Why is it called duskblade?

[Elves]

What is this class name supposed to mean exactly? Their swords are all dusky because the blades are fried from channeling so many shocking grasps? It's always seemed weird to me, is there a rationale?

[Vizzerdrix]

Because night blade was copyrighted already.

[Buddy76]

Well, page 19 of the Player's Handbook II ("Making a Duskblade" session, second paragraph) says this:


Historical accounts vary on why they were called
duskblades; some say the name is symbolic of how they
combined swordplay and arcane magic—a night-and-day
combination. Others contend that the duskblades earned
their name when they were charged with preserving the elf
race in the face of a tide of darkness and evil.

So you can probably pick both one of the explanations, both or neither. My guess is that the designers thought "Duskblade" sounded cool.

[Silvercrys]

I think it's related to more general mythology. A lot of ancient cultures viewed the night time as the domain of magic or think that the veil between our world and "the other world" (for whatever cultural definition thereof) is weaker then, which increases the power of magic.

The night is subtle, the domain of witches, wizards, warlocks, and magical creatures like faeries. While the day is ruled by steel and armies and other physical manifestations of power.

The "duskblade", then, straddles the line between the two.

This is all purely speculation, for the record, but it's how I always thought of it.

[Psyren]

I mean, while we're at it, I'm not a big fan of "Magus" for the same concept either. "Swordmage" is much more straightforward, but 4e nabbed that. I'm surprised nobody can use "Mageblade" though.

[Elves]

Honestly I'd like a name that doesn't imply swords or blades either. Similarly to how "duskblade" locks a character into an overspecific color palette, I think it's too limiting. Gish is a good word for it, so good in fact that it doesn't deserve to be limited to a single class though.

For duskblade, maybe "channeler". Or just "spellknight/mageknight".