| JustSomeRandomCommoner |
RJGrady wrote:Bardess, monkina, druidette, ninjess, cavalriess"Ninjette." It should be "Ninjette"
Only when she's from New Jersey.
| Mikael Sebag RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16 |
Without getting into too much detail, the term 'witch' in its late Medieval and early modern usage was gender neutral. In my games, male witches are just called witches. Moreover, 'warlock', though rooted in the 14th century, doesn't find much purchase in English until 1750 onwards, so, for my taste, it lacks the historicity to be used meaningfully as a gendered version of witch.
Also, I believe ninjettes are more aptly called kunoichi.
LazarX
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Male witches being called warlocks is something from some fantasy settings, not a general rule. It's about as 'correct' as it would be to call female wizards 'witches', which also pops up in several fantasy settings (and not just Harry Potter). You can, of course, have such a distinction be part of your setting if you want to (after all, there is a precedent for it in some fantasy settings), but it's certainly not more or less correct to do so.
To expand on this it's worth noting that "class" itself is as much a gaming construct for our convenience as hit dice, and d20 modifiers. Until 3rd edition, the terms witch, sorcerer, magus, prestidigitator, and whatnot were roleplaying and story names that could be applied to anyone who showed evidence of magical powers.
Gaming constructs are how we the players and GM interact with the gaming world. That's a far cry from how the residents of that world interact with each other.
| Mikael Sebag RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16 |
Mikael Sebag wrote:Also, I believe ninjettes are more aptly called kunoichi.Well, kunoichi implies a specific type of ninja, equivalent to what is known in the modern spy world as a "honey pot." But in a certain genre, the term is used for female ninjas.
Interesting! Thank you for expanding on that. Looks like learned something new today. :D
| Kelsey MacAilbert |
Really, isn't a male witch called a Warlock? Does that not apply in pathfinder? Does anyone else find it odd to refer to a character as a gender specific class title? Do you think it odd that out of all the classes only this one is gender specific in name? Apologies for all the question marks but the subject has raised questions.
If we're talking Medieval or Early Modern Europe or Colonial America, witch is used to refer to both men and women.
| Kelsey MacAilbert |
Kelsey MacAilbert wrote:Until relatively recently though, those characters were all male.Kain Darkwind wrote:Men can't be witches, just like women can't be wizards.Actually, if we want to look at IRL writing, wizard is also a term that was originally gender neutral.
Well, wizard is generally taken positively, and until relatively recently a woman with power was very likely to be a villain, and therefore expected to bear a more negative term. All the positive female magic users from Medieval and Early Modern writing that I can think of up the top of my head are supernatural entities, not human spellcasters.
| Zhayne |
Daenar wrote:Really, isn't a male witch called a Warlock? Does that not apply in pathfinder? Does anyone else find it odd to refer to a character as a gender specific class title? Do you think it odd that out of all the classes only this one is gender specific in name? Apologies for all the question marks but the subject has raised questions.If we're talking Medieval or Early Modern Europe or Colonial America, witch is used to refer to both men and women.
I thought we were talking 'completely imaginary, no connection to real world history game worlds'.
| Orthos |
Kain Darkwind wrote:Men can't be witches, just like women can't be wizards.Actually, if we want to look at IRL writing, wizard is also a term that was originally gender neutral.
I'm presuming this is a Discworld reference, where with a single exception, the magic of that world does divide itself that way >_>
| Orthos |
| PathlessBeth |
LazarX wrote:Well, wizard is generally taken positively, and until relatively recently a woman with power was very likely to be a villain, and therefore expected to bear a more negative term. All the positive female magic users from Medieval and Early Modern writing that I can think of up the top of my head are supernatural entities, not human spellcasters.Kelsey MacAilbert wrote:Until relatively recently though, those characters were all male.Kain Darkwind wrote:Men can't be witches, just like women can't be wizards.Actually, if we want to look at IRL writing, wizard is also a term that was originally gender neutral.
Circe was called a witch in some early translations. Was she a villain? Initially, yes, although she eventually gives advice on getting past the Scylla and Charybdis.
She is definitely not a villain in the Aronautica, and possibly not in the Telogonus.eggplantman wrote:it has not come up yet but I would call male witches by the class name and save the name "warlock" for the class from 3.5 in case I ever saw a version of that I really liked.Try this one! =)
Yes, that one:)
| Kain Darkwind |
Kelsey MacAilbert wrote:I'm presuming this is a Discworld reference, where with a single exception, the magic of that world does divide itself that way >_>Kain Darkwind wrote:Men can't be witches, just like women can't be wizards.Actually, if we want to look at IRL writing, wizard is also a term that was originally gender neutral.
I was actually just stirring the pot. I don't personally divide classes by gender roles, but it might be interesting to have a world where that was the case. And not just with witches and wizards, but all the classes.
| Kelsey MacAilbert |
Kelsey MacAilbert wrote:LazarX wrote:Well, wizard is generally taken positively, and until relatively recently a woman with power was very likely to be a villain, and therefore expected to bear a more negative term. All the positive female magic users from Medieval and Early Modern writing that I can think of up the top of my head are supernatural entities, not human spellcasters.Kelsey MacAilbert wrote:Until relatively recently though, those characters were all male.Kain Darkwind wrote:Men can't be witches, just like women can't be wizards.Actually, if we want to look at IRL writing, wizard is also a term that was originally gender neutral.Circe was called a witch in some early translations. Was she a villain? Initially, yes, although she eventually gives advice on getting past the Scylla and Charybdis.
She is definitely not a villain in the Aronautica, and possibly not in the Telogonus.
Circe isn't from the time periods I've been considering, though.
| thejeff |
Kelsey MacAilbert wrote:I thought we were talking 'completely imaginary, no connection to real world history game worlds'.Daenar wrote:Really, isn't a male witch called a Warlock? Does that not apply in pathfinder? Does anyone else find it odd to refer to a character as a gender specific class title? Do you think it odd that out of all the classes only this one is gender specific in name? Apologies for all the question marks but the subject has raised questions.If we're talking Medieval or Early Modern Europe or Colonial America, witch is used to refer to both men and women.
Except that we are of course talking about terms, which are drawn from real world history.
Otherwise we might as well be talking about the thriost class.
Set
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Warlock has the unpleasant connotation of having been the term for a traitor or oathbreaker, and etymologically coming from the word for liar, while witch has no such unfortunate connotation and was originally use for men anyway.
It's not a huge deal, but it definitely leaves a bad taste in some people's mouths.
In that vein, 'Warlock' (defined as Oathbreaker, regardless of whether or not it was historically) would be a great name for a Witch archetype based around someone who has broken with whatever entity they initially made their Pact with.
Just as Witch is a unisex title, Warlock would also be the unisex title for Witches who have broken their Pact.
Kain Darkwind wrote:Men can't be witches, just like women can't be wizards.Actually, if we want to look at IRL writing, wizard is also a term that was originally gender neutral.
Since the PF/D&D term for a lady Wizard is in fact 'Wizard,' and not 'Wizardette' or 'She-Wizard,' I think Kain was being sarcastic.
| NoncompliAut |
DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:14 sided die wrote:I approve.Jeremias wrote:This issue gets much stranger in german. Sorcerer is generally translated as "Hexenmeister" (witch master) and the german term for a male witch is "Hexer", for a female witch it would be "Hexe". So, as you see, you have it really easy.I shall hereby call ALL male spellcasters I ever play Hexenmeisters, because that may be the best word everOh how much I want to hear now how you would pronounce "Hexenmeister"...
I imagine the voice of David Giuntoli from Grimm... :D
Hex-en(like the way the letter N is pronounced)-my-ster(pronounced like the end of the word hamster). A female would be Hexenmeisterin ("in" pronounced like in English).
I think of witches as "battle mages," because hexes like healing seem very well suited to mass combat. One healing hex witch could heal 600 NPC warriors in an hour...
| Zhayne |
Zhayne wrote:Kelsey MacAilbert wrote:I thought we were talking 'completely imaginary, no connection to real world history game worlds'.Daenar wrote:Really, isn't a male witch called a Warlock? Does that not apply in pathfinder? Does anyone else find it odd to refer to a character as a gender specific class title? Do you think it odd that out of all the classes only this one is gender specific in name? Apologies for all the question marks but the subject has raised questions.If we're talking Medieval or Early Modern Europe or Colonial America, witch is used to refer to both men and women.Except that we are of course talking about terms, which are drawn from real world history.
Otherwise we might as well be talking about the thriost class.
My point was that claiming how it was used in any point in real world history is irrelevant. The history of the real world and the history of a game world have no correlation whatsoever.
Lincoln Hills
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...In the end, most class names aren't really in-game 'names' for what a person does. Most of them are just rules descriptors.
Yeah, the Oracle is particularly guilty here. You'd think according to the name that they'd get augury, divination and commune for free at the appropriate levels, but it turns out the majority of them have very little skill at seeing the unseen, knowing the unknown or scruting the inscrutable.
| gamer-printer |
Female samurai are sometimes called onna-bugeisha, which are wives and mothers of samurai who train in combat arts in order to help defend the home/castle, when their sons/husbands are away. So though not exactly the same roles as a typical samurai, female combat trained members of the samurai caste did exist and had a specific name.
| beej67 |
beej67 wrote:...In the end, most class names aren't really in-game 'names' for what a person does. Most of them are just rules descriptors.Yeah, the Oracle is particularly guilty here. You'd think according to the name that they'd get augury, divination and commune for free at the appropriate levels, but it turns out the majority of them have very little skill at seeing the unseen, knowing the unknown or scruting the inscrutable.
Or, you know, at least have perception as a class skill.
| David knott 242 |
Female samurai are sometimes called onna-bugeisha, which are wives and mothers of samurai who train in combat arts in order to help defend the home/castle, when their sons/husbands are away. So though not exactly the same roles as a typical samurai, female combat trained members of the samurai caste did exist and had a specific name.
And while we are at it, female ninja are referred to as kunoichi.
| Ashiel |
Really, isn't a male witch called a Warlock? Does that not apply in pathfinder? Does anyone else find it odd to refer to a character as a gender specific class title? Do you think it odd that out of all the classes only this one is gender specific in name? Apologies for all the question marks but the subject has raised questions.
All spellcasters in my campaigns are known by the following titles depending on their individual preferences, cultural norms, and/or associations, regardless of class.
Arcanist, Sorcerer, Wizard, Witch, Warlock, Mage, Magician, Incanter, Mentalist, Spell Shaper, Spell Weaver, Invoker, Psychic, Force User, Oracle, Shaman, Hedge Mage, etc.
Titles such as Abjurer, Enchanter, Evoker, Transmutor, Illusionist, Necromancer, and Conjurer are generally used by casters who associate strongly with a particular school of magic. While wizards commonly go by these titles with a sense of pride and natural association for being a specialist, other casters such as sorcerers who identify strongly with a particular school of magic may claim or be granted similar titles. For example, a sorcerer who emphasizes enchantments may insist on being called an enchanter, while a cleric who deals heavily with the undead may be referred to as a necromancer.
All of these norms also extend to psionic classes as well. Most laymen aren't going to recognize the differences between a psion, wizard, or sorcerer, or druid. They just see that they're throwing fire and lightning around like confetti paper at a birthday party and telling reality to go make them a sandwich.