Since there is already so much attention put into the monsters, I think the best, and most fun, next step would be to transition an exciting in-game monster into a playable race. Mind flayers, anyone? *fingers crossed*
Hes got a Jedi robes and ninja eyes, a pirate dome and a vampire bite, hes also a little bit zombified. He sails the ocean only at night, got throwing stars for throwing and sabers that light ! Hes got a zombies appetite, hes also part robot and a little bit magic, he is his own spaceship cuz hes just that fantastic ! The neverending adventures of jedinjazamvirebot !
What if instead of new specific races, we get 'monsters'? They'd belong to a different pool of cards for monsters. Instead of Helm/Shield/Body/Shoe, you just have 2 Body and 2 Movement slots. Weapon slot just change name to Attacks. Race become Category Class become Specification And monsters would belong to categories which allow them to use equipments of that category (for example, Zombie would belong in Undead type) And each of those category can focus on the aspect of that type of monster. Take Zombie (Undead category, Zombie specification), they will have a lot of HP, but very little defense/mobility. Cards that's usable by zombies would focus on tradeoffs, having extra benefit but at a drawback elsewhere. Risks include a chance to miss, fumble, or even self-damage (but hey, you have that extra HP) For example: A high damage attack that only hit on 5-6 roll. A weak melee attack that apply a strong poison (meaning the enemy can remove it or kill you first) A moderate damage area of effect that hit everything from a blast centered on you, and that include you. A far reaching leap that if fail the roll will stun you upon landing as well as making you take extra damage. A short range (like 2-3) walk that allow you to ignore Stop effect. An armor card that regenerate HP per round, but can randomly make you take extra damage. Of course, there's also the terrible cards for silly things that zombie do, like a move card that with each step, you roll for a chance to Stop yourself. An attack that's so slow the enemy get a free counter attack if they have any attack card, and also get +1 for any defense roll they're doing against this attack. I mean, they already have monsters with their own set of cards, this is just expanding on that idea.
I don't think you can play that much with the "gear slot" system without screwing the loot drop ratio. If your zombies have many undead only slot, you need those item to drop but its useless if you dont play it a undead What could be done to make you play as monsters without screwing loot would be fix challenge mode: I those mission your are a set grp of monster with a set deck, that way you can play the monsters, keep the felling they play as monsters (those cards aren't link to item so you can play with stronger cards or more focused cards that could break the game on otherwise) and not screw loot drop
I always enjoy "monster" races. I would love to see an Ent like creature, some form of plant monster, maybe an intelligent mushroom, something along those lines.
Half-human, because it's a twist on an old D&D trope. (One of the designers was waaaaaay pervy, which is why there's so much interspecies cross-breeding in D&D, as well as a common plot piece to have ugly old man and beautiful young foster daughter love relationships... IIRC it's specifically Forgotten Realms, and thus Ed Greenwood).
Half-lings are the most logical next step but they'd probably have less health than an elf, so frail As it is though, races are mostly a combination of speed and health, even racial trait items can be duplicated through other equipment.
I would give a halfling the movement of a dwarf, the hp of a human, and the ability to walk past monsters threatened area without stopping. And wizards come with a stone acorn card.
Let's see. Classic Kobold avatar. Willow movie reference. Yup. Looks like we have an oldschool nerd on our forum. How did that happen?
