D&D General Drow & Orcs Removed from the Monster Manual

[Chaltab]

Edit: redundant post

 

[gban007]

"Evil begins when you start treating people as things" - Terry Pratchett, I shall wear midnight.

 

[SkidAce]

It doesn't have to do with spelling at all, Phylactery is an anti-Semitic thing is the issue.

I don't understand (not arguing) how the word is anti-semitic.

 

[Chaltab]

I don't understand (not arguing) how the word is anti-semitic.

The word isn't anti-semitic. It's just a Greek word meaning amulet--but the description for the past few editions has been similar to the Jewish tefflin, which is also known as a phylactery. They're trying to divorce it from that assumption and emphasize that the lich can keep their souls in anything.

 

[Parmandur]

I don't understand (not arguing) how the word is anti-semitic.

There is an element of Jewish traditional practice and worship called a Tefillin in Hebrew, but in Greek the word used is Phylactery: it is a little box with tiny scrolls of holy acripture worn on key parts of the body. There is an ugly history of anti-Semites being superstitious and weird about this practice in particular, and associating it with the Blood Libel mythos (which is waaaaaaay outside the remit of this forum, Not Great Stuff). The Blood Libel connection is particularly why connecting the evil Wizards who kidnap and ritually murder people to achieve immortality with Phylactery is potentially charged.

Again, not saying anyone really meant much by that along the way...but the 20s are very different than the 70s in terms of people even being able to have this stuff on their radar, and WotC was a bit behind the industry in general in moving away from the term.

 

[SkidAce]

The word isn't anti-semitic. It's just a Greek word meaning amulet--but the description for the past few editions has been similar to the Jewish tefflin, which is also known as a phylactery. They're trying to divorce it from that assumption and emphasize that the lich can keep their souls in anything.

There is an element of Jewish traditional practice and worship called a Tefillin in Hebrew, but in Greek the word used is Phylactery: it is a little box with tiny scrolls of holy acripture worn on key parts of the body. There is an ugly history of anti-Semites being superstitious and weird about this practice in particular, and associating it with the Blood Libel mythos (which is waaaaaaay outside the remit of this forum, Not Great Stuff). The Blood Libel connection is particularly why connecting the evil Wizards who kidnap and ritually murder people to achieve immortality with Phylactery is potentially charged.

Again, not saying anyone really meant much by that along the way...but the 20s are very different than the 70s in terms of people even being able to have this stuff on their radar, and WotC was a bit behind the industry in general in moving away from the term.

so its gamified association with generic bad lich was considered derogatory and best left alone.

Thank you.

 

[Parmandur]

The word isn't anti-semitic. It's just a Greek word meaning amulet--but the description for the past few editions has been similar to the Jewish tefflin, which is also known as a phylactery. They're trying to divorce it from that assumption and emphasize that the lich can keep their souls in anything.

It was a lot less problematic when AD&D had lots of good, nice items also called Phylactery. Solely associating Phylactery with the evil undead serial killer may have been a mistake.

 

[TiQuinn]

I don't understand (not arguing) how the word is anti-semitic.

Phylactery or tefillin are small leather cases with straps that contain parchment pieces of the Torah and worn on the arm or head. At some point, D&D writers decided to really hone in on that description of the lich’s phylactery as being a box, and some people feel that’s anti-Semitic since you’re taking an article of Jewish faith and using it for a monster.

 

[Parmandur]

so its gamified association with generic bad lich was considered derogatory and best left alone.

Thank you.

Yup, not worth the trouble to keep it.

 

[Chaltab]

There's a lich in my campaign that always wore a phylactery so people just assumed that was where he kept his soul. Turns out that was an amulet of protection and his actual soul vessel was a seemingly innocuous lantern in a dangerous dungeon in the middle of nowhere.