What does “Effulgent Epuration” even mean? Also spells with strange names

[Helluin]

I mean I know what each individual word means, but after all these years I never actually figured out what Effulgent Epuration is supposed to mean - in what way is it indicative of the spell’s function? What is being “epurated”? The incoming spells? The spellcaster?

Also please feel free to nominate other spells with names that you have to read twice to make sense of? :smalltongue:

[Mato]

I mean I know what each individual word means, but after all these years I never actually figured out what Effulgent Epuration is supposed to mean - in what way is it indicative of the spell’s function? What is being “epurated”? The incoming spells? The spellcaster?

Elminster's Effulgent Epuration
Elminster: A famous epic wizard in faerun.
Effulgent: A fancy synonym of radiant.
Epuration: Another fancy synonym of purge and/or purification.
Spell Effect: It summons several orbiting bright silver orbs that prevent bad/hostile, but not good/beneficial, spells from affecting the original creator & caster Elminster.

So I'm like, 99.999% sure it epurates "negative" magic. :smallsmile:

[noob]

Like Mordenkainen disjunction?
I mean what is it supposed to disjunct? Mordenkainens?
you have to read the spell to know what it does.

[Psyren]

Well the original (full) name is Elminster's Effulgent Epuration. So the funky/verbose name was meant to be combined with his for linguistic benefits. (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AddedAlliterativeAppeal)


Like Mordenkainen disjunction?
I mean what is it supposed to disjunct? Mordenkainens?
you have to read the spell to know what it does.

Mordenkainen is an archmage from the Greyhawk setting, similar to Bigby (of Bigby's Crushing Hand fame). A lot of the older spells were developed for specific campaigns or settings and so notable mages from those settings' fictions were tagged to them. Similar to Halaster's Fetch and the aforementioned EEE.

[noob]

Well the original (full) name is Elminster's Effulgent Epuration. So the funky/verbose name was meant to be combined with his for linguistic benefits. (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AddedAlliterativeAppeal)



Mordenkainen is an archmage from the Greyhawk setting, similar to Bigby (of Bigby's Crushing Hand fame). A lot of the older spells were developed for specific campaigns or settings and so notable mages from those settings' fictions were tagged to them. Similar to Halaster's Fetch and the aforementioned EEE.

At least now I know that mordenkainen made the spell.
It is not informative on what the spell disjuncts however and only reading the spell description or rules allows to understand.

[Oracle71]

Since joining means to come together, I am assuming "disjunction" means to reverse the joining of the spell components. In effect meaning to tear apart the spell, as if the spell emergy and components were never joined together.

[noob]

Since joining means to come together, I am assuming "disjunction" means to reverse the joining of the spell components. In effect meaning to tear apart the spell, as if the spell emergy and components were never joined together.

You can know it disjunct spells specifically and not instead disjunct machines or whatever only if you read the description so it still stands that the spell name is not enough informative.

[Telonius]

It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out how the "Apopsi" and "Catapsi" psionic powers were supposed to be pronounced. (My brain registered them both as nonsense letters until I figured out that -psi was the suffix...)

Defenestrating Sphere is another funny one. Does exactly what it says; it's a sphere that throws people out of a window (if any windows are available).

[The Glyphstone]

I like Defenestrating Orb, simply because it's a perfect description of the spell and still strange. It summons an orb that defenestrates people (throws them out of windows).

[jintoya]

Prestidigitation.

I think most of us know what it does now, but how many of us didn't look at it in the book and have to say it slow a few times before reading the description to find out what this spell does... Then promptly use it on sassy nobles to make their hair fall out or turn them green?

[JustIgnoreMe]

I, and I think a lot of people, always read it as “Mordenkainen’s Lubrication”...

[jintoya]

I, and I think a lot of people, always read it as “Mordenkainen’s Lubrication”...

My head was suddenly full of George Takei's voice going "OH my!"

[Coventry]

I can just hear Vir Cotto saying this:

I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your name and stick it on a pike, as a warning to the next ten generations of supplement authors that some spell names come with too high a price. Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Mordenkainen?

[Saintheart]

Fugue.

I'm sorry, I know it's a musical term and it's a bard spell and so I should be all appreciative of it and stuff, but the most instinctive way to pronounce this thing when you first encounter it is **** you. "I cast **** you." Which admittedly is probably an apt description of most of the Wizard's best spells in any event, but I just had to mention that one.

[Helluin]

Well the original (full) name is Elminster's Effulgent Epuration. So the funky/verbose name was meant to be combined with his for linguistic benefits. (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AddedAlliterativeAppeal)



Mordenkainen is an archmage from the Greyhawk setting, similar to Bigby (of Bigby's Crushing Hand fame). A lot of the older spells were developed for specific campaigns or settings and so notable mages from those settings' fictions were tagged to them. Similar to Halaster's Fetch and the aforementioned EEE.

...yeah, I know it’s Elminster’s Effulgent Epuration. I’m not saying alliteration is wrong, just that this spell name is hard to understand, but otherwise thanks :smalltongue:

[ben-zayb]

You can know it disjunct spells specifically and not instead disjunct machines or whatever only if you read the description so it still stands that the spell name is not enough informative.
The SRD version, Mage's Disjunction, arlt least clues you in on what it disjoins. Hint: It doesn't disjoin mages.

Fugue.

I'm sorry, I know it's a musical term and it's a bard spell and so I should be all appreciative of it and stuff, but the most instinctive way to pronounce this thing when you first encounter it is **** you. "I cast **** you." Which admittedly is probably an apt description of most of the Wizard's best spells in any event, but I just had to mention that one.
I always pronounced it as Fugu, as in the pufferfish of nearly similar spelling. I'd probably not look at the actual pronunciation because I want to keep saying it that way.

[Psyren]

It's pronounced "Fyoog." The last bit is silent, much like league or morgue.

[Remuko]

It's pronounced "Fyoog." The last bit is silent, much like league or morgue.

or since were in a D&D forum, Rogue

[Peelee]

I like Defenestrating Orb, simply because it's a perfect description of the spell and still strange. It summons an orb that defenestrates people (throws them out of windows).

If one counterspells that, are they effectively casting Refenestrating Orb?

[tiercel]

Shillelagh.

If you don’t already know some Irish, or something about Irish walking/fighting-sticks, or aren’t just nerdy or curious enough to know how this is pronounced, good luck actually pronouncing it shi-LAY-lee or shi-LAY-lə.

I mean, appropriate enough that a spell for “better fighting stick” comes from the name of a traditional fighting stick, but I think that was one of those spell names that I didn’t know how to pronounce for some time!

——

Also agree on Defenestrating Sphere just because “defenestrate” is one of those awesomely oddly specific words.

Elminster's Effulgent Epuration always sounded a bit like, er, Elminster was literally a little too excited, possibly some premature prestidigitation going on there.

——

Horrible Taste sounds like a straight line waiting to happen (add your own reference to Weird Al Yankovic’s “Tacky” here, etc.). I mean, yes, does what it literally says but....

Reciprocal Gyre sounds like it could do any number of “do unto others as they do unto you” effects as opposed to punishing buffstacks with damage (I mean, I get it, someone said “feedback loop” and sat down with a thesaurus, but still....)

Also, is it weird that “Reciprocal Gyre” triggers the SimCity soundbite “reticulating splines” in my head?

[Malphegor]

I, and I think a lot of people, always read it as “Mordenkainen’s Lubrication”...

That already exists, it just goes by a generic name.
Grease.

This thread is reminding me that my wizard’s goal in life used to be to invent a spell named Malphegor’s Mysteriously Malfeasant Magical Malady or something else as acceptably alliterative. Alas, I spend my gold and time on silly things like murderspells and magic shoes.

[Helluin]

Oh, here’s another one. Simbul’s Synostodweomer. Yeah, I can totally see how this is relevant given what the spell actually doesn :p

[Mato]

Oh, here’s another one. Simbul’s Synostodweomer. Yeah, I can totally see how this is relevant given what the spell actually doesn :pSynostodweomer, the generic spell printed in the SPC, is a combined word. Synosto(sis) is the abnormal development of joints while dweomer is the magical aura of a spell. It sounds to me like the spell abnormally alters another spell, like maybe seeing an arcane spell actually heal hit points?

Adding Sumbul's name to it is a little pointless. If you're going to use the intentionally heavily lore filled campaign versions of content, you should probably avoid trying to say it's confusing when you don't know the lore. Like the names of two of Greyhawk's archmages, Mordenkainen & Tenser, are both replaced by the generic term "mage" in the bland SRD versions so you know the name is referencing a person. Most named spells have an actual generic version reprinted somewhere.

[Kish]

Adding Sumbul's name to it is a little pointless. If you're going to use the intentionally heavily lore filled campaign versions of content, you should probably avoid trying to say it's confusing when you don't know the lore.
Both that spell and the thread-title spell were introduced to be used by specific characters--Elminster and the Simbul--as part of the events of the modules that the spells appeared in, not to be stuck in a core rulebook next to Magic Missile as "Joe Wizard automatically knows this." They're named for the wizards who invented them.

[Zaq]

It’s such a part of D&D culture (and, by extension, of fantasy gaming culture) now that we hardly notice, but it’s weird that we refer to “curing wounds.” That doesn’t actually flow naturally to me. Curing diseases makes sense to me, but you don’t cure injuries or wounds. You heal wounds, mend wounds, even fix wounds, but curing them only sounds okay because we’ve been talking about “CLW” for years/decades.

More in keeping with the original spirit of the thread, I’m not fond of the word “dweomer,” so spells like analyze dweomer always sound goofy to me. What fantasy universe did that word come from, even? It hasn’t seeped into mainstream usage enough to be readily recognizable (at least to me), and it sounds like Elmer Fudd talking about REM sleep. At least fifty-cent words like “amanuensis,” “lucubration,” and “effulgence” do show up in Merriam-Webster, but it’s a bit more challenging to figure out “dweomer” the first time you see it.

[The Viscount]

I feel like a significant number of the spells named after famous wizards have intentionally obscure words, and it definitely lends a lot of flavor to the world and the wizard class. It helps me the player realize that wizards are erudite, often self important, and have a unique sense of humor. One thing I do miss about the older style of spells named after wizards was that it showed you that they tended to specialize into one thing they really like doing, like Leomund and his building spells, or Bigby and his hand spells.
Two of the best examples:
Halaster's Shaking hand is so called not because it trembles, but because it's designed to "shake" any of Bibgy's hand spells by grappling with them.
Nybor's Gentle Reminder, Nybor's Mild Admonishment, and Nybor's Stern Reproof are a series of euphemistically named (and completed by the more ominous Nybor's Wrathful Castigation) necromancy spells with strong deleterious effects.

One of my favorite examples is Simbul's Skeletal Deliquescence, a word that I will admit I've never seen outside the context of this spell.

[Mato]

They're named for the wizards who invented them.Yes. And when the SpC (and sometimes other supplements) reprinted them or the SRD referenced them, they dropped the flavorful name so you didn't have to know anything about the in-game creator.

If you missed it, basically the point is instead of complaining about "Sumbul's" because you picked up the Faerun book that explains who Sumbul is a little too hard to understand, maybe you should use a printed version that doesn't reference Sumbul. The same goes for all of the famous mages such as Elminster & Mordenkainen.

Otherwise this thread is just going to waste time with questions like
A: "Jhanifer's Deliquescence is confusing"
B: "Have you tried reading the spell and how it says it was created by Syluna while pretending to be Jhanifer?"
A: "Who is 'Syluna'?"
B: "Have you tried reading the book it was printed in?"
A: "No, cus if I read that I couldn't post about how confused I was in my ignorance!"
B: ":smallsigh:"
Multiplied by the number of named mages in D&D. And there are a lot.

[ezekielraiden]

It’s such a part of D&D culture (and, by extension, of fantasy gaming culture) now that we hardly notice, but it’s weird that we refer to “curing wounds.” That doesn’t actually flow naturally to me. Curing diseases makes sense to me, but you don’t cure injuries or wounds. You heal wounds, mend wounds, even fix wounds, but curing them only sounds okay because we’ve been talking about “CLW” for years/decades.

More in keeping with the original spirit of the thread, I’m not fond of the word “dweomer,” so spells like analyze dweomer always sound goofy to me. What fantasy universe did that word come from, even? It hasn’t seeped into mainstream usage enough to be readily recognizable (at least to me), and it sounds like Elmer Fudd talking about REM sleep. At least fifty-cent words like “amanuensis,” “lucubration,” and “effulgence” do show up in Merriam-Webster, but it’s a bit more challenging to figure out “dweomer” the first time you see it.

It comes from the fantasy universe called "Earth," in the obscure and fantastical language known as "Old English." More seriously, "dweomer" is a common alternate spelling of "dwimmer," which is an archaic English word (https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/dwimmer#English) that means magic or witchcraft (in particular, illusions or magical deception). It comes from Anglo-Saxon. (http://bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/008162) Tolkien used it (dwimmer) twice in the LotR books. In fact, these uses may be single-handedly responsible for putting the word back into use at all.

[Helluin]

Yes. And when the SpC (and sometimes other supplements) reprinted them or the SRD referenced them, they dropped the flavorful name so you didn't have to know anything about the in-game creator.

If you missed it, basically the point is instead of complaining about "Sumbul's" because you picked up the Faerun book that explains who Sumbul is a little too hard to understand, maybe you should use a printed version that doesn't reference Sumbul. The same goes for all of the famous mages such as Elminster & Mordenkainen.

Otherwise this thread is just going to waste time with questions like
A: "Jhanifer's Deliquescence is confusing"
B: "Have you tried reading the spell and how it says it was created by Syluna while pretending to be Jhanifer?"
A: "Who is 'Syluna'?"
B: "Have you tried reading the book it was printed in?"
A: "No, cus if I read that I couldn't post about how confused I was in my ignorance!"
B: ":smallsigh:"
Multiplied by the number of named mages in D&D. And there are a lot.

I literally have not said anything about Simbul being the cause of confusion. I know who Simbul is, or Elminster for that matter. I also know what that they invented those spells. Is it so hard to realize that it is the odd choice of words that I find amusing? And yes, I know how to look up Synostosis, Effulgent, and Epuration in a dictionary, but does it make the spells’ names any more descriptive of their actual effects?

Notice how I didn’t name spells like, say, Elminster’s Evasion, Simbul’s Spell Matrix, Dalamar’s Lightning Lance, or even Mordenkainen’s buzzing bee? Ever thought about why?

How many people actually say “Noanar’s Fireball” in their games? Probably no one (unless you play a game set in the Netherese era) because how many people know or care who Noanar is? Yet if you were to refer to the spell as Noanar’s Fireball, I bet most people will likely realize that it’s some sort of... well, I don’t know, Fireball spell? Adding an archwizard’s name doesn’t impede understanding whatsoever in this case. Can the same be said for Simbul’s Synostodweomer vs. Synostodweomer?

If YOU missed it, lore-related reference is never part of the confusion. Literally no one is diverting the thread to the direction you described, other than you.

And here I thought my thread might slowly turn into something amusing to read, oh well.

[Remuko]

I feel like a significant number of the spells named after famous wizards have intentionally obscure words, and it definitely lends a lot of flavor to the world and the wizard class. It helps me the player realize that wizards are erudite, often self important, and have a unique sense of humor. One thing I do miss about the older style of spells named after wizards was that it showed you that they tended to specialize into one thing they really like doing, like Leomund and his building spells, or Bigby and his hand spells.
Two of the best examples:
Halaster's Shaking hand is so called not because it trembles, but because it's designed to "shake" any of Bibgy's hand spells by grappling with them.
Nybor's Gentle Reminder, Nybor's Mild Admonishment, and Nybor's Stern Reproof are a series of euphemistically named (and completed by the more ominous Nybor's Wrathful Castigation) necromancy spells with strong deleterious effects.

One of my favorite examples is Simbul's Skeletal Deliquescence, a word that I will admit I've never seen outside the context of this spell.

I looked that word up and im not surprised. That is quite specific a term.

for those who dont know:


Deliquescence, the process by which a substance absorbs moisture from the atmosphere until it dissolves in the absorbed water and forms a solution.

[Kish]

Yes. And when the SpC (and sometimes other supplements) reprinted them or the SRD referenced them, they dropped the flavorful name so you didn't have to know anything about the in-game creator.

If you missed it, basically the point is instead of complaining about "Sumbul's"
Simbul. One u. One i. And the Simbul, not a proper name.

[tiercel]

Simbul. One u. One i. And the Simbul, not a proper name.

Unless in your game world, the Simbul comes to stand for some kind of noisy, attention getting phenomenon that breaks people out of a depression, in which case the Simbul is a simple Symbal cymbal symbol.

[Zaq]

Unless in your game world, the Simbul comes to stand for some kind of noisy, attention getting phenomenon that breaks people out of a depression, in which case the Simbul is a simple Symbal cymbal symbol.

C’mon man. That’s some bull.

[tiercel]

C’mon man. That’s some bull.

Oh, I do not.... dissemble. :cool:

[Malphegor]

To be fair, it is appropriate to have weirdly named spells though.

After all, it gets a wizard highly aware of the weird spelling of those words!

[Helluin]

To be fair, it is appropriate to have weirdly named spells though.

After all, it gets a wizard highly aware of the weird spelling of those words!

Delete this :smallsigh:

[Âmesang]

It comes from the fantasy universe called "Earth," in the obscure and fantastical language known as "Old English." More seriously, "dweomer" is a common alternate spelling of "dwimmer," which is an archaic English word (https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/dwimmer#English) that means magic or witchcraft (in particular, illusions or magical deception). It comes from Anglo-Saxon. (http://bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/008162) Tolkien used it (dwimmer) twice in the LotR books. In fact, these uses may be single-handedly responsible for putting the word back into use at all.
I used "dweomer" myself when creating some magic-item manipulating spells for a sorceress, with the intent of centering them on a theme; I figured it'd give 'em that "arcane/archaic" feel and stand out more readily (and in the case of dweomerdrain, alliteration).

[Zaq]

As written in 3.5, eyebite does not involve eyes, biting, eyes that bite, or biting of eyes.

[Malphegor]

As written in 3.5, eyebite does not involve eyes, biting, eyes that bite, or biting of eyes.

I thought it did involve eyes? All descriptions outside the srd I can find of that spell suggest it's basically the Evil Eye from folklore- witch rides into town, gives you a glare whilst muttering some mumbly jumbles, you feel sick, like you're afflicted by the worst flu of your life.

I have no idea where the 'bite' comes from though.