Arkham's Design Brainstorming

[Tornado]

With 5 markers, it becomes more difficult to weaken his blood rage.

Maybe just -1 to his Defense or -2 and raise his Defense to 6, when at 5 markers.

The idea is he finally gets consumed by the war and I think it balances the healing, plus once he gets fully charged it is even harder to bring him down.

[Arkham]

Ok, I think I understand. Lower his base defense by 1 or 2, and then offer 1 more marker bonus, where at number 5 he gets his defense bumped to 3.

If that's what you're suggesting, I'm a little torn. On one hand I see what you're going for and it seems decent. However, if he's targeted directly, the opponent ignoring other figures and before your other figures can destroy a figure...you're risking him being completely steamrolled at 3 or 4 defense, even with 9 life. 5 figures being destroyed(assuming his markers never come off in the process), is a bit of challenge to obtain in order to keep him alive.

[Tornado]

He could not attack to remove a marker from himself and soothe his rage.

Maybe give it a spin one game or maybe I will.

[Arkham]

Oh ok, I think I had that backwards. Base defense of 5 or 6, and have the 5th marker subtract 1 or 2 from his defense. I think a better way to do it, would be to start with high defense, and have each marker subtract from his defense. So that way for each marker he gains, he gets faster and stronger attack wise, but gets less defensively focused.

Start at 8 defense, then bring him down to 4 defense at max.

[Tornado]

That works too.

[Arkham]

It may be a bit too much though, in terms of how much is going on, and that change would make him stronger than he currently is.

I'd probably prefer him as-is, as I don't believe he struggles from the onslaught and rage that his presence brings out in others. He's also supposedly pretty hard to harm. Normal attacks are pretty poor against him, and he's only really weak to magical attacks.

All in all, as of now, I'd probably prefer to keep him as he is. Perhaps put him down to 8 life, and bump his defense up to 6. I like the idea of making Event Heroes more of a bonus to be killed, but there aren't a lot of Event Heroes in the grand scheme of things, so I could see why it may not be worth it in the long run. Either way, I'm happy with where the design is at, very interesting and unique.

[Tornado]

Yeah, that is cool.
I may still test him with the extra War Marker as I like the mechanic.
I am willing to see how this one plays out.
I would consider requiring three tests per playtester here and see if we can give it a bonus point for testing.

[japes]

Personally I don't think he needs the bonus for Event Heroes. For one they typically have higher life so he's already getting a boost to the roll. And it just starts looking like "too much". I believe I was not in favor of the original design way back but I was starting to come around with your recent focuses on him.

[Arkham]

Yeah, that's a concern I had. Too many modifiers can start to make it look less elegant, and a bit more like a hodgepodge of ideas. Hence why I started to stray from messing with the defense aspect.

I think the last version I posted, the full design, is the one I'm most confident in thus far. It has a few things at play, but they are all simple to understand and to the point. It comes across like a fun design, unique in mechanics and approach, that captures the character pretty well IMO.

[Arkham]

Changed "Plant Animations" to "Animated Vines", and updated their wording.

[japes]

Originally Posted by Arkham

Changed "Plant Animations" to "Animated Vines", and updated their wording.

Cool...I've already made my cheap proxies in anticipation.

[Arkham]

Zatanna II is currently next in line for design, including her 2 spells. Is everyone on board with the design as-is?

NAME = ZATANNA II
SECRET IDENTITY = ZATANNA ZATARA

SPECIES = HOMO MAGI
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = CHAMPION
PERSONALITY = TRICKY

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 4
ATTACK = 4
DEFENSE = 4

POINTS = 200

MISTRESS OF MAGIC
Zatanna has the class of Magician in addition to what is listed on this card.

TRAP DOOR TELEPORTATION
Instead of taking a turn with Zatanna, you may choose a figure you control. Immediately switch Zatanna and the chosen figure, and take a turn with the chosen figure. Figures switched by Trap Door Teleportation never take any leaving engagement attacks.

MAGICAL DEFENSE
When Zatanna is attacked by an opponent's figure that does not have the Magical Defense special power, the most wounds Zatanna can take for this attack is one.

FLYING

BASIC ELEMENTAL CONTROL
Unique Spell
5 points

At the start of the game place one of each of the following on this card:

• ice tile
• shadow tile
• swamp water tile
• water tile

Instead of attacking, this figure may cast this spell. Remove a tile from this card and place it on either the space this figure occupies or any empty land space within 3 spaces of this figure, if the tile fits normally onto that space. After casting this spell, if this figure has the Mistress of Magic special power and there is at least one tile remaining on this card, you do not have to discard this card.

ADVANCED ELEMENTAL CONTROL
Unique Spell
15 points

At the start of the game place one of each of the following on this card:

• Evergreen Tree Destructible Object
• Ice Rock Destructible Object
• lava tile
• single-hex grass, lava field, rock, sand, snow, and swamp tile

Instead of attacking, you may cast this spell. Remove a Destructible Object or tile from this card and place it on any empty land space within 3 spaces of this figure, if the Destructible Object or tile fits normally onto that space. After casting this spell, if this figure has the Mistress of Magic special power and there is at least one Destructible Object or tile remaining on this card, you do not have to discard this card.

I've contemplated possibly doing more with Mistress of Magic. My only idea is to include a start of the round d20 power, where the result would see her either add 1 to her life, move, range, attack, or defense for that round. It'd help offer a greater benefit when paired with JL Batman. Something like this:

MISTRESS OF MAGIC
Zatanna has the class of Magician in addition to what is listed on this card. At the start of the round, roll the 20-sided die:

• if you roll 1-4, add 1 to Zatanna's Life this round.
• if you roll 5-8, add 1 to Zatanna's Move this round.
• if you roll 9-12, add 1 to Zatanna's Range this round.
• if you roll 13-16, add 1 to Zatanna's Attack this round.
• if you roll 17-20, add 1 to Zatanna's Defense this round.

However, I can see the argument to keep things as simple as they are.