ACG's Custom Spells and Mages

[ACG]

I like the improvements you made to Mirror World. The previous incarnation was overpowered in my opinion. The new version is still really powerful. Gaining 4 channeling and 2 actions for the price of 16 mana is an insane deal. However the drawbacks of each creature having an Upkeep cost and the existence of the creatures being dependent on Mirror World's continued existence might be enough to balance it out. I'm not 100% certain. It is kind of a hard card to judge, but very interesting! I would love to see how it tests out.

Yes, I agree that the old version was too powerful (I thought of a better way to do it shortly after I posted it). I also prefer a soft limit to a hard limit (upkeep costs rather than an expiration date). I am hoping that the upkeep cost will be enough to balance the high channeling and action advantage.


Updated version of Atraxus:


New cards:

A sort of spell mimicking quasi-familiar:


A new tree for the Druid, with support for Conjuration-Swarm (my current favorite build):

[edit: just realized that there is a typo (says vine instead of tree). I will fix this the next time I update it].


And some alternate mages:

Alt Warlock: Somewhat masochistic and very aggressive. Focuses on the fire aspect of warlocks, rather than the demons and curses side. Note the low channeling (need to fight to amp up the mana generation)



Alt Wizard: More focused on tricksyness and flexibility than her counterpart. Not sure whether Flexible mind is overpowered/underpriced. Opinions?

[Zuberi]

I like Atraxus having different traits depending on who has initiative.

The Lazy Apprentice sounds interesting. The name evokes the idea of a creature rather than a statue in my head though.

I really like Wychwood Mangler. A tree you can bind with that can defend itself sounds pretty cool. I think I would still prefer Vine Tree, but it gives a very interesting alternative.

With the alternate Warlock, I think Master of Pain is a cool idea but something tells me it will need tweaked a little in play testing. I'm not certain if it would fully balance out the 8 Channeling. Maybe have something she can use when not getting beat on such as during the first few rounds. Perhaps simply once per round during the upkeep phase she can take X damage and gain Y mana.

I'm not a fan of Pyromancy on her. Binding a Flame Attack spell (to her?) is decent, but the healing from Burns is not a good idea. First off, it is useless against a great many opponents, and then when it does come into play it is overpowered. Turning a negative condition into a positive condition completely flips the power dynamic of that mechanic.

Bloodlust is a cool idea. Is better than giving her the generic Battle Skill ability.

For the alternate Wizard, I honestly don't like your Blink Mechanic. It just seems too random. The chance that I end up not moving at all, or in a zone I don't wish to go to, is just too great. Meanwhile, the Flexible Mind ability is not useful at all unless the Wizard is swinging a weapon or meditating because she won't have a 3rd spell to cast. If instead you change it to where she does get to prepare a 3rd spell, I would consider that benefit enough. Having 3 spells to choose from would give her increased flexibility and I see no need for her to get an extra cast each round on top of that.

[ACG]

With the alternate Warlock, I think Master of Pain is a cool idea but something tells me it will need tweaked a little in play testing. I'm not certain if it would fully balance out the 8 Channeling. Maybe have something she can use when not getting beat on such as during the first few rounds. Perhaps simply once per round during the upkeep phase she can take X damage and gain Y mana.

Yes, I was unsure of how to implement it without making it too powerful or weak. At first, it granted 2 mana but could only be used once per round. As it currently stands, I think the main effect is to encourage her to get into battle as soon as possible. Would it be overpowered if she had 9 channeling instead of 8?

With respect to taking damage for mana, it's a good idea, but I have already implemented it with the bloodmage (which is in need of some revision, incidentally) and feel that it fits better there. This is a slightly different flavor - rather than sacrificing health for power, the Warlock's power is amped up in the heat of battle (which fits with bloodlust).

I'm not a fan of Pyromancy on her. Binding a Flame Attack spell (to her?) is decent, but the healing from Burns is not a good idea. First off, it is useless against a great many opponents, and then when it does come into play it is overpowered. Turning a negative condition into a positive condition completely flips the power dynamic of that mechanic.

My thinking was that many of the burns might come from the warlock herself, if she uses spells that hurl fire around without much in the way of targeting (e.g. Firestorm or the salamander I am working on). Of course, she is still vulnerable to the flame damage itself, so she would want to load up on armor/aegis (since -Flame would make burns less likely). It also synergizes well with the Orb of Immolation.

Possibly overpowered; not sure. Fire is so attractive in the current meta that I don't feel too bad encouraging other strategies, and she can still be harmed by the flames. If gaining burns becomes extremely easy, it could be a problem, though. Other opinions?

For the alternate Wizard, I honestly don't like your Blink Mechanic. It just seems too random. The chance that I end up not moving at all, or in a zone I don't wish to go to, is just too great. Meanwhile, the Flexible Mind ability is not useful at all unless the Wizard is swinging a weapon or meditating because she won't have a 3rd spell to cast. If instead you change it to where she does get to prepare a 3rd spell, I would consider that benefit enough. Having 3 spells to choose from would give her increased flexibility and I see no need for her to get an extra cast each round on top of that.

I find your reaction very interesting, because I had been concerned that Alt Wizard was overpowered. Blink is random, but it means that Alt Wizard is essentially immune to being stuck or entangled by conjurations, and can easily escape from slow creatures or get to a range where minimum range>1 weapons can be used. I even nerfed it so that it can only be used once per round. As you say, though, if you are not in NC when you use it, there is a 1/4 - 1/2 chance that nothing happens, and a small chance that you might teleport back to the same zone. As for Flexible Mind, there are other ways for the Alt Wizard to get extra spells to cast, such as Mordok's tome or a wand (both of which are very affordable for her). It also gives an inferior version of Fast, since she can run two zones and then use quickcasts. Your skepticism is encouraging; if I think it is overpowered and you think it is underpowered, maybe it is just right (or maybe the sample size is too small to draw conclusions). I appreciate the feedback.

Another option that I considered for the Alt Wizard was letting her quickcast be used to cast full spells (instead of having an extra one); that might be too much though. I will probably use it for a different mage.

[Zuberi]

Yes, I was unsure of how to implement it without making it too powerful or weak. At first, it granted 2 mana but could only be used once per round. As it currently stands, I think the main effect is to encourage her to get into battle as soon as possible. Would it be overpowered if she had 9 channeling instead of 8?

With respect to taking damage for mana, it's a good idea, but I have already implemented it with the bloodmage (which is in need of some revision, incidentally) and feel that it fits better there. This is a slightly different flavor - rather than sacrificing health for power, the Warlock's power is amped up in the heat of battle (which fits with bloodlust).

The main thing I was thinking about was the fact that it typically takes 3 rounds for combat to start. By that time, she has a 6 mana deficit compared to a large number of her opponents, and the only way for her to compete with their channeling, much less make up this deficit, is to get the crap beaten out of herself. Just doesn't seem like it would work that well in her favor.

Maybe instead of basing it off of her taking damage, you could base it off of her inflicting damage. Of course then you might just want to give her the Mana Drain ability instead of a new ability. Increasing base channeling to 9 is also an idea, thereby reducing the deficit that she needs to compensate for. I'm not completely certain how I would go about fixing it, because I do like the flavor and want you to keep it, but as it currently stands it just seems like too much of a penalty.

My thinking was that many of the burns might come from the warlock herself, if she uses spells that hurl fire around without much in the way of targeting (e.g. Firestorm or the salamander I am working on).

I didn't think about self infliction. With Firestorm you inflict an average of 5 damage on yourself, not counting armor reduction, and gain an average of 1.8 healing. This does increase the benefit of that spell significantly when you cast it in the same zone as your mage, causing you to only take an average of 3.2 damage while opposing creatures take 6.8 average damage. None of the other existing Flame attacks would ever make any sense to inflict upon yourself, though there may be creations from you that do.

This ability would depend on the meta environment. If your opponent's often use Flame attacks, then this is a really good ability. If your opponent's don't, then this is a really poor ability. Unless cards come out to support self infliction, you can't really build anything around this ability.

Blink is random, but it means that Alt Wizard is essentially immune to being stuck or entangled by conjurations, and can easily escape from slow creatures or get to a range where minimum range>1 weapons can be used. I even nerfed it so that it can only be used once per round. As you say, though, if you are not in NC when you use it, there is a 1/4 - 1/2 chance that nothing happens, and a small chance that you might teleport back to the same zone.

With Blink, if you are standing in a center zone, you have a 1/4 chance of not moving. Standing next to a single wall is also a 1/4 chance of not moving. Standing in a corner zone is a 3/8 chance of not moving. That's a very significant chance of not much happening for your investment. Yeah, you get rid of any stuck type conditions you might have, but it seems pricey if that is all you accomplish. On the other hand, even if you do change position, you could end up teleporting some place you really did not want to go.

I would not take this as an accurate judgement of the power of the trait. I freely admit loads of bias by the fact that I simply don't want my positioning determined randomly. I would prefer if the trait was akin to the ability of Blue Gremlin and Gray Wraith, where you spend mana to change your move actions into teleports. Purely a personal preference though.

As for Flexible Mind, there are other ways for the Alt Wizard to get extra spells to cast, such as Mordok's tome or a wand (both of which are very affordable for her). It also gives an inferior version of Fast, since she can run two zones and then use quickcasts.

You are correct, there are probably enough ways for her to utilize the extra spell. Which convinces me that it is overpowered then. I was originally coming from the position that she wouldn't often get to use a 3rd spell, but you have convinced me that she would be able to. This gives a huge action advantage over her opponents

[lettucemode]

ACG, I had an idea for a mana ability on a new, hyper-aggressive Warlock:

Mana Strain: Whenever the Warlock pays the mana cost for an effect she controls, she may pay 2 less mana. If she does, she gains the Channeling -3 trait until the next Upkeep phase.

Replace Master of Pain with that and put her channeling back up to 9. It's still an advantage/disadvantage tradeoff, but it's more controlled and should address Zuberi's points as well.

I really like Bloodlust as an alternative to Battle Skill, well done.

Lazy Apprentice is really cool! It seems a bit too awkward or swingy to play though. 14 mana to get it out is a lot, and once you do get it out it's pretty tough to destroy. I say keep the effects as is but lower the mana cost and durability.

[ACG]

The main thing I was thinking about was the fact that it typically takes 3 rounds for combat to start. By that time, she has a 6 mana deficit compared to a large number of her opponents, and the only way for her to compete with their channeling, much less make up this deficit, is to get the crap beaten out of herself. Just doesn't seem like it would work that well in her favor.

Maybe instead of basing it off of her taking damage, you could base it off of her inflicting damage. Of course then you might just want to give her the Mana Drain ability instead of a new ability. Increasing base channeling to 9 is also an idea, thereby reducing the deficit that she needs to compensate for. I'm not completely certain how I would go about fixing it, because I do like the flavor and want you to keep it, but as it currently stands it just seems like too much of a penalty.

All right; I think I'll just bump her base channeling up to 9, then. I was worried that she might gain too much man from her ability, but of course it also requires that she take damage (and is controlled mostly by her opponent), so maybe it is not as powerful as I thought.

ACG, I had an idea for a mana ability on a new, hyper-aggressive Warlock:

Mana Strain: Whenever the Warlock pays the mana cost for an effect she controls, she may pay 2 less mana. If she does, she gains the Channeling -3 trait until the next Upkeep phase.

Replace Master of Pain with that and put her channeling back up to 9. It's still an advantage/disadvantage tradeoff, but it's more controlled and should address Zuberi's points as well.

Very nice idea. I think I will stay with the damage based channeling for the warlock, though. As a more flexible variation on your idea (for a future unspecified mage, probably a golem of some sort judging by the theme):

[Mage]Overclock: Once per round, when <Mage> casts a spell, he may gain X many Heat markers to reduce the cost of that spell by 2X. <Mage> has the Upkeep +X trait. During the Upkeep Phase, if his upkeep cost is paid, <Mage> may discard one Heat marker.[/Mage]

Still thinking about ways to change the fire ability. Also considering changes to the wizard.

With Blink, if you are standing in a center zone, you have a 1/4 chance of not moving. Standing next to a single wall is also a 1/4 chance of not moving. Standing in a corner zone is a 3/8 chance of not moving. That's a very significant chance of not much happening for your investment. Yeah, you get rid of any stuck type conditions you might have, but it seems pricey if that is all you accomplish. On the other hand, even if you do change position, you could end up teleporting some place you really did not want to go.

I would not take this as an accurate judgement of the power of the trait. I freely admit loads of bias by the fact that I simply don't want my positioning determined randomly. I would prefer if the trait was akin to the ability of Blue Gremlin and Gray Wraith, where you spend mana to change your move actions into teleports. Purely a personal preference though.

I think that there may be some miscommunication regarding the mechanics of Blink; each teleport is handled separately. So even if the second teleport is cancelled, the first one can still happen. So if you are in a center zone, while it is true that there is a 1/4 chance of your second teleport being cancelled (if it is to a border zone; otherwise it is guaranteed to happen), your first teleport is guaranteed to succeed. Also, each teleport is rolled for separately.

If the teleport was controlled, I think having it built into the mage would be overpowered.

Lazy Apprentice is really cool! It seems a bit too awkward or swingy to play though. 14 mana to get it out is a lot, and once you do get it out it's pretty tough to destroy. I say keep the effects as is but lower the mana cost and durability.

Point taken. I would rather have it see more use, so I'll cheapen/weaken it.

Some new cards (revisions of the old ones still cycling forward, as always):






Don't think I've posted this on this thread yet, so:

[Zuberi]

I think that there may be some miscommunication regarding the mechanics of Blink; each teleport is handled separately. So even if the second teleport is cancelled, the first one can still happen. So if you are in a center zone, while it is true that there is a 1/4 chance of your second teleport being cancelled (if it is to a border zone; otherwise it is guaranteed to happen), your first teleport is guaranteed to succeed. Also, each teleport is rolled for separately.

I probably did choose my words poorly. With Blink 2 being random:

Start in center zone = First teleport has 100% chance to change zone = Second Teleport has 25% chance to return you back to your starting zone. Thus, you end up where you started at 1/4 of the time.

Start adjacent to a single wall = 6.25% chance of hitting the wall both times = 18.75% chance of teleporting to an adjacent zone and then teleporting right back into your starting zone = 1/4 of the time you end up where you started at.

Start in a corner zone = 25% chance to hit a wall both times = 12.5% chance of teleporting to an adjacent zone and then teleporting right back into your starting zone = 3/8 of the time you end up where you started at.

I would personally never use this ability. I would prepare a teleport spell instead. Positioning is just too important to leave up to chance. To pay 3 mana and an action to not move at all would be incredibly crappy. But even if you do move, you probably aren't going to end up where you wanted to go.

[ACG]

I've been very busy lately, but here are a few more cards:

Building on the Mana Tree mechanics:


A non-undead implementation of reanimate:


My attempt at partially solving the "teleport problem" that DeckBuilder and others have brought up with the game.



Regarding blink, it sounds like there are disadvantages to range 2 blink compared to range 1; I'll have to reconsider it. Maybe I can just make it the same mana cost as the blink spell, then.

[ringkichard]

Those don't display for me.

[ACG]

Yeah, you're right. Sorry; I've been having trouble uploading images to BGG lately, which is where I host these (trouble in the sense that I can't do it). They are too big to attach to my posts, and I don't know where else to host them, so I think I'll probably just wait until BGG fixes its image upload problems. Hopefully that will be soon.

[ACG]

Never mind; I found an alternate image hosting website that is much more convenient than BGG. Problem solved! Plus, now I can upload my images as thumbnails so they aren't as big on the page.

I also made a custom codex to keep track of the custom traits defined so far.

[ACG]

Here are some updates I finally got around to making:



New cards:



Updated Codex

[ACG]

Some more spells:

Old cards updated



I decided that Green Slime doesn't really need the cantrip trait. I also changed the flavor of its attack; rather than crippling (which didn't make all that much sense anyway), it makes its target stuck, presumably by oozing up around it.



Made some of the changes recommended by DeckBuilder. It is now legendary, and the wording is cleaned up a little. I also reduced the health and increased the armor to drop the cost a bit.



When I first made plague moth, Taratee had not been released and so there was no precedent for quickcast creatures. Now that there is, I decided to remake it to conform to Taratee's precedent. I also gave it a rotting attack (DeckBuilder's advice, again) and changed the ranged poison enchantment ability to make it less awkward. The original challenge was to spellbind an enchantment, but I'm sure I'll find a better way.



Changed the mechanics to make them more elegant, dispensing with the "fate" tokens.



With the new Cloak of Shadows and the Shadow subclass, I decided to give Shadow an upgrade.

New Cards



A little something for the warlord which should also help with Akiro's Hammer. I realize that others have recommended a "Goblin Engineer" to place load tokens, similar to the Goblin Builder's repair ability. I decided some additional upkeep costs were needed, so I made this an enchantment instead, ignoring the outrage from the goblin unions.



Unsure how to title this one. Mostly a way to obliterate creatures you don't want coming back, with some bloodthirst thrown in since I doubt people would run it otherwise.



Warlocks should make pacts with demons; that's just the way things work. Blood reaper is a start. Here is another possibility. Note that the protection goes both ways - a "cannon fodder" defense will cost you life instead of damage (although, knowing warlocks, this may not be a major concern).



My attempt at an alt-warlord. I realize that the triple arcane antitraining is a major issue, but I didn't want to break tradition. He has battle orders so that the Horn of Gothos isn't useless, but his orders have a different flavor than his orcish counterpart. His focus tends to earth rather than war, with Geomancy replacing veterans. He also is more defensive in personal combat, with Sturdy replacing Battle Skill.


As always, I welcome comments. With the new image hosting website I have found, updating cards is much easier than it used to be.

[Sailor Vulcan]

I think the good thing about Blink is that your opponent can't predict your blinking creature's position. The problem is, neither can you. In order for Blink to be helpful, your blinking creature must be prepared for different possible positions. But keep in mind this can also be useful since you still have move actions left after blinking.

However, I don't think this strategy works for a wizard. I doubt a good wizard is ever going to want to zip around the board randomly. They're too calculating and methodical for that. When a wizard moves, it's intentional and planned. The blink ability would however be very useful on a mind mage. The blink ability is SO MUCH more useful if you have mongoose agility and cheetah speed, as well as forcepush/teleport thoughtspores so you can get anywhere in the arena VERY quickly. You keep talking about flexibility with this blinking wizard. While the wizard is flexible, I really don't think that's enough for him to teleport to random zones. I personally think it would be better if you redid it as a Nature/Mind mage.

In fact, this could be good for a shapeshifting mage. I just came up with a really good idea for this and am going to post it now.

[ACG]