GimmeYerGold's [revised] Custom Cards Preview: Monsters

[GimmeYerGold]

This set of monster cards marks the halfway mark of my custom cards.

Notes:
1) Removed certain monsters that were present in the NA expansions--going back to my desire to have more modular features,I felt those monster didn't "fit" well, and some of the things that made them unique (gremlins stealing, and yeti hug) were clunky skills, and could be added as quest notes to existing monsters if need be. With the exception of the Elven archer, (for the sake of their powerful 4 dice ranged attack), I found I just didn't enjoy implementing these new monsters into quests, so I omitted them.
2) Added simple unique skills for most monsters that encouraged more strategy on the part of both the heroes and evil wizard character.
3) Standardized the monster stats to not exceed 3 body points, and not extend 5 combat die for attack. I wanted these to be "regular" monsters, anything bigger or badder would be a special type of monster. Tried to go by the range in stats in the base game when determining where a custom monster would fit. Tried to have at least 2 stats different from a monster with similar stats.
4) Some names are unique to the figures they represent. For instance, I have two snakeman Cobran figure that chaoticprime kindly sent me, and they're great as a reptilian counterpart to the Beastman
5) I know it's controversial, but I've allowed my players to shoot over "short" figures, and don't think I can break them now. However, I will implement Sjeng's houserule he uses for shooting over tables by subtracting 1 combat die. Not sure if that should be noted on these cards, or in a separate general rule section about line of sight. I think the handicap will be an intuitive ruling for the players. Might add any special Lone Monster rules on the monster cards, if those are added.

Spreadsheets help me sort this stuff out, so here's mine for these monsters: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... ingle=true

More card sets I'm working on:
[revised] Encounter Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2828
[revised] Artifact Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2826
[revised] Combat Skill Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2823
[revised] Chaos Spell Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2822
[revised] Hero Spell Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2821
[revised] Equipment Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2818
[revised] Lone Monster Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2816
[revised] Settlement Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2813
[revised] Treasure Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2812

[Sjeng]

Ah, but lorewise the minus one combat die for shooting over a table is because you might hit the table instead of the monster. Basically, the monsters lower body is protected by the table, so your shot is harder to make. So shooting over short monsters is different. You might hit those... which makes things complicated.

[GimmeYerGold]

Ah, but lorewise the minus one combat die for shooting over a table is because you might hit the table instead of the monster. Basically, the monsters lower body is protected by the table, so your shot is harder to make. So shooting over short monsters is different. You might hit those... which makes things complicated.

haha but "shoot over the dwarf!" has become such a part of strategy for my heroes now! The imagry of resting a crossbow on the dwarf's head as the elf lines up his shot is just too good to resist!

You're right thought--with the exception of shooting over low furniture, it is much simpler to play by the "a blocked square is a blocked square" rule.

I may have to "Zargon up" and tell my heroes this is too muddy a rule to play by any longer. HMM... What would you say about shooting over figures when standing on top of tables?

This is an interesting read, if it hasn't come up already in our frequent discussions on the topic, http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/08/ ... games.html "Editorial: How True Line of Sight is Killing Our Games"

[Daedalus]

The Gargoyle and Marilith both can attack twice with 4/4 AD. How does a Hero defend against these? Do you use the BQP rule of only one defense, or is each attack defended seperately? I imagine your toned-down approach would call for seperate defenses.

One thing that occured to me is the Vampire could be made scarier if hits reduced both Mind Points and Body Points. Then again, the same could be said for some of the other monsters with the Mind Point ability. Too much? Then cut the Atttack Dice.