Aloyzo's Arsenal #15: You make the card! Part 4: Card Effect!

The final round of voting is open! I'm going to give you all 4 days for this one.

Here are the six possible cards Aloyzo could craft with his Bluemanchia:



(The chosen card may receive further tweaks for balance.)

Word of warning, in case it affects your vote: Scout's Vigil is a teensy bit wonky, in that its current effects (tested and functional!) rely on a somewhat counterintuitive interaction between two card components. Basically, future bug fixes may break it (though we could also fix it manually if that comes to pass).

 

Does Ready To Strike trigger if a step attack is used, but the character stays in the same space?

 

Yes. (It's the same functionality as Blade Bouquet in Acquisitions Incorporated.)

 

I hope that all six cards become available sooner or later.

(This round my vote goes to Trailbrazer.)

 

Wow. So many cool cards. I don't know what to support.
Clear Mind: Basically an activatable, non-protective arrogant armor. Not terribly interesting, but it is head themed.

Disengage, Soldiers!: I don't really know why you'd want this card as a melee class.

Terrifying Visage is pretty cool. Sort of a reactive trip combined with a shove. Advantages: Allows warriors to close on wizards more easily. Disadvantages: One-use only, pretty mild primary effect. I like how this one is helmet themed.

Trailblazer: An in-hand version of fleet that can be used vs terrain in an emergency. It's a fine card, but I'm not sure if it would be worth spending a token on, and it's not that different from flight aura. Not much of a helmet theme here.

Scout's Vigil: Awesome card. Has an effect something like simian reflexes, but is easier for the enemy to remove by causing its block function to trigger. This one also is pretty helmet/awareness themed.

Ready to Strike: Seems a little on the broken side, (lots of damage, multiple hits per card due to keep function) The upside of choosing this card is that it would do a lot to reduce the current love for step attacks among warriors, so if you don't like how step-based warriors are now this might be a good one to choose. This is also the ultimate counter to vengeance. If a char with vengeance wants to approach you and you have this, they will have to take damage again and again until your ready to strike roll fails. Not sure how this relates to helmets.

I think I'll go with scout's vigil, because I like the flavor and it seems fairly balanced.

 

I'm not sure how Disengage, Soldiers! work. It slides every character on the board away from you?

 

I would like Ready To Strike better without keep and without the roll. It would be useful without being broken, and you could actually put multiple copies on the same helmet.

 

Seems like there at least ought to be a Keep unless 3 provision or something.

 

Yes. It's like you played a Force Blast on every character.

 

Disengage soldier seems like a nightmare when trying to figure out where each character ends up, it's nice but I'm not sure I want to vote for it due to that.

 

Thank goodness. I guess we won't need to worry too much about Ready to Strike then, the devs tend to have pretty good judgement.

 

Oh man, those are some interesting cards! I like the look of Utility/Boost cards, that orange and purple go well together.

Clear Mind is a combination of Arrogant Armor's effect, Shrug it Off and a self-targeted Cleanse. It would give Warriors access to another self-Purge, but I do find that generally I use my Purges on enemies more than allies except for a few modules and I generally like being able to attach cards to my warriors. The Cleansing effect is also somewhat of an afterthought, though I could see it being somewhat handy. Not sure I'd use this one, as I rarely use its components.

Disengage, Soldiers! looks potentially very powerful, pushing ally and enemy alike away at an unlimited range. It could be handy to disengage, fish out blocks or to just reposition characters in a way that benefits you. It also looks like it would be a hard card to use, especially in cases where it's hard to tell what direction you'd send a character sliding in. I'd rather have Retreat on Helmets as that card is just overall easier to use while this card would be nicer on Human Skills to give Human Priests and Wizards a way to fend off enemies who get too close.

Scout's Vigil is a definite upgrade from Quick Reactions, that 1/3 chance to draw a card is very juicy. The side effect is like a minor version of Cause Fumble, and generally I imagine I'd try to avoid triggering it which seems easy enough since it has very specific trigger conditions, which gives the card interesting counterplay for the opponent. Definitely a strong contender and lovely thematically.

Ready to Strike looks incredibly overpowered against warriors. When I saw someone submit Blade Bouquet in an AA submission I dismissed it as a joke submission since the card's effect is incredibly powerful in both SP and MP, and I can't see its implementation in that form being a good idea. It's on average 5.33 damage when activated, so even when it's triggered twice it's already almost on par with Silver quality attacks, let alone if it succeeds twice or SP mobs commit suicide in droves. Though seeing a group of Goblins cut down by this card is tempting, I'm hesitant to vote for it, it just seems like a nuisance to deal with, especially if people can get multiple copies.

Terrifying Visage combines a souped-up Ooze Blast and Reactive Trip, and I have to say it's definitely the latter effect that intrigues me. I don't generally want to pushback people at a range with my warriors, but I definitely want to keep adjacent enemies from using their move cards! That alone makes me want to pick this card, especially if its itemization is generous. I also love the theme for this one, it makes perfect sense for Helmet and I wonder what the card art would look like, as well as the helmets it's on.

Trailbazer also combines a utility effect I'm not too excited with and a boost effect I most definitely am excited for. The terrain clearance is like a mostly worse version of Cleansing Burst and I'm not really sure how the effect makes sense at such a large range flavourwise, but the Free Move effect is nice. Still, nice as it is it does compete with Flight Aura which gives a better secondary effect at the expense of a worse primary effect that falls to armor removal. In that sense its main appeal has to compete with another card, while its secondary appeal doesn't really do a lot for me. It also sounds more like a Boots sort of card than a Helmet card.

Split between Terrifying Visage and Scout's Vigil, I'm going with Terrifying Visage. I do like the idea of drawing more cards, but I generally find myself wanting to cancel enemy moves more than drawing extra cards, and I think that Terrifying Visage is by far the most funny and flavourful concept of the 6, it's clearly a Warrior card and makes perfect sense on a Helmet.

That said I'd not mind at all if Scout's Vigil, Clear Mind and Trailblazer were also added, with Disengage, Soldiers! appearing on Human Skills instead, they're all nice ideas.

 

The orange and green on Scout's Vigil also looks nice.

 

All the cards are kind of cool; thematically speaking I think Ready to Strike is better suited to a weapon (not that I want that mechanic in game) and Trailblazer (go Portland!) to boots, while Clear Mind feels more like a mage/priest card to me. I like how Disengage, Soldiers! continue the Soldier! series, while Scout's Vigil is tied to Quick Reactions and Terrifying Visage gives off a War Cry vibe.

And my vote goes to... drum roll ...Terrifying Visage! Congratulations! Every warrior worthy of his name should be able to scare off enemies by making a scary face.

 

I feel like Disengage, Soldiers! Should only apply to characters on your team. It's kinda silly to move enemies with a command.

 

Jump, Soldier! would like to have a word with you

 

Is there a chance that the winning card appears twice on the same helmet?

 

I don't feel like disengage works... if you have one of your allies engaging the enemy, it would most likely push both you ally and the enemy away together, and equally. But not disengaged at all.... or am i misunderstanding?

 

I wonder if Scout's Vigil should be Boost/Assist since it won't block attacks targeting you. Also, the rolls are awkward.

I think Ready To Strike is way too powerful, since there's almost no way to counter it. Though it would interesting to see how much damage you can do in SP with one copy of this and one copy of Laser Cutdown.

Disengage, Soldiers! is weird and unlimited and I don't really see any connection to helmets. Like Mania I'd rather see helmets get Retreat.

The other three are solid cards I'm having trouble deciding between. If Clear Mind wins I expect see it on a Tinfoil Hat.

 

Terrifying visage is the card of choice for hunting elven wizards.
Ready to strike hits too hard IMO.
Scout's vigil is plainly weird.
Trailblazer and clear mind are out of place; warriors with purging cards?
Disengage soldiers is a filler; it's not really usable, too imprevedible.

It's hard to vote for a card that isn't in its final incarnation.