[JimMorrison]

I wouldn't mind if a bit of extra attention were given to those nations who had strong cap only mages. Basically to either reduce the cost of those slightly, or to somehow slightly (I mean -slightly-) improve the non-cap mages. Of course, only for those who can use such a change in the name of balance/realism. For example, T'ien Ch'i already has adequate non-cap mages for their price, to offset their amazing cap only mages, whereas EA Agartha and the 'Heims (aside from Niefel) have very poor cost/effect choices outside of their capital.

I'm having trouble finding ways to balance out the giants in general terms, without completely gutting their thematic essence..... The only thing I can think of, other than the types of nerfs we mostly see (mostly increased costs?), is to just reduce them in size a bit. I mean, in realistic terms, we consider anyone above 7' to be a giant in the real world, so I'm not sure if in game terms, a Niefel Giant absolutely must be size 6. If most giants dropped a size category (with a small reduction in hp/str to coincide), it might go a fair way towards the balance between thematic power, and overall game viability.