The Book of Dracula

[IAmBatman]

ZJ - I'm not seeing where Morbius applies to this situation at all ... nothing in his "Living Vampire" power about removing wounds from an enemy figure's card.

[Zettian Juggernaut]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

ZJ - I'm not seeing where Morbius applies to this situation at all ... nothing in his "Living Vampire" power about removing wounds from an enemy figure's card.

I didn't mean for removing wounds from enemy figures, but I think at first I had him remove a wound from his card for each wound inflicted, but then he could heal more the 1 wound on squads.

[TrollBrute]

Consider me also on board the "instead of attacking" train. I was just coming here to suggest that.

[Karat]

See I'm not a huge fan of that. I'd rather not give him a range restriction on his bonding and without it and making it instead of attacking will just make him a campung General, the only motivation to actually use him in battle would be to finish off Unique Heroes to grow your forces, which I don't like.

[TrollBrute]

I don't know, hanging back in the shadows, commanding minions and only coming out to pick off weakened heroes to grow his forces seems a lot like Dracula to me.

[quozl]

If Karat likes the powers as-is, we should all step back as he runs the initial so we can see how powerful the design is. Then we can make more educated suggestions if they are needed.

[Karat]

The thing is while I agree that together all of his powers could be extremely powerful. I see him being in the thick of things terrorizing the enemy, Vlad Tepes, historically was a brutal warlord who stuck the heads of his own people and enemies alike on pikes, which is kinda what I'd prefer to portray, but if it proves too powerful a combo, I could see him giving orders from the shadows.

[quozl]

There are quite a few dials we can turn if needed.

[Karat]

Originally Posted by quozl

There are quite a few dials we can turn if needed.

I completely agree. That's just probably the first one I'd turn.

[A3n]

Originally Posted by quozl

If Karat likes the powers as-is, we should all step back as he runs the initial so we can see how powerful the design is. Then we can make more educated suggestions if they are needed.

That's not how it's done. This is the design phase we have to get the powers set now. The initial playtest is for refining & adjusting only. And subsequent playtests are getting the costing right. This kind of thought can get people frustrated especially when it's called for additional playtests because we want to change the power later.

Also in my opinion FAQs should be for after thoughts only. If we see an issue with a power in the design phase then it's our responsibility to make so it isn't an issue & word as such. This was one of the reasons why Doomsday has all that wording & isn't worded with implied knowledge. If we are talking about FAQs now then the power isn't good enough!

[Karat]

Ultimately, I agree with A3n. We should avoid faqs as much as possible. I shall ponder on the Vampirism issue.

[TrollBrute]

Originally Posted by A3n

That's not how it's done. This is the design phase we have to get the powers set now. The initial playtest is for refining & adjusting only. And subsequent playtests are getting the costing right. This kind of thought can get people frustrated especially when it's called for additional playtests because we want to change the power later.

No offense, but I don't think that's a very healthy mindset for the process. We can theory-scape as much as we want during the early stages of a design, but some powers require testing before you can properly judge them. I've seen powers tossed out based solely on someone feeling that they're too powerful or too niche, why not give the unit a few tests and see first? I feel that we should strive to make the best designs we possibly can, and if it requires a unit going through round after round of playtesting, why not let that happen, as long as the LD is up to it? Take Ragman for example, he was tweaked and tested more times than I can count; he ended up quite a ways from where he started and I, for one, think that made the design much better.

Now, this doesn't mean that I think the first proposed design should always go straight to testing, I just think that we don't need to be focused on hammering the design out 90% of the way. We should work out anything we can in the design phase, but I don't think we need to have the design nearly ready for release by the time we reach the Initial. I feel that we should be open to any changes that might make for a better design. This really isn't the place for this discussion, so I'll stop there, but I just don't like the idea that we need to be some kind of assembly line that pumps out designs inside a rigid formula.

EDIT: I do agree with you about the FAQs though. I think we should do everything we can to make the powers clear without any FAQs.