SoA's Customs: ULLAR CAVALRY FACTION, 4/24

[Son of Arathorn]

These days, it takes a really fun miniature to get a rough sketch out of me, and a Tiefling Pirate fits that bill. The sketch is really rough, with too many bells and whistles attached, but until I can decide what needs to stay and what needs to go, I'd rather keep all those bells and whistles in one place.

This miniature is the Pirate Captain, part of the upcoming Seas & Shores set from Icons of the Realms.



NAME = CAPTAIN ZAHRA "GOLDEN" GALE
GENERAL = VYDAR
PLANET = EBERRON
SPECIES = TIEFLING
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = ROGUE
PERSONALITY = BOLD
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM/4

LIFE = 5
MOVE = 5
RANGE = 5
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 3
POINTS = ???

INFERNAL HEIRLOOMS
At the start of the game, you may place the Golden Panache and Medallion of the Devil's Luck Treasure Glyphs on this Army Card. Zahra cannot drop these Treasure Glyphs during her movement.

THE RED CAPTAIN'S GAMBIT
When revealing an Order Marker on Zahra’s Army Card, after taking Zahra’s turn, you may reveal an “X” Order Marker that is on Zahra’s Army Card and take another turn with Zahra. During this additional turn, when Zahra attacks an adjacent figure or destructible object, she may attack one additional time.

DISENGAGE
Zahra is never attacked when leaving an engagement.


The Treasure Glyphs:

GOLDEN PANACHE (card image: a golden cutlass identical to the one in the mini's right hand)
PERMANENT TREASURE GLYPH
This figure receives 1 additional attack die when attacking an adjacent figure with a normal attack. If this figure is engaged, you may add 4 to your initiative roll.

MEDALLION OF THE DEVIL'S LUCK (card image: a coin strung on a leather cord, embossed with a horned skull & crossbones)
PERMANENT TREASURE GLYPH
If this figure is attacked by an opponent’s figure and at least 1 skull is rolled, roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 1-3, roll 2 fewer defense dice against that attack. If you roll a 4-14, roll defense dice normally. If you roll a 15 or higher, this figure takes no damage and may immediately move up to 3 spaces.

Synergy and Benefits: As a Rogue Hero, Zahra receives bonding from the Nottingham Brigands.

Design Philosophy: This is the "B" version of Zahra, the one where I let myself throw in all the ideas that wouldn't fit neatly into my "A" version. Like Moira Blacktail before her, Zahra brings free treasure into a Brigand build that Locksley can swipe and redistribute to the Brigands, at the cost of Zahra herself losing some oomph and/or survivability. I think you could easily argue that both Golden Panache and the Medallion of the Devil's Luck should be Ancient Artifacts, but I held off on that restriction for the time being. Zahra is also meant to work in a Buccaneers of Tortuga build, where her conditional initiative bonus can help set up Opportunist attacks, and her ability to get an extra turn out of the "X" Order Marker justifies putting a numbered Order Marker on her instead of the Buccaneers from time to time, too.

[caps]

Very fun design. It does have a lot of bells and whistles but each one is clean on it's own, which does help.

[Dad_Scaper]

Huh. You didn't make her a Captain, though. Why not?

[Blue Trails]

I like Captain Gale. Cross-faction synergy is always fun, and you've done a good job with this unit. I particularly think that the Medallion of Devil's Luck looks scary as a glyph, especially if you employ a little strategic friendly fire to give the glyph to a more threatening or more durable unit than Gale, or to a unit with its own wound-evading power; I'm imagining something like Raelin behind a screen, Q9, or Isamu as potential recipients. I'm also curious about interactions between its free movement and Counter Strike / Evil Eye Defense. Regardless, the risk of a sudden Defense drop should be a good balancing factor.

Also, I should mention that the design seems complete without The Red Captain's Gambit; if you were looking to drop a bell or whistle for the "A version," I'd start there.

[Son of Arathorn]

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

Huh. You didn't make her a Captain, though. Why not?

Mechanically, because I like her as a bonding option for the Nottingham Brigand.

Thematically, because I envisioned her as the type of Captain who doesn’t always have a crew at her disposal, so I didn’t consider the mismatch a contradiction in terms.

There’s precedent, at least in Fanscape (not sure if Hasbro or WotC did it): Capt. John Varan’s class is “Soldier.”

EDIT: similarly, Empress Kiova’s class is “Warrior,” but that’s the only comparable example I see in a quick scan of the Books Index.

[caps]

A la "Captain" Jack Sparrow.

[Son of Arathorn]

Thank you for taking the time to comment, Blue Trails!

Originally Posted by Blue Trails

I like Captain Gale. Cross-faction synergy is always fun, and you've done a good job with this unit. I particularly think that the Medallion of Devil's Luck looks scary as a glyph, especially if you employ a little strategic friendly fire to give the glyph to a more threatening or more durable unit than Gale, or to a unit with its own wound-evading power; I'm imagining something like Raelin behind a screen, Q9, or Isamu as potential recipients. I'm also curious about interactions between its free movement and Counter Strike / Evil Eye Defense. Regardless, the risk of a sudden Defense drop should be a good balancing factor.

It's definitely a potent little Treasure Glyph, the effects of which are modeled after the Buccaneers of Tortuga's Elusive 15 special power. Unlike the Buccaneers, the Medallion allows figures to dodge attacks from non-adjacent and adjacent figures, so it will come into play against many more opponents. Whether the downside of the defense penalty I added balances that out is hard to say. Speaking of Elusive 15, the free movement granted by the Medallion should interact with powers like Counter Strike and Evil Eye Defense just the same as the free movement of Elusive 15 does.

I don't know that I would advise mixing the Medallion into a pool of random Treasure Glyphs for a tournament map. Without the "penalties" of needing to both A) include Zahra herself in your army and B) figure out a way to hand off the Medallion without Zahra willingly dropping it during movement, it's probably unbalanced. I wouldn't want, say, Quahon or Major Q9, to be able to pick it up as easily as they might a Heroic Rune or Gem of Lava Resistance. But if a player wants to invest 100+ points into Zahra and spend however many Order Markers it takes to kill her and force her to drop the Glyph, that's another thing entirely, IMO.

Also, I should mention that the design seems complete without The Red Captain's Gambit; if you were looking to drop a bell or whistle for the "A version," I'd start there.

Interesting! The Red Captain's Gambit has been there almost since the beginning of my work on this sketch. I loved the idea of a bold off-and-on pirate captain deciding to go double-or-nothing in a melee duel... or ditching the fight to live another day. Mechanically, it's also intended to make Zahra somewhat more viable to play alongside the Buccaneers, since they don't have bonding (so you'd better get decent value from the few Order Markers you do put on Zahra and not on the Buccaneers).

That being said, if I ever do settle on an "A" version, it's really nice to know that somebody thinks that's the first piece of the design they'd drop. Every little bit of feedback helps.

Originally Posted by caps

A la "Captain" Jack Sparrow.

High praise! And just what I had in mind!

[Sherman Davies]

I'm not usually a fan of customs with built in treasure glyphs, because I find them to just be a way for designers to squeeze a ton of powers that wouldn't otherwise fit on a card, but if any units should work this way, I suppose it should be pirate-themed ones. I like what you've got going on so far, but I honestly don't know what you should cut to get to your "A" version, since her powers and the glyphs are fairly thematic and simple. Maybe tone down the Devil's Luck one to avoid any broken combos, I guess?

Originally Posted by Son of Arathorn

Mechanically, because I like her as a bonding option for the Nottingham Brigand.

Thematically, because I envisioned her as the type of Captain who doesn’t always have a crew at her disposal, so I didn’t consider the mismatch a contradiction in terms.

Interesting, I would've assumed it was simply because the Buccaneers of Tortuga are rogues.

[Son of Arathorn]

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies

I'm not usually a fan of customs with built in treasure glyphs, because I find them to just be a way for designers to squeeze a ton of powers that wouldn't otherwise fit on a card, but if any units should work this way, I suppose it should be pirate-themed ones.

I tend to notice the same thing in customs with built-in treasure glyphs, which is why I really only tinker with this concept for units that have some synergy with Locksley and the Brigands. It's interesting that you bring up the pirate theme as a factor, because I don't think I would have tried this for a different pirate-themed miniature, although it obviously makes some sense in hindsight. When I came across this specific sculpt, with its obviously golden cutlass and other golden jewelry, plus its obviously fiendish ancestry, I got the idea of meshing those two together.

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies

I like what you've got going on so far, but I honestly don't know what you should cut to get to your "A" version, since her powers and the glyphs are fairly thematic and simple. Maybe tone down the Devil's Luck one to avoid any broken combos, I guess?

I'm struggling with that decision myself. I've mulled over cutting Disengage and paring the Medallion back to more closely resemble Elusive 15, but I'm hesitant to touch Golden Panache or The Red Captain's Gambit because I like how they play off of each other. The other day I found myself thinking how convenient it would be if Disengage was a symbol and not a full-length power (a la Flying or Superstrength)!

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies

Interesting, I would've assumed it was simply because the Buccaneers of Tortuga are rogues.

Hah! I think that fact must have crossed my mind early on in the draft process, but I ended up focusing so much more on echoing and creating soft synergy with the Buccaneers special powers, and then on seeing whether Zahra could be useful to both the Brigands as well as the Buccaneers, that their class wasn't really on my mind when I decided to go with Rogue.

[Son of Arathorn]

Since I had pirates on the brain, here's another rough sketch of a unit to go with Captain Gale: Bosun Brackenmaw.

The miniature is the Wereshark Pirate, from Pathfinder Battles' old Skull & Shackles set:


Version 2.0

NAME = BOSUN BRACKENMAW
GENERAL = UTGAR
PLANET = EBERRON
SPECIES = HYBRID
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = ROGUE
PERSONALITY = FEROCIOUS
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM/6

LIFE = 5
MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 4
DEFENSE = 3
POINTS = ???

MOVE IT, BILGE RATS!
Unengaged small and medium figures you control that start their turn adjacent to Brackenmaw may move 1 additional space.

NO QUARTER!
After moving and before attacking, you may choose any opponent’s figure within 5 clear sight spaces of Brackenmaw that is engaged with any other figure you control. Roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 15 or higher, the chosen figure receives 1 wound.

EASY PREY
Small Squad figures attacked by Brackenmaw subtract 2 from their defense dice. Medium Squad figures attacked by Brackenmaw subtract 1 from their defense dice.


Synergy and Benefits: As a Hybrid Hero, Brackenmaw can be activated by the Werewolf Lord's Moon Frenzy special power. As a Rogue Hero, Brackenmaw can be activated by the Nottingham Brigand's Rogue Bonding special power.

Notes: General changed from Vydar to Utgar, Class changed to Rogue, Personality changed to Merciless, Life reduced from 6 to 5.

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = BOSUN BRACKENMAW
GENERAL = VYDAR
PLANET = EBERRON
SPECIES = HYBRID
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = ROGUE/BRUTE/???
PERSONALITY = MERCILESS/FEROCIOUS/TERRIFYING???
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM/6

LIFE = 6
MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 4
DEFENSE = 3
POINTS = ???

MOVE IT, BILGE RATS!
Unengaged small and medium figures you control that start their turn adjacent to Brackenmaw may move 1 additional space.

NO QUARTER!
After moving and before attacking, you may choose any opponent’s figure within 5 clear sight spaces of Brackenmaw that is engaged with any other figure you control. Roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 15 or higher, the chosen figure receives 1 wound.

EASY PREY
Small Squad figures attacked by Brackenmaw subtract 2 from their defense dice. Medium Squad figures attacked by Brackenmaw subtract 1 from their defense dice.

Synergy and Benefits: As a Hybrid Hero, Brackenmaw can be activated by the Werewolf Lord's Moon Frenzy special power.

Design Philosophy: There's a lot I liked about this sketch (the power names, overall theme, and getting to reuse Easy Prey), and there's a lot that's unsettled (the left-box stats, among other things). One point/problem I'm thinking about now is that No Quarter! is just an unaltered copy of Mogrimm Forgehammer's Commander's Strike special power. I tried to come up with some minor tweak to justify the new name, but nothing I tried felt quite right, either because it made the power too weak/powerful, or because it felt like a needless add-on. Beyond that, I'm hoping that this unit doesn't fall prey to the old "it tries to do everything, so it's not good at anything" conundrum. Move It, Bilge Rats! should get some use in the early game, but after that, is he worth an Order Marker?

[caps]

Seems like the class should be either Rogue (for rogue faction synergy) or Pirate (for AoA pirate synergy).

What if No Quarter only works if the enemy figure doesn't have friendly figures adjacent? Could maybe drop the roll to 14 with that restriction.

[Shadowking]

I like adding Rogue synergy to the concept of having a Treasure Glyph "spawning in" from outside the game; I designed a Merchant-class hero who could hand them out (originally it used its own markers) but after playtesting it seemed much more fun to make him a Rogue and let him give them to Locksley and such. I ended up there just going with the more basic standard ones though (+1 attack, +1 defence); I do like the effects of the two special ones Zahra gets generally as abilities, but I wonder whether having two special glyphs, a somewhat complex ability (Red Captain's Gambit), plus two basic ones (even if one of the two doesn't really *do* anything, just provides the mechanics for handing the glyphs out) is a bit much in terms of what one unit is doing (it also doesn't really matter or come up much in practice I'd think, but it's perhaps odd in terms of theme that if you pass the Golden Panache to Locksley and get a bunch of Brigands engaged you can get like a +20 to initiative and auto-win it).

The shark guy is cool, he doesn't really feel like a Vydar unit in terms of powers/theme to me that much and I agree that just doing Commander's Strike again with another name probably isn't ideal but I appreciate the synergies between it and the movement buff - not too powerful and it doesn't like, shout out the combo with huge neon lights (which I like) but it's the kind of neat thing you'd enable when playing sometimes and get small benefit from. Obviously the figure is great; I agree Rogue or Pirate make the most sense in terms of class. From a balance/mechanics point Chomp is likely not the best idea to reuse but it'd be funny & fitting thematically (and a lot less good on a non-bonding hero than on Grimnak).