Public Design Workshop

[Arkham]

Originally Posted by laughing matter

That's really freaking cool! The only problem with replacing them both with this is that is now he doesn't have any sort of ability to lead a Justice League Dark team.

What part of the abilities was intended to lead the Justice League Dark team with? I'm sure there's a way to add it in there.

[laughing matter]

Originally Posted by Aggressive Sock

What part of the abilities was intended to lead the Justice League Dark team with? I'm sure there's a way to add it in there.

Using Mystic Con to switch around your OMs.

[laughing matter]

Originally Posted by laughing matter

NAME = JOHN CONSTANTINE

SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = MAGICIAN
PERSONALITY = TRICKY

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 5

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

POINTS = ???


MYSTIC CON
After revealing an Order Marker on this card, and before taking a turn with John Constantine, you may either

-move any one unrevealed Order Marker on one opponent’s card to one other card that opponent controls. You may not place Order Markers on any cards not in play, and you may never reveal an opponent’s Order Marker when using Mystic Con
-or you may switch 2 other Order Markers on Army Cards you control. Revealed Order Markers or Order Markers on Army Cards of destroyed figures may be switched.

RIDING THE SYNCHRONICITY HIGHWAY
If you win initiative, and there is at least one Order Marker on this card, for the rest of the round anytime dice are rolled for a special power targeting Constantine, you may choose an opponent's unrevealed Order Marker. If it is an "X", you may change the roll to whatever you desire. If John Constantine receives one or more Wound Markers from a normal attack, he may not use Riding the Synchronicity Highway for the rest of the round

MAGICAL PROTECTION
Opponents' figures with the Magical Defense special power cannot target John Constantine with a special power or special attack.

MAGICAL DEFENSE
When John Constantine is attacked by an opponent's figure that does not have the Magical Defense special power, the most wounds John Constantine can take for this attack is one.

After some thought I took out the attack and defense bit, and bumped his stats back up one. Magical Defense is already a powerfully enough defensive ability, so he really didn't need that part at all! I also incorporated @quozl 's awesome ability, and removed any unneeded wording. I also removed the event hero part, because if he can con God and the Devil, he really doesn't need any Event Hero restrictions. What do you think?

[Arkham]

Originally Posted by laughing matter

Using Mystic Con to switch around your OMs.

I'd go with something like this:

THE ULTIMATE CON
Anytime dice are rolled for a special power targeting Constantine, you may choose an opponent's unrevealed Order Marker. If it is an "X", you may change the roll to whatever you desire, in addition, you may immediately re-arrange any Order Markers on any Army Cards you control.

OR

THE ULTIMATE CON
Anytime dice are rolled for a special power targeting Constantine, you may choose an opponent's unrevealed Order Marker. If it is an "X", you may change the roll to whatever you desire. If it is not an "X", you may immediately re-arrange any Order Markers on any Army Cards you control.

[laughing matter]

Originally Posted by Aggressive Sock

I'd go with something like this:

THE ULTIMATE CON
Anytime dice are rolled for a special power targeting Constantine, you may choose an opponent's unrevealed Order Marker. If it is an "X", you may change the roll to whatever you desire, in addition, you may immediately re-arrange any Order Markers on any Army Cards you control.

OR

THE ULTIMATE CON
Anytime dice are rolled for a special power targeting Constantine, you may choose an opponent's unrevealed Order Marker. If it is an "X", you may change the roll to whatever you desire. If it is not an "X", you may immediately re-arrange any Order Markers on any Army Cards you control.

I like him as he is now. He's a good OM manager, but he's not the best, and he's tricky as hell on top of that, manipulating opponents OMs and rolls. Plus he keeps other magical defense figures from using their special abilities on him, which I find delightfully devious.

[Arkham]

You're still coming in at 27 lines, to Apocalypse's already jam packed 21. Which is pushing the limits of what can fit on a card. It's also still 4 separate powers, 2 of which are long, so I can see it being an issue or vetoed if you are hoping to submit this for a PD.

Regardless, here's the card with the bullets used instead of the hyphens, as well as some punctuation fixes:

MYSTIC CON
After revealing an Order Marker on this card, and before taking a turn with John Constantine, you may choose to either:

• move any one unrevealed Order Marker on one opponent’s card to one other card that opponent controls. You may not place Order Markers on any cards not in play, and you may never reveal an opponent’s Order Marker when using Mystic Con
• or you may switch 2 other Order Markers on Army Cards you control. Revealed Order Markers or Order Markers on Army Cards of destroyed figures may be switched.

RIDING THE SYNCHRONICITY HIGHWAY
If you win initiative, and there is at least one Order Marker on this card, for the rest of the round anytime dice are rolled for a special power targeting Constantine, you may choose an opponent's unrevealed Order Marker. If it is an "X", you may change the roll to whatever you desire. If John Constantine receives one or more Wound Markers from a normal attack, he may not use Riding the Synchronicity Highway for the rest of the round.

MAGICAL PROTECTION
Opponents' figures with the Magical Defense special power cannot target John Constantine with a special power or special attack.

MAGICAL DEFENSE
When John Constantine is attacked by an opponent's figure that does not have the Magical Defense special power, the most wounds John Constantine can take for this attack is one.

[laughing matter]

Dude, check out cloak

[Arkham]

Exactly. Cloak's is 22 lines. Now, add 5 more lines to that, that's where you're at right now. You can't. It's super packed(look at how close the text is to the flying symbol), and I don't think you should want to even be around that range.

Besides, if you ever want to get 4 powers on a card, they pretty much have to all be simple and to the point short worded powers, 3-4 lines each. At least, that's what I've gathered in the past, in most cases, unless it's a special occasion.

I'm not trying to change what you want, I'm just forewarning you of the same obstacles I see brought up when dealing with designs. They like/want simple and compact powers, as much as possible, and they rarely accept designs with 4 powers. That's why I was trying to come up with a solution that you would like, and they would for sure accept.

Edit: And I should probably point out that I'm figuring number of lines by posting the card text in the message box, and then counting each line, including titles and spaces in between. Apocalypse's is 21, Cloak's is 22, your current design is 27.

[laughing matter]

I had Mystic Con without the bullets at one point, but didn't like how it read.

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Honestly, it seems like you could just ditch Magical Protection. It's super niche (it doesn't even do anything against a good deal of the figures with magical defense), and it's a pretty weird combo with Magical Defense of his own. Right now despite being 'protected' against magic, he's vulnerable to magical dudes because they bypass the ridiculously powerful Magical Defense power. Magical Protection is probably never going to come up since other magic dudes will be more than happy to just blast at him with their normal attack.

You've got two powers that are actually uniquely him (and actually useful), if you want to keep them both in some form (and I think you should) I'd ax the power that's just taking up space.

[Ronin]

NAME = CYCLOPS
SECRET IDENTITY = SCOTT SUMMERS

SPECIES = MUTANT
UNIQUENESS/TYPE = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = LEADER
PERSONALITY = FOCUSED

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 5
MOVE = 5
RANGE = 8
ATTACK = 4
DEFENSE = 5

POINTS = ???

UTOPIAN RECRUITS
All Unique Mutant Outcast and Mutant Sidekick Heroes you control have a Class of Recruit instead of what is listed on their cards. Figures with the Mutant Sidekick special power add 1 to their Attack and Defense numbers while within clear sight of Cyclops.

MUTANT GENERAL
After revealing an Order Marker on this card and before taking a turn with Cyclops, you may take a turn with any Unique Mutant Hero you control that is within clear sight of Cyclops. If you do, Cyclops may not move this turn.

OPTIC DEVASTATION SPECIAL ATTACK
Range Special. Attack 8.
Choose a space exactly two spaces away from Cyclops. All figures on the chosen space or a space adjacent to the chosen space are affected by this special attack. Roll 8 attack dice once for all affected figures. Affected figures roll defense dice separately. This special attack may only be used once per game.

------------------------

I've been contemplating the idea of another Cyclops for a while now; I'd really like to see a version that more taps into the modern era Cyclops where he's taken up the reins from Professor X and is leading the entire Mutant race. Often from the island/home-base of Utopia, which is where the name for the first power comes from.

(Currently, he's actually a militant revolutionary with malfunctioning powers, which is also interesting and could very well merit its own design! But if you know your comics, here I'm shooting for Scott in the era starting with Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men and ending with AvX)

Anyway, I wanted him to operate a bit differently from the other Mutant leaders. Mystique and Prof X are the big OM Hub types, so I suppose I'm working on a third, competing option there. More in competition with Xavier than Mystique, since he's actively busts up Outcast synergies, rather than working with them.

So this is my shot at a souped-up version of Cyclops. Stronger leadership powers, slightly beefier stats (+1 Life/Defense), and generally more central to your army then Cyclops (I) is likely to be. But he still retains the chain-bonding aspect of Cyclops (I); you can take a turn with any Mutant you control, attack with Cyclops, and then still take a turn with a Mutant Sidekick.

The main inspiration for Utopian Recruits comes from Schism, and the storylines leading up to it. The premise there was that Cyclops and Wolverine had a falling-out and went their separate ways, with various X-Men taking different sides, over the issue of how Cyclops was treating the kids they were taking in; some (Wolverine first and foremost among them) felt that Cyclops was going too far in training the kids to be child soldiers. The class change from Sidekick to Recruit is more of a minor touch for theme than for any mechanical reason. Also, Mutant Outcasts lose their synergies with this one; this is partly for (fairly obvious) theme reasons and partly to keep Cyclops' cost in check. I'm a bit wary of doing the Brotherhood any favors.

Mutant General is riffing on Ms. Marvel's Attack Command. But for Mutants! It's also implemented slightly differently (re: the Mutant turn coming before Cyclops' rather than happening during his movement phase) because I seem to foggily recall a conversation with some CRB types about how Ms. Marvel's power would work better this way.

Optic Devastation (let me know if you have a better name, because that does kind of make it sound like his eyes are being destroyed, doesn't it?) is based on this scene. I tried Secret Attack Plan and Telepathic Rapport in the third power slot, but the latter seemed a little suspect to me with what he's already got going on, and the former was Cyclops-y, but not quite Cyclops-y enough for my taste. I thought about just re-using Optic Blast from Cyclops (I), but I thought it might be fun to try something a little different, and what's more fun than flash-frying a Sentinel?

[Arkham]

I'd love another Cyclops, as he's my 2nd favorite X-men. He's on my list of characters I'd like to design. I'm liking the direction you're going in. Though, I'm not entirely sold on the Utopian Recruitment or the Optic Blast special attack. I'm not sure how I feel about dedicating a whole power to breaking up a synergy and boosting the very few mutant sidekicks out there. The special attack is good, but I'd maybe see if there's something better before settling on it.

I'd maybe go with something more aggressive for the first power. You could keep the recruitment theme, but perhaps add in the potential to take an opponent's mutant. There's several ways you could go about it. A d20 roll would likely be mandatory in most of them. Also, have the boost go beyond just sidekicks, I'd say it applies to any mutant in Cylops's army. Clear sight based things would work well with Emma.

Maybe something along these lines:

UTOPIAN RECRUITMENT
All Unique Mutant Heroes you control have a Class of Recruit instead of what is listed on their cards. Before moving, you may choose a Unique Mutant enemy figure within 3 clear sight spaces of Cyclops, roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 15 or higher, remove all Order Markers from the chosen figure's card, and immediately take control of that figure's Army Card for the rest of the game. This special may only be successfully used once per game.

MUTANT GENERAL
After revealing an Order Marker on this card and before taking a turn with Cyclops, you may take a turn with any Unique Mutant Recruit Hero you control that is within clear sight of Cyclops, adding 1 to the figure's attack this turn. When using this special, Cyclops may not move this turn.