The Book of Question

[Scapemage]

The Book of Question

C3G DC WAVE 33
BATMAN FOREVER


Comic PDF


Mini PDF

The figure used for this unit is a Heroclix figure from the Origin set.
Its model number and name are #034, #035, and #036 / Question.


Question requires 2x Glyph of Utility: Smoke Pellets

_________________________________________________________________

Character Bio - As an investigative journalist for television, Vic Sage was always curious. Once he began stumbling upon cases that required less conventional means, he created the identity of Question with the help of his mentor Aristotle Rodor. Sage and Rodor together created a psuedoderm mask, allowing Question to appear to have a blank face. Rodor also invented a gas which Sage uses to change his hair color and commune spiritually with cities he walks in his effort to put an end to crime.
_________________________________________________________________

-Rulings and Clarifications-

• N/A

_________________________________________________________________

-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As a Human, Question has these Human Synergies.
• As an Investigator, Question has these Investigator Synergies.

Outgoing Synergy:

• N/A

Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses:

• Criminals and Crime Lords roll 2 fewer defense dice against Question when affected by his Master Detective special power.
• As a figure with the Tricky personality, Question is affected differently by certain special powers.

_________________________________________________________________

-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• N/A

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: Scapemage
• Second playtest: Scapemage
• Third playtest: Arkham
• Fourth playtest: Tornado
• Art: Comic, Figure, Background
• Art by Arkham

[Scapemage]

NAME = QUESTION
SECRET IDENTITY = VIC SAGE

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

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 4
DEFENSE = 4

POINTS = 140


SMOKE SCREEN
Start the game with two Glyphs of Smoke Pellets on this card. Question cannot lose these glyphs by receiving wounds unless he is destroyed.

URBAN COMMUNION
Question can move through all figures and is never attacked when leaving an engagement. Question may move two additional spaces if he begins his turn on an asphalt, concrete, or road space.

MASTER DETECTIVE
Once per round, after revealing an Order Marker on this card and instead of moving, you may choose any Order Marker on an adjacent figure’s Army Card and reveal it. If you choose a numbered Order Marker, you may remove it from that Army Card. If you choose an “X” Order Marker, that figure rolls 2 fewer defense dice when attacked by Question this turn, or 3 fewer defense dice if it is a Criminal or Crime Lord.


Previous Version:

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = QUESTION
SECRET IDENTITY = VIC SAGE

SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = DETECTIVE
PERSONALITY = MYSTERIOUS

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 5

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 4
DEFENSE = 4

POINTS = 150

MASTER DETECTIVE
Instead of moving, if Question is engaged, you may choose any Order Marker on an opponent’s Army Card and reveal it. If you choose a numbered Order Marker, you may remove it from that Army Card. If you choose the “X” Order Marker, figures roll 2 less defense dice when attacked by Question this turn. Order Markers other than the chosen marker may never be removed by Master Detective, and Master Detective can only be used once per round.

CLOSE COMBAT EXPERT
When attacking an opponent’s adjacent figure with a normal attack, add one automatic skull to whatever is rolled. When defending against a normal attack from an adjacent figure, add one automatic shield to whatever is rolled.

[Scapemage]

Comic Art

Spoiler Alert!

Mini Art

Spoiler Alert!

[Scapemage]

Well, here goes nothing! This is my first attempt at a design in around five years. I'm honestly amazed that I've found a bit of my Heroscape passion again. Please bear with me, I am running mostly on memory for the design process. I searched around for some process threads but a lot of things were very old or seemed outdated.

This design came out of the vaults for me. I have thrown it verbatim into the Second Post. Taking a look at it, I already have a few things I'd like to see tweaked. Small things like his personality and stats can use some work. Master Detective is an awesome power that I think is really unique (then again, I'm about 200 – 300 units outdated myself). Right now I'm not sure of its power level, so I'd love a lot of feedback on that.

Close Combat Expert might be a bit too strong of a martial ability for him. He has some good training but I'm not sure it would constitute an expert.

I'm planning on taking a closer look into his character background. I am reading that the New 52 version comes packaged with some precognition abilities, but I'm not sure I want to get into that with this design.

Lastly, I found a picture of one of the minis on Ahikira's Flickr site from the Photo Depository. I managed to download a copy of it, but I can't seem to link it anywhere. Does anybody have a recommendation for uploading it for use here?




@Arkham - @japes - @johnny139 - @Ronin - @SirGalahad - @Spidey'tilIDie - @Tornado - @Yodaking Mentions for a new thread. We used to do PMs iirc, but that was before mentions were on Heroscapers.

[Yodaking]

We still do the PM's to every hero.

I don't know the character so I can't give much input in on theme here. If you are shaky on the validity of CCE then I'd drop it. It's a bit late right now but I'll try to look up his backstory tomorrow some time and see if any ideas pop out at me for a replacement power. We do try to keep out normal humans at 4 life for the most part and generate other ways to increase their staying power beyond more life so I'll see if something defensive in nature jumps out at me. As for team building based on his key power, I would want to pair him up with someone that can move him on their turn, that way you start your turn already engaged.

[Lazy Orang]

Looks interesting - I liked this guy on JLU but never had a direction I was happy with. This looks good - excited to see this guy out there!

I was going to take issue with any detective power that's infallible (that was my issue with your Batman design from way back), but considering the various conditions (he needs to start engaged and it's instead of moving), I'm good with it.

Word to the wise, if you're going to put up a design in future, I'd suggest putting it through the Last Chance Workshop before starting a thread. It's fairly new so I understand that you wouldn't know it's a thing, but now you do.

~Lazy Orang, who still thinks the 'rule' that Humans should only have 4 Life is inconsistent, ridiculous and thematically limiting - particularly tough humans can, do and should have 5 Life (though admittedly I don't know if Vic would qualify). Punisher and Ozymandias do exist, y'know.

[Ronin]

Originally Posted by Scapemage

Well, here goes nothing! This is my first attempt at a design in around five years. I'm honestly amazed that I've found a bit of my Heroscape passion again. Please bear with me, I am running mostly on memory for the design process. I searched around for some process threads but a lot of things were very old or seemed outdated.

This design came out of the vaults for me. I have thrown it verbatim into the Second Post. Taking a look at it, I already have a few things I'd like to see tweaked. Small things like his personality and stats can use some work. Master Detective is an awesome power that I think is really unique (then again, I'm about 200 – 300 units outdated myself). Right now I'm not sure of its power level, so I'd love a lot of feedback on that.

Close Combat Expert might be a bit too strong of a martial ability for him. He has some good training but I'm not sure it would constitute an expert.

I'm planning on taking a closer look into his character background. I am reading that the New 52 version comes packaged with some precognition abilities, but I'm not sure I want to get into that with this design.

I'd steer clear of New 52 stuff, for sure. DC wasn't exactly going for timeless versions of their characters there.

I don't know if the name really works so we probably couldn't go for Bronze Tiger's Dragon Style Kung Fu, but it could be cool to do a riff on that, since they were both trained by Richard Dragon.

Maybe a defensive-only version, so Question's offense isn't too potent and his detective power is still his big offensive thing?

Also, maybe go Investigator on the class? Doesn't come with much synergy or anything (just Lobster Johnson for the moment), but I feel like that's our 'detective' class.

Lastly, I found a picture of one of the minis on Ahikira's Flickr site from the Photo Depository. I managed to download a copy of it, but I can't seem to link it anywhere. Does anybody have a recommendation for uploading it for use here?

If you can't link to flickr directly, I use imgur. Tinypic is the other image-hosting site that people use now, I think.

Originally Posted by Lazy Orang

Looks interesting - I liked this guy on JLU but never had a direction I was happy with. This looks good - excited to see this guy out there!

I was going to take issue with any detective power that's infallible (that was my issue with your Batman design from way back), but considering the various conditions (he needs to start engaged and it's instead of moving), I'm good with it.

Word to the wise, if you're going to put up a design in future, I'd suggest putting it through the Last Chance Workshop before starting a thread. It's fairly new so I understand that you wouldn't know it's a thing, but now you do.

~Lazy Orang, who still thinks the 'rule' that Humans should only have 4 Life is inconsistent, ridiculous and thematically limiting - particularly tough humans can, do and should have 5 Life (though admittedly I don't know if Vic would qualify). Punisher and Ozymandias do exist, y'know.

I feel like the last chance workshop isn't as relevant here - I think of it mainly as sort of an efficiency/streamlining thing that lets us start workshopping and make sure people are on board with the general direction for a design before a new thread can be started up. (And there wasn't really any workshopping, but Scapemage did ask about starting up a Question thread in the Inner Sanctum)

If Scapemage gets hooked and wants to run another design right after, though, the Last Chance Workshop would be the place to go for a little pre-thread strategizing.

The 4 Life thing isn't a rule, but it is a guideline to avoid power creep and Question doesn't have much of a case for going higher (so far as I know). You're not actually obligated to fight the '4 Life' suggestion whenever someone makes it. Makes sense here, I think.

[Margloth]

Just doing a quick reading on Wikipedia, these are the things in his biography that stood out to me:

His Pseudoderm Mask that can convert his appearance (maybe some type of Ghost Walk Power)?

Yes, he’s listed as being a master martial artist, but who isn’t? It says he was thoroughly beaten by Lady Shiva. He’s more of a street-level Hero, I’d leave him at 4A/4D.

He was a proponent of Objectivism and is known as being a bit more ruthless than other Silver Age villains (he was going to be Rorschach in Watchmen after all), so maybe a “me first” or “I’m not going to help you” type power?
I’M NOT HERE TO SAVE YOU
After attacking with The Question, if the defending figure is adjacent and has only 1 life remaining, The Question may attack that figure one additional time.

Kind of bland maybe, but it echoes Rorschach a bit, shows some fighting prowess without going to CCE again, and gives him a bit more oomph against squad figures since if he misses the first time he can hit them again.

[Ronin]

I think Phantom Walk or Disengage would make a lot of sense.

On objectivism, the original version was objectivist. It's a through-line for him that he's more philosophically driven than other heroes, but his philosophy has shifted over time. So I'd keep the philosophy stuff high-level, not specific to any particular ideology.

[Scapemage]

Originally Posted by Yodaking

We still do the PM's to every hero.

On it!

Originally Posted by Lazy Orang

Word to the wise, if you're going to put up a design in future, I'd suggest putting it through the Last Chance Workshop before starting a thread. It's fairly new so I understand that you wouldn't know it's a thing, but now you do.

I found what you're mentioning. What a great idea! I will do that in the future.

Originally Posted by Lazy Orang

I was going to take issue with any detective power that's infallible (that was my issue with your Batman design from way back), but considering the various conditions (he needs to start engaged and it's instead of moving), I'm good with it.

Originally Posted by The Book of Rorschach

NAME = RORSCHACH
SECRET IDENTITY = WALTER KOVACS

SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = VIGILANTE
PERSONALITY = UNYIELDING

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 4
DEFENSE = 4

POINTS = 140

GRAPPLE GUN 25
Instead of Rorschach's normal move, he may move only one space. This space may be up to 25 levels higher. When using the Grapple Gun, all engagement rules still apply.

CRIMINAL INTIMIDATION
Criminal figures roll 1 fewer defense die against Rorschach's normal attack.

SHAKEDOWN
After attacking an opponent’s adjacent figure with a normal attack, if the defending figure is still engaged with Rorschach, your opponent may immediately reveal and remove one unrevealed Order Marker from any Army Card that opponent controls. If your opponent does not reveal and remove an Order Marker, Rorschach may attack one additional time, adding 1 die to his Attack number. Figures with the Super Strength special power are not affected by Shakedown.

I agree with being wary of auto-succeeds on powers like this, however there are a few out there. Here is Rorschach, who as a character was based on Question, with an infallible Order Marker removal power. This one does allow the defender a choice and has a reasonable restriction against Super Strength. Contrary to that, as you mentioned, Question must sacrifice his move to get an auto-success, meaning he'll have to be already adjacent to the target. Considering it's also once-per-round, the counterplay can come with the opponent knowing who Question is near and choosing not to place Order Markers on those cards at all.


Regardless, I'd like to standardize the stats to match Rorschach's. In terms of a new defensive or combat-oriented power, I found this information:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Early in his career, the Question used seemingly blank calling cards with a delayed chemical reaction that after a specified time caused a question mark to appear in a burst of gas. Other writing could be similarly treated to reveal itself at the pre-determined time.


While the binary gas has no other known properties, the Question often used the gas to enhance his image and intimidate criminals into confessing by implying that the gas would cause anyone exposed to it for extended periods to lose their face permanently.

I'm thinking about replacing CCE with Criminal Intimidation and then adding a power like so:

CALLING CARD
After Question leaves an engagement without taking wounds, you may place the Question up to 3 spaces away. Question cannot be placed more than 10 levels higher than his height or lower than his base. After moving with Calling Card, Question's turn ends.

[Tornado]

Cool.
Criminal based powers just got a recent boost from the Brit-Cit Judge. They can turn anyone into a Criminal.

[Lazy Orang]

Originally Posted by Scapemage

I agree with being wary of auto-succeeds on powers like this, however there are a few out there. Here is Rorschach, who as a character was based on Question, with an infallible Order Marker removal power. This one does allow the defender a choice and has a reasonable restriction against Super Strength. Contrary to that, as you mentioned, Question must sacrifice his move to get an auto-success, meaning he'll have to be already adjacent to the target. Considering it's also once-per-round, the counterplay can come with the opponent knowing who Question is near and choosing not to place Order Markers on those cards at all.

My issue with an auto-succeed power here would be less the balance issues of automatic success (they can actually be worked out quite easily, and I do like auto-succeed powers sometimes), it's a thematic issue that it eliminates the factor of human fallibility. If you look at any crime drama, detective show or book etc., there are times when the detective is stumped, when they don't know what's going on - they aren't omniscient entities who see what's happening ala Doctor Manhattan, they have to work it out and find clues, and sometimes they just can't, or it's misleading. Even Sherlock Holmes is stumped at times! That said, being once per round, instead of moving and requiring engagement I still think is enough to mitigate that issue, I just think we should be wary, now and in future, about including detective powers that don't have an element of chance to whether you can work things out or not - my Mum and I designed a Sherlock Holmes figure way back, and he can view up to three of your opponent's Order Markers at the start of any round, but he needs an 8+ (that can be boosted through other figures) in order to see anything - that's the sort of thing I'm talking about, thematically.