Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion

[Leaf_It]

I would like to resubmit my Drow Assassin:


Text version:

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = DROW ASSASSIN
GENERAL = UTGAR
PLANET = TORIL
SPECIES = DROW
UNIQUENESS = COMMON HERO
CLASS = ASSASSSIN
PERSONALITY = TRICKY
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

1 LIFE
6 MOVE
1 RANGE
4 ATTACK
2 DEFENSE
25 POINTS

Shadow Shift
Before or after moving a Drow Assassin, you may choose a friendly Drow figure within 5 spaces, whose base is no more than 9 levels higher or lower than the base of the Drow Assassin. You may Switch her with the chosen figure. Figures moved by Shadow Shift never take any leaving engagement attacks.

Drow Ambush
After revealing an order marker on, and taking a turn with a common Drow Army Card that you control, you may reveal the X order marker on this card to take a turn with a Drow Assassin that you control. During this turn, add 2 to the Attack value of this card.

Hide in Darkness
If a Drow Assassin is attacked with a normal attack and at least 1 skull is rolled, roll the 20-sided die. If that Drow Assassin is on a dungeon space, add 3 to your die roll. If it is on a shadow space, add 6 to your die roll. If you roll a 1-15, roll defense dice normally. If you roll a 16 or higher, ignore all damage that would have been inflicted by the attack.

Changes from last time:
Shadow Shift can now only target friendly Drow figures.
Drow Assassinate now uses the X order marker, and adds +2 attack. I did this because I want the assassin to be appealing next to the Drow Chain Fighter, who has 2 more defense. Other than the extra turn from the XOM, you can now have a once per round execution attempt on a high value target, or just whatever happens to be annoying you at the moment. The Chain Fighter is still more consistent with it's higher defense, but the utility of Shadow Shift, and the potential of combining assassinate with a Chain Grab is highly appealing.

Figure used is Lolth's Sting #53, and Lolth's Sting '05 Gameday Promo
Availibility:

16 - TrollandToad
13 - Coolstuffinc
41 - RPGLocker
5 - GameHollow
17 - NobleKnight
A LOT - eBay
I still have around 100 of the figure here at my house to sell to anyone interested.

For those that weren't around for the my first iteration of this design, I bought around 130 of the figure to ensure that there would be enough of them to submit. I don't recommend doing this. I have sat on these figures for literally 4 years.

[UtahScott]

What's the figure name/originating series?

[Leaf_It]

Originally Posted by UtahScott

What's the figure name/originating series?

Sorry, I should have included that.
Figure used is Lolth's Sting #53, and Lolth's Sting '05 Gameday Promo.
I have edited that info into the submission.

[Dysole]

I don't love the power name Drow Assassinate, but everything else looks solid to me. Once a round 6 attack could be annoying, but it's not like the Drow are a world breaking army. This looks mostly like a nice filler piece for them.

~Dysole, with her first SoV vote

[UtahScott]

from D&D's Underdark? 2005, a long time ago then.

[Scytale]

Not all of the issues that caused the previous version of the Drow Assassin to fail were addressed, but a design that overtly makes an existing unit/faction stronger is always going to have detractors. The changes to Shadow Shift are excellent (though I don't love allowing it before or after, it feels like it's trying to hard to cover all weaknesses), including reducing the number of times Drow Assassinate can proc. This combination of powers makes the unit outside of Drow armies, but I'm not bothered by that.

to review the Drow Assassin

[Dad_Scaper]

I wonder how often, during playtesting, "Drow Assassinate" was used for some purpose other than attacking a high value target. I imagine that power is very helpful for repositioning, grabbing glyphs, activating from the rear, or trying to eliminate some low-defense figure from the front, rather than assassinating at the rear.

I see the theme "assassinate" but the mechanics make me wonder if it plays that way.

The mini is holding a rapier, correct? Does it look like an assassin?

Sorry, I'm not trying to be difficult. Just trying to talk through the issues I'm seeing at first glance.

I like Shadow Shift (sharing Scy's preference for making it before *or* after, not both) and I like the mini. I'm just not in love with the assassin power or theme (or power name, as dysole said).

[Scytale]

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

I see the theme "assassinate" but the mechanics make me wonder if it plays that way.

I had similar thoughts as to Assassinate's utility, but I suspect the power's +2 Attack boost will tempt players to use it for attacking most of the time. Won't really know without playtesting, though, and I would downvote the unit if the power tried to force the attack to occur.

[Scytale]

The SoV is proud to announce its first 2022 inductee, Olog by @The Long eared bat !





Here's the PDF for easy printing.

[Dysole]

Looks too thick to be a rapier. It is the kind of weapon I would expect to see from an assassin. The pose for me at least helps sell it as an assassin.

~Dysole, not completely sure how she feels about Shadow Shift but they are all playtesting concerns

[Vydar_XLIII]

Am I reading/understanding this interaction correctly?

By my understanding, it is possible (after developing some Deepwyrm Drow or Chainfighters into position) to reveal a numbered OM on an Assassin, move 6 normally, Shadow Shift, then reveal the X with Drow Assassinate to take another turn with the same Assassin, move normally and Shift again, before attacking with 6? That's 22 spaces of movement, 10 of which effectively ignores terrain.

That might be something I have a problem with.

Edit: Ninja'd by Olog. Congrats @The Long eared bat !

[Dysole]

Originally Posted by Vydar_XLIII

Am I reading/understanding this interaction correctly?

By my understanding, it is possible (after developing some Deepwyrm Drow or Chainfighters into position) to reveal a numbered OM on an Assassin, move 6 normally, Shadow Shift, then reveal the X with Drow Assassinate to take another turn with the same Assassin, move normally and Shift again, before attacking with 6? That's 22 spaces of movement, 10 of which effectively ignores terrain.

That might be something I have a problem with.

Edit: Ninja'd by Olog. Congrats @The Long eared bat !

Yes, that is in fact a thing you can do and that does make me pause. I do wonder how easy that is to set up. Is it worth it for a single attack of 6? I don't know. Sometimes yeah, but it is doing 2-2.5 wounds against a hero of 3 depending on whether or not you can get height. If Drow Assassin self bonding wasn't tested, I'm probably changing my vote to a no.

~Dysole, suspecting that it might be fine but that's a big leap (pun kinda intended)