I HATE the term GISH

[DaveyJones]

The origin of the term Gish is not from 1e Fiend Folio.

go look again.

i didn't remember seeing it either. but like T. Foster i never used githyanki in my campaign much.

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).

 

[senodam]

The only time I've used the word was when the players in my 'PlaneScape Bounty Hunters' campaign were sent after "the notorious Gish, Threnz'ktai". They asked what Gish meant, the NPC told them it was a Githyanki word, and that was that.

I do recall though that when he killed two PCs early into the fight, one of my players remarked "You know, for guys with a silly name these Gish dudes are double hard."

 

[hong]

Would the plural of gish be gishes? I can see a group of adventurers raiding a githyanki lair and, conscious of the ability of spellcasters to rain fiery death on them, yelling "do the gishes! Do the gishes!"

 

[Remathilis]

Would the plural of gish be gishes? I can see a group of adventurers raiding a githyanki lair and, conscious of the ability of spellcasters to rain fiery death on them, yelling "do the gishes! Do the gishes!"

Why do the astral dreadnoughts eat them first?

"I like the gishes cuz they so delicious"

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Let's see: A succinct piece of gamer jargon that not only clearly communicates the concept it also annoys a good smattering of grumpy old (age independent "old") gamers.

It doesn't clearly communicate anything.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

C'm'on! "Hear the voice of the Bard" -- classic literature! Don't people read Blake in high school?

No, but Americans pretty all much know the word from hearing Shakespeare described as the bard of Stratford Upon Avon. "Paladin" they'd mostly associate with some really bad action movies.

 

[Malhost Zormaeril]

Well, that was exactly my point. The name of the current concept of the Paladin is derived from something that it no longer has any connection to, an etymological maze has led to the current word, which has nothing to do with the original root of the word anymore.

Paladins have nothing to do with Palatine Hill; we just use a derivative of the name for holy knights without caring (or usually even knowing) about the origins of the word.

"Paladin" derives from "Palatine" only obliquely (through the "Palatine Guard"); "Paladin" was the name for the Twelve Peers of Charlemagne in the Matter of France, and some of the Arthurian Knights adopted the title "Paladin of the ______", I recall "Faith" and "Queen" at least, meaning they were especially devoted to protecting ______. It is therefore quite appropriate for D&D to use "Paladin" in the sense it uses, and not at all arbitrary.

Regarding the actual subject of the thread, I remember the Githyanki names from the 2e MM; back then, I thought they were cool (I was 14), but they felt culturally tied to the Githyanki, much like I wouldn't use "Bladesinger" for a human Fighter/Mage. I found out it was used for generic Fighter/Mages in this thread.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

How about 'spoozle'?

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

Ahh, krutz!

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Would the plural of gish be gishes? I can see a group of adventurers raiding a githyanki lair and, conscious of the ability of spellcasters to rain fiery death on them, yelling "do the gishes! Do the gishes!"

One gish, two gish
Red gish, blue gish

 

[Cthulhudrew]

"Paladin" they'd mostly associate with some really bad action movies.

Or westerns.