The Book of Chronos

[A3n]

The Book of Chronos

C3G DC WAVE 5
WORLD'S VILEST


Comic PDF


Mini PDF

The figure used for this unit is a Heroclix figure from the Justice League set.
Its model number and name are #024 / Chronos.

NOTE: Chronos requires 2x Glyph of Temporal Displacement.

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Character Bio - David Clinton started his career as a petty thief who attributed his consistent incarceration to his timing, or lack thereof. To improve his timing, he studied the rhythm of time pieces and by practice he learned to synchronize each of his actions with the beat of the prison clock. By the end of his sentence he had developed an extraordinary sense of timing which he resolved to use to further his criminal career. He then adopted the colorful costume and alter ego of Chronos, the Time Thief. His study of time led to more intricate and revolutionary inventions and ultimately a fully functional time machine.
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• Chronos cannot use his Time Bandit power if he is the last figure you control on the battlefield. If Chronos is on his Army Card and the only other figure on you control on the battlefield is destroyed, you are defeated.
• Chronos can only place the markers on spaces he "previously" occupied, not currently.
• When a figure Flies, it is moving over a space, and therefore not really "occupying" it. However, the official FAQ from Heroscape is that a figure with the Flying or Stealth Flying special power may fly for part of its move and walk for the other part, and switch between the two at any time.

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As a Human, Chronos has these Human Synergies.
• As a Thief, Chronos has these Thief Synergies.

Outgoing Synergy:

• N/A

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-Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses-

Immunities

• As a figure the Flying special power, Chronos cannot be affected by aspects of certain special powers. Current Special Powers that Interacts Differently with the Flying special power.

Benefits

• As a figure with the Tricky personality, Trapster subtracts 1 from his roll for Paste Pot special power against Chronos.

Weaknesses

• As a figure the Flying special power, Chronos interacts differently with certain special powers. Current Special Powers that Interacts Differently with the Flying special power.

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• The best tactic for Chronos to use is to move a few spaces, place the marker on a previously occupied space, finish his movement, and land on the marker he just placed. This allows him to activate a marker that he created this turn.

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: Griffin - Test 1 (120 points); Test 2 (80 Points)
• Second playtest: Tcglkn
• Third playtest: Karat (a few errors in play)
• Extra requested playtest: All Your Pie (70-80)

[A3n]

NAME = CHRONOS
SECRET IDENTITY = DAVID CLINTON

SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = THIEF
PERSONALITY = TRICKY

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 3

POINTS = 75

TEMPORAL MARKER 2
Start the game with 2 Glyphs of Temporal Displacement on this card. After revealing an Order Marker on this card, at any point during Chronos' movement, you may place up to one Glyph of Temporal Displacement from this card power-side up on an empty space Chronos previously occupied this turn.

TIME BANDIT
Once per round after taking a turn with Chronos, you may immediately place him on this card and remove all Wound Markers from this card. Order Markers may still be placed and revealed on this card. Whenever you or an opponent reveals an Order Marker, if Chronos is on this card and not destroyed, you may immediately remove 1 unoccupied Glyph of Temporal Displacement from the battlefield and place it on this card, then place Chronos on the space that the Glyph of Temporal Displacement previously occupied. When Chronos uses Time Bandit he will only take leaving engagement attacks from figures with the Temporal Defense special power.

FLYING


Original Post:

Spoiler Alert!

1/9/10 - Design thread started.

Saved in case we need it: "After revealing an Order Marker on this card, you may remove one unoccupied Temporal Disturbance glyph from the battlefield, place it on this card and place Chronos on the space previously occupied by the removed glyph."

[IAmBatman]

I like the write up a lot and really dig the mechanics of him "marking his time" so to speak and then being able to revisit those moments in time with time travel.
I do have a couple of questions that I'm in need of some clarification for though.
First of all, if he time travels after being attacked, does he roll defense/take wounds from that attack or not? It's not clear in the current wording.
If in fact he does not have to roll defense against the attack (which would be my guess, based on how low his life and defense are), would it be possible to ever actually attack this guy and wound him with an attack? As long as I have at least one time marker on the battlefield, I can always avoid attacks with him. This means that unless there's an initiative switch or you catch him without an Order Marker and, in both cases, he had only one time marker on the map before being attacked, he's completely invulnerable. Well, I guess there are special powers that wound.
Maybe that just means he's tricky, though?
I think maybe if the number of Time Markers goes down to 2 or even 1, he might be a bit more balanced. Right now if someone with a normal attack goes up against him, I think it's going to be very, very hard to ever really get in an attack.
Of course, if he stays in the attack range and there are multiple attackers, he'd be vulnerable to that too ... it's really only single attack heroes who'll suffer big time against him ... I dunno, maybe I just need to play him and figure it out. I'm definitely loving the concepts here and I love that you avoided a D20!
Very creative stuff!

[A3n]

I was taking being "attacked" as before even the attacker rolls attack dice. So that wording will need to be cleaned up.
Would this work?:

TIME TRAVEL
After taking a turn with Chronos, or if Chronos is attacked and before attack dice are rolled, you may place Chronos on any unoccupied space with a Time Marker on it. Place the Time Marker back on this card. If Chronos was engaged when using Time Travel he will only take leaving engagement attacks from figures with the Temporal Defense special power.

As to ever being able to attack him, well that will probably come down to the way he is played. If he never attacks then he will definitely be hard to pin down. But if he is played to attack then I believe you should be able to track him down tactically. Granted he will still be tricky. But at a 3/3 attack & defence he isn't going to be a great threat & only 4 life he has a glass jaw. But yeah I think I definitely will reduce the TM to 2, & see if it needs to be reduced to 1 after playtesting.

Cheers

[IAmBatman]

OK - thanks for clarifying! I do think the wording needs some work still, though, since you're currently saying if he's attacked but before attack dice are rolled (which doesn't quite make sense).
I'm going to take a look at Spidey-Sense here and see if I can't come up with different wording in my next post which you guys will undoubtably make even better.

[IAmBatman]

TIME TRAVEL
Instead of rolling defense dice any taking any damage if Chronos is attacked, or after taking a turn with Chronos, you may place Chronos on any unoccupied space with a Time Marker on it. Place the Time Marker back on this card. If Chronos was engaged when using Time Travel he will only take leaving engagement attacks from figures with the Temporal Defense special power.

Ugh, still a bit messy, but I think all those caveats are necessary. The second version is slightly better ... but still needs work:

Instead of rolling defense against an attack on Chronos, or after taking a turn with Chronos, you may place Chronos on any unoccupied space with a Time Marker on it. Place the Time Marker back on this card. If Chronos uses the Time Travel special power instead of rolling defense, he takes no damage from the attack. If Chronos was engaged when using Time Travel he will only take leaving engagement attacks from figures with the Temporal Defense special power.

[whitestuff]

Interesting take on the time travel idea A3n...

[A3n]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

TIME TRAVEL
Instead of rolling defense dice any taking any damage if Chronos is attacked, or after taking a turn with Chronos, you may place Chronos on any unoccupied space with a Time Marker on it. Place the Time Marker back on this card. If Chronos was engaged when using Time Travel he will only take leaving engagement attacks from figures with the Temporal Defense special power.

Ugh, still a bit messy, but I think all those caveats are necessary. The second version is slightly better ... but still needs work:

Instead of rolling defense against an attack on Chronos, or after taking a turn with Chronos, you may place Chronos on any unoccupied space with a Time Marker on it. Place the Time Marker back on this card. If Chronos uses the Time Travel special power instead of rolling defense, he takes no damage from the attack. If Chronos was engaged when using Time Travel he will only take leaving engagement attacks from figures with the Temporal Defense special power.

I think if we are going to do it after the attack dice are rolled then we might as well go with the standard "If Chronos is attacked and at least one skull is rolled...", I was just trying to get in before the attacker rolls attack dice. Which is why "targeted" would be better, but we are determined not to use that unless only referring to ranged attacks.

Cheers

[IAmBatman]

I agree.

[Spidey'tilIDie]

I believe thematically, he can move others through time too. Shouldn't he also be able to move others with TIME TRAVEL?

[IAmBatman]

We've got to figure out how to make Time Travel work for Chronos before we can start having him carry others along! Or do we need to break the defensive aspect into another power that lets you use Time Travel for movement kind of like Spidey Sense/Swing Line 4?
Oh, and I forgot to mention, but I totally dig Temporal Defense ending up on Booster Gold!

[IAmBatman]

TIME BEACON
Start the game with 2 Time Markers on this card. After revealing an Order Marker on this card and before moving, you may move 1 Time Marker from this card and place it on the space occupied by Chronos.

TEMPORAL DISPLACEMENT
If Chronos is attacked by an opponent's figure and at least 1 skull is rolled, instead of rolling defense dice normally, you may ignore the attack and immediately move Chronos with his Time Travel special ability.

TIME TRAVEL
After taking a turn with Chronos, you may place Chronos on any unoccupied space with a Time Marker on it. Place the Time Marker back on this card. If Chronos was engaged when using Time Travel he will only take leaving engagement attacks from figures with the Temporal Defense special power.

I still don't love the damage part, but I think breaking it up may be the way to go. Jamming activations from two different turn phases into a single power seems too messy.