I have designed a few homebrew EPTs, and thought I'd share this one with the community. This one is based off of the existing EPT "Elusiveness" so it has some similarities... Only this one is actually good (for its price). And no, I do not want to hear anybody tell me about how Elusiveness can be good in some very rare/specific circumstance, or how it won somebody a game once.

I'm particularly proud of this EPT. I have play tested it extensively, and my regular opponent loves to take this on his ships all the time... especially his A-Wings. I think it's the perfect power level for a 1-point EPT. It's also very thematic. The idea, is that you can jink your ship quickly to avoid incoming shot. If you succeed, the effort of dodging can ruffle your feathers (you get stressed). However, if your opponent wasn't concentrating hard to make the shot, you might be able to dodge their attack without working up as much of a sweat. Read below, and you'll see how it works:

Jink - When defending, you may choose one attack die. The attacker must reroll that die. If the new result is a blank, receive one stress token.

So here's all the potential scenarios that may happen when you use this card:

• You reroll a hit, new roll is a crit. Worse possible scenario. Oh well, it was a 1-in-8 bit of bad luck.
• You reroll a hit, new roll is a hit. Oh well, you suffer no drawback so it was worth a shot.
• You reroll a crit, new roll is a hit. Not bad, you just downgraded the crit for no cost to yourself. This is not a bad result, and will happen frequently!
• New result is a blank. You just avoided a damage, but take a stress. Usually worth it, esp. a ship that sheds stress easily.
• New result is a focus. If they don't have a focus token, this is the best possible result, as you blocked a damage for free! If they do have a focus, now they have to spend it.
• I suppose you can also make them reroll a focus result if you know they're going to spend a focus token. The only good end result (a blank) will give you a stress, but it might be worth it if it will save your ship.

Basically, half the time you use this, nothing will happen, but you'll suffer no ill effect. You gain a nice bit of crit resistance. 1/4 of the time you'll save a damage at the cost of stress. 1/4 of the time you'll save a damage for free as long as they don't have a focus token, or force them to spend their focus to deal that point of damage. Remember that defensive rerolls to attack dice go first, so if you do get a focus result and they don't have a focus, they won't be able to use a Target Lock or other reroll ability to change it back because dice can only be rerolled once, and you got to it first.

The worst downside is if you're unlucky and upgrade a hit into a crit. You can also end up quite stressed if you use the ability against multiple attacks in a single round. That's your decision to make, though. You can jink yourself into an early grave if you're not careful, but it can be a lifesaver in the right moment.

Best uses for the card: Ships that shed stress easily, and pilots who ignore or like stress. The most obvious mention goes to Tycho, who ignores the stress penalty. A-Wings in general like this card because they have lots of green moves and can combine this EPT with something else. Inspiring Recruit a nice combo for a ship that expects to jink multiple times. That particular crew came out after I designed this card and I like the synergy. Yorr, Cassian Pilot, and Kanan crew will like flying with guys who use Jink. Extra-special mentions go to Keyan Farlander and Ibtisam. Both pilots can turn an acquired stress into a boon. This EPT is also better if you have ways to strip focus from ships before they can shoot you, so Wes Janson and Hotshot Copilot might be good combo cards.

Thoughts?

43 minutes ago, mkevans80 said:

I have designed a few homebrew EPTs, and thought I'd share this one with the community. This one is based off of the existing EPT "Elusiveness" so it has some similarities... Only this one is actually good (for its price). And no, I do not want to hear anybody tell me about how Elusiveness can be good in some very rare/specific circumstance, or how it won somebody a game once.

I'm particularly proud of this EPT. I have play tested it extensively, and my regular opponent loves to take this on his ships all the time... especially his A-Wings. I think it's the perfect power level for a 1-point EPT. It's also very thematic. The idea, is that you can jink your ship quickly to avoid incoming shot. If you succeed, the effort of dodging can ruffle your feathers (you get stressed). However, if your opponent wasn't concentrating hard to make the shot, you might be able to dodge their attack without working up as much of a sweat. Read below, and you'll see how it works:

Jink - When defending, you may choose one attack die. The attacker must reroll that die. If the new result is a blank, receive one stress token.

So here's all the potential scenarios that may happen when you use this card:

• You reroll a hit, new roll is a crit. Worse possible scenario. Oh well, it was a 1-in-8 bit of bad luck.
• You reroll a hit, new roll is a hit. Oh well, you suffer no drawback so it was worth a shot.
• You reroll a crit, new roll is a hit. Not bad, you just downgraded the crit for no cost to yourself. This is not a bad result, and will happen frequently!
• New result is a blank. You just avoided a damage, but take a stress. Usually worth it, esp. a ship that sheds stress easily.
• New result is a focus. If they don't have a focus token, this is the best possible result, as you blocked a damage for free! If they do have a focus, now they have to spend it.
• I suppose you can also make them reroll a focus result if you know they're going to spend a focus token. The only good end result (a blank) will give you a stress, but it might be worth it if it will save your ship.

Basically, half the time you use this, nothing will happen, but you'll suffer no ill effect. You gain a nice bit of crit resistance. 1/4 of the time you'll save a damage at the cost of stress. 1/4 of the time you'll save a damage for free as long as they don't have a focus token, or force them to spend their focus to deal that point of damage. Remember that defensive rerolls to attack dice go first, so if you do get a focus result and they don't have a focus, they won't be able to use a Target Lock or other reroll ability to change it back because dice can only be rerolled once, and you got to it first.

The worst downside is if you're unlucky and upgrade a hit into a crit. You can also end up quite stressed if you use the ability against multiple attacks in a single round. That's your decision to make, though. You can jink yourself into an early grave if you're not careful, but it can be a lifesaver in the right moment.

Best uses for the card: Ships that shed stress easily, and pilots who ignore or like stress. The most obvious mention goes to Tycho, who ignores the stress penalty. A-Wings in general like this card because they have lots of green moves and can combine this EPT with something else. Inspiring Recruit a nice combo for a ship that expects to jink multiple times. That particular crew came out after I designed this card and I like the synergy. Yorr, Cassian Pilot, and Kanan crew will like flying with guys who use Jink. Extra-special mentions go to Keyan Farlander and Ibtisam. Both pilots can turn an acquired stress into a boon. This EPT is also better if you have ways to strip focus from ships before they can shoot you, so Wes Janson and Hotshot Copilot might be good combo cards.

Thoughts?

I think "Jink" sounds fun. Not too powerfull, not useless. A little bit like "Wired" but different. I think the price seems accurately priced, and I think it will help a lot of the mid range PS ships with an ept.

It may be worth slightly adjusting the ability so that rather than saying:

1 hour ago, mkevans80 said:

Jink - When defending, you may choose one attack die. The attacker must reroll that die. If the new result is a blank, receive one stress token.

It reads:

Jink - When a ship at range 1-2 is attacking , you may choose one attack die. The attacker must reroll that die. If the new result is a blank, receive one stress token.

this means it won't work for every defence however it does allow some support of your friendly ships as they could re-roll any shoddy dice they have. This also helps high PS support vessels that can take an EPT. It also has a decent risk if you choose to re-roll a friendly attack but end up with a blank then receive a stress. Adds more versatility but may need to be bumped up to two points as it decreases enemy attacks whil buffing friendly ones. I think it's a cool EPT it's either way, great idea mkevins80

Insanely strong for 1 point.

Overall it strikes me as a little too good (not that I am learned in that department) but it also seems a bit like mindlink in the sense - it would make average ships more playable and probs be fine but perhaps a little too strong (or feel too strong) on ships that didn't need the assist anyway...

Edit - better than elusiveness for sure, though i'd drop the stress to activate req on elusiveness myself

2nd edit - or jink cost 0, discard, no stress risk?

Congrats. I add this EPT to the "Cool ideas to playtest" carpet. Thanks for sharing.

1 hour ago, thespaceinvader said:

Insanely strong for 1 point.

To elaborate now that I have a proper keyboard: Consider the cost of M9-G8 which does broadly similar things defensively - it costs the astromech slot, 3 points, an action, and it only works on one or two (for an ARC which spends another 3 points) ships.

It comes with other benefits too, to be sure, however.

I'd say 1 point is way too cheap without some kind of cost (must be unstressed, say), even with the 1/4 chance gaining a stress token.

'Must be unstressed' would probably be enough, though.

M9-G8 has zero downsides or cost of using it. You can spend the Target Lock offensively if you've got an enemy ship locked, and get both the TL reroll and defensive benefits in one turn if you fire after your attacker. It can target enemy ships OR friendlies. There is hardly any comparison... M9 is leagues better, hence its price point.

Jink has a cost... when it works, it will likely stress you. It only works 1/4 of the time if the enemy has a focus token, and then when it does you take stress. It also has a chance of backfiring and upgrading a result to a crit. How is that insanely strong? I am looking to make 1-point cards that actually compete with good 1-pointers like crack shot. Add a "must be unstressed" clause and it'd be garbage, just like Elusiveness.

This is extremely similar to Elusiveness, isn't it? Just with reduced stress cost.

I doubt many people would use it as the opportunity cost of wasting your EPT slot on something so marginal is unwelcome.

M9 costs an action...

Eh, maybe I'm exaggerating - being in the EPT slot is a very high opportunity cost - but I'd say a defensive reroll of a red dice should be worth more than that - consider, for instance, how much Sensor Jammer costs...

14 minutes ago, Stay On The Leader said:

This is extremely similar to Elusiveness, isn't it? Just with reduced stress cost.

You know I said that in my original post, right?

It was very long so I didn't bother reading it.

19 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

M9 costs an action...

Eh, maybe I'm exaggerating - being in the EPT slot is a very high opportunity cost - but I'd say a defensive reroll of a red dice should be worth more than that - consider, for instance, how much Sensor Jammer costs...

Yeah, you're exaggerating. You get the benefit along with the benefit of a target lock... which can be free in some cases (FCS, other abilities).

Sensor Jammer is apples an oranges. That automatically changes a die to a focus, for absolutely no downside. I also think it's a point overpriced.

The card is designed to be fairly niche... you want to put it on A-Wings (Tycho in particular) or other agile ships, or ships that like getting stressed. Would you really use this EPT on something other than one of these ships and consider it overpowered?

3 minutes ago, Stay On The Leader said:

It was very long so I didn't bother reading it.

Please tell me you're joking. Being text, my sarcasm detector doesn't work as well.

You don't think it was very long?

I'm trying to wrap my head around why ANYONE would comment on a post they didn't read.

Well I think I managed to sum up about 500 words into about a dozen pretty well.

It's Elusiveness with reduced stress cost. There you go, I got it down to 6 words for you, you're welcome. Must have taken you ages to think that up.

I think I might have an idea for a new EPT as well. It's like Opportunist but with reduced stress cost. What do you think?

3 minutes ago, mkevans80 said:

The card is designed to be fairly niche... you want to put it on A-Wings (Tycho in particular) or other agile ships, or ships that like getting stressed. Would you really use this EPT on something other than one of these ships and consider it overpowered?

I'd stick it on Bossk in a heartbeat and consider it overpowered, for instance. Ryad would adore it, as would other Defenders. Pretty much anyone with a lot of durability and/or a lot of agility and a token stack will really like an EPT that lets to reduce incoming damage for what basically amounts to free for a single attack per round, or infinitely if you don't care about stacking stress.

There's a reason defensive upgrades are expensive and far between, and it's the same reason red dice are better than green dice - because stacking defence makes the game *boring*.

There's also the issue that your proposed EPT is pretty much entirely automatic in its use - the first time per round you get shot at, you want to use it. Thereafter, you want to use it unless the first time you used it gave you stress - and on the bigger, tougher ships with action-independent mods, you just want to use it on every incoming attack. There's no tactical considerations at play, the cost is minimal.

So it's too cheap in points.

31 minutes ago, mkevans80 said:

I'm trying to wrap my head around why ANYONE would comment on a post they didn't read.

I often wonder why people don't just scroll past things they're clearly not interested in, let alone take the time to comment.

10 minutes ago, Stay On The Leader said:

Well I think I managed to sum up about 500 words into about a dozen pretty well.

It's Elusiveness with reduced stress cost. There you go, I got it down to 6 words for you, you're welcome. Must have taken you ages to think that up.

I think I might have an idea for a new EPT as well. It's like Opportunist but with reduced stress cost. What do you think?

Wow. I'm kind of in awe.

Those 500 words do a lot... inform on the nature of the card, its implications, who it's supposed to go well with. I could have just said "Elusiveness... remove stress cost" and called it a day. This EPT did take me a while to think up, in fact, because I wanted to make a similar EPT that was more nuanced. I explain those nuances at length in the OP. It's a card that gives you more of an advantage if your opponent hasn't focused. It's designed to do well on certain ships. All of that was completely lost on you because you're too lazy to read some text. I'll grant that the bullet points were probably not needed, but years on the internet have taught me that you really need to spell things out for some people from the get-go or you'll be spending all your time explaining things they could have gleaned if they just thought critically. People like you are never going to bother doing that regardless of what I do, but others might benefit, so I keep beating my head against the wall.

This issue we're having right here is why I largely gave up on participating in online discussion. These communities are full of people who post first, think second (if at all), and are more interested in making their presence known, often offensively, when they could instead say to themselves "TL, DR" when they see a wall of text, and just click away.

How about Daredevil, but with a reduced stress cost?

1 minute ago, Stevey86 said:

I often wonder why people don't just scroll past things they're clearly not interested in, let alone take the time to comment.

And then get uppity when call them on it. Guy should have admitted he was lazy, apologized for not reading the whole post, and moved on. Instead he's sticking around to give me $hit and is making things worse, probably due to embarrassment.

Just now, Stay On The Leader said:

How about Daredevil, but with a reduced stress cost?

Just go away please. One more like this and I'm going to start reporting these posts.

10 hours ago, mkevans80 said:

I suppose you can also make them reroll a focus result if you know they're going to spend a focus token. The only good end result (a blank) will give you a stress, but it might be worth it if it will save your ship.

This is the bit I like. I've been seeing an awful lot of Expertise to go with the token stacking these days.

I'd be tempted to make it Rebel and Imperial only. Mainly because Scum have enough 1 point bull***t and ridiculous ways to combo things as it is.

I look forward to seeing your design in a future expansion.

They might have to make the font reeeeeeaally small to fit it all in the text box though.