Dysole's Customs Thread - Avatar :TLA NEW 04/19/17

[Ixe]

I like the change to him being based on size. I'd personally prefer it to be just soulborgs, however. Not only do I not care for extensive type call outs like that in service of theme, I think soulborgs are the only theme that make sense. I also don't think the destructible object part of it particularly works. Otherwise I like how rats are stopped from being truly dominant for it, giving a bit more play to Zettian Infantry or even Deathstalkers.

[Dysole]

So while I do have ideas for a few other Avatar customs and I do want to make my way through Legend of Korra I recently watched Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and ideas hit me for the homunculi featured within and I had to make them. So here are my attempts at them not all properly playtested or anything so points may be off and heck I might have even misread character power levels. Spoilers abound if you haven't seen the show.

Spoiler Alert!

Anyways enjoy.

~Dysole, who might fill out the rest of the FMA universe if more ideas come to her (she's had a couple)

[Dysole]

So I had a few ideas I've been kicking around. I got into Code Geass and Gravity Falls not too long ago and these characters were the ones I got ideas for. I want to return to the Avatar universe here very soon. I still have a fair number of ideas for minor character from the original series but I want to go to Legend of Korra and I have an idea that will clear up some room on my cards. (Hint. It's basically making symbols for each of the bending types)

Anyways, I present to you 3 of the Geass users from Code Geass and Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls. If more ideas hit me from these stories, I'll make more. As always, spoilers may abound.

LeLouch Vi Brittania

Spoiler Alert!

Rolo Lamperouge

Spoiler Alert!

Mao

Spoiler Alert!

Bill Cipher

Spoiler Alert!

~Dysole, appreciative of those who helped with the rewording of some of these powers

[Ixe]

Code Geass is outside of my wheelhouse and I don't know Gravity Falls well enough to recognize Bill Cipher but Full Metal Alchemist is definitely something I can comment on. I'll spoiler it as well since I get into the show there.

Spoiler Alert!

Envy
This seems pretty spot on. I like your take on shapeshifting and reach seems like a good one for Envy. For all of the homunculi, the Philosopher's Stone power seems like a good way to capture how that works. For envy, I would expect his bigger form to have higher defense at least since it always felt like a sturdier form (in addition to being stronger). The higher move also feels a little out of place on the big form since I don't particularly recall it being all that fast.

Gluttony
I feel like Philosopher's stone power on a high life figure like this really captures some interesting interplay. With only a 1 life figure, you always use the power if it would be wounded. With 2 and even 3 life, you don't bother using the power unless it will be 2 or more wounds. As you start going higher, it becomes a little more uncertain on what you do. If you hold the markers too long you will waste them on one wound attacks while being too liberal may also burn through them. In any case, 6 is a little pushed on move but the other stats are otherwise spot on. Devour is a perfect move for him (I'd be tempted to just reuse Chomp from Grimnak directly). The Gate of Truth SA also feels particularly potent. I wonder if gameplay and theme would be better served if he did that power instead of moving as well so it wouldn't be quite as easy to swoop in and destroy a huge swath of units out of nowhere. It's a missed opportunity to make him a Scavenger instead of a Devourer in my opinion. Also, why is he Large 7? I agree he should be Large but I always though Gluttony was of pretty normal height, if not even a little short.

Greed (original flavor)
I feel that this one is a little off. Ultimate Shield is a tough one to capture for game play reasons but I feel that a single autoshield falls a little shy of something referred to as "ultimate." What I think would be really cool is if you could capture the interplay by giving him a noticeable boost to defense (maybe taking down normal defense and adding 2 shields) but don't allow him to use the Philosopher Stone power during that time. Unless I'm getting my series confused, it was kind of an important point that he couldn't shield and regenerate at the same time.

Greed v2
I think Ultimate Shield as presented works a bit better for the character since Ling Yao Greed never struck me as being as defensive as the original (mostly shielding up his arms for claws). I also like the interplay of choosing between the two versions and think that all fits pretty well.

Lust
Lust is a great example of why I say I like Brotherhood but still enjoy the original anime that got ahead of the manga and made her a far more important and fleshed out character. Ultimate Spear otherwise seems powerful and deadly, a solid representation of the character.

Pride
The deadliest of the Homunculi (I suppose excluding Dwarf in the Flask). You seem to nail that here as well. I really like the Shadow Attacks power. It reminds me of the missile swarm shenanigans that I've been fooling around with some customs of my own, although far more potent here. Shadow Absorption can yield some frightening combinations. Getting him Lust's Ultimate Spear, for instance, can absolutely devastate those anywhere near him.

Sloth
Sloth seems like a good representation between his stats and the Sluggard ability, but I must admit that you're really losing me on the Charge Special Attack. The first part of it is perfect where he zooms through pretty much everything in an uncontrollable straight line. However, the variable damage on it is difficult to decipher and just feels a bit unnecessary. I never got the impression that he would hit people any differently depending on how they lined up or any such thing. Also, I don't see why it drains him so much of his Philosopher Stone markers. The move hurt him in the show only because others were able to take advantage of his blind charge and set up traps for him to barrel into, not that he was particularly hurting himself. Even when he slammed into a wall it never really seemed to bother him.

Wrath
Fuhrer Bradely was always my by far favorite homunculus. Seeing him come striding back to the capital to single-handedly retake the hill was one of my favorite parts of the show. This is why I can't help but feel that he's falling a little short in his representation here. Double attack is great for him, as is his lack of Philosopher Stone markers (he'd be crazy powerful in the show if he could regenerate like the rest), but close combat expert feels a bit off. Getting an automatic skull on the attack is all well and good (could probably be rolled into the double attack), but the automatic shield feels off. First of all, he never had any problem against ranged attacks. He easily strode through firing lines and effortlessly charged up a staircase into an oncoming Gatling gun without issue. To me, his power was less about blocking damage and more about avoiding the attack entirely, more akin to a Stealth Dodge that applies to everything or an Vanish type power. Ultimate Eye also feels weird in being a one-time use type power. He'd use it to his advantage, but it was more of just seeing the battlefield all the time and augmenting his impressive abilities. This one really feels the most off from my expectation of the character.

[Dysole]

Originally Posted by Ixe

Spoiler Alert!

Envy
This seems pretty spot on. I like your take on shapeshifting and reach seems like a good one for Envy. For all of the homunculi, the Philosopher's Stone power seems like a good way to capture how that works. For envy, I would expect his bigger form to have higher defense at least since it always felt like a sturdier form (in addition to being stronger). The higher move also feels a little out of place on the big form since I don't particularly recall it being all that fast.

It was not faster but covered more ground quicker due to its size. Defense boost might be a good call.

Gluttony
I feel like Philosopher's stone power on a high life figure like this really captures some interesting interplay. With only a 1 life figure, you always use the power if it would be wounded. With 2 and even 3 life, you don't bother using the power unless it will be 2 or more wounds. As you start going higher, it becomes a little more uncertain on what you do. If you hold the markers too long you will waste them on one wound attacks while being too liberal may also burn through them. In any case, 6 is a little pushed on move but the other stats are otherwise spot on. Devour is a perfect move for him (I'd be tempted to just reuse Chomp from Grimnak directly). The Gate of Truth SA also feels particularly potent. I wonder if gameplay and theme would be better served if he did that power instead of moving as well so it wouldn't be quite as easy to swoop in and destroy a huge swath of units out of nowhere. It's a missed opportunity to make him a Scavenger instead of a Devourer in my opinion. Also, why is he Large 7? I agree he should be Large but I always though Gluttony was of pretty normal height, if not even a little short.

Good call on not moving with Gate of Truth SA (which I may change to False Gate of Truth SA). I wanted something slightly different than Chomp but almost dropped it word for word. I can see an argument for height 6. I also didn't even think of scavenger.

Greed (original flavor)
I feel that this one is a little off. Ultimate Shield is a tough one to capture for game play reasons but I feel that a single autoshield falls a little shy of something referred to as "ultimate." What I think would be really cool is if you could capture the interplay by giving him a noticeable boost to defense (maybe taking down normal defense and adding 2 shields) but don't allow him to use the Philosopher Stone power during that time. Unless I'm getting my series confused, it was kind of an important point that he couldn't shield and regenerate at the same time.

Right. Silly me. He can't regen. I'll have to figure out the exact wording. Contemplating adding something to represent him having a lot of loyal people working for him.

Greed v2
I think Ultimate Shield as presented works a bit better for the character since Ling Yao Greed never struck me as being as defensive as the original (mostly shielding up his arms for claws). I also like the interplay of choosing between the two versions and think that all fits pretty well.

Lust
Lust is a great example of why I say I like Brotherhood but still enjoy the original anime that got ahead of the manga and made her a far more important and fleshed out character. Ultimate Spear otherwise seems powerful and deadly, a solid representation of the character.

I will eventually watch the original and look forward to her good character development.

Pride
The deadliest of the Homunculi (I suppose excluding Dwarf in the Flask). You seem to nail that here as well. I really like the Shadow Attacks power. It reminds me of the missile swarm shenanigans that I've been fooling around with some customs of my own, although far more potent here. Shadow Absorption can yield some frightening combinations. Getting him Lust's Ultimate Spear, for instance, can absolutely devastate those anywhere near him.

Sloth
Sloth seems like a good representation between his stats and the Sluggard ability, but I must admit that you're really losing me on the Charge Special Attack. The first part of it is perfect where he zooms through pretty much everything in an uncontrollable straight line. However, the variable damage on it is difficult to decipher and just feels a bit unnecessary. I never got the impression that he would hit people any differently depending on how they lined up or any such thing. Also, I don't see why it drains him so much of his Philosopher Stone markers. The move hurt him in the show only because others were able to take advantage of his blind charge and set up traps for him to barrel into, not that he was particularly hurting himself. Even when he slammed into a wall it never really seemed to bother him.

The Philosopher's Stone draining was a gameplay decision to affect a theme one. If there isn't a large risk or penalty, Sloth will use it all the time which is not what fits the character. I borrowed from C3G's Juggernaut SA which had something similar. I'm open to suggestions.

Wrath
Fuhrer Bradely was always my by far favorite homunculus. Seeing him come striding back to the capital to single-handedly retake the hill was one of my favorite parts of the show. This is why I can't help but feel that he's falling a little short in his representation here. Double attack is great for him, as is his lack of Philosopher Stone markers (he'd be crazy powerful in the show if he could regenerate like the rest), but close combat expert feels a bit off. Getting an automatic skull on the attack is all well and good (could probably be rolled into the double attack), but the automatic shield feels off. First of all, he never had any problem against ranged attacks. He easily strode through firing lines and effortlessly charged up a staircase into an oncoming Gatling gun without issue. To me, his power was less about blocking damage and more about avoiding the attack entirely, more akin to a Stealth Dodge that applies to everything or an Vanish type power. Ultimate Eye also feels weird in being a one-time use type power. He'd use it to his advantage, but it was more of just seeing the battlefield all the time and augmenting his impressive abilities. This one really feels the most off from my expectation of the character.

I am so mad at myself I didn't think of Stealth Dodge because I didn't like how he was vulnerable to range. I contemplated Whirlwind Attack as opposed to Double Attack. As for Ultimate Eye, he usually kept his eye behind the eye patch and so it seemed like he so rarely used it that once a game felt right.

I appreciate the comments. I put some stuff in bold in response. I appreciate it and may end up updating more later.

~Dysole, who has other FMA cards in the works as well as Legend of Korra/Last Airbender

[TheAverageFan]

Bradley's my favorite as well. I'd love to see what kind of cards you could cook up for Colonel Mustang, Scar, or Kimblee. So many great and iconic characters to choose from. Same goes for Last Airbender/Korra.

~TAF

[Dysole]

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

Bradley's my favorite as well. I'd love to see what kind of cards you could cook up for Colonel Mustang, Scar, or Kimblee. So many great and iconic characters to choose from. Same goes for Last Airbender/Korra.

~TAF

Ones I currently have ideas for.

~Dysole, spoilery

[Dysole]

So, after a long hiatus where my life is finally getting some semblance of normalcy here I go with some more figures. I watched the original series in between now and the last set of FMA figures I did (not bad, but Brotherhood is better) and here are some of the peoples I have been working on. I anticipate the next batch will be Legend of Korra/the last of Airbender and then after that I'll probably do Soul Eater stuff.

(As a note, I really liked Ixe's suggestion on Wrath to give him some kind of dodge ability so I will likely be updating that card in the not too distant future)

So here is the Amestris Military and one of their enemies. As always, zero playtesting and it's late so I may have screwed something up getting these guys out. Enjoy.











~Dysole, signing out for now

[William099]

Why a movement mechanic for the third power on Hughes card? What's that reflect from the show?

[Dysole]

Originally Posted by William099

Why a movement mechanic for the third power on Hughes card? What's that reflect from the show?

His compatriots moving away from him so they don't have to hear about his kid again.

~Dysole, who cracked up every single time it happened

[William099]

Lol that's right.

[TheAverageFan]

Originally Posted by Dysole

His compatriots moving away from him so they don't have to hear about his kid again.

~Dysole, who cracked up every single time it happened

I cracked up just reading the power on the Army Card and thinking about it.

These are great. Thematically perfect. I can't even come up with any suggestions.

~TAF