The Book of Freddy Krueger

[Dysole]

Originally Posted by Arkham

I think the odds and chances of things are drastically different between the 2 versions, outside of any d20 modifiers. For one, you have to burn more turns to get higher amount of wounds with the current route, but in turn the more dice you roll the higher the chance of a blank rolled as well. It can eventually, at it's best, get to 3 potential wounds if you spend all turns on Freddy.

With the d20 route, it's a max 2 wounds per turn spent with Freddy. With each turn giving the same odds of him getting pulled out (20%). I'm not sure how the rest of the odds breakdown. 6 total unblockable dice rolled over the course of 3 turns vs. 3 d20 rolls over the course of 3 turns. That's some advanced math that I feel maybe @Dysole would attempt.

Bug me tomorrow and I'll get you some hard numbers.

~Dysole, sorta happy with her little niche

[Arkham]

Army Test 1 (d20 version)
Map: Custom
Units:
Freddy Krueger(175), Jason Voorhees(175), War Machine(270), Diablo(140), Swordsman(160) (920)
vs.
Professor X(220), Wolverine(280), Beast(170), Psylocke(250) (920)

Spoiler Alert!

Attack Damage:
R3T2: Whiffs attack.

Total of 0 wounds out of 1 attacks.

FREDDY’S COMING FOR YOU:
R1T1: 9 lowered to a 6, nothing happens.
R1T2: 7, nothing happens.
R2T1: 8 lowered to a 5, nothing happens.
R2T2: 5, nothing happens.
R3T1: 1, is placed next to Beast.

Total of 0 wounds caused out of 5 rolls, and 5 turns spent.

SPRINGWOOD SLASHER:


NEVER SLEEP AGAIN:


Notes:
R1T1: Prof. X moves.
R2T1: Prof. X moves, puts 1 wound on Jason.
R2T2: Psylocke is destroyed by Auto Chain Gun, Beast takes 1 wound from Auto Chain Gun. Ouch.
R3T1: Prof. X attacks Diablo, 1 wound.
R3T2: Beast kills War Machine, 1 wound on Freddy.
R3T3: Beast puts 2 wounds on Freddy.
R4T3: Wolverine kills Diablo, puts 2 wounds on Jason. Beast puts 2 wounds on Freddy.
R5T1: Beast removes OM off Freddy, puts 1 wound on Swordsman.
R5T2: Beast kills Swordsman. Wolverine puts 2 wounds on Jason, takes 1 wound from Relentless Assault.
R5T3: Wolverine kills Jason. Beast kills Freddy.


Professor X with 1/4 wounds, Beast with 1/5 wounds, and Wolverine with 0/6 wounds.

Welp, not really much to say here other than beyond War Machine destroying Psylocke with a hot Chain Gun, everything else on Freddy's team was a crap shoot. Freddy rolled poorly, Diablo rolled poorly(only 1 success), Swordsman's defense was meh, and Jason was pretty well ignored.

Hmmm...well...that was rather disappointing. It can partly be attributed to the poor luck, but in addition to that, the "all or nothing" of the d20 was certainly felt here. With the unblockables it allows varying degrees of success, with each die bringing a 50% chance to cause a wound, and a ~17% chance of Freddy getting yanked out.

[Arkham]

Here's another stab(pun intended) at the unblockables power, but with a different approach to the character.

FREDDY’S COMING FOR YOU
Freddy Krueger does not start the game on the battlefield. Instead of taking a turn with Freddy, if Freddy is on this card and not destroyed, you may choose an opponent's figure on the battlefield that has not moved or attacked this round. Roll two unblockable attack dice against the chosen figure. After rolling for Freddy's Coming For You, you may reveal the "X" Order Marker on this card to re-roll any dice.

DREAM WARRIORS
When rolling for Freddy's Coming For You, if Freddy does not roll a skull, Freddy receives 2 wounds, and if the chosen figure is a Telepath, has the Fearless personality, or has the Mental Shield special power, immediately place Freddy on a space adjacent to the chosen figure, if possible.

NEVER SLEEP AGAIN
Anytime Freddy destroys a figure, you may immediately place Freddy on this card. At the start of each of your turns after Freddy has been destroyed, roll the 20-sided die. If the result is 16 or higher, remove all Wound Markers from this card.

What I like about this approach is more often Freddy will do the majority of his battles without getting pulled. With no skulls resulting in 2 wounds on Freddy, he'll still be getting destroyed without needing to pull him onto the board. That said, there's a hefty chunk of Telepaths, Fearless, or that have Mental Shield. An alternative option would be each shield results in a wound, and on a blank he is pulled if they are a telepath etc. I’d be fine with that as well.

The idea here being that all figures can fight Freddy in the Dream Realm, but only those gifted enough mentally/emotionally, can pull him out of the Dream Realm. In the comics and movies, not all characters are able to pull Freddy from the Dream Realm, it's usually saved for the main hero of that particular story, which of the 42 he's killed, only 4-5 people have pulled him out of their dream. For C3G, I feel it may be cool to represent that by those strong enough mentally, or those who are fearless of Freddy(which would encompass those in the comics and movies) to be the ones who can pull him out.

Now, as you can see, I removed a couple things as well. I removed his -1 to the opponent's defense that Springwood Slasher offered, as I don't think it's necessary nor is it the focus of the design. I also removed him taking figures after he kills them and the removal aspect, as I don't think it's necessary for his overall effectiveness. I instead added to his main appeal with the "X" reveal for re-rolling the dice. This is to play up him being able to manipulate his enemies fears and gives you the player that extra sense of "control" over the Dream.

Overall, I feel this doubles/triples down on what makes the design oozing with theme. The Dream Realm is the main aspect of the design. Everything should tie into it, both positive and negative, and that's where Freddy should primarily play. I feel this new approach focuses in on that.

[Arkham]

For the record, here’s how the shields and blanks version would look:

FREDDY’S COMING FOR YOU
Freddy Krueger does not start the game on the battlefield. Instead of taking a turn with Freddy, if Freddy is on this card and not destroyed, you may choose an opponent's figure on the battlefield that has not moved or attacked this round. Roll two unblockable attack dice against the chosen figure. After rolling for Freddy's Coming For You, you may reveal the "X" Order Marker on this card to re-roll any shields.

DREAM WARRIORS
When rolling for Freddy's Coming For You, Freddy receives a wound for each shield rolled. If you rolled a blank and the chosen figure is a Telepath, has the Fearless personality, or has the Mental Shield special power, immediately place Freddy on a space adjacent to the chosen figure, if possible.

NEVER SLEEP AGAIN
Anytime Freddy destroys a figure, you may immediately place Freddy on this card. At the start of each of your turns after Freddy has been destroyed, roll the 20-sided die. If the result is 16 or higher, remove all Wound Markers from this card.

Not much of a difference wording wise, so either option is viable. The shields/blanks I feel would result in Freddy’s death quicker. Which depending on balance may be reasonable. The X can still help him and a 16 to come back makes him still reliable enough.

So that’s another option if people prefer.

[Spidey'tilIDie]

Gotta be honest, I don't love the changes but I'm just Theoryscaping. I trust you as a fan of Freddy and as designer and tester. We'll see what they show.

[Arkham]

I’m curious what about the changes do you not like?

[Spidey'tilIDie]

Well, mostly I hate that he now feels like a Telepath, Fearless, or Mental Shield are necessary counter drafts. I know it’s not necessary mechanically, but it’s the feeling the powers give off. I am not a fan of Freddy rarely getting onto the battlefield,too.

[Arkham]

We can always flip the effect if that’s how the majority feel. Not causing a wound means he’s pulled out, and blanks(or shields) result in wounds if they are a telepath etc. Something like that. I just figured more emphasis on the Dream mechanic is what makes the card.

[Yodaking]

In the comics and movies, not all characters are able to pull Freddy from the Dream Realm, it's usually saved for the main hero of that particular story, which of the 42 he's killed, only 4-5 people have pulled him out of their dream.

I kind of feel like the stable of heroes and villains we have in C3G would all be considered the main hero of their story though, where Freddy normally terrorizes average folks. So maybe have squad figures, common heroes, and uncommon heroes struggle to pull him out of the dream world but unique heroes are more likely to do so to fight him in the real world. Then only have the telepaths be the ones who can damage him in the dream world.

Another quick though, since we already have a Glyph of Gas: Sleeping Gas in place shouldn't those units effected by it be even more vulnerable to Freddy's attacks? It could be a cool pairing where you draft Freddy and Sandman together into armies. Fear Gas could also be a cool pairing if you wanted to make either one give Freddy a boost.

[Arkham]

How about this:

FREDDY’S COMING FOR YOU
Freddy Krueger does not start the game on the battlefield. Instead of taking a turn with Freddy, if Freddy is on this card and not destroyed, you may choose an opponent's figure on the battlefield that has not moved or attacked this round. Roll two unblockable attack dice against the chosen figure. If you roll at least one shield, Freddy receives 1 wound. If you roll at least one blank, place Freddy on a space adjacent to the chosen figure, if possible.

YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE
When rolling for Freddy's Coming For You, you may reveal the "X" Order Marker on this card to re-roll any dice once. Your Worst Nightmare may not be used if the chosen figure is a Telepath, has the Fearless personality, or has the Mental Shield special power.

NEVER SLEEP AGAIN
Anytime Freddy destroys a figure, you may immediately place Freddy on this card. At the start of each of your turns after Freddy has been destroyed, roll the 20-sided die. If the result is 16 or higher, remove all Wound Markers from this card.

Those who are Telepaths etc. will better battle him and pull him out because Freddy has a harder time controlling their Dreams.

[Yodaking]

As long as you are still happy with the design, it looks okay to me. I like the 'no reroll' counter for telepaths. I know this gets a little too complex and wordy so I'm not actually advocating for it, but it would be also cool if the Psychic Defense X figures could opt to reveal their X to force a reroll of the dice as well. Would make it seem like a real heavy hitter show down was going on in the dream world. I've been reading one of the new X-men comics where Prof. X is battling the Shadow King so these mental battles seem more intriguing at the moment.

[Arkham]

I can say, the wording on the card is pretty well spaced currently. So from a spacing stand point, it would be possible to include. However, it seems like a lot of complexity for a minimal payoff, since only a couple figures have that power. Same reason I don't feel adding the Sleeping Gas or Fear Gas call outs is worth it. FWIW, Sleeping Gas already naturally combos nicely with Freddy as it shuts figures down from moving and attacking, much like Diablo's Sleep Potion.