Ari's Random Thoughts

On the one hand, it's true that the way Dungeons & Dragons defines terms like "sorcerer" and "warlock" and "wizard" is really only relevant to Dungeons & Dragons and its associated media – indeed, how these terms are used isn't even consistent between editions of D&D! – and trying to apply them in other contexts is rarely productive.

On the other hand, it's not true that these sorts of fine-grained taxonomies of types of magic are strictly a D&D-ism and never occur elsewhere. That folks make this argument is typically a symptom of being unfamiliar with Dungeons & Dragons' source material. D&D's main inspirations are American literary sword and sorcery fantasy spanning roughly the 1930s through the early 1980s, and fine-grained taxonomies of magic users absolutely do appear in these sources; they just aren't anything like as consistent as the folks who try to cram everything into the sorcerer/warlock/wizard model would prefer.

For example, in Lydon Hardy's "Five Magics" series, the five types of magical practitioners are:

"Warlock", meanwhile, isn't a type of practitioner, but does appear as pejorative term for a wizard who's lost a contest of wills with one of their own summoned demons.

Conversely, Lawrence Watt-Evans' "Legends of Ethshar" series includes such types of magic-users as:

You'll note that both taxonomies include something called a "sorcerer", something called a "warlock", and something called a "wizard", but what those terms mean in their respective contexts agrees neither with the Dungeons & Dragons definitions, nor with each other.

(Admittedly, these examples are from the 1980s, and are thus not free of D&D's influence; I picked them because they both happened to use all three of the terms in question in ways that are at odds with how D&D uses them. You can find similar taxonomies of magic use in earlier works, but I would have had to use many more examples to offer multiple competing definitions of each of "sorcerer", "warlock" and "wizard", and this post is already long enough!)

So basically what I'm saying is giving people a hard time about using these terms "wrong" – particularly if your objection is that they're not using them in a way that's congruent with however D&D's flavour of the week uses them – makes you a dick, but simply having this sort of taxonomy has a rich history within the genre. Wizard phylogeny is a time-honoured tradition!

It's also worth remembering that the Wizard/Sorcerer distinction only turned up in D&D 3e in 2000, and Warlocks weren't added to the mix until 2004,

As a slight correction, "warlock" first appears in Dungeons & Dragons as a mechanically distinct type of magic-user in the 2nd Edition supplement Player's Option: Spells & Magic in 1996 – though this warlock is quite different from its later incarnations, being a setting-neutral adaptation of the "dark powers" mechanics initially introduced in the Ravenloft campaign setting.

#359 Baby - Absol live in remote mountains, far from civilization, in order to keep their young safe from the dark rumors that plague their species. Parents protect their eggs with single-minded focus, using their ability to sense disasters to protect their offspring from all threats. Newly hatched Absol pups, nicknamed Unsu, stay close to their dens, relying on their parents for protection until their sharp leg spikes grow in and their scythe-like horn further develops. Due to the parent’s strict guarding of their pups, humans almost never encounter young Absol in the wild; it is an immense sign of trust for an Absol to introduce it’s pup to a human.

Named: Unsu - Absol

This baby Absol was commissioned and belongs to Daraen J. Marley.

#359 Mega - Absol are reclusive Pokemon who will bond absolutely with a trainer who proves their worth. If their trainer possesses both the Key Stone and Absolite, an Absol may Mega Evolve during battle. The process amplifies Absol’s energy, causing the fur at the back of their mane to temporarily grow and stand on end, giving them the appearance of wings. Mega Absol grow longer spikes and an additional horn, which focuses their natural ability to sense disasters and grants them the ability Magic Bounce.

[Old Version]

Solu - Absol Pre-evolution

- - - - - - - - - -

Follow for more In-Progress Pokemon evolutions! 

FAQ | Social Media | Pokemon Index | Commission Information

I'm just saying, if there's a curse that runs along your family line and you don't tell your kids about it, how the hell are they supposed to go on a quest to stop it?

Tell your children about your medical history.

Mythbusters have 3 categories of myths

4. Turn up the dynamite, let's MAKE it real

I was just grocery shopping and for a while I was in line behind the peak possible combination of parent and child, here is my 1 minute recreation from memory

tired: mermaids are all women

wired: much like elves, merfolk are mistaken by sailors for being all women because they have long hair and are very pretty

inspired: merfolk actually have very different concepts of gender to humans because they’re an entirely different species with their own unique culture

marine scientist: what’s your gender?

merperson: what’s a gender

marine scientist: like, are you a man or a woman?

merperson: i’m merfolk

marine scientist: no, like, what’s in your pants?

merperson: i don’t… wear any? i don’t have legs?

It’s a biological fact that fish do indeed change their sex to keep the male/female ratio balanced in their school population. So this fluidity actually makes more sense from a scientific standpoint than the silly idea that merfolk are born with a strictly assigned sex like humans.

Merfolk are all canonically genderfluid and we love them for that

Human: (invites merfolk friend to a boat party with their friends)

Merfolk: oh man, there are a lot of women here. Haha don’t worry guys, I got this :) *changes into a man to keep a balance because that’s culturally polite for merfolk*

Human: (spits drink) what the FUCK

OH MY GOD

So in the presence of a ship with an entirely or mostly male crew, nearby mermaids would become female to keep the balance.

Tudors ladies in love

occasional posts from users

reblog if you make occasional posts

Sometimes I still hear my voice

Baby Emblem. Three Babies

did i ever tell you guy about the time i got stuck in a room with the kpop band BTS in the santiago airport in 2017

so at the time i was traveling a lot for work, which is important context because it meant that i’d gotten very – or, one might argue, TOO – comfortable in airports and also that i was constantly in the wrong timezone and almost never thinking like a regular person. and on this particular trip i’d been in like 4 different countries and santiago was my last stop and literally all i wanted to do was like, get there, get to my hotel, and sleep. but for reasons that were not clear to me at the time, the airport seemed to be conspiring to keep me from doing this, because it was busy and because – it seemed – it was understaffed, with people being funneled through just one exit door.

now, part of the problem, in defense of the airport and its staff, was that at the time i was carrying this huge plank, which was sort of supposed to be a cheese board, but it didn’t look like a cheese board, it just looked like a huge plank. and the reason i was carrying it was because it had been a gift from the staff of a homeless shelter i’d just been at. and i’m not saying that so that you guys know i’m a good person i’m saying it because i need you to picture me with huge dark circles under my eyes, carrying a suitcase and this massive, misshapen plank that i kept insisting was “for cheese.”

anyway, once we all agreed that it was okay for me to keep my Cheese Wood, and having been to santiago many times before this, i knew that there was another exit door after customs. even though we were all sort of being funneled toward Door B, there was nobody stationed in front of Door A, and it didn’t seem like you weren’t allowed to go, it just seemed like one of those things where because the only bag-X-ray-machine things in use were close to Door B, that’s where everyone was going.

so in my little brain i thought, aha. this is one of those things where people join lines but they don’t have to! this is sheepery! i’m taking my cheese wood and i’m going rogue.

so anyway i went through Door A.

you know how usually when you go through the first set of doors in an airport you enter into this big bustling area where all the car rentals and currency exchanges etc are and it’s stressful and busy?

this was not like that.

this was like that guy on tiktok who’s like “oooo i’m in a parallel universe where i’m the only one left on earth” except in my case it was me, a single Avis employee, and, of course, the extremely famous kpop band BTS.

the room got very quiet. there were a couple of cameramen if i’m remembering rightly, and a woman with like …. a clipboard or something?, and then this group of boys, all of whom were now looking at me.

i was tired but not a moron so i very quickly realized this was not a room meant for me so i turned around, but i had gone through one of those doors where once you go through in one direction you can’t go back. so i was stuck.

i turned around again. they were still all looking at me.

i was like, “uhhhhh.”

they were like, “uhhhhh.”

the poor lady with the clipboard said something very nervously in korean, presumably whatever is korean for, “uhhhhh.”

anyway, one thing about me is, i frequently find myself in situations where the only way out is through, so what i did was kind of half wave my Cheese Wood at them – which made EVERYBODY flinch – and then go over to the Avis employee and say, “i need to get a taxi.”

he was like, “you might … want to wait?” and gestured at the guys standing in the middle of the room, who were still looking at me with what was rapidly becoming clear was worry.

i’m a little nervous about putting any other words in quotations, bc no offense but BTS fans are very intense and i don’t want to inaccurately quote their beloveds, but i think once it became clear to them that i wasn’t a threat, i was just stupid, everybody seemed to relax.

in english, i said, “should i wait?” and gestured at the door.

one of them, and i’m really sorry but i have no idea which, the only thing i remember about them was one had blue hair and one very like … reddish? like you know that kpop red hair color??, said, “you should go first.”

so the Avis guy went over to the taxi stand and reserved me a taxi and let me pay in advance. we were all kind of standing awkwardly. i was like, “sorry about this.”

the BTS boys were very nice to me. we didn’t really talk a lot, we sort of did that thing where we laughed companionably at each other about how weird the situation was, and they were like, “it’s okay,” when i kept apologizing. i kind of remember that we nervously kind of chatted about nothing, but they were clearly nervous and i was very embarrassed so i sort of blacked it all out. i feel like mostly i was speaking to the one with red hair? and white hair, i think one had white hair?

eventually Clipboard Lady came over and started gesturing toward the door, indicating i should go. i looked at the band for confirmation. the one who’d been speaking to me was like, “yeah, it’s okay, you can go.” and then paused, and then, i do remember this, went, “umm, good luck.”

i was like ????? bro i’ve taken taxis before and i speak fluent spanish, but i didn’t say that out loud. out loud i said, “thanks! you too,” and then felt very stupid about it.

the band stepped back, which i now know was so that they couldn’t be seen through the doors when they opened, but at the time sort of felt like they were gently clearing the way for the dumb stray with her huge stick that they’d found. i waved goodbye. they waved back. i stepped forward. the doors began to open.

a roar went up.

i mean like.

it was loud. we were at an airport and it was louder than the planes, it felt like. they were so excited. they were going to see the band they loved!!!!! BTS was coming out!!!!

the speed at which silence fell will honestly probably haunt me forever. eventually, one girl went, “WHERE ARE THEY?”

i pointed at the airport. “they’re in the airport,” i said. i didn’t have to shout. that’s how quiet it was.

“do you know them????”

i was like, “no. i’m just trying to get to my hotel.” i waved my cheese wood as if this would somehow make clear that i was here on business that had nothing to do with the 7 korean boys in the room behind me.

the girl said, “when are they coming out?”

“i honestly have no idea. probably soon?” i guessed, and was saved from more questions by somebody’s dad taking pity on me and leading me to where the taxis were waiting.

“what’s that?” he asked as he helped me lift my suitcase into the trunk, pointing at the plank in my hand.

“it’s for cheese,” i said.

POV you’ve been dragged in front of the power couple of Baldur’s Gate and you’re in trouble ✨️

my parents have no issue with my art being explicit or sexual and are very supportive and this is great. the issue is they’re too supportive. my dad will whip out his phone and show neighbors we barely know paintings of naked trans men on their knees and be like ^_^ im so proud of my son!!!

once i told my mom that if she invited my 90 year old grandmother to my art show that she should warn her that theres sex in it. and she was like ‘your grandmother knows what sex is. she’ll be fine’

top tip for gms: if you dont want your players coming up with some stupid fuck name for their party just have an npc call them a collective nickname like youre gently offering food to a scared stray dog from a distance where it feels safe enough to not bolt on sight

i had my players face off against a group with a cool name, to set a role model, and you know what they did? killed them, stole their exact name, and tacked on "#2" at the end. there's no winning. i can't win.

boops you

I love those "asking cosplayers at a con what their day job is" videos because it's always like

*muffled voice issuing from a huge suit of armor* im a cybersecurity specialist

or it's like

*woman in a bunnysuit* im a phd candidate in neuroscience

*guy in fully operational digitigrade mechsuit* I uh bag groceries.

Yeah I built it myself from scratch.