Embrace it
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The part you’re missing is that it’s the Feywild, often known for trickery and being literal with language. I.E. The classic “can I have your name?” being a Fey asking to steal your identity.
In the Feywild specifically, the DM’s pun could have literal power in that the characters would take a literal fall, and players in the Feywild should be prepared for such shenanigans.
The classic “can I have your name?” being a Fey asking to steal your identity.
Which always annoys me. I’m just giving them my name, not my identity. And definitely not any sort of power over me.
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Also know that, as I live there
I think this wordplay just doesn’t hit for me. That’s fine.
Maybe it would help to know that the Fey are known to delight in wordplay based magical trickery (e.g. the old “Can I have your name?” bit). It’s not just that the pun exists, but that it’s not the DM just making them roll for “fall” damage because he thinks it’s funny, it’s the sort of thing that canonically happens in the Feywild.
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The joke being that autumn is called fall and the feywild is a hyper literal world so they were probably going to take fall damage.
I thanks for the explanation. Very good summery of the joke. Didn’t get it until you explained it.
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Puns should be graded on a circular scale. The worst puns are the best puns
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The classic “can I have your name?” being a Fey asking to steal your identity.
Which always annoys me. I’m just giving them my name, not my identity. And definitely not any sort of power over me.
Once upon a time it was believed that to know a thing’s true name was to have complete power over it.
This isn’t commonly held today )why would it be) but I think that’s where this trope comes from.
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Also know that, as I live there
I think this wordplay just doesn’t hit for me. That’s fine.
Because they just stepped into fall, the party was going to take fall damage. Feather fall prevents fall damage.
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Once upon a time it was believed that to know a thing’s true name was to have complete power over it.
This isn’t commonly held today )why would it be) but I think that’s where this trope comes from.
Source? I’ve heard people say that, but I don’t know of any stories where that happens. I’ve seen something saying Rumpelstiltskin is an example, but as far as I can find the queen got to keep her baby because Rumpelstiltskin agreed to let her if she guesses his name. It doesn’t look like knowing his name itself had any effect.
Also, if that is true, then this fey taking things literally would have the opposite effect. If you just tell the fey your name, or they find out through any other method, then they’d have power over you. But if they literally take your name, then it’s their name, and now you know their name and you can control them.
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Source? I’ve heard people say that, but I don’t know of any stories where that happens. I’ve seen something saying Rumpelstiltskin is an example, but as far as I can find the queen got to keep her baby because Rumpelstiltskin agreed to let her if she guesses his name. It doesn’t look like knowing his name itself had any effect.
Also, if that is true, then this fey taking things literally would have the opposite effect. If you just tell the fey your name, or they find out through any other method, then they’d have power over you. But if they literally take your name, then it’s their name, and now you know their name and you can control them.
No clue where I learned that. So take it with a grain of salt.
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Source? I’ve heard people say that, but I don’t know of any stories where that happens. I’ve seen something saying Rumpelstiltskin is an example, but as far as I can find the queen got to keep her baby because Rumpelstiltskin agreed to let her if she guesses his name. It doesn’t look like knowing his name itself had any effect.
Also, if that is true, then this fey taking things literally would have the opposite effect. If you just tell the fey your name, or they find out through any other method, then they’d have power over you. But if they literally take your name, then it’s their name, and now you know their name and you can control them.
Scroll to the bottom and expand the “Myths & Religion” section for historic examples, including the Bible.
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Source? I’ve heard people say that, but I don’t know of any stories where that happens. I’ve seen something saying Rumpelstiltskin is an example, but as far as I can find the queen got to keep her baby because Rumpelstiltskin agreed to let her if she guesses his name. It doesn’t look like knowing his name itself had any effect.
Also, if that is true, then this fey taking things literally would have the opposite effect. If you just tell the fey your name, or they find out through any other method, then they’d have power over you. But if they literally take your name, then it’s their name, and now you know their name and you can control them.
The myths and legends podcast covers them in a good number of stories. I can’t remember any of them but a cursory search shows that Isis and Ra have a story involving true names and their power. https://mythology.stackexchange.com/questions/4770/which-cultures-have-the-concept-of-a-true-or-secret-name
Edit: I completely forgot…the Jews also believed this in regard to God’s name.
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Scroll to the bottom and expand the “Myths & Religion” section for historic examples, including the Bible.
I don’t see fey mentioned in any of them. Why do I always hear about this in the feywild?
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The myths and legends podcast covers them in a good number of stories. I can’t remember any of them but a cursory search shows that Isis and Ra have a story involving true names and their power. https://mythology.stackexchange.com/questions/4770/which-cultures-have-the-concept-of-a-true-or-secret-name
Edit: I completely forgot…the Jews also believed this in regard to God’s name.
Any involving fey?
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Any involving fey?
I can’t remember.
