Re: Planejammer

Why is the "I wouldn't" answer invalid? The word "arcane" has been in  
use longer than 3rd edition updates to the lexicon. I don't think  
avoiding any possible confusion is worth giving these creatures a  
silly sounding name. And as a Spelljammer purist, I don't see why the  
name requires a change to begin with.

So, whether valid or not, I wouldn't change the name. They're arcane.  
Although...

Mercane (marine Arcane with a silly-sounding name)

Clime/Terrain: Any Water
Frequency: Very Rare
Organization: "Mertourage"
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Omnivore
Intelligence: Mergenius (17-18)
Treasure: R
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
#Appearing: 1 (1-6)
Armor Class: 5 (4)
Movement: 6, Sw 12
Hit Dice: 9+4
THAC0: 11
#Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d8+1/3d4 (merweapon)
Special Attacks: Nil (Spell-channeling)
Special Defenses: Spell-like powers
Magic Resistance: 40%
Size: L (12' long)
Morale: Elite (14)
XP Value: 2,700

The Mercane is the unfortunately named aquatic variant of the Arcane.  
Their numbers are far fewer than their terrestrial bretheren, though  
they seem to exist in the same general frequency within settlements  
of aquatic sentients. They seem to share the cultural drive to  
salesmanship of the Arcane, and possess a similar racial telepathy.  
Unlike most marine races, Mercane are capable of surviving equally  
well in or out of the water. They make use of both spelljamming and  
planar travel to move between the submarine communities where they  
make their sales.
Mercane resemble Arcane, though they have a centauroid body  
structure: their torsos are those of Arcane, being tall and lanky and  
blue of skin, while below the torso they possess the leathery,  
blubbery bodies of enormous dark-blue walruses.

Combat: Like the Arcane, Mercane are unusually non-combative for  
their great size. They travel in the company of "Mertourages," the  
aquatic equivalent of an Arcane's entourage, comprising aquatic  
creatures and hirelings (typically dolphins, mermen or orcas).
Like Arcane, Mercane can become mernvisible and use mermension door  
(the mer-quivalents of invisibility and dimension door) up to three  
times per day. They also have the ability to grant water breathing  
(for up to 24 hours per use, with multiple applications extending the  
duration) twice per day; they usually reserve this power for bringing  
powerful air-breathing members of their Mertourage with them through  
the depths, or else they sell the use of this ability to land  
dwellers who are looking for underwater passage.
When called upon to defend themselves, Mercane wield tridents and  
shields. They do not wear armor because of how it would hamper their  
already relatively slow swimming speed, and when wielding their  
tridents they always use the two-handed damage dice (due to their  
giant size). Optionally, Mercane can be given the extra abilities  
used by Arcane in the PLANESCAPE setting, and if the DM wishes a  
Mercane can channel any 1st or 2nd level spell effect through a  
weapon strike. This ability is unique to the Mercane and Arcane and  
not a property of the creature's weapon.

Background: If the Arcane are mysterious, the Mercane are simply  
confounding. As little or less is known about the Mercane as about  
their non-marine cousins: they seem to simply exist to fulfill an  
aquatic niche that is handled on the surface world by Arcane.
Mercane and Arcane get along swimmingly (sorry) with each other, and  
as far as any can tell Mercane and Arcane working in the same crystal  
sphere are partners with each other rather than competitors.



On Aug 25, 2007, at 7:03 PM, Bill Olander wrote:

> I'm curious to know what name you would have chosen, assuming you were
> renaming them so as to avoid confusion with the term 'arcane' as it  
> applies
> to magic. (And thus invalidating any variations on "I wouldn't" as an
> answer).
>
> On 8/25/07, Matt Hoffman <manta928@?????.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Yes, I did understand the concept behind the name. It's still a
>> stupid name  :-p
>>
>
> -- 
> Bill Olander
> http://www.darktouch.net
>
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