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<blockquote data-quote="Theo R Cwithin" data-source="post: 4451098" data-attributes="member: 75712">You could try referring to creatures in &quot;folksy&quot; terms, the words the PCs might have learned as children around the campfire or listening to bedtime stories.&nbsp; So &quot;troll&quot; in their eyes might be a troll, a hill giant, an ogre or even a really big orc.&nbsp; Likewise, a &quot;dragon&quot; might be a real dragon, a salamander, a wyvern, a couatl or whatever.&nbsp; (And the exact &quot;folksy&quot; words you use can add a little flavor to the campaign, as these words tell a lot about the mindset and experience of run-of-the-mill commoners in the world.)This doesn't work well with really distinctive creatures like beholders or illithids, though.&nbsp; In such cases, you could (1) &quot;re-skin&quot; them (eg, make the mindflayer pallid green with great yellow eyes and replace the tentacles with a barbed tongue); (2) throw a few decoys at them (eg, have them encounter a few real will o' wisps - mere swampgas - before (or during!) the encounter witth the real thing); (3) confuse the PCs with vague descriptions, eliciting horror or the &quot;fog of war&quot;;(4) use unusual conditions (lighting, invisibility, cover, illusion) to hide the real nature of their enemy.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Theo R Cwithin, post: 4451098, member: 75712"] You could try referring to creatures in "folksy" terms, the words the PCs might have learned as children around the campfire or listening to bedtime stories. So "troll" in their eyes might be a troll, a hill giant, an ogre or even a really big orc. Likewise, a "dragon" might be a real dragon, a salamander, a wyvern, a couatl or whatever. (And the exact "folksy" words you use can add a little flavor to the campaign, as these words tell a lot about the mindset and experience of run-of-the-mill commoners in the world.) This doesn't work well with really distinctive creatures like beholders or illithids, though. In such cases, you could (1) "re-skin" them (eg, make the mindflayer pallid green with great yellow eyes and replace the tentacles with a barbed tongue); (2) throw a few decoys at them (eg, have them encounter a few [I]real[/I] will o' wisps - mere swampgas - before (or during!) the encounter witth the real thing); (3) confuse the PCs with vague descriptions, eliciting horror or the "fog of war"; (4) use unusual conditions (lighting, invisibility, cover, illusion) to hide the real nature of their enemy. [/QUOTE]

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