I HATE the term GISH

[Henry]

It's a bloody label, why get all worked up over it?

For me, mainly because it just strikes the ear wrong; it's like calling A Lamborghini Diablo a "voom" because it's shorter to pronounce, and some reporter once used it to describe the car. I myself used to chuckle back when the term came out in (as early as 1st edition Fiend Folio, I think?) and when people started thinking it was a cool term, I was kind of surprised.

 

[Cam Banks]

If you can come up with a better term, please feel free to popularize it. Until then, most of us know what it means when we hear it, so it serves its purpose.

There was something wrong with fighter/mage?

Cheers,
Cam

 

[dagger]

The word is huge on the WotC boards.....especially in Character Optimization.

I have heard it for years, but I don't use it.

 

[MarkB]

If you can come up with a better term, please feel free to popularize it. Until then, most of us know what it means when we hear it, so it serves its purpose.

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.

Fighter/Mage, F/M for short, or battlemage would be far preferable.

 

[F5]

Whenever I've heard the term "Gish" (which, in 15 years of gaming has only been recently on the internet), I am reminded of the words of Dr. Theodore Seuss Geisel. To quote from his seminal work, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish:

Who am I?
My name is Ish.
On my hand I have a dish.

I have this dish
to help me wish.

When I wish to make a wish
I wave my hand with a big swish swish.
Then I say, "I wish for fish!"
And I get fish right on my dish.

So...
if you wish to wish a wish,
you may swish for fish
with my Ish wish dish.

That's what I think of when I hear the term "gish". Obviously, the character in question is skilled in the use of a shield (or "dish"), and is a powerful enough spellcaster to use a Wish spell to create food. A martial spellcaster, indeed!

PS...yes, those are brain cells I'm NEVER GETTING BACK.

 

[Thanee]

If you can come up with a better term, please feel free to popularize it. Until then, most of us know what it means when we hear it, so it serves its purpose.

How about 'spoozle'?

Bye
Thanee

 

[ThirdWizard]

It's a githyanki. You don't call a puppy a kitten. Yeah, they're both terms for baby animals. That doesn't mean they're interchangeable, though!

 

[diaglo]

If you can come up with a better term, please feel free to popularize it. Until then, most of us know what it means when we hear it, so it serves its purpose.

who are the us?

for that matter who are the most?

 

[hong]

I use fighter/wiz, battlewizard, or battlemage.

 

[WayneLigon]

Never heard that term before. I do intensely dislike 'Pally' for Paladin or 'Barbar' for Barbarian.