The Book of Jolt

[Ronin]

Hmm, let's see if I can successfully jolt myself through some checklists with none of the caffeine:

COMPETITIVE REVIEW BOARD CHECKLIST

Spoiler Alert!

Efficiency- Check to see if your design is providing armies with turns/moves/etc. to a degree that would make it difficult or impossible for an opponent to keep up with your output.

1. Does your design allow itself or figures to move/attack/take a turn/etc. instead of/in addition to your normal turn for revealing an Order Marker? Is it granting these benefits to too broad a range of units? Does it combine with other powers to create overly long or powerful chains of actions?

No

2. Does your design allow you to take actions during an opponent's turn? Can it combine with other powers to create tediously long reactions to enemy actions or a restrictive environment?

No

3. Does your design allow you to rearrange your Order Markers or otherwise bypass the costs of Order Marker requirements on the special powers of other figures?

No

4. Is your design doing anything outside of a player's turn, at the start or end of the round? Is the effect too powerful by itself or when combined with other powers?

No

5. Does your design have any powers that trigger anytime it moves as opposed to only when it moves normally on its turn? Will it be too efficient when combined with figures that grant extra moves to figures?

Yes. Not quite any time, but any time on your turn. She's a pretty cheap figure for an auto-wound power like that, but she also doesn't have an incredible shot at it, so hopefully not an efficiency concern. Other figures moving her around to trigger her shot at an auto-wound is very much intended and will be seen in testing.

6. Is your design adding or subtracting from initiative rolls? Will it pair too easily with other figures that alter initiative or have powers triggering on the results of initiative rolls?

No

Potency- Check to see if your design is wounding/removing/etc. enemy figures, increasing the chances of other figures in your army doing so, or otherwise directly effecting the number of figures available to players to a degree that would make it difficult or impossible for an opponent to recover from.

1. Does your design have a chance to inflict wounds or destroy figures? Is it getting these chances too frequently or having to high a chance of success? Is the power balanced against expensive targets that can cause a massive swing in the game when destroyed?

Yes - that's her main deal, so we should find out during testing, if she;s too good at it.

2. Is your design adding to the stats or 20-sided die rolls of other figures in your army? Is it a boosting a broad enough range of units effectively enough to become a 'mandatory' draft or inhibit future design space? Can it be combined with other boosts too easily?

Class-limited +1 Move, and class+personality-limited mild d20 boost. Can't imagine her being a design obstacle.

3. Will your design benefit from stat boosts or other enhancement to an overpowering degree? Will it restrict future growth within its faction or point cost by limiting available boosts to others?

No

4. Does your design take control of enemy figures permanently or temporarily? Is it too difficult to for your opponent to regain control of their figure or recover from the losing the figure? Does the method of taking control expose the enemy figure to the powers of other figures in your army that can easily destroy it?

No

5. Can your design heal itself or others or revive itself or others? Is it doing so in a way that an opponent cannot hope to overcome in certain scenarios?

No

6. Does your design place enemy figures on its card or otherwise have an unconventional method of temporarily removing enemy figures from play? Will it guarantee your victory against a single remaining enemy figure?

No


Chicanery- Check to see if your design is preventing your opponent from taking actions with too much ease or is otherwise causing negative play experience through tactics that make your opponent feel you're 'not playing fair'

1. Does your design restrict the movement of enemy figures, or allow you to move enemy figures? Can it do so in a way that results in an unwinnable scenario for your opponent if they are down to one figure, posses only figures with a range of 1, etc.? Can your design easily combine with other figures to greatly impede enemy figures or otherwise gain an excessive advantage?

No

2. Does your design effect/change the placement of an enemy's Order Markers, or remove their Order Markers entirely? Can it force Order Markers to go onto cards that have no figures on the battlefield? Can your design easily combine with other figures to completely dictate the placement of an enemy's Order Markers or remove all of their Order Markers?

No

3. Does your design inhibit your opponent from attacking your figures or make attacking a losing proposition? Are there scenarios or combinations that make your opponent totally unable to harm your figures through attacking?

No

4. Does your design directly negate the powers of enemy figures or otherwise ignore them in a way that can completely disrupt the opponent's strategy or leave them feeling like they are stuck playing figures without special powers?

No

5. Does your design become overly powerful in a podded group of figures, or provide significant benefit to your army without leaving your Start Zone?

No

6. You can attack your own figures in Heroscape, does your design have any powers that will trigger off of doing so or otherwise wounding/destroying your own figures? Is this intentional on your part? Will the design be too efficient or potent when doing so?

No

CONSISTENCY CHECKLIST (SHORT FORM)

Spoiler Alert!

Consistency Concerns
Name and Identity
Verify character is named in a way that is clear, accurate and feels consistent with the way other characters are named.

Yep, straightforward one.

Uniqueness and Type
Verify that the power text reflects the listed uniqueness and type, that the uniqueness fits the character, and that squad size is listed for squads.

There's just the one of her.

Left Box
If the character's species, class or personality is reused, verify that the character feels thematically consistent with other figures that have that species, class or personality. If they are not reused, verify that there is no pre-existing species, class or personality that would make more sense.

All checks out.

Size and Height
Verify that the listed size and height are accurate. Standing the mini up next to a stack of tiles, and a few other minis of various sizes, is encouraged.

Yep.

Super Strength and Flying
Verify that these special powers are present if they make sense, and not if they don't.

Yeah - she has above-normal strength, but not to SS level. Pretty sure she can fly later on, after her powers change, but she can't do it early on, the era this design is keyed into.

New Powers - Names
Verify that any new powers are not using power names identical to, or very similar to, pre-existing powers. Verify that any new powers are actually new and not old powers with new names.

New Powers - Effects
Verify that the effect and timing of all new powers is clear. Verify that any logical immunities, benefits, or weaknesses (whether those be necessary for thematic or mechanical reasons) are implemented: consider whether defensive powers that work against normal attacks should also work against special attacks, whether or not a power has an elemental component that some figures should resist, and whether or not unliving figures (such as Undead and Androids) should be affected.

Hmm - clear sight conditional move boost might need clarified.

Reused Powers
Verify that the design is reusing powers in place of creating new ones, where reused powers could implement the same theme and mechanics with no differences or only trivial differences. Verify that any reused powers have the correct text.

Yep.

Power Level
Verify that the character's movement, attack, range, and defense (in conjunction with any special powers that enhance those stats) feel consistent with the capabilities of characters with analogous powers and abilities. Verify that the character falls into a similar point range to characters with comparative powers and abilities.

Yep.

[Ronin]

Slight update to Thunderbolt Inspiration after running the checklists:

THUNDERBOLT INSPIRATION
If there is a revealed Order Marker on this card, other figures you control that share a class with Jolt add 1 to their Move numbers and, if they have a Repentant personality, 1 to the result whenever they roll the 20-sided die.

Just dropped the clear sight requirement so that it didn't raise questions about timing with the move bonus. Seemed like the tidiest way to resolve that, and I think the boost is mild enough that it shouldn't be a big problem.

Proposing we send her to initial testing.

[tcglkn]

Yea, I agree with that tweak too. Movement boosts are hard to set a range on cause then you have to answer when the range applies too.

[MrNobody]

Yea

[Tornado]

Yea

[IAmBatman]

yea

[Ronin]

This passes. Thanks, folks!

I'll plan on hitting the initial this weekend. Hopefully should be a quick one, since she's a low-cost figure.

[johnny139]

I very much appreciate the double meaning of Taken In. Real artistic merit there.

Seems like some solid auto-wound potential, but she has zero defensive abilities on her own so I doubt it'll be anything problematic. Nice cherry on top for the Thunderbolts.

[Ronin]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Jolt @100 points

Army Test
Map: Custom
Units: Jolt @100, Songbird, Radioactive Man (440) vs Batgirl (Babs), Nite Owl, Robin (Dick), Robin (Damian) (440)

Spoiler Alert!

Songbird redeemed herself and Radioactive Man into Crime Fighters, natch.

Pretty convincing win for Team Jolt, but she didn't have a huge impact on the results. That was mainly down to Radioactive Man shredding with his SA - she did help him get set up for it with her move boost, so she can claim some minor involvement, but Radioactive Man did most of the work.

Dick had a chance to drag the endgame out, but whiffed on defense instead.

Unit Summary:

• Damage Done (Normal Attack): not used
• Taken In: not used
• Thunderbolt Inspiration: one time boosted Radioactive Man's move just enough for him to get to a good spot for his SA + Controlled Emissions. One time boosted his Controlled Emissions roll, to no avail.
• Hyperkinetic Blitz: not used
• Damage Taken: 0 wounds from Robin in 1 attack.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Radioactive Man at 4 Life, Songbird at 3 Life, Jolt at full Life

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Custom
Units: Jolt @100, Songbird, Radioactive Man (440) vs Red Skull (I), Katana (440)

Spoiler Alert!

Jolt got picked on very early, as the easiest way for Skull to get his Master Motivator turns. She didn't really get to do anything as a result.

Unit Summary:

• Damage Done (Normal Attack): not used
• Taken In: not used
• Thunderbolt Inspiration: not used
• Hyperkinetic Blitz: not used
• Damage Taken: destroyed by Red Skull in 2 attacks

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Katana with 2 Life

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Custom
Units: Jolt @100, Songbird, MACH-I, Meteorite (690) vs Green Arrow (Ollie) (I), Atom (Ray), Vision (Jonas), Hawkeye (Kate), Stature (690)

Spoiler Alert!

Jolt had her first solid showing here. She got used to tie down Green Arrow, and lived a bit longer than she previously had, because the enemy was more focused on bringing down Songbird and Meteorite.

The endgame ended up being pretty close, but MACH-I missed his chances to bring down Kate Bishop, which really sealed the Thunderbolts' fate.

Still, Jolt got a couple chances to do her thing in this one, and put some auto-wounds out, which was cool to see.

Unit Summary:

• Damage Done (Normal Attack): 0 wounds to Ollie in 2 attacks, 0 wounds to Kate in 1 attack
• Taken In: made Jolt a Charlatan, at least at the outset. It turned off midway through the match, but Songbird was already down at that point, and there wasn't a moment where Thunderbolt Inspiration would have kicked in.
• Thunderbolt Inspiration: never made a difference
• Hyperkinetic Blitz: 6 rolls, 3 wounds. 1 to Ollie, 1 to Atom, 1 to Stature.
• Damage Taken: 2 wounds from Stature in 1 attack, 2 wounds from Vision in 1 attack (destroyed)

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Green Arrow with 1 Life, Atom with 1 Life, Hawkeye with 2 Life, Vision with full Life

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: She feels good to me mechanically - definitely wants the defensive-powered Thunderbolts around to take focus off of her, because she's a soft target. Her boosting is mild, but I'm okay with that. She's meant to be kind of a light support piece and not a linchpin.

She feels like she might be a hair overcosted, but hard to say yet. I don't mind having a premium on the auto-wounds in her point bracket, though.

[Arch-vile]

Looking good. pre-yea

[Ronin]

Let's move her forward to public testing

[IAmBatman]

yea