The Book of Ventriloquist
 

Character Bio - Arnold Wesker was always a quiet and timid child, but the death of his parents sent him to an extreme. Repressing all of his anger and hatred, Wesker's meek facade finally burst in a bar fight - he killed a man, and despite pleading innocence, was sent to Blackgate Prison. There he began to practice ventriloquism and became particularly enamored with his cellmate's dummy, Woody. At nights, the two began to talk - despite the fact the puppet's owner still slept. Killing their cellmate and staging a daring escape, Woody netting himself a jagged scar in the process, Wesker and "Scarface" quickly became a much-feared criminal duo thanks to Scarface's brilliant mind for heists. Unfortunately, the unassuming ventriloquist has little interest in a life of crime, and bears constant abuse, both mental and physical, from his puppet. Of course, Scarface is really just Wesker's own long-repressed anger, projected onto a lifeless hunk of wood. Or at least, we hope so.
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• N/A

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As a Human, Ventriloquist has these Human Synergies.
• As a Crime Lord, Ventriloquist has these Crime Lord Synergies.

Outgoing Synergy:

• Ventriloquist's Heist Planner special power allows him to add to the Move numbers of Criminals and Thieves. Current Criminals and Thieves.

Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses:

• As a Human, Ventriloquist interacts differently with these special powers.
• As a Crime Lord, Ventriloquist interacts differently with these special powers.
• As a figure with a special attack, Ventriloquist can interact differently with these special powers.

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-Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses-

Immunities

• N/A

Benefits

• N/A

Weaknesses

• As a figure with a Special Attack, Ventriloquist interacts differently with certain special powers. Current Special Powers that Interact Differently with Special Attacks.

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• Ventriloquist's Heist Planner gives a 2 Move boost to any figure that can land on a Glyph - one strategy is to use figures that begin the game with Glyphs (such as Scarecrow), have them place the Glyph in a desirable spot, and use it as a "homing beacon" for a speed boost right out of the gate.

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: IAmBatman (Pass at 100-110) Before minor changes
• Second playest: All Your Pie (Pass at 80-100)
• Third playtest: GamerHusband (Pass at 90)
• Fourth playtest: Scapemage921 (Pass at 70)
• Fifth playtest: johnny139 (Pass at 80-90)
• Art by Good Pig

Legacy text:

Re: The Book of Ventriloquist ~~ Design Phase
 

NAME = VENTRILOQUIST
SECRET IDENTITY = ARNOLD WESKER

SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = CRIME LORD
PERSONALITY = CONFLICTED

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 2
DEFENSE = 3

POINTS = 90

HEIST PLANNER
Criminals and Thieves you control that start their turn adjacent to Ventriloquist may either add 2 to their Move number if they end their movement on a glyph, or add 1 to their Move number if they end their movement on any other space.

SCARFACE'S TOMMY GUN SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 4. Attack 2.
After attacking with Scarface's Tommy Gun Special Attack, you may attack with Scarface's Tommy Gun Special Attack two additional times.

"YOU DUMMY!"
After taking a turn with Ventriloquist, if Ventriloquist attacked with Scarface's Tommy Gun Special Attack and did not inflict one or more wounds on any opponent's figure this turn, roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 1-13, choose either this figure or an adjacent figure you control to receive one wound.

Re: The Book of Ventriloquist ~~ Design Phase
 

I love how heist planner adds to the criminals as well as thieves factions, and I love how "You Dummy!" adds some unique flavor to this card.

Re: The Book of Ventriloquist ~~ Design Phase
 

Basically, yeah. When we were discussing this, the Heroes liked it this way, so...

It makes him a high risk, high reward figure. He could kill himself quickly if you're not careful, but then you do get 7 attacks in a turn, if you have the thugs.

Re: The Book of Ventriloquist ~~ Design Phase
 

I don't see Scarface (or the Ventriloquist, for that matter) as a particularly high-risk sort of guy, though. He's not going to get close to the fight - or even in range of the fight - unless absolutely necessary.

Personally speaking, bumping his normal range up to 5 (though I guess it works at 1, too, I imagine he'd never be unable to use the gun) and just allowing up to three attacks with his Tommy Gun makes more sense to me.

Re: The Book of Ventriloquist ~~ Design Phase
 

Great start! :)

A few small tweaks that I'd suggest.

- For Heist Planner 4 extra move seems like a lot, especially when you consider Thieves having a move of 6, I'd maybe bump it down to 3
- To make the Tommy Gun attack worth using, and to get the automatic weapon theme across it would be nice to see 3 attacks of 2 and leave off the part about following up his normal attack
- Make his normal attack 3 so if he gets height advantage it might be a better option than SA

Re: The Book of Ventriloquist ~~ Design Phase
 

That's true. The criminals are slow, but thieves aren't.

I know MOST machine guns shoot three times, but I don't think he NEEDS to. And the guy's a frail old wimp, so any more attack than 2 would be unthematic, in my opinion. I understand about the choice, but the way it is, he'll use both normal and special regardless.

Re: The Book of Ventriloquist ~~ Design Phase
 

There's the theme part, but then there's also the risk/reward of it. Am I going to risk wounding my own guy for 2 attacks of 2? Maybe not. If that's the case you have to wonder if he'd get drafted even. Other than giving people the move bonus and camping in the start zone. My :2cents:

Re: The Book of Ventriloquist ~~ Design Phase
 

Technically 3 attacks of 2, if you get him engaged. And if you have thugs around him, they can keep him alive, much like Black Mask kills them for extra attack. He has the potential to do quite a bit more damage then Mask, AND he gives the nifty bonus to criminals and thieves, and that's for (maybe) 20 points less. I can see sometimes that he'll wind up doing a lot of damage to himself, but there's only the 50% chance of dealing that would on a turn. Not a HUGE risk, for an inexpensive figure.

I guess I'm not seeing where you're having the problems. :p

Re: The Book of Ventriloquist ~~ Design Phase
 

How about these tweaks (one for clarity)?


HEIST PLANNER
Any Criminals or Thieves you control that start their movement adjacent to Ventriloquist may either add 4 to their movement if they end their movement occupying a glyph, or 1 to their movement if they end their movement on any other space.

(My personal opinion is that the glyph restriction is niche enough that an additional move of 4 is just fine).

SCARFACE'S TOMMY GUN SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 5, Attack 2
Ventriloquist may attack with Scarface's Tommy Gun Special Attack after attacking with his normal attack. After attacking with Scarface's Tommy Gun Special Attack, you may attack with Scarface's Tommy Gun Special Attack one additional time.

Maybe the following tweak to make Ventriloquist more draftable?

"YOU DUMMY!"
After revealing an Order Marker on any card you control and taking a turn with Ventriloquist, if you did not inflict any wounds with any figures you activated, roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 1-10, you must either choose one figure you control adjacent to Ventriloquist to receive one wound, or you must place one wound marker on this card.

That way both he and all of his Thugs have to fail.

Re: The Book of Ventriloquist ~~ Design Phase
 

I like the changes. I still think dropping the glyph thing down to 3 would be alright, also. We can tweak that during testing though, if need be. Catwoman could be brutal with it.

The Dummy change will make people happy, I'm sure. I'm still not convinced it's NEEDED, because his drawback isn't as bad as the other Crime Lords', which might up his cost a bit, but I'm fine with it. It's actually more thematic too, shooting EVERYONE who fails, not just if HE fails!

Re: The Book of Ventriloquist ~~ Design Phase
 

On the wording of You Dummy, doesn't the Crime Lord go first (before the Thugs)?

If so, then the first line needs to be changed to take effect after Ventriloquist and the Thugs are finished with their turns. (Wording is tricky, but I think that's the effect you are doing for.)