Justice League Dark Brainstorming

[Karat]

Two comments right away. First, I'd separate the attack boost from Madness Vest into a smaller power. Secondly, you'll want a size restriction for Madness Stream. I'll have more thoughts/suggestions after I contemplate on this.

[MrNobody]

Originally Posted by Karat

Two comments right away. First, I'd separate the attack boost from Madness Vest into a smaller power. Secondly, you'll want a size restriction for Madness Stream. I'll have more thoughts/suggestions after I contemplate on this.

Thank you again! If the M-Vest is leaning the way of this Firestorm/Sersi style (see below), I don't think he absolutely needs the attack boost. I just want him to act as a counter to those infected with "the Madness."

I'd love any suggestions for simplifying Madness Stream.

Originally Posted by Yodaking

I kind of like the direction you are heading in with the last idea. Separate it from an attack roll/wounds inflicted and make it a option choice instead of attacking. Then when you really just want to use your normal attack, you can do that, and when a normal attack isn't as attractive, you can use the vest power.

Here's a shots at what that might look like...

MADNESS VEST (Single Die Version)
Instead of attacking with Shade, you may roll a combat die. Roll 1 additional die for each Insane, Unstable, or Troubled figure within 4 spaces of Shade. For each;
-skull you roll, inflict a wound on Shade or a figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Shade.
-shield you roll, remove an Order Marker from this card or the card of a figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Shade.
-blank you roll, roll 2 additional combat dice.
After rolling all dice, if you rolled more than 3 dice, inflict a wound on either Shade or the figure you control closest to Shade.

And if that version is too powerful...

MADNESS VEST (Double Die Version)
Instead of attacking with Shade, you may roll 2 combat dice. Roll 1 additional die for each Insane, Unstable, or Troubled figure within 4 spaces of Shade. For each;
-skull you roll, inflict a wound on a figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Shade.
-shield you roll, choose an Order Marker on the card of a figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Shade and move that Order Marker from that figure’s card to another Army Card that player controls, if possible.
-blank you roll, remove an Order Marker from the card of a figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Shade.
If no skulls were rolled, inflict a wound on either Shade or the figure you control closest to Shade.

Personally I like the first version better. It's shorter and I like the theme of the Madness power overwhelming him. But I can get how it could become too powerful pretty fast, especially throwing Zatanna in there.

[Karat]

I'd do it more like this:

MADNESS VEST
Instead of attacking normally, you may roll a combat die. Roll 1 additional combat die for each Insane, Unstable, or Troubled figure within 4 spaces of Shade. For each:

• skull rolled, inflict a wound on a figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Shade.
• shield rolled, remove an Order Marker from the card of a figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Shade and place it on the Army Card of a figure controlled by the same player.
• blank rolled, remove an Order Marker from this card or the card of a figure you control 4 clear sight spaces of Shade and place it on the card of any other figure you control.

If no skulls are rolled, place a wound marker on this card or the card of the figure you control that is closest to and within 4 spaces of Shade.

There isn't really anything that needs cutting from Madness Stream, but I did reword it some.

MADNESS STREAM
At the end of the round, you may choose up to one Small or Medium sized figure you control adjacent to Shade and roll the 20-sided die. Place Shade on an empty space exactly X spaces away from his original placement, where X equals the number rolled. After placing Shade, place the chosen figure on any empty space adjacent to Shade. If a figure cannot be placed, destroy it. Figures moved with this special power will not take any leaving engagement attacks.

[MrNobody]

Originally Posted by Karat

I'd do it more like this:

If we did it this way, I hope we'd be able to up the dice rolled a bit. I don't know how often I'd trade attacking for a 50/50 on wounding a figure or wounding Shade.

On a related note, I think I should change it to opponent's Insane, etc, etc, figures only. The intention is to make him a light counter-draft to "mad" people. I did not intend for him to be able to roll up with the Joker and crew and get a huge boost to his M-Vest.

I like the idea of rolling a blank being the best option because;
A) It's the rarest result
B) It plays into the JLD synergy with Zatanna II.
To me, the blank option seems like the weakest option, but that would just be as simple as switching the shield and blank options around.

Originally Posted by Karat

There isn't really anything that needs cutting from Madness Stream, but I did reword it some.

Thanks, I'll edit this into the draft linked in the OP.

Speaking of the OP, @Arkham if you want me to take that over, I will.

[Arkham]

Done

[ALEXAN2507]

Personally I like the "single die" version of M-Vest better

[MrNobody]

Originally Posted by ALEXAN2507

Personally I like the "single die" version of M-Vest better

I really like it too...the too many dice penalty sells the theme of "overwhelmed by his own chaotic powers" really well to me. However, I think it's just way too broken in the current state.

MADNESS VEST (Single Die Version)
Instead of attacking with Shade, you may roll a combat die. Roll 1 additional die for each opponent's Insane, Unstable, or Troubled figure within 4 spaces of Shade. For each;
-skull you roll, inflict a wound on Shade or a figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Shade.
-shield you roll, remove an Order Marker from this card or the card of a figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Shade.
-blank you roll, roll 2 additional combat dice.
After rolling all dice, if you rolled more than 3 dice, inflict a wound on either Shade or the figure you control closest to Shade.

With this version and Zatanna, he has the chance to be rolling 3 unblockable attack dice every turn, also with the possibility of removing OMs while he's at it.

My initial thoughts on how to fix it would be to change it from "instead of attacking" to "instead of taking a turn." Then also ramping up the penalties for rolling too many dice. Like so;

MADNESS VEST (Single Die Version)
Instead of taking a turn with Shade, you may roll a combat die. Roll 1 additional die for each opponent's Insane, Unstable, or Troubled figure within 4 spaces of Shade. For each;
-skull you roll, inflict a wound on Shade or a figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Shade.
-shield you roll, remove an Order Marker from this card or the card of a figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Shade.
-blank you roll, roll 2 additional combat dice.
After rolling all dice, if you rolled more than 3 dice, inflict two wounds on either Shade or the figure you control closest to Shade. If you rolled more than 5 dice, destroy Shade.

EDIT: I forgot to mention; I still think this is too powerful. The actual effects need to be adjusted. This is just the initial stuff I could think of to tone it down.

[MrNobody]

Also, adding LV's Swamp Thing and my Black Orchid to the OP. If anyone wants to take a shot at Black Orchid, please do. I was mostly just guessing from the 12 or so issues of JLD I've read. I think this would be a cool place to develop some new spells too.

[Karat]

What about something a bit different?

MADNESS VEST
Before attacking, if there is at least one opponent's Insane, Unstable, or troubled figure within 4 spaces of Shade, you may choose to not roll any number of combat dice during Shade's attack. Roll all combat dice you chose not to roll during Shade's attack. For each:

• skull rolled, place a wound marker on this card or the card of a figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Shade.
• shield rolled, remove an Order Marker frothis card or the card of a figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Shade and place it on a different army card controlled by the same player.
• blank rolled, all Insane, Unstsble, or Troubled figures within 4 spaces of Shade roll 1 fewer defense die till the end of the turn.

After rolling for Madness Vest, if Shade rolled at least X dice, place a wound marker on this card.

[Arkham]

How many Insane, Unstable, and Troubled figures are there? Seems odd to base the design around countering such a small pool. I'd be afraid of making his usefulness too niche.

[Karat]

Well there are quite a few Insane(Joker and his ilk), not sure about the other two.

[johnny139]

Originally Posted by Arkham

How many Insane, Unstable, and Troubled figures are there? Seems odd to base the design around countering such a small pool. I'd be afraid of making his usefulness too niche.

I'd agree with that - not familiar with the character, but would it be at all thematic to MAKE a character Insane or Unstable for the rest of the game? Like, to make them go a little bit crazy?