[Pod 2] The Book of Nephda (Kiora the Rising Tide) - Editing

[GreatPlainsKnight]

Personally, I think there is a huge well of potential for a fish-person. Sadly, I do not believe we are realizing that potential. First off, in the very beginning people wanted a healer and began to drive the design of the figure towards that. My problem with this is that Kiora is the only merfolk/nymph/mermaid/Atlantlean/siren/whatever character we may ever get, and as a result she will be the sole water character who isn't savage like the Sahuagin Raider or unintelligent like the Water Elemental. And instead of trying to characterize her by her relation to the sea and visualize what kind of character she is, we ended up trying to make a healer with a few things relating to water.

What is most disappointing about this, is that there are multiple figures who can be healers. Jace V1, Nissa, Arlynn, Avacyn, and Liliana (you might be scratching your head, but remember that Heroscape is about creativity and thinking outside the box). Yet, Kiora is the one that has to be a healer. For no reason other than we need one. The idea of intelligent life below the sea has been around since we were first exposed to the water. And because of that we have an infinite pool of ideas to inspire a new design for Heroscape, one deeply rooted in mythology or merely taking a few notes from the past.

We can have a character with a variety of abilities and traits. Water manipulation, Singing (like a siren), Commanding sea-life like (Aquaman does), drowning people, and various forms of magic. All of these can be used to make a good figure who is both characterized by their relation to water and is thematic with interesting abilities.

That's another thing I want to talk about, theme and character. Many want this to be Durnipa, but I don't see why. Some say that she has golden armor, but it's actually a shell or a weird amalgamation of shells (just look at Kiora's art) and the same goes for her trident-like weapon. The other point is that she is a character we don't know about and we could always use more character from the lore, which I agree with. But ultimately I think we can get an even better character if she was a more original character. Right now people are settling for a royal priestess who is either kind of a loner (stoic and inscrutable) or a hopeful figure like Raelin (inspiring and confident), but we already have some of those (Kelda and Empress Kiova). The other, while interesting, is nothing compared to a figure is the ocean (metaphorically). Sirens, kelpie, kappa, and other creatures were used to show the dangers of water, but other figures like Nymphs, Atlanteans, etc. were used to show the beauty of water. Water has a certain duality, it is vast and unpredictable, but it also has a certain sense of freedom and magnificence. It allows us to be free from the land and go wherever, but it is also dangerous and we (as land mammals) aren't meant to survive out there. That is water, that is the rivers, the lakes, the oceans. Kiora could be just like that, a cunning (insert class or title here) who is tricky and has an interesting playstyle that isn't just heal and bring water. She can have a certain duality.

If you guys continue to make her a healer, I wish you at least think about that. A figure who represents the beauty of water by healing and the danger by doing something else that is very useful in a game of Scape would be great. I know I am not some big important guy guy in the community, but I'd like to share my 2 cents, or in this case a full dollar. In most other AotV threads someone else says what I think and or feel. But nobody here had brought up any of the things I thought, so I just wanted to voice my thoughts.

Best of luck to Pod 2, I hope we can get a real cool unit out of this!

[Pumpkin_King]

I think I'm definitely leaning towards her not being Durnipia now. As for whether she should heal - I play WoW, water has a strong healing association for me, so the theme of it doesn't bother me. We could probably use Avacyn as a backup for a healer, that could be good. But I'll wait to see what others say RE: Kiora as healer.

[Skinderella]

Thank you for the great feedback GreatPlainsKnight! It's really appreciated to hear your support, suggestions, and interest!

A lot of good points made in your post. Whilst I do agree that there is a lot of potential for merfolk and a lot of sources to pull unique ideas from, healers are a rare occurrence in Heroscape, with just 5 existing if you include C3V/SoV, and this one is a unique one compared to the others by being able to heal multiple heroes. Water has a strong association with healing in a lot of media (so much so that it has it's own TV Tropes page), and on top of this I think this mini allows for the most unique healer amongst the figures within the project by associating the healing with water.

Something to bare in mind as well is that the project is aiming to design units for new players using these AotP sets as their first sets. Pure water manipulation is tricky to implement due to a lack of it on the boards, and simplicity in design is preferred in order to introduce new players, whilst still bringing new things to the table for veteran players. Sea-life command is also difficult to implement due to a lack of it like you mentioned already with other water-based designs. The singing I do like though! The Roilmage mini is waiting in the back too and has the potential to focus on some of the other elements you've suggested.

I think I've mentioned it before but I actually wouldn't be upset if the water creation was put onto the Roilmage (seeing as it's base literally has tides coming off it), and replacing it on this mini with a singing ability, as that would create a duality in it's design that you suggested. Maybe it could be a special attack, a distractive ability, or something else entirely. This mini is arguably one of the most unique figures in the box when put next to Heroscape. She has so much design potential that you could make several designs depending on what aspect of the mini, lore, fantasy, or mythology you want to lean on, and it's important to choose an aspect and stick to it, otherwise the design will go through iteration after iteration. In her current state she has a lot of potential to be a stand out figure, especially in a unique builds such as the elves, Talingul + Constructs, or a Ranjit build when he releases.

I do agree with you regarding Durnipia. I'm not a big fan of her being Durnipia for multiple reasons and would love her to be her own thing, but it's also not a deal breaker for me. Again this is such a stand out mini being an aquatic mini that to make her a pre-existing character for a reference would be a shame in my opinion.

I'd love her to stay a healer personally, healers are rare in Heroscape and they are often not super useful to begin with, but this design fills a unique niche in her healing potential, as well as the other support she brings.

[Skinderella]

Map: Ruined Pier
Glyphs: Glyph of Wannock, Whetstone of Venom

Army 1: Durnipia, Talingul, Augamo, Boreos, Lilja (565 points)
Army 2: Honor Guard of the Blasted Lands x3, Warden 816, Motley Max, Raelin (ROTV), Marro Warriors, Marcu Esenwein (570 points)

Version used

Spoiler Alert!

Originally Posted by Captain Stupendous

Durnipia
EINAR
Nymph
Unique Hero
Lady
Inscrutable
MEDIUM 5

LIFE 5
MOVE 5
RANGE 1
ATTACK 3
DEFENSE 3

POINTS 80 (probably could be increased to 90 or 100 now, given the increase in power of both abilities?)

Powers

CARRIED BY WAVES V2
All land spaces within 1 space of Durnipia that are no more than 2 levels above or below Durnipia's base are considered water spaces. Durnipia and friendly figures who move adjacent to Durnipia do not have to stop their movement when entering a water space for the remainder of their turn.

HEALING WATERS V2
After taking a turn with Durnipia, you may roll the d20 for each other friendly wounded hero within four clear sight spaces. If you roll a 15 or higher, remove a wound from that figure's army card. If that figure is on a water space, add 5 to your roll.

Which units survived?

Warden 816, Raelin, 1 Honor Guard, 4 Marro Warriors, Marcu with 3 wounds.

Turn by turn brief

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1
Honor Guards head towards Wannock, whilst Augamo rushes past Wannock to block the way, and Lilja moves towards the Treasure. On turn 3 Raelin and Durnipia move to position.

Round 2
Lilja grabs the treasure glyph and destroys an Honor Guard, whilst Augamo also destroys an Honor Guard. Honor Guards wound Lilja. Boreos carries Talingul onto the Glyph of Wannock to allow him to activate Lilja, destroying another Honor Guard. Honor Guards attack, inflicting 2 wounds to Augamo. Durnipia heals a wound from Lilja (unsuccessful on Augamo), and Motley Max moves towards Augamo. Wannock on Marcu.

Round 3
Honor Guards destroy Augamo and wound Lilja, but Durnipia heals Lilja again. Motley moves to the choke where Augamo was set up and hooks both Talingul and Durnipia from behind Boreos. He fails to wound with ES, but attacks Talingul for 2 wounds. Lilja fails to kill the two Honor Guards next to her, and Boreos pulls Talingul away and inflicts a wound on Max. Honor Guards inflict 4 wounds on Lilja, but Lilja kills an Honor Guard whilst Boreos rescues Durnipia.

Round 4
Durnipia moves onto Wannock and heals Talingul, and Max moves forward, hooks Talingul, and wounds Durnipia. Lilja kills the two Honor Guards adjacent to her, and Boreos pulls Talingul away from Max again. The last 3 Honor Guards kill Lilja. Boreos inflicts 2 wounds on Max. Honor Guards move towards Boreos, Talingul, Durnipia pod, but are stopped by Boreos. However their end of round power moves one adjacent to Max, which in turn moves them all adjacent to Boreos. Wannock on Marcu.

Round 5
Boreos is killed by the Honor Guards. Talingul destroys an Honor Guard. Marro Warriors move up. Talingul kills another Honor Guard. Honor Guard moves round to inflict 2 wounds on Durnipia. 3rd marker on Boreos so wasted. Wannock on Marcu.

Round 6
Durnipia killed by Max. Talingul wounds Max for two. Marro Warriors attack but fail to wound Talingul. Talingul kills Max. Marro Warriors deal 2 wounds to Talingul. Talingul fails to kill anything.

Round 7
Marro kill Talingul.

How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?

Durnipia was pretty idle but decently fun, felt a lot like a Kyrie level of supportive presence. She managed to heal Lilja for 2 wounds (drastically increasing her uptime, allowing her to deal with a lot of Honor Guards), and healed Talingul for a wound, effectively healing about 52 points worth. I feel that if Augamo hadn’t fluffed his defense rolls and fallen so quickly, Durnipia could of kept him going just like she did Lilja, because the pod they were in was pretty secure with Augamo completely blocking the passageway. The Honor Guards also got a lot of crazy rolls, and their Arc Lances helped seal a lot of wounds. It went pretty downhill the moment Augamo fell and figures could start getting to Durnipia and Talingul.

Durnipia’s water did not get used much sadly, it was relatively non-factor having so little water to traverse on the map, and she rolled above 15 for all her rolls where she did heal. As of right now Durnipia feels to be in an okay spot at 80. Sure she can heal more figures, but it’s weaker than Kelda and a harder D20. On top of this she is slower than Kelda and lacks the flight. I feel like for this point range I would of been better off with Raelin, given the same range aura, points, and lack of turns to use her support. From that one game alone, she felt like a mix of Kelda and Raelin, but weaker than both in their specific roles.

[Skinderella]

Ruined Pier
Glyphs: Glyph of Wannock, Talisman of Defense

Army 1: Durnipia, Ulginesh, Haduc, Arkmer, Emirroon, Johrdawn, Bol (570 points)
Army 2: Nottingham Brigand x5, Elaria the Pale, Cormin the Dark, Kha, Eldgrim, Goblin Cutters x3 (565 points)

Version used

Spoiler Alert!

Originally Posted by Captain Stupendous

Durnipia
EINAR
Nymph
Unique Hero
Lady
Inscrutable
MEDIUM 5

LIFE 5
MOVE 5
RANGE 1
ATTACK 3
DEFENSE 3

POINTS 80 (probably could be increased to 90 or 100 now, given the increase in power of both abilities?)

Powers

CARRIED BY WAVES V2
All land spaces within 1 space of Durnipia that are no more than 2 levels above or below Durnipia's base are considered water spaces. Durnipia and friendly figures who move adjacent to Durnipia do not have to stop their movement when entering a water space for the remainder of their turn.

HEALING WATERS V2
After taking a turn with Durnipia, you may roll the d20 for each other friendly wounded hero within four clear sight spaces. If you roll a 15 or higher, remove a wound from that figure's army card. If that figure is on a water space, add 5 to your roll.

Which units survived?

Bol, Durnipia with 3 wounds, Ulginesh with 2 wounds.

Turn by turn brief

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1
Ulginesh activates Emirroon, who moves towards the high ground and teleports Ulginesh and Haduc adjacent to him, and Johrdawn then moves towards high ground. Goblins move towards both glyphs. Emirroon moves higher up the high ground and teleports Haduc and Arkmer to him, whilst Johrdawn moves over a battlement next to the other Elves. Goblins continue to move in, whilst grabbing Wannock. Durnipia follows the Elves up the high ground. Nottingham Brigand and Cormin move towards the high ground. Wannock on Johrdawn.

Round 2
Goblins start heading towards the high ground. Haduc climbs onto the highest point on the map and destroys a goblin, two scurry. Elaria moves towards the high ground alongside a Nottingham Brigand. Emirroon moves adjacent to Haduc, and teleports Arkmer and Johrdawn adjacent to him, and then Arkmer destroys a goblin, with 2 scurrying. Cormin moves past the treasure glyph whilst a brigand moves to his original position. Johrdawn rain of flames a goblin, missing the goblin but destroying a brigand, and Emirroon summons Ulginesh to his side. Wannock on Emirroon.

Round 3
Kha moves up the high ground, and a Brigand fails to wound Haduc. Durnipia moves up and heals both Emirroon and Johrdawn (not water assisted). Kha fails to wound Arkmer, but a Brigand deals two to Haduc. Haduc kills the Brigand in retaliation. Goblins move towards the elves. Arkmer deals 3 wounds to Kha, and Johrdawn RoFs a goblin. Wannock on Emirroon.

Round 4
Kha moves adjacent to Haduc and deals one wound, and a brigand fails to wound Haduc. Haduc attempts to kill Kha but fails. Kha attacks again, but Haduc fluffs both defense rolls and is killed. Brigand shoots at Arkmer but misses. Durnipia moves to Haduc’s place, killing Kha and healing Emirroon (water boosted). Cormin, with road assisted move, moves adjacent to Johrdawn, dealing a wound. Brigand fires at Durni, dealing a wound. Johrdawn RoF’s Cormin, dealing a wound, and Arkmer kills a Brigand. Wannock on Emirroon.

Round 5
Cormin swings at Johrdawn, dealing another wound, whilst a new Brigand tries to catch up. Arkmer attempts to shoot Cormin but his facade works, swapping with a goblin which blocks the attack. However Johrdawn kills the goblin with RoF. Elaria grabs the treasure glyph, and a Brigand shoots at Johrdawn, failing to wound. Durni moves next to Johrdawn, failing to heal her but healing Emirroon (unassisted). Goblins move in, with one sneaking behind Durnipia but failing to wound. Arkmer kills the flanking goblin, with 2 scurrying, and Johrdawn RoF’s Elaria, dealing 1 wound to her whilst also killing a goblin and a brigand. Wannock on Emirroon.

Round 6
Johrdawn RoF’s Cormin and wounds him, whilst Arkmer moves back up the high ground and kills a goblin, two scurry towards him. Cormin moves to Arkmer and swings, Arkmer rolls no shields and falls. Durni fails to heal an adjacent Johrdawn but heals Emirroon (unassisted). Goblins move in on the elves and wound Johrdawn. Emirroon kills a goblin but Johrdawn fails a RoF. Goblins move around to Emirroon with one succeeding leaving Johrdawn. Their mob attack dealing 2 wounds to Emirroon. Wannock on Emirroon.

Round 7
Goblins attack Emirroon again, killing him. Durnipia moves to Emirroon’s old space, but fails to kill a goblin and failing a heal on Johrdawn. Cormin deals 2 wounds to Johrdawn, and the last brigand moves into range on Johrdawn but fails her shot. Johrdawn RoF’s Cormin and deals 1 wound. Cormin takes out Johrdawn, and the brigand moves in in an attempt to wound Ulginesh but failing. With Uglinesh being the last elf he shoots at Cormin, who fails his facade and is killed. Wannock on Ulginesh.

Round 8
Durni kills a goblin and heals Ulginesh. With just 3 goblins left (one on Wannock), the other two attempt to wound Durni but fail. Ulginesh kills the final brigand, wasting the last two order markers on the enemy team, getting a free turn to kill a goblin. Wannock on Ulginesh.

Round 9
Ulginesh kills the last goblin next to Durni. Elaria moves (road assisted) to attack Durni, dealing a wound. Ulginesh rolls full skulls on Elaria, and she fails to roll a shield, killing her and dropping her talisman. With Order Marker 2 on Elaria, Durni gets a free turn to heal Ulginesh (water assisted). Eldgrim moves towards Wannock. Wannock on Ulginesh.

Round 10
Ulginesh moves down the hill, and Eldgrim moves around the pillars. Durni moves down next to Ulginesh but staying on high ground, but failing to heal Ulginesh. Eldgrim moves adjacent to Ulginesh, attacks and overextends, but fails to wound him. Ulginesh then deals a wound to Eldgrim. Wannock on Ulginesh.

Round 11
Eldgrim gets one last swing on Ulginesh but fails, and Ulginesh also fails to kill Eldgrim. Eldgrim again fails, and Durnipia moves in for the finishing blow on Eldgrim. The last goblin moves up and wounds Durni, but Ulginesh shoots it dead.

How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?

Spoiler Alert!

Durnipia was ridiculous this game, healing 4 wounds on Emirroon, 1 on Johrdawn, and 2 on Ulginesh, for a total of roughly 140 points, as well as finishing off a goblin, Kha (1 wound) and Eldgrim (1 wound), equaling about 41 points in damage. Once the elves were on the high ground with their pod set up the game was almost entirely under their control, but not without Durnipia’s help who made Wannock almost redundant. Durnipia, for some reason, loved Emirroon, almost healing his entire health, even when she wasn’t next to him. However she only healed Johrdawn once despite being adjacent to her for a fair portion of the game (which was also when Johrdawn was taking hits). Durnipia was vital in the match against Wannock, which was all of Emirroon’s damage that was healed, and without this Emirroon, and by proxy the other Elves, would of fallen much sooner. The elf pod is a strong set up for her.

Despite this a lot of luck was involved, and I feel like the Elves would of been better off with either Raelin (because who isn’t), or trading in Bol as well for Chardris, who in this particular match up would of been great alongside Johrdawn at shutting down key abilities of the goblins and Cormin. Raelin could of helped prevent a lot of wounds, meanwhile Chardris would of added an extra special attack. And because she had an order marker every round, the elves were a lot more passive. If Chardris had been used instead, their attack output would of been doubled and could of lead to the goblins being almost useless.

Durni feels decent but she’s niche even for a niche role of healer. I’d like to suggest maybe a range increase to 4 and a attack decrease to 2. It’d allow her to be a bit more generally useful and engaging, like Sonlen, without being a heal bot. An attack of 2 would not make her too strong offensively, but give her the potential to poke at things or kill the odd squad figure. As her healing is also ranged, it would make sense that she could attack at range too. This could also tie into recent suggestions of being a bit freer and unpredictable; suddenly she could start helping to take down other figures where Raelin or Kelda could not. To top this thought off it could also be explained in multiple ways via her backstory. Her attacks could be summoning pillars of water to attack people, or she could even be singing/sound based, as suggested by GreatPlainsKnight, and reinforced by Shiftrex suggesting her Bident could be akin to a tuning fork.

Her healing potential is much greater for sure, but it’s also much harder to pull off. And in a lot of situations her healing will neither be as good as just having Kelda since many armies do not run many heroes, as good as Raelin, or just bringing more direct synergy to your army. In armies she is good in (like hero based builds which are not great to begin with), from this game alone, she feels more like a good alternative than a definitive choice.

[Skinderella]

Ruined Pier
Glyphs: Glyph of Wannock, Ring of Protection

Army 1: Durnipia, Red Skull (Hasbro), Fen Hydra, Migol Ironwill, Stilt-Man (C3G)
Army 2: Cal the Smuggler, Kaemon Awa, Raelin 1, Me-Burq-Sa, Vishania (by Astroking112), Mantis (C3G)

Version used

Spoiler Alert!

Originally Posted by Captain Stupendous

Durnipia
EINAR
Nymph
Unique Hero
Lady
Inscrutable
MEDIUM 5

LIFE 5
MOVE 5
RANGE 1
ATTACK 3
DEFENSE 3

POINTS 80 (probably could be increased to 90 or 100 now, given the increase in power of both abilities?)

Powers

CARRIED BY WAVES V2
All land spaces within 1 space of Durnipia that are no more than 2 levels above or below Durnipia's base are considered water spaces. Durnipia and friendly figures who move adjacent to Durnipia do not have to stop their movement when entering a water space for the remainder of their turn.

HEALING WATERS V2
After taking a turn with Durnipia, you may roll the d20 for each other friendly wounded hero within four clear sight spaces. If you roll a 15 or higher, remove a wound from that figure's army card. If that figure is on a water space, add 5 to your roll.

Which units survived?

Red Skull with no wounds

Turn by turn brief

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1
Red Skull -> Stilt-Man, who rushes to the treasure glyph but activates the trap. Per Ruined Pier’s rules, the random order marker removed was 2.
Mantis -> Kaemon Awa, moves forward to Quick Release Stilt-Man, but deals no wounds.
Mantis -> Kaemon Awa, repeating last turn, but this time inflicting 1 wound to Stilts.
Red Skull -> Stilt-Man, attempts for the treasure glyph but again fails. Shoots at Kaemon, dealing 3 wounds on a fluffed defense.
Mantis -> Kaemon Awa, Quick Release dealing 0 wounds.

Round 2
Red Skull -> Stilt-Man, succeeding on grabbing the treasure, and dealing the final wound to Kaemon.
Mantis -> MBS, who manages to deal 2 wounds to Stilt-Man.
Red Skull -> Stilt-Man, who retreats, dropping the Ring of Protection close to his team.
Mantis -> Vishania, who moves up some terrain and next to a pillar.
Red Skull -> Durnipia, who moves adjacent to Stilt-Man, but fails to heal him.
Mantis -> Vishania, rushes to Stilt-Man and kills him.

Round 3
Cal rolls a 3, removing him from the board.
Mantis -> Vishania, who retreats onto high ground.
Red Skull -> Fen Hydra, who moves towards the ring and picks it up.
Mantis -> Vishania, rushes down the road and ends adjacent to Wannock.
Red Skull -> Fen Hydra, who moves behind a pillar.
Mantis moves towards Wannock
Red Skull -> Fen Hydra, who moves up the high ground onto road.

Round 4
Red Skull -> Fen Hydra, using road bonus, moves all the way to Vishania and attacks, dealing 4 wounds. Pillars now block line of sight for Red Skull.
Mantis -> MBS, who moves up towards the high ground and into range of Durni. He paralyses her and deals 1 wound.
Red Skull moves up the high ground, regaining sight to the Hydra, and attacking MBS but failing to wound.
Mantis -> MBS, moving adjacent to Red Skull and now blocking sight to the Hydra, dealing 1 wound to Red Skull.
Red Skull -> Migol, moves towards MBS, gets full skulls on the attack and instant kills MBS.
Mantis -> Vishania, who attacks the Hydra. First attack the hydra uses the ring but rolls all skulls and blanks. Hydra is killed.

Round 5
Cal returns, placed onto the highest point of the map.
Mantis -> Cal, moves down a bit to attack Red Skull but deals no wounds.
Red Skull -> Migol, who moves around to later move up to Cal.
Mantis -> Cal, who moves back up the high ground and shoots at Migol, who fluffs his defense and takes 2 wounds.
Red Skull moves up and takes a shot at Cal, dealing a wound.
Mantis -> Cal, fails a shot at Red Skull.
Red Skull moves adjacent to Cal and deals 2 wounds.

Round 6
Cal rolls a 20, placing next to Wannock and Vishania.
Red Skull moves down the high ground to be back in LoS to his remaining team members.
Mantis -> Raelin, who moves next to Mantis.
Red Skull -> Durni, who moves between Migol and Red Skull, healing them both.
Mantis -> Vishania, moving between her starting ruins, and where the treasure glyph was.
Red Skull -> Migol, moves up the high ground.
Mantis -> Raelin, moves onto Wannock.
Wannock on Migol.

Round 7
Mantis -> Vishania, who moves up the high ground, craddled between a pillar and battlements.
Red Skull -> Migol, who moves onto the highest point on the board.
Mantis -> Vishania, moving back and into Raelin’s range.
Red Skull -> Durnipia, moving next to Migol and healing him.
Mantis moves in front of Raelin.
Red Skull moves up the high ground.
Wannock on Migol.

Round 8
Mantis -> Vishania, who stays put.
Red Skull moves to the highest point and looks down the runway.
Mantis -> Cal, who moves onto the road.
Red Skull -> Durni, fails to heal Migol (water boosted).
Mantis does nothing.
Red Skull -> Durni, failing to heal Migol (water boosted).
Wannock on Red Skull.

Round 9
Cal rolls a 3, vanishing.
Red Skull -> Durni, again failing to heal either Migol or Red Skull (water boosted).
Mantis -> Vishania, who moves up slightly.
Red Skull -> Durni, heals Migol but not Red Skull (water boosted).
Mantis -> Vishania, does nothing.
Red Skull -> Durni, fails to heal Migol but heals Red Skull (water boosted).
Mantis -> Vishania, with the road, moves adjacent to Migol, dealing 3 wounds.
Wannock on Durnipia.

Round 10
Cal rolls a 20, reappears behind Vishania.
Red Skull -> Migol, killing Vishania.
Mantis -> Cal, fails a shot at Migol.
Red Skull -> Durni, deals 2 wounds to Cal and kills him, fails to heal Migol.
Mantis -> Raelin, moves onto the water in front of Mantis.
Red Skull -> Migol, moving next to Durni.
Mantis moves to next to where the treasure glyph started.

Round 11
Mantis, with the help of road, moves up next to Durni, dealing 3 wounds.
Red Skull -> Migol, attacks Mantis but fails to roll a skull.
Mantis attacks Durni and kills her.
Red Skull -> Migol, skull rolled on every single dice by both Migol and Mantis. Mantis receives 4 wounds.
Mantis strikes Migol, killing him, and heals self for 1 wound.
Red Skull shoots Mantis, killing her.

Round 12
Red Skull moves in and attacks Raelin, dealing 1 wound.
Raelin moves next to Red Skull, deals no wounds.
Red Skull succeeds on a Dust of Death, killing Raelin.

How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?

This was by no means a serious game, mixing Marvel/C3G with classic/VC and one of Astroking’s customs, so consider this test with multiple grains of salt. It was purely a heroes only game with the intent of using some random and lesser used minis. The aim of Durni's team was to see how well she worked with multiple sturdier characters.

That being said, Durni got 9 activations and healed 5 wounds (3 from Migol, 2 from Red Skull), as well as dealing 2 wounds to Cal. This totals to 142 points in heals and 24 in damage. The game had a lot of idol moments, where heroes were set up to control areas and neither person wanted to budge in fear of losing a key piece, which caused a lot of opportunities for Durni to heal. Durni also failed a lot of heals, should she have succeeded more than more turns could of gone to other characters. And with Stilt-Man and Fen Hydra killed pretty quickly, Durnipia did not get much of a chance to heal them. Despite this her healing was vital during this game, without it Migol would not of been able to pull off the 4 wound attack on Mantis which ultimately led to the win.

[Captain Stupendous]

Thanks for the tests, @Skinderella ! Glad to see it looks like this version feels better to use than what's currently in the OP.

At this point, I feel like it could be helpful to decide as a pod whether we want to proceed with my proposed revisions to her abilities

Spoiler Alert!

Originally Posted by Captain Stupendous View Post
Durnipia
EINAR
Nymph
Unique Hero
Lady
Inscrutable
MEDIUM 5

LIFE 5
MOVE 5
RANGE 1
ATTACK 3
DEFENSE 3

POINTS 80 (probably could be increased to 90 or 100 now, given the increase in power of both abilities?)

Powers

CARRIED BY WAVES V2
All land spaces within 1 space of Durnipia that are no more than 2 levels above or below Durnipia's base are considered water spaces. Durnipia and friendly figures who move adjacent to Durnipia do not have to stop their movement when entering a water space for the remainder of their turn.

HEALING WATERS V2
After taking a turn with Durnipia, you may roll the d20 for each other friendly wounded hero within four clear sight spaces. If you roll a 15 or higher, remove a wound from that figure's army card. If that figure is on a water space, add 5 to your roll.

with the understanding that the leftbox stats are essentially placeholders until we have the designs mechanical direction really nailed down.

The other idea that has been proposed has been giving her normal attack a range of 4, both to match the range of her healing aura, make her more distinct from Kelda and Ana, and increase the number of ranged figures in the Master Set. I personally think this change would improve the design and would like to hear what the rest of the pod thinks.

Also, at this point is it safe to say that we're out of Public Feedback and back in Design for the time being?

[Pumpkin_King]

I'd say that point is now. Flame?

As I mentioned in discord I'm definitely leaning towards making her her own thing with these mechanics - plus or minus a weak ranged attack.

[Astroking112]

I like those revisions (I do have some rules concerns/questions about Carried by Waves v2, but I trust that they'll get sorted out in Editing). The update to Healing Waters to allow for healing figures on land spaces feels like an especially good change to me.

Originally Posted by Captain Stupendous

Also, at this point is it safe to say that we're out of Public Feedback and back in Design for the time being?

I'm pretty sure that the official Public Feedback duration expired a while ago, so it'd be perfectly fine if Pod 2 wants to move this one back to Design to discuss and formalize the changes. Once y'all are happy with the unit, one of the Pod 2 Leaders can propose a vote to move forward to Editing.

EDIT: 'd by Pumpkin_King.

[Shiftrex]

I like this power set and I would vote yes for bringing her range up to four, especially since I had the epithany the other day that she could be using her staff like a tuning fork and directing things via sound waves. Not that we have to go with that for lore but it made the character click a lot more thematically in my mind given that she is holding a Bident and doing this AoE healing.

Weird head canon but it's where I'm viewing the figure at. I'd love to see a range of four, tightens the design up for me and then we can eventually start to examine the left box. As for the points, I could see 90 in my mind because not a lot of armies play with a lot of heroes and she currently has no abuseable synergy that I'm seeing.

[Skinderella]

I've been pretty vocal about giving her a ranged attack at the cost of lowering her attack to 2. It'd allow her to be more than heals, and would turn her into a more supportive Sonlen, whilst lowering her attack would stop her from being too offensively strong.

Would definitely like to see her as her own thing as opposed to being Durnipia. And for her points, I can see her going up a little bit. She's not too powerful, just a decent option in hero builds. The only time I think she'll be abusable is in Marvel games or huge point games.

[Pumpkin_King]

I'm definitely open to her having a ranged attack!