Eberron's Pronouns [Archive] - Wizards Community

Eberron's Pronouns [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Slizaro
07-13-04, 01:16 AM I was reading the section on channeling under the Magic chapter when I caught a small typo at the end of the 5th paragraph "to determine his or skill modifiers". I chuckled at the mistake, and then realized something - it said “his”, and was going to say “his or her”. I started glancing at other section of the book and found the patter to be consistent. I find this odd and mildly humorous considering that in Every other D&D book produced by WotC I have read they consistently used the feminine pronoun - I always assumed to save ink, avoid typos like the above, and to do something to counter the general male stereotype of the community- this is the first book I have seen the use of a male pronoun beyond a description of a specific character or in a story.
ChrisTheS
07-13-04, 01:26 AM I believe it's common practice in the games industry to alternate generic use of male and female pronouns with every chapter or section. It's not something I've been specifically paying attention to for quite some time, though, so I don't know if that's the case anymore...

I, personally, am in favor of s/he. And it is a sign of how pathetic I am that I've actually figured out a way to pronounce that. The Psycho Linguist strikes again...
jedi8187
07-13-04, 08:52 AM No pretty much every D&D book uses the female pronoun, and i think Eberron did it in the Artificer description as well, but don't quote me on that.
LordofIllusions
07-13-04, 10:06 AM Are you KIDDING me ? You REALLY started an ENTIRE thread over the word SHE not being included(When it has been placed in almost EVERY WoTC product since WoTC got their hands on DnD.) ? Come on now people.

~~~
Slizaro
07-13-04, 10:59 AM Originally posted by LordofIllusions
Are you KIDDING me ? You REALLY started an ENTIRE thread over the word SHE not being included(When it has been placed in almost EVERY WoTC product since WoTC got their hands on DnD.) ? Come on now people.

~~~

I started the thread on it because WotC has used she exclusivly. I found it odd and humerious that they didn't in this one book. I only Noticed it because of the typo. I don't realy care, i just found it odd enough, due to the precedent, to post.
hiryuu
07-13-04, 11:07 AM Originally posted by Slizaro
I started the thread on it because WotC has used she exclusivly. I found it odd and humerious that they didn't in this one book. I only Noticed it because of the typo. I don't realy care, i just found it odd enough, due to the precedent, to post.

Actually, they haven't. The spread is about 50/50 - it's just the "she" that jumps out more often; you pay more attention to it. Which is fine, really. Especially after the insulting and incorrect (the English major in me is speaking) "note about pronouns" in the 2nd Edition Player's Handbook.
Slizaro
07-13-04, 11:16 AM Originally posted by hiryuu
Actually, they haven't. The spread is about 50/50 - it's just the "she" that jumps out more often; you pay more attention to it. Which is fine, really. Especially after the insulting and incorrect (the English major in me is speaking) "note about pronouns" in the 2nd Edition Player's Handbook.

Ok seems beleaveable. I can only make statements based on what I have noticed - and I haven't done any research to speceficly notice anything- 'cause well I realy don't care. I just had a chuckle at it and decided to mention it.
ENHenry
07-13-04, 11:30 AM Ok seems beleaveable. I can only make statements based on what I have noticed - and I haven't done any research to speceficly notice anything- 'cause well I realy don't care. I just had a chuckle at it and decided to mention it.

If you look carefully at the PHB, you'll see in the classes chapter that the pronoun they use exactly corresponds to the gender of the iconic character for the class. :) Thus, Fighter uses "he", Paladin uses "she", Monk uses "she", etc.
Dreamtide
07-13-04, 12:05 PM I just looked through the Eberron book with your post in mind, and it looks to me as though they used pronouns in exactly the same way in this book as they did in the Core Rules books.

In the Player's Handbook, they basically alternate between male and female whenever they are using a generic example. Take a look at the this sentence from the Sorcerer description: "Unlike a wizard or cleric, a sorcerer need not prepare his spells in advance." And then the next class is Wizard: "The wizard's role depends somewhat on her spell selection, but most wizards share certain similarities in function."

This is mirrored precisely in the Eberron book. Look at the description of the Kalashtar: "A multiclass kalashtar's psion class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing." The next race described is Shifter: "For every two shifter feats a character takes, the number of times per day she can tap into the ability increases by one."

Looks like they used the same model for choosing pronouns in both books.
lukelightning
07-13-04, 03:27 PM Not this again. You've found out the hidden Masculinist Conspiracy's plot to drive all feminoids out of D&D! Bwaahahahahaha!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Slizaro 07-13-04, 01:16 AM	I was reading the section on channeling under the Magic chapter when I caught a small typo at the end of the 5th paragraph "to determine his or skill modifiers". I chuckled at the mistake, and then realized something - it said “his”, and was going to say “his or her”. I started glancing at other section of the book and found the patter to be consistent. I find this odd and mildly humorous considering that in Every other D&D book produced by WotC I have read they consistently used the feminine pronoun - I always assumed to save ink, avoid typos like the above, and to do something to counter the general male stereotype of the community- this is the first book I have seen the use of a male pronoun beyond a description of a specific character or in a story.
ChrisTheS 07-13-04, 01:26 AM	I believe it's common practice in the games industry to alternate generic use of male and female pronouns with every chapter or section. It's not something I've been specifically paying attention to for quite some time, though, so I don't know if that's the case anymore... I, personally, am in favor of s/he. And it is a sign of how pathetic I am that I've actually figured out a way to pronounce that. The Psycho Linguist strikes again...
jedi8187 07-13-04, 08:52 AM	No pretty much every D&D book uses the female pronoun, and i think Eberron did it in the Artificer description as well, but don't quote me on that.
LordofIllusions 07-13-04, 10:06 AM	Are you KIDDING me ? You REALLY started an ENTIRE thread over the word SHE not being included(When it has been placed in almost EVERY WoTC product since WoTC got their hands on DnD.) ? Come on now people. ~~~
Slizaro 07-13-04, 10:59 AM	Originally posted by LordofIllusions Are you KIDDING me ? You REALLY started an ENTIRE thread over the word SHE not being included(When it has been placed in almost EVERY WoTC product since WoTC got their hands on DnD.) ? Come on now people. ~~~ I started the thread on it because WotC has used she exclusivly. I found it odd and humerious that they didn't in this one book. I only Noticed it because of the typo. I don't realy care, i just found it odd enough, due to the precedent, to post.
hiryuu 07-13-04, 11:07 AM	Originally posted by Slizaro I started the thread on it because WotC has used she exclusivly. I found it odd and humerious that they didn't in this one book. I only Noticed it because of the typo. I don't realy care, i just found it odd enough, due to the precedent, to post. Actually, they haven't. The spread is about 50/50 - it's just the "she" that jumps out more often; you pay more attention to it. Which is fine, really. Especially after the insulting and incorrect (the English major in me is speaking) "note about pronouns" in the 2nd Edition Player's Handbook.
Slizaro 07-13-04, 11:16 AM	Originally posted by hiryuu Actually, they haven't. The spread is about 50/50 - it's just the "she" that jumps out more often; you pay more attention to it. Which is fine, really. Especially after the insulting and incorrect (the English major in me is speaking) "note about pronouns" in the 2nd Edition Player's Handbook. Ok seems beleaveable. I can only make statements based on what I have noticed - and I haven't done any research to speceficly notice anything- 'cause well I realy don't care. I just had a chuckle at it and decided to mention it.
ENHenry 07-13-04, 11:30 AM	Ok seems beleaveable. I can only make statements based on what I have noticed - and I haven't done any research to speceficly notice anything- 'cause well I realy don't care. I just had a chuckle at it and decided to mention it. If you look carefully at the PHB, you'll see in the classes chapter that the pronoun they use exactly corresponds to the gender of the iconic character for the class. :) Thus, Fighter uses "he", Paladin uses "she", Monk uses "she", etc.
Dreamtide 07-13-04, 12:05 PM	I just looked through the Eberron book with your post in mind, and it looks to me as though they used pronouns in exactly the same way in this book as they did in the Core Rules books. In the Player's Handbook, they basically alternate between male and female whenever they are using a generic example. Take a look at the this sentence from the Sorcerer description: "Unlike a wizard or cleric, a sorcerer need not prepare his spells in advance." And then the next class is Wizard: "The wizard's role depends somewhat on her spell selection, but most wizards share certain similarities in function." This is mirrored precisely in the Eberron book. Look at the description of the Kalashtar: "A multiclass kalashtar's psion class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing." The next race described is Shifter: "For every two shifter feats a character takes, the number of times per day she can tap into the ability increases by one." Looks like they used the same model for choosing pronouns in both books.
lukelightning 07-13-04, 03:27 PM	Not this again. You've found out the hidden Masculinist Conspiracy's plot to drive all feminoids out of D&D! Bwaahahahahaha!