Badgermaniac's Customs-MCU cards

[badgermaniac]

After a bunch of reworkings the last few weeks, I finally have a new card: Taskmaster. He is a character that I think will work well in a lot of thematic sceanios, due to being a mercenary and having a lot of history with a lot of Marvel characters.

The cost is just a rough estimate at this point, as I haven't played with him yet.

Spoiler Alert!

[Balantai]

For Master Trainer, should it say "...one friendly Unique Hero..."?

For Photographic Reflexes, what happens when he's up against one of your epic villians? Does he really get 10 attack and 10 defense? What if he's paired with Galactus? Which I'm still waiting for you to tackle.

[badgermaniac]

Good catch on the first point.

For the second one, I thought about this a lot. TM doesn't really have super powers. He is just a very very skilled mimic. So, we get into the question of how much of a typical attack/defense rating is skill and how much of it is some sort of power. He obviously cannot shoot optic blasts like Cyclops for instance, a power that is typically represented as base stats.

I seriously thought about taking that power off, figuring that his 5/5 Attack/Defense WAS representative of him picking up all of these various skills from different opponents. Ultimately though, that power is SO iconic that I wanted it to be represented on the card.

My second thought was putting a cap on it. While someone like Thor does have incredible skill, he also has raw power that a mimic just can't recreate. So, where is that line? Is it at 6? 7? 8? I probably would cap it at 6 or maybe 7. A lot of characters have their powers represented as specials and not base numbers, which works out, but I agree, there are some exceptions that would be bothersome.

I also thought about lowering his base numbers to 4/4 to make the mimicing more impactful, but he has so much combat experience, that I thought 5/5 was more fair.

[badgermaniac]

Modified, though I am pretty sure that I am going to have to do some major verbage clean-up on Photographic Reflexes, as I don't like how that one reads at all.

The big problem is I didn't know how to word it so that he could retain things like height bonus or synergy with other figures.

[Balantai]

All of those points seem fair. What would you consider the max attack a person without Superstrenth can dish out? In my opinion, it would be 5 or 6. In my opinion, that should then be the cap of the power. It really doesn't make sense that Taskmaster can hit as hard as Thor because he can see him fight.

Maybe it would be easier to represent his mimic skills by referencing specific Special Powers. For instance:

If a figure within 6 clear sight spaces of Taskmaster has the Counter Strike Special Power, etc., etc. Taskmaster is considered to also have that special power.

[badgermaniac]

Originally Posted by Balantai

All of those points seem fair. What would you consider the max attack a person without Superstrenth can dish out? In my opinion, it would be 5 or 6. In my opinion, that should then be the cap of the power. It really doesn't make sense that Taskmaster can hit as hard as Thor because he can see him fight.

Maybe it would be easier to represent his mimic skills by referencing specific Special Powers. For instance:

If a figure within 6 clear sight spaces of Taskmaster has the Counter Strike Special Power, etc., etc. Taskmaster is considered to also have that special power.

I don't disagree with your assessment of 6. The problem then sort of becomes, if his base is 5, that jump to 6 is so small that it makes the power pretty insignificant. The more I think about it, the more I am thinking putting his base at 4/4 would make more game sense.

I don't want to get into specific abilities because it is just so limiting. If he was JUST a Captain America mimic for instance, it would make sense for him to copy Counter Strike. However, he is a well known mimic of Spidey, DD, Hawkeye, etc. and I don't want to get into picking out one or two abilities.

[Hahma]

Something I have been working on for Taskmaster for his Photographic Reflexes. It's kind of tricky to replicate what he can do, so I figured that instead of boosting his attack and defense beyond appropriate levels, I'd go the route of making the opponent's figure less effective to replicate his ability to learn their moves quickly and anticipate their actions. It may not be perfect by it's they way I plan on approaching it anyway.
This can help him against Spidey Sense type defenses and by lowering the opponent's defense, it will also decrease the chance of Counter Strikes working against him.

Photographic Reflexes
When Taskmaster is attacked with a normal attack by an opponent's adjacent figure, the attacking figure subtracts 1 from its attack. When Taskmaster attacks an opponent's adjacent figure, that figure cannot use any special powers that require rolling a 20-sided die before rolling defense dice and subtracts 1 from its defense.

[badgermaniac]

Interesting interpretation. I am going to have to let that one soak in to determine whether it fits what I am after. I kind of see it, but don't know how natural a fit it is. Thanks.

[Hahma]

Originally Posted by badgermaniac

Interesting interpretation. I am going to have to let that one soak in to determine whether it fits what I am after. I kind of see it, but don't know how natural a fit it is. Thanks.

No problem. It's the one I'll end up trying to use in the future, though the wording might need to be cleaned up some.

[Monk]

Couldn't you just drop double attack ( after all it is a unique style).
Then just make his........PHOTOGRAPHIC SPECIAL - Whenever Taskmaster rolls attack and defense dice, you may use the normal attack or defense
value of any human figure, of medium height-5, within 6 clear spaces of taskmaster. Double attacks and counterstrike may also be used.

This way he dosen't have the super attacks of most big guys but can
copy humans in his same weight/height class.

[badgermaniac]

Originally Posted by Monk

Couldn't you just drop double attack ( after all it is a unique style).
Then just make his........PHOTOGRAPHIC SPECIAL - Whenever Taskmaster rolls attack and defense dice, you may use the normal attack or defense
value of any human figure, of medium height-5, within 6 clear spaces of taskmaster. Double attacks and counterstrike may also be used.

This way he dosen't have the super attacks of most big guys but can
copy humans in his same weight/height class.

I like it in theory/thematically, but feel that it would be too much going on with one power. Nothing wrong with a long explanation of how one thing works, but I in this case, you have the mimicing of attack and defense dice. Then, you also have his ability to copy certain powers, which is a different sort of mechanic.

You also have powers like Shaolin Assault and the like, which would fit thematically, but I would rather exclude all of them (combat powers) as opposed to listing some of them.

I think it was a valid concern when I displayed the first version of him, but with the dropping of his base to 4/4 and with a max of 6, I think he has become much more limited.

[badgermaniac]

Originally Posted by Hahma

No problem. It's the one I'll end up trying to use in the future, though the wording might need to be cleaned up some.

After leaving him alone for a few days and coming back, I like it but I think my first reaction pretty much remains...it didn't seem a natural fit for me given how I visualize the power working.