Community

Sep 25, 2012 -- 8:36AM, Kalex_the_Omen wrote:

There is a reason.  The two concepts do not mesh in any way, shape or form.  They're cramming two entirely different things into the same namespace.

You say this, but I'm just not seeing it.  A 4E storm titan is a <4E titan.  What 4E did was expand the titan "family" and provide them a larger backstory in the form of the Primordials.  DMs should be free to use this backstory or not, but as far as what's actually beating up on the PCs, they're the same basic thing.

Sep 25, 2012 -- 8:36AM, Kalex_the_Omen wrote:

That make far less sense than telling me that my 4e Titan is now an Elemental Colossus.  Or if you prefer that the AD&D Titan is simply a Colossus.

A colossus is something else.  (A ginormous golem, actually.)

I wish there was a little something that tied the giant families together besides their bigness, but I guess it's okay if there isn't. (Their attention to hierarchy comes close.) I also feel like Cloud Giants need just one more hook; the overt "Jack and the Beanstalk" influences are sort of cute, and I like that they're sort of the "finer things" giants, with ornamentation and orchards, but perhaps they could have a little something extra.

One thing to do would be to take the "ranked in wealth and etiquette" thing (and their place in the giant hierarchy) to eleven, and make cloud giants the giant equivalent of constantly squabbling nobles, jockeying for position through the hosting of impossibly lavish galas at which they hope to impress their peers - but also to trade court intrigue. They might also be, among giants, the ones with the most acute contempt for lesser beings, with even good cloud giants generally viewing lesser creatures with withering condesencion. Because the collections they maintain - rivaling the finest dragon hordes in splendor (and often better organized and cared for) - attract treasure hunters of all species, they are generally distrustful of humanoids, viewing them as parasites and thieves. Even those talented enough as entertainers or useful enough as servants to be worth keeping around are generally treated with extreme suspicion. While they're less likely to force other species into slavery than Fire Giants, their paranoia and contempt makes being a cloud giant's servant pretty unpleasant. On the other hand, the few humanoids - mostly performers and chefs, but a few with skills in areas like accounting or appraisal - who do genuinely win the favor of a cloud giant are often able to live lives of incredible luxury, as they are counted among the cloud giant's final treasures. (Although they may still find themselves the object of a high-stakes wager.) Cloud giants' incredible longevity and accumulated wealth allows them to place wagers on large-scale events - the wars waged by lesser mortals, conflict between dragons, and so on. While cloud giants regularly cheat when it comes to these bets, they do so at great risk; to have conclusive evidence of cheating presented to the public is absolutely ruinous to a cloud giant's reputation. (To groundlessly accuse an opponant of the crime is similarly damaging.)

The only creatures that cloud giants care more about impressing than each other are Storm Giants; if they are fortunate enough to have a storm giant (particularly an especially noble one) attend one of their gatherings, they pull out all of the stops to impress, and such a visit is a major coup for for the cloud giant. While they do not consider fire or frost giants their equals, they do bestow some degree of respect on them at least to the extent to which they are useful as smiths and hunters, respectively. A frost giant will boast for months about being commissioned by a cloud giant to track down some rare beast for use as a pet or a meal, and fire giants appreciate a cloud giant's ability to pay top dollar for (and to appreciate) exquisite craftsmanship, even if they find a cloud giant's preference for form over function a little frivolous.

Do you rebember Silvara, from Dragonlance saga? A beatiful Kagonesti elf...wasn´t she?

If avatars and dragons can use humanoid shape to act among mortals...why not giants and titans can use a smaller alternative shape for a better interaction with humanoids? or because he doesn´t be found... because a leShay (fay creature from Epic level handbook) enemy is looking for reveange by past wars.

 

It goes back to the overall feeling.

If D&D uses reallife names, from reallife folkbelief, there needs to be a genuine transmission of the reallife tradition, even if stylized and updated.

If D&D invents entirely new creatures, then these need entirely new names.