The Book of Pied Piper

[tcglkn]

And just change it to be one Rodent Hero turn?

[IAmBatman]

Good job with the wording, Griff.

Originally Posted by tcglkn

And just change it to be one Rodent Hero turn?

No, keep it as is. You're already moving one less than you get to when you put an Order Marker on the Rat Swarms themselves. Their normal attacks are worthless against 99% of C3G figures, so all you're really getting for that number of two is a little extra movement and the potential to boost your Rat Plague chances, which is what those guys are all about anyway.

[Griffin]

SONIC MIND CONTROL
After using Sonic Flute Special Attack, you may choose any Unique Hero figure that received at least one wound from that attack or any two Rodent Heroes within 6 spaces of Pied Piper. Take temporary control of that Hero and immediately take a turn with the chosen Hero, adding 2 to its movement if it is a Rodent. At the end of that turn, control of the chosen Hero returns to the player who controlled the Hero before the Sonic Mind Control.

[tcglkn]

OK. SP updated.

[Hahma]

SONIC FLUTE SPECIAL ATTACK
Range Special. Attack 3.
Choose 2 spaces in a straight line from Pied Piper. All figures on those 2 spaces, and all figures adjacent to those 2 spaces are affected by this special attack. Roll 3 attack dice once for all affected figures. Each figure rolls defense dice separately. Pied Piper and Rodents are not affected by this special attack. Symbiotes roll 1 fewer defense die against this special attack.

SONIC MIND CONTROL
After using Sonic Flute Special Attack, you may choose any Unique Hero figure that received at least one wound from that attack or any two Rodent Heroes within 6 spaces of Pied Piper. Take temporary control of that Hero and immediately take a turn with the chosen Hero, adding 2 to its movement if it is a Rodent. At the end of that turn, control of the chosen Hero returns to the player who controlled the Hero before the Sonic Mind Control.

So Pied Piper can use Sonic Flute without having to actually "attack" a figure because he's choosing spaces right? That means he can just kind of play his music to move out of the SZ and bring 2 Rats with him right? Or do I have it wrong and he actually does have to have a figure in the chosen spaces to "attack" in order to use the power and move the Rats?

[IAmBatman]

I think since this is written in the imperative: "Roll 3 attack dice once for all affected figures." it means you "must" do it. Also, it's a special attack, not a special power, meaning you have to attack to use it!

[Hahma]

Yeah, I was thinking it was kind of like Avalanche but wasn't sure if there was some wonky way it was different to allow him to move the rats easier and not wasting OMs on them.

[tcglkn]

Added a starting cost here and I think we're all good here for an initial as soon as the Rat Swarms pass to Final Editing. Let me know if there are any issues with the OP as it stands. I know Sonic Mind Control's wording is a bit off so if SirG wants to take a stab at cleaning it up grammatically, I feel like it is mechanically solid as it stands.

[IAmBatman]

Taking a stab at it ...

SONIC MIND CONTROL
Immediately after attacking with Sonic Flute Special Attack, you may choose any Unique Hero you inflicted one or more wounds on with the attack or any two Rodent Heroes within 6 spaces of Pied Piper. Take temporary control of the chosen Hero and immediately take a turn with that Hero, adding 2 spaces to its movement if it is a Rodent. At the end of that turn, control of the chosen Hero returns to the player who controlled the Hero before the Sonic Mind Control.

[IAmBatman]

C3G INITIAL PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT (PIED PIPER)

- THEME TEST/ Check to see if there are any powers or stats on the test unit card that does not accurately reflect the theme or likeness of what the character would and could do. Also consider destructible objects, and whether or not this characters powers should affect them.
PASS

- MIRROR TEST/ Check to see if the unit were played against itself, if there would be any loops that would upset the balance of the Game.
PASS

- BONDING TEST/ Compare the unit card with all possible currently existing Bonding abilities to make sure there are no continual Bonding possibilities that do not stop appropriately or do not stop at all. This is to prevent loops in Bonding.
PASS

- SYNERGIES TEST/ Compare the unit card with all possible currently existing synergies to make sure there are no factors that could break the game by making any unit to powerful or too weak.
PASS

- POWER CHECK/ Consider the test unit and all existing units and all glyphs to compare to and check for any powers that could be over amplified and break the game. Each power must define when it takes place, who or what it affects, and What are the stipulations on the power if there are any.
PASS

- FUN TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play.
PASS

- FUN COMPETITIVE TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play against.
PASS

- DRAFTING TEST/ Consider whether or not this design is worth drafting.
PASS (though not at 110!)

- USAGE TEST/ Consider whether or not all of the powers on this card were used or at least usable.
PASS

- STRATEGY TEST/ Consider whether or not the design offers any real strategy or interesting tactics to the overall game.
PASS

Heavy Hitter or Mid-Level Hero Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 60-65 points
- Give a brief overview. Pied Piper got whipped in his first four tests so I started trying him against lower tier units with greater success. His Sonic Mind Control isn’t very useful in one-on-ones, so I can see his value increasing in Army Tests, though.

Spoiler Alert!

TEST 1
Map: Custom
Units: Pied Piper vs. Captain Boomerang (90)
Mind control isn’t very useful in one-on-one matches, but an attack of 4 vs. an attack of 3, and a chance to attack again if your first attack fails is very useful).
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Cap’n Boomerang wins with 1 wound Turn 1 Round 3.

TEST 2
Map: Custom
Units: Pied Piper vs. Captain Boomerang (90)
This was pretty much the same as the first test.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Cap’n Boomerang wins with 1 wound Turn 2 Round 2.

TEST 3
Map: Custom
Units: Pied Piper vs. Weather Wizard (100)
Weather Wizard’s flying gave him better positioning here and his lightning bolts were a much better offensive option than Pipe Piper’s piping.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Weather Wizard wins with 1 wound Turn 2 Round 2.

TEST 4
Map: Custom
Units: Pied Piper vs. Weather Wizard (100)
The lightning tore Pied Piper up here and he only got in one feeble attack before falling.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Weather Wizard wins with Full Life Turn 3 Round 1.

TEST 5
Map: Custom
Units: Pied Piper vs. Speedy (Mia) (80)
Speedy is fierce in melee and outranges Pied Piper quite significantly as well.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Speedy wins with 2 wounds Turn 2 Round 2.

TEST 6
Map: Custom
Units: Pied Piper vs. Speedy (Mia) (80)
Speedy won initiative in Round 3 to put Pied Piper away. He took one wound disengaging to get around Close Combat Expert.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Speedy wins with 2 wounds Turn 1 Round 3.


TEST 7
Map: Custom
Units: Pied Piper vs. Alfred (60)
Pied Piper rolls 3 skulls on his first special attack on Alfred and one shots the old man, after Alfred failed to do any damage with his own 3 die Shotgun attack.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Pied Piper with Full Life wins Turn 3 Round 1.

TEST 8
Map: Custom
Units: Pied Piper vs. Alfred (60)
Alfred went shot for shot with his Shotgun against Pied Piper’s Sonic Flute, but despite winning initiative in Round 3, just couldn’t quite close it out. Still, this felt very close. Pied Piper is probably feeling closest to 70 points thus far.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Pied Piper wins with 3 wounds Turn 1 Round 3.

TEST 9
Map: Custom
Units: Pied Piper vs. Shadow Thief (70)
Even without being able to use any of the special powers on his card and being outranged by Pied Piper, superior attack rolls and an extra defense die compared to Pied Piper were enough for Shadow Thief to walk away the winner. This felt closer than the end results at least, unlike some of the earlier beatings Pied Piper took.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Shadow Thief wins with 1 wound Turn 3 Round 2.

TEST 10
Map: Custom
Units: Pied Piper vs. Shadow Thief (70)
The two villains traded pretty impotent attacks until Shadow Thief scored a 2 wound attack on Pied Piper to finish it. A lot of attack whiffs on both sides here.
Considering he couldn’t use any of his powers here but still won both matches handily, I’d say Shadow Thief is clearly superior and put Pied Piper around 60 points one-on-one (which I expect will be slightly bumped in army tests where his Sonic Mind Control will have more use.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Shadow Thief wins with 1 wound Turn 1 Round 3.

_____________________________________________________________

Squad Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 50-60?
- Give a brief overview. Pied Piper had the Bad Cops on the ropes, but needed a little more luck. Their greater range gave them a few attacks from height, including a melee one that had the potential to turn into a nasty interrogation had Piper not burnt his X.
Map: Custom
Units: Pied Piper vs. Bad Cops x1 (55)

Spoiler Alert!

The Sonic Flute was able to target two Cops at once several times here, which helped Pied Piper have a fighting chance, but the Cops rolled too well and were too nasty in melee in the end. Still, this test felt pretty balanced!.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Bad Cops with 1 figure left win Turn 2 Round 2

_____________________________________________________________


Squad Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 80
- Give a brief overview. It helps, of course, if the squaddies have low defense numbers and oblige by bunching together ….
Map: Custom
Units: Pied Piper vs. HYDRA Agents x1 (80)

Spoiler Alert!

Pied Piper got an initiative switch and poor defensive rolling by the HYDRA Agents (despite height advantage for the first attack and Immortal HYDRA boosts from both) resulted in all four agents falling from the two attacks. HYDRA Agents clustered on height to boost their only attack on Pied Piper, but he used Shadow Tile and strong defensive rolls to survive. Pied Piper felt like a strong 80 points here!
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Pied Piper with 1 wound wins Turn 1 Round 2

_____________________________________________________________


Army Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 60-70
- Give a brief overview. Pied Piper did help out the Rats here, but didn’t do that much himself. The Rats killed two Hawkmen of Thanagar and put 1 wound on Hawkgirl in 13 attempts before all being destroyed by Round 4. Pied Piper never managed to wound a unique hero, so never managed to mind control one.
Map: Custom
Units: Pied Piper (70), Trickster (65), Body Guard x1 (15), Heat Wave (110), Captain Boomerang (90), Weather Wizard (100), Captain Cold (90), Mirror Master (130), Rat Swarm x10 (100), Beat Cops x2 (130) (1,000) vs. Commissioner Gordon (90), Flash (250), Hawkmen of Thanagar x2 (200), Hawkman (225), Hawkgirl (225) (990)

Spoiler Alert!

I made a few changes to the Rats/Pied Piper during testing that I would have found them annoying without. I changed the Plague 16 power to only work against enemy figures so my startzone wasn’t a nightmare. I removed the 6 space restriction from Pied Piper’s Sonic Mind Control of rats so that he could get more use out of them. Also, I’d like to remove the necessity to use his special attack to use the Sonic Mind Control. I feel that he should be able to use the power on Rats even if he didn’t attack that turn … Would after moving and attacking with Pied Piper work for that?
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Flash with Full Life and Gordon with 1 life win Turn 3 Round 14.

_____________________________________________________________


Army Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 80+?
- Give a brief overview. Pied Piper and the Rat Swarm dominated for the first half of the game until they finally fell and a one life Black Canary and one life Green Arrow tore through all of Pied Piper’s allies.
Map: Custom
Units: Pied Piper (70), Weather Wizard (100), Captain Cold (90), Mirror Master (130), Rat Swarm x9 (90), Hush (220) (700) vs. Kid Flash (110), Robin (100), Speedy (90), Aqualad (60), Green Arrow (150), Black Canary (190) (700)

Spoiler Alert!

Pied Piper only used his Sonic Mind Control on the Rats (since the only time he got wounds with his special attack, he ended up killing the targets). The Vigilante/Sidekick army had some defensive whiffs and poor attack rolls at key times and kept losing initiative during the first half of the game. Hush activating Pied Piper allowed the Rat Swarm to move up the map quickly and get in lots of plague rolls (they went 14 of 40 on Plague 16 rolls and inflicted one wound with their normal attack as well. Pied Piper put the last wound on Kid Flash (whiff), the last wound on Speedy, and the last 3 wounds on Robin (whiff).
After all the rats were finally dead and Black Canary and Green Arrow finished off Pied Piper, the good guys finally started getting some initiative rolls and some better combat rolls and their luck turned. They mounted a comeback pulling off the improbably victory.
Pied Piper and the Rat Swarm (aided by Black Mask) were definitely the MVPs here. With Pied Piper activating two Rat Swarms at a time (and effectively moving 6 Rat Swarms a turn and attacking with 2 and rolling for Rat Plague with several more) I don’t think the +2 to their movement is needed. They get across the battlefield fast enough.
If we make that change, I think Pied Piper is legitimately worth 80 points. This was by far the most fun I’ve had playing the Rogues thus far!
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Green Arrow with 1 life wins Turn 3, Round 9.

[IAmBatman]

Not sure how soon I'll fill it out, but figured I'd get the wheels turning while I have some free time.

[tcglkn]

Thanks Bats. I've linked it to the OP.