Results 91 to 117 of 117
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2012-09-28, 09:53 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2007
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- Imagination Land
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Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
Last edited by KillianHawkeye; 2012-09-28 at 09:54 AM.
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2012-09-28, 10:02 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2011
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- The US of A
Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
Ah ok, thank you very much.
I used to play WoW, and in that game "Naga" are humanoids with the bottom half of snakes instead of legs(kind of like snake-centuars now that I think about it ). That must have been what confused me.
Also, in WoW naga "evolved" from elves after the main elf-city got Atlantis'ed from the explosion of a gateway opened up for a world-killing demon-god, but that's a whole 'nother story.Last edited by Deepbluediver; 2012-09-28 at 10:04 AM.
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2012-09-28, 11:39 AM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2007
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Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
Nagas originally come from Hindu/Buddhist mythology, and have a lot of different roles there — they can be good or evil or tricksy, and all-snake or part-human or switch between the two (though in D&D they're always snakes with human heads). Traditionally, they're likely to be solitary guardians of secret shrines in deep jungles or caves.
Yuan-ti were created specifically for D&D (specifically, the module Dwellers of the Forbidden City), and they're more Aztec snake-cult in theme. As Killian pointed out, they come in many forms: basically human with slight snake features, human with a major snake feature (like a head or snake tail), or mostly snake. Originally, they were humans who were corrupted by the snake god they worshiped. They're almost always evil, and are more likely to appear in social settings: a mysterious conspiracy in human lands, or isolated community of yuan-ti in the jungle.
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2012-09-28, 12:12 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2006
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- Centreville, VA
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Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
Albino white dragons are the source of clear coat.
The naga are a race of large snake-like aberrations with a humanoid face. Nagas do not have arms and cast spells anyway. Mostly they're lawful evil, but the guardian naga is lawful good and the water naga is neutral. The additional naga in Serpent Kingdoms have alignments all over the place. Naga advance by hit dice.
Yuan-ti are a race of monstrous humanoids descended from humans mixed with snake bloodlines. They all have arms. They're all pretty much chaotic evil, and the most common types, purebloods and medium-sized. The pureblood looks fairly human, with two arms and two legs and a more-or-less human head. The yuan-ti abomination is large and has no legs, but still has human arms.
According to Serpent Kingdoms, in the world of Toril at least, the sarrukh were one of the original creator races. They actually resembled the yuan-ti abomination but with a more triangular head and perhaps a longer torso atop the long serpent body. The sarrukh are medium monstrous humanoids. The sarrukh actually established the first empire in Toril, and hating the Scaleless Ones (non-reptilian humanoids), sought to breed new races by combining Scaleless ones with scaly creatures like snakes and dinosaurs, and even themselves. They first bred asabis, lizardfolk and pterafolk to serve as servants and later warriors.
The sarrukh next bred the nagas. The nagas proved difficult to control, and while some stayed and served the sarrukh, the sarrukh let the rest go. Their greater individuality eventually led to all the different naga races with differing alignments.
The sarrukh finally bred the yuan-ti. According to Serpent Kingdoms, the sarrukh bred the yuan-ti as a cross between humans and themselves with just a touch of serpent thrown in (not quite contradicting the Monster Manual entry that says yuan-ti are a cross between humans and snakes). The yuan-ti proved smarter than the original crossbreeds (asabis, lizardfolk and pterafolk) but more manageable than the naga, and seemed to enjoy being in charge of Scaleless Ones, so they became the favored servants of the sarrukh.
Yuan-ti are more intelligent than lizardfolks, and inasmuch as yuan-ti look down even on even other yuan-ti who have lesser intelligence (and less serpent, or more likely, less sarrukh blood), it does seem unlikely that a yuan-ti could refer to himself as a lizardfolk.Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
The irony is that my favorite colors are black and red, and I almost always play chaotic good characters.
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2012-09-28, 12:14 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2012
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- Hey, look! Squirrels!
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Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
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2012-09-28, 01:57 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
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2012-09-28, 02:22 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2007
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Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
As of 2nd and 3rd edition, yuan-ti abominations might or might not have arms:
"Abominations are either all snake (50%) or have only a single human feature, either head or arms, and are of large size (10 feet long)." (2E Monstrous Compendium)
"Yuan-ti abominations are all snake (01-50 on d%) or have a single human feature, either a head (51-75) or arms (76-00)." (3E Monster Manual)
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2012-09-28, 02:30 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2007
Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
The 3.5 MM, however, dropped those lines- defaulting to the armed abomination.
Marut-2 Avatar by Serpentine
New Marut Avatar by Linkele
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2012-09-28, 02:34 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2010
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2012-09-28, 03:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2007
Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
Last edited by Tebryn; 2012-09-28 at 03:08 PM.
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2012-09-28, 03:43 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2010
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2012-09-28, 11:41 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2006
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- Centreville, VA
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Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
In strip 863? If so, which panel? I looked it over, but didn't see it.
Thanks for the module reference. Yuan-ti thereafter appeared in the AD&D Monster Manual II, where only the halfbreeds (an earlier name of the halfbloods) had random body parts. The abominations "are often confused with nagas" and "are either totally snake-like or have only 1 human feature, such as as head or arms." The drawing of the yuan-ti in the AD&D Monster Manual II actually shows the abomination with arms and a curved two-handed sword, and that image has served as an archetype for the yuan-ti for decades. I prefer them with arms both for the creepier appearance--and for the extra attack.
The Aztecs didn't worship snakes; the Aztec terror state was built largely on the worship of Huitzilopochtli, who was elevated from a hummingbird tribal totem to the supreme god of the sun and war by the psychopathic general Tlcarlel, the primary architect of the Triple Alliance that created the Mexcia (Aztec) empire by subjugating the other Nahuatl-speaking city states of what we now call the Valley of Mexico and beyond in Messoamerica (including some Mayan-speaking peoples). Quetzalcoatl was a much older Messoamerican deity, who opposed human sacrifice, and whose name in Nahuatl means "Feathered Serpent," and it's from him that Gary took the coatl with its good alignment.
I've actually always thought of the yuan-ti as coming from the jungles of eastern Asia, since "yuan" is a Chinese word that means "round coin" and this is the name of the Chinese monetary unit, as was also the official name of the Mongol Dynasty that ruled in various parts of China from 1260 (established by Kublai Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan) through 1368 (when it was defeated by the Ming Dynasty). Thai Yuan is also the name of a an ethnicity in northern Thailand. Southeast Asia has huge swaths of jungles (now called rainforests), the oldest on the planet, going back to the Pleistocene Epoch some 70 million years ago. It's easy to imagine great serpent kingdoms existing there long before humans walked the Earth, long ago collapsed, but whose remnants exist in the depths, plotting in secret to enslave the scaleless newcomers and renew ancient empires.
Exactly. The 3.5 Monster Manual did away with random body parts for all three of the core yuan-ti. I'd actually forgotten about the old random body parts until Jere pointed it out (and that's also what led me to dig out my AD&D Monster Manual II as I mentioned above).
I got the impression years back that Rich had originally intended V as a male, just a typically androgynous elven male, but after it turned out that some people thought V was female, he decided to run with the ambiguity.
Either way though, I hope he doesn't do another ambiguous-gender character. Once is fun, but twice or more takes the fun out of it.Last edited by CelestialStick; 2012-09-29 at 12:22 AM.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
The irony is that my favorite colors are black and red, and I almost always play chaotic good characters.
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2012-09-29, 12:07 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2010
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2012-09-29, 12:22 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2006
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- Centreville, VA
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Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
The irony is that my favorite colors are black and red, and I almost always play chaotic good characters.
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2012-09-29, 12:39 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
What if he's levitating somehow all the time? His robes might look like they do if he's not actually putting foot to pavement. Might he have some sort of permanent or long-lasting enchantment from an item or metamagicked spell?
Or perhaps he's some sort of undead lizardfolk that doesn't care about sunlight but also doesn't need to walk? He seems corporeal enough anyhow.
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2012-09-29, 12:48 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2006
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- Centreville, VA
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Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
The irony is that my favorite colors are black and red, and I almost always play chaotic good characters.
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2012-09-29, 12:50 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2010
Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
Maybe Malack's the Slender Man?
Last edited by Dr.Epic; 2012-09-29 at 12:50 AM.
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2012-09-29, 12:52 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2006
- Location
- Centreville, VA
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Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
The irony is that my favorite colors are black and red, and I almost always play chaotic good characters.
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2012-09-29, 01:57 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2007
Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
Marut-2 Avatar by Serpentine
New Marut Avatar by Linkele
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2012-09-29, 02:09 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2006
- Location
- Centreville, VA
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Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
The irony is that my favorite colors are black and red, and I almost always play chaotic good characters.
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2012-09-29, 03:44 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
...So this is what things are gonna be like around here with Rich out of commission, huh?
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2012-09-29, 04:42 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2006
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- Centreville, VA
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Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
The irony is that my favorite colors are black and red, and I almost always play chaotic good characters.
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2012-09-29, 07:03 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2007
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- Imagination Land
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Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
Yep, pretty much. Given a lack of new material to OCD over, we forumites automatically revert to our only other option--to recursively OCD over whatever existing theories we have until the outcome closely resembles an image based on fractal geometry.
Oh, and you may want to check the news page, CelestialStick.Last edited by KillianHawkeye; 2012-09-29 at 07:04 AM.
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2012-09-29, 11:14 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2007
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2012-10-01, 02:45 AM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2009
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- Seattle
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Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
He has a brother, you know, who's a wizard that tutors a turtle... .
Spoiler
His best-known spell is "Drizzle, Drazzle, Druzzle, Drome, time for this one to come home!"
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2012-10-01, 05:09 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2006
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- Centreville, VA
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Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
I did. Thanks. That's too bad about his hand. Well, now I know not to keep checking for a new strip every day.
That's okay. I like 'em with two arms and a large two-handed sword!
You know, I actually vaguely recall that cartoon from when I was a kid.Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
The irony is that my favorite colors are black and red, and I almost always play chaotic good characters.
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2012-10-02, 10:46 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2006
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- Algarve (The West)
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Re: Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?
Some Amphisbaenia species, the bipedidae (mole lizards), retain only their forelimbs. _Bipes biporus_ is kind of cute for a reptile.
Oh, and by the way, snakes are clearly nested within the groups we recognize as lizards, don't see any problem in defining a lizardfolk as snakelike, it would just mean Rich follows modern cladistic practice.Avatar: ruthless Parson (Erfworld).