"Yeah, Goliaths. We spent all night coming up with that one."

[Ranes]

Interesting link. But I think the TSR guys were thinking, "Balor, ooh, that's close."

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

How about "Gigant"?

AR

 

[Voadam]

I can understand not liking the name because you just don't like the name. Maybe its sounds silly to you as a name. I can live with that. What I don't get is the "leave religion out of it" argument that always seems to come up with the Goliaths. This isn't the first thing used in the game that borrows something from a religion, and I don't think it would be fair to borrow from some and not others.

I'm not sure if the story of David & Goliath (or any other mentioning of Goliath) exists in Jewish Mythology/Mysticism. I know the mythology shares characters and stories with the religion, but its a separate thing (with admittedly blurry lines), and no less valid a source than say Greek or Roman Mythology.

<disclaimer>Role playing and mytology are hobbies for me, not a career or an obsession... my 'facts' could be wrong. My reply is written from my viewpoint as I understand things to be. Feel free to educate me...</disclaimer>

I dislike the name Goliaths because it refers to an individual, not because it is religious. If they wanted a Goliath homage they could go with Golian, or some such but giving the exact name of an individual seems off. So having biblical Nephilim as a creature type in the Testament campaign setting sourcebook sounds cool, having the Goliaths as a generic creature type seems off.

 

[Cam Banks]

Can we stick to grown up dictionaries?

Only if we're going to be behaving like grown-ups.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Gunton The Terrible]

I actually like the name, but how about these alternatives: hulks, heavies, monum (from monumental), garga (from gargantuan) or immen (from immense)?

I like Garga.

Maybe Gartuan.

 

[Ranes]

Only if we're going to be behaving like grown-ups.

Cheers,
Cam

I'm only going to behave like a grown up if I can do a , too. So !

It makes me wonder.

When you're writing fantasy and you need a name for something, you can draw on a real world reference or you can shoot for something made up. The former has the potential drawback of being Spidron, from the planet Spidron, who looks like a spider. The latter is at risk of ridicule, because it is impossible to say or, even worse, it has a humourous connotation. Yet the aim of both techniques is to arrive at a name for your otherwise nameless thing, that makes your players or readers accept it.

People here have posted a -what - a glossolith (hey) of made up names without drawing ridicule. Quite the reverse, hruka and other suggestions were popular (among those who expressed a preference, etc). And even posters who are happy with words derived from real world references expressed no dislike of fictitious names, per se.

Maybe the writers over at WotC prefer a referential route, because they don't want to produce any more gibberish than they already - okay, that was a joke... But I think they could get away with more fictitious names, if they wanted to.