Kolakoski’s Pre-SoV Custom Corner

[Tornado]

3 d20 powers feels a bit heavy handed.

[kolakoski]

Well met

OK. Removed 20-sided die roll from Follow Through.

NIERIEL

General ???

Unique Hero
Species Elf
Class Rogue
Personality Reckless

Size Medium 4

Life 4
Move 6
Range 1
Attack 4
Defense 3

Points ???

Needle
After moving but before attacking, if Nieriel was not engaged when she moved, choose an opponent’s figure and roll a 20-sided die. On a roll of 15 or higher, the opponent’s figure rolls 2 fewer defense dice if attacked by Nieriel this turn. [Simulates throwing one of the daggers on her belt to distract her opponent as she moves in.]

Follow Through
If Nieriel attacks, she may attack again with 1 less attack die. [Simulates an immediate follow up strike with her shorter sword.]

Double Parry
If Nieriel is attacked and a skull is rolled, roll a 20-sided die. On a roll of 15 or higher, Nieriel takes no damage. If the attack was a normal attack from an adjacent figure, that figure receives a wound. [Simulates parrying with both swords.]

[Tornado]

Is that what needs extra attack or three.
Feels a bit more warrior than rogue.

[kolakoski]

Well met!

If the second attack is eliminated, would you feel better about her being a Rogue?

[Astroking112]

Originally Posted by kolakoski

NIERIEL

General ???

Unique Hero
Species Elf
Class Rogue
Personality Reckless

Size Medium 4

Life 4
Move 6
Range 1
Attack 4
Defense 3

Points ???

Needle
After moving but before attacking, if Nieriel was not engaged when she moved, choose an opponent’s figure and roll a 20-sided die. On a roll of 15 or higher, the opponent’s figure rolls 2 fewer defense dice if attacked by Nieriel this turn. [Simulates throwing one of the daggers on her belt to distract her opponent as she moves in.]

Follow Through
If Nieriel attacks, she may attack again with 1 less attack die. [Simulates an immediate follow up strike with her shorter sword.]

Double Parry
If Nieriel is attacked and a skull is rolled, roll a 20-sided die. On a roll of 15 or higher, Nieriel takes no damage. If the attack was a normal attack from an adjacent figure, that figure receives a wound. [Simulates parrying with both swords.]

Picture of the figure for reference:

It's worth noting that there is significant medium normal fantasy hero fatigue in C3V/SoV. Any designs for standalone Elven heroes or fantasy Rogues naturally face more scrutiny and have a tougher hill to climb to be accepted. These types of designs aren't doomed from the start, but it's something worth keeping in mind.

As for this design's general, I'd say that Ullar fits the best. Both Elves and Rogues have been closely associated with him in the past, and I don't see much of a reason to put her somewhere else.

I see that Needle is supposed to represent the throwing daggers, but I'm not a big fan of how it activates as a defense reduction instead of an actual attack. Something along the lines of this would seem more thematic to me:

PLACEHOLDER SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 4. Attack 2.
Before or after moving Nieriel, she may attack with Placeholder Special Attack. She can still attack with her normal attack this turn.

I'm not entirely sold on this, but I think that throwing daggers wouldn't feel quite right if they were just a defense reduction tool.

As for Follow Through, I like it well enough. It doesn't quite fit the Reckless personality in my eyes (it feels significantly more controlled than Martial La Hire's Reckless Second Swing does), but you could address that by changing the personality if you're attached to the power.

I'm not a fan of Double Parry. Parrying bullets or arrows already feels off to me, and I think I'd be happier without a defensive ability at all (potentially with an increased life or defense to compensate). Alternatively, you could go with something more stealthy to evoke the Rogue class, such as Hide in Darkness or some variant. It's a bit tough to buy with the armor on the sculpt, though.

[kolakoski]

Well met

I’m guessing 110 points.

NIERIEL

General Aquilla

Unique Hero
Species Elf
Class Hunter
Personality Bold

Size Medium 4

Life 4
Move 6
Range 1
Attack 4
Defense 4

Points 110

Needle
Range 4, Attack 2
Before or after moving, Nieriel may attack with Needle. Nieriel may only execute Needle if she was not engaged at the beginning of her turn. She still may attack with her normal attack this turn.

Follow Through
If Nieriel attacks with her normal attack and rolls a skull, she may attack again with 1 less attack die.

Dances With Wolves
Nieriel’s Species is Wolf in addition to that of Elf.

I like the conditions.

[BiggaBullfrog]

I missed giving feedback on Ueshi. I think the concept is neat enough, but agree with what the others in the pre-SoV thread said in that he probably wouldn't have enough of a use on the battlefield. OM removal is a neat aspect, but someone who can pretty much only remove OMs and not destroy figures isn't going to get much done, especially in endgame. That said, I know that C3G has had some cool figures that have had powers saying essentially "when X would inflict one or more wounds on a figure, you may instead remove a number of OMs from that figure's card for each wound that would have been inflicted." Something like that could work, since you can choose to inflict wounds or remove OMs. (Unfortunately I don't remember what figure(s) have that power, so I can't give you an exact card for reference.)

I liked your first draft of Nieriel better for the most part. Though I didn't think Needle was a throwing knife, I thought it was just her ability to make a precise strike between armor. If you want to keep that direction, and to avoid too much D20 rolling, you could do as the Varkaanan Quickblades do and have it reduce defense by 1 for each skull rolled on the attack.

I'm pretty sure Dances With Wolves wouldn't make it through the SoV. Giving figures additional races/classes/personalities has never really flown in those quarters. Replacement is the only thing that's happened in official 'Scape (Parmenio or Werewolf Lord).

Since the figure is a Ranger you could just have that be her class. Brandis is the only Ranger we have in the game, so it would be cool to have another. I also think Ullar would be a better fit, since he is the one who summons Elves in general. (Plus he could use more VC support.)

I think Nieriel on the whole is a cool custom and something I would play on my own. If you're gunning for SoV with her, though, I'll reiterate that she'll be a tough one to get through as a single, medium, fantasy-themed unit. There's still a lot of fatigue in SoV and C3V for such figures so they're going to get an especially hard time. You'd likely have to differentiate her a good amount from "standard" fantasy tropes.

[kolakoski]

Well met

Would you keep Double Parry from first draft (lowering her defense to 3?)? How about

Defensive Repositioning
If Nieriel is attacked and is engaged to a figure other than her attacker, roll a 20-sided die. On a roll of 15 or higher, she switches places with that figure and it becomes the target of the attack.

As an aside, what would you think about a Smoke Bomb power or Treasure Glyph aimed at a space affecting adjacent spaces, adding an additional defense die against non adjacent attacks and subtracting a defense die against adjacent attacks?

NIERIEL

General Ullar

Unique Hero
Species Elf
Class Ranger
Personality Confident

Size Medium 4

Life 4
Move 6
Range 1
Attack 4
Defense 4

Points 110

Needle
Range 4, Attack 2
Before or after moving, Nieriel may attack with Needle. Defending figures subtract 1 from their defense dice for each skull rolled with Needle. She still may attack with her normal attack this turn.

Follow Through
If Nieriel attacks with her normal attack and rolls a skull, she may attack again with 1 less attack die.

[kolakoski]

Well met!

Tricky version below.

NIERIEL

General Ullar

Unique Hero
Species Elf
Class Ranger
Personality Tricky

Size Medium 4

Life 4
Move 6
Range 1
Attack 3
Defense 3

Points 110

Needle
Range 4, Attack 2
Before or after moving, Nieriel may attack with Needle. Defending figures roll 1 less defense die for each skull rolled with Needle. She still may attack with her normal attack this turn.

Follow Through
If Nieriel attacks with her normal attack and rolls a skull, she may attack again with her normal attack. Nieriel may Follow Through only once per turn.

Quick Switch
If Nieriel is attacked [with a normal attack] while she is engaged to an opponent’s figure other than her attacker, roll a 20-sided die. On a roll of 13 or higher, switch that figure with Nieriel and that figure becomes the target of the attack.

[Sir Heroscape]

There's really not much difference between Follow Through and Double Attack. For simplicity sake and familiarity, I suggest just using Double Attack as the power here. Odds are pretty good with 3 dice (4 from height) that she'll rarely blank. That and it will help save space on the card since Quick Switch will take a bunch of space.

Quick Switch
I really like the idea behind this ability...but it needs to be put into Heroscape "lingo". Mechanically I understand what you're trying to accomplish, but it just needs some wording help...

QUICK SWITCH
If Nieriel is attacked with a normal attack while engaged and at least 1 skull is rolled, before rolling defense dice, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 13 or higher, choose an opponent's small or medium figure adjacent to Nieriel who is not attacking and switch it with Nieriel. That figure is now the target of the attack and must roll defense dice. Figures moved Quick Switch never take any leaving engagement attacks.

That's not perfect, but it's a lot cleaner and covers some of the important conditions and clauses you need to clarify the power. I added the at least 1 skull part because otherwise it doesn't make thematic sense imo.

[kolakoski]

Well met!

Double Attack does not distinguish between normal and special attacks. So . . .

NIERIEL

General Ullar

Unique Hero
Species Elf
Class Ranger
Personality Tricky

Size Medium 4

Life 4
Move 6
Range 1
Attack 3
Defense 3

Points 110

Needle
Range 4, Attack 2
Before or after moving, Nieriel may attack with Needle. Defending figures roll 1 less defense die for each skull rolled with Needle. She still may attack with her normal attack this turn.

Follow Through
When Nieriel attacks with her normal attack, she may attack one additional time with her normal attack.

QUICK SWITCH
If Nieriel is attacked with a normal attack while engaged and at least 1 skull is rolled, before rolling defense dice, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 13 or higher, choose an opponent's small or medium figure adjacent to Nieriel who is not attacking and switch it with Nieriel. That figure is now the target of the attack and must roll defense dice. Figures moved Quick Switch never take any leaving engagement attacks.

Thanks so much, Sir!

[Sir Heroscape]

I'm just not sure I understand Needle. How does it fit into the design? Is there a specific mini that indicates such a special attack? Personally I think the design is sufficient without it. She's already pretty offensively minded in each of her specials, and 3 offensive powers just feels a bit much. Personally I like the design in it's simplicity if it had Quick Switch with just one of the other abilities (either double attack or the special attack).