Ixe's Custom Units

[IshMEL]

Love these guys, and they do look like one will transform into the other! Although it looks like Dr. L will rack up some serious dry cleaning bills to get those bloodstains out of his suit when he transforms back.

A wording suggestion on Mutating Potion:

When revealing a numbered order marker on this card, after taking a turn with Dr. Leljyk, you may reveal an "X" order marker on this card. Move all markers and figures from this card and place them onto Dhye's Army Card. Place Dr. Leljyk on this card and and place Dhye on Dr. Leljyk's previously occupied space. After placing Dhye with Mutating Potion, you may immediately take a turn with Dhye.

You can shorten it up by using "this card," and generally powers don't "explain" what's happening (Deadeye Dan nonwithstanding). Similarly:

DOCTOR LELJYK'S BETTER HALF
Dhye does not start the game on the battlefield. He must be placed with Mutating Potion.

Just a few other ideas, take-em-or-leave-em:
* Give Dhye a faster move?
* Make Dhye Valkrill or Utgar?
* Instead of giving an extra turn if he changes back into Dr. L, have him heal himself when he uses Revert Mutation. Feels thematic, as he's exhausted from having been the monster, but uses his own medicine to heal himself. Might give more incentive to switch back?

[Ixe]

Thanks for commenting, IshMEL and I'm glad you like the idea.

As far as the wording goes, I normally agree with using "this card" more but, in this particular case, the power is interacting with two different Army Cards. I did not want there to be any ambiguity over the matter.

The second change seems okay, but I had taken my wording from the Rechets of Bogdan and will keep to that precedence.

I had certainly considered Dhye moving faster, though I was trying not to push their differences too much and still have the Doctor be a somewhat comparable option. I am not opposed to changing it if it plays better.

I did not want them to follow separate generals. They are ultimately the same person and summoned by the same general. He will not suddenly change allegiances as soon as he transforms, especially if he is encouraged to do so.

Wound removal is not a bad idea on the transformation or reverting. I was also considering having the Doctor be able to heal his own wounds with his power but shied away from it as no other healer can do that. I'm a little worried about wording the total, though it is somewhat of a concern that you wouldn't necessarily change back and forth that often. Right now, I could perhaps seeing a 1-3 trend to farm turns (transform Doctor on first turn, transform him back on 3rd turn of following round). There is certainly some room to play around with the build here. This is an ideally low-point total version but I'm willing to consider other options. The transformation itself is going to be quite text heavy so it limits how much more I can do with the characters.

[Maklar the Silver Prince]

I really like Dr. Leljyk and Dhye. Its nice that their clothing matches too. My favorite part is how you incorporated the x marker into the mutation. That is really creative.

I don't see why the Doc can't heal himself. If you slap some restrictions onto the power, like not allowing him to attack after healing or healing just one wound, I think the power would be fine. Of course, I could be missing something (as usual ).

These guys strike me as very Myrva-esque, but they make sense as a Vydar unit too.

Once again, great job, and keep up the excellent work.

[Scytale]

Doctor Leljyk & Dhye
Transforming units has always been an interesting concept that a few people have attempted. Yours is a particularly good attempt, allowing the difference between the two to be more subtle than overt. Despite that, the distinction between the defensive Leljk and the offensive Dyhe is clear. The best part of the design, imo, is how you encourage the mutation with the extra turn while still limiting it to once per round. Nicely done. I also really like the figures you chose -- it really does look like the same guy with a different head. He's not a powerful figure, but ok with some tricks. Definitely looks fun to play.

[Ixe]

Thanks to everyone for commenting on Dr. Leljyk and Dhye. Here is another idea for your viewing pleasure.


This is the Gray Maiden from Pathfinder Battles The Shattered Star.


This is the Gray Maiden Commander from Pathfinder Battles The Shattered Star.


This is Queen Galfrey from Pathfinder Battles Wrath of the Righteous.


Lastly, this is the Female Warlord from D&D Miniatures Player's Handbook 2.


NAME = Iron Maidens of the Ozaman
GENERAL = Einar
PLANET = Eberron
SPECIES = Human
CLASS = Knights
PERSONALITY = Disciplined
SIZE = Medium 5
COMMON SQUAD

Life = 1 (4 Figures)
Move = 4
Range = 1
Attack = 3
Defense = 4
Points = 75

KNIGHT BONDING
Before taking a turn with Iron Maidens of the Ozaman, you may first take with any Knight Hero you control.

CHIVALRIC RETRIBUTION 16
Whenever a figure you control receives one or more wounds from a normal attack from an opponent's figure, if at least one Iron Maiden of the Ozaman you control is engaged with the attacking figure and was not targeted by the attack, roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 16 or higher, the attacking figure receives one wound.


Sir Dupuis has long stood as a unit in desperate need to actually bond with other knights. In addition, my own Viceron the Blood Knight is also very much a Knight and it seems that capsocrates' Prince Al'Kahora is off to a promising start within SoV, making expanding the faction a promising angle.

Given Sir Dupuis's need to have other Knights around, I felt inclined to make this a squad of 4. Their weapons and armor and the precedence set by both the Knights of Weston and the Phantom Knights painted them pretty firmly into having 3 attack and 4 defense. I didn't feel I could justify any more movement beyond 4 with them as a so heavily armored common squad, making them a fairly plodding group with options like Sir Gilbert and Marcus Decimus Gallus closed to them for increasing their speed.

With their stats and numbers the way they are, I knew I needed to push them in a distinct way so that they wouldn't stand as a only slightly altered clone of the Knights of Weston. In addition, with the Knights being the elite squad that they are, I wanted the power to justify a point bump but to further separate the two. My answer was Chivalric Retribution. These Iron Maidens reward their hero for keeping them close and can punish the enemy for attacking any of those they defend. While auto wounds are exciting, it is perhaps not as good as it seems on the surface since the squad is yet again so slow.

Thematically, knights are not only just the shining beacons of order and goodness but can also simply stand as highly disciplined and trained warriors, something that Einar would definitely be attracted to. I felt that the all female squad of similar looking knights was too good to pass up, which also allowed me to make Ozaman a play on Amazon. Their planet of origin is a bit open for me. On one hand, they are far from historically accurate and could then instead be from a fantasy world. On the other, much in Scape has little basis on actual history, perhaps giving them enough wiggle room to squeeze in on Earth.

As always, I'd love to hear what people think.

[IshMEL]

I really like them, they look great together. Chivalric Retribution is a great power idea and I like how it works with both the Knight heroes and with their own Squad. My only thought is that it seems like a figure should have it worse if it is engaged with multiple Iron Maidens. Maybe you subtract X from the d20 roll for each Iron Maiden, or re-roll the d20 for each engaged Iron Maiden and if one of the rolls was at least 16 the figure gets a wound.

[awesomeunleashed]

Pretty cool. Chivalric Retribution doesn't quite trigger often enough for a 4 move melee squad, I think. It's pretty easy to avoid, and then only has a 1/4 chance. I'd probably widen its uses slightly:

CHIVALRIC RETRIBUTION 16
Whenever a figure you control receives one or more wounds from an opponent's figure, if at least one Iron Maiden of the Ozaman you control is adjacent to the opponent's figure, roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 16 or higher, the opponent's figure receives one wound.

Removing the Knight restriction will rarely matter, and I think it's almost anti-thematic anyway (why would Knights only be protecting other Knights?). Making it any wounds also won't matter too often, but does give them more flexibility in better handling of autowounders and potential payback for leaving engagement hits.
If you don't mind the added complexity, I might also increase the hit chance in line with what IshMEL said:

CHIVALRIC RETRIBUTION 19
Whenever a figure you control receives one or more wounds from an opponent's figure, if at least one Iron Maiden of the Ozaman you control is adjacent to the opponent's figure, roll the 20-sided die. Add 3 to your roll for each Iron Maiden of the Ozaman you control adjacent to the opponent's figure. If you roll a 19 or higher, the opponent's figure receives one wound.

It's possible that second change would make them cost slightly more.

[Ixe]

Thanks for commenting and adding the good ideas. I can very much agree with dropping the Knight Clause from the retribution.

I agree that the power will probably not come up all that often, especially if the opponent simply plays around it. I also find that Coward's Reward doesn't come up terribly often in matches but the Knights of Weston are still pretty elite. My goal was to make these knights plausibly cost more while putting their points out of that elite realm.

Chivalric Retribution 19 will bump the complexity with only a slight help to theme and only a small change to power. Plenty of powers like Searing Intensity, Marro Plague, and Commander's Strike don't increase with multiples so I'm not certain that I need to do it in this case. I'll mull it over at the very least.

Thanks for commenting.

[Scytale]

Iron Maidens of the Ozaman
I like the overall concept, though they might be a bit overpriced. I do have some problems with Chivalric Retribution, however. I highly recommend that it does not work against special attacks. Special attacks by definition are not bound by the game rules and are therefore very tricky to mess with. It doesn't work with Pelloth's Lolth's Wrath, for example; if you kill Pelloth after he distributes one skull, does he still distribute the other two? It also has problems with multi-figure attack powers like Encircle. Aside from the special attack thing, I'm not certain about the timing. If an enemy figure kills an adjacent Iron Maiden with a normal attack, can that Iron Maiden use Chivalric Retribution before she is removed from the board?

[Ixe]

Pricing is probably too high. I wanted to keep them above Knights of Weston (so I didn't just make another elite squad), but I may have pushed them too much in the process. I'll dial them back a bit accordingly.

Good point about the special attack. You are absolutely right that it seems to open a whole can of worms that I had not considered. I'll switch it to normal only.

As far as timing goes, it was not the intention that an Iron Maiden would avenge herself (and it certainly makes them a whole lot better if they do). I'll see if I can make that a bit more clear with the wording.

Thanks for the comments.

[Ixe]

Scytale's recent Yellow Ooze custom has inspired me with a different, thematic design. What if we had a creature that was literally made out of other monsters?

This is the Clay Golem from D&D Miniatures Dangerous Delves:


And these are the Slimes from Reaper Miniatures:

[EDIT: Need an additional ooze figure.]

NAME = Ooze Golem
GENERAL = Vydar
PLANET = Torril
SPECIES = Golem
CLASS = Construct
PERSONALITY = Mindless
SIZE = Large 7 (Double-Spaced)
UNCOMMON HERO

Life = 2
Move = 5
Range = 1
Attack = 4
Defense = 4
Points = 80

OOZE BODY
When this Ooze Golem is destroyed, if there are at least 2 Sculpt Oozes figures on this Army Card, you may place each Sculpt Oozes figure from this Army Card onto a space previously occupied by this Ooze Golem, if possible.

RESILIENT OOZE
When rolling defense dice against a normal or special attack, this Ooze Golem always adds 1 automatic shield to whatever is rolled.



NAME = Sculpt Oozes
GENERAL = Vydar
PLANET = Torril
SPECIES = Ooze
CLASS = Construct
PERSONALITY = Mindless
SIZE = Medium 4
COMMON SQUAD

Life = 1 (3 Figures)
Move = 4
Range = 1
Attack = 2
Defense = 2
Points = 40

MATERIAL COMPONENTS
Instead of starting on the battlefield, you may place 2 Sculpt Oozes figures on an Army Card in your Army with the Ooze Body special power.

REFORM
After moving and instead of attacking, you may remove 3 adjacent Sculpt Oozes on same level spaces from the battlefield and place them on the Army Card of a previously destroyed figure with the Ooze Body special power in your Army. Remove all other figures and wound markers from that Army Card and place that figure on any spaces previously occupied by the removed Sculpt Oozes, if possible.

RESILIENT OOZE
When rolling defense dice against a normal or special attack, Sculpt Oozes always adds 1 automatic shield to whatever is rolled.


The template turned out to be a bit more of a mouthful than I had hoped and I'm sure there are still issues, but I hope the theme at least carries through.

When a creature with Ooze Body is destroyed, it splits back into the primordial Sculpt Oozes that created it. These creatures can then recombine to reform any of the previously destroyed constructs. I left the power open in case I felt like expanding to a wider menagerie of ooze constructs that can give your Sculpt Oozes some selection over what they choose to reform. [EDIT: I added a loss so it takes 3 to reanimate instead of two to make it a game of attrition. This is an interesting case where adding another figure to a squad actually made it less powerful overall.]

In all, they are probably more interesting than good right now. Their Resilient Ooze power and reforming will indeed make them pretty tough to take down, but Order Markers will be a bit of a nightmare to juggle back and forth and try to manage anything productive.

Comments are always appreciated. Let me know what you think.

[Scytale]

Interesting design. I had actually tried to do something similar with my oozes originally, but had too many problems to follow through. Unfortunately yours has a similar problem: it is nigh indestructible to single-attack units. Drake hits the Ooze Golem, it splits into two Sculpt Oozes. On their turn, they reform the Ooze Golem. Rinse and repeat. You won't be doing damage on the turns you reform, but Drake will occasionally fail to kill it. It won't work out that great due to order markers, and the occasional double turn, but an Ooze Golem could hold a choke point somewhat indefinitely.

It's certainly a fun idea. Without the ability to change up who is taking a turn, the group will suffer badly in terms of order markers. They don't have much attacking power either. Might be fun to use from time to time, but probably not too effective as-is.