The Book of Blade (Nightstalkers)

[Karat]

The Book of Blade

C3G MARVEL WAVE 45
MARVELS


Comic PDF


Mini PDF

The figure used for this unit is a Heroclix figure from the Amazing Spider-Man set.
Its model number and name are #004 / Blade.

The figure used for this unit is a Heroclix figure from the Amazing Spider-Man Gravity Feed set.
Its model number and name are #207 / Blade.

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Character Bio - Dedicated to hunting down and eliminating the vampire menace, Blade has embarked upon a multitude of investigations into these creatures of the night. While out on his investigations he encountered fellow vampire hunters Frank Drake and Hannibal King and together they decided to team up and use their skills to end the vampire menace.
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• Q: What happens if Blade attacks a figure with Magical Defense or a similar power?
• A: Magical Defense just lets you ignore all but one wound that would be dealt so Blade bypasses that with Slayer's Arsenal. For example, if Raven were attacked by any figure but Blade or another figure with the Magical Defense special power and they rolled 4 skulls and she rolled no shields, she would ignore 3 wounds and take only one wound. Whereas, Slayer's Arsenal lets Blade bypass Magical Defense giving Raven the full 4 wounds.

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As an Investigator, Blade has these Investigator Synergies.

Outgoing Synergy:

• N/A

Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses:

• N/A

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• N/A

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: Karat
• Second playtest: Arch-vile
• Third playtest: Skinderella
• Fourth playtest: FreshFoods
• Art: Comic, Figure, Background
• Card Art by Arkham

[Karat]

NAME = BLADE
SECRET IDENTITY = ERIC BROOKS

SPECIES = DHAMPIR
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = INVESTIGATOR
PERSONALITY = DRIVEN

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 6

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

POINTS = 260

PHANTOM WALK
Blade can move through all figures and is never attacked when leaving an engagement.

SLAYER'S ARSENAL
When Blade attacks, he may attack one additional time. Enemy figures attacked by Blade cannot use any special power on their Army Cards to ignore or remove wounds for the remainder of this player turn.

STAKE EXECUTION
Once per player turn, if an enemy figure within 5 clear sight spaces of Blade is attacked and is not destroyed, you may move Blade up to 5 spaces as long as he ends this movement adjacent to that figure and roll an unblockable attack die against it, or 2 unblockable attack dice if that enemy figure is a Lycanthrope or Undead.

[Karat]

Comic

Spoiler Alert!

Mini Background suggestions

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Mini Pictures

Spoiler Alert!

[IAmBatman]

Stake Execution is a bit tough to parse with "figure" referencing both the friendly figure that's attacking and the defending figure in different places. A little clean up there should be easy.

Are we worried he's not all that useful outside of Undead/Lychanthrope match ups? He does have a short ranged double special attack of 4 and a 17+ finishing blow that can do one auto wound against anyone. Not sure that Stake power's D20 roll couldn't drop a whole lot, as situational as it is. Heck, you could probably make it automatic.

[tcglkn]

What are your goals with this design? Feels fairly similar in powers to the last Blade overall with an Undead counter power and a Phantom Walk esque power and the Execution power is neat. But I'm just not sure what role this design is supposed to fill that the first design does not.

[Karat]

I guess, for me, the first one is more stand alone hunter whereas, I'm trying to go more support Hunter that gets his hands dirty here.

Essentially trying to lay a foundation for future designs to capitalize on. I'm alright with discussing other approaches. The Stake Execution is really the marque one here to me.

[IAmBatman]

I think I'd probably make the Stake Execution automatic if the figure is down to 1 Life, but automatic at 2 Life for Undead. I think it needs to be reliably useful in the niche situation.

[Tornado]

As much as I love the Midnight Sons, I do not love adding another anti-Undead design when team Undead is not exactly a strong faction.

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by Tornado

As much as I love the Midnight Sons, I do not love adding another anti-Undead design when team Undead is not exactly a strong faction.

Played Slashers lately? They're tough.

But if we're going to have a Blade (II) I would love for him to be more playable against non-Undead armies.

[Arch-vile]

Blade’s an anti-Vampire guy, he needs some sort of bonus against Undead to feel right IMO. I think it’s fine to let the boost against Undead be smaller though to keep him less countrydrafty.

Stake Execution is cool. Those types of powers (like Brutal Double Attack) typically require the attacker to inflict a wound before checking if they have 1 life remaining. Not requiring that makes him much stronger as a support figure, especially against squads. He’ll be a solid partner for Hellboy 2 which sounds fun.

[IAmBatman]

If Stake Execution becomes automatic, I think it'll be a nice counter to squads, commons, and low life figures like Green Lanterns. But the range restriction on it makes it hard to set up and Deadshot has shown me that the trigger for powers like that is rarer than you think. So if it stays at 17+, it's likely to just never be worth anything.

[tcglkn]

As it is you have Phantom Walk, essentially just double attack for the SA and a power that might trigger once or twice per game and succeed one in every 3-4 games. This Blade seems to fall into the exact same niche as Blade (I) and while it’s less counter-drafty as is, it’s not doing anything that well either. Stake Execution is a neat idea but there’s so many restrictions and hoops to jump through that it won’t work nearly as often as you want and you’re kinda hanging this whole design on that one power.