Our beloved Pretenders!

[Gandalf Parker]

I like Lord of the Wild for Pangaea. The idea of wild party girls flocking to him is fun.

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

I like the Great Druid when Im feeling more like "playing myself" as a pretender.

In a general way I like the Great Sage.

[Tifone]

Yay, the Lord of the Wild is great. But I always end up taking the Gorgon for Pangea as I really like her (not for reproductive reasons )... pity Pangea doesn't fit at all my playing style, I usually have much more fun massing troops and summons and go for a massive squishing of enemies

[Sombre]

But I don't have any problem with them thematically, they're fine in that respect. That's why I use them. I'm just saying they're definitely worse than the standardised choices.

[Gandalf Parker]

IMHO the usual problem with national pretenders is that they ARE thematic. They match their nations too closely. They dont fill a need. Why should I take a god with nature magic and food bonuses for a nation already full of nature magic and food bonuses? And yet a nature based pretender does make sense.

I think the nationals will generally be loved by the daydreaming RPGers and loathed by the spreadsheet strategists. Both groups will just have to accept that some of the gods "suck". But as long as they seem to disagree on which gods suck, then it will be a feature and not a bug.

[thejeff]

Not sure I can agree with that.

If some pretenders are weak (expensive, not adding diversity, etc) but thematically cool, while others are cheap or strong but boring or unthematic, that's not a feature even if there's disagreement over which is the worse problem.

Better to come up with strong thematic gods for the nationals. And there are some. Gorgon is probably the most commonly used example. National pretenders should be special.

[Wrana]

Agree about national Pretenders. It's a pity that, say, Lawgiver for MA Mictlan is completely useless - it has recruitable Coatles which can do just antything he can. And he doesn't have a single special rule afair!
I like Divine Emperor for Pythium, though I didn't play this nation much lately. Void Lord for R'lyeh also. Master Lich is often both useful and thematic, and Ghost King can be thematic for most nations (though I would prefer the LA Arcoscephales to get their own special one - that of the "Great Conqueror" mentioned in their background)...

[DonCorazon]

I (and my battalions of sacred mages) are addicted to the reinvigorating feel of an earth bless and imagine the ruler of the universe should only need one eye.