The Book of Superboy-Prime

[IAmBatman]

I might just go straight up 7 Defense and 8 or 9 Life if I do that.

[Lord Pyre]

ANTI-MONITOR ARMOR 3
Start the game with a yellow Armor Marker on this card. While the Armor Marker is on this card, add 3 to Superboy-Prime's defense. If Superboy-Prime has 3 Wound Markers on this card, remove the Armor Marker from this card. When rolling defense against an attack from a figure that is not a Kryptonian, all blanks rolled count as extra shields.

Maybe just this? Having his defense not able to be reduced might conflict with the armor breaking anyway. Also, being an Event Hero, he's probably immune to many attack/defense lowering abilities anyway (Citation needed)

[Arkham]

He's currently at 9 life, so you're already there. It just comes down to how hard you want this guy to be killed. 9 life with 6 defense, all blanks as shields for non-kryptonian attacks, and a once per game auto-save on destruction with an instant heal of on average 4-5 wounds. That seems pretty good to me. But I have no idea how hard he should be to kill.

[MrNobody]

I’m really pushing for slightly lower defense/slightly higher life on this guy. One of his defining features as an “event level threat” is that anybody can really tussle with him, at least temporarily. Yeah he’s insanely strong, but Conner Kent, Bart Allen, and several B/C-list Legionnaires can actually tango with him mano y mano and seemingly hurt/distract him...until he kills them.

He’s less of an impenetrable tank like Superman or other Kryptonians, more of a berserker type who is shown getting hurt but then just keeps going. Because of that I think it would be a shame to lose the Armor power and up his defense, but also that does seem like the easiest power to cut.

EDIT: If we’re looking to cut stuff, should we just go back to his species being Prime Kryptonian or Kryptonian-Prime or something like that?

[Tornado]

If his defining trait is taking a ton of damage, then very high Life and a low-ish Defense feels like the way to go. I would not even bother with his blanks as Shields or the armor mechanic.
Anti-Negation is solid, may want to add Spells to that unless he is weak to magic like Supes.
Leery of the Retcon power but I do like the variable Life mechanic.
The only thing I know about this guy is a custom mini a guy created that features SP ripping somebody in half while someone else is trying to put him in a headlock. It is directly from a comic panel. Really awesome. One of the coolest minis I have seen.

[Arch-vile]

That is one of the coolest panels. Prime is nuts.

Spoiler Alert!

I will say higher life & lower defense is usually more fun since you get that continual sense of progress. It would make his retcon punch a bit weaker for healing himself, though.

[MrNobody]

Tornado, you should post that custom mini if you can find it. A quick search for "Superboy-Prime custom heroclix" didn't locate it.

Honestly kind of surprised more people don't recognize this character. He was a pretty big deal in mid-2000s DC. He's a very contentious character, but I like him lots. He's known for constantly saying the stupidest things ever written in a comic book.

[Tornado]

That panel Arch posted is exactly what the mini looks like.
Pretty sure he scanned that and then turned it into a 3D sculpt.

Edit:. Looks like the site is down now. I linked it on page 1017 of the C3G Hangout.

[IAmBatman]

Thinking about something like this for the update. I folded the first two powers into one and altered the mechanics of the Retcon Punch a bit (please let me know if it reads clearly and what you think of the changes):

SUPERBOY PRIME

NAME = SUPERBOY PRIME
SECRET IDENTITY = KAL-EL

SPECIES = KRYPTONIAN
UNIQUENESS = EVENT HERO
CLASS = ANTAGONIST
PERSONALITY = PETULANT
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 9
MOVE = 10
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 8
DEFENSE = 4
POINTS = 600?

ANTI-MONITOR ARMOR 3
Start the game with a yellow Armor Marker on this card. While the Armor Marker is on this card, add 3 to Superboy-Prime's defense. If Superboy-Prime has 3 Wound Markers on this card, remove the Armor Marker from this card. When rolling defense against an attack from a figure that is not a Kryptonian, all blanks rolled count as extra shields.

HEROIC ENVY
When another figure you control inflicts one or more wounds with its normal attack on an enemy figure within 10 clear sight spaces of Superboy-Prime, Superboy-Prime must immediately move adjacent to that enemy figure, if possible, and attack all figures adjacent to Superboy-Prime. After attacking all adjacent figures this way, your turn immediately ends. When Superboy-Prime uses Heroic Envy, he will take all leaving engagement attacks.

RETCON PUNCH
Immediately after the first time Superboy-Prime is destroyed each game, you must roll 12 attack dice. For each skull you roll, each Player may, in initiative order, either choose one of their previously destroyed figures, restore it to one Life, and place it on an empty space in their start zone, or remove one Wound Marker from a figure they control.

FLYING
SUPER STRENGTH

[Lord Pyre]

Looks good! Retcon Punch still has a little wording stuff. "Restore to 1 life" is pretty freaking obvious to me, but I don't think we've used that wording before.


Also, what is Initiative Order? Whoever rolled best at the beginning of the round goes first? Then do you go around the table choosing a thing each time, or do all your skulls at once?


Minor details, but good direction.

[IAmBatman]

Yeah, I was hoping to get away with coining a new phrase there. Do we have a better precedent? @Ronin do you happen to know?

And, yes, I think you know the definition of initiative order. We've used that one before, haven't we??

[Lord Pyre]

I honestly don't recall us using it before. Could have been in my down time.