The Pre-SoV Workshop

[MegaSilver]

Well, just to note, that while C3G is a different beast, it does have wording for selecting spaces and such to "attack."

[superfrog]

I don't get the theme of BSCSA. Is he proficient in dark arts or something?

A ranged cone attack on a melee knight just doesn't work for me. Unless I'm missing something...

[Ixe]

Theme-wise, Viceron is a dark knight, or more accurately a blood knight. I'd be tempted to give him the blood knight class if I didn't feel that might be unnecessarily limiting.

First, his sword is able to absorb the energy of those he kills (drink their blood) and heal him accordingly. I think I'm going to rename it Sanguine Sword. His second ability is where he performs a blood sacrifice of his own blood (hence why he has the Bloody moniker and why it damages him) to unleash a cone of dark energy that damages his foes. Essentially, he's schooled in blood magic where his own life force is fuel for destruction. Dark Knights such as this are a relatively uncommon fantasy trope that I feel he captures quite well in abilities and appearance.

[Scytale]

Originally Posted by Ixe

I was concerned that this would be too similar to the young dragon, but they do still play quite differently and Brimstone is often more valuable despite the fact that Viceron's rolls maximal attack every time. Do you believe that a repetition of this area will fall too closely to Brimstone?

I for one wouldn't vote down a submission due to similarity to an existing unit; I've learned that outwardly-similar designs can end up playing quite differently. I would give it a negative review if I felt it was too similar after playtesting it, especially if one outclasses the other.

[Ixe]

Here is the adjusted Viceron for your viewing pleasure. I changed his name to "Viceron the Blood Knight" in hopes to try to make his theme more clear without resorting to a class change. The names of his abilities have changed as well for a hopeful improvement. I feel that Sacrifice needs to be included in the special attack so that it is clear why it is self-damaging. I bumped his pts down by 5 since I believe that the change in area is a reduction in power, but not by all that much. He probably could have stayed at 150.

Even though it encompasses the same area as Brimstones ability, the two are still quite far apart and are playing quite a different game. Brimstone has to how to maximize damage to the opponent by how long to wait or to simply spam the heat blast every round. While Viceron can unleash as much damage as a fully charged Heat Blast from Brimstone at any time, the fact that he loses life with each attempt severely reduces the number of times he wants to do this. More glaring is the gulf between their respective maneuverability. At one more move AND flight, Brimstone can easily fly into position to unleash a Heat Blast for maximal damage. With 6 life and the fact that he takes no wounds also means that he can more willingly risk LEA to set up a nice area. Viceron meanwhile has to trudge along the ground to set up a profitable area and even pays for it when he does, but the increased damage punishes the enemy as well.

[Serenity]

The words Sacrifice and Clear in the 2nd power have typos. While Sanguine can refer to a color, my first thought when reading it was wondering why his sword was so cheerful.

[Ixe]

Thanks for the typo corrections. Looks like I missed those. I'm sure the sword is also quite happy to be drinking blood from those it kills : P.

[Ixe]

Originally Posted by Arch-vile

The stats & left box make sense (although Human is odd, I can accept that Viceron is from Arctorus).

Viceron's miniature seemed pretty clearly human to me, so I went with that. I imagined him most likely being from a fantastical world and that gives a few options. The absence of humans from Feylund pretty much ruled that out, Eberron could work, but I felt that Torril would probably be a better fit overall. His abilities are not quite D&D based so it isn't perfect, but he is otherwise a plausible villain for that sort of fantasy world.

I'm not opposed to having him as another humanoid type from some other world as long as that would fit. Icaria didn't strike me as very good since the Icarians there appear to be mostly ruled by dragons and aren't exactly producing magical weapons or armor and practicing blood magic. My only reference for Arctorus is Siiv, who looks nothing like Viceron. Moreover, Siiv's left eye looks robotic on his army card and suggests to me that it is a more sci-fi than fantasy world and not necessarily the best fit for a dark knight.

Another possibility I've considered for Viceron is to actually have him be from Earth and having received his weapons and abilities from Utgar, but I'm not in love with that option because he performs blood magic with his special abilities. I don't feel that's something that they can just give you with a magical trinket.

[flameslayer93]

And Mind Control is something that can be granted from a magical trinket?

[caps]

Arctorus is a planet with a Fantasy-evolving-up-to-Steampunk-evolving-up-to-Mos Eisley Cantina history/plotline/thing. Viceron could fit there (see the bio for the Ebon Armor in the 12 Bios of Christmas--there are humans there that practice magic), but that doesn't mean that he does or should fit there.

[Scytale]

The new version is a much sharper, cleaner design. My initial reaction is that he'll be overpowered (that blast is insane!), but I won't know that without playtesting. Just a quick suggestion: drop the blast to 3 dice. Just a suggestion, though, not something I would fight for.

[Ixe]

Originally Posted by Scytale

The new version is a much sharper, cleaner design. My initial reaction is that he'll be overpowered (that blast is insane!), but I won't know that without playtesting. Just a quick suggestion: drop the blast to 3 dice. Just a suggestion, though, not something I would fight for.

I mostly tested him with the cone so I'll need to play around with this one some more. I am quite confident that 4 dice is fine given how it has played so far and that he trades a quarter of his life in order to do it. He is unable to spam it and has a difficult time moving to optimal positioning to have it work out right. Particularly since it is back to a blast around him, he has to watch out for his allies as well. I am hesitant to drop it too low and make it not worth the costs involved. If I raise his life to compensate for that, I worry that I'll lose the tactical balancing act that he currently has been providing so well in playtesting.

He's particularly crafted to fare best against squads and common hero pseudo-squads right now. His Unholy Sacrifice Special Attack can carve a hole through the clustered units and he can get a steady enough kills with his normal attack to replenish his life when necessary. When squaring off against a unique hero with some life, he'll simply lose to many lower cost options as his abilities don't even apply.