May 15th, 2021, 12:00 AM
|
|
|
Join Date: June 7, 2020
Location: USA - New York
Posts: 263
|
|
Re: Blue Trails's Customs (Updated 5/14/2021)
The figure used is a Pathfinder Battles miniature from the Darklands Rising collection. The name of the figure is Arboreal Regent. The figure's base is double-spaced.
Figure Photo:
Character Bio:
Card Text:
Designer's Thoughts:
Spoiler Alert!
This is the third incarnation of an old design I recently took out of mothballs after discovering that Paizo was advertising a new, relatively available treant miniature. The first iteration, which never saw play before I suspected it of being overtuned, had 8/5/1/5/5 stats at 160 points, a version of Thick Roots that duplicated the movement-impeding effect around trees and bushes within the aura, and a d20-based power that destroyed a squad figure and replaced it with an evergeen tree from Mimameid's Army Card until the end of the round. The second iteration was close to what I've posted, having retuned the right-box stats and replacing the aforementioned offensive power with the current special attack, but it corrects unfortunate wording on Arboreal Body that technically prevented Mimameid from occupying its own space.
"Mimameid" is the name of an invulnerable tree in Norse mythology and is thought to be synonymous with the better-known Yggdrasil; given the game's Norse themes and the unit's intended defensive role, this seemed to be a fitting name. Similarly, as I didn't want to use "treant" to describe something unrelated to the D&D worlds, Mimameid's species is a portmanteau of Old Norse words which should roughly mean "god ash (tree)." These, as well Mimameid's class name, are holdovers from a stage of the design that featured more prominent "lifegiver" themes, but they are still fairly applicable to the current unit.
Between THICK ROOTS and ARBOREAL BODY, Mimameid has the unique ability to lock down a respectable area of the map while , and it offers useful benefits to the Quasatch Hunters and C3V's Eilan Sidhe. However, it can be challenging to utilize these powers properly; Arboreal Body's second line can deny friendly figures board development or crucial engagements, while Thick Roots can't catch bigger units and fliers and temporarily deactivates when Mimameid moves. This also means that Mimameid will often need the third Order Marker each round to reposition its defensive net in response to opponents' counterplay, making its strategy somewhat predictable. In play, Mimameid sometimes acts more like a destructible object than a traditional blocker or tank, as it forces both armies to play around a roadblock that sees little mobility or reactivity after its first round of movement. tends to set up in the best spot reachable by a single round's movement, then soak up damage and redirect incoming figures without the luxuries of mobility or reactivity.
Although a bit bloated, CRASHING BOUGHS SPECIAL ATTACK is a very useful tool; the attack's range allows Mimameid to swat at figures as they enter Thick Roots' area, and the ability to take out two figures per Order Marker is valuable in keeping up with the swarming and bonding melee squads that Mimameid is intended to attract. Moreover, Mimameid is tall enough to peer over ruins; castle walls; and smaller trees, glaciers, and rock spires, affording it some unconventional attack opportunities on maps that use those obstacles. It also gives Mimameid the ability to retaliate against many ranged units after taking a single volley of attacks, but this doesn't stop Mimameid from having matching up poorly against range-heavy armies.
Last edited by Blue Trails; May 27th, 2021 at 09:31 PM.
Reason: Formatting errors
|