Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dishliquid 02-01-05, 03:17 AM	#1: Maw. Seriously. There are plenty of other cool sounding words for mouth. You don't have to mention a creature's "maw" in every single monster description. #2: Adjudicating. It appears in the DM's guide at least 30 times. #3: Eldritch. TSR has destroyed the meaning of eldritch. It is now used to describe just about anything now. "D*mn.... This burrito is so eldritch." Any more?
Callahan 02-01-05, 03:41 AM	#4. She.
Draggah 02-01-05, 09:58 AM	A, and, and the. I'm sooooo sick and tired of seeing those words all over every source book. p.s. I cast 'asbestos barrier' between my post and Callahan's
Sarig the Genie 02-01-05, 09:59 AM	'Indeed', at the end of sentences, it's annoying indeed ;)
thatbamaguy 02-01-05, 11:23 AM	I agree it does use she alot.......why not he......... Magic..........wow they use that alot. :cool:
Kevtar 02-01-05, 01:16 PM	I personally like the "she" that is thrown in. Instead of asking yourself "why not he?" ask yourself "why he?". I know I'm beating this cultural dominance thing into the ground, but here it goes again. We ask "why not he" because we are viewing the world with a very ethnocentristic view, or in this case, a very gender-centric or gender centered view. We assume (and in most cases innocently assume) that our way is the best way or only way. Therefore, since we are white, men who are enjoying our white, male privelige, we assume everyone else must be feeling the same way. So, when we read "he" in a text, we think, "yeah, he, I get that." However, when we see "she" pop up now and again, we think "She? When did they start talkin' about a woman?" It basically boils down to an awareness that we all need to share. Not everything is written for "my" perspective. Using "She" is WoTC's attempt at leveling the playing field so to speak. Imagine reading these books and only running across "She" all the time. How would that make you feel? Now you know how all the female players have felt since D&D first hit the bookshelves. BTW- This is by no means intending to be a "preachy" post. Just a non-judgmental, open-discussion type of reply.
Dragon Rider 02-01-05, 01:23 PM	I think we're on something like ten, ah well 10. Nature: not just meaning woods and plants, but the nature of things, like "it is in the nature of a ranger to avoid cities" etc.
Dragon Rider 02-01-05, 01:27 PM	11 and 12:subject and target, when used in spell descriptions, why not use something with a little more flare like victim or something like that? It just gets really redundant, target this, that subject, etc
Another Gnome 02-01-05, 01:40 PM	Spell descriptions are mechanics, not flavor text. When talking about mechanics, such as the "target" of a spell, it's bad design not to keep the wording consistent. If you describe what a screwdriver does, you don't start talking about "manually operated momentum device" all of a sudden just because it'd be boring to repeat the same word over and over. :)
Particle_Man 02-01-05, 01:40 PM	12(?). level
Nytmare 02-01-05, 02:14 PM	"He" was, until recently, the accepted pronoun to use regardless of gender when talking about any unknown individual in a group. I would say that it's origins were because of a male-dominated society, but it's current day usage was not. I had problems with, I think it was Whitewolf, when they adopted the "We will only use the female gender to show that we aren't biased." policy. That to me is actively admitting to and trying to profit off of sexism. I had thought that WOTC was specifically operating on a "Male for one example, female for the next." manner, unless they were dealing with an established NPC? I personally think it's the best option.
Thorak 02-01-05, 02:18 PM	On the subject of he and she; WotC used one of the best methods to deal with this I've seen. Instead of using a generic and worrying about whether to use the standard "he" and offend feminists who see in it patriarchal oppression, the reactionary "she" that's no better, "he/she" or "s/he" or "them" or any silly politically correct garbage trying to come up with a new gender-neutral, WotC steps straight into using examples and uses specifics. When talking about monks, it uses "she", because it's talking about Ember, and she's a "she". And so on. Skips straight past the IMHO idiotic debate and just prints useable material that can't possibly offend anyone who isn't a tool.
Callahan 02-01-05, 03:15 PM	Oh crap. I derailed the post with one word... It's a dead horse (hence why it's the most overused word in the sourcebook), so let's just imagine that it was a bad joke and stay on topic. 13: Razor sharp teeth- Does everything with teeth have them sharpened to a razor edge?
Keenath 02-01-05, 08:06 PM	14. Insane Particularly in modules, EVERYTHING is described as an "insane" whatever, just as a reason to make everything fight to the death. 15. "X Strength", where X is 'incredible', 'massive', 'amazing', or any of a number of superlatives. Why does everything stronger than an average human have 'incredible strength'? It's not impressive after the fifth reading or so. How about sticking to a relatively straight scale that ends up at "godlike" around 60 STR? 16. Powerful On a similar note, be it limbs or spells, everything is powerful. Quit it!
Bluebrush 02-01-05, 08:09 PM	17: The entire description block for sneak attack. A lot of the books I've seen, they put in all the long-winded details for sneak attack rather than saying "You can sneak attack as a rogue does."
Dishliquid 02-02-05, 05:09 PM	I think the worst thing they do, and the most rip offish, is the way they list the abilities of a class or PrC, and then right next to it, give an example character, listing the example character's abilities that are written on the same page. That probably wastes about 10 pages per book, which is a lot considering I'm paying 30+ dollars for the book.
Bluebrush 02-02-05, 05:54 PM	I'd agree with that. I think it'd be best is they just gave the names of abilities and their stat block and listed the prestige class abilities they had obtained, complete with a mathematical explanation of how their save DCs and such are worked out. IE: Lotus Badger, Mnk5/RQz4: Uncanny dodge (4 levels worth) Sneak attack +2d6 Grind the holy peppers Save DC 17, 10 + 4 from RQZ levels + 3 from wisdom modifier. I think explanations of their backstory might be more interesting, like examples of how the iconic became a member of the class. Perhaps even a description of their appearance or methods which they use in/out of combat.
Dishliquid 02-02-05, 10:46 PM	Yeah. I think they should use the space to post more roleplaying information. But I'm a story monger.
MrkGrismer 02-03-05, 03:56 PM	The word 'he' uses 2/3 as many characters as the word 'she'. Believe it or not, this actually had an impact on the industry at one time. In fact, GM (General Motors) used to mandate that 'employee' be spelled 'employe' in all of its materials, as a cost-saving measure. I do not lie. back to the post...
Azual 02-03-05, 04:06 PM	heres why D&D has he more then she In the middle ages, who was the leader in battle? Who washed the clothing? Was Beowulf, a hero, a PC!, a he? What im trying to say is that while our society is not gender biased, most of the societies (fantasy societies) are gender biased.
Monster_Jam 02-03-05, 05:52 PM	"Undead" - or, undead traits. Dungeon Magazine has stat block for a "Death Knight"; he cannot be turned (Ex). Oh, he must be human right? Nope. Undead Traits. :rolleyes: "Evil". Perhaps the biggest problem our group has with the D&D game is that everyon has to be aligned. This makes no sense. Can't it be that just some zealots are aligned? Does Fred Rogers who supplies the milk to the small hamlet have to be killed outright when "Holy Word" is spoken by a traveling priest of Pelor because he was lawful neutral? This is why Fred Rogers does not go to church!
Dishliquid 02-03-05, 06:04 PM	The word 'he' uses 2/3 as many characters as the word 'she'. Believe it or not, this actually had an impact on the industry at one time. In fact, GM (General Motors) used to mandate that 'employee' be spelled 'employe' in all of its materials, as a cost-saving measure. I do not lie. back to the post... That's probably the best piece of useless information I've heard in a few weeks.
Draco Strang 02-04-05, 02:34 AM	Stacks. For example "The assassins sneak attack ability stacks with any levels of rogue for the purpose of determining sneak attack damage." Who woulda thunk? Well no sh*t, WotC.
Loud78 02-04-05, 09:03 PM	I was amazed at the number of times they got the word 'verisimilitude' into the DMG!
Nytmare 02-04-05, 09:30 PM	This is why Fred Rogers does not go to church! I thought it was cause he was dead (http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/27/rogers.obit/)?
kidman 02-04-05, 10:00 PM	refur (god is suck at spelling) you always have to refur to the last time they said this or refur to p. 789065456 about animal litter (wtf did i just say?) back to the he/she thing... but also kinda random and stupid comment .... pirates named their boats a girls name often
Raymond_Luxury_Yacht 02-04-05, 10:40 PM	I thought it was cause he was dead (http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/27/rogers.obit/)? Great. Now we've got a dead minister who doesn't go to church.
IceFractal 02-05-05, 03:30 AM	Great. Now we've got a dead minister who doesn't go to church. Well, if he did come to church it'd have to be as a zombie, so maybe its just as well he doesn't. ;) ... <a long (but at least grammatical) attempt at ressurecting the twice dead and thrice cursed Gender Pronoun Debate ... of DOOOM> ... Oh no! :eek: Not the stupid gender pronoun argument again! Nooooo! It's so boring, and it always goes on ad nauseum because noone ever agrees on it! <Hides in emergency pronoun bunker till it stops> :gah: Furthermore I’m not going to read any replies to this post so don’t even bother trying to change my mind. Well if you're not going to read any replies ... why do we have to ready your post? :P
Bulabase 02-05-05, 12:43 PM	Why are ships always referred to as "She?" I'm offended, I think they should be called “he” now and again. Second piece of useless information in thread: IIRC, the captian of the German battleship Bismark insisted that the ship be refered to in the masculine instead of the traditional feminine manner in referencing a ship. Supposedly, the ship was simply too big and powerful to branded with a weak, tender feminine pronoun. Considering how that story ended, I think we should all write WotC and demand that they begin using feminine pronouns exclusively. Using masculine pronouns is just too risky. On a completely contrarian note to the thread topic, I found one word that I wish WotC would use more often: Anthropophagous. AAIK, they could use this gem in every paragraph. For example, "Paladins work well with most other classes. These anthropophagous characters particulairly prefer the company of brawny fighters and barbarians, but plump clerics and wizards are also highly sought after companions. While scrawny rogues and bards are not on the top of their list, they are still preferable to gamy rangers and druids."
Gurv 02-05-05, 03:47 PM	"Paladins work well with most other classes. These anthropophagous characters particulairly prefer the company of brawny fighters and barbarians, but plump clerics and wizards are also highly sought after companions. While scrawny rogues and bards are not on the top of their list, they are still preferable to gamy rangers and druids." Remind me to never let you DM a game I am in.
Silver_FireStar 02-06-05, 09:53 AM	well I can honestly say that I never noticed all this. I mean sure I noticed the she, and it made me smile, but I didn't notice it outnumbering the hes. But this thread is funny.
Ekranoplan 02-06-05, 01:10 PM	In the DM guide: The words "challenging" and "rewarding", especially when refering to DMing. Every other sentence says something along these lines, "This ofcourse would be very challenging, but rewarding"
Kast 02-07-05, 02:40 AM	victim mighty encounter terrible orphan dangerous
The White Sorcerer 02-07-05, 11:55 AM	orphanOkay, I honestly can't remember one single case of seeing the word "orphan" in a D&D book. I'm sure it's used in the books somewhere, but overused? No way.
Lionhearted 02-07-05, 12:00 PM	"Due"
Adrez Nesnsid 11-08-06, 09:46 AM	I personally like the "she" that is thrown in. Instead of asking yourself "why not he?" ask yourself "why he?". I know I'm beating this cultural dominance thing into the ground, but here it goes again. We ask "why not he" because we are viewing the world with a very ethnocentristic view, or in this case, a very gender-centric or gender centered view. We assume (and in most cases innocently assume) that our way is the best way or only way. Therefore, since we are white, men who are enjoying our white, male privelige, we assume everyone else must be feeling the same way. So, when we read "he" in a text, we think, "yeah, he, I get that." However, when we see "she" pop up now and again, we think "She? When did they start talkin' about a woman?" It basically boils down to an awareness that we all need to share. Not everything is written for "my" perspective. Using "She" is WoTC's attempt at leveling the playing field so to speak. Imagine reading these books and only running across "She" all the time. How would that make you feel? Now you know how all the female players have felt since D&D first hit the bookshelves. BTW- This is by no means intending to be a "preachy" post. Just a non-judgmental, open-discussion type of reply. Why not use "they" then, in many situations the word 'they' can be substituted for 'he' or 'she' and it is a gender neutral term.
Kevtar 11-08-06, 10:09 AM	That's a good question, but by using "them" female players are still not represented. Granted, neither are males, but historically males have been over-represented in the text of these books, and so (to me at least) it seems fitting to include a female reference. Also, "them" is a plural reference where he or she is singular. using them or they might seem awkward when writing about a specific character or class. :)
Stanwick 11-08-06, 10:43 AM	IIRC, the captian of the German battleship Bismark insisted that the ship be refered to in the masculine instead of the traditional feminine manner in referencing a ship. Supposedly, the ship was simply too big and powerful to branded with a weak, tender feminine pronoun. Considering how that story ended, I think we should all write WotC and demand that they begin using feminine pronouns exclusively. Using masculine pronouns is just too risky. Actually recent evidence suggests that the torpeado may not have been the cause of all that damage after all. The damage suggests that they may have scuttled the ship thamselves.
StormKnight 11-08-06, 11:12 AM	11 and 12:subject and target, when used in spell descriptions, why not use something with a little more flare like victim or something like that? It just gets really redundant, target this, that subject, etc In all fairness to WotC, I'd say its been learned the hard way (from MtG, for example) that when it comes to rules its best to be as consistent and unambigous as possible. Otherwise someone will come along and say "Hey, did you know that Shield Against Ouchiness doesn't work against Touch of Ouchiness, since the shield prevents damage done that targets the subject and ToO doesn't target, it victimizes." Of course, we get that anyway in other places, but best to keep it to a minimum. most of the societies (fantasy societies) are gender biased. If you fantasy society has to have a gender bias, maybe you should be wondering why that is something you feel compelled to fantasize about. Geez guys. Women have had to put up with all "he" pronouns for quite a while. A few "shes" are going to...what, destroy your sense of ego? Do you need someone to protect you from the big evil female gender pronouns? 'Course people could really stand to just come up with a truly gender neutral singular pronoun (other than "it", which for some reason bothers people) to use instead. Its about time I say.
caeruleus 11-08-06, 11:57 AM	If you fantasy society has to have a gender bias, maybe you should be wondering why that is something you feel compelled to fantasize about. I think you've hit the nail right on the head. I never cease to be amazed at how people today actually think our society is no longer sexist (or racist, or whatever). 'Course people could really stand to just come up with a truly gender neutral singular pronoun (other than "it", which for some reason bothers people) to use instead. Its about time I say. It's been attempted. I think I once read an article that suggested using "heesh" (or something like that) as a gender-neutral pronoun. I think you'll have a harder time getting people to use words like this rather than just "she". While acknowledging women does threaten the masculinity of some men, rejecting gender dichotomies threatens it even moreso.
CryoSilver 11-08-06, 12:07 PM	Why not use "they" then, in many situations the word 'they' can be substituted for 'he' or 'she' and it is a gender neutral term. "They," being plural, is not grammatically correct to use in the same sense as "he" or "she." In almost all instances where this comes up for me, I use "he," because that's how I was taught, and because I really don't care if I offend people. My senior English teacher complained about my use of "he," so for about 3 weeks, I used "it," which is grammatically correct, but sounds stupid. She got the idea after about the eigth time I referred to a person (the painter, the soldier, or whomever we were discussing) as "it." Ex: The painter walked over to its easel and began painting. Around noon, it became hungry and made itself a sandwich.
Sulaco 11-08-06, 12:18 PM	These words are used far too often: • The • A • At • In • Of • To • Then • They
aotrscommander 11-08-06, 12:22 PM	Dragon. Half-[thing].
SokenzanMarauder 11-08-06, 12:39 PM	I've got some letters that I never want to see used in a WOTC book ever again. A. E. I. O. U. And sometimes... Y. -Gene
Someone 11-08-06, 12:53 PM	I second the complaint about all the copy/pasting of the ability descriptions. They should have made a "special abilities" section in the PHB that would be where all the classes and PrCs referred back to. So instead of "sneak attack like a rogue" or "evasion like a monk" it would just be "sneak attack (see the PHB for details)" and "evasion (ditto)". This goes especially for the sample PrC characters- the ability description is often literally across the page from the sample character!
Adrez Nesnsid 11-08-06, 03:19 PM	"They," being plural, is not grammatically correct to use in the same sense as "he" or "she." In almost all instances where this comes up for me, I use "he," because that's how I was taught, and because I really don't care if I offend people. My senior English teacher complained about my use of "he," so for about 3 weeks, I used "it," which is grammatically correct, but sounds stupid. She got the idea after about the eigth time I referred to a person (the painter, the soldier, or whomever we were discussing) as "it." Ex: The painter walked over to its easel and began painting. Around noon, it became hungry and made itself a sandwich. Gif ge myntan [to] brucan meğe elad foldweg [of] gereord, [we] miht [as] fægere hleoğrian gelice Beowulf! Modern english to old English Dictionary (http://www.mun.ca/Ansaxdat/vocab/wordlist.html#i)
Whisper_Swiftblade 11-08-06, 03:26 PM	I agree it does use she alot.......why not he......... As a guess it is because D&D does not have near as many girls playing as guys so it only makes sence to butter them up in hopes that they will gt their freinds-that is to say; more girls- to play.
Reversefigure4 11-08-06, 05:50 PM	IIRC, the captian of the German battleship Bismark insisted that the ship be refered to in the masculine instead of the traditional feminine manner in referencing a ship. Er... doesn't that follow entirely logically? When you name something after a man, it should be refered to in the masculine. (I'm assuming this was named after Otto Von Bismark, famed German leader, as I'm not aware of any famous female Bismarks.)
CryoSilver 11-08-06, 07:26 PM	...use tired old ways of talking? We might as well talk like Beowulf! (kidding!) The difference here is that everyone will understand when I use "he" instead of he/she, or (s)he, or whatever PC garbage they've come up with these days. Just because some people go out of their way to get offended is no reason for me to change. I don't like it when people use "gay" as an insult, but I keep my outh shut about it and let people speak the way they want. In any case, they use the word "Mordenkainen" too much.
Adrez Nesnsid 11-09-06, 02:40 PM	The difference here is that everyone will understand when I use "he" instead of he/she, or (s)he, or whatever PC garbage they've come up with these days. Just because some people go out of their way to get offended is no reason for me to change. I don't like it when people use "gay" as an insult, but I keep my outh shut about it and let people speak the way they want. In any case, they use the word "Mordenkainen" too much. Actually, I was referring to the word "they" only being valid as a plural term when I mentioned outmoded speech. However, getting back on topic, you're right about Mordenkainen, particularly in the sense that his name remains on many spells even in non-Greyhawk settings, even though he is specifically a Greyhawk character.
Dragon Snack 11-09-06, 03:12 PM	Mordenkainen is not mentioned in the SRD though... Should I point out that this thread is from February '05?
Nom 11-09-06, 05:29 PM	I second the complaint about all the copy/pasting of the ability descriptions. They should have made a "special abilities" section in the PHB that would be where all the classes and PrCs referred back to. So instead of "sneak attack like a rogue" or "evasion like a monk" it would just be "sneak attack (see the PHB for details)" and "evasion (ditto)".But the trouble with that is the two most under-used words in the core rules, at least if these boards are anything to go by. And what are those words? "Index" and "Glossary".
Vaal_Ocera 11-09-06, 05:38 PM	"Roll"
Adrez Nesnsid 11-09-06, 07:08 PM	#3: Eldritch. TSR has destroyed the meaning of eldritch. It is now used to describe just about anything now. "D*mn.... This burrito is so eldritch." That's a perfectly legitimate thing to say while consuming a Heroes' Feast spell!
angryman 11-09-06, 09:35 PM	The overuse of otherwise obscure words which makes something sound cool, but often makes no damn sense. Like eldritch, arcane, fell (in the sense of "fell drake", not "I fell on my ass") and so on. Wouldn't it be archaic magic? Why is it called that? Because it's older? But it doesn't mention that arcane magic is older than divine magic, which it wouldn't be anyway. If you want to read overused, dramatic adjectives, read Lovecraft. It's...verbose.