The Spellbook of Hypnotize

[Lazy Orang]

The Spellbook of Hypnotize

C3G SUPER SECRET EXCLUSIVE 52
DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?


Card PDF

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Spell Bio -Hypnosis is a state of human consciousness, a trance-like state which results in focused attention, reduced peripheral awareness and heightened suggestibility. When an individual is hypnotised by an outside force, they can be highly open to information from the one who hypnotised them, even when in contradiction with actual stimuli. As such, hypnotism is a technique often employed by those who follow the magical arts in order to pacify their opponents - the unquestioned master, however, is Baron Mordo, who is also able to bend his unfortunate victim to his will.
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Spell Card: See the rules for playing with Spells here.

-Rulings and Clarifications-

• N/A

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• N/A

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: (Lazy Orang)
• Second playtest: (Arkham)
• Third playtest: (All Your Pie)
• Fourth Playtest: (All Your Pie)
• Fifth Playtest: (Lazy Orang)
• Sixth Playtest: (Ronin)
• Art by japes

[Lazy Orang]

NAME = HYPNOTIZE
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE SPELL
POINTS = 25 POINTS

After revealing an Order Marker on this figure's Army Card and instead of attacking with this figure, you may cast this spell to choose a Unique Hero within 3 clear sight spaces of this figure. If you do, remove 1 Order Marker at random from that figure's Army Card and that figure has the personality of Hypnotized for the remainder of the round.

[Lazy Orang]

Art:

Spoiler Alert!

Not a bloody clue.

[Lazy Orang]

Here's the first Hypnotise test:

Name Of The Playtest Unit: Hypnotise

Army Test 1
Map: Conflict Chernobyl (no glyphs)
Armies:
Selene Gallio, Jubilee, Hypnotise (30) (460 points)
vs.
Batwoman, Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Robin (Damien Wayne), Robin (Jason Todd) (460 points)

Spoiler Alert!

Overview of Hypnotise’s performance:
Used on Batwoman to eliminate Order Marker 2 of Round One, and to change her personality from Disciplined to Hypnotised so she’s less effective with her Flash Bang Grenade.

Batwoman is equipped with Bolas and a Flash Bang Grenade

Round One

The Mutants claim the initiative and Selene and Jubilee advance.
Jason Todd gets rebellious and runs forwards. Batgirl follows, chucking a Batarang at Selene to no effect.
Selene runs forwards and Hypnotises Batwoman, knocking off her Order Marker 2. Jubilee runs forwards and chucks Fireworks at Barbara and Jason to no effect.
Selene runs to height and shoots Batwoman, rolling 5 skulls and inflicting three wounds.
Thinking she won’t be alive much longer, Batwoman throws her Flash Bang at Selene despite her Hypnotised state making it less effective, she charges Selene, punching her for a wound. Damien runs up but misses with his Batarang.

Round Two

The Vigilantes claim the initiative. Batgirl charges Jubilee with a Reckless Advance, inflicting a wound. Damien charges into melee with Selene, wounding her.
Selene tries and fails to drain Kate of her Psychic essence. Jubilee punches Barbara for a wound.
Kate fails to throw a Bolas round Selene before punching her for a wound. Damien strikes Selene for a wound.
Selene fails once again to drain Batwoman. Jubilee punches Barbara again for another wound.
Thinking Kate would be dead by now, Damien strikes Selene for a wound.
Selene finally drains Kate dry.

Round Three

The Vigilantes claim the initiative. Jason decides to go hell for leather, runs forward and throws a pathetic, meaningless batarang at Selene. Well done, Jason - Damien could possibly have done something, but you just had to stick your oar in, didn’t you? Barbara punches Jubilee for two wounds.
Selene fails to drain Damien. Jubilee punches Batgirl, knocking her out and eliminating the Vigilante’s second turn. It’s down to the Robins now.
Selene, again, fails to drain Damien (she isn’t having good luck with those...). Jubilee chucks some Fireworks ineffectually at Jason.
Damien strikes Selene, but is blocked.
Selene finally drains Damien for two wounds. Jubilee chucks some Fireworks at Jason, inflicting a wound.

Round Four

The Mutants claim the initiative. Selene strikes Damien for a wound, before Jubilee throws yet more Fireworks at Jason, missing wildly.
Damien strikes Selene for a wound.
Selene fails to drain Damien dry. Jubilee fires more Fireworks at Jason, but he evades.
Damien strikes Selene, but is misses wildly.
Selene fails to drain Damien. Jubilee flings more Fireworks at Jason, inflicting a wound.
Jason, thinking Damien would be dead, charges and knocks out Jubilee.

Round Five

The Robins claim the initiative. Damien strikes Selene for a wound.
Selene drains Damien dry, eliminating the Vigilantes’ next turn.
Selene animates one of the plants to strike Jason, inflicting a wound.
Jason charges Selene, but is blocked.
Selene fails to drain Jason dry.

Round Six

Jason claims the initiative, moving to equal height with Selene and punching her, but getting blocked.
Selene fails to drain Jason.
Jason strikes Selene, but his blow is blocked.
Selene fails to drain Jason once again.
Jason’s punch is once again deflected.
Selene finally drains the whiny little brat.

Mutants victorious - Selene 3 wounds.

Overview: Man, Selene is bloody hardcore! I won't underestimate her again, after these three games - I put her in my ‘truly underwhelming' pile after a bad experience or two with her, but man, even when I'm getting generally poor rolls for Psychic Vampire, she cleans house! Admittedly, I think a lot of that victory has to be attributed to Jubilee somehow winning a punch-up with Barbara so that Selene couldn't be tag-teamed after Kate was killed. Another game that felt a lot closer than the final result indicates - you’ll find that happens a lot with healers. It felt a couple of times like the Vigilantes might have finally been about to put her down, but then she’d finally get a Psychic Vampire roll to work and the tables would turn. Hypnotise was good here - it knocked off a turn, which was helpful, and reduced the effectiveness of the Flash Bang, but that didn't feel like a big deal this time around. It's not too massive a spell, honestly - knocking a turn off is pretty damn good, but giving up your attack to do so limits its' effectiveness somewhat. I wouldn't say it was really pivotal to victory here, though it was still helpful.
P.S. Crap - just realised I was playing Damien and Jason with 4 Life by mistake. Ah, well, doesn't really change my thoughts on the tested spell - honestly, Selene keeps winning these games because she's a beast, not due to any spells. They could probably have been taken away entirely and not changed the end result.

[Lazy Orang]

- Theme Test - Pass, it feels like Hypnotism to me.
- Mirror Test - Tentative Pass - There is one Mirror issue, but it's unlikely to come up and with a character that's already being reevaluated. At present, if, somehow, two opposing teams have Doctor Strange, and they have both been Hypnotised, then neither of them are Wise and, therefore, they are both vulnerable to Sorcerer Supreme. That means that if they are close enough to each other, they will negate each other, but, in negating each other, they will negate the ability that allows them to negate each other, and the universe will collapse. It's worth noting that the originally planned revision to make Sorcerer Supreme a power you actively trigger with the X-Marker would fix this problem, since the two Stranges would no longer be passively negating themselves simultaneously, and even if both players attempted to use Sorcerer Supreme at the exact same time, you would just have to roll off too see which triggers first and therefore negates the others’ ability to use theirs that turn. (Plus I still think that version’s going to be the most tactically interesting from a general gameplay perspective.)
- Bonding Test - Pass - Spells don’t bond.
- Synergies Test - Pass - Only really synergy with Baron Mordo, which is going to be pretty damn strong, but that'll be tested later.
- Power Check - Pass - Eliminating an Order Marker is really nice, but you're still using up an attack to do it. It's also really nice when there's a benefit to you changing a figure's personality. Considering that the team with it lost the second game, and would have lost the first if I were playing Batwoman right, I don't think it's OP.
- Fun Test - Pass - I had fun using it.
- Fun Competitive Test - Pass - Order Marker removal is always frustrating for the target, you can't get around that, but it's been around for ages. This is automatic, but it's also once per game, instead of your attack and costs specific points to draft outside any other units.
- Drafting Test - Pass - I'd say it was worth drafting if I had a spellcaster in a build where I could take a turn with them and someone else. Against certain builds where I think I can exploit personality altering, it becomes highly desirable, and, of course, it's going to be at its' best with Mordo.
- Usage Test - Pass - I certainly found it usable.
- Strategy Test - Pass - Picking the right time to use it is important, as with all spells, but especially here when you’re giving up your attack for it. When there are effects associated with a figure’s Personality, things get more interesting.

Name Of The Playtest Unit: Hypnotise

Army Test 1
Map: Conflict Chernobyl (no glyphs)
Armies:
Selene Gallio, Jubilee, Hypnotise (30) (460 points)
vs.
Batwoman, Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Robin (Damien Wayne), Robin (Jason Todd) (460 points)

Spoiler Alert!

Overview of Hypnotise’s performance:
Used on Batwoman to eliminate Order Marker 2 of Round One, and to change her personality from Disciplined to Hypnotised so she’s less effective with her Flash Bang Grenade.

Batwoman is equipped with Bolas and a Flash Bang Grenade

Round One

The Mutants claim the initiative and Selene and Jubilee advance.
Jason Todd gets rebellious and runs forwards. Batgirl follows, chucking a Batarang at Selene to no effect.
Selene runs forwards and Hypnotises Batwoman, knocking off her Order Marker 2. Jubilee runs forwards and chucks Fireworks at Barbara and Jason to no effect.
Selene runs to height and shoots Batwoman, rolling 5 skulls and inflicting three wounds.
Thinking she won’t be alive much longer, Batwoman throws her Flash Bang at Selene despite her Hypnotised state making it less effective, she charges Selene, punching her for a wound. Damien runs up but misses with his Batarang.

Round Two

The Vigilantes claim the initiative. Batgirl charges Jubilee with a Reckless Advance, inflicting a wound. Damien charges into melee with Selene, wounding her.
Selene tries and fails to drain Kate of her Psychic essence. Jubilee punches Barbara for a wound.
Kate fails to throw a Bolas round Selene before punching her for a wound. Damien strikes Selene for a wound.
Selene fails once again to drain Batwoman. Jubilee punches Barbara again for another wound.
Thinking Kate would be dead by now, Damien strikes Selene for a wound.
Selene finally drains Kate dry.

Round Three

The Vigilantes claim the initiative. Jason decides to go hell for leather, runs forward and throws a pathetic, meaningless batarang at Selene. Well done, Jason - Damien could possibly have done something, but you just had to stick your oar in, didn’t you? Barbara punches Jubilee for two wounds.
Selene fails to drain Damien. Jubilee punches Batgirl, knocking her out and eliminating the Vigilante’s second turn. It’s down to the Robins now.
Selene, again, fails to drain Damien (she isn’t having good luck with those...). Jubilee chucks some Fireworks ineffectually at Jason.
Damien strikes Selene, but is blocked.
Selene finally drains Damien for two wounds. Jubilee chucks some Fireworks at Jason, inflicting a wound.

Round Four

The Mutants claim the initiative. Selene strikes Damien for a wound, before Jubilee throws yet more Fireworks at Jason, missing wildly.
Damien strikes Selene for a wound.
Selene fails to drain Damien dry. Jubilee fires more Fireworks at Jason, but he evades.
Damien strikes Selene, but is misses wildly.
Selene fails to drain Damien. Jubilee flings more Fireworks at Jason, inflicting a wound.
Jason, thinking Damien would be dead, charges and knocks out Jubilee.

Round Five

The Robins claim the initiative. Damien strikes Selene for a wound.
Selene drains Damien dry, eliminating the Vigilantes’ next turn.
Selene animates one of the plants to strike Jason, inflicting a wound.
Jason charges Selene, but is blocked.
Selene fails to drain Jason dry.

Round Six

Jason claims the initiative, moving to equal height with Selene and punching her, but getting blocked.
Selene fails to drain Jason.
Jason strikes Selene, but his blow is blocked.
Selene fails to drain Jason once again.
Jason’s punch is once again deflected.
Selene finally drains the whiny little brat.

Mutants victorious - Selene 3 wounds.

Overview: Man, Selene is bloody hardcore! I won't underestimate her again, after these three games - I put her in my ‘truly underwhelming' pile after a bad experience or two with her, but man, even when I'm getting generally poor rolls for Psychic Vampire, she cleans house! Admittedly, I think a lot of that victory has to be attributed to Jubilee somehow winning a punch-up with Barbara so that Selene couldn't be tag-teamed after Kate was killed. Another game that felt a lot closer than the final result indicates - you’ll find that happens a lot with healers. It felt a couple of times like the Vigilantes might have finally been about to put her down, but then she’d finally get a Psychic Vampire roll to work and the tables would turn. Hypnotise was good here - it knocked off a turn, which was helpful, and reduced the effectiveness of the Flash Bang, but that didn't feel like a big deal this time around. It's not too massive a spell, honestly - knocking a turn off is pretty damn good, but giving up your attack to do so limits its' effectiveness somewhat. I wouldn't say it was really pivotal to victory here, though it was still helpful.
P.S. Crap - just realised I was playing Damien and Jason with 4 Life by mistake. Ah, well, doesn't really change my thoughts on the tested spell - honestly, Selene keeps winning these games because she's a beast, not due to any spells. They could probably have been taken away entirely and not changed the end result.

Army Test 2
Map: Bad Moon Rising (No Glyphs)
Armies;
Nightwing, Starfire, Raven, 2x Hellfire: Ignition, Hypnotise (30) (640 points)
vs.
Green Goblin, Carnage, Harley Quinn (vI) (640 points)

Spoiler Alert!

Overview of Hypnotise’s performance:
Used to knock Order Marker 2 of Round Two off Green Goblin and to prevent him from bonding with Harley Quinn.

Round One

The Teen Titans claim the initiative, and Raven flies forwards.
Norman flies forwards and fires a missile at Raven, before Harley follows him.
Starfire flies forwards and fires a blast at the Goblin, which he evades.
Carnage swings forwards. Harley runs into melee with Starfire and punches her to no effect.
Nightwing activates Titans Go!. Starfire strikes Harley, who dodges out of the way. Raven flies into melee combat with Green Goblin and Ignites him, inflicting a wound and not getting burned by the forces she’s channeling. Nightwing charges into melee with Harley and kicks her for two wounds.
Osborn flies over Raven, dropping a Pumpkin Bomb on her for a wound before flying away and firing a missile at her, inflicting another wound. Harley runs out of engagement with Dick and Koriand’r, taking a wound in the process, before throwing a Smilex Bomb at the Titans. She inflicts a wound on Raven and three on Starfire, though Nightwing vaults out of the way of the blast

Round Two

The Psychopaths claim the initiative. Green Goblin bombards Raven with a Pumpkin Bomb and a regularly fired missile, inflicting a wound with the first, leaving the demon-spawn close to death. Harley then charges Raven, but her punch is blocked.
Nightwing leads his team. Raven Hypnotises Green Goblin, knocking off Order Marker 2 and preventing him from working with Harley for the remainder of the round due to his temporarily cured insanity. Starfire charges into melee with the Green Goblin, entering into a Protective Fury over Raven and bombarding him with attacks, inflicting three wounds. Grayson throws a Baton at Harley, and she dodges out of the way.
Raven uses Soul Self to transfer a wound from herself to Norman Osborn, killing him and eliminating the remainder of the Psychopaths’ round.
Starfire stands where Norman was and begins to unleash a flurry of attacks at Carnage, but he dodges out of the way. She flings the rest at Harley, but the little psycho dodges them all.

Round Three

The Titans claim the initiative, and Nightwing takes command. Raven transfers a wound from herself to Carnage. Starfire rushes into melee to assault Carnage, and while he swings away from her first blow, she manages to fire another at him, inflicting two wounds. Grayson charges Harley, but she vaults away.
Carnage swings into melee with Starfire and rips her throat out and eliminating the Titans’ next turn before, spurred on by bloodlust, he fires out a tendril at Raven, opening a gash in her shoulder. Harley charges Raven but fails to harm her.
Carnage swings into melee with Raven and slashes her from height, leaving her bloodied and near death. Harley punches Dick but misses wildly as he vaults away.
Dick leaps to height and aims a blow at Harley, but she vaults away.
Carnage delves into the shadow between Raven and Nightwing. He brutally rips Raven apart, wasting her second Hellfire spell, before attempting to strike Grayson, who vaults away. Harley charges Dick, but her blow misses its’ mark wildly.

Round Four

Dick claims the initiative and kicks Harley in the head, knocking her out cold.
Cassidy claims height and strikes Dick, but he vaults away.
Grayson throws a baton at the symbiote, inflicting a wound.
The psychopath runs in and once again tries to strike Nightwing, but cannot pin him down.
Grayson throws a baton at Carnage, who’s Symbiotic Senses allow him to dodge it.
Carnage runs into combat with Dick, but still can’t hit him.

Round Five

Nightwing claims the initiative, vaults to height and flings a baton at Cletus, which is dodged.
Cletus charges Nightwing, who - holy crap, fill in the blanks yourself!
Nightwing strikes Cletus, who dodges.
Carnage strikes, Dick, who dodges.
Nightwing strikes Carnage, but the symbiote blocks the blow.
Carnage strikes Nightwing, who bloody well dodges - this has to be beyond the relm of reasonable luck now.

Round Six

Carnage claims the initiative, and finally gets his tendrils on Nightwing, gashing his chest open and leaving him near death, inflicting three wounds.
Nightwing gathers up his remaining strength and strikes Carnage, but the symbiote evades the blow.
Nightwing somehow finds the strength in his body to evade the symbiote’s next blow.
Carnage dodges Grayson’s next strike.
Cassidy cackles maniacally as he rips the junior Bat’s stomach out.

Psychopaths Victorious, Carnage 4 wounds.

Overview: That’s a game where everyone on both sides was valuable - for the Titans Raven’s spellcasting and Nightwing’s leadership were both invaluable, and Starfire was able to absolutely brutalise Osborn and Cassidy, but the Goblin and Harley were able to bombard and soften up the Titans as well, allowing Carnage to go on a full-on killing spree. Hypnotise was really useful here, and the turn where the Titans Hypnotised Norman before Starfire brutalised him, allowing Raven to finish him off with Soul Self, eliminating two thirds of the Psychopaths’ round made me think the Titans had the game in the bag right there. As it was, Carnage was able to slake his thirst for blood before engaging in a mostly boring back and forth with Nightwing to close the game out. Hypnotise is a really helpful spell, but it didn't define either game here.

Thoughts On The Tested Unit's Cost, Balance, & Draftibility:

I like it - it’s fun to play. Most of the time it’s just a nice, simple spell to knock off an Order Marker in exchange for an attack, and of course, it’s a big help to Mordo. However, its’ hidden bonuses are really intriguing me - all the things you can do with changing a figure’s personality. There are a few cases where you can make them worse with a glyph they’re carrying, like Batwoman and Batman with the Flash Bang Grenade and Bat-Shurikens respectively. Then there are the ones where you can knock away immunities - part of me loves the idea of Hypnotising Hal Jordan or Phobos before terrifying them with Sinestro or... Phobos again. You could also Hypnotise a Valiant figure, allowing them to be Manipulated by Meteorite or be remarkably amenable to signing a Deal with the Devil. And then, of course, there are the synergy breaks - though not as major as changing a figure’s species or class, things we already have in the game thanks to the Werewolf, the E-Ray and my personal favourite editor, changing a figure’s personality does break up a handful. Small Enthusiastic Hero synergy is a small but notable set, and draining someone’s Patriotism to weaken Uncle Sam could be a nice trick, but the two most notable sets are clearly Insane and Ruthless Mastermind synergies.
In fact, Insane figures lose a lot of immunities as well, so they get a double-whammy on top of losing synergy. In the end, though, there is one guy who gets more hurt than any other figure in the game by being Hypnotised - C3G Red Skull. Not only can he no longer bond with his HYDRA Agents, but he is also unable to use the Cosmic Cube without receiving a wound and dropping it - it’s kind of crippling for the round it’s active. Now, I think this is actually really interesting, since people have been saying that Red Skull is one of the strongest not-outright-broken figures in the game, and the recent discussion in the Reevaluation thread involved @Soundwarp SG-1 saying this, that it might be interesting to have a list of figures who could use a boost through future game additions and ones that need to be borne in mind for becoming broken in the future - or, maybe, could use a counter here or there. This still isn’t a hard counter, he gets everything back at the end of the round if he’s still around, but it still clearly hurts him more than anyone else, and I kind of feel like having a nice, 35 point spell hanging around that can nerf one of the strongest figures in the game for a round isn’t exactly a bad thing.
Anyway, once the 24 hour period has passed, I’m planning to propose this for DR Testing at 35 Points and Mesmerise for DR Testing at 25 Points

[Yodaking]

I like that it is a guaranteed OM removal without having to engage, you only have to avoid the X, unless of course the X is what you are trying to remove. I'd advise the pre-Mordo testing is done with removing the X from people who really like it and breaking up personality synergies to get an idea of what price range someone other than Mordo might pay for the spell. I'd also consider using it on someone who had a strong bonding partner, giving up 1 attack to prevent two attacks isn't a bad deal. So yeah, that is 3 good uses before Mordo even shows up. Not sure if they are all worth 35 points but we will find out.

[Lazy Orang]

I Propose Moving Hypnotise to Danger Room Playtesting at 35 Points.

@Tornado - Yea
@johnny139 - Yea
@Viegon - Yea
@Yodaking - Yea
@japes -
@TrollBrute - Yea

[TrollBrute]

Yea

Did the CRB ever get tagged about Mordo's spells specifically?

[Lazy Orang]

That's a good point - there were a number of major changes to Mordo and the spells after they were tagged, including the entirety of Hypnotise becoming a thing, so I'll do that now.
@dok , @Dysole , @Soundwarp SG-1 , @weebaer
Also, someone should probably talk about that Mirror Issue I brought up.

[Yodaking]

yea

[dok]

The "instead of attacking" restriction drops my blood pressure a bunch.

[johnny139]

Yea