My thesaurus let me down

[Stonjuz]

How many ways to say 'thing' ......?
beast, creature, fiend, monstrosity, monster...?
I find myself using the same words .......alot

[Daos Soulstaff]

I'm rather fond of 'critter' myself.

[rredmond]

I try to mix up the adjectives a bit, or repeat important ones, to aid the PCs in figuring out what they are dealing with. Also I'll use words they've come up with. There's a monster in my Shroom game that the party dubbed Scarecrows. So whenever one appears I use that term because then the party has a collective experience of that term and I won't have to go through the description of the critter as well they know, up to now, what it is they are dealing with

[Rukellian]

I try to mix up the adjectives a bit, or repeat important ones, to aid the PCs in figuring out what they are dealing with. Also I'll use words they've come up with. There's a monster in my Shroom game that the party dubbed Scarecrows. So whenever one appears I use that term because then the party has a collective experience of that term and I won't have to go through the description of the critter as well they know, up to now, what it is they are dealing with

Hehe, I can relate to that. In one of my FtF campaigns, the DM was using a whiteboard to illustrate the enemies we were facing. The wyvern that our group was trying to take down, looked like a.... bread loaf. Yes, the manner in which the DM depicted the wyvern on the white board, it looked like a huge loaf of bread. So, from the rest of the battle, and post battle forward, we all affectionately called the dragons he would introduce as bread loafs, the baby dragons being slices of bread. You can only imagine the hilarious situations that resulted from using that term in battle. (The crazy mage who charges headfirst into battle, uses his burning hands spell on the mighty bread loaf! "Toast anyone....?")

We NEVER let that one go! We all had a good laugh though, no hard feelings in the end.

[AQuebman]

I don't really have anything to add other than my DM in a FtF campaign a few weeks ago made a mad lib monster without us knowing about it. He just started asking us for verbs and adjectives and needless to say it was hilarious though quite inappropriate so i'll refrain from posting it here.

[onlyme]

I don't really have anything to add other than my DM in a FtF campaign a few weeks ago made a mad lib monster without us knowing about it. He just started asking us for verbs and adjectives and needless to say it was hilarious though quite inappropriate so i'll refrain from posting it here.

That is awesome. That is also when I miss not being able to play ftf games.

[AQuebman]

I don't really have anything to add other than my DM in a FtF campaign a few weeks ago made a mad lib monster without us knowing about it. He just started asking us for verbs and adjectives and needless to say it was hilarious though quite inappropriate so i'll refrain from posting it here.

That is awesome. That is also when I miss not being able to play ftf games.

Totally doable on a PbP though just a slower process to put together.

[Stonjuz]

Critter would be a natural is we were playing Dead Lands or....
Scarecrow....probably not
Bread Loaf.....?

I'm serious. What are usable substitutes for 'beast, creature, monster, thing, it'

[rredmond]

Depends on the creature for me. You've taken a bunch of the more general synonyms out of the equation, so you'll have to use more specific ones.
Maybe put the general description, or name, of the creature in spoiler tags (warning your players not to click there) and we can take a couple hacks at coming up with generic names for the creature(s).

[dmw71]

I'm sure I used more, but here is a practice I informally followed:

Simply refer to them as the monster they are:
troglodyte

If possible, also us a short name:
trog or trogs

Describe using their phyiscal build:
"...sinks into the scaly flesh"

Or something they carry:
"javelin-toting scaly beasts"



Start with an adjective for the monster, then add a descriptive adjective:

Adjective #1: lizard

Adjective #1 + descriptive adjective list:
lizard beast
foul lizards
nasty lizard
smelly lizard
swamp lizard

Adjective #2: beast

Adjective #2 + same descriptive adjective list:
beastly beast
foul beast
nasty beast
smelly beast
swamp beast


Describe the creature(s) in more general terms:
"advancing group"
"leader"
"attacker" or "attackers"
"foe"
"adversary"


You can also come up with a humorous insult, like tooleychris did:
"yer momma was a kobold?"


If you have a specific monster you're looking for adjectives for, throw it out there and let the collective group help come up with a list. In fact, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to start lists for some of the more common creatures that any DM would be able to borrow against.

[AQuebman]

I like when DM's describe the way it looks it allows you to use say trog stats but make them unique to your campaign. Flavors it up a bit rather than what we all have memorized out of a monster manual.

[thirdkingdom]

I find it very useful to refer to the scientific naming classifications for a goodly number of monsters. Thus, a giant lizard or a lizardman can be referred to as a lacertilian threat, or a rust monster as a ferrophagus tridactyla (the scientific name of the giant anteater is Myrmecophaga tridactyla, so it stands to reason that a rust monster is a ferrophage).

Keep in mind that alliteration improves everything. A "lascivious lacertilian lancer" is much more evocative than a "lizard-man with a spear".

[Vargr1105]

Wow thirdkingdom, great minds think alike.

I use the scientific nomenclature an alliteration strategies too when I can.

[Stonjuz]

Very good ideas. I knew I could count on you guys. Will definetely try the sciencific phrases. I think that may be just the key.

[thirdkingdom]

So, next time you describe a giant snake, you can refer to it as an "obscenely obese ophidian"

[AQuebman]

Maybe my rl gaming group is dumb but I find things like that just make them look at me like I have 3 heads without any clue as to what i'm talking about. I find simple language but describing something odd when something they know is expected works best in my experience.

Again I play with dumb people I think lol.

[Norjax]

I remember an old Nintendo Entertainment System (yeah, that one) adventure game where encounters were resolved via text message. There were several variations of each monster using an adjective.
The most memorable was “You have encountered a Rouge Scorpion”. We found humor in this, for some reason.