As a DM I don't feel I should have any say in what another player names his character. The fact that some people think they have the right to tell someone they can't name their character what they want seems a little arrogant to me.my only rule for character names is that they meet one of the following criteria
- makes sense in the real world, no matter how uncommon or oddly spelled
- makes sense among at least one region or race in the fantasy world, no matter how uncommon or oddly spelled
- is a name a pair of parents would feasibily give a child, though innapropriately gendered names or even giveaway names are fine. such as naming a female "Sergei" or naming an angelic holy knight "Lumiere"
- names can be recycled on grounds of popularity for a species, or even if a player doesn't wish to bother to come up with a new name. just change the family name if you must. don't bring in "Bob's" Twin brother "Bob" who is the same in every way. but bringing a second fighter named "Bob" with the same basic build is fine, just remember he gets no family boons and no inheritance of the previous "Bob's" Gear. 3 fighters named bob in the same 12 man party is also fine. just provide surnames.
- there is no issue with recycling "special snowflakes" common people will still give them funny looks, and each recycling must build their reputation from scratch, influenced by other special snowflakes of the same general species type that came before them. for example, the third "Drizz't" must work to build his reputation, which may be hindered by the incompetence of the second "Drizz't" whose reputation was hindered by the incompetence of the 1st "Drizz't" only unlike the second "Drizz't" the third has 2 incompetent "Drizz'ts" counting against his reputation and his death would encourage a steriotype of incompetent drow rangers.
Are these your rules for your own characters? Cause giving your players a list of rules, no how matter how stringent is stupid. As a DM you can already veto race, class, or a myriad of other choices what exactly is the point of restricting their names?
Are these your rules for your own characters? Cause giving your players a list of rules, no how matter how stringent is stupid. As a DM you can already veto race, class, or a myriad of other choices what exactly is the point of restoring their names?
they are primarily rules for my own characters.
but my general restrictions for others only serve to ban WoWish stuff along the lines of names like "DwarfDroodHealzors", "Lazorchicken", or "InfantryFox" as examples or completely derogatory names like "Watermelon-Feaster" "Poo-Face" and the like. other than those 2 guidelines, i am fine with the vast majority of names, hell, a third aasimaar PC in the same campaign can call herself Lumiere for all i care. we will just assume that there was probably some signifficant NPC responsible for starting the name trend.
i am fine with a character going by a nickname, alias, or moniker.
For example, a female bard who dresses in monochrome gothic lolita fashion can go by the alias "The Monochrome Puppeteer" as a reference to her color scheme, specialized performance, and doll like style of fashion
or a male fighter named "Boris" can call himself "The Strong and Fair" in reference to his strength and honesty.
but aliases come later unless the character is sufficiently leveled or has a backstory featuring a sufficient level of fame.
i merely need a name i can attach a face to.
So how would you feel about Argonian naming conventions?
"Pulls-Rope-Faster" and "Lifts-Her-Tail" fit in at every table!
Are these your rules for your own characters? Cause giving your players a list of rules, no how matter how stringent is stupid. As a DM you can already veto race, class, or a myriad of other choices what exactly is the point of restoring their names?they are primarily rules for my own characters.
I think we often hold ourselves to a higher standard than we hold others (and I think that's a good thing).
Are these your rules for your own characters? Cause giving your players a list of rules, no how matter how stringent is stupid. As a DM you can already veto race, class, or a myriad of other choices what exactly is the point of restoring their names?they are primarily rules for my own characters.
but my general restrictions for others only serve to ban WoWish stuff along the lines of names like "DwarfDroodHealzors", "Lazorchicken", or "InfantryFox" as examples or completely derogatory names like "Watermelon-Feaster" "Poo-Face" and the like. other than those 2 guidelines, i am fine with the vast majority of names, hell, a third aasimaar PC in the same campaign can call herself Lumiere for all i care. we will just assume that there was probably some signifficant NPC responsible for starting the name trend.
i am fine with a character going by a nickname, alias, or moniker.
For example, a female bard who dresses in monochrome gothic lolita fashion can go by the alias "The Monochrome Puppeteer" as a reference to her color scheme, specialized performance, and doll like style of fashion
or a male fighter named "Boris" can call himself "The Strong and Fair" in reference to his strength and honesty.
but aliases come later unless the character is sufficiently leveled or has a backstory featuring a sufficient level of fame.
i merely need a name i can attach a face to.
I understand the point you're making but if a player at my table wants to name their character Infantryfox, is allow them to write whatever they want on their sheet, that doesn't mean I or anyone else at the table will use it as we pretty much just use everyone's real name.
I use Polish, Italian and German names a lot. They really fit into fantasy games.
I like name consistency, but my only real requirements are no silly names, and no Conans or Gandalfs, etc.
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What's wrong with Bob Johnson, the Wizard?
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The most ridiculous (horrible?) name a I've seen a player name his character in one of my games (and this was back during the days of 2nd edition), was "ah-f***-a-you" (and he thought that was the most clever of names)...
Since it was just a one-shot I was running (Tomb of Horrors), and the player was new to my group and I did not expect him to continue to play after that adventure (and I was right, he didn't), I did not argue over the name; I just rolled my eyes at him and let it stand...
What's wrong with Bob Johnson, the Wizard?
Bob Johnson is fine
So how would you feel about Argonian naming conventions?
"Pulls-Rope-Faster" and "Lifts-Her-Tail" fit in at every table!
i'd be fine with those if the character was involved in Argonian culture, whether be born Argonian, or having a parent that was friends with, or obsessed over Argonian culture. in fact, it doesn't sound too different from native american style names, which i am also fine with.
I understand the point you're making but if a player at my table wants to name their character Infantryfox, is allow them to write whatever they want on their sheet, that doesn't mean I or anyone else at the table will use it as we pretty much just use everyone's real name.
i guess that makes sense in a low immersion table, as long as the character can find ways of avoiding giving his true name.
hell, my current PC with Weekly Williams almost finished skull and shackles game is a loli elf witch named "Rina" "Shadowsong" who dresses in tian style garb and grew up in the Mwangi Expanse. Elf Version of Enma Ai for the win.
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I understand the point you're making but if a player at my table wants to name their character Infantryfox, is allow them to write whatever they want on their sheet, that doesn't mean I or anyone else at the table will use it as we pretty much just use everyone's real name.Are these your rules for your own characters? Cause giving your players a list of rules, no how matter how stringent is stupid. As a DM you can already veto race, class, or a myriad of other choices what exactly is the point of restoring their names?they are primarily rules for my own characters.
but my general restrictions for others only serve to ban WoWish stuff along the lines of names like "DwarfDroodHealzors", "Lazorchicken", or "InfantryFox" as examples or completely derogatory names like "Watermelon-Feaster" "Poo-Face" and the like. other than those 2 guidelines, i am fine with the vast majority of names, hell, a third aasimaar PC in the same campaign can call herself Lumiere for all i care. we will just assume that there was probably some signifficant NPC responsible for starting the name trend.
i am fine with a character going by a nickname, alias, or moniker.
For example, a female bard who dresses in monochrome gothic lolita fashion can go by the alias "The Monochrome Puppeteer" as a reference to her color scheme, specialized performance, and doll like style of fashion
or a male fighter named "Boris" can call himself "The Strong and Fair" in reference to his strength and honesty.
but aliases come later unless the character is sufficiently leveled or has a backstory featuring a sufficient level of fame.
i merely need a name i can attach a face to.
Therein lies the important difference.
Most of my players are very into roleplaying (there have been a few exceptions here and there, but my regulars get very into it), and I'm trying to develop a cohesive, living world to run games in. As much time, if not more, is spend out of combat as in it. Any in-character discourse is done with character names, not player names, so what the player writes down on their sheet matters very much.
It's not my intent to sound like I'm arguing everyone should have enforced naming conventions. That's not what I'm trying to say at all. But it I think it appears arrogant to you because chosen character names have nothing to do with and do not affect other players or NPCs in any way. At my table, and others I'd imagine, it very well does. In a way, because the player himself doesn't have to say it, it affects everyone else more.
That said, as I've touched upon earlier, a name like "LazorChicken" or "Pooface" would break immersion and be bothersome after awhile (I have to continually roleplay NPCs reacting to the name Pooface, inquiring about it, and getting no serious response at best, a repeated tiresome joke at worst).
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Y'know, sometimes people just make up names for their children they think are pretty and/or interesting sounding. Then you also have people named after friends, loved ones, or simply in honor of deeds (if X member of Y race did a great boon for Z member of B race then you might end up with a member of B race named after X member).
Naming conventions evolve. Many names that were traditionally male or female blend or swap positions in frequency (the name Ashley or Ashleigh is actually a traditional male name but is found on females more frequently this days) and adopt names from religious figures or other cultures because of their beauty. The name "Liana" for example is Hebrew (IIRC it means "god has answered") and is found on non-Jewish people from time to time.
Then there are those who are impressed upon by a media form that resonated with them. Unless a race only has characters of its own kind in stories or poetry (an idea that seems bizarre in a world with even half the number of races in the core rulebook) then you'd likely have blending of naming conventions.
And then with the blending of naming conventions comes the hybridization of names entirely or translations of names. What may have been Johnathan in human might be Jonahthane which could have literally no meaning in either language but have roots with both.
And then let's not forget that you always have people who just make stuff up. I mean really. It happens all the time. Somebody hits adulthood and decides he or she doesn't like his or her name? Some people will change it. Some elf decides he doesn't like the name Jarlath (a gaelic name) and decides that from this point on he shall be named Sam then he'll do so unless there's some bizarre reason why he cannot. It's doubtful adventurers would give two flips anyway.
I think you're interpreting my naming conventions statement in a more absolute-end-of-story way than I intended.
While the exact degree to which all of those things may occur over a certain area or stretch of time and how applicable it is to my specific cultures... that's still in line with how I feel about naming conventions.
Elves living in human societies will have romanized versions of their names, yes. A dwarf couple might name their son after a human warrior who saved their lives, yes. An human that leaves the city to go live with the elves might take an elf name, yes. All of these are things justified by backstory and the cultures of the setting.
I would take issue with players naming their characters things that are not justified this way:
-A player wants to name his tribal elf Tanaka-san, despite there being no there being no contact with any culture that has names or words structured that way.
-A player wants to be named Brian Rocket, despite rockets not existing.
-A player wants to name their character Alvin McAnal, which isn't taking the game very seriously and would get old very quickly.
Any name that can be reasonably justified by backstory and isn't a lame joke can be fine.
Do other people care about this sort of thing?
I'm hoping to start a Carrion Crown game this weekend with a bunch of new peeps. Some of them have another regular game of their own, but I want to make it work, as I don't presently have a regular group.
I like to encourage players to get into character in game, and part of this is getting them to use their own and each other's names. So if someone deliberately gives their character a silly or just pointlessly weird name, I usually nerf it from the start.
Unfortunately I had to do this during the pre-game character generation discussions we were having by email; one of the players wanted to name his dwarf paladin 'FredAstaire', and when I nerfed that he tried to go for 'Godbotherer'.
There's always one in every group. :p
Where does your avatar picture of Lini come from?! That's great!
Didn't read the thread much, but it seems to be about naming conventions.
Human names I'm pretty adamant about using "real world" names from the regions the region the character is coming from is intended to imitate.
For example: someone from my Norse/English/Celtic/Russian continent might have names everything from Vladimir to Andrew to Rowan to Jeremy.
For other races I'm more lenient. If something sounds elvish for their elf, I'll let them use it.
If someone says their elf is named Elefaer, cool. If they say it's named Borginshmorgin, I'll suggest that is possibly more of a gnomish name.
Didn't read the thread much, but it seems to be about naming conventions.
Human names I'm pretty adamant about using "real world" names from the regions the region the character is coming from is intended to imitate.
For example: someone from my Norse/English/Celtic/Russian continent might have names everything from Vladimir to Andrew to Rowan to Jeremy.
For other races I'm more lenient. If something sounds elvish for their elf, I'll let them use it.
If someone says their elf is named Elefaer, cool. If they say it's named Borginshmorgin, I'll suggest that is possibly more of a gnomish name.
but the elf could have been adopted by a gnomish parent.
but the elf could have been adopted by a gnomish parent.Didn't read the thread much, but it seems to be about naming conventions.
Human names I'm pretty adamant about using "real world" names from the regions the region the character is coming from is intended to imitate.
For example: someone from my Norse/English/Celtic/Russian continent might have names everything from Vladimir to Andrew to Rowan to Jeremy.
For other races I'm more lenient. If something sounds elvish for their elf, I'll let them use it.
If someone says their elf is named Elefaer, cool. If they say it's named Borginshmorgin, I'll suggest that is possibly more of a gnomish name.
Well, then I'd expect that in the backstory. :p
I find names for my characters and NPCs from pantheon.org's listings of Mesopotamian names.
Well, then I'd expect that in the backstory. :pbut the elf could have been adopted by a gnomish parent.Didn't read the thread much, but it seems to be about naming conventions.
Human names I'm pretty adamant about using "real world" names from the regions the region the character is coming from is intended to imitate.
For example: someone from my Norse/English/Celtic/Russian continent might have names everything from Vladimir to Andrew to Rowan to Jeremy.
For other races I'm more lenient. If something sounds elvish for their elf, I'll let them use it.
If someone says their elf is named Elefaer, cool. If they say it's named Borginshmorgin, I'll suggest that is possibly more of a gnomish name.
though not entirely traditional, i admit that Rina Shadowsong sounds slightly more Elven then Borginshmorgin. but her mother, was a drunken Elven titanslayer who befriended a bunch of dwarves, developed a tequilla problem and got seduced while drunk by an escaped male drow for a 1 night stand.
in fact, Rina adopted the new given name she bears because she saw a connection between Minkan (Japanese in Golarion) Superstitition and Mwangi Voodoo and merely westernized the name Rin. a connection between the magic bells used by Geomancers, to far eastern superstition, to Mwangi Voodoo. her familiar is a black butterfly because of a Japanese/Minkan connection of butterflies to Shinigami, and the Sanzu. the reason her straw focus doll she wears at her hip has a red string around it's neck is to resemble the Japanese/Minkan superstition of the red string tied around one's left pinky and how it connects multiple fates together.
but she is an elf obsessed with Tian culture. influenced by her drow father who spent some time hiding in Tian Xia before he changed hiding spots to the Mwangi Expanse.
but Rina was an elven witch witch with the darkvision and arcane focus alternate racial traits, and while her mother loved tequilla, she likes tea.
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The group I'm in has been together for years and we just let people come up with whatever they want. We keep it lighthearted and usually try to come up with clever names. In the campaign we're currently playing I have an Ifrit fighter/inquisitor named Blayze Pascal. He's great under pressure and uses a shortspear named Killabar as his primary weapon.
EDIT: In regards to Melvin the demon, at one point I did play a summoner named Sharon Cheryl and I named my eidolon Ike.
Well, then I'd expect that in the backstory. :pbut the elf could have been adopted by a gnomish parent.Didn't read the thread much, but it seems to be about naming conventions.
Human names I'm pretty adamant about using "real world" names from the regions the region the character is coming from is intended to imitate.
For example: someone from my Norse/English/Celtic/Russian continent might have names everything from Vladimir to Andrew to Rowan to Jeremy.
For other races I'm more lenient. If something sounds elvish for their elf, I'll let them use it.
If someone says their elf is named Elefaer, cool. If they say it's named Borginshmorgin, I'll suggest that is possibly more of a gnomish name.
though not entirely traditional, i admit that Rina Shadowsong sounds slightly more Elven then Borginshmorgin. but her mother, was a drunken Elven titanslayer who befriended a bunch of dwarves, developed a tequilla problem and got seduced while drunk by an escaped male drow for a 1 night stand.
in fact, Rina adopted the new given name she bears because she saw a connection between Minkan (Japanese in Golarion) Superstitition and Mwangi Voodoo and merely westernized the name Rin. a connection between the magic bells used by Geomancers, to far eastern superstition, to Mwangi Voodoo. her familiar is a black butterfly because of a Japanese/Minkan connection of butterflies to Shinigami, and the Sanzu. the reason her straw focus doll she wears at her hip has a red string around it's neck is to resemble the Japanese/Minkan superstition of the red string tied around one's left pinky and how it connects multiple fates together.
but she is an elf obsessed with Tian culture. influenced by her drow father who spent some time hiding in Tian Xia before he changed hiding spots to the Mwangi Expanse.
but Rina was an elven witch witch with the darkvision and arcane focus alternate racial traits, and while her mother...
Boom, it's in the backstory.
@Cobalt
that was a cheap backstory to justify why an elven witch from the jungle wears a kimono, speaks Tien, has darkvision, and practices a mixed form of "White Voodoo" the healing counterpart mean to negate "Black Voodoo."
she studies about the dark side enough to know how to counter it and wears dark side themed accessories as an influence thing. a form of saying "respect me" or "i will curse you."
Best weird name I every had in a game I ran was a player who named his elven ranger "Hobhod Foggs", because he was orphaned as a child and raised by humans, and his human mother, Mrs. Foggs, thought Hobhod was what an elf name would sound like.
This group has also featured a monk named "Choke Hogan", because he was a grappler, a swashbuckler named "Guy", who had no surname because he hated his family, and pointed out Guy Fawkes as a legimate example of a man named guy, and my second favorite, a gnome named Jerome, who adopted this alias to cover his royal lineage.
All ridiculous names, all received many the laugh when they were addressed or described, all perfectly justified in their roleplaying.
Melvin could totally work in game: As EvilMinion pointed out, it IS of gaelic origin, therefore a potential elven name. Better yet, it is a modernization of an anglicization of a normanized gaelic name, which makes the idea that a foreinger (A Kitsune from the "orient") could have heard this name via the trade route telephone game and it came out very differently.
Perhaps a mighty hero or creature was named "Ó Maoilmhichíl" but the various bastardizations have reduced it to Melvin in Kitsune culture.
Also, how often will NPC's deal with Melvin on a first name basis? What kind of personality does this Kitsune have? Why did they pick the name Melvin? Does that reason suit their personality? If they are a character with a strong sense of humour, perhaps the reason "because it's funny" is valid in an immersive roleplaying sense.
I've played joke games where characters were named Stinkman Whorebadge, Kyle Shakespeare and Belly Dickboobs and I've played serious games where characters are named Lexi-Ux, Clarence of Richmond and Kinvaril. In both of those worlds there was a place for humour, including silly names. In the serious games, they just need to be justified. Outlawing them doesn't encourage roleplaying, asking that they justify them does. And perhaps next time they name an eidolon, its name is still silly, but the character has a lot more thought put into it.
@Cobalt
that was a cheap backstory to justify why an elven witch from the jungle wears a kimono, speaks Tien, has darkvision, and practices a mixed form of "White Voodoo" the healing counterpart mean to negate "Black Voodoo."
she studies about the dark side enough to know how to counter it and wears dark side themed accessories as an influence thing. a form of saying "respect me" or "i will curse you."
People that are this creative rarely have a problem with coming up with good names, or express any desire to. I might be wrong, but have you ever wanted to call you character something that was obviously a meta joke that didn't fit in the world?
It's also entirely possible dependinding on the specific setting that that backstory justification wouldn't work, but you could probably find one that did, and if you did that would be just fine.
Again, it only become a problem when the player wants to have a name does not have (or cannot be explained by) backstory justification.
Best weird name I every had in a game I ran was a player who named his elven ranger "Hobhod Foggs", because he was orphaned as a child and raised by humans, and his human mother, Mrs. Foggs, thought Hobhod was what an elf name would sound like.
This group has also featured a monk named "Choke Hogan", because he was a grappler, a swashbuckler named "Guy", who had no surname because he hated his family, and pointed out Guy Fawkes as a legimate example of a man named guy, and my second favorite, a gnome named Jerome, who adopted this alias to cover his royal lineage.
All ridiculous names, all received many the laugh when they were addressed or described, all perfectly justified in their roleplaying.
Melvin could totally work in game: As EvilMinion pointed out, it IS of gaelic origin, therefore a potential elven name. Better yet, it is a modernization of an anglicization of a normanized gaelic name, which makes the idea that a foreinger (A Kitsune from the "orient") could have heard this name via the trade route telephone game and it came out very differently.
Perhaps a mighty hero or creature was named "Ó Maoilmhichíl" but the various bastardizations have reduced it to Melvin in Kitsune culture.
Also, how often will NPC's deal with Melvin on a first name basis? What kind of personality does this Kitsune have? Why did they pick the name Melvin? Does that reason suit their personality? If they are a character with a strong sense of humour, perhaps the reason "because it's funny" is valid in an immersive roleplaying sense.
I've played joke games where characters were named Stinkman Whorebadge, Kyle Shakespeare and Belly Dickboobs and I've played serious games where characters are named Lexi-Ux, Clarence of Richmond and Kinvaril. In both of those worlds there was a place for humour, including silly names. In the serious games, they just need to be justified. Outlawing them doesn't encourage roleplaying, asking that they justify them does. And perhaps next time they name an eidolon, its name is...
All of that is right and good, athough I challenge the likelihood of at the names of a fairly isolationist culture travelling across the ocean and then being used in the exact same form by a someone who does not speak the language (He doesn't know Elvish and Common in this world is divided into two languages, one for the east and one for the west). If he really wanted this backstory (which could have been cool, since he could be travelling to the foreign country he always wanted to be from), calling his character "Merubin" or something closer to how it would be pronounced in his language, or simply choosing Elvish as a bonus language and being an elf enthusiest.
But none of these were true. He's a scrupulous thief who fled his country, and he wanted to name his eidolon Melvin because it a funny sounding thing he thought of on the spot. My comment that it did not fit his character was not met with any argument or justification, just "Alright, I'll call him Agro" (which is a name we can use for jokes that fits his background).
@Cobalt
that was a cheap backstory to justify why an elven witch from the jungle wears a kimono, speaks Tien, has darkvision, and practices a mixed form of "White Voodoo" the healing counterpart mean to negate "Black Voodoo."
she studies about the dark side enough to know how to counter it and wears dark side themed accessories as an influence thing. a form of saying "respect me" or "i will curse you."
People that are this creative rarely have a problem with coming up with good names, or express any desire to. I might be wrong, but have you ever wanted to call you character something that was obviously a meta joke that didn't fit in the world?
It's also entirely possible dependinding on the specific setting that that backstory justification wouldn't work, but you could probably find one that did, and if you did that would be just fine.
Again, it only become a problem when the player wants to have a name does not have (or cannot be explained by) backstory justification.
i have had a few regionally innapropriate names justified by backstory. but nothing truly ridiculous that didn't fit a world.
my "Alchemist" "Su-Li" was an ascetic baker. who instead of brewing "potions" and "Extracts" baked "pastries" and the pastries were imbued with "Qui" to gain their magical powers.
it was a joke on how this one group of Feudal Korean Priests that were known as Shinban by virtue of bastardization, had a title that almost rhymed with Cinnabon. and she was an ascetic, Korean, Pastry Chef, Priestess, and Martial Artist whom was a member of the Amenosa/Mateshu depending on which bastardization you went with.
instead of carrying a portable alchemy lab, she carried a an easybake oven, and "Qui Batteries" for baking on the road with a refridgerated duffelbag intended to hold and preserve her pastries. the craft (Alchemy) bonus was replaced by a craft (Baking) bonus that served the exact same purpose in everything except name.