I Can't Be The First... (Bioshock Set)

By player1809340, in Fan Creations

Seriously though, no one played this game and thought, 'Huh. Tears--Rifts--Gates--Quantum Physics?"

Most of you regulars in this section now my pet peeve about characters that aren't original or 'in-theme' with Arkham--simply put, I don't care for them. I avoid making cards for characters that are not meant to be or that wouldn't work based on their game/movie/show simply not being conducive to the atmosphere and theme of Arkham.

This time, I decided to break the mold and bring to you three characters from Bioshock: Infinite.

Why this break?

Simply put, it's about as close to 'in-theme' as a game could get without actually /being/. Rifts and alternate realities? COME ON!

That being said, here is the first Investigator--a two-for one special.

Rosalind-amp-Robert-Lutece-Front-Face_zp

Without giving away much of the (amazing) plot, the Lutece twins are physicists. They deal mostly in variables and constants in alternating realities and properties. They are also ALWAYS together. I was going to make a separate sheet for each but decided to simply make them one unit given their inseparability. Moreover, I kept their stats, as you can see, very flexible. They can be whatever one needs them to be: the variable San/Sta is meant to more or less act on the part of them being two people counting as a single unit.

Now, for their special ability. I know what you're thinking: My goodness me! Faust! You're giving away a free pass on a check! Aye, I most certainly am--but think about it, won't you? Mechanically, the ability to do this relies on several variables:

1. Being close enough to the Luteces to access the ability.

2. Passing their 'Check'

3. Having to actually Use the check.

So, let's look at the numbers--if you happen to fit the requirements to activate the ability, you must make a 50/50 single dice roll. One the chance you pass, you get that free Success. But then that Success must be used on your next check. Regardless of what it is, which means most likely, it won't be a game-shattering check.

So, what am I saying, in short? While their ability, on paper, may sound strong, it's got variables (heh) that make it require planning. Where the strength of the Luteces lays is in their varying stat numbers: they can play any role one needs, while giving a nice little boost if the stars are right.

I really do like this investigator(s). It adds and interesting special ability to the game and some nice flavor. I think it is balanced pretty well, however I think they might be to versatile (I would also give them the Map of the Mind instead of the map of Arkham as I think it fits them better < http://www.arkhamhorrorwiki.com/Map_of_the_Mind >). I would probably knock down the Lore by 1 and possibly the Max Sanity by 1 (although I am not sure about this) as they were kind of bonkers. I think the ability is just fine as far as balance goes. I love the idea of Bioshock characters being in this game as I feel they could bring some interesting abilities to the game. Lord knows you could makes some interesting ancient ones and monster tokens from some of the other characters that exist in this universe. It is so much fun creating character for this game and one of the characters I have been trying to create and balance is The Doctor, but he is so hard to do justice to and still make him balanced. Mahalo.

Edited by Vinny Vito

I'd probably rename it "Robert and Rosalind" with a subnote of "The Lutuce Twins".

I'm a little worried about the overall power of this character, but mostly just in larger groups. If people kind of "huddle" around her, she may be providing too much raw value. I feel like it might be worth including a limit to how many investigators per turn may do this.

Otherwise I think they are okay, but I'm not really sure what they will be doing in a game. I guess you run gates with them, but the 3 Speed makes it very hard to move about. You can't reasonably fight monsters with them unless you have good items, and they don't provide much utility outside of medium to large parties that can afford to have people "gamble" on their ability. I guess there's nothing wrong with that, but it definitely seems like a character where you spend the first few turns trying to figure out how to contribute most meaningfully to the game at hand.

Also, I don't really see why they have a variable Sanity/Stamina set. I kinda feel like that system only works really well for Lily Chen since she recovers when moving that stat.

The variable stat comes from the fact that they are, in fact, two people--not one. In most cases, it works only for Lily because of who she is, but because this is supposed to represent two people of two minds working in tandem, I didn't feel that it was right to say they have a 'pool' of sanity.

They're purpose is mainly to stay in support. Yes, they can run Gates but with the Map of Arkham giving them a 4 for moving, then I wanted to essentially have them geared for staying within Arkham. There are, at the lowest, usually 3 other characters running Gates at any given time. If, say, the Luteces were planted outside of a Gate in a neighborhood (note the wording) they could buy supplies, wait for the Investigator to leave the Gate and give them the boost if need be. Or, they could plant themselves in a position near a monster that is blocking a path and allow an Investigator to get that extra Success to beat said monster.

While I admit that this is more theme then not (the Luteces in game did not fight, but acted more like guides) the idea is that, unless you literally give away all of their gear and Skills, they will be able to be whatever you want them to be. It may take an extra turn or two but the pay-off is worth the time spent.

As for the reason why I put Rosalind first instead of Robert, it has to do with their actual game's lore and logistics.

Edited by Dr.Faust