also keep in mind that this isn't something limited to acronyms. I guarantee you there's at least one person reading this thread right now who doesn't know what a gish is, and unless someone explains it to them or they look it up they'll never figure it out because there's no context here to figure it out from.

Acronyms are just another form of slang, and even if you don't know them you should be able to figure them out from the context if you're familiar with the concepts already.

*Just wanted to say "Ha ha Asmor says he's never seen nads before!" to steal the thunder from whichever joker was going to try and do that first.

 

[Rechan]

I'm just glad that the acronym isn't NARDs. Because then everyone would express amazement that werewolves have them.