[Pod 2] Alabaster Sentinels (Rhox Veterans) - Editing

[Pumpkin_King]

Alabaster has an e. Looks really good. I like this.

[Captain Stupendous]

I really like where these guys are at right now (aside from the typo in the book name as mentioned above).

@Flameslayer @Pumpkin_King at what point do you think we can call a vote for editing?

[Pumpkin_King]

I think we can do that now. All in favor of editing?

[flameslayer93]

to editing.

[Captain Stupendous]

That's a from me for Editing.

[flameslayer93]

@Amarant @Zetsubo @Confred

Gentlemen, does the design in the OP look like its ready to go?

[Pumpkin_King]

Okay, these have sat for a while - in the meantime our system has changed so I'm going to call a vote for moving them to public feedback.

We can redo an editing vote later on.

[Captain Stupendous]

from me to move these guys on to Public Feedback.

[Pumpkin_King]

Calling it. We're in public feedback. Change the thread title please flame.

[Pumpkin_King]

It is time to welcome public feedback on this thread! We're always open to feedback, but this is when we specifically are asking you for your opinion on a unit! We're interested in getting outsider thoughts on the unit in the main post of this thread so that we can catch any potential errors and make the most polished units possible.

We do ask that all commenters keep in mind the core goals of the AotV project when giving their feedback. For reference, they are:

1. To be compatible with Classic/Official Heroscape, and completely VC-compliant: that is, designing with C3V and SoV figures in mind, and focusing on the AOTP figures that would be acceptable to SoV (figures that are pre-painted or usable without paint).

2. To provide an affordable and user-friendly entry point to both new and returning players, that captures the feel of a true Master Set.

3. To create balanced units that are relatively simple, easy to understand, and feel at home in a self-contained set together. Units will come from a wide range of themes, and capture the diversity of theme Heroscape is beloved for.

These tenants of the project are important cornerstones for each design. Although other units can be very complex or otherwise rely on other units that they were not packaged with, that is not within the scope of this project.

Each unit should be interesting when compared only against the rest of AotV; they should still be exciting when taken out of the box, but we are assuming that this is an entry-level product for the game. Think of the original Rise of the Valkyrie Master Set, before any expansions were added, and when all of the units were just standalone unique characters.

That said, we welcome your feedback now, and we'd love to hear what you think about this unit! The Public Feedback Phase in this thread will end on 11/22/20, unless otherwise noted.

[Captain Stupendous]

I'm really happy with where this design has ended up mechanically, but as I was looking over the OP again there were a couple things that stood out to me as having the potential for improvement thematically.

First, I'm not 100% sold on the "loyal" personality for this unit. I think the "resolute" personality would be a better fit for the design's playstyle.

Second, I think that there's a bit of a thematic disconnect between the name "Alabaster Sentinels", their species as "Animata", and their power name "Flesh to Stone." The cards name and species implies that these warriors are literally animated statues that retain their statue-like characteristics. Based on this, I don't see how a reference to "flesh" can be justified in their power name, since "flesh" is a strange term to use when referring to an animated statue. I think that if we keep the name of the card and species the same, a better name for the power might be something like "Stone Form" or "Statue Form".

However, I think my preferred solution would be to move away from the theme of them being animated statues, and instead thematically portray them as a special race of creatures with the ability to magically turn their flesh to stone. As far as the card design goes, this would just involve changing their name and species. I would propose the card name of "Stoneskin Sentinels", which conveys this theme well and has some nice alliteration, along with a made up species name. Something like "Rhinvorian" could work well.

If we went in this direction, I think it would be cool if their planet was Valhalla and their bio portrayed them as native inhabitants of the Sea of Sand (the desert region in Valhalla that has been suggested as the setting for this Master Set's campaign). Along these lines I've drafted a short preliminary bio, mainly as a means of fleshing out the idea in my own head, but I'll share it here as well:

Born with the magical ability to turn their flesh to stone, the long-lived members of the Rhinvorian Tribe experience the passage of time differently than any other race on Valhalla. Some warriors have been known to stay in their “stoneskin” form for months or even years at a time, seeming for all appearances to be lifeless statues. Thus these silent sentinels maintain their patient vigil over the Sea of Sand, impervious to the harsh conditions of the vast desert, yet ready at all times to take action should their homeland be threatened.

[flameslayer93]

I think I originally wanted these guys and Avacyn to be from Valhalla, so there is that.

I still prefer them as statues, in some version or another, to keep the races the same. While having 2 separate races does indeed give new players more flavor, it also begs a question. "Why do these two fairly similar things have the same race?" It's all but certain that the space shrimps will Voidspawn to match their big brother Ozuul, and the Shadow Zombies/Hulks will be the same race as each other. I see no reason to create 2 new races for something simpler like this.