Frost Giants
frostgiant.png

History

From a land of cold and darkness come the Frost Giants. Huge beings of immense powers, they represent military might the like of which has never been seen on Elemental before.

The Frost Giants have always been a nagging presence in the world of Elemental. Before the Cataclysm, they inhabited a great continent north of the world that was permanently covered in ice. Perhaps this is why you'll rarely find a hint of their existence in the history books made by the Human races. The Frost Giants kept to themselves and were content to stay inside the environment they preferred. Concurrently, they had nothing to offer in trade or resources and thus were left alone by the free merchants.

Forced to conserve energy, Frost Giants regularly went into hibernation during the coldest months of the years but it was not uncommon for this hibernation to last several years for some. This and the fact that the Frost Giants lacked any real hierarchy meant that other diplomatic relations were difficult to maintain and eventually all contact broke down, condemned as pointless.

The Frost Giants possess an unnatural ability to somehow draw energy from being cold. This is what allowed them to survive in a land covered in snow all year around. They lived in small tribes with few connections to others, except young males that would always leave their tribe and join another when entering adulthood. They possessed little in terms of culture and they had only a few tools made out of stones and twinned hair.

During the Cataclysm, the entire continent of the Frost Giants sank beneath the oceans. A few Frost Giants were able to survive by climbing aboard icebergs that they then willed south by magic.

The Frost Giants arrived at the beaches of the Elemental continent and quickly established themselves as a power to be reckoned with. Although not clear from before the Cataclysm, the Frost Giants live exceptionally long lives, and only continue to grow as they do so. Thus, a Frost Giant army can vary greatly in power, regardless of how many they actually bring to the fight. The youngest are not much taller than any men, while the oldest can stand thrice as tall as the tallest man. Their giant physique makes fighting them very difficult, as they are so unlike any other race in size and power.

The Cataclysm has been a significant event in Frost Giant history. They had little culture before the Cataclysm but they did love their land and now blame the other races in the world for causing the utter annihilation of their continent. The Frost Giants primarily seek vengeance on all of the magicians in the Elemental world, whom they blame for the Cataclysm, even if none were alive back then (it is, as they call it, the "inherited sin" of the "worldbreakers"). The Frost Giants also seek to turn this continent into a new homeland by covering all the world in eternal snow.

Another recent change in Frost Giant society is the elevation of their channelers. Before those were scorned for their lack of physical prowess but not even the dumbest Frost Giant can deny that it was only thanks to their channelers, who steered the icebergs south when their continent sank, that the Frost Giants are even alive today. Others are also beginning to take notice of the massive difference in mental capacity between a normal Frost Giant and a channeler. Hence, the channelers have been given an honorary status at the very top of the hierarchy, above the oldest of warriors.

Faction Strengths/Weaknesses

ability_warning.pngCloaks of Hierarchy All Frost Giant units are one-man only - Frost Giants cannot be trained in groups. Instead of increasing group size as the game progresses, the Frost Giants increase in strength by the cloaks they wear, which are given according to the individual Frost Giant's talent for war. A 3-man unit, for example, is roughly the equal of a Frost Giant wearing an Omega cloak. A 9-man unit is the equal of a Frost Giant wearing an Ancestor cloak. These cloaks unlock at the same Tech as you would unlock increased group size.

Note that if you select the "Upgradeable" cloak when creating a Frost Giant design, any unit trained from that design will NOT be able to "Upgrade Armor" after being trained.

Also note that Frost Giant Champions (or any recruited Champions) may not wear the Cloaks of Hierarchy.
ability_warning.pngResource Management To balance that Frost Giants are all trained alone instead of in groups, all Production, Metal and Crystal costs for trained units are increased by +400%. This means that, even if a Frost Giant is trained with an Omega cloak (equal to a human 3-man group) the unit will cost Production, Metal and Crystal as if it was a 5-man group. If it is trained with an Ancestor cloak (equal to a human 9-man group) the unit will still cost Production, Metal and Crystal as if it was a 5-man group.

Pioneers are not affected by the increase in cost, their cost is the same as other factions.

This means that Frost Giants struggle in the beginning, but grow faster than other factions in strength the longer the game goes on, as long as they research into Civilization techs.

Frost Giants may not build Armorer or Weaponsmith improvements, and will raze any such improvements they come across.

Strengths

Long Step No Movement penalty in Hills
Tiny Minions Frost Giants are able to recruit Wildlings (normally only Kingdoms can recruit those).

Standard technology requirements apply, and costs are normal.
Frost over the world Each Water Shard connected to a city will also grant +1 Grain
Great Axes Unlocks the Trog Battle Axe, which has Armor Piercing, and the Great Axe, which has a higher attack than the Great Sword it replaces

Weaknesses

No Country for Giants Frost Giant army units receive far less benefit from the Fortify and Armory Outpost upgrades due to how the race is built. Instead of the expected +25% bonuses they receive approximately +5%.

In addition, Frost Giants will not gain any Death Shard power from building improvements on Death Shards (they still gain Mana like normal)
Frostfire Frost Giants may not design units with Incineration Staff, Hellfire staff, Amulet of Flames, Ring of Embers.

In addition, Burning Axe, Burning Battle Axe and Ignys Longbow are replaced by Frostfire Axe, Frostfire Battle Axe and Frostfire Longbow. They have identical stats but deal Cold damage instead of Fire.

Champions are still capable of using weapons they find that use Fire attack, but the blocked items may not be bought for Champions in city shops.
No Magma Forge This faction may not build or benefit from Magma Forges
Towering Lords This trait is forcibly given to all Frost Giant champions. -2 Dodge per level, +10% Hitpoints. Unit may never Counter-attack.

Bloodline

Bloodlines apply to all units of this race.

UnitstatIcon.png Blood: Frost Giant +50 Cold resistance. +20 Carrying Capacity. Frost Giants suffer -50 Fire resistance. Frost Giants start with -2 Initiative (does not apply to Champions).

The size and speed of Frost Giants make it difficult for them to fight experienced melee Champions. When attempting to attack a Champion that has learned the Path of the Assassin or Path of the Warrior, the Frost Giant loses half of its Accuracy.

Frost Giants deal Overpower damage against all grouped enemies. For every member in a unit above the second, a Frost Giant adds 50% damage to each attack.

Frost Giants count as:
Immortal
Monster
Hidden Genders
(Oversized) (see below)

Frost Giants may only ride Icebeasts and Dire Bears (trained units count as Oversized when they do).

Frost Giant Champions may not learn the Path of the Assassin. Frost Giants may not learn the following spelltraits: Fire3, Fire4, Fire5.

Special Traits for Unit Designs

These traits are exclusive to this faction and can be used for their Unit Designs.

Trait Cost Effect
Unstoppable Glacier 22HourGlass_Icon.png
2Icon_Crystal.png
The unit is like an unstoppable glacier: slow-moving but unstoppable. In battle, its initiative is locked to 16 and movement locked to 2. No spell, ability, item, encumbrance or other effect can change this value.

Costs 2 Crystals per unit member. This trait cannot be selected at the same time as Iceblood.
Iceblood 15HourGlass_Icon.png This unit suffers only half the Accuracy bonus it normally would from suffering damage in combat (see Cloak). Instead of -10 Accuracy the unit only suffers -5.

This trait cannot be selected at the same time as Unstoppable Glacier.
Dire Bear Bond 17HourGlass_Icon.png +33 Pierce resistance when riding a Dire Bear mount
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License