Heroes of Fiction: Design Thread

[TREX]

Originally Posted by McHotcakes

I'm sorry I haven't been chiming in much, but I'm afraid the claws of hades sort of confuse me. I'm not very familiar with the source material so I'm playing catch up with what the claws actually do. They summon dead spirits that follow Kratos around? Or is it just like a special attack? Just curious. I'll probably be able to offer more helpful posts when I play some catch up research.

Yeah, in the game, the claws are like a special attack. They summon spirit type beings from hades that help you for a very short time then dissappear. I wanted to incorporate how much damage you would inflict by using the figures you destroyed previously to stack on attack dice to the attack. Say its a special attack of 3, and you could add a +1 up to 3 for every figure you remove from your card that was previously placed there from you destroying them. Having the claws of hades both helps capture the souls of your enemies and use them again to inflict more damage. I hope this helps. I have played all of these games. I found this franchise to be very fun. I really love greek mythology, and this story plays straight along with it. @Dysole, I like your version you came up with. The only change I would make to it is allowing the extra attack dice to be paired up with a special attack from the claws of hades. Basically, once you have the claws, you can kill enemies with any weapon, capture their souls(Figures) onto your card, and unleash them as extra damage with the claws before removing them from your card. Start the claws as a 3+special. Slightly lower to start with than the Blades of Exile, but go up to 3 more, making a maximum of 6 if you use 3 souls.

PERMANENT GLYPH

When this figure destroys a figure,
you may place the destroyed figure on this figure's card. Before attacking
with "Claws of Hades special Attack", you may remove a figure
from this figure's card to add 1 to this figure's attack dice, up to a maximum
of +3 dice. When this figure loses this glyph, remove all figures from this
figure's card.

I would put the range of this specified just like the reach in the Blades of Exile. They are basically the same kind of weapon. Also, I just put a generic name in for the special attack.

[Dysole]

We do have the slight issue of special attacks are never modified by anything, so I'd probably want to specify normal attack. Theme break but I'm much more worried about a gameplay break.

~Dysole, informationally

[JC McMinis]

Ok guys I am kind of getting lost in trying to play catch up reading. Am I right in assuming that the last cards I posted of Kratos, Bow of Apollo and the Boots of Hermes are finalized. As I recall we work working on the Cestus fo we have a final version?

[Confred]

@JC McMinis You may seem lost because you jumped in the design discussion for Claws Of Hades. It's all over the place because we are brainstorming all over the place.
To those that don't know the source, Claws Of Hades is a chain weapon similar to the Blades Of Exile but have sickle-like hooks on the end instead of swords. The normal attacks are very similar. The difference is that they have a special attack that summons a spirit which stays around for a few seconds deals an effect and then disappears. We are trying to translate that to HS currently.
The Claws are charged by ripping the souls out of victims bodies with the Claws, thus our various versions utilizing the destruction of figures.
Ignore the skeleton dudes Army Card that was a concept we abandoned.

Kratos wants to roll skulls
Claws attack like Blades
How about our Claws trigger off of normal attacks?
~After destroying a figure, may use Claws to place figure on this card. When attacking with a normal attack, may remove up to 5 figures from this card to roll 1 additional attack die per figure removed ~

[JC McMinis]

Ah ok...well that's what happens when you are working your tail off and sick, Anyhow about my previous question though did you guys get a finalization of the Nemean Cestus during my absence?

[Confred]

@JC McMinis

NEMEAN CESTUS
(SPECIAL ATTACK)
GODLY ARTIFACT

OBSIDIAN CRUSH SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 1. Attack 2 + Special.
When rolling attack dice for Obsidian Crush Special Attack, this figure always adds 1 automatic skull to whatever is rolled. If this figure is attacking a destructible object or figure with a Defense value of 7 or higher, always add 1 additional automatic skull to whatever is rolled.

GODLY ARTIFACT
After using any special power on this card, if this figure is not a God or Demigod, you must roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 5 or lower, this figure receives 1 wound. If ever this figure is destroyed, place one at a time all Godly Artifacts on this figure's Army Card power-side up on spaces this figure previously occupied or on empty spaces adjacent to spaces this figure previously occupied. Godly Artifacts are considered to be Ancient Artifacts in every other way.

Note: Finn says "...defense of 7 or higher," but Finn was long before the advent of "values".
Note: Did we agree on Attack 2 or Attack 3?
Technically we voted 3, but the vote was on the wording not the base stats. @TREX based on your play test. 3 Attack would be more Godly and more impressive after going through the effort of destroying a figure, and you said that Kratos doesn't often roll a second skull to keep the combo going. Do you want a 50% chance to keep it going or a 75%?

[JC McMinis]

Ok thanks @Confred . I will update the card.

[Confred]

And thank you for jumping back on it.
I have some minor typos/errata for you to correct JC. From researching other things, I've discovered that "Of" isn't capitalized. The Glyphs follow normal English language rules.
For example, "This figure may use Boots of Hermes"

How about:

CLAWS OF HADES
After destroying a figure, this figure may use Claws of Hades to put the figure on this card. When attacking with a normal attack, this figure may use Claws of Hades to remove figures from this card to roll additional attack dice to a maximum 5 additional attack dice.

?

[McHotcakes]

@TREX

Thanks. That clears up some questions I had.

Originally Posted by Confred

CLAWS OF HADES
After destroying a figure, this figure may use Claws of Hades to put the figure on this card. When attacking with a normal attack, this figure may use Claws of Hades to remove figures from this card to roll additional attack dice to a maximum 5 additional attack dice.

I like this direction. Though I would say maybe 3 instead of 5, just to keep it a little more reasonable.

Also how would you guys feel about using a soul token or something along those lines instead of placing figures? I always get hung up on customs that use destroyed figure mainly because of the Viking Champions. Do their spirit powers still take effect if placed on Kratos' card? I know it might be a bit of a theme break to use tokens but it might make things simpler imo.

[TREX]

@McHotcakes, I thought I said up to 3 aditional, must have been a typo. I agree, up to 3 more is where I wanted it. Slightly weaker at first, but with a power boost from stealing and using souls. The Viking champion thing is cool, You could keep him on the card for the bonus, or use his soul to help out your attack once. I like the figures being used because you don't have to come up with a bunch of new markers, you can just use the figures you killed once and them remove them altogether. @Confred, I liked where the skulls rolled was at 2. I was just rolling poorly. When he got going, he really got going. @JC McMinis , Kratos, the boots, the bow, and Confreds latest version of the cestus should all be good to go. With my play tests, I think for now Kratos should stay at 300 pts. I too get the whole working you tale off thing. I have been working 6 plus days a week for the past 8 years straight. I generally do my commenting on my lunch break.
Thanks for making the time to throw down with us on this, your card art is much appreciated. @Dysole, I think using the claws as a special attack of 3 with a reach like the blades would be cool. I don't think it would be too hard to word it, adding a +1 to a maximum of 3 for every figure removed from the card.

[Dysole]

Originally Posted by TREX

@Dysole, I think using the claws as a special attack of 3 with a reach like the blades would be cool. I don't think it would be too hard to word it, adding a +1 to a maximum of 3 for every figure removed from the card.

Well it's a lot of added complexity and I don't see what it adds. In addition you have to essentially make an effect for putting the figure on the card and then have the special attack in a different spot. I think it's more trouble than it's worth.

~Dysole, not really sure why we need it to be a special attack

[McHotcakes]

Originally Posted by TREX

I thought I said up to 3 aditional

You did say three. Confred suggested 5 and that's what I was referring to.

Originally Posted by TREX

The Viking champion thing is cool, You could keep him on the card for the bonus, or use his soul to help out your attack once. I like the figures being used because you don't have to come up with a bunch of new markers, you can just use the figures you killed once and them remove them altogether.

Well that brings up another issue I have. What if Finn and Thorgrim are in Kratos' army, bite the dust, and are placed on Kratos' army card? Can Kratos still use them for Claws of Hades? Would they count towards the total number of souls Kratos has? What about other customs that put figures on Army cards, how would they interact with this power?