Have other players with the expansions noticed that some of the original monsters and GOOs have become too easy, to the point that they are not much fun any more?

Some of the original monsters like Ghoul, Cultist, Goat Spawn, and others have become pretty mild stuff, since the trend in the expansions has been to increase difficulty, but also to increase the weapons arsenal to match.

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As for the old vs. new GOOs ---------------

YIG is one example of an original GOO that is like a walk in the park in easiness, compared to many of the new expansion GOOs. If we drew Yig, I am not even sure we would play him -- just draw again. Something too easy is not much fun.

Nyarlathotep is a little different for us ------- My playing partner and I decided we would like to play against Nyarlathotep again, and are brainstorming some changes that will make Nyarly more tough.

We always liked the fictional Nyarlathotep in the Lovecraft books, and we like the mask monsters.

Have other players felt a need to power up some of the original GOOs -- or do you just not play them any more?

Anyone have any suggestions on how to "power up" Nyarlathotep with a few adjustments to his card?

Thanks in advance--

Harold Square said:

Yig is totally hard to win against man! At least if you only count close/seal/special as win . If final combat does it for you, yep, Yig is very easy, you can beat him even without any gearing. Same goes for the other 11 doomer base game GOOs.

I'm with you. I'd like to have some Heralds to go along with some of the original GOO's. It be great if the Masks became spawn monsters and for Serpent people (from Kingsport) to become special Yig monsters. I'm just too lazy to think something up. On the bright side, the Epic battle cards made the Nyarlathotep final battle really cool. There's great flavor on his cards.

Partizan said:

I'll make Yig into something really nasty. Keep your eyes on the heralds page (I probably won't do anything until next weekend at the earliest, it might be two weekends— but I'm going to start thinking of it now— I just got a few ideas in the last minute ;') perhaps it will be next weekend afterall).

Cultists ghouls and zombies are in there so weaponless investigators still have a chance at combat. Not EVERYTHING has to have -3 3 toughness 4 sanity damage.

Some of the expansion weapons got a little ridiculous though, namely fetch stick and bazier of souls. And who would want to pay money to reload the magnum when the carbine rifle gives the exact same bonuses?

GrooveChamp said:

The kind of guy who wants to use both in the same combat!

Or, the kind of guy who only has the Magnum. Or has gotten burned from having the Magnum exhausted and had no other backup when his Rifle failed.

Don't forget that the Magnum keeps working until the end of an entire combat, where the C.Rifle only works for a single combat check.

Tibs said:

???

I don't have the cards in front of me, but don't they just say "exhaust to add +5 to a combat check"? Doesn't the FAQ say such wordings extend to an entire combat?

I doubt it. A combat check is a combat check. A failed combat requires another NEW combat check, that is, without the carbine rifle. If the FAQs state otherwise, then it is the FAQ that is broken !

The way the Magnum is worded makes it different from the Kerosene and Elephant Gun. As long as you keep your hand devoted to it, you can use it for multiple combat checks within the same combat. In that way, it works like an attack spell.

Huh, I always assumed that exhaust weapons work just like combat spells. Have I been playing wrong?

Replicated post. Sorry. No delete function.

GrooveChamp said:

Yep. Take a look at the text of this and see how it is different from the magnum.

http://www.arkhamhorrorwiki.com/Carbine_Rifle

Spell bonuses are specifically stated to last until combat ends or the hand used for the spell is used for something else (and failed spells continue to use hands the round they are cast). :')

GrooveChamp said:

Assume nothing in AH. Well, except the worst .

Partizan said:

I told you I'd fix Yig :'D

Here's a direct link: http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/Set.jpg

Avi, your pic is cut, reduce it ! nice herald anyway

Hem said:

My heralds always get cut ::sigh:: **** Arkham Horror forums... But that's why I always include direct links (in case the person looking at it doesn't have Safari and can't open image to new tab) :') I think this can give Rhan Tegoth a run for its money. The doom tracks are fairly similar in their shortness, but I think the in game effects and the final battles will be different enough.

Tomorrow I'm going to post my Ithaqua herald (I think). I already have the picture for it and the rules. So tomorrow. Probably. I'm fairly pleased with it, since I haven't played Ithaqua for ages (too easy), and this will return some of the old challenge (and amplify the theme). Here's the copy pasted note text:

General abilities

-Crippling Wind: blows all skill sliders to the left at the beginning of each upkeep (outside of stable locations and Other Worlds)

-cultists (Yeti? Wendigo?) have their toughness increased by three (that means Ithaqua's cultists will have a toughness of six) and do 2 damage.

-investigators adjacent to cultists can not use more than one movement point.

Ithaqua abilities

-physical immunity

-Frostbite: if an investigator goes unconscious in the streets, they lose one maximum stamina.

-winds in the street do one stamina and one sanity damage

-Crippling Wind continues during Final Battle

Avi_dreader said:

Oh, nice! Cant wait to try this one. Just a small niggle though - Yig is not a monster and so his poisonous doesnt technically come into play.

dj2.0 said:

No, I get it. If an investigator ever fails the skill check, they're hit with the normal penalty and also gain a poisoned marker. So from that point on, they'll automatically lose one stamina, even if they successfully pass the check.

dj2.0 said:

::Laughter:: you've got to be *kidding* me ;'D Yes, I know that in game terms monster has a specific meaning and knew that when I wrote it; however, just like FFG fudges area and location, I'm fudging monster and ancient one in that sentence, I think my sin is much less egregious— after all, I specifically stated that Yig is poisonous at the end just to remove any ambiguity (I had an earlier version that worded it differently) ::laughter:: I should've known I'm among Arkham Forumites. Stop niggling my Yiggle! Errr... I must wiggle away now.

Partizan said:

Right. The damage is also unpreventable, so Michael's ability wouldn't work against it.

There was an *excellent* new Nyarlathotep herald posted today. If you want to make him a God of Death, and a true terror, go to the heralds section. It's not just that it's challenging, it's that the various parts of the card design work very well together, and relatively easily. The card parts seem interlocked. I was just dumbstruck when I saw it. Finally. A threatening but not overwhelming Nyarlathotep (I'm afraid my old version, which I'm going to make even worse, is). As for other weak AOs. Here's the final version of the Ithaqua herald I mentioned a few days ago (and no, Crippling Wind does not use your focus).

direct link: http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/Wendigoherald.jpg

SIX toughness cultists?

Set is intriguing. I rather like the "poisonous" attribute. I just don't think Yig games need to be harder or faster. But...there's only 12 Yiggites in the Cup... Eh, I'll try anything once.

Wendigo, on the other hand, is delightful, if just for the slider-blowing thing. I think you're being a bit...er..."Avi-ish" for adding the 6 toughness, though. That just feels a bit too manic to me, like you couldn't stop yourself.

BTW, Kerathimel the Portal Parasite is shloads of fun. Makes gate travel a lot more interesting without changing the rest of the game at all. If playing Az, I'll pick K instead of Ghroth if player composition is more veteran.

Hm, that Wendigo name, and that icy monster shape.... I've seen that somewhere.... I'm pretty sure it was in Final Fantasy, the tenth and maybe another one... I'm sure of it !

jgt7771 said:

Nope. If I really wanted to be brutal about it, I would have A) made cultists endless, B) made cultists count as spawn monsters (so they would always emerge from a gate even if you were at the monster limit) and C)made the first monster a cultist (I was actually very tempted to do C— but I figured it might be a little too harsh to expect investigators to be able to deal with something like that in the streets as soon as the game starts, after all, the wind and snow will be difficult enough). Keep in mind, it does still have a +1 bonus to combat and no horror check. If you can take down one of them, you're getting *six* monster toughness as a trophy. That's a pretty sweet reward if you ask me (c'mon guys, you can do this, I know you've taken down the Dunwich Horror before, and that's a hell of a lot tougher than this guy). Of course, you're still going to have issues from drawing them at random, having them head toward vortexes, and if you get unlucky and draw one in the main town during the early game, but hey, that's Arkham :') I'm still playing with the thought of going back and making a second version that produces a cultist from the first gate when Ithaqua is the AO.

Heh... I'm actually somewhat worried about Set's increase in difficulty (i.e. I think I'd have *alot* of trouble handling Yig with him); however, Yig is too much of a pushover in final combat without Set's reptile viagra. Perhaps I should have made it so killing a Serpent People removes a doom token. I think I'd be willing to try it with four players (I'd definitely take out bank loans and hunt for Elder Signs though).

I always liked Ghroth as an idea, but the truth is he was too random in his effects, a ten doom token Azathoth isn't much fun, so Kerathimel was sort of my fixed version (incentive to use Azathoth again). I'm glad you liked it by the way, I put in quite a few hours designing him. I threw in the part about Yog-Sothoth for an extra challenge and thematic unity (dealing with the extra difficulty gates is hard enough, dealing with unseen random modifiers while risking Yog's devouring, hoo... Actually, he has a weak point against Yog, but if you can't figure it out, I'm not telling you what it is :') a Gentleman Cultist never tells.