I always liked The Maniac so had to make a character of one.

Set his stats for these reasons...

Speed/ Sneak ~figured he would not really care about sneaking but would have OK speed.

Fight/ Will ~would have OK fight and good will, after all he needs to get close enough to his victims to "Axe them a question".

Lore/ Luck ~not so great luck but above average Lore, after all what do you think drove him insane in the first place, tasted a just a little bit to much of the Mythos.

Possessions

Axe ~duh!

Summon Monster ~because killing things is fun and getting other poeple killed by things is just heaven!

3 toughness monster ~because every killer has his trophies

0$ ~I'll just take yours! ha ha

one clue ~so he's not clueless

Exhibit ~after the CotDP Mythos card, the one with the Maniacs in Downtown streets

Skill ~everyone gots one

Abilities

Sadistic Glee ~hmmm so thats how that thing kills you...Cool!

Axe Murder ~this is my Axe and it's my friend...and he's thirsty!

Is it weird that I like the Maniac Investigator?

albert fish killed and ate kids.........

Hi

I'm totally new to the game. Last sunday I played my first game and I was totally fascinated. When a co-player told me about this program to create custom chacters, I just had to download it and make my first character.
I have looked through the posts in the old Forums and noticed a somewhat (in my opinion) overpowered simillar characer. However I made this one even before reading the post.
The character is designed as the alternate Evil Dead ending / Army of (Arkham-) Darkness beginning.

Comments and Critic is welcomed.

- bat

Character:

Front:

img388.imageshack.us/img388/9458/ashleyashjwilliamsfrontzs6.jpg

Back:

img388.imageshack.us/img388/3717/ashleyashjwilliamsbackpo9.jpg

Items:

img388.imageshack.us/img388/7734/necronomiconexmortisfrolr4.jpg

img388.imageshack.us/img388/6214/boomstickfrontpx3.jpg

img352.imageshack.us/img352/3895/chainsawfrontjg1.jpg

P.S.:

On a side note this Forum kinda sux. I tried hosting Images but it didn't work any way I tried it. A small tutorial on how to use this Forum would be great, esspecially the image hosting. Or alternatively revert back to the old one. Which was way better in my opinion. And really simple in usage.

I see several things wrong with the book you've got there:

• It's not a combat item, so its number of "hands" is irrelevant.
• Using the book makes seals, but only opens gates. So if you just use it over and over again you will eventually win the game.
• It's in there as a Common Item, but it should clearly be Unique.

You should have it do something a lot less crazy. Like:

Any Phase: Exhaust and roll a die. Success: gain a clue; falure draw a monster and put it at your location.

-Frank

batmobil said:

I belive I should try and help ya out a little bit:

First of all the forum isn't so bad. If you want your images to be seen here directly you should use Photobucket (google it) and use the second link of your image when uploading the link on this site (but use the ADD IMAGE button when commenting, don't just add the link) and remember to change its size so that it can be properly displayed. Also, it would help to copy/paste the text under your image of the card for those that can't see the images because of their internet connection or screen size.

Second, lets analize your cards and sheets:

Ashley is ok, but the abilities don't really sute him. (but this is just a personal opinion) the main problem with him is that you used wrong game terms and that can be...uncomfortable. You should learn the game terms before making your own stuff. For example, you wrote Horror test instead of Horror Check.

Next, the Chainsaw, it's a UNIQUE item even tho it shouldn't be. Yeah, it is his chainsaw, but come ON, the necronomicon is COMMON but the chainsaw unique? You should see a problem with this. The effects are preety cool, but don't make sense. Why is Physical Ressistance not affected? It should be since it is a Physical Weapon. (when you will play this game doing ROLEPLAY, you will see WHY this is an issue)

The boomstick is uncalled for, it's just a copy of the Shotgun, the only difference is that it's one handed. I noticed your boy can't use two-handed weapons but still, it's kinda strange to print out an extra card just for a one-handed version of the shot-gun. Also, got a question, you don't want him to use a double-handed weapons because he has one hand sawed off right? (seen Evil Dead 2) Well, the fact that he can use 2 guns will sorta make the whole "no double-handed weapon" thing kinda pointless wouldn't it?

Necronomicon Ex Mortis (Ha!) that's an easy one, and I can see i'm not the only one who noticed some issues with that card. First off...ITS A COMMON ITEM! And it's even got a hand symbol. Question: How exactly do you use this item in combat? Next, why is it a tome with no Lore Check? Tomes have lore checks and you usualy loose sanity for using it. Anyway, that aside, the effects have some issues:
Beside the fact they are unbalanced....What exactly is a Demon portal? Do you mean a gate? (Exactly what I was talking about earlier) Next, a Monster appears in the streets....What streets does the monster appear in exactly? How do you decide? What if you are in a location?Also, teleporting yourself to lost in time and space and back to the city is kinda.....strange. Why would you want to give the player that ability? It might as well tell you to teleport wherever you want. One problem, that is RANDOM and makes the tome very risky to use. The consequences of being teleported to LOST IN TIME AND SPACE can be very large. Number 5 is also kinda weird: What does BANISH refer to ? Do you just put him back in the cup or do you keep him as a trophy? Do you send him in the box? (remove from the game) What if you are lost in time and space? It doesn't make sense to send a monster from the street out of the game when you are in a completly different dimension. Also, the ANCIENT ONE is NOT a monster, that is why they call that type of creature ANCIENT ONE, because it is NOT a monster. you fight it differently, it appears differently..anyway, you should just use (Discard this card when the Ancient One awakens) that way a player can't use it against an Ancient One and you can't confuse the ability with a instant-win ability. As for number 6, do you CHOOSE a gate? Any gate? If you are lucky enough to use that ability 6 times in a row...the game is over. If those 6 times are in the first 7 turns. Even IF you start the game delayed (and you do) that means you can't move, but you should still be able to use the card. Anyway, the thing is, that most of the times I play, there are usualy gates opened in the very unstable locations. If those locations are completely sealed by your card, then the game becomes TOO easy. One last questions: Does the Necronomicon explain itself? Because I can't see why you don't use ANY movement points to read it. You just open it and something happens?

So over all, you should play the game a few more times before making your own cards. But don't let my words get you down, it's just constructive critisism, nothing more. Don't take it personaly, take it as advice. You should try 2-3 solo games and THEN make yourself some cards. One thing I recomend, if you truly MUST make cards from the Evil Dead (army of darkness) series, then modify the effects on these cards before making new ones.

i can see the chainsaw ignoring physical resistance but not immunity. if you hit something with a chainsaw its like an automatic multi-stab. bullets would deflect after a hit, blades are one slash/stab. i know the tommy gun and all but thats a million different bullets. so i dont think the chainsaw is that far of a stretch with the ignoring resistance.

as for the boomstick, its a freakin' boomstick not a shotgun. i wouldnt change that at all. it might look and act like a shotgun, but it is no shotgun haha.

but i think the one problem is ash is 'the chosen one' isnt he?

and ash doesnt start the movies with the necronomicon does he? its something he picks up later. since the game already features that item minus the ex mortis part, maybe give ash those special abilities or something similar that fits game balance after he aquires the book. so its not something that will even happen every game. but then his ability box already has alot of text already....

since ive probably played less than 20 games i cant comment much on game balance issues with Ash without actually playing him, but ive watched the movies and have been reading the comic for years, so i guess i can have opinions on the flavor stuff.

hail to the king!

PearlJamaholic said:

About the chain-saw...that depends on what kind of monster you are fighting. Some of them have resistance because they are extremely difficult to hit. So I guess that following common logic, the chainsaw shouldn't affect them at all because they are too fast? It's a GAME, so the rules are made for every monster, ancient one etc. But anyway, the biggest problem with the chainsaw is that it's UNIQUE. If it trully MUST be unique, then the necronomicon should be unique as well.

The boomstick, yes it is different, what I meant was to CHANGE the abilities since it is POINTLESS to print out that card when you can just use the shotgun from the AH game and treat it as single-handed. If he wants the ability on the card to be the same, then he should also add something new. For example: The boomstick is easier to wheild therefore, direct shots are easier to make. So it should do 'double successes' even on a 5. Its just like a shotgun only lighter, so it's not as difficult to hit something with it. Anyway, that's JUST a suggestion.

Mykayel said:

To the issue with the weired names (Horror Check instead of Horror Test), I am playing this game in german and thought that it would be an appropriate Translation. But I am very thankful that you staightened that out for me.

Thank you very much for your comment and critic points. I will have to go over the Issues one by one and remodel the Cards. As you stated I do have little experience in the game. In example I don't know all the Items so good and their special abilities i.e. the shotgun. I reckoned it must be a +5 weapon or so, since you need 2 Hands to wield it. A pity is in the Character creator I can't find an explanation to all the cards (Value, properties, ect.). And all I found on these Boards or the old ones at that, is a complete Card listing.

The Book Issue. I wanted to make it Unique but the Editor only allowed me one Unique Item and since that was my Chainsaw, I made it common. A Gate (demon portal) was what I originally had in mind. So thanks here again for straightening it out. Closing a gate would not be possible from any location, the Idea was that after you go through the other world Dimension and come back to Arkham you may attempt to seal it. It was never the Idea that you can close a gate on any time at any location. That would be overpowered even to me.

Also I had to find kinda bad moves for the lower numbers like 1 or 2. On a 3 and 4 I had to think hard. 4 had to be something in the middle something that is not really bad but not entirely good either. Banishing the Monster I had in mind it would go back to the cup and not count as trophy. Explaining all these things on the card itself seemed a bit pointless since it is cramepd up quite a bit already. if I would have put all the information about how to treat the cards spells also onto the card, I would wind up with a 0,5pt wrighting on a 2-3 inch card. I think you get the picture.

Maybe I should wright an extra flavour card to explain what the actions do, or just for the time being leave the book out and get to it again when i have played more games and are a bit mor versatile in the games mechanics. However I wanted this Item to be kind of risky to use. Sealing a gate in my opinion is a great move, but as seen in Evil Dead Ash can't even recite a three word spell and thus opens a gate instead of sealing one.

PearlJamaholic said:

My thought exactly. And I didn't whant to use the shotgun cause he can only use one handed weapons. And when you say you can overlook the two-handed weapon IS usable with only one hand, then I ask myself why my other bumpy creations can't be overlooked eighther. Ifyou can bend the rules with one Item you may just bend the rules of the entire game (my opinion).

but i think the one problem is ash is 'the chosen one' isnt he

I think the correct term is something like "The chosen one who fell from the sky to help us defeat the deadites". So Chosen one would be more accurate I belive. But nowadays everyone and everything is "The Chosen One", i.e. Neo is the Chosen one in Matrix. I thought it a nice homage to the film where he actually falls from the sky at the beginning of the movie.

Regards to Evil Dead character...

Chainsaw should be common and maybe make it something like this...

~Exhaust: "to +8 this Combat Check and loss 1 Sanity"

~does not refresh unless you spend all your focus

~2 hands

~7 dollars

and the Boomstick

~ +2 Combat Checks

~ 6's count as 2 success

~1 hand

~6 dollars

Maybe give him a skill that allow him to use up to one 2 handed weapons with zero hands!

Leave out the Nercomonica Ex Mortis and maybe give him a special ability "that when he gains a unquie Tome he may search the Unquie item deck for the Necromonica".

Are there any other Dark Tower fans out there? I think it would be cool to have Roland Deschain investigator!

roland is the man!!! i havent finished the series yet but i think roland would be a broken character if you kept it true to character. first he's kinda bad luck for his friends, and second the guy just isnt shaken by anything. he's about the only character i think of that could face down an ancient one and not lose his mind. infact he might even scare some AO haha

Messing around with SE 2.0 this afternoon gave birth to this swine...

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/2066/randolphneubergerfrontsyr4.png

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/6088/randolphneubergerbacksiqm1.png

He's basically a cash factory. Critique appreciated.

Criswell said:

I wouldn't be much interested in playing an old bald banker, because that's almost what I am.

However, your backstory is really well-written and is very enticing.

Maybe you know this already: the bank is the best place to get blessed (believe it or not) which will really help Randolph's stock market investments!

On the other hand, in six turns Randolph will ordinarily have 2 successes for a $4 gain *and 1 failure for $1 loss. I don't think he's making as much money as you think he does. He's making half of what Jenny makes at $1 per turn.

*I may be reading the gain wrong, its hard to read on my computer. If it's $3, then his net gain for six turns is $5, still less than Jenny's. Needless to say, he'll probably take out an immediate bank loan and should easily be able to make his payments.

It would really be nice of Randolph to spend 2 clue tokens to save someone else's retainer and really unbanker like.

Criswell said:

Maybe try changing his Stock Market ability to where you make some sort of luck check and you get a dollar for each success but if you get no success you loss money and/or items.

Perhaps for his second ability Financial Clout make it affect Bank Loans, for example investigators gain extra money when they get a Bank Loan or when they roll for their Bank Loan they only have to pay the Dollar on a roll of one, etc.

MrsGamura said:

@mageith: Thanks. IMO it's acceptable that he isn't guaranteed to make as much money as Jenny. After all, he's no lily-livered trustafarian in a cocktail dress - he's a hardworking financial mogul willing to countenance risks with stoic resolve. **** the torpedos, what!

@MrsGamura: Ah yes, being able to affect bank loans makes much better sense (I tend to forget because I so rarely use them). He really wouldn't have any influence over, say, who the newspaper employs, would he?

The Stock Market special ability is not mine, but is actually a preset in SE 2.0. A Luck roll for money is a possibility, but I do prefer it that his profit-making ability doesn't impinge upon his stats. If he always had to keep his Luck jacked up for the greater monetary good, he'd be very passive as I would almost never have him make use of spells/tomes or go for gate closures. Besides, thematically he's in a position where his underlings do his trading for him - he likely just checks the old stock ticker once a month and nods before going back to playing golf with Willy Taft.

(The image embed here is baffling, and I'm wary of experimenting without an edit post function, so ctrl + c at the ready...)

Dutch "Crippler" Calhoun - The Wrestler

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/3846/dutchcalhounfrontsidexe9.png

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/5053/dutchcalhounbacksidexy2.png

Item - Analgesics

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/8334/analgesicfrontsidevg0.pn

Ally - Mme. Krovotsky

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/8200/madamekrovotskyfrontsidlv8.png

The 3 San/7 Stam is by far the least effective stat split IMO. Stamina can be easily protected with weapons but Sanity is frequently lost through failed horror checks. Given that such fighters (Monterey, Harrigan, Mickey McGlen) also have lousy Will scores, I find I'm perpetually on a short leash to the Asylum with those guys and am often hesitant to engage the uglier monsters with them, despite their supposed toughness. Dutch is a 3/7 I'd be happy to play due to his respectable Will.

A Madness-buffering Ally is also a boon, though hopefully not overly advantageous.

Analgesics act as a cheap, emergency Stamina buffer not wholly necessary, but thematically apt given his profession. The concept is temporary healing - they'll keep you going, but you'd better find medical help before they wear off. I figured end of the movement phase after the card is filled would be the best time for their effect to end.

Starting him off at Darke's Carnival was another theme-based decision - could just as easily be Velma's or the Train Station if a Dunwich home is unwise.

Again, input most welcome.

oops...

Analgesics

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/8334/analgesicfrontsidevg0.png

I like Dutch's Touch as Nail ability and Crippler but he seem more of a grappler that a wrestler! There is a skill called Wrestle.

You don't really have to punt the part about natural 6's because grapple only effect dice that are not a successes i.e. it will give +1 to a 4 but not a 5 or 6 because they are all ready successes.

and why the ally, she his friend from Carnival?

Analgesic seems interesting not a Stamina tank like the jewelry but interesting.

This is for the DT fans.

Was thinking about taking away a Unique and adding a Common and Clue.

that roland looks pretty good. i can see him having clue tokens too. he kinda always knew what was going on. i might have to play him sometime soon.

My first atempt to make investigator.

investigator

http://i036.radikal.ru/0901/cb/2e3031b1b103.jpg

his possession

http://i031.radikal.ru/0901/1a/4b02250f4b5f.jpg

comments welcome

lishai said:

Walter seems like a pretty decent combatant. Just one thing with his Assault ability - looking at it one way you do "enter combat" with every monster at the location you end your movement, just you can choose to run away and evade it instead of standing and facing it. Maybe to gain this bonus he has to take a similar penalty to evade checks for the turn. This then gives the gamble of "I think I need the +4 combat to beat monster A, but I wanted to evade monster B. Which way do I go?"

lishai said:

He seems quite overpowered. Combat Skill of 5 + 6 (Mp18) + 4 (Assault) = 15. There is no monster able to survive this, even without the Assault capacity! With a Sanity of 5, he's also extremely resilient to madness.

He should be more human... i.e. with weakness(es)! Now he's only a killing machine.

Thanks for your input
Here is my second version.I removed Assult ability and added abilities to make him not to strong.

http://i002.radikal.ru/0901/c5/b526da684dfd.jpg

Aaargh!Why i can't edit my own posts!?

I added story

http://s61.radikal.ru/i171/0901/0f/7fd407cd3c65.jpg

Comments welcome