I don't like the idea of magical names. They aren't descriptive enough and if some names are magical it makes very little sense for all names not to be magical then. When choosing traits I would rather have simple and descriptive names, not have to choose between a dozen traits named Fajingifs Fury or Ghostlittles Sound Economic Sense. 

You can always add a explanatory backstory if you want to explain why your champion has certain traits. Having magical names would actually reduce the ability to create original heroes.

I can see your point on that- keeping them open ended like maligned or ailing does allow more means of interpretation (and thus a larger range of application for the same game effect).

Glad to hear someone else is worried about the magical names. Personally I wouldn't even mind having red dragons in the game. Descriptive names are good, you don't need to go check tooltips or whatevers just to find out what something is. Ravenous Harridan? Oh yeah, that was the spider... of course I just had to pick DsRaider's own suggestion as an example 

Yeah the Ravenous Harridan is pretty strange a name. Hard to know that it means a spider. Sorry DsRaider, but can't really help but be confused about it.

hopefully it will be name plus picture - then the name provides the flavour, and the picture is worth a thousand words.  It may even be a quest where you don't initially know what you will be facing ..."Snakes.  Why did it have to be snakes."

Harridan: A woman regarded as scolding and vicious.

Ravenous:

1. Extremely hungry; voracious.
2. Rapacious; predatory.
3. Greedy for gratification

It's a giant Black Widow not a just a spider. Black Widows are predominately female because the females are known for eating the males after mating, hence the name Black Widows. Get it? Thus the name Ravenous Harridan makes perfect sense and is just a cooler and less repetitive way of saying Giant Black Widow. I guess we could always go for the easier to understand Even Bigger Blackish Spidery Thing...

I think you're missing the point. I understand your logic behind the naming, but Harridan doesn't say "spider" to me, and I of course understand that you want to defend your idea for a name. No need to attack me.

Black Widow works because it's an actual name for an actual well known spider in the world. Therefore it's easier for players to make the connection. Ravenous Harridan to me could be any kind of creature; an orc race, a flying monster or just as well some rock-like monster, maybe due to english not being my native language. So while the name is perfectly fine from a logical point of view, unfamiliar names that don't really spell out what kind of a monster is in question can make playing more difficult, just like Fajingifs Fury would.

Of course I can't really say if this will bother me at all in the actual game, but this is my reaction to the name.

?- Sovereign weakness that reduces Constitution by 3 and only allows the unit to heal 1hp/turn (normally a unit heals level/turn and double that when they re in a city).  I thought about "Scarred" or "Frail" but I'm not a huge fan of either.

- Cursed

- Glass Jaw

- Brittle-Bone Disease

Except In Elemental a spider and a black widow are different monster types. One doesn't have to sound like the other. Ravenous Harridan is synonymous with black widows not giant spiders. The problem with confusing and descriptive names affects every monster in the game practically anyway. What's a Darkling, Shrill, or an Umberdoth? Ravenous Harridan is far more descriptive then any of those names. It's hard to come up with monster names that are that 100% descriptive and yet still sound cool. That's one of the many reasons developers usually stick with a generic fantasy world.

You got me convinced. I'm sold on the Harridan now. But now that we've gotten into the conversation, if there are Ravenous Harridans, shouldn't there be normal or some other types of Harridans as well? Why the need of the prefix adjective 'ravenous' if there are only one type of the monster? You shouldn't call a zebra a 'Striped Zebra' unless there are non-striped ones as well.

Foible

Feeble

Wavering

Effetus (latin; weakened by giving birth, therefore a gender specific trait); Effete is the 'PC', non-gender specific form of the word; the literal use of "effetus" is rare today pursuant to the social engineering agenda of the Establishment.

Infirmus (latin for weaken, feeble)

Socordis (latin for weakminded)

-.-

I look at it the same as the name of some other animal and dont read overly much into it.  The ravenous part is descriptive enough of likely behavior that the name tells you to be carefull and avoid them.

Im hoping that monsters will be able to have traits too (or be refined by such).  It will give more application to the base monster models.  Say you want to put Fenrir in the game- you could scale up a normal wolf (if possible) and give it an ability along the lines of:

Man-eater: when dealing lethal damage to an enemy unit, this unit heals Y hit points, where Y= the number of hitpoints the slain unit had before death ( so if soldier A has 8/10 HP and is dealt 20 damage, fenrir would gain 8 hp)

I'd prefer shying away from using adjectives in default monster names though. According to my knowledge, no actual animal or creature has an adjective in its base name unless the adjective describes the animal visually (like the spotted dolphin) or their behavior in a very concrete manner (jumping spider). There is no "bored boa" or "irritated bear" .. except for angry birds.

Ravenous implies to me that something has happened to the Harridans and they've become ravenous. Of course this is quite alright if it's built into the lore.

How about Infirm or Anemic?

[edit] Whoa, 3 more pages I didn't read... possible repeats, sorry.

-Sovereign weakness that reduces Constitution by 3 and only allows the unit to heal 1hp/turn: Weakling, Soft flesh, Small heart