The Book of Starro
 

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Character Bio - Starro, an intelligent alien lifeform resembling a giant starfish with a central eye and prehensile extremities, comes from a race of parasites that conquer planets by releasing spores to take over a population. The "spores" attach to the faces of the victims and subsequently take control of the host's central nervous system, thereby controlling the host. Control of the host is lost once removed from the victim.

Its ability to dominate an entire populace with ease makes Starro an incredibly dangerous threat but Starro also has the abilities of energy projection; flight; changing colour and has a high degree of invulnerability.

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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• Base Clarification: Starro is a double-based figure.

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• N/A

Outgoing Synergy:

• As a Huge figure, Starro has these Huge Synergies.

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-Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses-

Immunities

• N/A

Benefits

• N/A

Weaknesses

• N/A

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• N/A

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: IAmBatman (1500 points)
• Second playtest: Arch-vile (1500 points)
• Third playtest: fret_gurglo (1500+ points)
• Fourth playtest: Zettian Juggernaut (1700 points)
• Fifth playtest: Trollbrute (1700 points)
• Changes made - Sixth playtest: IAmBatman (1700 points)
• Sixth playtest: Heroscaper Guy (1700 points)
• Seventh playtest: darkraptor5413 (1700 points)
• Eighth playtest: LordVenoc (1700 points)
• Ninth playtest: Ronin (1700 points)
• Art: Comic, Figure, Background
• Art by A3n

Re: The Book of Starro - Brainstorming
 

NAME = STARRO


SPECIES = STARRO
UNIQUENESS = EVENT HERO
CLASS = CONQUEROR
PERSONALITY = MALEVOLENT

SIZE/HEIGHT = HUGE 24

LIFE = 25

MOVE = 4
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 6
DEFENSE = 6

POINTS = 1700

STARRO POSSESSION
Start the game with 6 purple Spore Markers on this card. Instead of attacking, you may choose an enemy figure that is within 5 clear sight spaces of Starro. If the chosen figure is not a Unique Hero, remove a Spore Marker from this card and the chosen figure receives three automatic wounds. If the chosen figure is a Unique Hero, place a Spore Marker from this card on the chosen figure's card, take control of the chosen figure and its card, and remove any Order Markers from that card. Instead of taking a turn with Starro, you may take a turn with any other figure you control with a Spore Marker on its card. If another figure with your Spore Marker on its card is attacked and two or more skulls are rolled, after rolling defense dice remove the marker from the game and control of the figure and its card returns to the player that controlled it before Starro Possession. Remove any Order Markers from the card.

ABSORBED ENERGY SPECIAL ATTACK
Range Special. Attack 4.
Choose 8 spaces in a straight line from Starro. All figures on those spaces who are in line of sight are affected by this special attack. Roll 4 attack dice once for all affected figures. Affected figures roll defense dice separately. After using this special attack, the normal Attack and Defense numbers of all other figures you control with Spore Markers on their cards are reduced to 1 until your next turn.

SUPER STRENGTH

FLYING

Re: The Book of Starro - Brainstorming
 

Re: The Book of Starro - Brainstorming
 

Ok this design is still in brainstorming. I have wrestled with it for a while now & I am probably trying to do too much but I believe that where it is in the SP now would be fun, thematic, challenging for all players, & at the same time fair for the opponents. So anyway I thought that since Hellboy is finished & Lobster is almost done I would get this out so you guys can help take him where he needs to be.

Re: The Book of Starro - Brainstorming
 

Well, before reading through the powers specifically, I do have to ask one thing - does the text even fit on a card? I usually estimate that about 15 lines is the max that will fit on a card, and this is at 18 easily. :-) So I'm guessing some cuts are in order regardless!

Cool to see this out, though, and I'm definitely up for some brainstorming/time spent in the design phase.

Re: The Book of Starro - Brainstorming
 

OK! I like it overall. Some of the mechanics are a bit muddy and will need clarification. The special attack is probably the first place I'd look to trim things down, because I think it's the least important thematically, and it's very text heavy right now. Also, I think the Possession power needs more clarity as is, which will probably mean more verbiage.

Just spitballing right now, no hard and fast suggestions yet:

STARRO POSSESSION
Start the game with X purple Starro Markers on this card. After moving and before attacking you may choose an enemy Unique Hero that is either within 5 clear sight spaces of Starro or adjacent to a figure with a Starro Marker on its card, place a Starro Marker from this card on the chosen figure's card, and take control of the chosen figure and its card. If a figure with a Starro Marker on its card receives a wound, remove the Starro Marker from its card and return it to this card. Control of the figure and its card returns to the player that controlled it before Starro Possession.

STARRO DEFENSE
Starro cannot be attacked by a normal or special attack if you control a figure other than Starro that has a Starro marker on its card.

STARRO CONTROL
Instead of attacking with Starro, you may take a turn with up to 2 figures you control with Starro Markers on their cards.

ABSORBED ENERGY SPECIAL ATTACK
Range Special. Attack Special.
Choose 8 spaces in a straight line from Starro. All figures on those spaces who are in line of sight are affected by this special attack. Roll X attack dice once for all affected figures, where X is the number of figures you control with a Starro Marker on their card. Affected figures roll defense dice separately.

It loses a little theme, but I think you can take those last two lines out of the special attack to same room and keep things a bit more elegant.

Unfortunately, there still seems to be too much text, especially with the additions for clarity to Starro Possession.

Re: The Book of Starro - Brainstorming
 

I suppose you would know better than anyone, but that's a lot of text, will that fit on a card?

I like the design and I think it will be a lot of fun, but Starro Defense is just waaay too strong right now. Honestly, I think you could drop the power entirely and still get him around 2000. Even with only 4 Defense, 30 Life is a lot to hack through and while you're doing that he's using your own figures against you. In fact, you'll have to hurt your own figures if you don't want him controlling all of them.

Re: The Book of Starro - Brainstorming
 

With my suggestions that'd put us at:

That looks much cleaner and still lots of fun. We might even bump his life/defense up slightly to account for the loss of the defensive power (Hulk and Thor can rip through 30 Life and 4 Defense pretty fast).

Re: The Book of Starro - Brainstorming
 

How many markers do you see him having, A3n? I imagine you'll want at least five to echo that famous cover:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ve_bold_28.jpg

Re: The Book of Starro - Brainstorming
 

Yes the text was too much for a card (hence my major concern here).

I was thinking about 8 markers, but that was going to be a variable that could change as testing was done.

I'm fine to cut the Defense power, but we will need to boost the defense.

The idea of the Absorbed Energy attack is that he absorbs the energy from those that he has enslaved leaving them weak. In this game that will also make it easier for the opponent to get a wound on the figure & thus get it back. So it would be nice to keep that part of the power if we could as it adds to his gameplay / fun / balance (for the opponent).

Re: The Book of Starro - Brainstorming
 

I'd also like to keep the "power drain" aspect of Absorbed Energy; I think it's important to keeping things fun on the battlefield.

Re: The Book of Starro - Brainstorming
 

You can conserve a little more:
Other questions:

Seems incredibly overly powerful. There's no chance of failure to take control of the enemy figure.

Is the only way to release a figure from Starro Possession for it to receive a wound?

There's nothing in the power about OMs. If the player controlling Starro takes temporary control of an opponent's figure with unrevealed OMs on its card, what happens to the OMs? When the figure receives a wound and control is returned, what happens to the OMs that Starro's player may have placed on it?

If Starro places all of its markers, does it seem a little odd that Starro's SA is not rolling an attack die for itself?