The Book of The Riddler (II)

[Karat]

Yea

[tcglkn]

Yea, liking where this one is going.

[Lord Pyre]

Yea

[johnny139]

Yea

Happy with those changes and comfortable with him as a Misfit - there's a fun Neil Gaiman short story where he sort of laments being the "last true villain" now that everyone else is a serious criminal, and the age of just playing cat and mouse is over.



I can definitely see the number being tweaked but I think 3-7 is the reasonable range, with 3 as a reasonable minimum.

[Arch-vile]

yea

[IAmBatman]

Fun read, johnny! This passes! I'll put it up next after the Green Central Battery.

[IAmBatman]

C3G INITIAL ARMY PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM
NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: RIDDLER (II)

Version Tested:

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = RIDDLER
SECRET IDENTITY = EDWARD NASHTON

SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = MISFIT
PERSONALITY = INSANE
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4
MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 4
POINTS = 160?

PERILOUS PUZZLE
At the start of the game, choose a Unique Hero and a number between 3 and 7 to be the Answer. Secretly write down the Answer. At the end of round X, even if Riddler is destroyed, you must reveal the Answer and roll X unblockable attack dice against the chosen Hero, where X is equal to the chosen number.

DROPPING HINTS
When Riddler is attacked by an opponent's adjacent Unique Hero and receives one or more wounds, that opponent may choose not to place any number of those wounds. For each wound they choose not to place this way that opponent may choose a number between 3 and 7. If their chosen number is the same as the number in the Answer, you must reveal the Answer and immediately remove it from the game.

GENIUS ESCAPE
When the Riddler rolls defense dice against an opponent's normal attack:

• if at least 2 shields are rolled, the Riddler takes no damage and may immediately move up to 2 spaces. He will not take any leaving engagement attacks.
• if at least 2 skulls were rolled and the attacking figure is within 5 clear sight spaces of the Riddler, it receives one wound.
  You may choose which effect to use first.

Army Test
Map: Custom
Units: Riddler (II) (160), Creeper (125), Killer Moth (65), 5th Precinct Beat Cops (x3) (195), Crazy Quilt (55) (600) vs Nightwing (200), Starfire (210), Raven (190) (600)

Spoiler Alert!

Character and number chosen were kept secret from me during the game. They were (X) and (Y). Killer Moth chose Riddler for his Moth Signal.
Round 1: Initiative Misfits. Creeper advances.
Raven advances.
Creeper advances.
Starfire advances.
Creeper advances.
Titans Go! Starfire engages Creeper and hits him for a wound. Raven fails to hit Creeper. Nightwing

Round 2: Initiative Misfits. Creeper puts a wound on Starfire, then heals a wound.
Titans Go! Raven fails to hit Creeper. Starfire can’t hit either. Nightwing can’t hit either.
Creeper hits Starfire for a wound.
Starfire can’t hit Creeper.
Creeper hits Starfire for two wounds.
Raven heals four wounds from Starfire, then Soul Self transfers one to Creeper.

Round 3: Initiative Misfits. Creeper gets a marker. He fails to hit Starfire. He heals a wound.
Titans Go! Starfire KO’s Creeper with her Protective Fury. Raven and Nightwing both advance.
Creeper had OM2.
Starfire advances. She KO’s a Cop from range.
Creeper had OM3.
Starfire advances. She fails to KO a Cop from height.
Perilous Puzzle did not trigger yet.

Round 4: Initiative Titans. Starfire KO’s a Beat Cop.
Beat Cops hit Starfire for one wound.
Titans Go! Raven advances, but can’t hit a Beat Cop. Starfire KO’s a Beat Cop and puts one wound on Crazy Quilt, who ends her Protective Fury with a successful Reactive Mind Control to get her engaged in height disadvantage.
Beat Cops put two wounds on Starfire.
Raven Soul Selfs one of the Cops engaged with Starfire.
Crazy Quilt hits Starfire for a wound from height.
Perilous Puzzle did not trigger yet.

Round 5: Initiative Titans. Titans Go! Raven Soul Selfs a Cop. Starfire engages Riddler, whose Genius Escape puts a wound on her, KO’ing her, and lets him move two spaces back, to safety. Nightwing KO’s a Cop with his special attack.
Beat Cops fail to hit Raven.
Nightwing avoids a swipe from Crazy Quilt and fails two Escrima attempts on Beat Cops
Crazy Quilt fails to hit Raven from height.
Nightwing KO’s a Cop.
Killer Moth engages Nightwing and doesn’t attack.
Perilous Puzzle goes off and 4 of 5 dice hit skulls, KO’ing Raven.

Round 6: Initiative Nightwing. He attacks Killer Moth with the Escrima twice and two Cops fall to Protect and Serve.
Crazy Quilt attacks Nightwing, but he dodges.
Nightwing hits Crazy Quilt for a wound.
Crazy Quilt hits Nightwing for two wounds.
Nightwing KO’s Crazy Quilt.
Riddler engages Nightwing and whiffs an attack.

Round 7: Initiative Misfits. Killer Moth can’t hit Nightwing.
Nightwing can’t hit Killer Moth.
Riddler can’t hit Nightwing.
Nightwing hits Killer Moth for a wound.
Riddler catches Nightwing whiffing and hits him for two wounds.

Unit Summary: Titans aren’t quite as strong at this lower level and they struggled with crowd control early on. That and the defensive network around Riddler stopped Dropping Hints from being a factor and Perilous Puzzle hit on a big roll to finish Raven, which really swung the game, despite valiant clean up attempts by Nightwing. Overall I’d say he feels balanced here. There’s a risk/reward to building around really defending Riddler and playing the waiting game and it hit “reward” in this game.

• Damage Done (Normal Attack): Inflicted (2) wounds on Nightwing (2)).
• PERILOUS PUZZLE: Raven and Round 5 were chosen; resulted in 5 Wounds on a 3 Life Raven, KOing her.
• DROPPING HINTS: He was never hit, and only attacked once.
• GENIUS ESCAPE: Allowed him to avoid damage/move (1) time and inflicted (1) wound on (Starfire (1))
• Damage Taken: None.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Killer Moth with 3/4 Life and Riddler with Full Life win.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Custom
Units: Riddler (II) (160), Creeper (125), Harley Quinn (130), Killer Moth (65), 5th Precinct Beat Cops (x1) (65), Hugo Strange (155) (700) vs Black Canary (190), Oracle (110), Green Arrow (Oliver) (150), Red Arrow (150), Robin (Dick) (100) (700)

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: Initiative Birds of Prey. Red Arrow advances.
Hugo Strange moves himself, Harley, and Creeper up four spaces each.
Red Arrow advances.
Hugo Strange moves himself, Harley, and Creeper up.
Green Arrow advances.
Hugo Strange moves himself, Harley, and Creeper up. Harley uses Insane Devotion to take a turn and tosses her Smilex Bomb at Red Arrow and Green Arrow, landing 3 wounds on Red Arrow.

Round 2: Initiative Arkham Inmates. Hugo moves himself, Creeper, and Harley up and then Harley engages Red Arrow and whiffs an attack.
Red Arrow follows the Secret Attack Plan and one-shots a whiffing Harley!
Creeper’s Psychosis Progresses and he Stealth Leaps into engagement with Red Arrow and KO’s the Archer.
Green Arrow can’t hit Creeper from range.
Creeper engages Green Arrow and hits him for one wound.
Green Arrow takes height on Creeper but still can’t hit him.

Round 3: Initiative Birds of Prey. Green Arrow follows the Secret Attack Plan and one-shots Creeper from height.
Creeper had OM1.
Black Canary and Robin advance.
Hugo advances and fires at Green Arrow, but can’t hit.
Black Canary and Robin advance. Robin whiffs an attack on Hugo Strange.
Hugo Strange hits Green Arrow for a wound.

Round 4: Hugo Strange takes the Mutagenic Experiment. Initiative Arkham Inmates. Hugo rends apart Green Arrow, leaving his corpse.
Black Canary follows the Secret Attack Plan and knocks Hugo Strange out cold. Robin follows behind her.
Hugo Strange had OM2.
Black Canary and Robin advance.
Hugo Strange had OM3.
Black Canary advances and screams, but can’t hit a Cop. Robin follows behind.
The Perilous Puzzle triggers and only 1 skull hits on Oracle!

Round 5: Initiative Birds of Prey. Black Canary KO’s two Beat Cops and hits Killer Moth for a wound with her Canary Cry. Robin follows the Secret Attack Plan and hits Killer Moth for two wounds.
The final Beat Cop fails an attack on Black Canary.
Black Canary KO’s Killer Moth and the last Beat Cop. Robin attacks Riddler and takes a wound from Genius Escape.
Killer Moth had OM2.
Black Canary whiffs her Canary Cry on Riddler. Robin takes another wound from Genius Escape.
Killer Moth had OM3.

Round 6: Initiative Birds of Prey. All skulls for Canary Cry hits Riddler for three wounds. Robin KO’s Riddler but Genius Escape hits for a wound on the way out, KO’ing Robin.

Unit Summary: Dropping Hints didn’t happen for the second game, so I’m thinking I want to try it so that it happens after you would wound any figure in his army. If that seems too easy, though, I’ll revert to this way, as I don’t hate it, and the Perilous Puzzle payoff has been fun, Dropping Hints just hasn’t been used yet. Perilous Puzzle didn’t have the same big pay off as last time, which hurt his army, as did Harley and Creeper falling a bit too easily. Genius Escape inflicted three wounds on Robin, but didn’t save Riddler, which was a lot of fun.

• Damage Done (Normal Attack): Never attacked.
• PERILOUS PUZZLE: Oracle and Round 4 were chosen. It hits and inflicts (1) wound on Oracle.
• DROPPING HINTS: Never triggered.
• GENIUS ESCAPE: Inflicted (3) wounds on (Robin (3))
• Damage Taken: KO’ed to end the game.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Black Canary with Full Life and Oracle with 3/4 Life win.

___________________________________________________________

Version Tested:

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = RIDDLER
SECRET IDENTITY = EDWARD NASHTON

SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = MISFIT
PERSONALITY = INSANE
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4
MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 4
POINTS = 160?

PERILOUS PUZZLE
At the start of the game, choose a Unique Hero and a number between 3 and 7 to be the Answer. Secretly write down the Answer. At the end of round X, even if Riddler is destroyed, you must reveal the Answer and roll X unblockable attack dice against the chosen Hero, where X is equal to the chosen number.

DROPPING HINTS
When a figure you control would be destroyed by an enemy Unique Hero's adjacent attack, that opponent may choose not to place any wounds and instead choose a Unique Hero they control and a number between 3 and 7 to be their Guess. If their Guess is the same as the Answer, you must reveal the Answer and immediately remove it from the game.

GENIUS ESCAPE
When the Riddler rolls defense dice against an opponent's normal attack:

• if at least 2 shields are rolled, the Riddler takes no damage and may immediately move up to 2 spaces. He will not take any leaving engagement attacks.
• if at least 2 skulls were rolled and the attacking figure is within 5 clear sight spaces of the Riddler, it receives one wound.
  You may choose which effect to use first.

Army Test
Map: Custom
Units: Penguin (II) (140), Riddler (160), Hired Guns (130), Bodyguards (x4) (60), Black Mask (100), Blockbuster (210) (800) vs Batman (200), Robin (Tim Drake) (120), Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) (130), Green Lantern (Hal) (350) (800)

Spoiler Alert!

Blockbuster chooses Batman to Blackmail.
Round 1: Initiative Super Friends. Green Lantern advances.
Hired Guns advance.
Green Lantern engages two Hired Guns from height and KO’s one of them.
Hired Guns go. They put three quick wounds on a poor rolling Green Lantern.
Green Lantern KO’s a Hired Gun, gets a Fearless Charge, and KO’s the third Hired Gun.
Black Mask has three Bodyguards advance and the lone Hired Gun attack Hal. Hal burns a marker.

Round 2: Initiative Criminal Syndicate. Penguin has four Bodyguards advance with Criminal Syndicate and they KO Green Lantern with the unblockable wound.
Green Lantern had OM1.
Penguin has three Bodyguards and the Hired Gun advance with Criminal Syndicate.
Green Lantern had OM2.
Penguin has three Bodyguards and the Hired Gun advance with Criminal Syndicate.

Round 3: Initiative Super Friends. Batman, Batgirl, and Robin advance.
Penguin has three Bodyguards and the Hired Gun advance with Criminal Syndicate.
Batman and Batgirl and Robin advance. Both Batman and Robin fail to hit the last Hired Gun.
Penguin has three Bodyguards advance and the Hired Gun attack. The Hired Gun has both attacks blocked by Batman.
Batman moves. Batgirl grapples into a crowd. Batman takes down the Hired Gun and two Bodyguards with his Batarangs. Robin can’t take down another Bodyguard.
Blockbuster advances, but is one space out of range for Blackmail for the next round.
Perilous Puzzle does not trigger.

Round 4: Initiative Super Friends. Batman and family engage the Bodyguards, but can’t KO any.
Penguin misses a Criminal Syndicate roll on Batman.
Batman and Robin again fail to hit the Bodyguards.
Penguin misses a Criminal Syndicate roll on Batman.
Batman avoids KOing a Bodyguard to Guess Batman 4. Robin avoids KOing a Bodyguard to Guess Batman 5.
Blockbuster engages Robin and KO’s him.
Perilous Puzzle is revealed as Green Lantern 4, but since he’s KO’ed it has no effect.

Round 5: Initiative Criminal Syndicate. Blockbuster Blackmails OM3 and OMX off of Batman. Blockbuster takes even height with Batman and puts a wound on Batman.
Batman KO’s a Bodyguard.
Penguin advances and Batgirl has a premonition and blocks it.
Batman hits Blockbuster for two wounds.
Blockbuster has his attack blocked by Batman.
Batman lost OM3 to Blackmail.

Round 6: Initiative Criminal Syndicate. Batgirl has the OM’s so nothing is lost to Blackmail. Blockbuster KO’s a whiffing Batman.
Batgirl can’t hit Blockbuster.
Blockbuster can’t hit Batgirl.
Batgirl has her attack stopped by a Political Investment.
Blockbuster lets Batgirl see it coming and still hits her for a wound.
Batgirl has her attack stopped by a Political Investment.

Round 7: Initiative Batgirl. She has her attack stopped by a Political Investment.
Batgirl sees Blockbuster’s attack coming and blocks it.
Batgirl can’t hit Blockbuster.
Blockbuster takes a wound from Defensive Premonition.
Batgirl can’t get past Tough.
Blockbuster takes a wound from Defensive Premonition.


Round 8: Initiative Criminal Syndicate. Batgirl sees the attack coming, but Blockbuster just hits too hard and KO’s her.

Unit Summary: I think this is the right balance to keep Dropping Hints relevant. Perilous Puzzle didn’t pay off here, but that and the victory margin are more due to the Super Friends army falling apart than a reflection on anything Riddler did. I think he feels balanced overall at 160 so far and I like where the design is at.

• Damage Done (Normal Attack):
• PERILOUS PUZZLE: Green Lantern 4 was chosen, but didn’t activate since Green Lantern fell early.
• DROPPING HINTS: Guessed incorrectly (2) times (Batman 4, Batman 5) to spare (2) Bodyguards))
• GENIUS ESCAPE:
• Damage Taken:

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Blockbuster with 1/5 Life, Riddler with Full Life, Black Mask with Full Life, Penguin with Full Life, and one Bodyguard win.

___________________________________________________________

[IAmBatman]

Two games down and one to go! He's been fun so far and I'm liking his price, his stats, how Perilous Puzzle works, and how Genius Escape feels on him. The only hole is that Dropping Hints has not triggered at all and he's only even been attacked one time before the Puzzle has triggered over the course of the two games I've played.

So rather than just letting you chill with him in the start zone completely protected, I'm taking advice from y'all and letting you beat up his mooks for clues. After chatting it through with Tickle (who's been nice enough to help me with the secret Answer for the first two tests) I'm going with this change to Dropping Hints in the third test:

DROPPING HINTS
When a figure you control would be destroyed by an enemy Unique Hero's adjacent attack, that opponent may choose not to place any number of wounds. For each wound they choose not to place this way that opponent may choose a number between 3 and 7. If their chosen number is the same as the number in the Answer, you must reveal the Answer and immediately remove it from the game.

[MrNobody]

[Yodaking]

So you can use over wounds for that then? Batman punches a 2 life Firefly, dealing 4 wounds, I can subtract 2 wound for 2 guesses and Firefly still get's KO'd from the remaining 2W's?

[IAmBatman]

Hmm, yeah, feels super cheap if you KO them anyway. How about this?

DROPPING HINTS
When a figure you control would be destroyed by an enemy Unique Hero's adjacent attack, that opponent may choose not to place any wounds and instead choose a number between 3 and 7. If their chosen number is the same as the number in the Answer, you must reveal the Answer and immediately remove it from the game.

More powerful, but I think that's OK.

[Arch-vile]

I like that latest version. Looks fun!