I HATE the term GISH

[Templetroll]

How do you feel about the term?

When someone proclaims they are playing a GISH respond in a falsetto voice, "Oh, LillIAN! Mr. Griffith is ready for your closeup!"

Did you think FMU is better? fa-Moo. just rolls off the tongue like a buttered brick, doesn't it? I a Fighter/Mage/Thief is a fa-Mutt, which is cooler but worse in its own lil way.

I've been playing since 79 but never had anyone run githyanki against us. Hmm, Gish is ok, since it is slang that did come from something within the game.

 

[TarionzCousin]

How about 'fage?'

Or "fige"? Pronounced f(eye)j. Eye as in Eyeball.

Edit: and a Fighter/Sorcerer could be a "fighterer"!

 

[Agamon]

We should have "cool" names for all multi-combos. Gish, frall, thnath, norp, vlak, gnirb and phnox. Everyone knows what all those represent, it's pretty obvious, right?

 

[coyote6]

Gish as a generic term for "fighter-mage", for some reason, annoys me. Not sure why, but it does.

But then, the term "build" (e.g., "anyone have a good druid/monk build") is nearly in the same category, for some reason.

 

[Kelleris]

Duskblade suggests shadows and the ability to use swords. And it turns out the class is ... a sword-using illusionist.

That's a really bad example. The duskblade actually has exactly two illusion spells on its class spell list - color spray and phantasmal killer. And no special abilities related to illusions either, except those that apply to all spells.

I actually find the more common "fighter-mage" to be more annoying. It's not generic enough, since the "fighter" half is not necessarily a Fighter, but then it's always annoyed me that there's no generic fighty-guy name, like "mage" is for arcane spellcasters. On the other hand, I like the sound of "gish" and its nerdly credentials as a bit of obscure D&D lore. I still don't use it often, though.

 

[T. Foster]

I actually had to look this up in the 1E FF to convince myself you guys weren't just making this up. Sure enough, it's there and I'd managed to completely overlook it for 20+ years -- shows how much I use githyanki in my games, and how much time I spend discussing "builds" on the Wizards site, I guess. Even now that I know this term exists, and what it means, I'm still never going to use it (unless the party is dealing with a group of githyanki, I suppose, though that seems extremely unlikely to happen) and hope not to be around anyone else who does. For me a fighter/magic-user always has been and probably always will be a "fighter mage" or "FMU" (or, in written form, f/m-u or ftr/m-u).

 

[charlesatan]

There was something wrong with fighter/mage?

Cheers,
Cam

Speaking it out loud, it's three syllables. Typing it, it involves a slash (/).

Honestly, gish is easier as a term rather than "Fighter/Mage" ("Elf" would equally do as well). And it's pronouncable.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

I hate the term....I have always hated it.

I don't think I've ever heard the term before. What does it mean? I can't quite tell from this post.

 

[FireLance]

There was something wrong with fighter/mage?

Nope, but since the other term is used so often, there must be something attractive about it.

Most people who hear the term for the first time will have no idea what it means, and it's utterly non-intuitive to learn, since it sounds like an acronym, but is in fact an obscure piece of D&D lore.

It isn't the first time that a term that originally meant something specific has been broadened to mean something more generic. "Escalator" was originally a trademark, for example. The meanings of words also change over time, often seemingly non-intuitively. It probably isn't a fact that will make you feel "gay", but let's be "adult" about it, shall we?

How about 'spoozle'?

You can try to popularize that, if you want. I doubt it'll catch on, though.

who are the us?

for that matter who are the most?

Quite a few of the people who have responded to this thread seem to know what it means. And quite a few people who had no idea what it meant before will now know after reading this thread.

Given the non-intuitive source, it only communicates information to those familiar with it already. That's a very limited purpose. Our games are already filled with jargon as it is.

All of this is true, but I don't see any other term that has gained as much traction. Like I said, if you have a better alternative, feel free to popularize it. We could do with another thirty-eight words for warrior-mage, after all.

 

[Arkhandus]

I don't see the problem with it. I don't mind "Gish" at all, but I don't hear it all that often. I've been playing since 2nd Edition, for reference.

I don't think Gish is any more problematic a term than Bladesinger, Duskblade, Kensai/Kensei, Shugenja/Shukenja, or Battlerager. Any D&D term used at one point or another for a particular race/class combination, or non-European class/kit, is going to make little sense to people who've never come across the term in a game-book before that mentions it in context.

Let alone terms like Akashic, Athame, or Unfettered, from Monte Cook's AU/AE.

Heck, many non-geeks wouldn't likely know the meaning of "Paladin" or "Bard."

I don't have any problem with D&D-specific terms. Most any hobby or profession has tons of terms that other folk wouldn't understand.