Sherman Davies' Marvel customs - Starshine

[Sherman Davies]

Originally Posted by Matt Helm

I agree with your current reasoning on cost/life If you did want to boost him, I would have gone with one more defense die rather than 1 extra life anyway.

Yeah, I was thinking that if I had wanted to boost him above Hulk, a higher defense might've been the way to go. In my mind, defense in Heroscape represents agility, armor, impenetrability, etc... while life is more a measure of grit and toughness. It's why my Sgt. Rock custom has 6 life, being an old-school, Greatest Generation badass.

EDIT: Thor has been updated to reflect IAmBatman's and Hahma's suggestion.

[IAmBatman]

I tend to break down life according to species somewhat, since I mostly do DC customs and there are a few pretty iconic species.
So it's usually - normal humans 4
most superhumans/Atlanteans 5
Martians/Amazons 6
Kryptonians/New Gods 7
I'm sure I'm leaving some big ones out, and there are derivations on some of those due to things like age/perceived strength or frailty/what "feels" right, etc. But that's kind of my mental template.

[Spidey'tilIDie]

Sorry, to threadjack Sherman, but Bats have you ever thought about creating a Thread that had some of these initial frame of reference grades? I know that even Official Heroscape doesn't always fall right into line with a scale like that, but I think it would help out new custom makers BIG TIME if there was a resource like that.

A scale like that for Range, Attack, Move, and Defense would be awesome too!

[Sherman Davies]

I don't mind a little threadjacking, Spidey. That said, I'm not sure a thread like that would be such a good idea, because everyone has different ideas about what the stats represent. Bat's life point scale is different from mine, which is different from Matt Helm's, which may be different from Necroblade's, etc...

Custom making is very much an expression of the creator's point of view, and having such a thread might seem a bit stifling to new custom makers. Also, like you said, official Heroscape units don't seem to fall into easily quantifiable scales - Sir Gilbert has 6 life and Valguard has 7 life, while Agent Carr has 4. The game's designers seem to be more concerned with playability than with keeping a consistency within a species.

[Spidey'tilIDie]

I guess, I was thinking more of a scale for beginners as opposed to a hard steadfast scale. And I agree with everyone of your points, so why not a Thread with several people's take on things. It is insight that if read would make less "seasoned" custom makers better at this and therefore make for a better community.

EDIT: Btw, do you know your avatar pic isn't showing up anymore?

[Sherman Davies]

A collaborative thread with multiple custom creators' input would be a much better idea, I think. That would probably be much more helpful to new creators without feeling like the community is imposing some kind of standard on their work.

As for my avatar, I can see it just fine. Can you see this?

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies

I don't mind a little threadjacking, Spidey. That said, I'm not sure a thread like that would be such a good idea, because everyone has different ideas about what the stats represent. Bat's life point scale is different from mine, which is different from Matt Helm's, which may be different from Necroblade's, etc...

Custom making is very much an expression of the creator's point of view, and having such a thread might seem a bit stifling to new custom makers. Also, like you said, official Heroscape units don't seem to fall into easily quantifiable scales - Sir Gilbert has 6 life and Valguard has 7 life, while Agent Carr has 4. The game's designers seem to be more concerned with playability than with keeping a consistency within a species.

This. I agree with this.

Originally Posted by Spidey'tilIDie

I guess, I was thinking more of a scale for beginners as opposed to a hard steadfast scale. And I agree with everyone of your points, so why not a Thread with several people's take on things. It is insight that if read would make less "seasoned" custom makers better at this and therefore make for a better community.

EDIT: Btw, do you know your avatar pic isn't showing up anymore?

Part of figuring out your way as a new custom maker is going into other people's threads and looking at their customs and getting a feel for some of this stuff themselves, though, isn't it?

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies

A collaborative thread with multiple custom creators' input would be a much better idea, I think. That would probably be much more helpful to new creators without feeling like the community is imposing some kind of standard on their work.

If people want to know what a collaborative take on these types of things looks like, though, they don't have to go any further than the C3G threads. I dunno, feel free to start such a thread if you like, Spidey, and I'll answer any questions you like for it, but to me it feels like all that information is already out there if you take a little time to look for it.

[IAmBatman]

Black Cat:

The text for Bad Luck Aura seems a tad off ... I think it's in the "attacks her" part.
Maybe this?

"If an opposing figure within 4 clear sight spaces attacks Black Cat, you may force ..."

It's clear there that the figure is within 4 clear sight spaces of Black Cat (not someone else) and it reads a bit more "officialish" to me at least.

Acrobat is basically Defensive Agility that works at range too, right? I wonder if a name that shows this connection a bit more wouldn't work? Like Acrobatic Agility or Acrobatic Defense?

She doesn't hit very hard, but she's mobile and that 4 life should last her fairly long thanks to Bad Luck Aura and Agility. On three defense, she should average a shield each turn, so most of the time a normal attack isn't going to hurt her. And if that figure is within the 4 spaces, she can force a reroll.
Sure, special attacks with a longer range than 4 will own her, but she's still going to be a bit of a handful for everyone else - especially if she can get any defensive bonuses.
I'm not saying she needs to cost a bunch more, but I can definitely see a small bump.

[Sherman Davies]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

The text for Bad Luck Aura seems a tad off ... I think it's in the "attacks her" part.
Maybe this?

"If an opposing figure within 4 clear sight spaces attacks Black Cat, you may force ..."

It's clear there that the figure is within 4 clear sight spaces of Black Cat (not someone else) and it reads a bit more "officialish" to me at least.

Actually, I was thinking of changing the power to: "If an opposing figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Black Cat makes an attack, you may force that opponent to re-roll the attack. You may choose which result to keep." I believe this is slightly more thematic, as she was able to affect people who weren't necessarily attacking her, and would make her more of a support piece.

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Acrobat is basically Defensive Agility that works at range too, right? I wonder if a name that shows this connection a bit more wouldn't work? Like Acrobatic Agility or Acrobatic Defense?

Where were you when I first posted my Acrobat ability a year ago?

I was thinking myself recently that it could use a slightly more descriptive title, but it's not a big deal and would mean reprinting a few of my cards that have the Acrobat ability, so I'll probably leave it be.

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Sure, special attacks with a longer range than 4 will own her, but she's still going to be a bit of a handful for everyone else - especially if she can get any defensive bonuses.
I'm not saying she needs to cost a bunch more, but I can definitely see a small bump.

Yeah, I'll probably end up bumping her once I change her Bad Luck Aura power. She'll become fairly useful as a support figure, but I think her lack of offensive punch will keep her in check.

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies

Actually, I was thinking of changing the power to: "If an opposing figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Black Cat makes an attack, you may force that opponent to re-roll the attack. You may choose which result to keep." I believe this is slightly more thematic, as she was able to affect people who weren't necessarily attacking her, and would make her more of a support piece.

That makes sense. It also further increases her value. If it's me, I'm tag teaming this chick with Raelin or the superhero equivalent as often as possible.

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies

Where were you when I first posted my Acrobat ability a year ago?

I, um, had a doctor's appointment that day?

[Sherman Davies]

Okay, I've updated my Black Cat a bit to make her more useful in an army. Here's another card I've been sitting on for a while:



I've always liked the Beetle - not only was he the villian of one of the earliest Spider-Man comics I can remember reading (the Lee/Ditko one where Spidey and the Human Torch fight because Torch thinks Spidey has kidnapped his girlfriend, but it's really the Beetle), but the armor represented by that mini just plain looks cool.

[IAmBatman]

For Targeting Computer you might want to specify that you can only do the reroll thing once.