Boot Camp of Valhalla: Kobolds of Idona Keep (Reworking)

[Lyrgard]

You are right that it should be a special attack, for the exacts points you made. It was just a sketch, an idea.

I'm not against Mob Attack, actually. I like the simplicity and the fact it is an existing power and right on the theme (swarm). Also, Mob Attack don't need you to activate more than 3 kobolds to become effective.

Whatever the power we find, I think it should meet this criteria :
- be a little suboptimal with only 3 kobolds activated
- be very potent when you activate 9 kobolds.

Think of the MacDirk. When the champion has no wounds, they are a 4 men squad with 2 attack and 2 defense. When Alastair has 5 wounds, they can ditch out 4 attacks of 7 (8 with height) per turn ! That's a lot !

If we go with a power like Coordined Attack, that add +2 attack dice for every additionnal kobold, it can make a special attack of 12 dice. That is a lot of dice for an attack, but it still is a single attack. I would probably prefer rolling 4 attacks of 7 dice (like the MacDirk) than a single attack of 12.

So I think your Jab jab SA would be too weak, johnny. As the D20 version of the power by Viegon that allow only one life to be lost by turn.

I don't want them to be too strong, but I also want them to be playable. And again, as with the MacDirk, when they are at the top of the boost they can have, they should be scary to face ! It is a lot of investment in point and order marker to make it so the Master take wounds and yet arrive to retreat to safety. The reward should be interesting enough to make people want to do it.

In fact, Mob attack on a squad moving 9 figures can be a little scary. It could decimate opponent squads and low defense heroes.
The more I think about it, the more I think Mob Attack could very well do the job...
Perhaps we could do some tests with some of the powers proposed and see how it fare ?

[Maklar the Silver Prince]

Something to think about. If we give them a special attack it would really bump up their points. Special attack are... Well... Special

[Sir Dendrik]

Low Sweep
Instead of attacking with a Kobold you may choose a small or medium figure adjacent to that Kobold and roll the 20 sided die. If you roll [9] or higher, the chosen figure rolls 2 less defense when attacked by a Kobold for the remainder of the turn.

It's tactical and has the feel of ganging up without retreading old ground as much. Modulations to whether this should forfeit an attack, whether it should only be used once per figure, and perhaps whether it could be a 3 defense drop could be made with testing.

[Viegon]

Originally Posted by Sir Dendrik

Low Sweep
Instead of attacking with a Kobold you may choose a small or medium figure adjacent to that Kobold and roll the 20 sided die. If you roll [9] or higher, the chosen figure rolls 2 less defense when attacked by a Kobold for the remainder of the turn.

It's tactical and has the feel of ganging up without retreading old ground as much. Modulations to whether this should forfeit an attack, whether it should only be used once per figure, and perhaps whether it could be a 3 defense drop could be made with testing.

I really like that actually. It can be strong, but it's got plenty of restrictions. When activating only three, it's still usable even though you won't likely use it often; and when you get to activate a bunch, there's lots of potential there for using it multiple times.

I definitely think it should be instead of attacking with a single Kobold, but I think it'd either be fun to do -2 defense on a roll of like 11, or drop it to only -1 defense but on a really low roll like 6. I wouldn't go up to -3 defense, that's not only unheard of in 'Scape but it's also crazy strong as it's stackable.

[1moreheroscaper]

Originally Posted by Sir Dendrik

Low Sweep
Instead of attacking with a Kobold you may choose a small or medium figure adjacent to that Kobold and roll the 20 sided die. If you roll [9] or higher, the chosen figure rolls 2 less defense when attacked by a Kobold for the remainder of the turn.

It's tactical and has the feel of ganging up without retreading old ground as much. Modulations to whether this should forfeit an attack, whether it should only be used once per figure, and perhaps whether it could be a 3 defense drop could be made with testing.

I too like this, but I like it better with the revisions that Viegon suggested. On a 6 or higher, the defender figure rolls -1 defense die when attacked by a Kobold this turn, up to a maximum of either -2, or -3 defense dice.
I know -3 defense dice seems crazy, but it might be interesting to push it there since you are trading off and entire Kobold attack to invest in another kobold's attack that could completely wiff when the time comes to attack. This is also considering that the base attack of the Kobolds is 2 attack.

[superfrog]

I contacted Reaper about a week ago about availability. I got this response:

We will have more Legendary Encounters hopefully by summer 2014. Thanks!

Just so everyone is aware.

[johnny139]

Awesome - SoV acceptance would be well after that point, I think, so we should be in the clear.

Anyways, we're about due for a poll here I think! Here's the powers suggested. Pick one and we'll see about a majority.

A - Mob Attack

MOB ATTACK
When attacking with a [Reaper Kobold] you control, if the defending figure is engaged with at least 2 other [Reaper Kobolds] you control, it subtracts 2 from its defense dice.

B - Whittle Away

WHITTLE AWAY
If a figure is attacked by more than one Reaper Kobold, it rolls one less die for each attack made upon it.

C - Coordinated Attack *Or one of the similar "combine attacks as one" powers suggested.

Coordined Attack (or a better name, of course)
Any kobolds may combine their attacks and roll their attack dice as one attack. All kobolds in the attack must be engaged to the targeted figure. The defending figure compares height to the lowest Kobolds to determine any height advantage.

D - Low Sweep

Low Sweep
Instead of attacking with a Kobold you may choose a small or medium figure adjacent to that Kobold and roll the 20 sided die. If you roll [9] or higher, the chosen figure rolls 2 less defense when attacked by a Kobold for the remainder of the turn.

Personally I'm still in favor of A - Mob Attack. No need to reinvent the wheel here; if it proves unsatisfactory we can try something else, but let's start from the basics and work from there.

[superfrog]

A The other power gives these guys flavor.

[Viegon]

I quite like "Low Sweep", but I'm going to have to go with A here, the simplicity wins out for me.

[IshMEL]

My vote is also for "A". The combination with the other power makes it more powerful than the Cutters.

[ZBeeblebrox]

A

simplicity is best

[johnny139]

Huh... looks like a pretty solid majority so far. Any dark horse votes coming in?