Some Customs I'm Working On (your input appreciated)

[Apotheox]

Originally Posted by darius23__14

...he has an awful lot going on being a scout with frenzy, and bonding with the death knights as a relentless hero.

Bonding with the Death Knights might either be interesting or useless. I don't own them so I forgot about them. Thanks for pointing that out and bringing them to mind. I'll have to look into them to see how they're presence in the game affects Skylord.

Originally Posted by darius23__14

...I think 16 is a pretty low threshold to gain control of your opponents figure(s)

It's a fixed 25% chance (barring other customs), compared to Marcu Esenwein's 20%. I feel that if it doesn't activate more often than Eternal Hatred, then the psychological weight won't be strong enough for the power to work. Nethos will still get his points worth (and more) if your opponent doesn't care and uses someone like Q9 to gun him down early. He is primarily a counter-pick to armies that rely on pouring Order Markers onto a few strong cards, so if they don't have a response to him, then their army will be less effective and consistent.

Originally Posted by darius23__14

Issues with this power that I could foresee would involve bonding. Say it was a Knight of Weston who finished off Nethos if he goes on their card and successfully rolls for Crown of Madness then would your opponent still be able to take a turn with a human champion before you take your turn out of turn with the knights?

Thanks for pointing that out.

I originally modeled Crown of Madness after Marcu Esenwein’s Eternal Hatred, but the fact that Crown of Madness can happen to any unit means that there needs to be further clarification on what is meant by the use of the term “turn” for the purpose of other special powers that might be on that card, such as bonding. Who’s turn is it, technically? Which player is the one "taking a turn” with the unit? The answer to these questions should be in the updated description for Crown of Madness.

Originally Posted by Human Champion Bonding

Before taking a turn with Knights of Weston, you may first take a turn with any Human Champion you control.

The result is this: Let’s say Bob has Alastair MacDirk and Nethos, and Julie has Sir Denrick and a full squad of Knights of Weston. Julie uses her Knights to destroy Nethos. Julie's Knights are now cursed by the Crown of Madness. Fast forward to the next round. It is now Julie’s turn, and she reveals an Order Marker on the cursed Knights. As it now says on Nethos’s card, the first thing Julie must do (even before she can “take a turn” with Denrick or the Knights) is roll the 20d for Crown of Madness. Julie rolls a 4. Good for her! The rest of the turn plays out like any other normal turn. Since Julie still has control of her own Knights this turn, she can now take a turn with the Knights, which means that she can take a turn with Sir Denrick first. Just a normal turn with bonding. Simple stuff, but the catch is that Julie must roll the 20d before she is able to take at turn with the Knights or activate Denrick with the bonding.

Now, lets look at the situation in which Julie rolls a 16 or higher with the cursed Knights. Remember that Bob only has Alastair left (a Human Champion), and Julie has Denrick and a squad of Knights plagued by the Crowd of Madness.

Julie reveals an Order Marker on the cursed Knights, so she must roll the 20d before she can do anything else. This time, Julie rolls an 18. Bob is jumping with joy because he has been waiting the entire match for this moment. Control of the Knights immediately goes to Bob for the remainder of Julie's turn and now Bob may take a turn with the Knights. Now, to see which player gets to take advantage of the Knight's Human Champion Bonding to take a turn with their Human Champion, let’s take a closer look at how the special power works.

Originally Posted by Human Champion Bonding

Before taking a turn with Knights of Weston, you may first take a turn with any Human Champion you control.

Human Champion Bonding has two requirements: 1) You must be able to take a turn with the Knights of Weston and 2) the other unit must be a Human Champion you control. Since Julie lost control of the Knights before she was able to take a turn with them, she does not get to activate a Human Champion. Since Bob is the one taking a turn with the Knights, he gets to activate a Human Champion he controls. Keep in mind it is still Julie’s turn, but Bob is the one taking the turn with the Knights.

We’ve established that Bob is taking a turn with the Knights of Weston, and that they are under his control for the remainder of the turn. Bob does not control Sir Denrick, so Bob cannot use Human Champion Bonding to take a turn with Denrick. However, Bob has control of his own Alastair MacDirk. So, since Bob is able to take a turn with the Knights, he can use the Knight's Human Champion Bonding to first take a turn with his own Alastair that he himself controls.

Very pleased with himself, Bob takes a turn with Alastair and uses Overextend Attack to bring Alastair adjacent to Sir Denrick, getting 2 wounds on Denrick. Now Bob takes a turn with Julie’s Knights, who turn on Denrick and finish him off. Since Bob has finished taking a turn with Julie's Knights, it is the end of Julie’s turn, and thus control of the Knights returns to her. Now Julie’s turn is over and the game continues. Although Julie was not in control of any units the moment Sir Denrick was destroyed, the game was not over, since she got her Knights back before her turn ended. “Don’t you just love bonding?” asks Bob, grinning. Julie vows to think more carefully next time she is faced with the opportunity to destroy Nethos, especially with a unit that can bond with a unit her opponent owns.

It’s a very specific situation that won’t come up very often, and it sounds like it would be a fun moment, but when it does, I hope the latest description of Crown of Madness properly reflects how I intend it to play out.

Thank you for your insight