I don't think I love this guy that much...basically I don't love the 4 dice trait because of the way it looks when you print it on a sheet (it's just aestetics), so I know I'm really biased that way. Also, a fourth skill is pretty huge in Vanilla, but not tha much strong in AC. And I don't love that much Potion abilities, but again that's personal taste, based on the fact that I'm really greedy and see potions as rare goods. As for the rest, I believe he might be really mighty in Vanilla, actually, especially since it earns the Overlord only 2 CT.

Puppetmaster Avin

Puppetmaster Avin is designed to rely primarily on his ability for inflicting damage, rather than using weapons. Controlled monsters will generally do less damage than a well-equipped hero, but one beastman can kill another with an average hit, and the occasional high-tier monster can cause some serious damage. Since the monster both moves and attacks, Avin's ability will occasionally permit an attack on a monster that is otherwise too well-protected, and allows the heroes to rearrange monsters to some extent, with all the tactics that entails.

With 5 speed, 5 fatigue and 3 subterfuge skills, Avin is also an excellent runner. Dual shields are an obvious choice, since weapons aren't required. The combat skill gives Avin a shot at something that allows more attacks per turn, which funnel into the ability; it's also useful because melee is the obvious choice if Avin is forced to make a conventional attack, since it has the highest damage of the three attack types.

Very well thought, Antistone. I had also designed a "Dominate" hero during the week-end. Mine hadn't any fighting skill, but after reading your review of Puppetmaster, I guess I'm gonna fix it rightaway, since fighting skills may be really important for enhancing the utility of these guys. Also, adding the "runner" feature to your Puppetmaster was a really interesting feature.

An admirable work!

Blasphemer Beggam

Stay inside, child. Blasphemer Beggam is awake tonight. He roams the countryside with a ponderous slowness, seeking out any foolish enough to wander across his path. He can shrug off blows that would kill someone still human. Then the weapons he carries take on strange forms, lashing out with unnatural tendrils or unholy power, sucking the life from his hapless victims. In his wake, the dead rise and shamble after him, ripping apart any living thing that gets too close, before they crumble back to the ground.

As a general note, I love the Morph ability in the editor. I also made a character with it (and she has no trait dice just like the Blasphemer). Having an extra Morph die greatly compensates the absence of trait dice, at least in the beginning. Morph also makes much more interesting a lot of weapons with cool abilities but rolling mostly Yellow dice. It's way too cool, especially with many Runes (but web/daze ranged weapons are also very good tools with morph). The statline design is very unusual for a "caster" (which he is probably going to be, due to his 2 skills in Wizardry), but very fitting for a Liche like character. I like this character a lot also because of Necromancy. When I was the Overlord in Vanilla, a character drew it and I must admit that it's a nuisance and a very nice and tactical skill (now that I think about it: How does Necromancy work with Command? Does the evoked monster benefit from Command from my party members? Does it benefit from Command from enemy monsters for some very odd reason?). My only doubt about characters with Necromancy as a starting ability (I also made one) is: what happens if this character draws the Necromancy skill card?

By the way: wanderful work also for this week!

Iridar the Conquerer

Comparisons to Nanok of the Blade are natural here. Iridar has the same starting the maximum armor as Nanok, but scales up automatically based on chest level instead of "whenever he has enough money", which is probably in Iridar's favor early on (the heroes probably open a copper chest significantly before Nanok has 500 coins to on training), but could possibly swing in Nanok's favor towards the end of some quests (particularly if they don't have gold chests).

Iridar's balance ranged and magic traits actually means that he benefits less from training than most heroes, where Nanok benefits more, but gives Iridar a solid attack at the start of a quest and flexibility in the face of treasure draws, including the ability to wield rune weapons despite his thick armor. Distance weapons help compensate for low speed and fatigue.

But he's down a skill, and compared to Nanok has lower wounds, fatigue, and speed. Of course, Nanok is probably one of the stronger official heroes, and thus above our power benchmark, so that seems pretty reasonable. It's a shame Iridar couldn't also have high speed, to further abuse the benefits of heavy armor without the usual drawbacks, but one can't have everything.

Very, very nice...I believe characters with organic armor should have access to fighting skills because of endure (which is BIG on them, allowing to reach 8 Armor. But Iridar is nonetheless a very nice and round character.

Hey! Where's this week's hero?! Antistone's "Hero of the Week" is one of my weekly dates, along with manga scans, online comix, FETIDUS episodes, and stuff...

Looking forward to it!