Can't see any pictures.
Custom Investigators
pcblack said:
Some ideas of mine:
About Thomas ability to never discard items. it is intended for him to keep his holy water even after he used it. i don't know if it would work this way?
Hate to break it to ya, but postimage is usually very temporary for pictures.
I'd recommend switching to Imgur or Photobucket. Imgur is probably better.
father thomas: u kidding me??? ok If I understand am i going whole game with only holy water which ll be discarded after one fight and with only cross?? srsly??? Its pretty useless character imo… what about just chance that ability???
Or maybe i just missunderstood something?
Ctulu:
First - Please create your investigators with Strange Eons . Not only will it make the process look 100% nicer, but it will also help you fix a lot of the problems these characters have with starting possessions (namely, some have too much).
Second - Please make at least a borderline attempt to proofread your investigators. Your customs are littered with spelling errors everywhere.
Finally - All three of those Investigators are excessively overpowered, and unfortunately they aren't really powerful in interesting ways. I think it says a lot when the least powerful of your characters is the one that starts the game as Deputy of Arkham.
The Atheist turns all spells he receives into skills, which is just way too strong. It would be a little more fair if he substituted each unique and exhibit for a common, but he's substituting each unique and exhibit for 2 commons instead, which is insane. Instead of receiving a blessing OR A CURSE he gets 3 clue tokens instead, which is blatently overpowered since it includes curses. Cross now comes with an extra +1 to combat checks for free, even if you aren't using the cross which is nuts. And his last ability allows him to bypass a lot of the detriments of Physical Resistance and Immunity. On top of that, he has 1 extra skill point above average with no drawbacks to his starting items, which includes $8, a cross, 2 clues, 3 commons and skill. He's absurdly overpowered in a lot of ways, and thematically he makes absolutely no sense as an Atheist. Nothing about this investigator makes any sense, and he needs a serious overhaul.
The Silver Twilight Lodge Member almost looks passable at a glance, but is actually just a durdle machine. He has a membership that he can never lose (not normally a problem), but he also gains a clue token every upkeep he's in the STL. His second ability says he gains double the clue tokens, but it doesn't work on starting clues and clues picked up from locations, which means it won't usually matter. Except, when combining his two abilities, you have a guy sitting on the STL all game generating 2 CLUES PER TURN FOR FREE while also getting Inner Sanctum Encounters. That's a little silly.
Now for the most balanced of the three, the Deputy. Because he starts with the Deputy card, he is able to go anywhere he wants from the start of the game onward, and Deputy of Arkham hardly even affects his starting money (This character starts with $40 worth of possessions instead of the standard $35), he is a far stronger version of Jenny Barnes with no downsides. On top of that, he is also 4 SKILL POINTS ABOVE AVERAGE, which is absolutely not okay. At most, any character should maybe have 2 points above average (the Fed), and a few have 1 point above average, but the majority of characters have an average arrangement of stats. Your character is 4 points above average, and with extra skill points being about $8 a pop this guy's starting money is actually $72 out of $35, which means he has more money worth of starting goods than 2 investigators put together.
I think you might want to get a few more games of Arkham under your belt before reconstructing these characters because it's pretty clear you can't tell when something is way too strong.
Here are a few of the many Investigators I've cooked up. I've tested a few in game, but not all of them, and so REALLY would love to get some tips on balance and the like. Also, I am aware that some of them DO have copies of other original characters' abilities--this is mostly until I get tips on balance and the like, or I think of something more unique.
The group here is actually NPCs from my current Call of Cthulhu campaign I am writing--Fun Fact~ 8D
Creed Maxwell - The Major General
Mathilda Boulton - The Schoolmarm
The images were created by me using a modelling program--apart from Tzeitel's image which came from DeviantArt. I'll post the name of the user once I have it again but for the moment, I do NOT own the image, nor the models used in the other images--I just posed them.
Man you sure like your 1 focus characters.
Albert Rogers: Way too much money in fixed and random possessions, and I feel the character is overall way too consistent. You gave him a bank loan so he could start with an extra $10 of starting money, which is okay on it's own, but then you take that money and turn it into Richard Upton Pickman (which gives about $16 in extra stats). He also starts with a Sledgehammer, which is pretty nuts. His ability to generate $1 each turn as long as he has a monster trophy is pretty solid and actually pretty interesting, but the ability becomes really stupid since he starts they game with 2 monster trophies. In my opinion, part of what makes Arkham Horror a fun game is a balanced mix of elements you have control over and elements that will always surprise you. As things stand, I think this character has a little too much control over his elements, but a few tweaks could put him in a good spot.
Tzeitel Weitz: Seems fine. Obviously change her second ability to be something a bit more interesting, but her first ability is neat. Changes that come to mind are giving back that stat point you took away (Ability penalty doesn't need to be -1 for this, 0 is fine) and changing the first ability name to something that makes more sense for the ability (How does an Old Wive's Tale cause monsters to suddenly leave Arkham forever?)
Eliza Liddel: No. Just no, that ability is way too strong in conjunction with the Sliver Twilight Membership, and even if you remove the membership she's still absurd. If you changed the ability from "gaining a common item" to "gaining money equal to the number of successes, up to $2", then she would be fine. As things stand, her resource generation is unfair.
Creed Maxwell: Change the first ability to be something more interesting and he's good to go.
Mathilda Boulton: She's not overpowered or underpowered in any regard, but I don't like her. She's can do a lot of little things, but she's not really good at any one thing in particular. Starting with a 45 Automatic encourages the ability to fight, but being at 3 stamina means she really can't afford to take a hit. Being able to turn spells into clue tokens for other people during upkeep sounds enticing, but most of the time you end up on the negative end of a trade since spells will only be able to give 0,1 or 2 clue tokens (and ones that would give 2 are usually worth keeping, except Spectral Razors and maybe a couple others) . That alone doesn't mean you shouldn't turn useless spells into clues, but the ability is extremely narrow AND requires you to make some sacrifices ( namely, forcing both people in the same place for Upkeep ). Finally, she' can't have more than 5 clues ever, which is fine but doesn't make sense since I thought she was a teacher, a theme you rectified with her first ability. She's not especially bad, but I think you should sit down and try to narrow her role down a bit. Small touches I would recommend are allowing her first ability to be used during Movement as long as both people are in the same area instead of during Upkeep in the same area, and if you really want to keep her second ability make it something different like "can't gain more than 1 clue token per turn".
Hope that helps a bit.
Shining Aquas said:
Man you sure like your 1 focus characters.
Albert Rogers: Way too much money in fixed and random possessions, and I feel the character is overall way too consistent. You gave him a bank loan so he could start with an extra $10 of starting money, which is okay on it's own, but then you take that money and turn it into Richard Upton Pickman (which gives about $16 in extra stats). He also starts with a Sledgehammer, which is pretty nuts. His ability to generate $1 each turn as long as he has a monster trophy is pretty solid and actually pretty interesting, but the ability becomes really stupid since he starts they game with 2 monster trophies. In my opinion, part of what makes Arkham Horror a fun game is a balanced mix of elements you have control over and elements that will always surprise you. As things stand, I think this character has a little too much control over his elements, but a few tweaks could put him in a good spot.
Tzeitel Weitz: Seems fine. Obviously change her second ability to be something a bit more interesting, but her first ability is neat. Changes that come to mind are giving back that stat point you took away (Ability penalty doesn't need to be -1 for this, 0 is fine) and changing the first ability name to something that makes more sense for the ability (How does an Old Wive's Tale cause monsters to suddenly leave Arkham forever?)
Eliza Liddel: No. Just no, that ability is way too strong in conjunction with the Sliver Twilight Membership, and even if you remove the membership she's still absurd. If you changed the ability from "gaining a common item" to "gaining money equal to the number of successes, up to $2", then she would be fine. As things stand, her resource generation is unfair.
Creed Maxwell: Change the first ability to be something more interesting and he's good to go.
Mathilda Boulton: She's not overpowered or underpowered in any regard, but I don't like her. She's can do a lot of little things, but she's not really good at any one thing in particular. Starting with a 45 Automatic encourages the ability to fight, but being at 3 stamina means she really can't afford to take a hit. Being able to turn spells into clue tokens for other people during upkeep sounds enticing, but most of the time you end up on the negative end of a trade since spells will only be able to give 0,1 or 2 clue tokens (and ones that would give 2 are usually worth keeping, except Spectral Razors and maybe a couple others) . That alone doesn't mean you shouldn't turn useless spells into clues, but the ability is extremely narrow AND requires you to make some sacrifices ( namely, forcing both people in the same place for Upkeep ). Finally, she' can't have more than 5 clues ever, which is fine but doesn't make sense since I thought she was a teacher, a theme you rectified with her first ability. She's not especially bad, but I think you should sit down and try to narrow her role down a bit. Small touches I would recommend are allowing her first ability to be used during Movement as long as both people are in the same area instead of during Upkeep in the same area, and if you really want to keep her second ability make it something different like "can't gain more than 1 clue token per turn".
Hope that helps a bit.
It definitely does!
Albert: I see your point there. The two monster trophies came from me being too nice to the player who might get lucky and draw a higher toughness monster and then be tempted to spend it. As for the Loan, it actually ties into his Personal Card, the only problem is that, if I let the player keep it as cash, then his personal arc would be far, FAR too easy to finish. The Sledgehammer was there since his focus is supposed to be on monster-killing and fits with someone that works with stone. I maybe I could give him the crowbar instead…? I do think you're right on al counts, certainly, about taking more control away and giving it a little bit less cut-and-dry explanation of his role. It's obvious what he's meant to do just by looking at his sheet.
Tzeitel: I'm glad you approve mostly with her overall. For the title, I was leanig towards the idea of monsters in the Outskirts (since the game usually hints at it too) as being things that are just present and add fear and tension to the town. Dismissing things as 'Old Wives Tales' usually is a way that Lovecraft characters dimissed fears of monstrous things at first. I will definitely return the stat point, though I will need to think of something more unique for that second ability…
Eliza: While you're wording could be a little nicer, I'm glad you pointed out what you did. Once again, a large portion of trouble comes from simply wanting to use the money presented in full--I suppose I could ease up on that and not use the full $25 just because it's there. And yeah, the ability does smack of abuse-ready. I had contemplated, before putting it up, about making it money-based but figured I'd let someone else say it as a way to confirm my suspicions.
Creed: Glad to see at least one of these folks didn't need a complete overhaul! Lol! I'll think of something for him.
Mathilda: I see what you mean there. Once again, it falls into the 'It doesn't feel right if I don't use all the money' pit once more. I narrowed her ability because I felt that it would be a bit too easy to abuse if it was anything else (and forgetting about Movement Phase altogether). Her second ability was placed there for balance sake, but if you feel that she doesn't necesarily need to be weakened then I will definitely adjust it or remove it.
Went ahead and made some adjustments based on the recommendations given to me. Let's see how they fare now with said fixing and tinkering!
Alright, I'll take a look at the second take, but I probably won't comment on a third batch since I think it would be good for you to play a game with these characters and discover the good and bad on your own, in the proper environment.
Albert Rogers - Cleaner and better for sure, but still suffers from a couple of the same problems. At this point, the two things I'm still a little irked with are starting with a fixed ally and starting with a monster trophy at all given his first ability. If you really must start him with an ally, I would recommend making it a random ally. If you look at the normal investigators, not a single one starts with a fixed ally except Ashcan Pete, who starts with one of the "lesser" allies (Duke). Anyone else that has one (which is very few) is limited to a random ally, which is still an amazing thing to start with but might not always be optimal. When you make it fixed, not only do you guarantee a near optimal ally but you also take away some of the fun in what could be a nice surprise factor. If it must be RUP for personal reasons, I'm not gonna argue with ya, but I've given my two cents. As for the other issue, I would just take away his starting monster trophy, thus giving him a reason to go fight things. He is so much more rewarded killing a monster on the board if it's his first one, but the rewarding sensation doesn't exist if he already starts the game winning.
Tzeitel Weitz - Okay, somehow I'm actually more creeped out at this character since the first ability is called "Homeland Traditions", in which the tradition is to walk into the forest and sacrifice an eldritch being. The new second ability is good and interesting, but unfortunately needs a couple of clarifications. Like, do the investigators need to be in the same area, the same neighborhood, the same world? The text is a little ambiguous right now, so I read it as "I can cast heal while in Arkham, and split it with investigators in Other Worlds". If this is your intent, and even if it isn't, note the restrictions in the ability. Otherwise, everything is good.
Eliza Liddell - This maid appears to be superskilled. Is she secretly a thief? Because that would make sense with her pilfering ability. Maybe change her title to reflect that. As for "real" changes, I would probably change Pilfering to only work on Unstable Locations, otherwise she's pretty crazy on a few key locations (Newspaper, Curioussitie Shoppe, Administration Building). Right now, she's already pretty crazy on the Silver Twilight Lodge, but I guess that was the intent. Seems fine for the most part.
Creed Maxwell - Okay, that ability is absurdly powerful, mostly because it applies to "any investigator in the same Neighborhood as Creed", which does in fact include Creed himself. At the very least, I'd have it only work on other investigators, or provide a once per turn limit.
Mathilda Boulton - Seems good overall, though I would argue lowering either her Luck or Lore by 1 and allocating the point elsewhere. Keep in mind her abilty does get stronger the more players you have.
On the topic of spending money on investigators, you want to aim to spend everything or very close to everything. If your character is turning out too powerful, it's usually due to allocating too much money towards "fixed" possessions, which I would say also includes extra skill points and increased sanity/stamina. Also, it's good to remember that some possessions in this game are just too strong to be starting items, regardless of their value. Examples include things like Migo Brain Case, Mask of Vice, Elder Signs (unless you have some VERY harsh restrictions going with it), Mythos Lore, Credit Rating (arguably), and most fixed Allies. If you have extra money, consider giving more random commons, uniques, and spells, as well as clues and flat dollars.
Alright, took your advice and did some more tweaking. I think I've found a decent balance to how I make Investigators now--I even went back and deliberately found ways to eliminate the 'Borrow Specials' from others for Investigators I haven't posted on here.
Anyway, here's a new one:
As you may have guessed from the name, he's Mathilda's brother--nothing special for it just worthy of mention.
Anyway, about balancing, items and the like, I've tried to sort of work things so that if they have a starting item it's Common or is like--a dumbed-down version of the ideal. So like, with Clyde: he's meant to be a monster-hunter, obviously, and a rifle is powerful in the sense that it will boost his already pretty high Fight. Problem is, it's Physical, which means it's only gonna be good on a certain set of monsters and it's two-hands limiting what he can do in combat with it. Moreover, his second ability is good on only Elusive monsters--one of which is immune to Physical meaning that he's still not playing at full power. To be at his best he will need to have better gear.
So yeah, my theory is this--play it like an RPG. Characters start with basic gear tooled towards their skill set but are left room to need better gear later on as things get more dangerous. I've played Clyde once and got relatively lucky using him a party of three. The Outskirts issue arose twice due to bad Mythos drawing but was helpful in getting him targets he could handle at that point in time.
Hey guys, first time posting, and first time making an investigator. I'm looking for feedback on him because he is turning out to be a bit tricky to balance.
I'm thinking about lowering his fight or max stam by 1 to compensate for him having the healing stone If I was to do both of those things I might also increase his focus by 1, he's already at a -1 penalty for it. Also considering taking away his axe for another random common, but I kind of wanted him to keep the axe due to his story. This character might be alright as is, but I'm not entirely sure, healing stone is just so powerful. The rest of his information is in the dropbox link.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7h61ju6m1jxbd8e/TQKYU1NXuG
Let me know what you guys think!
I think my one thing that I notice and sort of shy away from is the plethora of starting items. While I know I've been guilty of it in the past myself and that's super tempting to load them up, having a lot of starting items causes issues of all sorts, from simple 'bookkeeping' to losing that feeling of uniqueness to the each time they're played. Since the Statue is so critical, I would say let him keep that and his Madness, and then put the rest into Skill points (or letting him get 2 Skill cards) or boosting his Stamina/Sanity to compensate for having a Madness to start.
I like the Dumb Luck ability since it costs Clue tokens to utilize though really all of the most important skills have enough passable values to make it not something you would need to rely on anyway.
"Simple " probably doesn't need to have the complex wording and you could just say 'Once per turn' or 'Once per round'. It'll just help to simplify things in terms of wording because, even after reading through that three times I still don't quite get the exact jist.
I get the general feeling that you wanted to get this guy money and then over-shot the mark just a bit. Maybe try and reign in a few of the things that give you money, like the Madness, the minus Sanity and all, narrow down his inventory to a slightly more generalized feel. The way he stands now, I would expect Shane to be more like a character dedicated to a certain scenario and not a character a person would typically play just off the cuff.
My idea was to present an investigator that had some historic context. After doing a little research, I decided to go with Robert Goddard, the father of rocketry. Please give me some feedback as this is my first attempt at making my own investigator.
I like him. A lot. Having a person that is immune to being attacked in the street from Monsters in the sky is a great special ability. His average speed means he can't abuse it too terribly much, though, I would try and work on the wording. Most flying creatures (apart from Cultists via Hastur) probably don't give two farthings about a man's reputation, so maybe rework it as 'Since his eyes are always skyward' or something like that instead. That's just flavor text though so it's up to you.
His rocket building ability is also a darn unique idea and I'm glad you start him off with five bucks so he can build one after he uses his first one. If I was going to nit-pick, I might say that that is the only thing that might make him a little too powerful at the start of the game, but after he uses that first rocket and builds his second one, then he probably will lose that initial burst of combat steam.
As far as abusing it, here is the thing I can see:
Folks pool their money to Robert, let him build a rocket and then let him go and nuke a single big monster. Hell, with a rocket you could probably take down the Dunwich Horror in one swoop if you got lucky with the resistances of the thing. Beyond that, yeah, pool your money and let him one-shot monsters.
Another big thing that could be maybe abused, is using him as a sort of barrier for street travel. If, say, you get a rumor that requires paying something while in a street location, if Robert can't pay it himself, just let him set up camp in that location and then let other people land there to do what needs doing. The monsters won't touch them and so the threat of paying rumors and the risks involved are decreased greatly. That also includes things like the 'Throne' and 'Altar' items that get set up in the street as well as anything other event in the streets that might be beneficial.
Point being, if I was playing as Robert with a team, I likely wouldn't be spending much time in Other Worlds. I'd likely be playing Arkham itself and let others handle it.
As a solo character, he's sort of Meh. His rocket-building costs him valuable time and likely wouldn't be used, at least by me, when that same time could be used to close gates or do other necessities. Even aside from the delay, five bucks is a lot of money in a solo game.
So, in conclusion:
Robert seems an all-around decent character good for playing with a team of Investigators. Let him troll the town for monsters and to keep other Investigators safe from Sky-attacks, but don't waste him and his firepower (literally) on the Other Worlds.
Solo, I'd likely take a pass on him for someone more suited to a solo Investigator, even though his stats suit that style well enough.
Also, good personal story--and thanks for making one. Most folks don't post them and I would love to read the character's backgrounds!
Edited by Dr.FaustSome ideas of mine:
About Thomas ability to never discard items. it is intended for him to keep his holy water even after he used it. i don't know if it would work this way?
Hi pcblack,
As a pastor, Father Thomas can make Holy Water anytime, so its plausible that he can preserve that card during the whole game. As a result, he is very strong, it would be like having a Tommy Gun (+6) in all Combat checks. The Solem Vows balance his powerful fixed possesions.
Again, as a pastor, not being arrested is thematically possible, but not being delayed or even devoured looks like too much.
Finally, even you have selected a nice photograph, would be better to have a color illustration of Father Thomas, like all the official investigators (something like http://goo.gl/TKsuY or http://goo.gl/r5REs ).
.
Those are my two cents, thanks for sharing!
Some ideas of mine:
About Thomas ability to never discard items. it is intended for him to keep his holy water even after he used it. i don't know if it would work this way?
Hi pcblack,
As a pastor, Father Thomas can make Holy Water anytime, so its plausible that he can preserve that card during the whole game. As a result, he is very strong, it would be like having a Tommy Gun (+6) in all Combat checks. The Solem Vows balance his powerful fixed possesions.
Again, as a pastor, not being arrested is thematically possible, but not being delayed or even devoured looks like too much.
Finally, even you have selected a nice photograph, would be better to have a color illustration of Father Thomas, like all the official investigators (something like http://goo.gl/TKsuY or http://goo.gl/r5REs ).
.
Those are my two cents, thanks for sharing!
To be fair, holy water isn't something he can (in terms of actual Catholic procedures) whip up a batch of any old time! ^^; There is a process to it, after all. I would say that while I agree he shouldn't lose his holy water, I do think that there should be some cost to refresh it after it is used. Maybe go to South Church to refresh it, or pay a a few dollars or a clue token during upkeep?
I'll stick my guy in here as well. Any thoughts? Good, bad, boring, playable? The personal touches that my friend will probably enjoy will obviously be lost to you, but when it comes to game play I'd like the charcter to be "ok" at least.
I like the fact that you gave him the King in Yellow to help him jumpstart his insanity-to-clue collection, and the Whisky to give him an extra shot (pun fully intended) on getting more clues. The once a turn thing is great but the only issue I see is the wording...I think reading a tome is a Sanity cost, though I may be wrong.
I think reading a tome is a Sanity cost, though I may be wrong.
I'm pretty sure reading tomes is a loss, not a cost (if you look at the wording of tomes, it's more or less always "spend X movement points to make a Y check and lose Z Sanity". Key word here is "lose")
I was thinking to exclude effects that let you more or less spend sanity in any way - tomes, effects and other stuff, but it may not be that big a deal when the ability is limited to once a turn.
Him being a real tome hunting guy actually fits really well.
I put this guy into my own thread, but I'm placing him here for a closer look for a second opinion. It's mostly on his special ability. I've played through the game twice with this guy and found that a problem arose mostly with Sanity issues--that is, even passing Horror checks, he still had issues when facing down Nightmarish critters. Beyond that, I don't know if his particular abilities could be exploited in some way I'm missing.
I don't like the artwork. A quick google turned up the following:
http://www.squidge.org/~mrs_fish/mummy/medjai02.jpg
http://thewisdomwarrior.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/fin2rgb.jpg
I'd also like to see a Story So Far. Why has this dervish turned up in Arkham? Why is he cursed?
Stats - He doesn't look to have a clear weakness, but his role is too well-defined for him to be an all-rounder. I'd drop the Luck by 1 (he is *cursed*) and give him another UI (and less starting cash).
The ability is pretty strong for a monster whacker. Maybe +1 to Combat, Horror and Evade. This also makes his ability easier to remember, as it gives the same bonus throughout when interacting with monsters of that type.
I don't like the artwork. A quick google turned up the following:
http://www.squidge.org/~mrs_fish/mummy/medjai02.jpg
http://thewisdomwarrior.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/fin2rgb.jpg
I'd also like to see a Story So Far. Why has this dervish turned up in Arkham? Why is he cursed?
Stats - He doesn't look to have a clear weakness, but his role is too well-defined for him to be an all-rounder. I'd drop the Luck by 1 (he is *cursed*) and give him another UI (and less starting cash).
The ability is pretty strong for a monster whacker. Maybe +1 to Combat, Horror and Evade. This also makes his ability easier to remember, as it gives the same bonus throughout when interacting with monsters of that type.
I make the artwork myself so that I have control over the entire process and it makes it easier for me to keep track of the source (rather than have to list artists and the like. I post these on Deviantart and I'm not sure is some artists would appreciate me using their art for things in my gallery, you know?).
I like the idea for breaking up the points to all three--it'll help if he needs to avoid a monster too, rather than out-and-out fighting all of them.
Anywho, here are the updated sheet as well as his Personal Story Cards and 'Story So Far'
This is my first investigator creation. I'm still wondering about where to find good colored images for these in the style of the actual game. Can you guys let me know what you think, and offer some feedback? Thanks!
And here is his personal story and pass/fail:
