Question: Hey, so how come the giants and ghoul-beasts created by Jotunblut are so incredibly wimpy compared to Nemean or Typhonian Beasts created by Animal?
For a couple of reasons - balance and purpose, the best reasons any boons could have.
Firstly, they aren't equal levels of power because they aren't supposed to be. The purviews do fundamentally different kinds of things and represent fundamentally different mythological concepts, so it only stands to reason that they don't do the same thing. The Animal purview represents a god's powers over his chosen totem animal, allowing him to create and control specimens of it ranging anywhere from the normal and mundane to the enormous and undefeatable. Jotunblut, on the other hand, is about the Scion's ancestry as a child of giants, and the power of that giants-blood in her veins that can affect even mortal creatures with its savage ferocity.
We don't want Animal and Jotunblut to do the same things because of that difference in theme. Animal's meant to be about absolute mastery over animals of your chosen type, from the lowliest kitten to the most ferocious Typhonian jungle-cat, and as a result it has powers over animals that other purviews and powers simply can't duplicate. Animal should always be the top dog when it comes to beasts and power over them. Jotunblut, on the other hand, should be able to do things with animals as well as every other creature that can imbibe blood, but it's about granting power from your blood in a more generalized way. Fury and battlelust and strength, but not necessarily any more animalism than any other power.
Simple balance is also a major factor here. For one thing, Jotunblut is much more versatile than Animal; with the exception of Hounds of War, it can also be used on humans, lesser immortals, even your own bandmates, where Animal is restricted to only beasts (and before Protean Understanding, only a specific beast at that). Having the ability to buff anybody and everybody is an additional power that has to be taken into account when balancing against things that can't. And, of course, Jotunblut and Animal are stackable, so it would be insanely overpowered if both could grant the same giant bonus - since you can feed your blood to any animal, even if it's already Typhonian, and grant it bonuses, having the bonuses be the same would be creating double-Typhonian animals. Which would be flatly nuts.
Jotunblut's not intended to be a substitute for Animal; it can buff animals and does a good job with it when it does, but it doesn't replace having the superpowers of a real god of beasts. It has plenty of other powers in its bag of tricks; it allows Scions with the purview to do a whole bunch of other gianty business, and as a bonus allows them to do things with animals even if they're normally as beast-stupid as they come.
Does that mean Jotunblut 8 can be applied to supernatural beings? I was more interested in the overall wimpiness of the Giants produced by Jotunblut than the Nemean-Ghouls. Even a Giant created by a Legend 11 Aesir using Jotunblut 4, 8 and 10 in conjunction is pretty lame if they're based on a human template. They'll be a challenge for a Demigod, but not much else. They don't have access to Boons or even Epics aside from Str and Stam. Considering how much cheaper and easier it is to use Typhonian or Nemean beasts, why would Aesir bother using Jotunblut 8 to make minions?
ReplyDeleteNo - Gift of Battle Eternal is for mortal beings only. It's Gift of Blood that can stack on top of already Legendary creatures, making it a fun bonus to pass around to minions and bandmates alike. (Hounds of War we've gone back and forth on; it's currently mortal animals only, but we have waffled on it occasionally.)
DeleteWe never intended the boon to be for use in combatting other gods or creating beings that are able to compete with you or your bandmates in power level. It's a neat source of flavor and provides lots of opportunities for creating empowered soldiers and servants without the hassle of Scions or the time commitment of hiring; our PCs usually use it to create giant guardians to watch over mortals that are special to them, to create workforces capable of building temples in their honor or hunting and providing for a community, to grant to their own children as Birthright Followers or to give humans or animals they like a better than average chance of survival by buffing them up.
If you happen to be an Aesir Scion who is also an Animal god, then yeah, always use Nemean or Typhonian instead. But that's an investment of at least 180 XP (usually more because Fatebonds) that Scions who aren't interested in being heavily aligned with the purview probably aren't going to make; if you aren't an Animal god, Jotunblut still allows you to create magical creatures of your own for whatever purposes you like through your potent blood, something nobody else in the game without Animal would be able to do (and, pre-Legend 11, you also have the flexibility of targeting any animal you want, which the Animal gods don't).
I can't remember if your games require boonsto be bought in order or use the cherry-picking rule, but if it's the latter, then yeah, you'll probably want to rebalance thanks to the difference in XP investment.