Having It All

Question: Gods can do anything. The purviews are a list of linearly progressive single-purpose abilities. How do you reconcile the idea of gods being able to have absolute power over their purviews with a list of boons that are only so flexible?

In two ways: firstly, we try to provide boons for whatever reasonable applications of the purview we can think of, and secondly, gods have purview Avatars.

The purviews, despite their suite of different powers, are of course by nature limited; we can only provide so many powers and effects for PCs to use, and that means that it's always possible (or probable, even) that something has been left out. The original purviews, with only one or two options at each level, were very restrictive in their possibilities for representing the entirety of a purview's possible capabilities. We've done our best - and are still doing our best, over time! - to try to write more boons to fill in those gaps, giving Scions more and more options so they aren't left wondering why they can't do X, Y or Z, and for the most part of day-to-day gameplay, that works pretty well. (But we are always trying to make sure we add more, so if you happen to have extra boon ideas, feel free to lob them at us!)

The second and more important method of making sure gods (and only gods, not lower-Legend Scions who are not yet able to fully embody their powers) have literally complete power over their purviews are the Avatars. A god who uses an Avatar - the Devourer for a fire god, for example, or the Crown for a star god - is able to do literally anything they can think of that falls within the scope of that purview, even if it wouldn't be possible with the lesser boons in the purview. They can create new things, cause permanent effects that have never existed, marshal all the powers of that purview beneath their wings and direct them to do things that humans can barely imagine. By definition, purview Avatars (and Ultimate Attributes) can do anything associated with their purview. As you say: absolute power over the purview.

We work hard to try to provide boons for everything we think lower-Legend Scions should be able to do with their purviews, but once it comes to things that only gods can do and that are massive, world-changing effects, that's what the purview Avatars are for. If you have in mind some giant, show-stopping craziness - thunderstorms that cover the entire globe! creation of brand new species of animal! invisible forcefields that encompass entire countries! - that you couldn't do with a boon, that's the place you'd be able to do it. Those Avatars are how a god finally asserts her final mastery over a purview, and gains the ability to do anything she wants to do, breaking all rules and crossing all boundaries.

So there you have it, really. The original creators of the game realized that purviews needed to have both specific mechanical effects to help Storytellers and players be able to meaningfully measure their results while playing, but also that gods needed to be able to assert their power over their areas of influence in every way, so they invented the Avatar and it was a good invention. There are a lot of things we think need fixing when it comes to Avatars and Ultimates, but their base existence, as the ability for a full-fledged god of a concept to take on whatever aspect or perform whatever deed related to his area of power, is an awesome and necessary part of the game.