The Mahout: Basic Class Information

The Mahout (over on EN5ider) is a new class for 5th Edition, a tamer of monsters, a character with a special bond with their devoted pet, whether that be a beast, an exotic aberration, a slime, or even a draconic creature. Also includes the Animalist subclass (two more subclasses, the Monstrous and Oddball appear next month), and four introductory monster tricks. By Erik Evjen and Mike Myler; illustrated by Joyce Maureira.

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[Nathaniel Lee]

I mean... I understand the author's reasoning for going with the name, but ultimately that name makes the class sound like something that's specific to a particular setting despite the generic nature of the class itself.

 

[Zardnaar]

Five bucks says you'd be in the extreme minority. It's a word that 99% of the population will never hear or need to use. That circuses are all but history now makes it that much harder.

I'll keep my $5. I picked up the word year ago either in the 1E DMG or reading about Alexander the Great reaching India. I read a lot of military/classical history though.

 

[Nathaniel Lee]

If only everyone did a lil’ bit more readin’...

 

[DEFCON 1]

The challenge comes with a word such as "mahout" which really doesn't have much practical or even pop cultural use in most Western societies since "elephant rider" isn't really something that 99% of people will ever even need to think about.

Same could be said of the paladin. Other than a tv show and D&D, who ever used the word? And if marout became genericized through D&D, I imagine it'd become a trainer and rider of animals, not just elephants. Just like our ideas of the 'ninja' have turned into this pop cultural identity which has little to do with how they were historically.

In any event it's probably not going to catch on regardless (since WotC itself would have to start using it to gain traction)... but you can chalk me up as someone who prefers single word identifiers to compound words as well. So I'm always happy to toss out beastmasters and swordmages whenever possible.

 

[Mike Myler]

Of the many discussions I expected the mahout to encourage, this was very low on the list

 

[Ovinomancer]

Of the many discussions I expected the mahout to encourage, this was very low on the list

You must not post here much.

 

[Eubani]

So how is it in play?

 

[Mike Myler]

So how is it in play?

In my playtests with it the group was ALL ABOUT having a monster around (the advanced regimens' different creature types!), it didn't have any disproportionate impact on vs. monster combat, definitely influenced vs. NPC combat more than usual, and they were really at a loss for how to handle visiting a settlement before they convinced the mahout character to just tie up his monster outside town (I think they also left signage in a few languages warning people to stay away from it).

 

[Nathaniel Lee]

Same could be said of the paladin.

Not exactly. Just the fact that the word has been part of the English language for well over a century and associated with classic literary tales of knights and warriors such as Arthur and Charlemagne gives it a huge leg up over a word whose use is essentially restricted to a single, non-Western country with absolutely no cultural significance.

I get where you're coming from with this, but even if we were to start from a point where neither specific word has yet entered pop culture -- or culture in general -- "paladin" would still face an easier path to adoption considering its synonymic relationship with a word like "knight". The possible contexts in which the terms could even come up in conversation are so unbalanced in favor of "paladin" over "mahout" that it isn't even a fair fight.

you can chalk me up as someone who prefers single word identifiers to compound words as well

I'd prefer a single word as well if that single word could effectively convey an entire meaning, but in my career as a programmer, especially now working on projects with teams of dozens of other developers, I've learned that brevity !== simplicity.

I ultimately view the best term -- single word, compound word or phrase -- that most effectively communicates the idea with the least amount of cognitive effort required.

Heck, if we were just inventing Dungeons & Dragons right now, and our choice in naming of the primary martial class was between "paladin" and "dude who fights so good" I'd probably be inclined to choose the latter. And I'm only half-joking.

 

[Nathaniel Lee]

Of the many discussions I expected the mahout to encourage, this was very low on the list

Apologies at hijacking your thread.