My mistake - I apparently forgot to add that the immediate move 1 is supposed to be done randomly (that was the original concept). The idea is that whenever they move, they do the first square of the movement randomly, and then the rest normally. I'm not going to edit it now, I think, just so that your response makes sense.
Thanks for keeping the flame alive! Of these, I like replicating bolt but would change the name to: leaping flames.
Keeping flames alive generally benefits everyone and is also fun. Replicating Bolt was not a good name, I admit. I've been in a bit of trouble with those recently, and I was thinking for a long time trying to come up with something fitting for the card, but I didn't like anything I could think up, so in the end I went with something horribly generic like that. I like Leaping Flames, although it invokes a somewhat different image in my mind; to me, it'd be more like Arcing Spark except with fire. I had trouble finding a name for the mechanic that I found flavor-appropriate; Clinging Flames came to mind, but to me it'd be more something that resists being discarded from someone it's attached to rather than something that returns to hand when discarded from a character. Barrage, maybe? I really don't know. Leaping Flames might just be the best idea. A little more. Creeping Flame Attack, Magic Fire, Damage 1, Range 6 Burning 1, duration 3. Penetrating. Whenever Creeping Flame deals damage, increase it by one point for each Armor card in affected character's hand. "I'd take that off if I were you." Blazing Recall Assist, Magic Fire Create a card in your hand that's a copy of a random card with Burning you control that's attached to another character. "If your heart and soul are ablaze, the rest of the world's just child's play."
Frostguard, with all your attachments, I think we'll need to allow 4 attachments per character just to have room for them all. Retribution Hell-fire Attack, Range 2, Magic Holy Damage 3. Burning 6. Duration 1. Instead of rotting flesh all he could smell now was ozone and smoke.
Retribution Hell-fire seems like an odd name for a holy card, but I do like the idea of burning tacked onto a holy attack. It makes sense in a way. That was one of the things that got me thinking, and I've had a few more ideas. Namely, the first few of them revolve around combined damage types. Brimstone Burst Attack, Magic Fire, Damage 2, Range 6 Burst 1. Burning 2, Poison 2. Duration 2. "To this day I cannot tell what was worse - the burning within my lungs or the burning without." - Stanter Callman Searing Light Attack, Magic Holy, Damage 3, Range 4 Burning 2. Duration 2. "Those who think of light as shelter surely have not seen what it is capable of." - Cardinal Axamander III Doom Bolt Attack, Magic Unholy, Damage 4, Range 6 Burning 3. Duration 1. "And the skies themselves shall open, red skies awash with black flames, raining doom upon this forsaken world..." Flashbang Attack, Magic Sonic, Damage 1, Range 4 Burst 2. Burning 1. Duration 1. Push 1 all affected characters randomly. "Oh, no, it will not kill them. But they'll be exactly of as much use as though it had done exactly that." Note: I know all well that Stun would be very flavorful here but it'd also be blatantly overpowered and not something I'd ever want to see on a card. Lightning Strike Attack, Magic Electrical, Damage 6, Range 6 Hard to Block 3, Burning 3. Duration 2. "Sometimes - but only sometimes - it turns out that placing your shield between a wizard and yourself is not the right call." - Captain Cedric Cleavehorn But how about something more zany? Spark Ignition Boost Trait. Attach this card to yourself. Electrical attacks you play have Burning equal to their Hard to Block value with Duration 2. Duration 3. "See, electricity heats everything up around the contact point. The key idea is to make the effect a little less... localized." - Adze the Lonely It could've been every electrical spell just getting Burning 2 or whatever, but I wanted to make it a little more interesting. Not that there's much of a difference and I guess it's hard to see why you'd use this instead of Spark Generator, but still. Ideas. That brings me to the end of this section, and the next one is just a few random assorted ideas. Hellfire Attack, Magic Fire, Range 4 Target square becomes Hellfire terrain (at the start of each round, occupant takes 2 unpreventable Fire damage; whenever occupant takes damage, add 2 to that damage). Duration 2. "What use is flesh and hide and steel against flames that hunger for your very soul?" Unholy Pact Assist, Magic Unholy, Range 3 Melee Frenzy 3. Armor 1. Duration 3. Discard Unholy Pact if the character it is attached to gains health. "We've had an agreement. Soul for power. No backsies." Unholy Power Attack/Assist, Magic Unholy, Range 3 Melee Frenzy 3. Armor 1. Duration 2. Affected character can't gain health. "Oh, the... payment? Don't you worry about that. I've got it covered." Note: Just a bit simpler (and in my opinion less interesting) alternative to the one above. Bloodthirst Boost Trait. Attach this card to yourself. Melee Frenzy 4. Duration 3. Reduce this card's Frenzy value by its remaining duration. If you gain health, discard Bloodthirst. "It is always a spectacle to watch the thirst grow, to see sophistication give way to desperation and then finally mad, violent throes of frenzy." - Count Yurik Dark Ritual Assist, Magic Unholy, Range 2 Target draws three cards. Attach this card to yourself. Encumber 1. Whenever a Melee attack you play deals damage, subtract 1 from that damage. Duration 3. "There is great power to be drawn from the infernal realms, but communing with its inhabitants invariably drains the body and strains the soul." Touch of Madness Attack/Assist, Magic Unholy, Range 1 Target draws two cards. Melee Frenzy 2. Duration 3. At the start of each round, if target has no cards in hand, kill the target. "Accept his gift if you must, but know that in doing so you will inevitably lose yourself." Berserk Attack/Assist, Magic Unholy, Range 4 Melee Frenzy 2. Whenever target takes damage, add 2 to that damage. Duration 2. "If you land the first blow, there will be no second one." - Obros Skullhome With that, we've reached the last section for today. I've tried cards for melee wizards before, and I've done a lot of cards for fire wizards... What about melee fire wizards? The foundation is there - all those spray attacks that are basically unviable because fire wizards are as squishy as wizards can be, and the traditional method of keeping them alive (using the likes of Telekinesis to move enemies away) incidentally also places them outside spraying range. Still, I've decided to see if I can explore this concept a bit. For some reason I can imagine that there could be a few pyromancers who enjoy taking it up close and personal; it somehow feels like it would fit fire magic in a way. Regardless, I remember an idea here - I believe it was called Inferno Spray, and it was supposed to attach a copy of Ember Spray, Fire Spray, and Magma Spray to the affected characters. I don't remember who posted it, sadly. A good start, but what else could we do? Fireblast Attack, Magic Fire, Damage 3, Range 2 Cone. Slide Back 1. Burning 3. Duration 2. "Such was the intensity of his torrent of flame that the mere heat knocked us back; we had no hope of reaching him with our blades." - Stanter Callman Blazing Rebuke Attack/Block, Magic Fire, Damage 1, Range 1, 3+ Burning 2. Duration 2. Block Melee. Attach to attacker. Burning 2. Duration 2. "Do you really believe that I didn't see that coming? The only reason why you managed to get this close is that I did." - Akon the Pyromonius Scorchblade Attack, Melee Fire, Damage 7, Range 1 Hard to Block 3. Burning 3. Duration 1. "Like a sword, only 10,000 degrees hotter. Oh, and also conjured up in a split second by a single thought..." Heart of Flame Boost Trait. Attach this card to yourself. At the start of each round, every adjacent character takes 2 Penetrating Magic Fire damage. You take half damage (rounded up) from Melee attacks. Duration 2. "I've been within an arm's reach to a working furnace before, but even that pales in comparison to the heat of the flames that wreathed him. It burned our skin before we got within reach, our blades dulled and softened before they had time to touch him..." - Captain Cedric Cleavehorn Note: Could be just Armor X Melee if this is deemed overpowered. Eye of Flame Boost Trait. Attach this card to yourself. Whenever a Burning card you control deals damage to a character adjacent to you, it deals two additional points of damage and has Penetrating. Duration 3. "Let's find out what those swords are worth when pitted against this inferno." Hungering Flame Attack, Magic Fire, Damage 3, Range 2 Burning 2, Duration 2. If this Attack deals no damage, put it back into your hand. "It does not stop before it touches flesh." Flame Wave Attack, Magic Fire, Damage 4, Range 1 Step 1. Cone. Burning 3. Duration 2. "The only thing worse than being hit by a stream of flame from a pyromancer is being hit by a stream of flame from thin air." - Oberlin Ninetower Note: Cone is probably not necessary, but why not have some fun, I say. Flame Torrent Attack, Magic Fire, Damage 2, Range 3 Slide Back 1. Burning 2. Duration 2. "Nothing says 'get away' quite like a handful of embers to the face." - Adze the Lonely Fiery Touch Attack, Melee Fire, Damage 3, Range 1 Hard to Block 2. Burning 1. Duration 1. Trigger all Burning cards attached to target. "At her touch, the flames coiled as though alive... excited... and then turned upon their target with renewed intensity." Fire Spike Attack, Melee Fire, Damage 3, Range 2 Penetrating. Linear. Burning 2. Duration 2. "You just thought you'd hide behind your buddy, didn't you." - Adze the Lonely Blazing Leap Boost, 2+ When targeted by an enemy Attack from the front, the square occupied by you becomes Lava terrain (at the start of each round, occupant takes 8 Fire damage), then you Move back 1. "Come on. Catch me if you dare." Firebrand Attack, Melee Fire, Damage 1, Range 1 Whenever affected character takes Fire damage, add one point to that damage. Burning 1. Duration 2. "A mark of flame to seal your fate." Burning Wrath Boost, 3+ Trait. Attach this card to yourself. Whenever you are targeted by a Melee attack, trigger all Burning cards you control attached to attacker. Keep Unless 3. Duration 3. "It seemed a good idea at the time..." Note: In a vacuum, it feels like it wouldn't hurt to be generous with this, considering that a fire wizard will usually go down in two or three hits at best. Fire Nova Attack, Magic Fire, Damage 3 Affects every adjacent character. Burning 3. Duration 1. "Wizards are easy prey when surrounded, you were saying...?" - Adze the Lonely Intensify Utility, Magic Fire Trigger all Burning cards within two squares. Each card triggered this way deals one additional point of damage. "Even children know that every flame burns hottest near the source." Molten Blast Attack, Magic Fire, Damage 3, Range 1 If any damage from this Attack would be prevented by armor, that armor is discarded and you take Molten Blast back into your hand. Burning 2. Duration 2. "So how exactly did you think that jerkin was going to help you?" - Akon the Pyromonius Note: Simpler, more user-friendly (and familiar) version: If any damage from this Attack would be prevented by armor, that armor instead has no effect and is discarded. Burning 2. Duration 2. Alternative flavor text: "Is it worse to have flames or molten steel on your skin? Let's find out." Flametouched Boost Trait. Attach this card to yourself. Burning 3. Duration 3. Whenever you are dealt Fire damage, every adjacent character takes that much Fire damage. "Singed and scorched and touched by flame. A body marred, a soul ablaze." Note: I worded it the way I did because ideally this would come into play before Armor and other damage prevention things happen (it should deal what you would be dealt, not just what you take from it). Otherwise there'd be little point to this, I feel...
Bloodthirst Utility Gold (re-use vampire's kiss graphic or edible itself) Create an Edible card and put it in each opponent's hand.
Pyromania Boost/Handicap Trait. Attach this card to yourself. Whenever a Burning card you control burns for damage, it does 3 additional damage. At the start of each round, take 3 Psychic Magic damage for each card without Burning in your hand. Duration 3. "If it's not flammable, what good is it?" Another possible version: Trait. Attach this card to yourself. Whenever a Burning card you control burns for damage, it does 3 additional damage. At the start of each round, discard the oldest card without Burning in your hand. Duration 3. Elementalist Boost Trait. Attach this card to yourself. Whenever a card you control deals Fire, Cold, or Electrical damage, it deals that much damage plus one instead. Duration 3. "I'd offer you to pick your poison, but I don't have that on me. Lots of other options, though." Note: Wording deliberate to include afterburn damage in fire, as I feel that otherwise there wouldn't be much point in the card. Not that there would be in this form, anyway. Too unspecialized, it's mostly just for fun.
Despite the name, very much into Burning as always. awesome theme too. Katana Slash Attack Melee Slashing Damage 8 Range 1 If less than 2 damage from this Attack is prevented by armor, this Attack deals 6 more damage. "Less than 2" does make it wordier. I just really wants it to go through reliable hide but not mail. Precipitate Utility Magic Arcane 25% of random unoccupied squares become Water Terrain (Water Terrain is impassable). Duration 2. I know the percentage isn't looking cool. As is, this card is designed for whatever randomness can bring as well as for the next card: Conducting Spark Attack Magic Electrical Damage 4 Range 6 Target a charactor or a Water square. Damage all characters connected by Water squares. Hard to Block 1.
I like Katana Slash and Conducting Spark a lot. Both are on point as far as flavor's concerned and seem pretty reasonable, too. Katana Slash is perhaps a bit too swingy as it is right now, because whether or not the target has armor and whether or not it succeeds can be very random; six damage being decided by essentially a coin flip is not quite as bad as getting Parry fails and such, but likely gets close. Combos really well with Boiling Armor though. Only minor thing about Conducting Spark is the name; the spark itself is not conducting anything. Not sure what I'd name it though. Leaping Spark? Spreading Spark? Nothing really feels right. I did get some inspiration out of this, also. Mainly terrain types. Mire Terrain: Difficult terrain, whenever occupant takes Electrical damage, they take two more damage (maybe increased hard to block, too?). Blaze Terrain: Would function similarly to lava, except with lower damage; however, it counts as a Burning card for all intents and purposes, such as getting a damage increase from Firestarter and getting triggered by Instant Burn. Four damage feels about fair, maybe even five? (It feels a bit surprising that this is not a thing yet.) Ice Terrain: I always wanted to capture this in some way but never quite succeeded. Whenever you start a move from ice terrain, reduce the movement points by one? Too similar to encumber, and not really interesting. Whenever you start a move on ice terrain, cancel that move (with a saving roll of course)? Too powerful and/or random. Honestly I think my best bet would be the Prone mechanic that I thought up a while back (it's like Halt, except it lets you play move cards; if you play a move card or move yourself, it is cancelled but Prone effects are discarded). High Ground: Your attacks have Hard to Block 1 (maybe increase in Hard to Block if you play an attack that already has one). Something like... (As a note, I know I'm starting to reuse names from earlier ideas.) Blaze Attack, Magic Fire Range 4 Target square becomes Blaze terrain. Duration 2. Note: This is not any interesting, I just wrote this up for reference for later cards, so they're consistent with Acid Leak. "I must object! I did not set anyone on fire, technically speaking." - Court defense by Akon the Pyromonius Wildfire Utility, Magic Fire Trigger all Burning cards you control. Whenever a card triggered this way deals damage, create and attach a Blaze card to a random adjacent square. "I know you're trying to get us to help you but you're not making anything easier for us." - Captain Cedric Cleavehorn Better yet... Flamespreader Boost Trait. Attach this card to yourself. Whenever a Burning card you control burns for damage, it deals one additional damage, and you create and attach a Blaze card to a random adjacent square. Duration 3. "It is not fire's nature to stand still." Flashfire Attack, Magic Fire Damage 2, Range 3 Affects all squares with Difficult Terrain within range. Create and attach a Blaze card to each affected square. "A lesson most people only need to learn once: Pay attention to what you're standing on." Blizzard Attack, Magic Cold Damage 3, Range 5 Burst 1. Affected squares become Ice terrain. "Where will you run or hide when all around you freezes - the ground beneath your feet, the air around you and within your lungs?" Katana Slash inspired me also. Another random idea (with the same name) I had: Katana Slash Attack, Melee Slashing Damage 13, Range 1 Whenever you successfully block a Melee attack, discard Katana Slash. "This blade is worth more than seven of you would. Take care of it." Note: Obviously below gold quality to offset the drawback. But then this felt pretty obtuse, honestly. We could do something different, however. Battle Trance Boost Trait. Attach this card to yourself. Melee Frenzy 3. Whenever you roll a die for a Block, add one to that roll. When you take damage, discard Battle Trance. "Nothing breaks focus more than a well-aimed thunk on the head." - Vek the Vile That's all for now, I suppose.
I really like @Frostguard 's prone idea. Sleeping Dart Attack Range 4 Damage 1 Attach to target. Stun. Target cannot draw cards. Target cannot block. Duration 1 or until target plays a move card. (This is assuming that your move card each round is created rather than drawn.) (Should it also be armor 0 so that you wake up if your character gets hit?)
Today's daily deal Vak's Portable Infirmary such a sad item. Beacons suffer from being so easy to remove. Countering terrains by threatening people off of it is fair. Paying deck space for cleansing effect is fair. Overwriting Beacons with Stone Spikes and the like is not fair, especially when the best tokenless arcane items happen to have a few. Now, attachments also suffer from being easy to remove. How about letting them protect each other? Geoguardian Boost Trait. Attach to yourself. Terrain attachments on your square and all adjacent squares may not be removed or replaced by enemy cards. Keep. Duration 3. Sanctuary Assist Magic Holy Range 8 Target Square becomes Sanctified Terrain (Cards attached to occupant of your team may not be removed or replaced by enemy cards). Duration 3. Skip's counterpart that works against untargeted effects and may allow you to hit enemies. Misdirect Boost, 5+ Whenever an enemy in front of you plays a card affecting you, change that card's target to a square of your choice, within their range and sight, adjacent to you. Telekinesis reigns with its many advantages. Fly is one of them. I considered giving it to Slide Back spells which already have much less freedom over control, but the more interesting is... Jim's Force Missile (or whatever better name for this one) Utility Magic Arcane Range 5 Inflict Slide Back 1 to up to 3 targets. You may choose the same target multiple times.
Nice ideas. Very valid point about beacons, too. Stone Spikes being so easily available probably limits how useful single-square terrain attachments can be. In fact, it often feels like a filler card on most items in that it's not a thematic fit, but you never feel really bad about a copy of Stone Spikes being thrown in as six damage for paper is pretty good, even if it takes a little more setup than most. And if nothing else, it has a lot of potential utility in blocking enemy movement in chokepoints or, like you're saying, effectively removing terrain that's too inconvenient. I think another culprit is Illusory Barrier, even if it's prominent only on certain maps - once again, Illusion makes it way too easy to include way too many copies at too little cost, and it typically allows you overwrite whatever your opponent's trying to do if it includes terrain at all. I like Geoguardian, but it feels a bit odd. It almost feels more like a priest card than something for wizards, considering that wizards typically like slinging their terrain attachments far from themselves, while priests mostly deal in consecrated terrain or healing ones that would actually benefit from this (also radiation, but you usually don't want that adjacent to yourself, either). Priests probably don't have enough terrain attachments to make this worthwhile. How about something like this? Earth Mastery Boost, 4+ Trait. Attach this card to yourself. If an enemy-controlled card would remove a terrain attachment you control, cancel that card. Keep. Duration 3. "Chant your superstitious chaff all you want. The earth listens only to me." Geomancy feels like another underutilized aspect of wizards, come to think of it. Terrain attachment cards are just... there, really. They're fine, but other than Accelerate Time, nothing really interacts with them or combines with them in an interesting way (not to say that Accelerate Time in itself is weak, or uninteresting, but it's a much broader card that fits into many more concepts). No traits for them either. I still think that a card that makes lava terrain behave as though it was also a burning card would be a nice and thematic idea, but it could end up being overpowered. Then again, it'd probably take a lot of setup to make it work for little reward. I wonder what else could be done, however... I guess another thing to keep in mind is the unfortunate presence of Volcano (or perhaps, more importantly, itemization - I'm not sure that Mordecai's Staff Of Magma was a good idea) that would probably bump many terrain-focused concepts into overpowered territory by virtue of existing. But I'm not going to pay too much heed to that and just blissfully assume its nonexistence. Earthen Grasp Attack, Magic Arcane Range 4, Damage 1 If target occupies a square that has an attachment you control, this card gains Halt. Duration 1. "Nobody respects the effort we geomancers put into our spells anymore. I thought it was high time that changed." Note: I classified this as Arcane, but I think we could use an Earth type. It feels oddly missing, a lot of cards would fit (Stone Spikes, Cave In, Rockslide, Mud Pit, Blossoming Ground), and while I get that Arcane is more or less the kitchen sink type of magic cards, it feels like it's a little overdone, especially since Arcane combines well with Spark Inductor and Spark Generator, which in turn boosts a lot of cards it should not in my opininon (I would not mind if all the Perplexing Rays and Memory Loss and some others got reclassified as Psychic as it would make more sense to me, and maybe an Air type for Gusts and Winds of War as well as another type for card ideas, but that's probably a discussion for another time). Earthquake Attack, Magic Earth Range 6, Damage 2 Burst 2. Trip. (Attached characters are knocked prone.) "Shake it up!" Note: Just another thought using the prone idea. Not strictly a terrain card, but certainly helps keeping your opponents on your precious terrain longer. Roiling Ground Boost Trait. Attach this card to yourself. Whenever a terrain attachment you control deals damage, increase the damage it deals by two. Keep. Duration 3. "Where will you run when the earth itself turns upon you?" Note: Good old boring card, and not even that good by itself since the base damage of terrain attachments tend to be pretty high to begin with. Still, I felt it was missing. Command the Earth Utility, Magic Earth Trigger the start-of-round effects of all terrain attachments you control. "The earth does only what I allow it to." Note: Another one that feels obvious. Not sure if it would need a range restriction or not; obviously pretty broken with Volcano but Volcano is the reason here. Inundate Utility, Magic Arcane Push 1. The square originally occupied by target becomes Water terrain. "There was only one time when I saw that much water show up that quickly." - Stanter Callman Note: I realize that this is probably very powerful and guess would fall into emerald or amethyst if it was ever even made. I was just thinking of it randomly, I suppose prompted by how difficult it is to use Flash Flood since it's essentially useless once just one opponent gets where you don't want them to be. I guess a slight nerf to it would be letting the opponent move their own character, which even makes sense as well. How about some ways to defend against terrain attachments, however? Heightened Reflexes Boost, 4+ Trait. Whenever a card is attached to the square occupied by you, Move 1. Keep. Duration 3. "Spend enough time around wizards and you'll sense terrain-altering spells a few moments ahead." Cleansing Presence Boost Trait. At the start of each round, discard all cards attached to the square occupied you and adjacent squares. Such is the power of the most revered of the Monks of Joleph that foul magics cannot suffer even their mere presence.
As always, Frostguard's suggestions are worth the read if for nothing other than the flavor text! My favorite is roiling ground. Inundate I would turn into a block card. I liked @ParodyKnaveBob 's Heightened Reflexes idea better. I think we have cleansing presence already.
By now, I've run out of ideas for the most part, so I'm posting one by one. Draw Limit was originally a makeshift fix on the previously broken 2nd circle and the surrounding infinite draw. But now that it has stuck around, we better have cards designed around it... Overthinking Handicap Trait. Attach this card to yourself. Whenever you draw a card for reasons other than this card's effect, discard it and draw again. This draw counts toward Draw Limit. Duration 2. Intended for Human Skill. Would make for interesting trade-off on traditional bless/delegate team, but it's also got Ancient Grudge synergy.
"traditional" + Delegate ... I still want to see more usable items with Inspirational Thinking. Dropping token price to risk slamming draw limit via these two cards interacting from the same Human Skill, that'd be something. That said, Elf Wizards are clearly intended to have the most devastating AG combo; thus, I'm wary to see other races compete too hard to match/replace it. Overall, though, great handicap idea!
Flash of Agony needed some counterparts. Subconscious Blast Attack Magic Arcane Damage 3 Affects every character you do not have line of sight to. Most spells requires you to focus to itself, but emptied mind is where the true power of wizardry lies. Subconscious Burst Attack Magic Arcane Damage 5 Affects every character you do not have line of sight to. Out of sight, out of concern. Attacks that go around LoS can be quite gamebreaking. these cards should not be itemized with high damage targeting attacks. Edit: For reference, these cards are inspired by Nothing to hide.
Still got some more Electrical cards. Short Circuit Handicap 4+ Trait. Attach this card to yourself. Your Electrical attacks targets nearest character in sight. Saving Roll. Keep. Duration 2. "I'm afraid I'm not going to bother anyone with resistance higher than you." -Halpin Halfstaff Stormcaller Boost Trait. Attach this card to yourself. Your Electrical attacks gain Slide 1. Your wind attacks deal 2 more damage and additional 2 Electrical damage. Keep. Duration 2. Presumably at somewhere around Gold. I'm not too satisfied with this design, though I think the concept is made clear.