Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Thoughts on Giants and Titans

I am looking forward to D&D Next. I notice that, in many respects, D&D is shifting back to its pre-4e concepts. In many respects, I welcome this return. In other respects, I lament it. I rather enjoy 4e's take on D&D cosmology. With the Nine Hells existing within the Astral Sea, and the Abyss existing within the Elemental Chaos, everything makes more sense to me than the Great Wheel. Another aspect to 4e that I embraced was the classification of giants and titans as elemental creatures--I would go further and classify dragons as elemental creatures. I wish that would remain so in D&D Next. There are a few changes that I would make to giants and titans: (i) giants and titans would be regrouped as follows: (A) Frost Giants and Ice Titans; (B) Earth Giants and Stone Titans; (C) Ember Giants and Fire Titans; (D) Cloud Giants and Storm Titans; (ii) some giants would be re-imaged, with their element most evident in--or as--their hair: (A) Frost Giants resemble the Frost Giants of old; (B) Ember Giants resemble the Fire Giants of old; (C) Earth Giants would not resemble the Hill Giants of old. Instead, they would show more evidence of their earthy substance, somewhat like the 4e Earth Titan; (D) Cloud Giants would resemble the Storm Giants of old; (iii) all titans would be re-imaged: (A) all titans would look much more like their elemental substance, standing midway between primordials and giants, not simply in size and but also in appearance. In other words, titans are not simply larger looking giants; (B) titans, being far more powerful than giants, eschew the use of manufactured weapons. All titans have a slam attack; Note: Ogres would resemble the Hill Giants of old, and often are called Hill Giants, which is a misnomer because ogres certainly are not giants. Giants are elemental creatures, whereas ogres are natural creatures. Also, ogres are not as powerful as Earth Giants, the least of all giantkind.