[AotV] Pre-Brainstorming Thread

[flameslayer93]

The AotV project includes many units, and it can be exciting to start thinking of them right away. This thread is for that purpose; brainstorm to your heart’s content about the many different units. Please don’t brainstorm units who are already in a pod, or who have been designed. Thanks!

[flameslayer93]

This is the full list of figures we are using for the Arena of the Valkyrie Project. These figures will have designs that won’t require painting them to make sense; for example the figure for Acacyn would be an angel statue. Simple paint-jobs and cards to suit will be released later, as the designs get finalized.

On to the list!
>Arlinn Kord, Goldnight Outcast
>Arlinn Kord, Moon-Blessed
>Avacyn, on Bloodied Wings
>Blazing Firecats (squad of 3)
>Blighted Reavers (squad of 3)
>Chandra Nalaar, Pyromancer
>Crypolith x3 (Destructible Object)
>Eldrazi Ruiner
>Eldrazi Scions (squad of 3)
>Flamewing Phoenixes (squad of 3)
>Ghoul Vanguard (squad of 4, combined with Restless Zombies)
>Gideon Jura, Combat Mage
>Glyph of Healing
>Glyph of Knowledge
>Glyph of Recall
>Illusionary Projections (squad of 3)
>Jace, Investigator
>Jace Beleren, Mindmage
>Kiora, the Rising Tide
>Lantern Geists (squad of 2)
>Leyline Phantoms (squad of 3)
>Liliana Vess, Necromancer
>Merfolk Roilmage
>Nahiri, Fury in Stone
>Nissa Revane, Animist
>Ob Nixilis, Demon of Spite
>Restless Zombies (squad of 4, combined with Ghoul Vanguard)
>Rhox Veterans (squad of 3)
>Sorin of the Eternal Thirst

- Claimed by a Pod
- Completed
- Link to an Image

[Skyver]

Originally Posted by flameslayer93

The AotV project includes many units, and it can be exciting to start thinking of them right away. This thread is for that purpose; brainstorm to your heart’s content about the many different units. Please don’t brainstorm units who are already in a pod, or who have been designed. Thanks!

Is there a list somewhere of what units have already been designed, or which ones have been assigned to pods?

[flameslayer93]

Originally Posted by Skyver

Is there a list somewhere of what units have already been designed, or which ones have been assigned to pods?

Not yet, because we haven’t started forming pods yet. The “Special Pod” led by the Project Leads that’s being worked on with the 2 Glyphs that need ‘Scape-able powers and Crypoliths will be taking 4 of the units above, though we still appreciate any inputs regarding them. Currently we are thinking of using the Eldrazi Ruiner, Leyline Phantoms, Lantern Geists, and Jace Investigator as our 4 units. The first Pod will be able to choose any 4 of the remaining units.

Thanks for your interest Skyver!

[Astroking112]

It might be useful to mark the units that are already in a pod, that way it's easy for everyone to see what has already been claimed and what hasn't.

In the interest of bringing the pre-launch discussion around the project to these forums, I've gone through the list and added some brief synopses of the conversations we had before. I'm sure that I have missed many things, so I'd encourage everyone who was able to talk on the Discord to bring up whatever else they find pertinent.

• Arlinn Kord, Goldnight Outcast
• Arlinn Kord, Moon-Blessed
• Avacyn, on Bloodied Wings
• Blazing Firecats (squad of 3)
• Blighted Reavers (squad of 3)
• Chandra Nalaar, Pyromancer
  One idea that I've seen thrown out on the forums throughout the years before this project started was to have Chandra Nalaar place lava tiles or help the Obsidian Guards in some way. Given that the Arena sets contain no lava tiles (or suitable proxies, even), I don't think that this direction is possible.
  On the other hand, Rise of the Valkyrie included many units like Syvarris and Deathwalker 9000 that were simple, offense-oriented, and relatively unsynergistic. Going with a straightforward offensive design here could be a welcome opportunity for some more simplicity like that.
• Eldrazi Ruiner
  This is one of the units that was chosen for the first pod. @flameslayer93 has suggested that it is an alien originating from within a black hole, and another explanation for the purple color could be that it's an eldritch Lovecraftian horror. The purple color is slightly disappointing, but the sheer size of this miniature makes us want to use it.
  One suggestion for a gameplay mechanic for the Eldrazi Ruiner that I made (assuming we go with a black hole-oriented approach) was a "Gravity Crush Special Attack," with 1 range and an attack equal to the height of the defending figure.
• Eldrazi Scions (squad of 3)
  Notably, these guys aren't in our pod, despite the fact that the Eldrazi Ruiner is. I'd encourage whoever's interested in these guys to come up with a design unconstrained by a need to tie them to the big Eldrazi.
• Flamewing Phoenixes (squad of 3)
  These guys would make great pheonixes, and they even aesthetically match an upcoming C3V design. There's no need to tie the two together mechanically, though, and pheonixes basically beg some kind of a revival mechanic.
  This does have implications for the rest of the set that are important to note, though. It might be tempting for many of these Unique Squads to include some kind of way to bring back units, but classic HeroScape didn't have a huge number of units that can revive themselves. It makes sense for the pheonixes, but we don't want to overload the set with units that can revive when it was so uncommon before.
• Gideon Jura, Combat Mage
• Illusionary Projections (squad of 3)
  These are the Jace Beleren, Mindmage lookalikes. They make a lot of sense as illusions tied to the Mindmage version of Jace, but @NecroBlade had the idea of making him an Archmage and then allowing for these guys to work with any Archmage that you control (but being forced to choose one at the start of the game, like the Greenscales or MacDirks). I believe that outside of potentially this set, that would only add Sonlen as a potential choice for the illusions.
• Jace, Investigator
  This is one of the units that we've chosen. The current plan is to give him a cyberpunk theme, something that classic HeroScape never truly delved into, but that has a lot of potential for fun powers.
• Jace Beleren, Mindmage
• Kiora, the Rising Tide
• Lantern Geists (squad of 2)
  This is another unit that was chosen for the first pod. Most of the discussion has been around making them an Undead squad (potentially following Jandar or another nonconventional general). @flameslayer93 also had an idea for giving them a curse ability, where you can place the figure on an opposing figure's card when they're destroyed. Every time the other player takes a turn with that unit, there will be a small chance that it takes damage or is destroyed.
• Leyline Phantoms (squad of 3)
  There's lots of discussion around these guys, since they're one of the units that were chosen for the initial pod that we're leading. The general consensus is that they should be aliens rather than another illusion squad, to add some more sci-fi into the set and broaden the design possibilities for them.
• Liliana Vess, Necromancer
  Liliana is in a bit of an interesting spot. She works well as a Necromancer, but the set is unlikely to include any true undead squads to pair her with. A general purpose Necromancer is fine, but for it to focus on reviving undead, we'd preferably need some undead in the box for her to take advantage of.
  One suggestion to address this was to make her mostly standalone in her power set, but give her the Lady class so that she can revive Skeletons of Annellintia.
• Merfolk Roilmage
• Nahiri, Fury in Stone
  She and Sorin have a very pale skin color, which could imply that they're vampires. She could also pass as a gladiator, however, and there are other ways to explain her pale skin if people want to avoid the vampire route. Examples thrown around on the Discord server included making her from a subterranean species or being covered in ashes, much like Kratos from the God of War games.
• Nissa Revane, Animist
• Ob Nixilis, Demon of Spite
  It was tossed around that Ob could be some kind of a related race to the Kyrie, perhaps altered from some experimentation like Valkrill did with Azazel the Kyrie Warrior. The tail is a little disconcerting, though.
  Alternatively, Ob could be a demon. It's not clear what synergies this could entail in the future, though, since the only current demon synergy that we know of is Morgoloth's Demon Leadership.
• Restless Zombies (squad of 4, combined with Ghoul Vanguard)
  The current idea behind these guys is that they're living shadows. @All Your Pie had an excellent idea for them that involves bringing back destroyed members for one turn only.
• Rhox Veterans (squad of 3)
  There hasn't been too much discussion over the powers here, but NecroBlade had an excellent idea for them as porcelain rhinos. They could easily be animata.
• Sorin of the Eternal Thirst
  The pale skin of Sorin makes him an easy choice for becoming a vampire, although we discussed the potential of him being a loose interpretation of Vlad the Impaler to add some historical flavor to the set.

[vvildeyedjoker]

I wanted to chime in briefly on this as I’m very interested in seeing this project happening. Something I did for a few of my customs from this set is turn a squad into common heroes. That way I only need one set to have multiples of the common. If I get the chance to later I will add my custom cards that I’ve made from AOTP figures.

[flameslayer93]

Originally Posted by vvildeyedjoker

I wanted to chime in briefly on this as I’m very interested in seeing this project happening. Something I did for a few of my customs from this set is turn a squad into common heroes. That way I only need one set to have multiples of the common. If I get the chance to later I will add my custom cards that I’ve made from AOTP figures.

We’ll be looking forward to them! Although we are going with a Uniques-Only schtick here, to maximize the number of ‘scapers both new and old we can reach, any ideas are welcomed here.

And of course, if you’d like to help out with testing and design, it would be very much appreciated!

[vvildeyedjoker]

https://drive.google.com/open?id=11l...Q_N6ggJWQk6Ujp

Thats a link to my Drive folder with my customs in it.

Its been a while since ive been on the forums and cant remember how to get individual images to come up.

[Pumpkin_King]

I’m posting here to remind myself to come back and look at this later.

[Pumpkin_King]

Now that I'm not on mobile

I feel strongly about a few of these - the Leyline Phantoms I'm very excited for. There was also a draft of Chandra with her having two SAs like Q10. I think that's a very viable option.

[NecroBlade]

Originally Posted by vvildeyedjoker

I wanted to chime in briefly on this as I’m very interested in seeing this project happening. Something I did for a few of my customs from this set is turn a squad into common heroes. That way I only need one set to have multiples of the common.

Always glad to see someone else excited about the project! We won't be doing Commons (either Heroes or Squads) as we don't want anyone to feel the need to go beyond one set. That's part of Heroscape players will get to discover through other packs.

Originally Posted by vvildeyedjoker

Its been a while since ive been on the forums and cant remember how to get individual images to come up.

You could upload them to the gallery here if you have the capability. Feel free to share any ideas you have in text form as well.

Originally Posted by Pumpkin_King

There was also a draft of Chandra with her having two SAs like Q10. I think that's a very viable option.

I've always liked that idea for her as well, for some reason. We'll see what happens once she gets into a Pod.


Here are a few quick design ideas for some of the units @Astroking112 hasn't already filled in:

Arlinn Kord, Moon-Blessed - Sadly she didn't quite make the cut into our Pod, but I've got a really cool idea for her with a backstory as well, that hopefully the public will like, too. It includes Unleashed Fury!

Avacyn, on Bloodied Wings - Along with the Rhox, I had the idea for animated statues. Some kind of ability that gives them lots of extra defense (stone mode) in a tradeoff with something else. Preferably constructed in such a way that the two units could play well together in the same army. There are a few different drafts floating around for when the time comes.

Blazing Firecats (squad of 3) - I hadn't shared this one yet, but part of the design was borrowing First Strike from C3V's Varkaanan Swiftfangs. Reusing a cool power and paying homage to their MtG card as well!

Jace Beleren, Mindmage - As noted, a pairing with the Illusions would be neat here. And if the synergy casts a wider net with Archmages, he could have something like Illusion Supremacy (see Su-Bak-Na) to strengthen his bond.

[Astroking112]

Originally Posted by Pumpkin_King

Now that I'm not on mobile

I feel strongly about a few of these - the Leyline Phantoms I'm very excited for. There was also a draft of Chandra with her having two SAs like Q10. I think that's a very viable option.

To be specific, that idea for Chandra was using a version of Mimring's Fire Line Special Attack and a normal Explosion Special Attack, providing two different multi-target options that introduce some existing mechanics to newer players for the set.

There was also another idea that used Mimring's Fire Line, but let her choose two lines leading away from her instead of one.