The Book of John Constantine

[Arkham]

Originally Posted by Tornado

Yea
So the difference between MD and LM is not casting Common Spells?
Is that something we want to give such a figure specific name?

It also disallows him the defense benefit(only taking 1 wound) of Magical Defense.

[Tornado]

Right on, thanks.
Not sure why I am not super jazzed about the JLD as that genre is in my wheelhouse.
Hopefully I will come around.

[MrNobody]

I really think what you want to do with his stats depends on what version/era you’re shooting for. Either way though, I think lower defense/lower Con roll is better than the opposite. John is essentially just a regular guy who’s not even that good at fighting. He’s more about tricking people instead of fighting them with magic or fisticuffs.

[Yodaking]

Thanks for the votes guys! I agree that lowering the Con Artist roll is the better way to go here for this character, MrNobody describes him how I see him as not much of a physical fighter. I prefer having 3 attack street thugs and the like being able to harm him fairly easily once they see past his deceptions. I'll start setting up for the initial PT this week with the Con Artist roll at 14+ then and we can adjust more up or down as needed from there.

[dok]

Do you get to see the roll before deciding whether to use the power? I'm guessing not, but it's not totally clear.

Is the "not targeting John" just for clarity that those powers don't burn the 1/round side, and instead can be used as many times as you like? Feels like that could just be an R&C.

What does "the 20-sided die is rolled for a friendly figure" mean? Does a power that targets that figure count? Or is it just a power from that figure's card? How about a power from an e-glyph that figure is carrying?

Assuming it's powers on your card, Surtur and Black Lanterns both come to mind. Those are high-leverage powers near the middle of the d20 range, where the effective bonus is very large. A unique-only restriction removes most of the issue there (as well as pairings with Mephisto or Anti-Monitor).

If before/after round powers can be used, then Zola or Jackal or Aurora are all decent options.

If Mystic Domination can be considered to target John (unclear since the power doesn't reference if and when you target) then a Sorcerer Doom/Constantine pairing makes a lot of sense. Doombots are a nice perk too.

Rogue/Zatanna and Diablo/Spider-Girl come to mind, too. If he's boosting a lot of friendly figures then pod-friendly defenders/figure moves (e.g. Angel) become attractive.

[MrNobody]

HIVE SUPREMACY
Anytime you roll the 20-sided die for a Marro or Wulsinu Army Card, you may add 1 to your die roll.

Official wording for a similar power from Su-Bak-Na. Maybe ‘for a friendly figure’s Army Card’ is clearer wording?

[Yodaking]

A lot of good questions, I'll try to answer them as I see the intent being and others can chime in if they see it differently.

Originally Posted by dok

Do you get to see the roll before deciding whether to use the power? I'm guessing not, but it's not totally clear. For those d20 directly related to John, he would just be rolling the d20 at the same time and picking the result that is the 'best' outcome for him. When choosing the 'once per round try to help an allies roll out' use of the power, I was thinking you would be able to see your ally fail a roll and then decide to use up your once per round power for the round and roll a 2nd d20 and see if you can change that failure into a success.

Is the "not targeting John" just for clarity that those powers don't burn the 1/round side, and instead can be used as many times as you like? Feels like that could just be an R&C. Yes, I believe so and had similar thoughts that it wasn't really needed but I generally leave those decisions up to others during the Final editing phase.

What does "the 20-sided die is rolled for a friendly figure" mean? Does a power that targets that figure count? Or is it just a power from that figure's card? How about a power from an e-glyph that figure is carrying? In my mind, the intent was that it would only work for special powers on an allies card and not when an ally was targeted by a d20 effect or when they were using a glyph/DO/etc. d20 power.

Assuming it's powers on your card, Surtur and Black Lanterns both come to mind. Those are high-leverage powers near the middle of the d20 range, where the effective bonus is very large. A unique-only restriction removes most of the issue there (as well as pairings with Mephisto or Anti-Monitor). Good call on the Unique restriction, I'll certainly want to update it to reflect he can't influence Event Hero or even common hero/squad d20 rolls.

If before/after round powers can be used, then Zola or Jackal or Aurora are all decent options. Had not really considered those as a special case, I don't see why the power can't be used on a non-OMed turn reveal related power as long as it still counts as being the one use for that round.

If Mystic Domination can be considered to target John (unclear since the power doesn't reference if and when you target) then a Sorcerer Doom/Constantine pairing makes a lot of sense. Doombots are a nice perk too. I'll have to look that up and see what is going on there.

Rogue/Zatanna and Diablo/Spider-Girl come to mind, too. If he's boosting a lot of friendly figures then pod-friendly defenders/figure moves (e.g. Angel) become attractive. The once per round use for all allies was in part to make it so defensive pods were not the top use of the power. Perhaps forcing you to decide to use the power without knowing if it is needed (ie. question 1) would be a good way to keep it in check some and make it even more ineffective as part of a defensive pod.

[dok]

I don't think he's necessarily a pod build figure at this point, in that he doesn't really need defensive help and he doesn't need a ton of different figures to boost. But he can be used in a pod.

Some wording suggestions based on your first 5 answers there.

RIDING THE SYNCHRONICITY HIGHWAY
After the 20-sided die is rolled for John Constantine or any Special Power targeting John Constantine, you may roll a 20-sided die and then choose to replace the original roll with your new roll. Once per round, after a friendly figure within 5 clear sight spaces of John Constantine rolls the 20-sided die for a special power, you may roll a 20-sided die and then choose to replace the original roll with your new roll.

[Yodaking]

Clarifying the Unique Hero/Event Hero issue you point out.


RIDING THE SYNCHRONICITY HIGHWAY
After the 20-sided die is rolled for John Constantine or any Special Power targeting John Constantine, you may roll a 20-sided die and then choose to replace the original roll with your new roll. Once per round, after a friendly Unique Hero within 5 clear sight spaces of John Constantine rolls the 20-sided die for a special power, you may roll a 20-sided die and then choose to replace the original roll with your new roll.


Should it be a 'friendly Unique Hero' or a 'Unique Hero you control' language? I believe the first one means you could use for your team-mates UH's when playing a 2 v. 2 game format, while the 2nd wording means you can only use it for UH's that you drafted into your own army.

[Yodaking]

Took a closer look at Mystic Domination, don't see why it couldn't or shouldn't work there and I agree, seeing a low roll and getting a second chance to avoid losing all your powers would certainly be a good use of the power. I'll try to run an army with him and some Doombots as allies for John.

[MrNobody]

I like friendly, personally. There’s no thematic reason why he can’t help someone on a different team, and I don’t see why it would be a balance issue.

[MrNobody]

Originally Posted by Yodaking

Took a closer look at Mystic Domination, don't see why it couldn't or shouldn't work there and I agree, seeing a low roll and getting a second chance to avoid losing all your powers would certainly be a good use of the power. I'll try to run an army with him and some Doombots as allies for John.

And for what it’s worth, John has demon blood in him, so it kind of sort of makes sense on a thematic level.