HQ25 Swamp spells poll

[Daedalus]

Discussion Links:

Swamp Spells:
A, B)Acid Rain, Slime, more here

• Tangling weeds, Turn Ground to Bog, Noxious Fog
• Target get -1 combat die to defense for a round, Weakened attacks, Rust effects - I like the acid rain!, anti movement, Hallucination, more here, more here
  C) Slough, more here, more here, more here, more here, more here
  D, E, F, G) Cloud of Flies, Swamp Beast, Rot/Putrifaction, Insect Swarm, Disease, more here, more here, more here, more here, more here
  H) Fever, more here, more here, more here, more here
  I) Bog Plague, more here
  J) Noxious Spores, more here
  K) Will-'O-Whisp, more here, more here
  L) Summon Swamp Beast, more here
  M) Summon Swamp Zombies, more here, more here, more here
  N) Toxic Cloud
  O) Pestilence
  P) Creeping Snare
  Q) Acid Spray
  R) Summon Marsh Skeletons
• Slough, Acid Spray, Creeping Snare, and Noxious Spores as traps
  S, T) Swamp Summons, Tangling Vines
  U) Marsh Mists
  V) Summon Kobolds
  W) Torpor
  X, Y) Summon Tentacled Beast, Snake Swarm
  Z) Purple Haze
  DD) Cloud of Flies
  JJ) Noxious Spores
  LL) Summon Basilisk
  GG) Disease

The one spell set that saw tons of input, Swamp spells, is a must to include in HQ25. Other spell sets may follow, as appropriate. Vote on any number of spells, though it's probably a good idea to choose at least six. Changing votes is allowed. Those with the most votes will make the cut, whatever number we choose for this set.

Feel free to make comments--you may help others to decide. New spells may also be suggested in this thread to be included in the poll. If you're not sure of the description in an entry, follow the matching-lettered discussion link above in this post for a fuller explanation at the original post. Bolded entries were agreed upon earlier by Count Mohawk and Goblin King.

[Daedalus]

Acid Rain and Slime aren't Ye Olde Inn originals, but were created by Dewayne Agin. GK Sjeng had expressed a preference for original work only. I agree--this is our beast.

[Daedalus]

I forgot to include this spell originally created as a Chaos spell:

Summon Kobold: This spell conjures up a group of Kobolds to surround and protect the spellcaster. Roll one red die:
Roll a 1, 2, or 3 = 3 Kobolds
Roll a 4 or 5 = 4 Kobolds
Roll a 6 = 5 Kobolds

Maybe the Kobold's mob ability over-powers this spell, but I hope tactical Heroes will be less vulnerable.

I also wanted a thematic debuff with a bit more teeth. My solution is a reptilian offering which works as a weaker Sleep spell:

Torpor: This spell causes heavy lethargy to settle on any one Hero. The Hero rolls two fewer dice to both attack and defend, as well as one less die to move. The spell may be broken immediately or on a future turn by the Hero rolling one red die for each of his Mind Points. If a 5 or 6 is rolled, the spell is broken.

Both spells have been added to the end of the poll.

[Daedalus]

Slough was never made into its spell form, so I worked it up. The part about cancelling with a Water or Earth spell was dropped due to text restrictions--there's already a lot going on anyway. In Hero Quest style, it is left to the reader to figure out both a black and white shield can apply on a single roll. That also saves text, but is it clear to enough? Finally, I'd suggest renaming the spell to Mire, which both works actively as a verb and can describe the type of ground.

Slough This spell creates a sucking mire at any one Hero's space, causing him to lose his turn. The spell can be broken immediately or on a future turn by the Hero rolling one combat die for each of his Body Points. If at least 1 black shield rolled, 1 Body Point is inflicted. If a white shield is rolled, the victim climbs out to an unoccupied, adjacent space and the spell is ended.

[Daedalus]

I'd like the Summon Swamp Beast spell more if it worked a bit differently. My gripe is the Basilisk figure is used, but it isn't a Basilisk. My preference is a 4x4 tile loaded with a tentacles and a central maw. Downside is a tile art is needed.

Summon Tentacled Beast: This spell summons a Tentacled Beast. Place the Tentacled Beast tile anywhere in line of sight of the spellcaster. It may attack any number of adjacent Heroes with 3 combat dice and defends with 3 dice. It also may move up to 3 spaces, has 5 Body Points, and 2 Mind Points.

Two 1-square tiles (maybe from this Monster Pack?) would be needed for this swamp version of a wall spell:

Snake Swarm:
This spell summons a swarm of snakes which covers 2 adjacent squares. The swarm attacks any number of adjacent Heroes with 2 dice, defends with 2 dice, and has 4 Body Points.

These spells have been added to the poll as choices.

[Daedalus]

Noxious Spores works fine as a trap, but the persistence as a spell in one area against 1 Hero seems awkward to me. Goblin-King had mentioned before that involving Mind Points might be a good idea. I love Noxious Spores as a spell name, but here's a rewrite for a new poll choice.

Purple Haze: This spell causes any one Hero to wildly hallucinate as a cloud of violet spores is breathed in. While disoriented, the victim must reroll any successful combat dice. The spell can be broken immediately or on a future turn by the Hero rolling one red die for each of his Mind Points. If a 6 is rolled, the spell ends.

[Daedalus]

When Count Mohawk had compiled a list of Swamp spells here, the wording of some of the spells had been changed from earlier versions that are included in the Swamp spell poll.

I've gone through the Spell crafting thread and collected a list of 9 magics for the Swamp Spell deck. In alphabetical order:

• Acid Rain: . . .
• Acid Spray: . . .
• Cloud of Flies: This spell summons a cloud of flies to fill any room or corridor. Until the caster's next turn, Heroes in that room roll one fewer Combat Die when attacking or defending.
• Fever: . . .
• Insect Swarm: . . .
• Noxious Spores: This spell fills one room or hallway with hallucinogenic spores. Until the caster's next turn, whenever a Hero attacks or defends in that hallway, he must re-roll all Combat Dice once and take the worse of the two rolls.
• Slime: . . .
• Slough: . . .
• Summon Basilisk: This spell summons a Basilisk to do the caster's bidding, which appears on any square adjacent to the caster. The Basilisk may move and attack at once.

Cloud of Flies had the target simplified to Heroes. Noxious Spores had the roll mechanic altered and a one-turn limit added. Summon Basilisk had the HQ25 monster swapped in for a separately statted swamp beast. These are all good changes in my opinion, so they have been added as alternate poll choices.

[Daedalus]

I like the premise of Disease, but it isn't effective enough, in my opinion. As is, it is twice as likely to do nothing. So here's an alternate version to more effectively threaten a Hero's health:

Disease: This spell may be cast on any one Hero, infecting him with a malignant disease. The Hero rolls one combat die immediately and on future turns. Each time a skull is rolled, the spell inflicts 1 Body Point of damage. However, the spell is broken if a white shield is rolled or any Body Points are restored through healing.

This version has been added as a new poll choice.

[torilen]

That alternative is nasty. I like.

[Daedalus]

A Swamp spell set of six cards has pretty much taken shape, though the poll remains open. Acid Rain and Slime are bracketed as they were created by Flint who isn't an Inn member, and as mentioned here he is protective of his work. However, those two spells are in turn derivatives of Fimir spells created by Dewayne Agin, so some rewording might be enough to "fix" them if we want to allow work from non-Inn members. Also, four new spell choices (marked with asterisks) have been added in late as alternates, so their votes were combined with their original versions. Here's a current breakdown:

6 votes: Noxious Spores*, Summon Swamp Beast/Basilisk*
5 votes: Insect Swarm, Tangling Vines
4 votes: Cloud of Flies*, Disease*, Marsh Mists
3 votes: (Acid Rain), (Slime), Toxic Cloud, Creeping Snare, Snake Swarm
2 votes: Slough, Rot/Putrification, Will 'O Whisp, Pestilence, Summon Swamp Zombies, Summon Marsh Skeletons, Swamp Summons, Summon Kobolds, Torpor
1 vote: Fever, Bog Plague, Acid Spray, Summon Tentacled Beast, Purple Haze

Currently, the core six Swamp spells are:

Noxious Spores, Summon Swamp Beast/Basilisk, Insect Swarm, Tangling Vines, Disease, and Marsh Mists

I dropped Cloud of Flies from the top six because it both overlaps and outshines Noxious Spores as a debuff spell. Despite this, I actually would prefer the room-affecting Cloud of Flies over Noxious Spores were it to have an equal or greater number of votes.

Eight Spell Cards fill a printed sheet, so the current alternates are:

Cloud of Flies, (Acid Rain), (Slime), Toxic Cloud, Creeping Snare, Snake Swarm, Slough, and Summon Kobolds.

If we stick with Inn originals only, Acid Rain and Slime could be swapped out for Will 'O Whisp and Torpor. To help decide, I added two new entries at the top of the spell choices in the poll: Swamp spells created by anyone and Swamp spells created by Inn members only.