Fan investigators looking for feedback

By griffinman01, in Fan Creations

I recently got the game and wanted to try making some fan investigators. These are my ideas and I'm looking for some feedback on them. I tried making them balance so let me know if you guys think I'm way off on that.

Edit: photobucket links are a couple posts down.

Edited by griffinman01

I don't have enough time to comment on them right now, but seriously Strange Eons is your friend.

Yeah, I used it to make the sheets for some play testing but I wasn't able to upload the files for some reason, hence the text versions.

Yeah, I used it to make the sheets for some play testing but I wasn't able to upload the files for some reason, hence the text versions.

you need to upload the images to another site (e.g. photobucket or boardgamegeek) then use a link.

Okay, got them uploaded to photobucket:

Edit: Newer Versions Below

Edited by griffinman01

Nyarlko

-Space CQC sure is a complicated way of saying she does the same thing as The Chef, but way worse. I would change the ability entirely, but if you want to keep it then word it like this: "When Nyarlko makes a combat check while equipped with only a 1-handed weapon, she ignores Physical Resistance and treats Physical Immunity as Physical Resistance.

-Cthulhu Deity is kinda boring. I don't necessarily have a problem with the ability, but I feel you should at least add some flavor text or something to spruce it up. Here's an example (second ability):

0IbTqK1.jpg

-Altogether when factoring her stats, abilities and starting possessions, I think she's a little too powerful as a combat character. She's looking at the equivalent of 6 Fight and 6 Will thanks to the combination of her ally and second ability, and she automatically gains a combat success if she rolls any number of successes ever. Plus she also starts with a 1-handed +3 weapon that shreds Physical Resistance, and still gives +2 against Immunity. That is just way too much with far too few downsides to balance it out. I think the easiest fix would be to just completely remove her starting ally, but I leave that to you.

Cthuuko

-That ability is cool, and starting off with Shriveling is cool, but having both of those things is NOT COOL. Basically, you have an ability that takes Shriveling from +6 for 1 sanity into +7 for 0 sanity. What the heck. That ability is seriously strong, and you might be able to get away with starting with it, but if you want to keep Living Flame exactly as it is right now then she absolutely cannot start with Shriveling, OR ANY COMBAT SPELLS FOR THAT MATTER. If you want to keep the Shriveling at the start, then the ability needs to be toned down.

-Why do they all have the exact same second ability?

Isaac and Miria

-Awesome design. I like the way you manage to create the duality between characters on this one, represented by two abilities that focus on different aspects of the game but stem from the same source. If it were me I'd probably pull a point out of Fight and put it into Lore or Sneak and maybe find a better picture, but otherwise it looks great.

Rachel

-She's absolutely broken. Every turn, for free, I get to look at the top card of any Arkham Encounter deck I want, and decide if there are any encounters worth taking. On top of that, the cards don't go on the bottom after being revealed. Wow. No. Either add a cost to the ability, or remove it.

-Outside of her first ability and some janky stats and starting items, I think she's fine.

Harry Mason

-So, let me see if I have this right. If you are currently at 1 stamina, you get +3 to everything? That sounds...kinda whack. I've played with this kind of ability before so I know that it can balance out, but just giving such huge bonuses like that is a little dangerous. I can't even imagine how powerful he would get with Summon the Beast Within.

-For what it's worth, that first ability can work, but I think you'd be better off focusing it in one particular stat or area of development, rather than everything. Here's the version I play with (first ability):

NSX7EMT.jpg

James Sunderland

-Um...I'm not sure how I feel about his ability. You managed to create a character that literally cannot receive full medical care at the Hospital or Asylum, meaning the only way to recover is by going insane/knocked unconscious, and even that's not a solution if you aren't playing with Injuries or Madnesses. The tradeoff seems to be that he turns money he would gain into clue tokens, assuming it came from a card source. Maybe if that came up more often it would be a fair tradeoff, but right now I don't feel it is.

-He does however have a ton of synergy with Deputy of Arkham. It's not a retainer, but it does give him 1 dollar every turn, which effectively turns into 1 clue token every turn.

-Starting with a Shotgun is pretty ridiculous. I think it says something about the game that no official character has ever started with it. It might be alright here, but just keep that in mind.

Heather Cheryl Mason

-I'm not even sure what to say about this one. I'd be a little worried about being able to turn 2 clues into a blessing on a whim, since it almost guarantees permanent blessed status for her. I do think that tossing a blessing for a monster nuke is probably alright, but being able to replace your blessing for only 2 clues is not, at least with that second ability in mind.

Henry Townshend

-Seems alright. I don't know why he starts with a random ally though. Seems a little contradictory with also being a Shut-In.

-He has an Axe in the picture, but he doesn't start with an Axe. Instead, Anime Nyarlothotep starts with an Axe. Awkward.

Thanks for the input. I'll start by saying that most of the abilities are due to the flavor of the source material (none of these are original characters, I adapted characters from video games and anime). With that said, I'll respond to everything else in turn.

Nyarlko - It's hard for me to compare her to other characters since I've only bought the base game and the Dunwich Horror expansion, so I couldn't really tell what her ability is relation to other people. I'll rethink the ally's ability. Aside from that , what kind of downside do you think she should have on her ability?

Cthuuko - They have the same ability because in the source material they're closely related. The main problem I see with not starting with a combat spell is that she becomes a blank character without one, and it's pretty likely that you wont end up drawing one from a random selection. I guess I could start her off with Wither instead.

Rachel - I meant the ability to be useable only once per turn. Not sure if that changes your thoughts on it, but that's what was intended (I'm used to games where a printed ability can only be used once unless otherwise specified)

Harry Mason - Running around with 1 stamina (or reaching 1 stamina without dying) is pretty risky since there are a lot of things that will do stamina damage without the need of a skill check. He couldn't fight anything with Overwhelming and going to the other worlds would be a big risk since many encounters have "lose 1 stamina" as part of a fixed text that isn't based off of a failed skill. I'm not sure what Summon the Beast Within does so I can't comment on that one. If the bonus was restricted to a specific check(s), would that be better?

James Sunderland - That was my bad, I uploaded the wrong version. The new one doesn't have the inability to gain money and he only gets the clue token option from money gains due to encounter cards (either from Arkham or Other World encounters). I realized the healing issue and the inability to travel to other towns after I printed it out and then I realized that if you had a means of getting money each turn, he would gain clue tokens a little too easily. He also starts with $2 and 1 less clue token. As for starting with a shotgun, the Strange Eons software flagged that as a good thing and, to be honest, I don't think it's as bad as starting off with a Tommy Gun like Michael McGlenn. His fight stat is normal and the shotgun is a +4 (which is low for a 2-handed weapon). The 2x successes for each 6 is good, but if you're going against something that hits you with a -3 or 4 to your combat check, that's not a lot of dice to work with. Compared to the 10+ fight that Michael starts with, factoring in the tommy gun, I don't see it as being a huge advantage. Also, side note, Wilson Richards from Dunwich Horror starts off with the shotgun.

Heather - If the cost was higher, would that help? As it stands, with no built-in way to get clue tokens, it seems to me that she runs the risk of not being able to seal portals if she tries to be blessed through the whole game. Plus, if you're lucky, the Nun character could also be permanently blessed (I've seen people go through 15 rounds without rolling a 1). The fact that she has to toss it for her second ability would be pointless if she would have to rebuy the blessing at the church each time.

Henry - The ally comes from the fact that, though he starts off as a shut-in, he ends up working very closely with a number of people throughout the game (and is pretty much partnered with someone for over half of it). As for the picture, it was pretty much the only one I found that wasn't terrible-looking fan-art, or a close-up of his face (which is pretty plain).

Anyways, thanks for the input. If you could elaborate on the few things I mentioned in this post, I'll tweak things and re-upload them in a couple of days.

Edited by griffinman01

I think Nyarlko is going to have most all of the same problems as the previous incarnation. It's just super strong in combat, with very few weaknesses if any. I agree you took a step in the right direction as far as clarity goes, and sort of toned down her ally (barely), but I think she might still be too consistently strong. Then again, I could be wrong.

Cthuuko is much more reasonable now. It's still pretty strong starting with a +4 Wither, but it's not as overbearing as the +7 free Shriveling. Play with her and find out for yourself where her power lies.

As far as I can tell, you still haven't changed anything about Rachel, and as far as I'm concerned she's still overpowered. The ability to look at the next Mythos card a turn early, or look at any encounter card to only have positive encounters (or even prepare for bad ones) is extremely strong. Sure it's only once per turn, but it's also free and consistently repeatable, and far too strong for its current repeatability. I have a friend who made an investigator with almost the exact same ability so I'm speaking from experience here, once per turn for free is too much. If you want to see a variant of the idea, here's one that I made:

yObicQE.jpg

This character actually flips over 3 cards instead of 1, but there's no guarantee of repeatability nor is there any hard way to exploit it. Plus, since there's a limit to how much it can be taken advantage of every turn it's much harder to generate an overabundance of value from it.

Isaac and Miria still look great.

James looks much better. There are parts of his kit that I still find a tad questionable, but he looks fine.

I still feel like Harry is going to be a problem, but I could also be wrong. He's going to need a lot of playtesting.

Heather is probably fine, but still a little swingy. Her power is really just dependent on how long she can keep a blessing, and I figure that will be often.

Henry should be fine. I still think it's awkward starting with an Ally and also having the ability "Shut-in"

Thanks for the continued input. I've been looking into retooling cthuko and nyarlko to make them more unique since they both seem to be very similar to other characters and that's not what I was looking to do. I was thinking something like this:

Nyarlko - when making a combat check using only a one-handed weapon, roll a die. On a success, choose one of the following effects: ignore physical/magical resistance (or treat physical/magical immunity as resistance), recover 1 stamina, or +2 to the combat check.

Cthuko - when casting a spell, before the check is made, roll a die. On a success choose one of the following: reduce the sanity cost by 1, add +2 to the combat check, or move one of your skill sliders one space.

Both abilities are more versatile now, but less likely to fire off.

Based on your input on Rachel I might look into changing how her ability works. I want her to have the investigative ability, but maybe make it a bit more random. I'm thinking something like "upkeep: roll a die. On a 1-2 nothing happens, on a 3-4 she may look at the top encounter card from the same neighborhood. On a 5, look at the top card of any arkham encounter deck, on a 6, look at the top card of any deck. Being an info gatherer, sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't. Other times you have to be at the right place at the right time.

I think Harry and heather will need play testing to see how good their abilities really are. How things look on paper tend to differ how they work in practice. Anyways, what do you think of the ideas I mentioned here?

Edited by griffinman01