Monster Origins

[Boggo]

I did some pretty in depth hunting for Water Weird and could find nothing, however Weird as a type of unknown creature (by itself) does crop up occasionally, though nothing really specific (and I couldn't find any definitive sources)

[leon]

I'm starting to work on the spreadsheet again. Considered it checked out. (Source code control powered by phpBB.)

[leon]

OK, one more word on the water weird (aside from my note from the other topic about weird being an obsolete noun meaning "spell"). The Shannon Appelcline document says

Water Weird. Though the water weird first appeared in print in the Monster Manual (1977), it was created by Ernie Gygax for the original tournament version of this adventure, in 1976.

[leon]

Release 9 is on the top post. I'm down to line 300, Ettin. Here are a few notes.

In the 1977 MM, it says brownies are perhaps the offspring of halflings and pixies. They aren't very similar to BFRPG brownie mechanically, and the name is from Scottish folklore.

These monsters need renames: bulette, choker, cloaker, couatl. For the couatl, "feathered serpent" seems natural and wouldn't be confused with the deity Quetzalcoatl (aka Kukulkan).

Len Lakofka described a brown dragon in Dragon #38, but it is different from the one in FG1.

The cold elemental and the lightning element are very similar to what MM II calls para- and quasi-elementals. And there's a quasi-elemental in Dragon #125 that's a mineral element that's' perhaps a match for the metal elemental.

Lastly, ettercap is a unique name, but it's an alternative for attercop, which seems like a natural swap for that monster name.

[Boggo]

Tolkien used Ettercap in the Hobbit as an insult Bilbo hurled at the spiders (it basically means roughly dunderhead, it's association with spider creatures is a misunderstanding of that passage of the Hobbit

[SmootRK]

Bulette - landshark, earthshark
Choker - strangler

[Dimirag]

Coatl: Quetzal. Its based on the deity, keeping the conection seems ok

[Solomoriah]

Choker should be fine, it's one common word.

Landshark would be my choice there.

[AlMan]

Landshark would be my choice there.

(Knock, knock)
Young lady: Who is it?
Voice: Candygram
(Knock, knock)
Young lady: Who is it?
Voice: Flowers
Young lady opens door and is attacked by a land shark

Yes I remember actually watching that skit on Saturday Night Live when it first aired. It may not be the exact lines but it has been a few decades since I saw it.

[LibraryLass]

Tolkien used Ettercap in the Hobbit as an insult Bilbo hurled at the spiders (it basically means roughly dunderhead, it's association with spider creatures is a misunderstanding of that passage of the Hobbit

Tolkien used "Attercop", as Leon recommended. And it is indeed a word for spider, specifically a venomous spider. "Atter" cognate with "adder", "cop" cognate with "cob" as in "cobweb."