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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 3116631" data-attributes="member: 3586">Rubbish. The cleaning up of the surprise and initiative rules was great. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Seriously, there's a reason why I find Demon, Devil and Dragon to be better than Tanarii, Whatsit, and Makriszon: they are names that draw upon our own mythology. We're already familiar with them, and so they imply connections that resonate. Daemon shares that, although to a lesser extent than those three.Any new monster in D&D has a problem because it's new. It's not accepted. The choice of name is vital because it helps set a monster in our minds. Appearance can also play a part, but names are vital - especially as D&D is mainly a game of words.When you come up against a Mind Flayer or a Beholder, the names already have some meaning to you. Made-up names have to start from scratch, and can only resonate after much use. The Githyanki may be a case in point of this.As an aside, I think the Vitreous Drinker is an awful name, because hardly anyone understands what Vitreous is. If it had been called a Sight Drinker, it'd be much better IMO.I understand totally the objections to daemon; to an extent I share them. However, even with its flaws, it resonates much better than yugoloth to me. Yugoloth means nothing. I wasn't paying attention to 2e when they came in. Planescape seemed to be actively working to disaffect me. So, I have no meaningful connection to Yugoloth at all. No problem. My dislike of the Zern is minor at best. I really have trouble finding monsters in MMIV that I really don't like. I can't say I'd ever use the Zern, but I'm not surprised there'll be people that will.Cheers!</blockquote>

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