Worlds & Monsters -- I has it, too!

[Man Of Few Posts]

So was I.

Than we have an interesting development then, good sir. She seems awfully powerful then.

 

[Incenjucar]

The Get Up Kobolds?

If you were a kobold in a D&D setting, you'd be emo too.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

So, I like 'Raven Queen' as a name. Furthermore, the Shadar-Kai... have a strange name, but it could be worse and is a legacy name... the concept is usable. It already was in 3E, but suffered from a) the late introduction, b) mechanic execution, and c) the utter boringness of the Shadow Plane.

When I say the name, it sounds fine, although it looks a bit weird on paper. However, I think that Shadarkai and Shadar Kai are both worse choices than Shadar-Kai. The former looks clunky and compressed, and the latter makes "shadar" look like an adjective, like there were other types of Kai, but this is the shadar type.

I always liked them, but they just never seemed like particularly useful antagonists because I could never figure out what the heck they were after aside from just simply being on the material plane. They make great minions though, if you overlook the fact that they're supposed to be really rare thanks to the fact that they tend to melt away after a while in the plane of shadow.

 

[Mighty Veil]

It would be hard to come up with one better. Ravens have been a symbol of death, mystery and darkness, etc for a long long time. It's meant to resonate with that idea, and one that exists extensively in modern and classic fantasy.

Nerull the Reaper, Myrukul, Bhaal, Set, Hades, Hel, any from mythos or from D&D IP. Heck, how about Asmodeus or just Death.

The Raven Queen concept sounds unimaginative and the name is same. I noticed lots of women characters have similar names by the 3e writers. Hag Queen, Succubus Queen, Red Knight. Why not Death Queen or Shadow-kar Night Queen or The Black Night Queen, empress of dying death dead. Or a name! How about Sch'itti-nam Queen?

 

[WhatGravitas]

I will mourn the loss of Wee Jas, the best of the 3e gods by far. (it's the "vanity" aspect that does it, death and magic go together, sure, but vanity is just oddball enough to feel real world organic)

My "utterly awesome" was meant seriously. The vanity aspect makes her much more organic and "real". And the death & magic mix isn't that bad with the a bit conflicting "necromancer" and "death goddess" approaches (as she's not evil). She'll so find a place in my 4E campaign. Though not as Raven Queen, nor as Little Wee Jas.

The Raven Queen concept sounds unimaginative and the name is same. I noticed lots of women characters have similar names by the 3e writers.

Probably because it resonates well. Or because language has only so many ways to express something like "a woman with control over this aspect/portfolio/group", without getting overtly strange or involving unwanted connotations.

Cheers, LT.

 

[The Ubbergeek]

Because often, going only by a nickname, a title bring a mystery... Like the Red Knight in FR.

 

[Mighty Veil]

Anyways, my posts here are getting things off topic. So I'll do my best to fix that.

My point: Raven Queen sucks. Others disagree.

Though I am curious to know if I'm the only one who feels this way about some of the new lame characters, monsters, concepts and names being created and/or pushed on us (best to create a different post for that).

W&M Q's:
Any mentioning on alignment?
Are the 12 Dragon ages gone (anything mentioned on that)?
Playable monster races mentioned, eg. drow, aasimar and gnome?
Any places in the world borrowed from existing D&D worlds. Is there a plateau where evil wizards live? Hommlet (since The temple of EE is there)? Ravenloft castle?

 

[Panamon Creel]

Originally posted by Morrus
I'm hating "Shadar-Kai". It's so hack-fantasy-writer, of which there are thousands.

The first word might be derived from "Shadar Logoth" in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time (it was a ruined city tainted by a shadowy evil spirit). Maybe because I'm a Jordan fan, I don't mind the sound of it.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

I personally also like Raven Queen. I found that not only as others have said it is Evocative and has a sense of a Title (which I feel is appropriate for a Goddess of Death, since I imagine the aspect of Death would be a controlling factor for a Goddess/God). It also reminded me of Morrigan who is a quite interesting Goddess.

I am actually thinking now of having this Raven Queen be a Triple Goddess like Morrigan. It could be that the title Raven Queen is the general term, and people worship the specific names of the Goddess, ie: using the Celtic Names: Morrigan, Badb and Macha.

As for the Shadar-Kai the idea of self-harm as a form of control/meakness goes back for centuries. Just look at the monks who would whip themselves. I could very well see the Shadar-Kai following in such a tradition.

 

[Rechan]

Who ever heard of a god named God, anyhow? That's like a man named Man or a country named Place. How very uncreative. At least God could've gotten a cool name, but no.

I dislike the name "Driveway", because really we park in it. And we drive on a "Parkway".

Not to mention that "Rock and Roll" contains no actual stones, nor spinning of anything. What kind of nonsense is "Airplane" anyways - I understand it's in the air, but plane? And a Boston Cream Pie is inaptly named, because it's more a cake than a pie. I say these names are flawed. Don't get me started on the lameness of road apples, or cow pies. They are not, in fact, confections.

I'm also tired of these compound names, like bloodhound, woodpecker, yellowtail, hammerhead shark, stingray, hummingbird, airplanes, schoolyard, swordfish, eggroll, trapdoor spider, farmhouse, steamrollers, seahorses, outhouse, baseball, jackhammers, chainsaws, snowshoe hare, shotguns, and the Sandman!