The Book of Ultra-Humanite

[Tornado]

What is a Humanite?
What makes this one Ultra?

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by LordVenoc

Generalist binders will feel pretty necessary here I think.

Grodd (once per round generalist bonding) and Lex (contingency plan power) at least are nice fits with this particular need, even if not on the flexibility level of someone like Hush.

[Karat]

I think I'd just switch the order.

...After a Unique Hero with Ultra-Humanite on its Army Card takes a turn, if it is Human, it receives a wound, or roll an unblockable attack die against that Hero.

[IAmBatman]

Eh, that honestly sounds just as off to me.

COMPETITIVE REVIEW BOARD CHECKLIST

Spoiler Alert!

Efficiency- Check to see if your design is providing armies with turns/moves/etc. to a degree that would make it difficult or impossible for an opponent to keep up with your output.

1. Does your design allow itself or figures to move/attack/take a turn/etc. instead of/in addition to your normal turn for revealing an Order Marker? Is it granting these benefits to too broad a range of units? Does it combine with other powers to create overly long or powerful chains of actions?
Mental Machinations provides additional auto-wound chances without taking a turn with him (so long as he has a revealed Order Marker). This will be a focus of the testing and part of his cost assessment.

2. Does your design allow you to take actions during an opponent's turn? Can it combine with other powers to create tediously long reactions to enemy actions or a restrictive environment?

The auto-wounding, subject on meeting conditions, yes. (See above).

3. Does your design allow you to rearrange your Order Markers or otherwise bypass the costs of Order Marker requirements on the special powers of other figures?

No issues.

4. Is your design doing anything outside of a player's turn, at the start or end of the round? Is the effect too powerful by itself or when combined with other powers?

No issues.

5. Does your design have any powers that trigger anytime it moves as opposed to only when it moves normally on its turn? Will it be too efficient when combined with figures that grant extra moves to figures?

No issues.

6. Is your design adding or subtracting from initiative rolls? Will it pair too easily with other figures that alter initiative or have powers triggering on the results of initiative rolls?

No issues.

Potency- Check to see if your design is wounding/removing/etc. enemy figures, increasing the chances of other figures in your army doing so, or otherwise directly effecting the number of figures available to players to a degree that would make it difficult or impossible for an opponent to recover from.

1. Does your design have a chance to inflict wounds or destroy figures? Is it getting these chances too frequently or having to high a chance of success? Is the power balanced against expensive targets that can cause a massive swing in the game when destroyed?

Yes to both, and this will be a crux of the testing. The swinginess is more likely to come from Mind Transference than one at a time auto wounding.


2. Is your design adding to the stats or 20-sided die rolls of other figures in your army? Is it a boosting a broad enough range of units effectively enough to become a 'mandatory' draft or inhibit future design space? Can it be combined with other boosts too easily?

No issues.

3. Will your design benefit from stat boosts or other enhancement to an overpowering degree? Will it restrict future growth within its faction or point cost by limiting available boosts to others?

He’ll enjoy D20 boosts, but not to an overpowering degree.

4. Does your design take control of enemy figures permanently or temporarily? Is it too difficult to for your opponent to regain control of their figure or recover from the losing the figure? Does the method of taking control expose the enemy figure to the powers of other figures in your army that can easily destroy it?

Yes, permanently, but only if they’d first be destroyed, which is kinder than most mind control powers.

5. Can your design heal itself or others or revive itself or others? Is it doing so in a way that an opponent cannot hope to overcome in certain scenarios?

No issues.

6. Does your design place enemy figures on its card or otherwise have an unconventional method of temporarily removing enemy figures from play? Will it guarantee your victory against a single remaining enemy figure?

No issues.


Chicanery- Check to see if your design is preventing your opponent from taking actions with too much ease or is otherwise causing negative play experience through tactics that make your opponent feel you're 'not playing fair'

1. Does your design restrict the movement of enemy figures, or allow you to move enemy figures? Can it do so in a way that results in an unwinnable scenario for your opponent if they are down to one figure, posses only figures with a range of 1, etc.? Can your design easily combine with other figures to greatly impede enemy figures or otherwise gain an excessive advantage?

No issues.

2. Does your design effect/change the placement of an enemy's Order Markers, or remove their Order Markers entirely? Can it force Order Markers to go onto cards that have no figures on the battlefield? Can your design easily combine with other figures to completely dictate the placement of an enemy's Order Markers or remove all of their Order Markers?

No issues.

3. Does your design inhibit your opponent from attacking your figures or make attacking a losing proposition? Are there scenarios or combinations that make your opponent totally unable to harm your figures through attacking?

No issues.

4. Does your design directly negate the powers of enemy figures or otherwise ignore them in a way that can completely disrupt the opponent's strategy or leave them feeling like they are stuck playing figures without special powers?

No issues.

5. Does your design become overly powerful in a podded group of figures, or provide significant benefit to your army without leaving your Start Zone?

The auto-wounding power has some amount of pod-usefuless, but he has to be fairly in the thick of the action and have a revealed Order Marker in order to be able to use it, so there are checks on the power.

6. You can attack your own figures in Heroscape, does your design have any powers that will trigger off of doing so or otherwise wounding/destroying your own figures? Is this intentional on your part? Will the design be too efficient or potent when doing so?
It is intentional that he can attack his own Unique Hero allies in order to Mind Transfer to them. I don’t believe the effect will be potent, particularly if they are destroyed when he is removed from their card.

CONSISTENCY CHECKLIST (SHORT FORM)

Spoiler Alert!

Consistency Concerns
Name and Identity
Verify character is named in a way that is clear, accurate and feels consistent with the way other characters are named.

All good.

Uniqueness and Type
Verify that the power text reflects the listed uniqueness and type, that the uniqueness fits the character, and that squad size is listed for squads.

All good.

Left Box
If the character's species, class or personality is reused, verify that the character feels thematically consistent with other figures that have that species, class or personality. If they are not reused, verify that there is no pre-existing species, class or personality that would make more sense.

Placing him in Antagonist and Simian synergies is very intentional and thematic. I actually want to change him to Brilliant to recognize his superior intellect and in case there are ever relevant Brilliant synergies.

Size and Height
Verify that the listed size and height are accurate. Standing the mini up next to a stack of tiles, and a few other minis of various sizes, is encouraged.

All good.

Super Strength and Flying
Verify that these special powers are present if they make sense, and not if they don't.

All good.

New Powers - Names
Verify that any new powers are not using power names identical to, or very similar to, pre-existing powers. Verify that any new powers are actually new and not old powers with new names.

All good. Two new powers that are specific enough to be different.

New Powers - Effects
Verify that the effect and timing of all new powers is clear. Verify that any logical immunities, benefits, or weaknesses (whether those be necessary for thematic or mechanical reasons) are implemented: consider whether defensive powers that work against normal attacks should also work against special attacks, whether or not a power has an elemental component that some figures should resist, and whether or not unliving figures (such as Undead and Androids) should be affected.

All good.

Reused Powers
Verify that the design is reusing powers in place of creating new ones, where reused powers could implement the same theme and mechanics with no differences or only trivial differences. Verify that any reused powers have the correct text.

All good. Upon Karat’s recommendation, I removed a comma from Maniacal Gloating, but then posted an update for the same power in Crazy Quilt’s SP and posted a note for Art.

Power Level
Verify that the character's movement, attack, range, and defense (in conjunction with any special powers that enhance those stats) feel consistent with the capabilities of characters with analogous powers and abilities. Verify that the character falls into a similar point range to characters with comparative powers and abilities.

His stats are in line with those of Grodd I and II once special powers are taken into consideration.

[LordVenoc]

I'd say consider letting him keep Mental Machinations if he transfers. Right now it feels a bit like being pushed toward the mind shift because it's a thing he does rather than it being the smart tactical choice.

[Karat]

Maybe bullet it then

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by LordVenoc

I'd say consider letting him keep Mental Machinations if he transfers. Right now it feels a bit like being pushed toward the mind shift because it's a thing he does rather than it being the smart tactical choice.

Could let him keep both powers, really. Just have to figure out exactly how to word that. Really, though, it should only be something you're doing if he's pretty close to death, which is thematic, IMO.

[IAmBatman]

OK, how's this look for an update?

MIND TRANSFERENCE
If Ultra-Humanite would inflict one or more wounds on a Unique Hero and destroy it, you may instead place Ultra-Humanite on that Hero’s Army Card and take permanent control of that Hero. While Ultra-Humanite is on another Hero’s Army Card, he still has any special powers on this Army Card. If the special power refers to Ultra-Humanite or this card, it refers to the figure and card of the Hero with Ultra-Humanite on its card instead. After a Unique Hero with Ultra-Humanite on its Army Card takes a turn, roll an unblockable attack die against that Hero, or two unblockable attack dice if it is Human.

[Arch-vile]

Lengthy, but I like that if it fits. You could probably cut the unblockables, or at least the extra unblockable for a human. Humans typically have low life so they’d be a riskier target anyway.

[LordVenoc]

I'd honestly consider dropping the unlockables. That's a big part of the deterrent for swapping, you're likely to get someone who is close to death, so you get like 1 shot to swap again, or a 50/50 chance of dying. His normal hosts degrade, but not like 10 minutes after he takes over. It just feels like too much in the context of everything and in the context of a single battle that I think hurts the fun of the design too much.

[Lord Pyre]

I like it. Agreed about cutting at least the Human negative. Also agreed that cutting unblockables in general is fine, but if you need it for theme, you could consider just at the end of the round or something.

I think you'll just need to get a feel for this guy in testing before we talk him to death. Maybe he plays just find, he's a hard one to judge.

[IAmBatman]

Went with end of the round for the unblockable and cut the Human part. If the text seems like too much or if it seems like too much of a pain in gameplay, I'll cut the unblockable part altogether.

For now, I agree with LP, so I propose we move to Initial Playtesting.