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Count Mohawk wrote:I'm a sucker for new spells, it seems; I've commented in pretty much every new thread involving enhanced Wizardry. Why stop now?
The wording on these spells is very clear and concise. Some of the new ones, however, are rather more powerful than the original dozen. I'm assuming that two spells with the same Spell Value are intended to be about the same power level throughout the various colleges.
[*]Resurrection (Light 3) looks powerful at first glance, but it's balanced by the fact that it can only be cast when a Hero takes fatal damage. Heal Body and Water of Healing may restore fewer Body Points, but they can be used at any time.
[*]Am I understanding Soul Shadow (Shadow 3) correctly? It reads to me as 'make a clone of yourself, with effectively 2 Body and 2 Mind Points, that can also cast your Spells'. If the shadow casts one of your spells, do you have to put it into the re-cast pile? And if the shadow attempts to re-cast a spell, who loses the Mind Points if any Skulls are rolled?
[*]You should probably indicate that Metal Detection (Metal 1) only searches one room or corridor in the text. As written, it gives the impression that the entire dungeon is searched for special treasures at once...
[*]For Enchant Weapon (Metal 3), does the spell wear off when an attack with that weapon rolls no Skulls or when it deals no damage (after the Monster defends)? If it's the latter, the spell is comparable to Courage (Fire 3), since the enchantment will break after 4-6 blows, depending on what gets enchanted and how burly the monsters are. Courage will be stronger against tougher monsters, while Enchant Weapon retains its power for potentially multiple rooms. I wanted to say that Enchant Weapon should stay in effect for until the Hero rolls no Skulls in an attack swing, but that would basically make the spell permanent for the rest of the Quest, especially on a Battle Axe (for an average of 32 buffed attacks).
[*]There are very few situations where you would want to cast Seal Door (Wood 1), but in those situations erecting a 10 BP wall to cover your escape can buy several turns to escape the monsters chasing you. Remember, without ranged or diagonal weaponry, only two monsters can attack the door per round (by trading places each turn). If it was me, I would personally tick the door down to 6 or 8 BP, but it's hardly broken at 10, if only because of how little play the spell will actually see.
[*]Tangle Vines (Wood 2) trades the reliability of Tempest for the ability to stun multiple targets. If a target frees itself at the start of its turn, can it move or attack on that turn?
[*]Regeneration (Wood 3) feels underpowered to me, especially compared to Resurrection (Light 3). The spell can be cast ahead of time, effectively healing a Hero above his normal Body Point maximum, but to get the mileage out of it you have to guess (or predetermine) which of the four Heroes is likely to suffer a deathblow, else the spell gets wasted by dint of affecting the wrong target. Also, only healing for 2 is a very low payoff, especially for a value-3 spell. I'd bump this one up to healing at least 3 BP, and 4 would not be out of the question either.
[*]Ice Shards (Ice 1) is actually quite a lot stronger than Fire of Wrath, except in the very unlikely circumstance your Hero encounters a monster with 10 or more Defend dice. It also beats out Ball of Flame for all monsters with 4 or less Defend dice. To make this spell closer match Fire of Wrath's power level, it would need to deal an average of 1.5 skulls of damage, which you could accomplish either by rolling three Combat Dice to attack, or by rolling one Combat Die and dealing 2 Skulls if a Skull is rolled or 1 Skull if not.
[*]Deep Freeze (Ice 2) is basically an instant-kill spell, even though the monster remains alive on the board, because unless you froze the monster in front of a door or equivalent, there's no reason for the Heroes to break it out and the monster can't break free himself. It's a little more situational if you would allow other monsters to attack their comrade to free it, but still quite strong, at least as good as Tempest.
[*]Hailstorm (Ice 3)... Great concept, but far more powerful than any other attack spell the Heroes can use, and not just because it's an area-of-effect spell. It would actually be stronger than Genie even if it only affected one target.
[*]Thunderstorm (Lightning 2) is much stronger than Tempest because it stuns all figures in the same room. Sure, you might hit one or two Heroes if they're positioned poorly, but you'll almost certainly make up for it by hitting 3-6 monsters.
[*]The Chaos Spell Lightning Bolt (Lightning 3) tends to do a lot of damage to the Heroes when they bunch up. As a Hero spell, it's certainly weaker than Firestorm (and Hailstorm), but on par with or somewhat stronger than Genie, again depending on monster layout. Would you consider reducing the range on the spell, i.e. "deals 2 damage to target monster and 1 damage to each other figure in the 9 square area surrounding it"?
[*]Push (Mystic 1) has some interesting applications quite aside from being strong. In the weakest possible case (shoving a Goblin or Orc into a wall), the spell deals slightly less damage than Fire of Wrath - and it only goes up from there. Banging two Chaos Warriors together would almost certainly hurt them both, possibly badly. Or if you were very desperate for some quick damage, you could shove the Barbarian into another monster, which would maim the Barbarian but probably kill whatever you shoved him into (half of his starting 8 BP causes about 4 damage). It would probably be better to tone this one down a touch (or buff Fire of Wrath, for that matter, but I'll get to that at the bottom).
[*]And then there's Meditation (Mystic 3). Despite this spell restoring Mind Points (i.e., the resource used to re-cast multiple Spells), the Wizard cannot get ahead by repeatedly casting it, which I regard as a useful safeguard against player shenanigans. I did the calculations: if the spell is re-cast, the Wizard loses an average of 0.34 Mind Points per attempt, gaining at least 1 Mind Point only 20% of the time, but losing at least 1 Mind Point 46% of the time (factoring in both the MP cost from Skulls rolled and the chance of failure from Walruses).
(If the spell restored 3 Mind Points instead of 2, the Wizard would gain an average of 0.24 Mind Points per re-cast attempt, gaining at least 1 Mind Point 45% of the time, or losing at least 1 Mind Point 33% of the time. I'll leave it up to you whether or not you think allowing for such potential abuse is worth it. Note that the two-Walrus clause prevents this from being a truly infinite exploit, since the spell will be discarded after an average of 14 attempts.)
Nothing on the list is blatantly exploitable, but there's definitely a lot more power in your new spells than there was in the original four sets. If you choose to make edits based on my analysis, I recommend you give a little thought to the math behind the damage your cards can deal, as that seems to be where most of my critiques lie.
cynthialee wrote:So the Regeneration spell...
The way it is worded I could cast this spell on a compatriot as we walk into the dungeon and it is active until the condition of death is met.
If I have the ring of spell storing I could choose this spell and protect two of my comrades with this spell from the moment we enter the dungeon.
Kinda powerful. I wouldn't have an issue with this spell in a high level game, but as an available spell for basic bitches; naw.
Showdown35 wrote:Regeneration (Wood 3)
Good point. This is essentially a regeneration shield. You are bang on about the guessing which hero will be most likely to receive lethal damage. I struggled with this one (like I said, Wood was the toughest), trying to make it different from Resurrection. I tried coming up with a way to make it actually heal slowly after damage is suffered, but couldn't think an elegant way to make that work while not being overpowered. If you have any suggestions for this, please share!
Showdown35 wrote:Deep Freeze (Ice 2)
I do allow any Figure to attack any other Figure, so my idea was that if you froze a Chaos Warrior, the Goblins around him would try to hack away at the ice. I will consider putting in a clause that allows the target to eventually break free dependent on body points.
Showdown35 wrote:Hailstorm (Ice 3)
As mentioned above, this needs to be nerfed. I originally compared it to Firestorm (Chaos), which is VERY powerful, but realize now that I made Hailstorm even MORE powerful!! Changing it to Attack with 2 Skulls. (Same concept of Fire and Ice as explained above).
Showdown35 wrote:Thunderstorm (Lightning 2)
Yes, this is a powerful variation of Tempest. I really liked the idea, and probably would have made this the level 3 spell if Lightning Bolt didn't exist. How can I have lightning magic without lightning bolt!? This was tough for me because I did not want to change the Chaos Lightning Bolt. If you have an idea to nerf Thunderstorm, I'd love to hear it!
Showdown35 wrote:Push (Mystic 1)
This spell was made intentionally potentially strong. The reasoning being that to use it to best effect, you would have to venture into the thick of the battle (have to be adjacent to target) which is a risky move for the Wizard. Since Mystic's level 3 spell only restores Mind Points to the caster, it is more likely for the Wizard to choose Mystic instead of the Elf. Plus, Deflect Spell will not see nearly as much use, especially since Zargon will know who has it and probably make sure he doesn't cast any Attack spells in sight of the Wizard. I also did consider the Barbarian fling to try for massive damage, and I liked the idea so much that I actually wanted to encourage it! Imaging the Barbarian standing in front of the Wizard with his Broadsword pointed at a Gargoyle. He yells, "NOW!" and the Wizard force pushes him across the room, shattering the Gargoyle to pieces! That would be a memorable event for the heroes, even if the Barbarian looses half his BP.
Count Mohawk wrote:Regeneration (Wood 3)
In my set of advanced Wizardry, I have a spell also called "Regeneration", which heals the Hero by 1 Body Point each turn. The Hero must also roll a Combat Die on each of his turns; the spell breaks if either a Black Shield is rolled or the Hero reaches his Body Point maximum. It's a bit strong, healing an average of 6 Body Points, but the fact that the Heroes have to wait for a while and/or wade into the thick of battle to get full benefit out of it helps keep it from being too strong. Like you, I also disallow "stacking" buff effects, so there's no chance of making a Hero into an invincible Troll or something (well, that and the spell card for Regeneration is "use-once-per-Quest").
Deep Freeze (Ice 2)
Ah, OK. That keeps things balanced. When the monsters can help each other out, Deep Freeze only becomes perma-frost (ha ha) if it's cast on the last monster in a room. Also, if you use BP as the self break-free mechanism, it becomes basically alt-art Sleep, which is A-OK.
Thunderstorm (Lightning 2)
What if you limit Thunderstorm's range to the 9 squares surrounding the caster? That way, you can still stun multiple targets, but you have to wade out into the thick of battle to get the most effect out of it.
Push (Mystic 1)
I missed the requirement that the Wizard be adjacent to his target; that helps a lot with the balance. I like how we both thought of the Barbarian-shove as an attack option. And if you want to make sure he survives, give him Regenerate (as it currently exists) beforehand and shove him when he's on his last Body Point! Muahahaha!
One question: can you Push a figure away from you into a wall if they're already adjacent to that wall? (And if so, should you be able to?)
Showdown35 wrote:Regeneration (Wood 3)
That's not bad. I could try that and I don't think it's too powerful at level 3. Water and Earth each heal 4 BP immediately, so 6BP over 6 turns seems pretty balanced. I'm not too sure how I feel about the "roll a Combat Die every turn" thing. I try to avoid effects that have to be tested every turn (they are both easy to forget, a pain to correct when they are forgot, and time consuming). I may make the spell break restriction different.
Showdown35 wrote:Deep Freeze (Ice 2)
But Sleep tests on Mind Points! So Deep Freeze would be alt-art, alt-condition Sleep... Anyway, still not sure if I need the "break free" option. Even if it is the last Monster in the room, Zargon could send a corridor Goblin found later on into the room to free the Frozen monster. Also, if it's a boss Monster, usually it needs to be killed to finish the Quest anyway, so the Heroes wouldn't leave it there. Also, as soon as the Caster wants to Freeze another monster, the first one is freed, so it's not like they can leave a trail of Frozen monsters in their wake!
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