Ixe's Custom Units

[Ixe]

Since I have my Utgar template all set up, here is Roku-Oni whipped up in card form. Looks like I'll have to actually start playtesting and see how he works.

[Ixe]

Since the more open brainstorming on Roku-Oni was rather well received, I'd figure I try my hand at the process again and present another rather available figure I own that I have been kicking around in my head:



This is the Strahd Zombie from Unhallowed by the D&D Miniatures line. There are over 100 of her available on Miniatures Market alone.

After thinking of the creepy girl from the Ring or the Grudge (or Ringu or Ju-On if you prefer), I eventually come to seeing this zombie miniature as a thrall to be added to Nicholas Esenwein's growing horde.

In general, you have to be careful when adding to an existing faction, particularly a faction as flexible as the thralls. Adding one more option only serves to strengthen the group as long as it is not strictly worse than an existing option. Even if it only performs a niche function, that is still another tool in the tool box that they may use. If I am going to add anything, I want to do so cautiously and knowingly of what repercussions that may bring.

That said, what niche may she carve in the thrall army? As of this writing, the only two thralls are the Deathstrike Thrall and the Preyblood Thrall. I am aware that there is an additional thrall going through C3V at this time as well based around the Bloodhulk Fighter miniature. I can only speculate as to it's abilities only from what I know about bloodhulks in general, and as such I'll be leaving it out of this discussion. Therefore, examining only the Preyblood and the Deathstrike, we see two undead that share the Mindless Pack special power, presumably a prerequisite among thralls. They have similar move (especially when you factor the Peyblood's special power), an otherwise identical range, attack, defense, and points. I would classify their powers as being ultimately anti-hero measures (strictly speaking for the Preyblood), and they all involve at least the chance of them being destroyed by using it.

At a glance, this would suggest that the thralls are currently lacking an anti-squad measure but it is important not to overlook their leader, Nicholas Esenwein, when considering the faction. His Bloodborn Rising provides an inherent anti-squad measure where it is easiere for him to gain kills and revive his undead army. I still believe that there is room for a thrall in this niche, but it is important to note that it is not completely empty.

So where does that leave us with our beautiful thrall? Following the precedence of the thralls before her, I am inclined to have her follow in their footsteps and have a move of about 6 (it can be less if she has a conditional power that lets her move more) and otherwise identical stats. Mindless Pack is a must, allowing only so much room for additional abilities. While points can only be truly finalized through playtesting, I'll set a goal for her to fall at 30 pts. That leaves me with one power to give her, and I would prefer it it comes with at least the risk of her dying when she uses it. And again, I would like this to be an anti-squad power for the thralls.

Despite the restrictions that I've tried to place, we are still standing in a wide-open design space to play in. One possibility would be to provide her with a whirlwind assault ability or even special attack, where perhaps dies if she didn't harm or even destroy any figures. We could keep it with her normal attack like with the preyblood, and have the potential destruction trigger based off whether she attacked more than once. The Shaolin Monks provide us with the same ability at ~27 pts a figure, and they can consistently activate all three of them at once (on top of them being so much more maneuverable) so it does not seem at the surface unreasonable. However, the miniature is but a waif of a girl and while it is not impossible to imagine her being able to flail around and attack so, I am struggling to believe that it is appropriate for this miniature.

So what can we do that is a little more appropriate. Taking a close look at the girl, we can see her mouth is wide open in a perpetual scream (or probably about to bite given the fact that she's a zombie, but the scream works, too). We could easily substitute the assault power we were imagining for a special attack of 3 that hits all adjacent figures, or perhaps just all non-undead adjacent figures. This again could be accompanied by an auto destruct or maybe just the chance of it if her scream fails to wound, but I'm not sure if that makes as much sense. I'd lean to her going up in flames once she starts hollering. While that idea does work, I feel it is almost a shame to waste such a thematic wail what amounts to a run of the mill power.

How else could we play with this death siren? If it is a soul shattering scream, who's to say that you have any chance of defending against it whatsoever? What if instead she merely rolled one attack die on the affected figures and there was no chance of avoiding the wound. This would certainly be a much more powerful effect and add some terror to hearing her scream. There's always a chance that it won't pull through, though beware if it does. Most heroes will be able to shrug off her vocal tirade, but squad members would crumble to ruin at the sound of her call. She'd be significantly more powerful against higher price and defensive squads where she could easily trade up in points, and it goes without saying that Deathwalkers would be too easily destroyed by her call. So how do we handle it. Do we limit by size? This would largely solve the Deathwalker problem. We could also limit by type, though I generally don't appreciate the growing list of types that would be immune to certain effects. Perhaps we could even make the special attack only be activated instead of moving or attacking, making it more difficult for her to position for her scream.

That said, here are my current leanings:

NAME = Bloodscream Thrall (needs work)
GENERAL = Valkrill
PLANET = Feylund
SPECIES = Undead
CLASS = Thrall
PERSONALITY = Terrifying
SIZE = Medium 4
COMMON HERO

Life = 1

Move = 6
Range = 1
Attack = 2 (her SA is probably good enough to drop this)
Defense = 3
Points = 30?

MINDLESS PACK
After revealing an order marker on this card, roll the 20-sided die.
- If you roll a 1-5, you may take a turn with 1 Thrall you control.
- If you roll a 6-15, you may take a turn with up to 2 Thralls you control.
- If you roll a 16 or higher, you may take a turn with up to 3 Thralls you control.

WAIL OF THE BANSHEE SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 1. Attack 1
Wail of the Banshee Special Attack affects all figures adjacent to the attacking Bloodscream Thrall. Roll attack dice once for all affected figures. Each affected large and huge figures roll defense separately. Small or medium figures cannot roll defense against Wail of the Banshee Special Attack. After attacking with Wail of the Banshee Special Attack, destroy the attacking Bloodscream Thrall.


I think this curtails her threat to the Deathwalkers and other large squads that aren't necessarily that great to begin with without completely removing it. I could see having her roll her attack dice separately as well, though I find that more challenging to justify thematically. Otherwise, I believe she does her job of providing an anti-squad option to the thralls without necessarily being overpowering. She is only made more powerful against the high cost squads, but that is a risk with a power like this.

Please feel free to weigh in and share whatever ideas you have on the figure. This is little other than a though experiment at this stage.

[IshMEL]

I like this so far!

I have two suggestions / ideas:

1) Make the SA conditional on the Thrall you revealed the OM on. The others can attack normally.

2) only destroy the Thrall if she rolls a skull.

[Ixe]

Originally Posted by IshMEL

I like this so far!

I have two suggestions / ideas:

1) Make the SA conditional on the Thrall you revealed the OM on. The others can attack normally.

2) only destroy the Thrall if she rolls a skull.

1) Do you think the AoE is otherwise too powerful to have it available multiple times a turn? Conditional OM reveal is a little tricky with commons in general and thralls in particular since I'm pretty sure you don't even need to take a turn with the ones that you reveal the OM on, even if you roll in the bottom range.

2) I was considering an option like that. What if she is also affected by her scream (so then she wouldn't be able to roll defense and would die)? I don't actually like it as much as an all or nothing power and would probably prefer it to be rolled separately on each affected figure in general. I've also considered it as a short range multi-target effect like Nilfheim's breath or some kind of close range blast like Jotun's wild swing. I'll let these ideas stew for now and see if anyone else cares to weigh in.

As always, I appreciate your input, IshMEL.

[IshMEL]

It seems like the potential to take out 18 Squad figures who can't roll defense -- well, it's not that likely I suppose, and if the Thrall destroys itself every time (regardless of success) that would mitigate against its power.

If you did want to keep it to a once per "turn", you could do something like:

After attacking with Wail of the Banshee Special Attack, if you rolled a skull you may not use Wail of the Banshee Special Attack until the next time you reveal an Order Marker.

What about making it a non-attack d20 power, more like Toxic Skin? You could adjust the odds for large/huge figures that way.

[Ixe]

Originally Posted by IshMEL

It seems like the potential to take out 18 Squad figures who can't roll defense -- well, it's not that likely I suppose, and if the Thrall destroys itself every time (regardless of success) that would mitigate against its power.

If you did want to keep it to a once per "turn", you could do something like:

After attacking with Wail of the Banshee Special Attack, if you rolled a skull you may not use Wail of the Banshee Special Attack until the next time you reveal an Order Marker.

What about making it a non-attack d20 power, more like Toxic Skin? You could adjust the odds for large/huge figures that way.

d20 based power probably is the way to go if this is the direction. I was thinking keeping it a special attack to match with the Deathstrike Thrall, but there is no reason that needs to be the case. I could also have finer manipulation of the odds to make it more or less successful against the target size, and it could enjoy bonuses from Lodin or anyone who boosts undead d20 down the line.

I'm not as of yet convinced that it require order marker limitations on how often it can be used. If they take out anywhere near 18 squad members in a single order marker with this power, something has gone horribly wrong. Perhaps the all-deathreaver army was not as good an idea as it first seemed. I guess I'll let it stew some more.

[Scytale]

Bloodscream Thrall
Interesting idea. The Thralls really do need an anti-squad option, and this is along the right lines. I also appreciate that you're keeping along the same lines of the other Thralls -- one big attempt and then self-destruct. This one might be a little too much in that direction though; 50/50 chance of serious devastation or complete failure. I think you'd be better off if it wasn't dependent on a single roll. Perhaps make it not a special attack but an instead-of-attacking special power, and roll the d20 for each figure. It could even be a lower than 50% roll and hit a bigger area. It gives it more consistency and less wildly swingy.

[Ixe]

I was putting off updating her but I agree that I don't like it condensing her scream into a single roll. Her is my adjusted leanings:



NAME = Bloodscream Thrall (needs work)
GENERAL = Valkrill
PLANET = Feylund
SPECIES = Undead
CLASS = Thrall
PERSONALITY = Terrifying
SIZE = Medium 4
COMMON HERO

Life = 1

Move = 6
Range = 1
Attack = 2 (her SA is probably good enough to drop this)
Defense = 3
Points = 30?

MINDLESS PACK
After revealing an order marker on this card, roll the 20-sided die.
- If you roll a 1-5, you may take a turn with 1 Thrall you control.
- If you roll a 6-15, you may take a turn with up to 2 Thralls you control.
- If you roll a 16 or higher, you may take a turn with up to 3 Thralls you control.

EDITED

WAIL OF THE BANSHEE
Instead of attacking, choose up to three figures within two clear sight spaces of this Bloodscream Thrall. One at a time, roll the 20-sided die for each chosen figure. Add 7 to the roll if the chosen figure is small or medium. If you roll a 16 or higher, the chosen figure receives one wound. After using Wail of the Banshee, destroy this Bloodscream Thrall.


Switched it up a bit and gave her a short range scream with d20 dependence on the power. Not sure where exactly the numbers should fall, but I still want to shield the large ones to keep her from screeching some death metal on the deathwalkers. I only gave her two targets since I don't want it getting too out of hand for a 30 pt common hero that is part of a versatile pseudosquad and can be brought back.

As always, I am open to any suggestions and feedback. Thanks to those who have responded so far.

[IshMEL]

Looking good! I like the d20 version much better. Just a wording suggestion -- you can use "Add 8 if the figure is small or medium." to avoid repeating verbiage.

[Ixe]

Good call. I'll edit the post right now. Though it was 9->16 so the difference is 7, not 8.

[Scytale]

Don't forget that you have to destroy the figure to use the power. Even if it can potentially come back, that's a serious disadvantage. Don't be afraid to go a bit strong with it. With only two targets I doubt I'd be inclined to use it except against certain opponents. I would be comfortable with three.

[Ixe]

Very well. I'll change it to three. I'm a bit worried about it in general but I suppose there's nothing wrong with going big and then dialing it back from there if need be. I don't need to get it right on the first try. That's what playtesting is for, after all.