[Pod 2] The Book of Nephda (Kiora the Rising Tide) - Editing

[Captain Stupendous]

@Strack9 Thanks so much for your playtest and in depth feedback! I can't speak for all of the pod members here, but personally your most recent post is exactly the kind of engagement and feedback I was hoping for, so thank you!

First, I like your proposed wording for Healing Waters to bring things more in line with the other healers and would suggest adopting it.

I also can definitely see how Healing Waters could be underwhelming in practice. Lowering the target number is an obvious solution to that, and I'm definitely open to exploring that direction. 6+ seems a little low to me, but I think its worth considering.

An alternate possibility would be to borrow a page from Marro Warriors and make Healing Waters affect everyone within 4 spaces, and then just give a boost to the roll if they're on a water space. Something like this was suggested very early in the thread, but never in a form that could heal multiple heroes, which I think is an interesting feature of the current design. It would end up looking something like this:

HEALING WATERS V2
After taking a turn with Durnipia, you may roll the d20 for each other friendly wounded hero within four clear sight spaces. If you roll a 15 or higher, remove a wound from that figure's army card. If that figure is on a water space, add 5 to your roll.

This version is strictly better than the current draft, which I'm okay with if the current version proves to be underwhelming in practice. I'd also be okay with raising Durnipia's price point higher than 80; in some ways I'd prefer it actually, if only to distinguish her more from Kelda.

I also think that the concerns about the pairing of Rusalka and Nymph are justified. Personally I lean slightly toward using Nymph as a species over Merfolk, mainly because Merfolk is already an established D&D species. Since D&D lore is technically canon within heroscape, I could see how making her a merfolk might mean that we'd have to make her consistent with the attributes of D&D merfolk.

I think I'd prefer the Nymph species and just Healer class, although I'd be open to exploring a more "regal" direction for her as well. Another potential option for species that's already been used before is "Sidhe" which is the species of the c3v Eilan Sidhe. Google defines "Sidhe" as

the fairy people of Irish folklore, said to live beneath the hills and often identified as the remnant of the ancient Tuatha Dé Danann.

. I think I'd still slightly prefer Nymph over Sidhe, but wanted to mention it, especially since there's precedent for it.

I'm less convinced that expanding the range for Carried By Waves to a 4 space radius is necessary? It also strikes me as just slightly less thematic, since the terraforming part of the ability only affects spaces next to her.

Anyway, thanks again for your feedback and the playtest. It's SUPER helpful and exciting to get input from people outside the pod itself