ObiWhat, my name means 'Heart', not 'arcane dude with a weapon'!
It also mean Obeah.
Guerrilla
For more contemporary source I would suggest -
Tactician
Warden (without the grey cloaks. /grin)
Finally, I know this one is two words... but Battlemage is a classic.
I actually liked when Rangers were Arcane Spellcasters. Bard also evokes a Fighter/Magic-user ideal.
That said, a good one-word name for a base class?
Archon is probably my top pick. Other options:
Justicar
Zealot
Both of those sound like Divine casters, though. SO, I'd stick with Archon.
Weirbrand is technically a portmanteaus for "magic-sword", but in pseudo old-english. However, if it rocks yer socks don't let me turn you off of it.
I would have suggested "adept" but its taken ;)
Savant is not bad, but to me it conjures images of a skill-based class, like a jazzed up expert or something.
problem is there aren't many real world examples to be pulling from. Everyone can point to paladins in legend and history, but how many fighter/magic-users are there? Hell, at least we are calling them "gish" rather than "magic-user".
edit-
Thaumaturgist
Theurgist
Warlock
haruspex
Warlock, to me, fits best as what we are talking about here is someone who uses magic and martial prowess together.
Haruspex is interesting since it is a person who tells the future through reading entrails.
espadachin
Bleh, I forgot that Archons are a monster.
So, here's a list of names I like less:
Dilletante
Cabalist
Magister
Initiate
Encanter/Incanter
Evoker
Ascendant
Aspirant
Hrm. Are you sure you don't want made up words? F'Moo is short, and better than Gish.
Instead of Warden, Warder. One who protects (ie, guard) and one who uses wards.
Pimpblade.
Pimpaxe.
Harbinger
Iron Initiate
SpellBrand- Brand is often a metaphor for sword in Danish Sagas and of course fire
MageCarle- like the Saxon Huscarle which were the elite of the Saxon armies
WarVizier
Fray-Mage
Battle Brand
Stabracadabrist
Pimpmobile
Pimpmobile
cos you can't pimp walkin.
Sisyphean
So many of the names mentioned so far seem very one dimensional from the thesaurus and are too specific or are fighter names or religious order names or such.....
Gish comes from the old Githyanki fighter/magicusers in 1st edition (loved my old fiend folio!).
I kinda like phage and stabracadabrist.....
What are some actual warrior/mage types from heroic fantasy or world myth and legend.....
two I offer are.....
Elric by Michael Moorcock......
Kane by Karl Edward Wagner.....
very different characters both epic... both cast spells, treat with gods and demons and stab ya!
how about a "Wagcock".........
Stabracadabrist
Alright, stop with the ideas, we've found the name, right here people.
how about a "Wagcock".........
Heheh.
Of all the names mentioned so far, these seem some of the best and come with the least baggage. My favourite of the three is Esper.Kai
Esper
Scion
Ya maybe if you're playing psionics set in the 1960's......
so seriously how do you decide best?..... i guess it would be content (what the word actually means) and does it sound cool and isn't overused/over connected to some other specific image..
scion and kai both sound cool but what the hell do they mean in this context?
I like Scion so far, but it is a homonym to Psion, which could be confusing. Warder works conceptually, but is iffy since that is the appropriate order in WoT. I know you said no to portmanteaus, but Spellthane is what I would call it. You guys have Hellknight, why not Spellthane?
I'm sorry but you just can't make a one word class for this concept. Eldritch Knight or Duskblade is the best you're gonna get.
Also, can you change the code of the forums so that whenever someone says gish they get a gish icon, much like the sm*&f functionality.
Stabracadabrist
This name rules.
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Come on, say it! Smurf! That's a really good idea, changing the icon. How about Athame? A weapon used for magical purposes?
That's why I suggested "boline."
It's a little sickle the druids cut mistletoe with, (I'm getting this from Wikipedia so you know it's true) and, unlike the athame, was actually used for cutting; the athame wasn't supposed to actually cut anything. So I figured this "fimag" which is what we called them in 8th grade was the witchknife that did the actual cutting.Plus, WOTC in some MM iteration had a toadlike creature called the witchknife, a.k.a. the athame, and I wanted to get away from that somewhat.
Some ideas:
Armancer (latin: arma = weapon / middle english: mancy = divination
Galdreisen (old english: galdre = magician / isen = iron instrument)
Or
Galdermage
Armagus
Ironmancer
Isenmancer
…
The name is what's in Marsalis Wallace's briefcase.
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I'm going with warlock, as has been mentioned here earlier. It's a common name identified with magic but is also historically masculine, which makes it ideal for a class skilled in combat. According to Wikipedia, the word warlock is derived from an Old English word meaning oathbreaker, which can connect with the paradox of a mage wielding weapons, and could also inform class abilities.
Unfortunately, the use of Warlock as a class name has some baggage attached, and recent baggage at that. As for replacing the word gish for a multiclassed fighter/wizard, I think you're going to have tough luck. It's an iconic word that people familiar with the concept automatically recognize. It's the only word that means what it does.
Chuck Norris!
Rakhir (as a nod to Elric without being Elric.)
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As for replacing the word gish for a multiclassed fighter/wizard, I think you're going to have tough luck. It's an iconic word that people familiar with the concept automatically recognize. It's the only word that means what it does.
While Paizo can choose to use the word gish to describe the concept in their internal conversations (if they get past the word’s baggage and actual meaning) if they want, they cannot use it to name any new ‘fighter/magic user’ class they may choose to publish at some time in the future, given that the concept as a gish as a (githyanki) f/mu is owned by wotc. Therefore a new name is needed.
Dawnwalker(the one who walks the morning of true blade-magic!)
i was robed i had a runblade class since 2nd edition which was a gish i also had a runeknight that was a fighter/cleric class they belonged to the same order :(
i'm throughing in-
Magi
Magus
Vanguard
Eldric-one who uses eldrich powers
Who are (non rpg sourced) iconic fighter-mages from fantasy literature or film and what name could broadly cover them all, rather than sounding like a prestige or specialist class..... (evoker or battlemage etc....)
I already mentioned Kane and Elric ealier......anybody know of any others they care to mention?
Alvar: name has roots in elf which is the original "gish", don't know how cool it sounds though...
The boy's name Alvar \a-
lvar, al-var\, also used as girl's name Alvar, is pronounced AL-vah. It is of Old English origin, and its meaning is "elf or magical army, warrior". From Aelfhere.
So far, the best I've seen are:
Obi
Alvar
But my vote so far is for:
STABRACADABRIST
That word has flavor, humor, and Personality. Otherwise, I'm leaning towards "Alvar".
Methinks that we'll have to pull from fiction perhaps.. A name or title. Then again, if you want the name to stick, you have to come up with a class that takes the hat, the cake, and the surprise that was waiting to pop out of it.
I have to say I love stabracadabrist too, but it smacks much more of rogue/mage (arcane trickster with a lot of ranks in bluff and twf & feint feats with haste/mirror images spells going.....).
How about 'Maverick'? I figure that it is fitting since the idea does not follow the typical conventions of either a straight fighter or caster. Also it sort of has a roguish or swashbuckler quality to it.
He is one, he is the other, he is both. He doesn't play by the rules. You can't quite put your finger on him... he's a Maverick.
warcrafter
swordcanter
warmage
Come on, got to be Warlock. An existing word that represents a magic-practitioner proficient in weaponry. How can it be anything else?
Come on, got to be Warlock. An existing word that represents a magic-practitioner proficient in weaponry. How can it be anything else?
Doesn't mean that at all. 4E has it pegged about as accurately as possible fantasy-wise.
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Perhaps a name that evokes a famous magical weapon (a fusion of steel and sorcery) such as Caliburn?
Although, of the above, I'm liking Warlock and Weirbrand (which, yeah, technically two words mashed together, but they're old worlds anyway, so it might go down easier than Spellblade or Arcaknight or Witchknife).
I doubt I've got much here for anyone, but of what's been proposed here are my favorites and why:
1) Siden - it's got a nice, foreign/different sound = unique. It draws upon an appropriate historical reference as well, and it's norse - as likely a source as any to cite for such a concept as fighter/mage.
2) Magister/Magisteer - just on the sound, different than mage, but has that root of "magic" present.
3) Harbinger - sounds good, and ominous. Someone combining martial skill in Full BAB and arcane spells as a full caster is *seriously* about to bring the doom and gloom ... sounds like a "warning, call" of an apocalypse to me. (Not to mention the already existing gish-hate-on a LOT of people have, and not the word either ... I'm talking about the concept. Pure, irrational hatred will spew if this class is made official, so, it *literally* would/could be a "Harbinger" in a sense)
4) Esper - just a nice, "magic" sounding feel w/out sounding like a pure mage/caster sort of vibe. It does, however, have the psionic baggage, so maybe best avoided.
5) Alvar - I like the "elf" reference to the history of it, and the old english origins as well. Plus the "magical warrior" part seems to fit just about perfectly, and possibly has a better ring than magister/magisteer in the sense of being different in sound from "mage/magic" overall.
My favorites overall: Alvar and Siden. Even if they're used as roots for the class, I think the best potential lies with these two words honestly.
To wit:
Alvar == Alvaren, Alvaron, Alavan, Alavaren, etc
Siden == Sident, Sidenth, Sidenor, Sidenthor, Sidenthar, Sidenar, etc.
All of those variants have some pretty decent ring to them of "this is something different entirely" compared to the other class titles.