Sir Alric Farrow a custom hero help?(casual)

By Scarecrowjames, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

let me start off by saying at least 2 things.

I am a new player and new to these type of board games in fact the only board games I have played besides monoplay/etc games is heroclix. I am referring to dungeon typish games( these type ).

I am also aware Sir Alric Farrow is a Lieutenant for the Overlord.

with that said I have been painting(I am an Amatuer). Among the ones I painted he looks extremely cool. Perhaps i am just getting better I am not sure. I am trying all sorts of new thing as placing the base stuff on monsters and a few other things.

I was wondering If Alric Farrow could be a custom Hero, what would be the best custom stats and abilities to use for him other than slapping another character card. This is just for fun. I would very like to try and make my own card as I think I could with photoshop to some degree.

Cause I am new and I am a novice on the lore and the game in general but what would be the best things for him. I know 0 about him. No one I know locally wants to play with me they either just want to PC/Xbox/Heroclix. I managed to get a few people at a shop I visit (which is a 40 minute drive) to play but it is rare to get one going, most of the time its a quick game.

My brother seems to show more interest since I got a few pieces painted but so far no luck on that. I have also been injured on the job and am unable to go out to places so on my free time I am painting like a mad men and trying my best to come up with solo play on my own but also do things I think may be a bit funner for me. I also do not understand and Lieutenant decks work as well.

I imagine him to be a tanky Hero(minus the hero)with the warrior class

I was thinking for stats/powers to keep him close to his monster card.

3 Speed (hard to move in that armor)

10 Health (may be to low)

3 Stamina (That armor)

1 gray dice

4 Might

2 Knowledge

3 Willpower

3 Awareness

(giving him decent test abilities is to offset some of his stats and to try and keep him a bit more resistant)

Game ability : Once per turn when Sir Alric Farrow is attacked or a hero within 2 squares of Sir Alric Farrow is attacked you may add 1 Brown die to the defensive roll.

(I wanted him to be a bit tank with all that cool armor but I didn't want to add flat defense stats..cause that take a way from the dice game but didnt want him to be OP,I am considering in changing this and giving him something else but I don't know)

Heroic Feat: (Action) Sir Alric Farrow performs a Move action ignoring any condition effects. Each time he moves into a space adjacent to a monster, he may trade spaces with that monster and that monster sufferes 1 damage.

( Basically I copied his Overrun ability and how I read it is every time when he moves beside a hero can can swap places with that hero and could possibly create a chain of atleast 1 damage on 3 different monsters which sounds cool but may be either to weak or overpowered as he could attack and deal more damage possibly. but it is a free damage ability with a mover action.)

Im not sure if thats fair(trying to stray away from broken). Any tips on improving this. I know I could play as the overlord but with Alric as my Lieutenant, but as of right now I already do play with the heroes and the Overlord my self. I'd figure I try to change up a few things for just for fun and more casual play...Im also considering taking a few heroes turning them to villians. Dezra the Vile looks quite worthy to be a custom Lieutenant.

I am very new at this game and I am all about trying to have fun in this game. I care 0 about whats meta. My interest is to roll dice and have fun cause console/pc gaming just doesn't seem to do it any more.

Im also interested in making, what may be cool is a hero type, a character that could hurt his friendly heros to deal more damage or heal him( a dark knight or Dark paladin) may be fun.

20150120_082106.jpg

Edited by Scarecrowjames

I like the idea of making a custom "alric" hero, though you could always make it someone else in similar armor. There is some info on wikipedia about who he is, and in the quest guide. Here is what I recommend:

might 5

knowledge 1

willpower 2

awareness 3

(all heroes but lindel have 11 attribute points.)

speed 3

health 12 (or 14 like grisban, but at least 12)

stamina 3

defense black (if ravaella has it, alric should have it.)

hero ability: you may ignore any game effect that would force you to move. At the start of your turn, recover 1 wound. (unmovable and regeneration from his card)

heroic feat: perform a move action. during this move, when you enter a space adjacent to a small monster, you may suffer 1 fatigue to trade spaces with that monster, and it suffers a wound. At the end of your turn, recover all fatigue. (like overpower, but costing fatigue in order to limit him to trading 3 times, but not messing with the rules about entering spaces - written this way he could trade right after a trade.

I like the idea of making a custom "alric" hero, though you could always make it someone else in similar armor. There is some info on wikipedia about who he is, and in the quest guide. Here is what I recommend:

might 5

knowledge 1

willpower 2

awareness 3

(all heroes but lindel have 11 attribute points.)

speed 3

health 12 (or 14 like grisban, but at least 12)

stamina 3

defense black (if ravaella has it, alric should have it.)

hero ability: you may ignore any game effect that would force you to move. At the start of your turn, recover 1 wound. (unmovable and regeneration from his card)

heroic feat: perform a move action. during this move, when you enter a space adjacent to a small monster, you may suffer 1 fatigue to trade spaces with that monster, and it suffers a wound. At the end of your turn, recover all fatigue. (like overpower, but costing fatigue in order to limit him to trading 3 times, but not messing with the rules about entering spaces - written this way he could trade right after a trade.

Thats so much better I also had no idea on 11 atribute points. I was also unaware of Ravaella having a black die despite me owning the expansion. She was overlooked. Having the abilities on what his card is much better and the Heroic feat sounds much better and balanced. Thanks a lot.

Being forced to move what woudl that pertain to. Would it work against abilities like throw(from the Ettin). Would the wording be best for; that would force you to Moved or be Placed?

Edited by Scarecrowjames

heroic feat: perform a move action. during this move, when you enter a space adjacent to a small monster, you may suffer 1 fatigue to trade spaces with that monster, and it suffers a wound. At the end of your turn, recover all fatigue. (like overpower, but costing fatigue in order to limit him to trading 3 times, but not messing with the rules about entering spaces - written this way he could trade right after a trade.

Good idea, but if is heroic feat will work only on small monsters it will be to situational in my opinion.

I feel it can be something like this: "move up to your speed. You can enter spaces containing monster, if you do so spent 1 fatigue to move that monster into adjacent space of your choice. Then recover all fatigue". dunno if it should take action or be just free move.

Edited by Vancheng

"Forcing you to move" covers anything that takes your figure from the space its in and puts it in another space, as currently you can't do any of those things to Alric, and that's how his card is worded (that is, you can't use knockback, or the crossbow surge.) Golems have the same ability.

Vancheng, I do like that heroic feat, but I still feel like it shouldn't work with large monsters. Pushing a goblin out of the way is one thing, but pushing a shadow dragon, or a giant?

I feel like Alric should be hard to kill, but painfully slow. With his high defense and otherwise low mobility, he'd be pretty useful as a "knight" class which I think is fitting.

Edited by Zaltyre

How about allowing him to spend the 1 fatigue to enter any ennemy space, but limiting the "swapping and damaging" to small figures?

This would allow Alric to "bull through" even large monster blockades but would discourage trying to use this as an attack.

Edited by Alarmed

How about allowing him to spend the 1 fatigue to enter any ennemy space, but limiting the "swapping and damaging" to small figures?

This would allow Alric to "bull through" even large monster blockades but would discourage trying to use this as an attack.

This would require bigger monsters being re-positioned correct?

Not necessarily- if he didn't have the MP to move out, he wouldn't be allowed to move into the monster's space- it's a bit complicated to make parts of the ability work on all monsters, and other parts only on some. He could do damage without moving them, maybe? It would be like a weaker version of "Carve a Path" or "Cry Havoc."

I think the best way to cut down on its confusion is to limit how many times it can be done and the complexlity of what can be done.

SteelHorns also has a very similar affect for his Heroic Feat. Its a action where you move your speed and he can occupy squares of monster figures and he moves them into an adjacent empty space (or closest empty space) of your choice.

The difference about Steel horn is he deals no damage but can move large monsters as well.

Alric Farrow instead will do this.

Action - Move action. During this movement Fatigue cannot be spent, when you enter spaces of Small monsters you may move them to the square last occupied by Alric Farrow. At the end of this Movement each monster moved in this way suffers 1 Damage. The same monster can't be affected more than once and he cannot be stopped during his movement.

Whats great is he can deal damage to small monsters while moving and reposition himself. This also prevents him from abusing a chain of tackling on the same small monster but also prevents him from being prone to trip wire/etc. It may not always be great but will ahve its use. Im still open to suggestions though.

He's your custom character, so if that's the way you want him to function, go for it. I encourage you to- whatever you decide- playtest it. Use this character in some epic play single quests, and see how his abilities work. After awhile, you should get an idea for whether he's too strong, or not strong enough, and then it's just a matter or making tweaks to the abilities and stats.

I would recommend going by Steelhorn's actual text if you're going that way. Preventing him from using stamina to increase his MP, just to get a 1 damage to small monsters does not seem balanced otherwise.

Action: Move your Speed. During this movement you may enter spaces occupied by monster figures and move those figures into an adjacent empty space (or closest empty space) of your choice.

Actually, since thise reads "move your speed" I think the use of fatigue during this special action is already blocked. He can use fatigue after doing this to move further, but he can't move through monsters or make them move either.

Edited by Alarmed

I would recommend going by Steelhorn's actual text if you're going that way. Preventing him from using stamina to increase his MP, just to get a 1 damage to small monsters does not seem balanced otherwise.

Action: Move your Speed. During this movement you may enter spaces occupied by monster figures and move those figures into an adjacent empty space (or closest empty space) of your choice.

Actually, since thise reads "move your speed" I think the use of fatigue during this special action is already blocked. He can use fatigue after doing this to move further, but he can't move through monsters or make them move either.

yeah I see what you mean. I changed it slightly due to to much txt and had to reword it.

this is what I got.

Sir_Alric_Farrow.jpg

I gave him an extra movement point (heroic feat) and tried to simplify it easier for understanding.

* edited a bit.

2.0 fix game ability to have heart sumbol

Edited by Scarecrowjames

Looks good! You could use the heart symbol in his hero ability as well, if you wanted to.

Now I need to find out what kind of paper to use. I also notice I will need a back side. Sadly I don't have a scanner, I had to use a template I found which only has the front side.

I thought of a Back side until I get a Scanner. I could always erase the Feat Put in some Lore text and Print it off for the back side. It wont look the same as all the normal heroes. Until I get a Scanner I won't be able to make a somewhat identical backside as all the normal heroes have one.

Edited by Scarecrowjames

this topic has inspired me to want to create my own lieutenant based heroes! here's what i came up with in about an hour.

Splig (Scout):
Attributes: Might 4 Knowledge 2 Willpower 3 Awareness 2
Speed: 3 Health: 10 Stamina: 4 Defense: Grey
Hero Ability: Each time you are attacked, test awareness. If you pass, a hero adjacent to you becomes the target of the attack and gains +1(2?) shield to their defense roll. Range and line of sight are still measured to your space. (mimics 'Not Me!' lieutenant ability while attempting not to hurt fellow heroes too much. unsure if one extra shield is enough)
Heroic Feat: Action: Test willpower. If you pass, choose an adjacent hero. That hero's Heroic Feat immediately refreshes. (mimics Promotion)

Belthir (Warrior):
Attributes: Might 4 Knowledge 3 Willpower 3 Awareness 1
Speed: 4 Health: 12 Stamina: 5 Defense: Grey
Hero Ability: You may ignore enemy figures and the effects of terrain while moving up to two times (once?) per turn. (I wanted to mimic Fly while limiting it somewhat. it's either the once or twice per turn limit, or copy Pathfinder Durik's ability and make each time he enters a blocked space cost an extra move point)
Heroic Feat: Action: Move up to your speed (ignoring all enemy figures and terrain) and then perform an attack action. The attack targets every figure you move through and gains the "Poison" condition. (mimics Cry Havoc. Exactly how this feat works will depend on how I end up settling on his hero ability)

Lord Merick Farrow (Mage):
Attributes: Might 2 Knowlege 4 Willpower 1 Awareness 3
Speed: 4 Health: 10 Stamina: 4 Defense: Grey
Hero Ability: When an adjacent monster attacks you, after the attack is resolved, each adjacent monster suffers 1 wound. (mimics Aftershock while buffing it slightly)
Heroic Feat: Action: You may suffer 1 wound to perform an attack that targets all adjacent figures. Each figure rolls defense dice separately. You may not perform this action if suffering the wound would defeat you. (mimics Ignite)

Lady Eliza Farrow (Healer):
Attributes: Might 1 Knowledge 3 Willpower 3 Awareness 4
Speed: 5 Health: 12 Stamina: 4 Defense: Grey
Hero Ability: Each of your attacks gains Surge: Each hero within three spaces of you recovers one fatigue. (an inverted version of Wail)
Heroic Feat: Action: You and each figure adjacent to you suffers 1 wound. For each figure wounded this way, you or an adjacent hero recover 2 wounds. You may not perform this action if suffering the wound would defeat you. (an inverted version of Sacrifice. can potentially kill monsters or other players, while also allowing a huge heal)

Rylan Olliven (Scout):
Attributes: Might 1 Knowledge 4 Willpower 3 Awareness 3
Speed: 3 Health: 12 Stamina: 5 Defense: Grey
Hero Ability: Adjacent figures do not block your line of sight. (mimics Precise)
Heroic Feat: At the start of your turn, choose an adjacent hero. That hero immediately activates as if it was their own turn. After that hero resolves their second action, your activation ends. (my attempt to mimic and buff Influence, allowing Rylan to give up his turn to give another hero two turns. unsure exactly how to word it however)

this is my favorite and potentially most overpowered idea. i really like the idea that Imperial Assault introduced in which heroes grow weaker once their cards are flipped (although in that game that is due to being wounded instead of performing a heroic feat). the idea behind this is that Tristayne begins the encounter as a living person, and once defeated, becomes his undead self. this one is definitely the one that requires the most playtesting and balancing, and i wouldn't be surprised to find it was totally broken one way or the other. but it was fun to brainstorm it up!

Tristayne Olliven (Mage):
Attributes: Might 1 Knowledge 5 Willpower 2 Awareness 3
Speed: 3 Health: 14 Stamina: 3 Defense: Black
Hero Ability: You suffer 1 less wound from any source other than an attack. (somewhat mimics Soul Siphon)
Heroic Feat: When you are defeated, immediately stand up, recover all wounds and fatigue and perform an attack targeting each figure in your line of sight within 3 spaces. Each figure rolls defense dice separately. Then flip this card. (prevents this attack from benefiting from undead Tristayne's hero ability. also targets all figures in an attempt to balance it.)

Tristayne Olliven (Undead version):
Attributes: Might 1 Knowledge 4 Willpower 4 Awareness 2
Speed: 5 Health: 12 Stamina: 5 Defense: Brown
Hero Ability: Each time you perform an attack, before dice are rolled, you may suffer up to 3 wounds. This attack deals additional wounds equal to the wounds suffered. You cannot do this if suffering the wounds would defeat you.

(thinking about making the following changes: Speed/Stamina start at 3 each. Add this to the heroic ability: Each time you are defeated, increase your Speed and Stamina by one (to a maximum of 6 each) and reduce your maximum health by 2 (to a minimum of 8).

let me know what you guys think :)

Edited by psuczyns

One recomendation I would make when creating "custom heroes" is always to check heroic abilities and heroic feats against existing ones, to ensure balance.

For example,the lieutenant ability of Splig most ressembles Tomble Burrowell's ability, so why not use that?

It avoids damaging an ally and it mimics the "not me" concept pretty accurately.

The abilities should stay closer to their Act cards imo

For Splig I see him as a Warrior, a Cowardly warrior

Splig (Warrior):
Attributes: Might 4 Knowledge 2 Willpower 3 Awareness 2
Speed: 3 Health: 10 Stamina: 3 Defense: Grey
Hero Ability: Each of your attacks Gain Surge Knockback or Surge 1 Wound (can only choose 1).

Each time you are attacked, you may test awareness. If you pass, choose 1 hero adjacent to you. They become the target of the attack. Range and line of sight are still measured to your space.

Heroic Feat: Action: Up to 2 heroes adjacent To Splig may Perform 1 additional action on their turn. Each hero chosen Suffers 3 Fatigue (they cannot recover on their turn).

This is to resemble his Get Them action. He can't give all the heroes a motivation speech and only the heroes that accept his speech gets an additional Action and they will suffer Fatigue.

Doing what Alarmed said to is fine. But Im also Fine with Splig being a coward Warrior. Im also itching to give Splig a Brown Die lol. I Personally would also prefer each hero ability or Feat being unique to a certain degree.

Edited by Scarecrowjames

The problem with "unique" abilities is that you end up with abilities that are not balanced. What other Heroic feat gives 2 heroes 3 fatigue each? What other Heroic feat gives the party the quivalent of an extra, full activation?

A few heroes have abilities that allow them to make an extra attack on top of their two actions (Grisban gets +1 attack, Laughing Buldar gets 3 attacks, no other actions, Mordrog gets an extra attack if he does not kill his target.)

Many heroes have powers that give them extra move or movement options: Syndrael, Tomble, Tinashi.

The heroes with what I consider the most unbalanced Heroic feat are Varikas and Nanok from the CK: One can choose to be completely unafected by an attack, the other heals all fatigue and stamina from being knocked out.

Lieutenant abilites are a poor choice for examples of "heroic" abilities. That is why when I try to create custom heroes for whatever game i'm playing, I look at comparable heroes that are within the rules of that game (which is why i consider CK version of heroes iffy in this case, most of them were nerfed in their H&M release).

Alarmed- I don't disagree with your point, just your reasoning- if you're making new abilities, you absolutely have to check to see if they are reasonably powered- no argument. However, every hero that gets designed (by FFG or otherwise) up to this point has a unique heroic feat (with some exceptions, like tinashi and tomble.) There are also very powerful abilities like this- like Syndrael's- which grants both her and another hero a free movement action, in addition to their two normal actions.

I don't disagree, Zaltyre. Unique abilities have to originate somewhere but all too often people want to give their custom characters a power that makes them unstoppable. (My character's a thief like Tomble Burrowel, but better, so his heroic ability will be like Ravella's heroic feat, but you only get +2 per test instead of 3)

My issue was not just with giving two heroes extra actions, although as you said, Syndrael's ability is considered very powerful. My issue was looking at it, balance-wise.

Syndrael's ability afects herself and an adjacent hero and they have to perform a stated action (move). The other characters i mentioned earlier also restrict the extra action to a stated one, usually attack and they usually require a trigger, like Modrog not killing his target.

The ability Scarecrowjames was suggesting gave 2 adjacent heroes 1 additional action each. It does not affect the feat-user and does not restrict the action. To add a penalty to the affected heroes on top of that just adds to the unbalance because you then need to determine if a hero can be affected if he's maxed on fatigue or if he can take the additional fatigue as damage. Then you also add a restriction that they cannot recover on their turn.

I could see something along the line of:

Use at the begining of your turn to choose up to 2 heros adjacent and give them an attack action. The heroes chosen cannot perform a move action on their turn

Edited by Alarmed

I don't disagree about that feat of Splig's being a little wonky. What about:

Action: Choose up to 2 adjacent heroes. Until the start of your next turn, each chosen hero adds 1 yellow die to his attack pool, and 1 gray die to his defense pool. Place a token from each chosen hero on this card as a reminder.

Essentially, this would be like the Disciple's "Armor of Faith" and "Blessed Strike," but emulating his "Promotion" skill. It means beefy heroes for 1 turn, but costs Splig an action, and grants them no extras.

I don't disagree, Zaltyre. Unique abilities have to originate somewhere but all too often people want to give their custom characters a power that makes them unstoppable. (My character's a thief like Tomble Burrowel, but better, so his heroic ability will be like Ravella's heroic feat, but you only get +2 per test instead of 3)

My issue was not just with giving two heroes extra actions, although as you said, Syndrael's ability is considered very powerful. My issue was looking at it, balance-wise.

Syndrael's ability afects herself and an adjacent hero and they have to perform a stated action (move). The other characters i mentioned earlier also restrict the extra action to a stated one, usually attack and they usually require a trigger, like Modrog not killing his target.

The ability Scarecrowjames was suggesting gave 2 adjacent heroes 1 additional action each. It does not affect the feat-user and does not restrict the action. To add a penalty to the affected heroes on top of that just adds to the unbalance because you then need to determine if a hero can be affected if he's maxed on fatigue or if he can take the additional fatigue as damage. Then you also add a restriction that they cannot recover on their turn.

I could see something along the line of:

Use at the begining of your turn to choose up to 2 heros adjacent and give them an attack action. The heroes chosen cannot perform a move action on their turn

I am a bit new, My goal isn't to make something unbalanced but only to suggest. This also does not mean I am not open to suggestion. Nothing is final and I am only speculating and theorizing. I am aware not all heroes are unique. I have read on about their being a meta and what not but that is not my goal. My goal with custom characters is to create fun and balanced characters but unique. If they play so similar to preexisting characters imo I feel its not really a new character. Will I come up with op abilties for custom yeah I may but hopefully posting here which is why I created the topic here is to avoid from creating an OP Sir Alric Farrow where my intention is to play with one for fun but be fair and balanced whether it be by myself or with others.

but all too often people want to give their custom characters a power that makes them unstoppable.

this is not my goal nor my intention. Curb stomping is in no way fun at all. Its just my opinion that I'd like to see custom characters that are Lieutenants like Splig or Alric Farrow for example, to use the powers on their cards but modified but not over-powered. I am also not against them not using their carded abilities either on the Lieutenant sheet. Cause I am new and I have very little of experience I am not familiar with what is balanced.

Edited by Scarecrowjames

I'm not sure if you still are looking for ideas, but a year ago or so I converted all the base game lieutenants into heroes. I came to most of the same abilities that you've come up with. I play-tested them a bit (though I think the originals are still up on the thread.)

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1048009/lieutenants-custom-heroes

The biggest change I made from that thread was Alric Farrow. Unmovable is really bad as a hero ability. It barely ever comes up. I changed it so Alric Farrow has absurd health but no fatigue at all. With the adjusted hero ability it means he usually deal himself more damage than the monsters do. When I tested it, the overlord would try to goad Alric into using fatigue, which made for an interesting dynamic. If you like it, I've have high res card backs for the villain heroes as well.

pic2385737_md.jpg

His hero ability as written is a little overpowered. Instead of saying "each turn", write instead "each round". A game round has 5 turns in it: one for each hero, and one for the overlord. I can just imagine him as a warrior class with interrupt actions (like counterattack) having free reign to never have to worry about stamina and spamming them all day long.

pic2385737_md.jpg

Much better looking card. I have to agree the unmovable hasn't came up to much in my solo games, but he does recover 1 wound every turn like Varikas which is quite good. Because of that I didn't want it to be insanely good. It basically prevents knock-back or being thrown. Very niche but I feel its a bit more balanced instead of letting him do all sorts of things at a free will manner.

Your heroic feat with 5 might is almost a guarantee success roll, it also allows big monsters spaces to get traded and moved around and just seems way to much better than Steel horns and I like steelhorns and I don't want him out shined to much. I like your card but I feel it is to strong. Thank you for that link also.

His hero ability as written is a little overpowered. Instead of saying "each turn", write instead "each round". A game round has 5 turns in it: one for each hero, and one for the overlord. I can just imagine him as a warrior class with interrupt actions (like counterattack) having free reign to never have to worry about stamina and spamming them all day long.

I don't think it was meant for you to be useable every turn for all, I think he meant only his turn. Keep in mind he suffers 1 wound for every 1 fatigue. That could kill him before the monsters do if its abused.