Of gishes and arcane defencers and whatnot: Is 4th ed. language for everyone?

[Reaper Steve]

Furthermore, WotC has the opportunity to capitalize here...
'Gish' is a 100% unique D&D term. What better way to further cement D&D as its own type of fantasy than to seize this and seamlessly incorporate it?

 

[Rechan]

Towards the OP's question:

Every edition has its jargon. If "4e jargon isn't for everyone", then 3e's BAB and Damage reduction and "Sorcerer is a class" and "Spontaneous Caster" wasn't for everyone.

Or 2e and its non-weapon proficiencies, et al.

 

[Wolfspider]

"Damage Reduction" and "Spontaneous Caster" have meaning that can be taken from their composite words.

"Gish" is nonsensical.

EDIT: Although I totally agree that "non-weapon proficiencies" is a pretty confusing term.

Then again, I would never claim that 1st or 2nd or 3rd edition were jargon free. (THAC0, anyone?) I would argue that jargon can be offputting, and if D&D 4e wants to be the best, most user-friendly version possible, the use of words like "gish" should be avoided.

 

[pawsplay]

FM-U? And you think Gish is confusing. Let's see, it's been years since wizards were called a magic-user, Gish can also refer to a fighter/sorcerer, or any other combination of combat class and arcane spell user.

Meh, I don't like Gish either, but, trying to say that your jargon is superior to someone else's is a bit strange.

I believe a recent poll established that something around 2/3 of this site have played 1st edition AD&D.

 

[Dire Bare]

Officially, the term "gish" simply refers to a githyanki fighter/mage, and that's it.

Unofficially, obviously, it has come to mean any warrior/arcane combo. The thing to remember, is that you won't ever see the term in an official D&D product, so just relax about it if you don't like it.

Sheesh, the things people get worked up over!

 

[Zelc]

Actually, Gish /can/ mean any type of fighting + magic combo. That's (in order from most commonly used to least commonly used with gish) fighting + arcane, fighting + divine, fighting + psionics, or even stuff like fighting + soulbinding or fighting + incarnum or fighting + truenaming etc.

 

[pawsplay]

I don't mean to fly off the handle. I just remember on the CO boards getting tired of,

"I need help with some kind of character. Maybe a bladesinger. Is that good?"
"Bladesingers rate pretty low as gishes. Blah blah blah. Codzilla. Blah blah blah."
"What's a gish?"
"A gish is a fighter-spellcaster."
"You mean a gish is a fighter who also casts spells in combat."
"No, a gish should focus on self-buffs."
"That's not really a gish."
"Bladesingers aren't really gishes then."
"Psions make the best gishes."
"Psionic characters aren't gishes; gishes combine arcane casting with fighting."
"Why gish?"
etc.

It just doesn't mean anything other than "I like saying gish."

 

[AllisterH]

Actually, I've seen the term "gish" start to filter in to common parlance among MMORPG forums.

 

[Epic Meepo]

Gish

A Navajo digging stick. Sweet!

And incidentally, "gish" is (AFAIK) unrelated to actual 4e game rules. As irrelevant to 4e game rules as "AFAIK" is to a dictionary of the King's English.

 

[Rechan]

"Damage Reduction" and "Spontaneous Caster" have meaning that can be taken from their composite words.

"Gish" is nonsensical.

And the Thread title uses words like "Arcane Defender".

I don't think Gish is a 4e term, Wolfspider. The designer was making a comment. Jeez.