The Book of Abigail Brand
 

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Character Bio - Born from an extraterrestrial father and a human mother, Abigail has a gift for speaking alien languages and the mutant ability to sheath her hands in searing flame. Both have served her well as commander of S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient World Observation and Response Department), a mostly autonomous subdivision of S.H.I.E.L.D. responsible for managing threats to the Earth from other worlds.
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• N/A

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As a Marvel figure, Brand has these Marvel Synergies.
• As a Mutant, Brand has these Mutant Synergies.
• As an Agent, Brand has these Agent Synergies.

Outgoing Synergy:

• Brand may temporarily change one non-human Unique Hero you control into an Agent, removing any synergies (or weaknesses) gained by their original class and granting them these Agent Synergies.
• Brand may allow an Agent Hero or an Agent Squad to take a turn after another Agent Hero takes a turn with her Agent Backup special power. Current Agents.

Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses:

• As a Mutant, Abigail Brand interacts differently with these special powers.
• Abigail Brand's Contact Pyrokinesis special power does not affect figures with the Lava Resistant special power.

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• To get the most out of Agent Backup, consider recruiting Characters that can offer potent benefits without attacking or inflicting wounds. Beast is one such unit that is also a strongly thematic pairing.

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: Soundwarp SG-1
• Second Playtest: IAmBatman
• Third playtest: Lazy Orang
• Fourth playtest: Tornado
• Art by Soundwarp SG-1
• Abigail Brand created by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday.

Re: The Book of Commander Brand
 

NAME = ABIGAIL BRAND
SECRET IDENTITY = ABIGAIL BRAND

SPECIES = MUTANT
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = AGENT
PERSONALITY = BRASH

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 5

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 5
ATTACK = 4
DEFENSE = 4

POINTS = 170

S.W.O.R.D. RECRUITMENT
Before rolling for initiative, if at least one Order Marker is on this card, you may choose one non-human Unique Hero you control. For this round the chosen Hero's class is Agent, instead of what is listed on its card.

AGENT BACKUP
After revealing an Order Marker on the card of an Agent Hero you control and taking a turn with that Agent, if you have not attacked this player turn and no enemy figures have received a wound during this player turn, you may choose one other Agent Hero or an Agent Squad you control and take an immediate turn with that Hero or Squad. If you do, you may not take any additional turns with other figures you control.

CONTACT PYROKINESIS 15
After moving and before attacking with Abigail Brand, you may choose an adjacent figure and roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 15 or higher, the chosen figure receives 1 wound. Figures with the Lava Resistant special power are not affected by Contact Pyrokinesis.

Re: The Book of Commander Brand
 

Reserved

Re: The Book of Commander Brand (Breathing Phase)
 

Nice simple power with Pyrokinesis. I love SWORD Recruitment. You can really toy with your army over the course of the game and if you happen to be running a mind control character, you could potentially make an opponent's figure an Agent for a time.

Bonding is simple but effective. Extra movement is very useful. Great start!

Re: The Book of Commander Brand (Breathing Phase)
 

Cool. :up: Opens up some weird drafting possibilities and favors figures like Beast that have a good non-attacking trick they can pull without disrupting your bonding.

Re: The Book of Commander Brand (Breathing Phase)
 

Liking what I'm seeing here - I don't know this character at all, but she looks fun. It'll be interesting if she works well in other Agent-based builds (Fury, Waller etc.) to recruit powerful heroes into those, as well as acting as a leader in her own right - her second power will only really be used as a back-up then, but her first power would be invaluable.
Angstrom Levy will like her, as will a number of other figures who can be useful without wounding or attacking your opponent.

Re: The Book of Commander Brand (Breathing Phase)
 

Very interesting. My main worry is that, being a Mutant and being able to recruit Mutants, she's going to be pretty solidly pegged into Mutant builds. Which I guess shouldn't be a worry - she's an X-Men supporting character first and foremost - but still feels a little out of spirit for the character.

For name/secret identity, I'd honestly just go with straight ABIGAIL BRAND and no other secret identity. She's usually a commander but has filled other roles (like currently, when she's more like second-in-command under Carol Danvers).

Should be fun to include either in a larger Agent build or just as a character that provides built-in backup to someone else. I dig it a lot.

Re: The Book of Commander Brand (Breathing Phase)
 

I don't think she's pigeonholed into Mutant stuff mainly because so many Mutant synergies revolve around their own bonding/leadership powers that are a little redundant with the leadership Brand is providing. Plus that's not doing anything to leverage her Agent recruitment.

She gets along with Sage better than she does most Mutant leaders, but who doesn't.

Re: The Book of Commander Brand (Breathing Phase)
 

I could see a mutant agent based army build, but I don't think that will prevent her from being in a straight agent build. I was initially excited about the ability to move a SHIELD Spotter, not attack, then move and att. with a Sniper, but that actually doesn't work because the Sniper isn't an Agent and is a Human so they can't be recruited. Would people be okay if we added Sniper to her bonding options?

Re: The Book of Commander Brand (Breathing Phase)
 

I'd be against Sniper synergy. She doesn't have any particular reason to work with them.

Re: The Book of Commander Brand (Breathing Phase)
 

Well, they are Agents that just got screwed out of the Agent synergy web for some reason.

Re: The Book of Commander Brand (Breathing Phase)
 

Pretty sure they're not in the Agent synergy so Nick Fury can't drop them all on height.

I could see the right Agent leader specifically calling them out. It would be wrong for Brand, though.