The Book of Hannibal King

[Karat]

Huh, I forgot they are tiny. For some reason I was thinking they were small.

[Margloth]

Hey just out of curiosity, and I know this design is well into its creation, but what is all this rat stuff? Admittedly I've only read a few comics with Hannibal King, but he's never really been rat-heavy.

And given that most people know him from the Blade movie, rats seem like a really strange take for a guy who's powerset is basically "good vampire". Like I know vampires hang with vermin, and traditionally can control rats, but Dracula can't control rats and he's like the most famous vampire.

Just seems kind of odd to double down on rats for this guy.

[tcglkn]

Originally Posted by Margloth

Hey just out of curiosity, and I know this design is well into its creation, but what is all this rat stuff? Admittedly I've only read a few comics with Hannibal King, but he's never really been rat-heavy.

Originally Posted by tcglkn

I've never seen Hannibal have any control over Rats so I'm not sure where this power is coming from.

I asked the same thing in the Last Chance Workshop. You can read Karat’s justification there.

[Margloth]

It just seems odd since this guy's whole shtick is he has Vampire (and I think also werewolf now) powers and tags along with vampire hunters, so solid stats and some sort of team-up with occult hunter types (who tend to be mediocre and could use the help) seems like a welcome niche for him to fill.

As is, it seems like we're taking a C+ faction and forcing a C- piece into it, since to be effective he'll have to forfeit turns of his own to move your rats out so NEXT round he can get a pretty small advantage from their scouting, assuming your opponent doesn't just kill the rats or just take away the advantage by spreading their order markers.

Also, mechanically, rats in C3G are useful for their autowound potential, which is A) something Hannibal's faction already does a decent job at and B) thematically kind of trash since the types he hunts should be largely impervious to plague.

[Karat]

It started off as just the first power as a nice little movement thing for Investigstors and monster hunters. Then I considered that he needed a way to actually get them into position, hence the second power. The basis of both are from the following panels taken from the Nightstalkers arc.

Spoiler Alert!

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Personally I'm fine with the World Wide Rat Net thing, but it does seem a bit of a waste of the 'good guy vampire' concept to have his other powers be a really bad turn management power that can't stack with any of the current Investigator bonding and a counterdraft power that will be useless 99% of the time.

[Margloth]

One panel about his ability to control rats (which I'll concede is something he can do since his powerset is essentially 'anything a vampire has done in the entirety of fiction') does not convince me this guy needs 66% of his card devoted to this very small thing he can do.

C3G already has 2 characters who can control rats, and there's at least one more (Ratcatcher) who people would like to see and should be able to do it. Just seems weird to force it onto a guy who isn't known for it when it really doesn't fit his faction and his faction is already bad and rats aren't that good.

Also, I feel like Blade would just kill a guy who came to the fight and was like, "Wait, let me get my rats". At least Wesley Snipes Blade would

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Investigators aren't a bad faction. Plenty of good stuff there. Like... pretty much all the good stuff is from the last 2-3 years or so, but it's there.

[Margloth]

Fair enough. I'm not exactly current in the meta-game. I guess I'm more specifically referring to the Vampire hunter/slayer types, who generally fall into the "C"/Counterdraft camp. Seems like he's a golden opportunity to try to boost them.

[IAmBatman]

Investigators are definitely better than Slayers/Hunters, IMO.

[Tornado]

I thought it was fun. May not be a total powerhouse but I do not think everything in C3G needs to be
It is open to adding in a Bat swarm that could have a free movement power like fire ants, that would free up the OMs a bit.
Blade II is really good and I have heard good things about Hellboy II who also can be put in the mix.
I also did not remember the rat stuff from the comics but my only real memory of him is that he was always arguing with Blade.
I thought he was fun. Sort of squishy but people are going to focus on the likes of Blade which allows him to flit around and grab strategic position.
CapWolf is probably a bit over cost for what he brings since his leader power is useless so another figure that could fill that role would be cool. Definitely some room to grow.

[tcglkn]

That’s multiple people now who have said independently that rat control isn’t really iconic enough for his whole card to be based around it.