The Book of Animated Vines

[japes]

Originally Posted by Arkham

I'm not against it. I just kind of like the "cut the head off the snake, and the body dies" aspect they currently have. Without Ivy/Floronic, they can't go anywhere, attack, or come back to life.

I also like this aspect...without one of those guys around, they are just vines.

Originally Posted by Lazy Orang

Another thing worth mentioning is that, as written, they would still always make LEAs, so that could be construed as a theme-break if you're going for them only being animated by Ivy/Floronic and their animator is dead - I suppose you could explain it away by Batman being careless and cutting himself on thorns.

I'm fine either way here. Vines are still dangerous just laying around...you can get injured by tripping, thorns, or just getting tangled up and getting your flesh ripped up.

[Arkham]

Could just add a clause that prevents them from taking LEA if there's no figure with Plant Animations in play.

[johnny139]

I'd be fine with us giving them 1 Range and 0/1 Attack so that, in theory, they can attack. But if we don't want to do that, I'd like to put a "cannot attack or make leaving engagement attacks" clause in there - I mean, considering all of the interactions out there, we can already pump their attack, and we could easily come up with something like Mr. Sinister that overwrites Range numbers.

Wild sounds like a good personality to me. Or something like that - go with punny, like the GL Constructs.

[Ronin]

I know we already did it with the GL Shield, but I'd really rather avoid putting 0 range on a card. Pretty much on the same page with johnny here.

[Arkham]

May as well go with Range 1 and Attack 1/2 then. If we removed the ability for them to attack opponents leaving engagements, their usefulness goes down a bit.

[Viegon]

Originally Posted by Arkham

It depends. I intended for them to be able to keep coming back even if the 3rd is destroyed. If we have it so they can't come back if the 3rd is destroyed, then I agree, a lower roll would be necessary.

The wording needs to be more clear in this case. Probably add a "for the entire game" to the beginning of the power.

Originally Posted by Arkham

They can't move on their own. They can never move, even by figures that allow figures to move. However, they can be placed. Such as before a figure with Plant Animations takes a turn, or by other powers such as Magneto's throw etc. Idea being they are vines coming from out of the ground. Chlorokinesis would essentially have them going underground and popping up within 3 spaces away.

The distinction between "move" and "place" has never been well defined in 'Scape, so it'd be best to avoid that wording/ruling. I'd recommend going with either quozl's suggestion (which would allow them to be moved by Iron Patriot and the like) or a more extreme "can only be moved by Chlorokinesis" (which would cut out them even being tossed).

Originally Posted by Lazy Orang

I like Wild as a personality here - it's a term used to describe non-cultivated plants, can be used in the sense of 'Wild growth' - it sounds a bit more interesting and colourful here than Subservient. I'd like to see a personality that sounds like you're describing plants, even if it's an all-new, weird one.

I was about to suggest Mindless, but I like Wild better.

As to their stats, I liked the 0s, but giving them 1 range and attack would be fine.

Also, Plant for both species and class feels really off to me. What about changing their class to Construct (gives them a couple of immunities).

I think "Animated Vines are considered to be Jungle Pieces" will need to be FAQed, it's not immediately clear exactly what that means or what the benefit is. And/or we may want to clarify the wording...

I'd also like to see an OM requirement added to Chlorokinesis, to avoid too much stacking.

A bit early for this, but taking that all into account I'd recommend rewording the powers to:

ROOTED (might need a different name)
Animated Vines are considered to be Jungle Pieces in addition to Unique Squad figures.

CHLOROKINESIS
After revealing an Order Marker on the card of a figure you control with the Plant Animation special power and before taking a turn with that figure, you may place each Animated Vine you control on empty space within 3 spaces of its current position. Animated Vines cannot move or be moved in any way except by this special power.

PLANT REGROWTH
For the entire game, at the end of each round, you may roll the 20-sided die once for each destroyed Animated Vine on this card. If you roll 15 or higher, place that Animated Vine on any empty space adjacent to a figure you control with the Plant Animation special power, if possible.

[Ronin]

I suggested pretty much the same thing (moving the "no other movement" clause into Chlorkinesis and using the Rooted power to clarify the jungle piece bits). This was what I recommended replacing Rooted with:

JUNGLE COVER
Plant Animations are considered to be Jungle Pieces for the purposes of all special powers and the Jungle Piece defensive bonus.

[Arkham]

Solid suggestions. I'm not sure I'm for the OM reveal requirement, as that'd essentially cut away using them with Ivy II if you're teaming her with any sort of Crime Lord or Suicide Squad army, which is something I figured we were trying to encourage by making her a Criminal.

Hmmm... Trying to make this all work fluidly together is a bit of a challenge, I'm finding.

[Lazy Orang]

Yeah, drop the OM requirement - it won't be OP, they're less their own unit than an extension of Ivy/Floronic, honestly.

[Ronin]

Only moving three spaces at a time, they can't advance that quickly anyway unless you're taking a bunch of turns with Ivy or whoever you've got animating them. The OM requirement does seems like it might be overkill.

I'd rather just have them costed around not needing the Animator to have the OM.

If we needed more restrictions in there, we could do something like only being able to move 1 of them if she's engaged at the start of her turn, or something? It would let her advance them fairly quickly, but slightly limit her shenanigans once she's in battle.

Is it worth thinking about making Chlorokinesis re-usable? I know we talked a little bit about the idea of doing a giant Venus fly trap type thing in the future as well, and I could see us revisiting the idea of plant constructs. It might be nice if Chlorokinesis was written in terms of being able to move X number of figures with the special power (presumably 3) instead of just referencing the Animated Vines, so that if we ever introduced more plant constructs, they could all have it without granting you the ability to move your entire plant army all at once.

[Viegon]

Good points, I guess the OM restriction isn't needed. We'll definitely need to test her in those chaining situations though.

[Arkham]

Works for me.