New name for "gish"? (forked from Character Concepts: Gish and Teleporter Mage)

[proto128]

Forked from: Character Concepts: Gish and Teleporter Mage

AARRRRGGGHHH!!!

Fighter-mage!! FIGHTER-MAGE!!!

IF it's a githyanki with combined martial and arcane abilities, then it's a gish. Otherwise, NO!!!

To be honest I'd never heard the term "gish" until 4e was in development. I don't have a problem with it, but it seems the term raises a certain amount of... ire.

What would be a better alternative? Fighter/mage or fighter/magic-user are a little cumbersome and imply a set multi-class combination (precluding, say, ranger/warlocks, rogue/sorcerers, or other combinations that might fill the same role to which the term might apply). Despite that, I can't think of anything else off the top of my head that might be better .

 

[ExploderWizard]

" Gish? What kind of a name is Gish?"

"Its just a name, alright!!!! "

 

[greatamericanfolkher]

Honestly, I think Gish is fine, and in the brave new world of squared circles, is a great way to quickly convey the concept of a character who uses both fighting and magic.

 

[Nifft]

New names have been tried. None have succeeded.

The thing is: Gish is a useful word. It means something more specific than just a multi-class choice. So any term attempting to replace it is going to have to be more intuitive or have a richer history.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Fifth Element]

I'm fine with gish. I know what it originally meant, but it now means a fighter/mage-type in general. That's how language works - words change in meaning over time as people find new uses for them. There was a void that needed to be filled, and gish was the best candidate.

 

[JustKim]

I've only ever used fighter-mage or some equivalent that's more descriptive to the concept. I have never and will never refer to something as a gish. Players who don't post regularly on messsage boards don't even know what it means- I'm pretty sure when I first heard it I thought it was a derogatory term for wizards.

 

[Fifth Element]

I have never and will never refer to something as a gish.

What about a githyanki fighter/mage?

 

[Desdichado]

Gish? Looks like a typo for fish, and since f and g are next to each other on the keyboard, it looks even more like that. Stupid word. I'd never use it. Yes, even for githyanki I'd never use it. To use it universally for the concept of a sword-wielding spellcaster; never.

Granted, no other term really seems to have traction either. I'm hoping the swordmage from the new FR book becomes the standard, but if not; oh well. I don't use the concept often enough to worry about having an easy to type term that everyone agrees with. Heck, I'm still old-school enough to just say fighter/magic-user if I really need to use one that badly.

 

[Cam Banks]

"Gish" is not intuitive. It may seem that way to somebody who uses it all the time, but it isn't intuitive at all. Fighter-mage or warrior-mage or any other compound phrase conveys much more to me.

It also doesn't help that people can't agree on what one is. I've had people try to say that it's any kind of spellcaster, not just arcane, for instance. It just seems to be a concept searching for a definition searching for a shortcut term, rather than anything necessarily iconic.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Kurashu]

I typically use either fighter-mage or warrior-wizard when refering to this character archetype outside of D&D. But as far as gish goes, I think it's staying around as the perfered term in our hobby.