Here is my second-isn stab at rolling some custom heroes. No play testing yet; this has just been a fun distraction for me. If the link below breaks, please let me know.
The actual Hero cards are at BGG, here's the link to pdf @ bgg: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/57525/n-g-martin-extra-heroes
A big thanks/disclaimer is required to those of you who have posted high-quality character art in this forum previously, because as you'll quickly realize I've borrowed almost all of it, and even used it for inspiration in a few cases. Hopefully re-branding public-domain character art won't distract from the content of the Heroes, which is why I’m here.
Also, huge thanks to Jeremy Lennert for his most excellent editor- Every one of these Heroes have been through HeroGen v2.3 in some form or other, although most of their abilities had to be approximated within the editor to get a BP count. The CVs should be square with JL's calculations/convention.
None of these Heroes have been created with RtL in mind. All comments welcome, they will save me time play testing.
Format:Hero Name
Stats
Intended Abilities: What I was hoping to accomplish with the Hero.
BP Values: From HeroGen v2.3.
Thoughts: some of my reflections, doubts, etc.
Az the Everdark
W/F/A/S
8 2 0 6
M/R/Ma
3 0 0
C/S/W
2 0 0
CV
3
Intended Abilities:
Attacks that ignore Undying, has Undying himself, Shadowcloak, and Necromancy. Balance the undying ability some way.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
~375? [388 without the stun-token-for-undying bit]
Thoughts:
Drop his CV to 2 and give him a curse token (CV +1) instead of a stun token if undying goes off? Even with Shadowcloak, he's squishy without undying. Maybe lose Necromancy.
Bane (Regul v2?)
W/F/A/S
16 4 1 4
M/R/Ma
3 0 0
C/S/W
2 0 0
CV
4
Intended Abilities:
Immune to Bleed and Poison
Health and Fatigue regen one each turn.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
357
Thoughts:
This is a complete ripoff of Regul, and I take no credit for this character. My friend and I just wanted a non-RtL friendly version. I added Verikas the Dead's fatigue regen, which is great and fits with the theme, and killed a Cskill to compensate.
Baron Zimheisk
W/F/A/S
16 5 1 3
M/R/Ma
0 0 0
C/S/W
2 1 0
CV
3
Intended Abilities:
Kick-ass melee that misses 50% of the time, no weapons allowed.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
300, without melee ability.
Thoughts:
I was surprised that his calc CV is only 3.5; if I bump him up to 4, he gets another 40BP (for 90 total), which I don't think his ability is worth, even if it hit every time. Perhaps you disagree. If it hits (50%), It's doing 5.8 damage with 1.8 surges on average.
Blind Chemal
W/F/A/S
12 5 2 4
M/R/Ma
1 1 1
C/S/W
1 1 1
CV
3
Intended Abilities:
Capability to hit any creature in the game, but no line of sight for >2 range or to prevent spawns, etc.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
431 (which is yikes, but still less than Runewitch Astara!) without the 2 space LOS restriction.
Thoughts:
I really like this concept, but I'm uncertain if his attack liberty is adequately compensated for by his lack of LOS. If he goes melee, all he's really liable for is spawns, which is a big liability, but perhaps not big enough. There are a couple exploits possible if he uses ranged/magic weapons.
Boulo the Full
W/F/A/S
24 3 2 4
M/R/Ma
3 0 0
C/S/W
0 0 0
CV
3
Intended Abilities:
Swallow and a reduced susceptibility to "inside-the-stomach" reprisals (Stun). Leeching the life from swallowed figures as his primary healing/life prolongation.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
Tricky. 253 with Barbarian and Titan's Blood, but those things also have "you cannot be healed," "no runes," and "Ironskin" which boulo doesn't have. No good approximations for Swallow or Leech. Tricky
Thoughts:
He started out as a joke, but now i just like the guy. I'm determined to make Swallow work for a Hero, because it is so very underused.
Crooked Remus
W/F/A/S
12 3 1 5
M/R/Ma
0 3 0
C/S/W
0 3 0
CV
3
Intended Abilities:
Fun little end of turn consideration on a standard 3/3 archer.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
330 without the ability. Girian Ashbringer's alternate abilities come close, and are 42 added together, but don't have the liability of hurting teammates (which is admittedly unlikely to actually occur). Fun for flavor, at least.
Thoughts:
Straightforward; possibly too strong. Maybe pull Daze.
Cuan'nmon
W/F/A/S
12 2 0 5
M/R/Ma
0 0 1
C/S/W
0 0 3
CV
2
Intended Abilities:
Hits scary ghosts, has shadowcloak, and no healing; but gets undying.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
358, straight-up from the editor.
Thoughts:
Another spin on the evil character.
Dain the Living
W/F/A/S
12 5 3 3
M/R/Ma
2 0 1
C/S/W
3 0 0
CV
4
Intended Abilities:
Hard to kill. Regen 1. No Poison.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
374 with Ispher's ability, 359 without it.
Thoughts:
I like the dwarf concept, but Brother Glyr is unfortunately a party-nuking trap-magnet. Here's a more resilient version. Originally I had him completely ability-less; maybe he should stay that way.
Ealwe the Pure
W/F/A/S
10 4 0 4
M/R/Ma
2 0 0
C/S/W
2 0 0
CV
2
Intended Abilities:
Optionally mad defense, at the price of nearly everything else
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
Not even sure I should try. 220 with 12 wounds and no ability.
Thoughts:
I want to create more variable CV Heroes, here's my first shot. Without her ability, she's a medium skill/dice, squishy 2-CV melee; with it she's a nearly indomitable 4-CV tank (although still a little weak in the arm).
Edrahil Radiant
W/F/A/S
12 2 0 4
M/R/Ma
1 1 1
C/S/W
0 0 0
CV
2
Intended Abilities:
Slowish, wary commander.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
292 with Tactician 2 (command), Wary, and Watchful (the anti-spawn abilities). Perfect Skill would add another 50, but Edrahil’s ability is arguably better (she gets to take her skill before the other players draw theirs, although she must take leadership, and cannot take any skill of her choice ).
Thoughts:
She might be a little *too* underpowered herself to be much fun for the player- maybe an additional fatigue point, or a magic skill, or something. Perfect skill only brings her up to 342, and with a 3rd fatigue point she’d still be at 363.
Elia Deadshot
W/F/A/S
12 4 2 4
M/R/Ma
0 3 0
C/S/W
0 3 0
CV
4
Intended Abilities:
The ability to ignore a “miss” result on either the main or a stealth die on a well-armored archer.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
336 with no ability. It’s not quite “never misses” (especially since it can be dodged), and she’ll be knocking a range here and a surge there off of her attacks when she doesn’t miss.
Thoughts:
She’s pretty straightforward. I could give her an ability more like Nim’s (see below), but that ability is pretty beastly and questionably overpowered.
Firis
W/F/A/S
8 6 2 5
M/R/Ma
1 0 0
C/S/W
0 1 0
CV
2
Intended Abilities:
Quick, flexible, well-ish-armored scout. 8 wounds to 3 CT means trap-vulnerable, but better than brother Glyr.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
So Firis sits at 341 with CV: 3 and Active Defense (roll 3 black dice, always), which is, overall, a little bit worse but extremely similar to his ability. Even when he rolls all 5 dice, he’s only getting 1.66 additional points of armor on average. Getting him into the editor is tough, because there’s no explicit way to put a limitation on a character to get some BP or CV back. JL, if you’re reading this, how about some scaleable CV modifiers for giving a character the perk: “cannot wear armor?”
Thoughts:
This is one of the cases where the art was an inspiration for a character, rather than me trying to match one up with those that had already been posted. Thinking about adding “has CV: 2 on your turn.”
Jack Switch
W F A S
8 6 2 5
M/R/Ma
1 0 0
C/S/W
0 1 0
CV
2
Intended Abilities:
Quick, flexible, well-ish-armored scout. Should be trapped often.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
349 with Flair (-1 dmg +1 surge) and no quick switching ability. This is like super flair, which really hurts on ranged attacks until treasure pops for the heroes. I wanted a character that can effectively use a ranged weapon and a melee weapon, something I at least have never been able to do in a game of descent.
Thoughts:
4 skills! Skills are pricey; Jack’s obviously a gambler, so his strength as a character is going to be largely dependent on his luck with his skill draw. Mighty + Marksman makes him a terror early; Mastery + Master makes him a beast with ++surge weapons later.
Kuvs’xul
W F A S
12 4 2 3
M/R/Ma
0 0 2
C/S/W
0 0 2
CV
3
Intended Abilities:
Fun ability puts him right into the fray, every time; but might be broken.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
Ambush (which is close) puts him at 350. Kuvs’ ability is even more fun, however; and potentially dangerous for the Heroes he leaves behind.
Thoughts:
I hope if anyone tests this out they let me know what it’s like to warp a slavering Beastman right next to a squishy, recuperating mage after he’s already taken his turn. Kuvs is a slow liability without his ability.
Leithe
W F A S
12 5 1 5
M/R/Ma
0 3 0
C/S/W
0 2 0
CV
3
Intended Abilities:
Quick, flexible, minion-slaying fiend
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
335, without his ability. Possibly overpowered.
Thoughts:
I want this idea to work; a sort of “flurry” that can make a ranged combat character more of a success. The rangers always get picked as runners; this guy could at least clip a few kobolds on his way to the chest. -2 dmg and -2 rng might not be the best way to go about accomplishing this idea, though.
Lonah Shadow
W F A S
12 4 0 5
M/R/Ma
0 2 0
C/S/W
0 2 0
CV
2
Intended Abilities:
Vulnerable, stealthy, sniper.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
359, straight-up.
Thoughts:
This is a character I would really want to play; challenging and technical.
Michel the Delving (ha ha)
W F A S
12 5 0 5
M/R/Ma
1 1 0
C/S/W
0 1 0
CV
3
Intended Abilities:
A Hero that can tunnel through the walls of the dungeon, or just dig pits for cover, fun, and profit.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
198 @ 3 CV, 248 at 2 CV, both without the ability, which is potentially game-breaking.
Thoughts:
So, this is one variation on a theme: characters that interact with and create/remove terrain. I’m thinking about reducing his CV to 2 and changing his text to “…7 MPs to gain one Curse token and place a 1x1 Pit tile orthagonally adjacent to you. If placed "off the map," the tile allows movement (within revealed areas only) through any adjacent walls.” That text still fits; man is that a challenge.
Nim
W F A S
12 4 0 4
M/R/Ma
0 0 3
C/S/W
0 0 1
CV
3
Intended Abilities:
A Hero that always rolls perfectly the first time, that is vulnerable and expensive to lose.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
A lowly 181 with 3CV (no ability). 2 CV would boost him to 231, but I’d like to keep him expensive. I think his ability is worth at least 125 BP, which would make it more expensive than any other.
Thoughts:
A character that never misses and rolls max possible damage on every attack is a little crazy; possibly this is too broken of an idea to try. The OL could neutralize Nim by dodging his attacks and trying to catch him with fast spawns; but against a careful planner it might not be enough.
Odus Stoneshaper
W F A S
12 5 3 4
M/R/Ma
2 0 0
C/S/W
1 0 0
CV
4
Intended Abilities:
Terrain variation on a theme #2: A Hero that can smash rocks for fun and profit.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
308 without the ability. I’m not convinced it’s worth 52 points; but there it is.
Thoughts:
Variation #2: smash. Sadly, I wasn’t able to rip off any good dwarven art for this guy. Any suggestions?
Orduhk Earthen
W F A S
12 4 1 4
M/R/Ma
2 0 0
C/S/W
2 0 0
CV
3
Intended Abilities:
Variation #3: super acrobat
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
275 with Float and Climber, but no +2/+2, and the unused water move-thru.
Thoughts:
This guy is designed to basically end every turn possible in a pit or rubble; or at least to manage to be there when attacking. When you can catch him out of hiding, he’s a much easier and squishy 3 CV target. He also sees through rubble to prevent spawns. He’s a little iffy.
Oriel
W F A S
12 4 1 4
M/R/Ma
3 0 0
C/S/W
1 2 0
CV
3
Intended Abilities:
A Hero that keeps one weapon the whole time that grows with the Hero.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
306 without the ability. It’s a little similar to weapon entanglement, which runs only 25 points in the editor. Her weapon does get a little obscene, of course, when it reaches the Pierce 9 + Bolt combination; and she’ll have those extra funds to spend on other equipment… hm.
Thoughts:
I like her; I like rogues. She’s a little squishy, and there are plenty of quests that don’t even have enough monsters to send her ability anywhere past Leech, especially in a party of 2+ damage-dealing Heroes. If she does make it to Bolt + Pierce 9, yikes, of course; but then again, max damage with a dagger rolling all 5 black dice is still only 10, with an average of only 5.83 (+2-ish for Bleed makes it 12 and 7.83). I could pull bolt, but I want a nice juicy incentive to stick with the shop dagger from the beginning of the game. Meh. Any thoughts?
Sihal the Wraith
W F A S
10 11 2 4
M/R/Ma
1 1 1
C/S/W
0 0 0
CV
4
Intended Abilities:
Ah, Sihal. I will find some way to make this idea work. Sihal presents a huge problem for players that do not read the rules carefully and thus don’t understand what it means not to take a turn (no spending MPs for anything, no actions, no effect tokens matter other than frost and curse… etc.) Anyway, what I wanted was a character with unlimited interrupt potential that was extremely limited in other ways.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
This is one where I don’t think it’s possible to approximate. Very unorthodox. Immunity to almost everything, but no potions, no resting, no shopping, no turns…
Thoughts:
Like I said, I will find a way to make this work… but I’m not sure if this is it. The numbers for fatigue and wounds probably need to be adjusted. Basically, for every three monsters the Overlord activates, Sihal takes a half action as an interrupt. The “use a glyph” is just to get him out of town when he dies, since he won’t be going there for any other purposes (he can’t spend MPs to shop). If he saves his fatigue, he can take three half actions in a row at any time, and have nearly enough to take a fourth; but then he has to regen his fatigue slowly as the OL activates monsters (not even leadership works). Low wounds with high CV because he can theoretically react to any attacks coming his way, never has to worry about speed reduction, and is immune to health-lowering effects.
Ubvech the Mirror
W F A S
12 4 1 4
M/R/Ma
3 0 0
C/S/W
2 1 0
CV
3
Intended Abilities:
A character with some fun “reactive armor” that prevents the same type of attack from hitting him twice in a row. The OL could always alternate attacking monster types.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
353 with “Cumulative Defense” which is somewhat similar but rather worse. He might need stat/skill reduction.
Thoughts:
This one was just a distraction since I liked the art so much. I think the idea could be fun, however. He probably needs one or two fewer skills/dice.
Vhalk the Terror
W F A S
16 3 2 0
M/R/Ma
3 0 0
C/S/W
3 0 0
CV
5
Intended Abilities:
An unstoppable beast of a character.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
346 with just Unstoppable. JL gives brother Glyr’s ability a 20 point cost, and this is one better, so I’ll call it 374 points, total.
Thoughts:
Meh, never tried a CV 5 Hero. Not sure how well this would actually work on the table. Unstoppable is nice, but Vhalk might still be irreparably slow.
Zatsu
W F A S
12 3 0 4
M/R/Ma
0 0 1
C/S/W
0 0 3
CV
2
Intended Abilities:
A character that derives most of it’s strength through the monsters it controls with Necromancy.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
290 with Necromancy 1 (a 40-BP ability that is not designed to stack in Vanilla Descent). I’ve added a little debuff for each new creature Zatsu controls, so I think 110 points total for 4 ranks of Necromany is a bit high. Still, that’s a lot of actions per turn, even with little skeletons or kobolds performing most of them. Beastmen and Ferrox would be a different story. 4 Beastmen is a lot of free damage.
Thoughts:
This is another character I would love to play; technical and challenging.
Zeigel Fourhand
W F A S
12 4 0 6
M/R/Ma
1 0 0
C/S/W
1 2 0
CV
2
Intended Abilities:
Off-hand heaven on a speedy 2 CV character
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
317 without the ability, which is basically like having +2 damage and +1 surge or something. I don’t think 43 points is unreasonable for this. What would get exciting is a Zeigel with 4 shields.
Thoughts:
Not sure if this idea is fun or broken. I’d have to see someone try this with four shields to know if it was really that monstrous. He’s got no armor to start, and I was trying to compensate with the no-backpack deal. Comments?
Zephir
W F A S
12 4 1 4
M/R/Ma
2 2 0
C/S/W
2 1 0
CV
3
Intended Abilities:
Basically has both a dagger and throwing knives equipped at any given time, and pays a fatigue for a really weak attack with the dagger’s main-hand abilities.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
310 without the ability.
Thoughts:
So I could change his ability to something like “…ranged attack that rolls one blue and yellow die and has Stun.” Make the knife a static weapon that never changes. Not sure which works better.
Zul Bloodstained
W F A S
8 4 0 6
M/R/Ma
1 0 0
C/S/W
2 1 0
CV
2
Intended Abilities:
Bleed and stealth on a glass cannon.
BP Value from JL's HeroGen v2.3:
353, straight-up.
Thoughts:
I like rogues, so here’s another. Again, I think fun to play; 8 wounds and big skills make him very tactical. Most likely will get trapped to death with some frequency, although good W/CV ratio should make him a little less attractive for trap death.