The Book of Glyph of Utility: Bat Shuriken

[IAmBatman]

The Book of Glyph of Utility:
Bat Shuriken​

C3G DC WAVE 12
LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT​

Card PDF

Sticker PDF​

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Glyph Bio - A man can be destroyed, but a symbol is indestructible... even so, bat-shaped projectiles make for an unorthodox weapon of choice. Only the most devoted have managed to successfully utilize iconography on the offensive.
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-Type of Glyph-

• Equipment Glyph: See the rules for Equipment Glyphs HERE.

-Rulings and Clarifications-

• N/A

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received

• Current Figures who can start the game with Glyphs of Utility
• Figures that start the game with this Glyph: Batman (Outsiders)

Synergy Benefits Offered

• N/A

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• The Bat Shuriken can be used more effectively by Driven Vigilantes.

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial Playtest: (IAmBatman)​
• Second Playtest: (quozl)​
• Art by A3n​

 

[IAmBatman]

GLYPH OF UTILITY: BAT SHURIKEN
(Ranged Attacks)

EQUIPMENT GLYPH
When this figure attacks with a normal attack, you may change the Range number on its Army Card to 5 and the Attack number on its Army Card to 2. After attacking normally with this Equipment Glyph, if this is a Bruce Wayne figure with the Driven personality, this figure may attack 2 additional times with this Equipment Glyph.

 

[IAmBatman]

 

[Hahma]

Cool. So Batman is likely to get his 3 attacks of 3 with this a lot due to him using Bat Grapple Glyph to get height.

 

[tcglkn]

Very cool concept guys. I don't really have anything to add at this point. Fairly simple and straightforward with few perceptible issues.

 

[Griffin]

I can't wait for Wolverine to throw some Adamantium Shurikens.

 

[SirGalahad]

Probably should put the 'if' part of the last line after the first comma.

And maybe something about how these don't modify a figure's defense.

 

[IAmBatman]

Probably should put the 'if' part of the last line after the first comma.

And maybe something about how these don't modify a figure's defense.

1. So this?

EQUIPMENT GLYPH
When this figure attacks with a normal attack, you may change the Range number on its Army Card to 5 and the Attack number on its Army Card to 2. After attacking normally with this Equipment Glyph, if this figure is a Vigilante with the Driven personality, this figure may attack 2 additional times with this Equipment Glyph.

2. Nowhere does this glyph let you modify a figure's defense, so I'm not sure where you're coming from on this part ... a guy like Wolverine has a power that would let him subtract from a defender's defense that would still be in effect were Wolverine to use this power, but there are lots of "oddball" combinations like that with this glyph that we all generally agreed we were "OK" with before I decided to go forward with this glyph.

 

[SirGalahad]

No worries - Guess I read too much into Griff's smiley.

 

[IAmBatman]

No worries. It was just something I thought of a lot about going forward with this design, so I wanted to make sure we're all on the same page when it comes to being OK with some of the quirkier power combos!

 

[Griffin]

No worries - Guess I read too much into Griff's smiley.

I could see that, but yeah, I genuinely think that Adamantium Shurikens are cool.

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Glyph of Utility: Bat Shuriken - Design

SP updated with SirG's suggested wording change. I'm about to send this out to ERB and hopefully can do some testing tonight!

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Glyph of Utility: Bat Shuriken - Design

Thanks! We're aware that the Bat Shuriken can have some powerful combinations, but decided we're comfortable with that as a group since part of the purpose of glyphs is to "unbalance" the game ... that's why they're usually difficult to obtain and to hold on to!

Cheers,
Bats

Glyph of Utility: Bat Shuriken

This one will require some research (spot checking only released units)...

Absorbing Man: You have 6 Absorption Markers on his card, so he'll get to strike 2+6=8 at Range 5.

Destiny: Would allow her to strike with 2 dice + 1 skull instead of 1 die + 1 skull.

Green Arrow (Oliver Queen): Gets to roll for Skill Shot.

Incredible Hulk (C3G): Suppose he has his Rage Marker and 6 wounds. That's 2+6=8 at Range 5.

Thing: Mr. Fantastic has 4 wounds. Clobbering Time = 2 strikes at Range 5 of 2+4=6.

I think it's very nice to have a glyph to give a ranged attack to a melee character. I'll leave it to your judgement as whether some of the figures listed with the glyph are overpowered. In the case of Destiny and Green Arrow, their abilities are pretty neat when used with this. I didn't worry too much about bonuses for height advantage, as a surprise strike from height with a Shuriken should be more effective. I also skipped figures whose regular stats would cause them to simply not use the Shurikens.

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Glyph of Utility: Bat Shuriken - Design

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT (GLYPH OF UTILITY: POLICE SCANNER/BAT SHURIKEN)

- 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

- 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
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Army Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? N/A
- Give a brief overview. Poor Evasive Strike rolls from Batman and superior bonding by the criminals won the day for the bad guys.
Map: Custom (2 of each glyph were placed about halfway between the startzones and the center of the map).
Units: Batman (200), Robin (100), Beat Cops x4 (260), Code: Blue Officer x2 (140) (700) vs. Hood (180), Scarecrow (140), Street Thugs x4 (280), Black Mask (100) (700)

Spoiler Alert!

The Police Scanner glyphs got some use towards end game when Black Mask used them to hit and run some cops a bit, though he mostly already had superior positioning at that point, so he didn’t move every turn.
The Bat Shuriken glyph got some use as well, with Scarecrow using it for a ranged attack and taking out one Beat Cop, and Batman picking one up early to use as a triple attack on one target rather than his special attack for crowd control. He put one wound on The Hood this way.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Scarecrow with 1 wound, Black Mask with Full Life, and 4 Street Thugs win Turn 2, Round 8.

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Army Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? N/A
- Give a brief overview. Police Scanners let the Lawmen bunch together, but they lacked offensive punch. Batman used the Shurikens well to trim the horde, but not that much better than he could have used his special attack.
Map: Custom (two glyphs randomly placed near each startzone).
Units: Batman (200), Wonder Man (350), Zauriel (320), Robin (120) (990) vs. Hawkmen of Thanagar x2 (200), Commissioner Gordon (90), Jonah Hex (130), Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) (400), Huntress (170) (990)

Spoiler Alert!

Wonder Man took 3 wounds from Captain Mar-Vell in end game one at a time and never threatened to blow. Mar-Vell made a valiant comeback effort with those wounds on Wonder Man and three wounds on Batman from outside Evasive Strike range, but it wasn’t enough.
The lawmen started with both Police Scanners near their startzones and they went to Jonah Hex and Huntress, allowing them to stay near the mass of Hawkmen and Commissioner Gordon. In retrospect, Beat Cops would have been much more valuable here than the Hawkmen without their Thanagarian Warriors.
Only Batman bothered picking up the Bat Shuriken near his startzone as it wasn’t beneficial to any of the others. He used it well, though, gaining height early and using the flexible triple attack to put two wounds on Huntress from range and to take out two Hawkmen of Thanagar.
Robin later claimed the Police Scanner but was already at the center of the map and without a disengage aspect didn’t have much use for it.
Zauriel was never activated.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Zauriel with Full Life, Batman with 1 life, and Wonder Man with 3 lives win Turn 2, Round 6.

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Glyph of Utility: Bat Shuriken - Design

One army test down, one to go!

 

[Hahma]

Re: The Book of Glyph of Utility: Bat Shuriken - Design

Yeah, looks like the bad guys had the advantage in synergy in that first test. We need Lt. Stone to help the Lawmen

 

[Spidey'tilIDie]

Re: The Book of Glyph of Utility: Bat Shuriken - Design

I would test this with either Absorbing Man or Hulk, or both. I think he makes legit concerns there. Lowering Defense (a la Adamantium Claws) is one thing, but that 8 could be fixed by simply adding: "When any figure uses this glyph it may not add to its attack by using any power that uses Colored Markers."

 

[Hahma]

Re: The Book of Glyph of Utility: Bat Shuriken - Design

We kind of went over these possible situations with Hulk and Absorbing Man getting some crazy ranged attacks with the glyph and figured that if it happens once in a great while it will be fine. Those figures aren't going to be in every game this glyph is used, they still have to obtain the glyph, they have to roll great with all those dice to make it a big deal and they have to roll good defense to keep from losing the glyph. Hulk with 6 wound markers is 2 wounds away from dying anyway and might get killed before even using the glyph. Absorbing Man loses Absorption Markers each time he takes a wound, so he's not always going to have a ton of markers on his card and if the opponent sees him going for this glyph, attack him and weaken him.

It's good to double check power level concerns for sure, but with a glyph, there are a lot of things that have to happen to make everything come out just right and there's always the built in balancing mechanic where someone that picks up the glyph can lose it easily by taking a wound. Hulk and AM have a defense of 6 but no 1 shield defense or battery marker or spidey sense, so they shouldn't be able to hang onto it for a crazy amount of time.

That all said, there's nothing wrong with testing the glyph with these units just for piece of mind.

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Glyph of Utility: Bat Shuriken - Design

And ranged attacks that large or close to it aren't alien to this game ... GLs are more than capable of them as well.

Edit: Not to mention the extra range is rarely going to be worth it for someone like the Hulk, who'd be sacrificing 4 attack dice or so just for the privilege of attacking from range. Why wouldn't he just move the extra spaces instead most of the time?

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Glyph of Utility: Bat Shuriken - Design

Tests done, 24 hours on the clock!

 

[A3n]

Re: The Book of Glyph of Utility: Bat Shuriken - Design

Pre-Yea

 

[Hahma]

Re: The Book of Glyph of Utility: Bat Shuriken - Design

Pre-Yea

 

[SirGalahad]

Re: The Book of Glyph of Utility: Bat Shuriken - Design

pre-yea

 

[Griffin]

Re: The Book of Glyph of Utility: Bat Shuriken - Design

Ditto

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Glyph of Utility: Bat Shuriken - Design

I propose we move this to playtesting!