In the Works

[Desdichado]

I was actually fairly impressed with most of the stuff there, but war troll? C'mon; a that's a one-trick pony, alright. "So, you think you know how to deal with a troll, do you? Well take a bite of this guy..."

Great art, though.

 

[Pants]

"Arrow demons prefer to fight in ordered ranks" -- WHAT? No demon prefers fighting in ordered ranks. No demon prefers to fight in ordered anything.

Heh. They're the perfect soldiers for the Mariliths.

 

[Teslacoil1138]

I agree, I think they should have made Arrow Demon into Arrow Devil. Oh well. Personally I see the less creative fiendish names as the "common name" for the fiend in question. Hopefully the Arrow Demon will have a proper tanar'ri name in its description...

 

[Desdichado]

I agree, I think they should have made Arrow Demon into Arrow Devil. Oh well. Personally I see the less creative fiendish names as the "common name" for the fiend in question. Hopefully the Arrow Demon will have a proper tanar'ri name in its description...

Right, as in horned devil - cornugon, etc.

 

[Voadam]

Try "Demon of Flame" and you'd have the more intimidating name.

However, Balor is a name from mythology. As such, it has a bunch of other connotations attached to it. It's not a creative name in this context.

Consider "Mind Flayer" or "Illithid" - I much, much, much prefer the former.

Every so often, new names hit a chord and do work. However, I can't say it's that common.

Cheers!

Names should be pronounceable but those examples seem very pronounceable. Balor in particular is a real world example from Celtic Myth so that should jump out for those familiar with it.

Balor (Bay Lor)
Illithid (Ill ith thid)

However I have to guess on things like Baatezu (Bay at a zoo? Bay at Tay zoo?) with the double "aa"s that bug me and random apostrophes like in T'anari (Tuh Nar ee? Tuh an are ee?)

 

[Knight Otu]

I think the MM3 will offer something for both sides of the name debate. From the thread I linked to earlier, a partial list of monsters in the book:

Ambush Drake
Avalancher
Battlebriar
Boneclaw
Chraal
Conflagaration Ooze
Deathshrieker
Demon, Arrow Demon
Demon, Sorrowsworn
Dinosaur, Battletitan
Dinosaur, Bloodstriker
Dinosaur, Fleshraker
Dinosaur, Swindlespitter
Dracotaur
Dust wight
Giant, Death
Giant, Eldritch
Golem, Alchemical
Golem, Gloom
Golem, Prismatic
Golem, Web
Gulgar
Harssaf
Justicator
Lumi
Mivilorn
Necronaut
Odopi
Petal
Phoelarch
Plague Brush
Quaraphon
Ragewalker
Rejkar
Shredstorm
Shrieking Terror
Snowflake Ooze
Swarm, Cinder Swarm
Swarm, Ephemeral Swarm
Swarm, Shimmerling Swarm
Thorn (all Thelanis)
Trilloch
Troll, Forest
Troll, War
Vasuthant
Visilight
Voidmind creatures
Wood woad
Woodling creature (all Lamannia)
Yugoloth
Zezir

 

[Arnwyn]

It's all very well to have cool looking names, but if you run into trouble saying them, they're not much use, are they?

Oh, c'mon now, I'm sure there's a happy medium.

Ignoring the questionable CRs, I really like these new monsters - I'm very much looking forward to Monster Manual III.

I would never have guessed.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

So, how do you say Arrow Demon in French?

Right, as in horned devil - cornugon, etc.

 

[DarkMaster]

demon fleche

 

[MerricB]

Names should be pronounceable but those examples seem very pronounceable. Balor in particular is a real world example from Celtic Myth so that should jump out for those familiar with it.

Indeed - it frustrates me for that very reason. The Balor of Celtic mythology has nothing to do with the "Balrog" Type VI demon.

Cheers!