Talk:Raichu (3.5e Monster)

Grammar edits were not unnecessary...

First off, there is a discrepancy in this article of whether Raichu is a type of critter or if Raichu is a proper name. The statement "Raichu's unarmed strikes are filled with lightning..." implies that Raichu is a proper name of some kind. Knowing that Raichu is not a proper name, I know that statement is poorly worded. If it were meant to be a plural for Raichu as a type of critter, the statement would read: "Raichu unarmed strikes are filled with lightning...". That statement would be as grammatically valid as something like: "Moose attacks are dangerous", but it sounds a little awkward to me. So, the solution is to convert the statement to a singular form: "A Raichu's unarmed strikes are filled with lightning...". I think that sufficiently explains my first change.

My second grammar change should also stick. The existing sentence, "A Raichu may act as if hasted for a number of rounds per day equal to the Raichu's hit dice plus Charisma modifier", has a couple problems. One is a matter of style. "equal to the Raichu's hit dice" can, and should, be replaced with "equal to its hit dice" because we have already told the reader what the subject of the sentence is ("A Raichu"). The second issue is the ending of the sentence: "the Raichu's hit dice plus Charisma modifier". The word "plus" does not transfer ownership from one property to the next. We don't know who owns that Charisma modifier, gramatically -- I know it is obvious, unless we qualify it somehow. That is why we need to say "its hit dice plus its Charisma modifier".

Anyhow, you should probably reintegrate those changes. I don't mean to come across abrasively although I can tell I probably did, but I found it strange that you would revert grammar corrections. --Andrew Arnott (talk, email) 19:24, March 15, 2010 (UTC)

Also, monster names should be lower case, as in "When fighting orcs, try not to smell them" or "the deadly platypus is a master of sabotage". --Ganteka Future 19:28, March 15, 2010 (UTC)

>Knowing that Raichu is not a proper name, I know that statement is poorly worded.

Plural possessive of the proper name of the species. The unarmed strike belongs to the generic Raichu. Were it "human", the form would be "humans'".

Besides, most Raichu *are* named Raichu, possibly even the ones that aren't given individual names.

>"equal to the Raichu's hit dice" can, and should, be replaced with "equal to its hit dice" because we have already told the reader what the subject of the sentence is

We could use a pronoun. It's not obligatory.

>The word "plus" does not transfer ownership from one property to the next.

Arguable, but fine, whatever. Fits with other uses.

>I found it strange that you would revert grammar corrections

I don't tend to revert grammatical corrections. If I don't view something as a correction (i.e., the original was actually wrong and the fix is less wrong) then I reserve the right to revert it.

>Also, monster names should be lower case, as in "When fighting orcs, try not to smell them" or "the deadly platypus is a master of sabotage"

I don't see why that is, or should be, universal. --Quantumboost 19:51, March 15, 2010 (UTC)

>Plural possessive of the proper name of the species.

You should write "The Raichu's unarmed strikes" in that case. Suppose we used something that had a different plural form than singular form (say mouse vs. mice). Which sentence of the following two sentences sounds correct? Mice's unarmed strikes hurt. The mice's unarmed strikes hurt.

>Besides, most Raichu *are* named Raichu

Sure, but it doesn't make it right to mix subjects throughout the page.

>We could use a pronoun. It's not obligatory.

Right. It is a matter of style. For the same reason, I don't say: The hippo is strong because the hippo has lots of meat on the hippo's body.

>I don't see why that is, or should be, universal.

It is a pretty universal rule. See [1].

Hope this explains everything :) --Andrew Arnott (talk, email) 20:45, March 15, 2010 (UTC)

> Which sentence of the following two sentences sounds correct?

Er... actually, the first sentence sounds more correct/better. Of course, I've seen way too many things with extraneous "The"'s, so I probably have a conditioned aversion there. I'll agree that "A Raichu's" is inarguably correct there, though, so I'll cede the point.

> Sure, but it doesn't make it right to mix subjects throughout the page.

Fair enough.

> For the same reason, I don't say: The hippo is strong because the hippo has lots of meat on the hippo's body.

True enough; I won't advocate removing all pronouns. I don't think a single repetition in this case is all that bad, but I'll cede it.

> See [2].

Ah, okay. That's pretty interesting; however, I'd argue that Pokemon names are historically almost always capitalized, much like the official common names of birds mentioned in the article. See: Bulbapedia article on Raichu.

Good stuff :). If it is a standard to capitalize them, then keep it that way. It is probably better to mesh with existing Pokemon standards than our (unwritten) wiki conventions only because the Pokemon stuff here is self-contained in its own book. Are you planning on adding images to the pages here? --Andrew Arnott (talk, email) 21:08, March 15, 2010 (UTC)

I'll probably add some images while and after uploading the entries that are already written up. Actually, I just wasn't sure about the policy on images before now, so I'll start doing that with new entries. --Quantumboost 23:35, March 15, 2010 (UTC)

Schpeelah 11:52, March 16, 2010 (UTC)One thing: Range increment on Thundershock is 5ft. for Pichu and Raichu, but 10ft. for Pikachu. So either Pikachu is out of line or Raichu is supposed to have 15ft. I suspect the latter, which is why I'm asking about it here.

I just presumed that was intentional, since Raichu will be expected to run around thunderpunching instead of thundershocking. Quantumboost 13:41, March 16, 2010 (UTC)

Solution, delete this page, break every pokemon game you can find, hunt down and sacrifice a Raichu to the gods of D&D. Also, POKEMON SUCK! -- —Preceding unsigned comment added by ThirdEmperor (talk • contribs) at

Alternatively, you could try not to come to a page about something you think 'sucks' and not express your negative opinion about the constructive expansion of the wikia. Also, sign your posts.--TK-Squared 16:52, March 22, 2010 (UTC)