Tartarians are very, very nasty. A Tartarian Cyclop has full slots, loads of hp, decent base prot, generally nice stats, and Earth-4, which allows Invulnerability and Iron Will for starters. The Tartarian Manticores have even more hp and flight, but far fewer slots and different (2?/2?) magic. Still, they cost not only Conj-9 research, but death-7 to cast, 10 death gems per, usually 20 nature for Gift of Reason, and additional time w/ Chalice / Gift of Health to remove feeblemind and other fun afflictions.
But yeah, an angel will have trouble with one.
One bit: Archangels, Harbingers are unbounded. Their demonic / devilish rival nobility are capped, and don't benefit from divine backing unless made into prophets or given Shrouds. Weak gods, weak angels; this makes a lot of sense to me. It's also thematic with the usual story lines of Good being under siege and seriously threatened by Evil.
