Our beloved Pretenders!

[Gandalf Parker]

There is also a special eye-killing bow (crossbow?)

[cupido2]

I just love the blood well. Not that I think it's very useful (or that I ever really chose to play with it), but it's a well. With blood! And people worship it! Wuah! Awesome.
If I think of it I like all the immobile pretenders. Perhaps because they are so mysterious (that's why I don't like the description, that "a spirit is possessing" them. Why has some stray spirit to possess them? The obelisk, Sphinx, Sacred statue is just there and it was there since the beginning and doesn't need an explanation for its existence).
Alas I often choose a crone or sage as my pretender, because I love site searching that much and enjoy finding cool sites by searching mages/pretender (with the spells it just isn't the same).

[DonCorazon]

Vision's Foe. But the Black Bow of Botulf would be even worse and it hurts no matter how many eyes you have.

[Itchykobu]

Ancient Olm of Agartha. Physically strong? No. Magically gifted? No. Full set of eyes? No. Giant Cave Salamander? Yes.

That checks out in my book.

[Tifone]

On national thematic pretenders.

Some of them have a 10 or 20 point cost for new magic paths so they're ok for me, they're supposed to be versatile mages and that versatility is there to be used (i.e. Mictlan's Smoking Mirror)

For the ones who don't have an easy access to other paths, and have just the national paths, maybe it could be good if they start with an already quite high magic power on them.
The idea is that even if I take them the way they come without boosting their magic, they're already mages that the other national mages envy and respect fort their knowledge of the magic they study. Dunno, like having 3 or 4 on their paths, so the "national flavoured" blesses and possibilities to cast the national summons and spells come easier for them.
I think it's thematic and logic and would fit nice on the image of a pretender with the magic paths of his nation - as they represent IMHO the deep connection between a nation and its magic paths.
This possibly unless they do already wondeful SCs by themselves

[Wrana]

Could only agree with Tifone's idea. Though more special rules is always better, but this will do in a pinch.

[HoneyBadger]

JimMorrison: Excellent idea for a glacier chassic Pretender. I had a similar (and yet, oddly enough, diametrically opposed) idea for an Abyssian Pretender, that would consist of a vast magma being that lived in the Smouldercone. I agree that mindless is probably the way to go. Maybe your Glacier God could spawn longdead cavemen and undead mammoths and so forth, as they become unfrozen from the icy tomb that is it's body?

[Tifone]

@ Wrana, thanks it seems doable to me too.

@Gandalf Parker,

Gandalf Parker said:
I like Lord of Night for Mictlan but its probably less thematic. I like the idea of a flying stealthy assassin titan.

To, me, using a titanic beast half-man half-bat to take down a single commander, seems like using a rifle for elephant hunting to kill a rabbit but I like its flavour so that's not a complain, just an ironic note

[Sombre]

Not if that single commander is a similarly sized monstrosity.


I think this thread and the new version of CBM go hand in hand - it really does boost the thematic but weak pretenders a whole lot. I like the Solar Disc for example and in CBM he's cheaper and better, with a nasty fireshield.

[Xietor]

I like the idea of a signature national pretender, especially for races with no free design points. Like the gorgon for Pangaea in the MA(ignoring you Sauromatia).

Since MA Man gets no design points, and is not among the elite races, I have been fooling around with creating a national pretender for MA Man, which will be in my Kingdom of Avalon Mod.

Not finished yet, but thoughts?