Okay, in addition to the other mods I mentioned, I've added the following to my HeroClix House Rules:
ORIGINAL FEATS:
POLYMORPH – Prerequisites – Character must be represented by more than one distinct power dial. At least one of these power dials must have the power Shape Change on it, OR, at least two different power dials representing this character must (1) show different movement types (boot, wing, dolphin) and/or (2) show different damage types (fist, giant).
COST: Pay the cost of the most expensive figure, then average the costs of all additional figures representing this character for this game. If only one additional figure is used, pay half that figure’s cost.
Place one figure representing this character in the starting area at the beginning of this game. Whenever the figure in the game has its dial turned in either direction, turn all off board figures representing this character the same number of clicks in the same direction (do not advance any figure past its starting click into KO slots). At any time during subsequent turns of the game, as a free action, player may switch one of the off-board figures representing the character for the figure in the game. Off-board figures may not be placed on the board if KO slots are showing on their dials.
WARP IN: Prerequisite -- Phasing/Teleport Cost: 25 points. This character is not placed on the board at the start of play in the normal starting area. Instead, this character's controller chooses any open square on the board during any turn after the first. Roll 1 d6. 1-2 Figure is placed on board in any open square. Give figure an action token, it may take no further action that turn. 3-4 Figure is placed on board in any open square. This is a free action, but figure may take no non-free actions for rest of turn. 5-6 Figure is placed on board in any open square. This is a free action, and figure may take any normal action for normal cost. Once this has been done, remove WARP IN from game. Only one instance of WARP IN may be played per character per game.
If character with WARP IN is a Transporter, or has the Passenger Feat Card, it may carry one other friendly figure with it into the game. This friendly figure also remains off the game board with WARP IN figure until they are both brought into the game simultaneously.
SACRIFICE PLAY: Prerequisite: Characters must have same Team Ability. COST: 5 points per character. Choose more than one character with same Team Ability. When two or more such characters are adjacent, and one of these characters is KOed, it instead remains on its final slot before being KOed. Choose an adjacent character also using this Feat Card and KO that character instead.
RESCUSCITATE/REVIVE: COST: 10 points Choose a character. When this character is KOed, do not award victory points. Place three action tokens on this character. Opponent who KOed this character may remove one action token at the start of his/her turn. When KOed character has no further action tokens, remove character from board and award victory points. While KOed character remains on board, it may be Healed or Regenerated as normal. Automatic Regeneration will not work while a figure is KOed. If character is Healed or Regenerated, reduce number of action tokens on it to 1.
I've also modified the Power Cosmic TA and my own redefinitions for Fortitude and Repulsor Shield. Power Cosmic now protects from ranged Outwit, but adjacent Outwitters can make an attack roll to counter a power. Fortitude and Repulsor Shield now reduce Exploit Weakness and Psychic Blast damage, respectively, to 1.
These last few changes will be made necessary when Supernova comes out and we have a at least two more Power Cosmic figures running around with Impervious or Invulnerability in the game. Given that Impervious reduces damage by 4 under my rules, and Invulnerability reduces it by 3, if I'd left the rules as they were, an Impervious Power Cosmic figure could take Fortitude and Repulsor Shield and then, basically, only figures capable of dishing out 5 damage could possibly hurt it. As it is, that's still true, but characters with penetrating powers will be able to get a click through if they hit, and if an Outwitter really wants to go stand adjacent to something that godlike and make an attack roll, there's a chance it could somehow get rid of a damage abatement power for a turn, too.
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So this Boy Scout, couldn't have been older than eleven, is holding up this kinda chubby looking Scotch Pine. It was.... ehhhh... okay...
Saw these last night, but didn't have the time to say anything.
ReplyDeletePolymorph's a nice card. The mechanics are exactly as I'd laid out (the linked clicks, etc.) but how to handle the pricing was what I'd stopped short on; I could live with that -- it's at least worth playtesting, though the point cost of our Avengers (and Teen Titans) teams go up a tad, eh?
Warp In: My initial impression is that I like it. I don't see how anyone could say it was broken, so that's the first, big hurdle. The closest I would have to a criticism is that I don't expect that many would use it -- deciding instead to simply keep said character in the starting area and use their powers normally -- or with Double-Time is necessary and possible. None of this is a request to change what you've laid out -- more a point of interest in seeing how often it would be used. As with many feats, while it would be unlikely to see it in a 300 pt build it could become a common sight in high point games.
I wouldn't expect Sacrifice Play to be used because it's asking a player to pay 10 points so that a potentially healthy character can be KOed in place of the formal death of another one who's left on his final click. Making it a sort of optional Mastermind instead - so that one character can take the damage instead of the target - would see some use. As it stands this is striking me more as a comics-themed card that's not going to be used in a gaming environment. Maybe upon more consideration I'd change my mind, but my current impression is that I'd never use the card.
Resuscitate/Revive is another cool, comics-sourced concept. My suggestion would be to add that if the game ends with the character not having been healed that the victory points are awarded. The reason is that many (nearly all tournament) games are timed, and without this stipulation I could easily see players spending th 10 points on a character they know will be a target, and upon finding him KOed try to stall through his turns and run out the clock before three turns have arrived and the three tokens are removed.
Also, if the character is sitting there, KOed, being healed by someone else is almost the only way he could come back, since even if he possesses Regenerate on his dial his dial's no longer showing. The only other ways I can see healing occur are if the piece has the Suicide Squad TA (or is copying it) and one has an adjacent ally buy the farm, or if the KOed piece has the Nanobots card on him, too, and can be fed an object for 2 clicks of healing.
Once the character's experienced any healing and the tokens on him are reduced to 1, he begins to play again as normal, correct? (ie If he waited another turn he'd clear.)
To the best of my knowledge the Power Cosmic pieces coming as part of Supernova are the vet Silver Surfer, Thanos, Korvac and the brick mail-away Doom. So, as you wrote, "at least two."
It's occurring to me right now that POLYMORPH, as written, won't work for Iron Man, as he has no Shape Change, and no differences in either movement mode or damage type. And I'm hard pressed to see which other Avengers might benefit from it... well, Ant-Man/YJ is a possible combo there, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI'm worried, though, that you're thinking we can use this feat to put in, say, the CM version of Captain Marvel, and then, if a nice slot on the Supernova version comes up, we can swap them out. I'd love to do that with any fig that has more than one version from different sets, but that's not what POLYMORPH is for. That would be an entirely different card -- VERSATILITY, or something.
Teen Titans, yeah... Beast Boy/Changeling, along with Vixen, are the two characters I specifically set this up for. Those characters should be able to fly when they want to, and swim other times if they need to.
I suspect WARP IN could be devastating, if played at the correct moment. Let Kang, for example, WARP IN with Ulik in tow. The player would have to pray for that 5-6, but if he got it, it could turn the game right around... especially if he waited until the endgame, when both forces were whittled down.
Of course, Kang and Ulik would take up a lot of any team's build total, so chances are, if you kept them off the board, whatever pitiful remnants were out there would get crushed pretty quickly. I suppose a Lockjaw-Crystal combo would make more sense. Or even a Lockjaw-Medic combo.
One stipulation would need to be, if the game somehow ends while your WARP IN character is off the board, your opponent automatically gets the victory points for the character.
SACRIFICE PLAY is kind of wonky, but Seth really likes giving figs that last big slot where they get a spike in AV and damage. It might be worth it, to have, say, Tigra or Mockingbird, take a fatal shot that keeps your Vet Thor in the game. Put it on four or five team members and keep them close to your tentpole and it could make them really really hard to put down. But, yeah... you could be right.
I think the FF TA could revive a KOed FF member under RESCUSCITATE/REVIVE, too, as could my original Frightful Four TA. But you're right, Regenerate can't work when the dial isn't showing. That's my bad. It had occurred to me that throwing this on an Auto Regenerator would basically make Wolverine into Michael Myers -- no matter how many times you drop him, he just keeps getting back up -- but that was flawed thinking.
Yeah, once revived, tokens go to one. The character can move if it wants to push, or wait and move next turn.
Yeah, I know there aren't a LOT of PC pieces coming, but having any pieces out there where you need to do 5 clicks of damage to hurt them AT ALL would be badly game breaking. Those pieces should be damn tough, but they shouldn't be invincible.
What mostly kills, in my eyes, is the fact that PC makes Incapacitate pointless. I mean, you can hold the pieces up for a bit, but they won't take damage from Incap. Incap is a very common power, so when you take it out of the equation, and you allow stuff like Exploit Weakness and Psychic Blast to be negated by Feat Cards, and your Impervious reduces damage by 4... well, that's a game breaker. Hence, the changes.
Thanks for the lengthy comment!
Just to start, I want to point out that I'm not trying to nitpick, and that I appreciate the thought that's gone into these proposed changes/additions. I'm fairly sure you know that, but if there's anyone else looking in I don't want to be referred to as "That Prick" -- at least not for the wrong reason.
ReplyDeleteAll I meant with Polymorph and the Avengers was Hank Pym - and possibly Clint Barton if there's another, more appropriate Goliath character put into the mix - and Beast Boy/Changeling for a Titans or possibly Doom Patrol team. I hadn't been thinking of someone like Iron Man, though I agree that Versatility - where all that's required is different versions of the same character, and where one pays for it as you outlined for Polymorph - is also a good idea.
I certainly like the concept behind Sacrifice Play, as mentioned, I just wouldn't see it being taken in stride as cost effective.
A huge factor in Warp In is whether or not a passenger would received the same benefits depending upon the dice roll of 5 or 6, including being able to attack immediately upon appearing. That could be hugely significant, I agree.
Ha! I hadn't thought of the original FF TA in conjunction with Resuscitate/Revive - I don't know if anyone uses the original TA - but yeah, that would work.
My mention of the new PC pieces wasn't for any other purpose than simply noting it. I agree that you needed to do something to update your rules to accomodate a growing situation that risked making some characters more godlike than they should be.
I'm not too worried about PC and its affect on Incapacitate, as in most instances it strikes me as appropriate to think that most of the characters in the game would say something to his teammates like "Go! I'll try to slow him down for a few seconds!" That Hawkeye could prevent Thanos from making a move or attack action every other turn is pretty darn ambitious as it is.
If one really wants to do it then it'll be necessary to equip one's Incap engine with the Stunning Blow/Armor Piercing combination. Take the Fantastic Forces Hawkeye and have him could slow Thanos down if he already has a token on him and do a click of damage whether or not that's the first token going on the mad titan. Sure it starts to get expensive, but that's what the Stark fortune's for! ;)
I in no way meant to seem brusque, or to imply I thought you were nitpicking. I enjoyed the comment and thought, as always, that the feedback was valuable.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. On SACRIFICE PLAY -- I can see it being near-abused in a tournament environment, simply by people desperate to keep their big gun in the game and deny the victory points to an opponent. Surround said big gun with weenies, and have them continually be KOed instead of him. It could work reasonably well if you did it with, say, HYDRA agents. Or even Avengers, given how cheap some of the latest figs with that TA are.
The dice roll on WARP IN would be for both figs.
I hadn't thought of using Polymorph for Hawkeye and Goliath. As it stands now, the 'card' requires some player interpretation, as it requires the player to know which figs represent which characters. I would want it, for example, to include LEs, and they have different names. Yet I wouldn't want it to cover different characters with the same name. Clint Barton's Goliath should be distinct from Hank Pym's.
I can't recall any story where Clint changed in mid arc from Goliath to a fully functional Hawkeye... he raised some hell towards the end of the Kree Skrull War with a makeshift bow once the growth serum ran out, but that would hardly count for a full shift from one to the other. Still, it's an interesting idea.
As I understand it (from reading outraged 'TA abuse!' screeds on various boards) there are quite a few venues that outright ban the new FF TA. And, hey, if a homegrown feat card provides an impetus to revive an otherwise unused piece of HeroClix history, I won't object overly.
Where I would think arguments would spring up, if this card were to be widely used, would be in regard to just WHICH KO click the Reviving/Rescuscitated fig is on. Especially if one is using TAs that allow a fig to be healed of one click of damage. I can just see people insisting that a KOed fig should be turned to a later KO click than simply the first one, if they take enough damage to knock them past it. I can even see some justice to it, as some figs could be more deeply KOed than others by the same impact. Still, at that point I'd just call 'bullshit' and let the mechanism work from the first KO click backwards.
Now I'm going to have to work on a VERSATILITY card. Hmmmm. Same character, different dials? I would think that would be enough of a prereq...
Giving it further thought, I think SACRIFICE PLAY offers some useful versatility if one is playing a team that is (a) unified by TA and (b) has a good spread of powers. If you really desperately need that last click of Outwit that just came up on, I don't know, Daredevil's dial, because it's the only way you're getting past Hulk's Invulnerability, then you can have Spider-Man or Paladin or someone sacrifice themselves to keep ol' DD in the game. Similarly, if you badly need to keep your Regenerator on that last click until his Auto Regenerate can kick in (or you can clear a token and Regenerate without killing him), having a teammate or two sacrifice themselves would be a viable option.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying you're not right; I'm just speculating as to possible uses the feat could have, leaving aside its obvious comic book story derivation.