The Book of John Constantine

[dok]

Riding the Synchronicity Highway looks reeeeeeallly strong with figures that spam d20 rolls like Puppet Master, Graviton, Psimon, or Mentallo. For a figures with a d20 cutoff in the middle of the range, it's like adding 5 to your roll. Pretty sick.

[MrNobody]

I forgot to mention it, but I think reducing the range from 5 to 2-3 would be a good idea. Doesn't do much to help Dok's concerns, but it's a start.

[Yodaking]

Bringing his aura in closer is a good idea, I'm thinking of starting the testing at 3 spaces.

Originally Posted by dok

Riding the Synchronicity Highway looks reeeeeeallly strong with figures that spam d20 rolls like Puppet Master, Graviton, Psimon, or Mentallo. For a figures with a d20 cutoff in the middle of the range, it's like adding 5 to your roll. Pretty sick.

When it comes to testing, do you thing pairing him up with more powerful effects that only trigger on a pretty high or pretty low roll will be best, or pairing him up with those with 50% or better odds already but less several effects will be more important.


Spawn (7+, twice for 1W) & Magneto (9+, twice and each deals 1W) both seem like allies I might run him with. Gamora (14+ for Godkiller, but it's only a once per game power) and Gorgon (20+ Unique Hero destroyed, and 12+ on def. for 1W and end turn) are a few others I'm considering. Dr. Doom has two different 14+ powers I might give a try too.



Really there are a lot of possibilities, maybe we should limit his list of allies a bit by species or class or something to see if we can make it a little easier to evaluate. Not sure if that will work here though as the JLD seems to be pretty varied and I wouldn't want to cut any of them out.

[Yodaking]

Starting to realize that as it currently stands his most competitive use will be to put him in the very middle of a d20 defensive pod. I was initially thinking the fact his d20 power gets turned off on an inflicted would would keep him in check but you could go all out on preventing him from being attacked. Between his own Con Man power and Weather Wizard's Fog Cover you keep him from being targeted at range. Giant Man can then swat melee figures away that try to engage. Add a few more defensive d20 power figures and suddenly the game isn't very fun anymore.

Also thinking since we have some powers that allow you to keep rolling combat dice until you don't roll a skull (heat vision), if we don't already have one then a similar d20 mechanic could be something someone wants to implement one day (ie. keep rolling the d20 until you don't roll a 15+ for some stacking effect), which could get crazy with two d20 rolls each time.

So, I'm thinking the d20 power needs to be changed to a once per round or once per player turn type of deal or some other kid of limiting factor to keep it from getting abused. We could let the first d20 roll take place and the results known before you decide if you want to use the once per round power for a second chance at a different result.

[LordVenoc]

Originally Posted by Yodaking

Also thinking since we have some powers that allow you to keep rolling combat dice until you don't roll a skull (heat vision), if we don't already have one then a similar d20 mechanic could be something someone wants to implement one day (ie. keep rolling the d20 until you don't roll a 15+ for some stacking effect), which could get crazy with two d20 rolls each time.

This exists on Typhoid Mary and the Fire Ant Swarm. Possibly more.

[MrNobody]

I think John should always be able to use it on himself. It would be really cool if every other figure could only use it once per round, but that would take a lot of memorization.

[quozl]

According to http://hellblazer.wikia.com/wiki/Syn...ave_Travelling
(sentence right above the section "The Laughing Magician"):

The synchronicity only benefits and protects John, but not other people.

[Yodaking]

Originally Posted by LordVenoc

This exists on Typhoid Mary and the Fire Ant Swarm. Possibly more.

Thanks, I was thinking it had already been done but couldn't recall on who.

[MrNobody]

Originally Posted by quozl

According to http://hellblazer.wikia.com/wiki/Syn...ave_Travelling
(sentence right above the section "The Laughing Magician"):

The synchronicity only benefits and protects John, but not other people.

From what I recall, it can benefit others as they benefit John. So a friendly Zatanna being able to pull something off works in his favor, as does an enemy messing up. I may need to go (re-)read more Hellblazer though. I’m hardly an expert.

[quozl]

Yeah, it talks about it working on his enemies.

[Yodaking]

Originally Posted by MrNobody

From what I recall, it can benefit others as they benefit John. So a friendly Zatanna being able to pull something off works in his favor, as does an enemy messing up. I may need to go (re-)read more Hellblazer though. I’m hardly an expert.

I do have some reservations about accepting the details on how the power works according to a wiki article. The first comment in the comment section points out a factual error in the wiki entry concerning the identity of Astra. The wiki post suggest she is John's lover but if you follow the link you can see she is a child and the daughter of Alex who was sent to hell, then later freed by John and goes to heaven. If those details don't match up, then perhaps they got some aspects of how his powers work wrong too. Just don't know where to go to confirm exactly how it should work.

In general, I do kind of feel at though his good fortune should be extended to his allies in some way though since it also mentions that the power helps him with 'meeting the right kind of people and being in the right place at the right time.' That would seem to suggest that the highway leads him to allies who are more likely to be successful ones and things just seem to go his way around him.

I'm leaning towards an all the time when John rolls the d20 himself or is targeted by an opponent for a d20 roll the power works deal, plus a once per round use of the power by an ally. Just not sure how to write it up cleanly.

[quozl]

RIDING THE SYNCHRONICITY HIGHWAY
Anytime the 20-sided die is rolled for John Constantine or an enemy figure within 5 clear sight spaces of John Constantine, you may roll a 20-sided die. You may choose your new roll in place of the original roll. Once per round, you may roll a 20-sided die and choose to replace the original roll when a friendly figure rolls a 20-sided die. If John Constantine receives one or more Wound Markers from an attack or special ability, he may not use Riding the Synchronicity Highway for the rest of the round.