Theory-crafting: what do you think the Academy Forcemaster might be like?

[Sailor Vulcan]

So after hearing the talk between Arcane Duels and Aaron, I was starting to think about what he said about the forcemaster--a lot of her specialty in Arena is position control, which doesn't work in academy. What do you think the Academy forcemaster might be like?

I'm thinking she'll probably have defenses, psychic spells like weaker versions of sleep and mind control, and lots of upkeep effects, just like the arena forcemaster. The one thing she'd be missing is something to use instead of position control.

Well, the academy fighting area is one zone, which means there isn't much space. So if you use telekinetic powers on something in such a small space, what happens?

It could depend on the direction and the amount of power. You could push something up to give it flying and prevent it from losing flying until end of round. That would prevent it from guarding and from melee attacking non-flying creatures. If you use such a spell on yourself, you could like, push yourself into the air, giving yourself flying and not being able to lose flying until the end of the round, while allowing yourself to avoid being melee attacked by non-flyers until the end of the round.

If you push something down, you could like, slam it or something. Or it could be a weaker force hammer slamming down on them.

You could push a creature into another creature--like a weaker version of force bash.

She could also maybe knock a creature over, giving it the stagger condition.

Or she could have a weaker version of force pull. What does it mean if she pulls an enemy creature closer to her?

It means she can pull a creature away from its guards, or away from attacking creatures or something. Or she can pull a creature into the path of an oncoming attack. In other words, she could perhaps redirect an attack to another creature by pulling it in front of her. Or she could use it to attack an enemy creature while ignoring guards, once per round. Not sure how that would be balanced though, considering how important guards are in Academy.

I imagine she'd probably have a weaker version of forcefield too, that would allow her to cancel 1 or 2 attacks that are made against her each round, incluidng unavoidable attacks.

What do you guys imagine the academy forcemastter will be like?

[Laddinfance]

[Pelthar]

I forsee this one as being very tricky to balance between Academy and Arena.  Just my 2p thoughts.

[Gogolski]

I forsee this one as being very tricky to balance between Academy and Arena.  Just my 2p thoughts.

A bunch of balancing issues could be solved by differenciating effects on minor/major creatures. (There's a possibility it will make some cards or efects cluttery and fiddly...)

[iNano78]

Flying.  Maybe with Dissipate, so he/she has to land every once-in-a-while.  Or "until the end of the round."  Still susceptible to ranged attacks (including attack spells).  Great against ground units, but since most other spells will probably be Psychic, there will still be some weakness against Undead, for instance.

[bigfatchef]

I guess she will need a new cantrip melee attack weapon like her sword from arena. Maybe also in “smaller“ and cheaper.

[Puddnhead]

Maybe we'll finally see the orb she's carrying...whatever it might be.

[Boocheck]

I was thinking about this maybe for 15 minutes before i finally switch into sleep mode.

Mind school has 3 ways/subtypes - Force, Illusion, Psychic. If we leave Illusion for future illusionist, you have Force and Psychic.

In Academy, Psychic is not that hard to imagine but FORCE is something different. This subtype mainly focus on two categories. I will ignore astral anchor and disarm (yet you are moving an equipment out of their hand ). To move or restrict an object (Force Push, Pull, Wave, Hold, Crush) and to protect an object (Block, Force Field, Force Orb, Force Sword).

Academy is having just 1 zone. So why would i (and also where) push a creature? Well, you can still push them UP. They can be levitating or actually flying while when they stop flying, they will hit the ground (bash attack). Also, you can push them just to disable their Guard Marker and also doing bash attack. (who needs attack spells). You can force them to the ground, so it will be much more difficuilt for them to roll (-x die or pay x mana for attack) or to combo it with force levitation/flying for more damage. You can apply stun or daze this way. You can push them out of the way (giving them a pest for a moment) so you will be able to attack your target. You can Force push your weapon slot equipment to do a ranged attack (flying dagger).

I believe that Mr. Burch will came up with some great ideas! What i am looking forward is Academy Warlord

Maybe we'll finally see the orb she's carrying...whatever it might be.

You mean [mwcard=MW1E17]Force Orb[/mwcard]?

[Frillycakes]

Since the Forcemaster should be at least capable of fighting without any creatures, getting around guards and manipulating the opponent creatures is pretty important. I also think creature positioning could be brought in with this adding a unique type of play for the Forcemaster. The difficulty with this would be making these cards compatible with Arena. For example, if a card was made to slam two creatures next to each other, there would need to be a rule that this spell can be cast on any two creatures in the same zone in Arena. This is only the case if board positioning is a desired as a strategic layer to Academy, since there might be no way to carry over spells that just manipulate board position to Arena

Paranoia: something that forces an enemy to guard instead of attack for the round. Incantation.

Converge: Forcing two creatures to collide, maybe for minimal damage and stagger chance. Perhaps limited to creatures adjacent to one another in Academy. Attack?

Betray: something that forces a low level enemy creature to attack another enemy creature. Perhaps limited to creatures adjacent to one another in Academy. Incantation.

Panic: You could maybe force an enemy off of guard by making it attempt an attack on you. Incantation.

Psychic Bind: Put a bind marker on two enemy non-mage creatures. Whenever one bound creature resolves an activation (attacks, guards, etc.) the other bound creature resolves its activation without performing an action. Perhaps limited to creatures adjacent to one another in Academy. This would be a more powerful spell that could limit swarms but make it so the opponent either uses the stronger creature outright or if the creatures are different enough in function, forces an interesting choice on who to use each round. Enchantment.

Force Chains: Removes enemy defenses. Enchantment.

The Forcemaster could then use his/her own weapons and attacks to get to the enemy mage while the creatures are limited. I like the idea of sending weapons flying through the air, perhaps a spell that performed the melee attack of a weapon as if it was ranged.

[iNano78]

A discussion on BGG (about targeting in Academy) just got me to thinking that other illusions similar to the Invisible Stalker would work really well in Academy.  Academy doesn't usually care about range and line of sight, since - aside from Exile - all creatures are in the same zone and there are no walls, and even Obscure wouldn't do anything.  But having text (or a keyword) that specifically prevents being targeted, like the Invisible Stalker's token, would be perfect.  Still has that weakness that you have to activate your illusions last if you don't want them to become visible... which becomes less useful the more illusions you have in play (since they can't all activate last).

[Sailor Vulcan]

This thread should be in the academy section of the forums.