Assorted Fluff Questions

[willpell]

This is another thread I'm starting for miscellaneous questions which don't fit in the Simple RAW Question thread. I'll try not to let it turn into a rant like the last one did; it's at least a bit more focused, being specifically about fluff rather than crunch (though there's some overlap).

1. Is there any information on the Thri-Kreen life cycle and their definition of sexuality? Given that Wizards is unlikely to ever publish a Sex and D&D book (well, maybe in the 2060s-70s if they turn out to be anything like the 1960s-70s), and Thri-Kreen are product identity and thus couldn't be included in a third-party book, I'm surprised if there's anything, but maybe Dark Sun at least hinted at the details. I assume that they lay eggs like most insects but beyond that I'm at a loss.

2. Are there any species in D&D world that (explicitly or by extension) see in the ultraviolet? The closest I can guess would be the Abeils, since they're bee-people and bees have UV vision, but they have no mechanics suggestive of heightened perception that I recall.

3. On a related note, is there a spell or power or something which can be used to borrow another creature's extra senses? I'm interested in speculating on how the brain would process information like that, such as interpreting ultraviolet as an eighth color in the rainbow and then trying to figure out what to call it.

[Fitz10019]

I'm interested in speculating on how the brain would process information like that, such as interpreting ultraviolet as an eighth color in the rainbow and then trying to figure out what to call it.

I suggest you lay out ROYGBIV, and anything seen in ultraviolet rotates the colors 2 letters forward.

You may want to add these to ROYGBIV, or make them a separate rotation:
Gray, Brown, Gold, Silver, Steel, Bronze, Copper, Tan

You could also roll a d4 for each player, to mean different brains adapt in different ways.

White remains white, and black remains black, but white seems to press towards you, and black seems to draw you into its depths.

Should darkvision + ultraviolet vision yield a different result?

[willpell]

Now you're talkin! I don't know about any of those suggestions, but they are very interesting to consider at the least.

[Yora]

The original box set says thri-kreen basically live in packs and have no differentiation in gender roles. They are young adults at age 6 and can live up to 35 years.

To my knowledge, D&D never made any references to special abilities of sight except infravision, low-light vision, and darkvision.

[hamishspence]

There was an "ultravision" in AD&D 1st ed, but it hasn't been much mentioned since. Drow had it. I believe 2nd ed may have phased it out- giving drow infravision instead.

[Kelb_Panthera]

1) the basic outline of the thri-kreen life cycle is in xph or cpsi if I'm not mistaken.

2)Not to the best of my knowledge.

3) Sense link, Psion/wilder 1 and the forced version psion/wilder 2 both telepathy. There's no fluff attached, but I don't see any reason you wouldn't see exactly what the target sees (or hears, or smells, or tastes, but not feels oddly enough.)

[Gamer Girl]

1. They printed plenty of fluff back in 2E for Dark Sun. The Thri-Kreen even got their own 96 page source book....

Check out http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=thri-kreen%20of%20athas&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Athri-kreen%20of%20athas&page=1

2.No, not in 3/4 E. That is too much hard science. In 1/2 E tons of races had Ultravision.

3.Polymorph? Reminds me of Beyond the Moons and old D&D Spelljammer novel, where a human and an illithind talk about how each of them 'sees' the world.

[Kelb_Panthera]

1. They printed plenty of fluff back in 2E for Dark Sun. The Thri-Kreen even got their own 96 page source book....

Check out http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=thri-kreen%20of%20athas&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Athri-kreen%20of%20athas&page=1

2.No, not in 3/4 E. That is too much hard science. In 1/2 E tons of races had Ultravision.

3.Polymorph? Reminds me of Beyond the Moons and old D&D Spelljammer novel, where a human and an illithind talk about how each of them 'sees' the world.

@3: That book sounds mind-bogglingly interesting. Is there anything else you can tell us about it, or a link you can provide?

Edit: found it on amazon. I may have to pickup a copy.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by willpell
On a related note, is there a spell or power or something which can be used to borrow another creature's extra senses?

Magic of Faerûn has a druid spell called Share Husk, which allows you to perceive the world through a specific animal's senses. They called out sight, hearing and scent as what you receive, so anything more would be a DM call.

I loved this spell when I ran a druid, because it gave me eyes in the sky even when I wasn't wildshaped. Chain of Eyes from Complete Divine is a similar concept, but a higher-level spell and restricted to sight alone.

[Laserlight]

Are there any species in D&D world that (explicitly or by extension) see in the ultraviolet?

Well, yes--humans. There are some humans who can see a couple of colors of ultraviolet. I believe it's linked to blond / blue eyed.

[Duke of Urrel]

Regarding your second question:

Terry Pratchett has a name for the eighth color beyond violet. It's called "octarine." You can look it up in the Discworld Wiki, but no description of it will help you.

Wine tasters have developed a rich vocabulary, adopted from other senses and tastes, to describe the various nuances in wine flavors and aromas. When they describe how a wine tastes, they refer to all kinds of foods, but never, never to grapes.

This may be good advice when trying to describe colors outside of our visible spectrum. Don't try to describe them in terms of colors inside the visible spectrum. Use completely different words, maybe even borrowed from other senses. A little synesthesia is always welcome in fantasy prose.

On the other hand, Fitz10019 seems to have done a good job using color vocabulary in creative new ways, so I shouldn't stop you from developing this technique further if that serves your purposes.

[motoko's ghost]

Given that Wizards is unlikely to ever publish a Sex and D&D book (well, maybe in the 2060s-70s if they turn out to be anything like the 1960s-70s

Wait is the Book of Erotic Fantasy a Wizards product?

[TuggyNE]

Wait is the Book of Erotic Fantasy a Wizards product?

No, it's not.

[willpell]

Wait is the Book of Erotic Fantasy a Wizards product?

Very precisely not. It was published through the OGL by a third-party group and thus could not contain Product Identity such as Thri-Kreen. Wizards would never risk the public backlash associated with producing adult-oriented material for one of their flagship properties.


Terry Pratchett has a name for the eighth color beyond violet. It's called "octarine." You can look it up in the Discworld Wiki, but no description of it will help you.

I knew somebody would mention that. But Discworld is a comedy, so it could hardly be expected to address its subject in a realistic and helpful way. The same is true, for the opposite reason, of H.P. Lovecraft's "The Colour Out of Space".

[Fitz10019]

I knew somebody would mention ... Discworld ... comedy

Satire would be a more accurate description.

Some Discworld novels have interesting descriptions of the additional information a dog/wolf/werewolf perceives by scent, and these are sometimes colors, tactile descriptions or even emotions, I think. This steers you toward Duke of Urrel's expanded flavors approach, which is much more expansive than my color rotation suggestion.

PC: What is the mayor wearing?
DM: His finely tailored outfit includes a shirt of brittle optimism, and pants of disappointed pear, with matching jacket.

[SaintRidley]

Very precisely not. It was published through the OGL by a third-party group and thus could not contain Product Identity such as Thri-Kreen. Wizards would never risk the public backlash associated with producing adult-oriented material for one of their flagship properties.



Which is why the Book of Vile Darkness is totally family-friendly.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Which is why the Book of Vile Darkness is totally family-friendly.

BoVD, and BoED for that matter, is tagged on its cover as containing material for mature audiences. As far as I know, they're the only official WotC D&D supplements that do.

[SaintRidley]

BoVD, and BoED for that matter, is tagged on its cover as containing material for mature audiences. As far as I know, they're the only official WotC D&D supplements that do.

Not sure how to respond to this other than by saying I already know that and was alluding to that fact with my sarcastic comment.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Not sure how to respond to this other than by saying I already know that and was alluding to that fact with my sarcastic comment.

Something probably got lost in translation, text being a poor medium for conveying tone.

I'm no longer sure what you were trying to imply with the comment now.

[eggs]

That BoVD demonstrates that WotC does print material that's explicitly and deliberately not family-friendly?

[Analytica]

I wonder if the synesthete psionic power could be used for this somehow... or touchsight.

[SaintRidley]

Something probably got lost in translation, text being a poor medium for conveying tone.

I'm no longer sure what you were trying to imply with the comment now.

Well, that WotC did actually "risk he public backlash associated with producing adult-oriented material for one of their flagship properties."

Or, as eggs put it:

That BoVD demonstrates that WotC does print material that's explicitly and deliberately not family-friendly?

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Laserlight
There are some humans who can see a couple of colors of ultraviolet.

Well, under rare circumstances, and apparently it's almost always due to absence or removal of the lens, which ordinarily blocks UV light. The condition is called aphakia, and there's an interesting summary here (http://starklab.slu.edu/humanUV.htm), by a biologist who's aphakic in one eye.

"What does UV light look like? Actually, it looks a desaturated (whiteish) blue."



And to further pursue the OP's question about species that can see in the ultraviolet...it seems that quite few of them can, including some lizards, rodents, and birds of prey, such as kestrels. Apparently the raptors are scanning on high for the trails left by rodents, which are more visible in UV.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Well, that WotC did actually "risk he public backlash associated with producing adult-oriented material for one of their flagship properties."



Undermining the idea that WotC would never print a supplement with potentially objectionable material, specifically material pertaining to the sexuality and reproduction of various creatures in this case.

Do I understand you correctly now?

[willpell]

Well, that WotC did actually "risk he public backlash associated with producing adult-oriented material for one of their flagship properties."

Or, as eggs put it:

There is a significant difference between a supplement that contains a little sexually explicit content (and calls out all of that content and most of sexuality in general, and deserving to be condemned as the vilest evil, thus making it more 'acceptible' to the social meanstream than if it were actually 'glorified', though of course this is backward logic), and a supplement that is entirely and exclusively about sexuality.


Well, under rare circumstances, and apparently it's almost always due to absence or removal of the lens, which ordinarily blocks UV light. The condition is called aphakia, and there's an interesting summary here (http://starklab.slu.edu/humanUV.htm), by a biologist who's aphakic in one eye.

"What does UV light look like? Actually, it looks a desaturated (whiteish) blue."

Very interesting, thank you. I wonder how much it messes up your health to not have a lens in one eye....