The Book of Scourge of the Underworld
 

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Character Bio - Originally believed to be a single individual, the Scourge is an organization dedicated to the assassination of criminals. Scourge is the only identity the members of the organization are known by. The Scourge would approach a supervillain in disguise, shoot him or her with an explosive-tipped bullet, shout his catchphrase ("Justice is served!"), and disappear. When not in disguise, a Scourge wears an all-white coat and hat, and a skull-like mask. Most Scourges are armed with a .50 cal Thompson machine gun with a sawed-off barrel and stock using a special purpose 5-round magazine. Each .50 cal round is equipped with an acceleration activated, delay-triggered explosive shell which exhibits the signature sound of "pum-SPAAK"

The organization operates through behind the scenes direction by Angel, and under him are several individual Scourge agents capable of autonomous action. A member must be a legal adult willing to submit to thorough investigation of his or her personal background and swear an oath of loyalty to the principles of the Scourge organization. Any Scourge attempting to reveal the existence of the organization would be assassinated by another member.
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• N/A

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As a Human, Scourge of the Underworld has these Human Synergies.
• As a potential Citizen, Scourge of the Underworld may gain these Citizen Synergies.

Outgoing Synergy:

• N/A

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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 (170 points)
• Second playtest: DocGlock (170 points)
• Third playtest: fret_gurglo (180-190 points)
• Fourth playtest: Tornado
• Art: Comic, Figure, Background
• Art by A3n

Card Updates:
23 January 2021 - Updated wording for In Plain Sight to maintain synergy with Civilians

Re: The Book of Scourge - Design Phase
 

NAME = SCOURGE OF THE UNDERWORLD


SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNCOMMON HERO
CLASS = SCOURGE
PERSONALITY = TRICKY

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 6
ATTACK = 4
DEFENSE = 4

POINTS = 170

IN PLAIN SIGHT
At the start of any figure's turn, if this Scourge of the Underworld has not attacked this round, is unengaged and is within 6 clear sight spaces of a friendly figure, this Scourge cannot be attacked, will not take any leaving engagement attacks, and if a special power refers to Civilians then it refers to this figure as well.

SECRETS MAINTAINED
Instead of attacking with this Scourge of the Underworld, if a Unique Hero you control is within 6 clear sight spaces of this Scourge and has only 1 Life remaining, you may destroy that figure, move any unrevealed Order Markers from the destroyed figure's Army Card to this card, and take one additional turn with this Scourge, adding 2 dice to his normal attack during that turn.

JUSTICE IS SERVED!
If this Scourge of the Underworld inflicts one or more wounds on an opponent's figure with his normal attack and there is only 1 Life remaining on that figure, roll one unblockable attack die against that figure.

Re: The Book of Scourge - Design Phase
 

Secrets maintained is a pretty awesome power. Justice is Served, however, is way too powerful, in my opinion. Bane's BackBreaker is the same power, except once per game, and without range, and it's still awesome. :?

Also, I know that there have been multiple Scourges, but have they ever been working together? Is it thematic for there to be more than one roaming around?

Re: The Book of Scourge - Design Phase
 

I suppose we could make roll an unblockable attack die. :shrug: Whatever we go with here has to be fairly significant still because this is his main theme.

Kind of. It was first thought there was only one person, but it was later found that it was basically a whole underground society. It was rare that they would be seen 2 in the same place (usually only to kill a captured comrade). But they walk around in disguise until they strike. So in theory there can be a whole street full at time but only one will make the strike & reveal as Scourge.

Re: The Book of Scourge - Design Phase
 

Deadshot's Finish The Job is also similar.

Re: The Book of Scourge - Design Phase
 

Honestly, both Justice is Served and Secrets Maintained concern me a little bit right now. Justice is Served for the reason you mentioned here (I think a good answer would be to let it trigger when they give 2+ wounds, thus making it much rarer), and with Secrets Maintained I'm concerned about how it would work with Vigilante Sidekick.

What's the theme of the healing and extra turn in Secrets Maintained? The destroying your own guy to shut him up makes some sense to me thematically, but I'm not sure I understand the rest. I'm reluctant to suggest alternate paths until I comprehend the theme. Right now I'm worried about how this guy and Robin paired together would play, though.

Yeah, we should definitely look at those two powers for wording guidance. I definitely don't like that this power is clearly more powerful than either Bane or Deadshot's power.

Re: The Book of Scourge - Design Phase
 

Vigilante also seems odd to me. They're more like Assassins, aren't they?

Re: The Book of Scourge - Design Phase
 

Well they seem to take the law into their own hands - they just kill as a result. Assassin is just as bad in terms of bonding as Vigilante is, though. :-P

Re: The Book of Scourge - Design Phase
 

Justice is Served is his main theme, & needs to activate more often. It doesn't have to be this power though.

Another power I was thinking about was:
The healing was something to make it worth killing your own player & that's all. It was because in a game (like HS) it is hard to make it worth killing your own player as part of an appropriate theme like this. But it is a main theme of Scourge. I think I went with the healing also when I changed my mind about which version of Justice is Served. But no it's not a required aspect of the theme to maintain secrets but I needed something to make it worthwhile. So I am open to any suggestion you want to make here.[/QUOTE]

You might say that, but it's more of an act of vigilantism, as they target bad guys but it's not always pre-meditated & not done for money.

Re: The Book of Scourge - Design Phase
 

Perhaps Scourge could be their class.

Re: The Book of Scourge - Design Phase
 

What if the Scourge could take their Order Markers instead of healing? Especially if the power allowed them to activate instead of the wounded hero.

To me, thematically, the hero is about to crack (wounds), and the Scourge kills him to keep the secrets (battle plans, OMs) safe.

From a gameplay standpoint, I could definitely see killing a figure I thought would die anyway to get back some inopportunely placed OMs.

I'll go hide in my ERB hole again. :razz:

Re: The Book of Scourge - Design Phase
 

I like that idea! Otherwise Punisher could be a thematic class, too.

I don't really see them working with the other Vigilantes, plus it would solve synergy problems.