DarthLegolas' first foray into custom units!

[DarthLegolas]

Hi! I've always had an urge to make customs but was intimidated by image editing and a lack of confidence. But today, I submit my first batch of creations. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out and am eager to get some feedback. They aren't made with C3V or VC in mind as I haven't had a chance to incorporate those in my games yet, and don't know as much about them as the base game.



Bergthor was created from a desire to have a Viking with Kyrie synergy. It seems thematically appropriate yet we haven't seen it. Persevering Warrior Spirit may be a bit too strong -the way it's currently worded you could sabotage an opponent's die roll rather than benefiting your own- I'd like to keep this versatile functionality even if it means a higher point cost.



I'd like to make more customs for more (if not all) the Unmatched characters. Big Foot just happens to be my favorite sculpt. Edit: renamed original Cryptid Stealth to Cryptid Escape, added new Cryptid Stealth ability



I'm a little torn on the point value for Klaniva. I'm not sure if her ridiculous speed makes up for her relatively niche abilities. Love abilities that interact with glyphs though, a concept I'd like to see explored more.



Changelings/shapeshifters seem like a huge missed opportunity in heroscape and I have more ideas for some other ways you could interpret the concept. For now, we have Snekeen. His infiltrate ability seems a little clunky but I'm not sure how to fix it. Edit: added a die roll to make infiltrate less abusable and increased move value to 6

Again, eager to hear any and all feedback you guys may have. Thanks for reading my post.

[yamissflash]

For Bergthor, I think it would be better to have his first ability be a limited range aura rather than blanket warrior bonus. His spirit ability already gets past the warrior requirement, and I think generally “warrior” is a no-synergy class.

For Bigfoot, I kind of like Cryptid stealth. It’s cool and thematic. But I think it could be more. Also, I generally think of Bigfoot as solitary, I’d ditch the adjacent attack bonus. Maybe even throw in a penalty if he’s next to a friendly unit. I think Cryptid Stealth would be cool if you also made it reduce the number of people who could target him, basically a power that makes it so no one believes the squad member who says he saw Bigfoot. I’m bolding this because even if you don’t do this, I probably will lol.

For Klaniva, I’m concerned she wouldn’t be much fun to play if there wasn’t a power glyph. Lots of defense with a weak attack and nothing else risks being grindy (Ne-Gok-SA can bond and has the suspense of mindshackle).

For Snekeen, I think there are a few typos in the power, a name misspelling and it says once per turn at the end instead of once per round, which is what I assume you meant (otherwise it’s broken). Shapeshifting is an interesting mechanic. It can be hard to execute well since players know everything except order markers. Your power does a decent job, but I’m thinking maybe a d20 roll would be better than once per round. Thematically once per round seems like a limited duration transformation rather than a more permanent have to figure it out transformation. Maybe something where it’s a d20 roll where you get a bonus for each squad member there? Something like the more people you have around the more likely someone is to recognize someone’s a fraud? Or maybe if they attack her (as the player knows who it is) there is a chance it gets redirected to someone else, (as in the squad member guesses wrong).

Also for image editing superfrog has a guide to use Xorlorf’s X-2 custom card creator to have your characters blend into the mist. It’s what I use. I think some of the icons have changed color/design over time but it still works.

[DarthLegolas]

Thank you so much for your feedback! I have a few thoughts and adjustments of my own.

So for Bergthor I've kept his Warrior's Boon as is for now. I think limiting it to warriors makes for interesting, yet not very limiting, army building as plenty of warriors have d20 abilities but it still forces you to make a decision on who exactly you want alongside Bergthor. Nerfing it to an aura also doesn't feel like the right way to go, if you still limit it to warriors, it just feels too weak compared to other d20 modifying abilities. And if you don't, it loses the flavor I'm going for.

I love your ideas for big foot. I decided to take your bolded idea and turn it into a third ability (to make it easier to read). Rather than making it impossible for multiple people to attack him in a turn, I simply gave big foot a buff in defense for every subsequent attack. Making it only work on non-adjacent attacks also encourages your opponent to get close, which is what you want out of this hard-hitting tank. I decided to keep Kinship Defense though. I get where you are coming from, but I think this ability is a small way to reinforce that "tank" identity I'm going for.

For Klaniva, I was aware she would be underwhelming in certain scenarios. But the same could be said for obsidian guards or any figures that rely on shadows or other specific terrain. I think there's precedent for this kind of figure. I also gave her a high defense and decent health so that once she got her precious glyph, she'd be able to defend it, so I'm not sure if I should rid her of the potential grind. Perhaps there's a better, more streamlined way to handle this "greed" concept but for now she remains the same.

As for Snekeen, I actually did intend their ability to be usable every turn. I thought if it was just movement, it wouldn't be overpowered. After your feedback though, I realize how wrong I was. I considered just dropping the amount of movement they can go with Infiltrate, down to 2 or something but ultimately decided to take your advice and add a d20 roll. This nerfs it significantly and the bonus they get from being in proximity of the common squad reinforces the ability's theme. Adding the d20 roll also meant I could get rid of the clunky "unless Snekeen is the only figure left in your army" nonsense at the end (as now, there is a decent chance they'll still be attackable). I gave them more base movement to make up for the lack of consistency which fits the vibe of "infiltrating spy" a lot better. Very happy with these changes.