Working on various magus custom characters, especially Seltyiel, I was reminded of Elric of Melniboné. So I dug my old books out of storage and have been re-reading them (slowly). Naturally, I considered how the doomed albino might be translated into rules for the PACG, leading to this little side project. I’ve been working on it for a while and have hit the point where the rules are presentable, but in need of more objective eyes.
First, I took a look at Elric as he appears at the start of Elric of Melniboné , prior to taking up Stormbringer (and perhaps prior to pledging himself to Arioch). Elric doesn’t fit into the normal scheme of classes. While he is called a “sorcerer” and a “wizard,” his magic mostly appears to be the preparation of herbs and potions (which is more like an alchemist) and the summoning of creatures bound through ancient pacts (which is sort of like a summoner, but not quite). What you don’t see in the novels is Elric hurling magic fireballs or similar, though he does emulate some of those qualities by calling elementals and the like. So the functioning of his magic is quite distinctive, combining qualities of PFRPG sorcerer, wizard, and summoner.
Male Melnibonéan Sorcerer
Strength d4 □+1 □+2
-Melee: Strength +1
-Ranged: Strength +1
Dexterity d6 □+1 □+2
Constitution d4 □+1 □+2
Intelligence d12 □+1 □+2 □+3 □+4
-Craft: Intelligence +1
-Knowledge: Intelligence +2
Wisdom d8 □+1 □+2
Charisma d8 □+1 □+2 □+3
-Diplomacy: Charisma +1
Hand Size 6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may recharge a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d6 (□ 1d8) instead of your normal Strength and Constitution dice.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish any number of monsters from your hand; for each monster banished, add 1d6 (□ +1) to your combat check. You may add an additional 1d4 for each banished monster that has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait.
Favored Card Type: Spell or Item
Weapon 2 □3
Spell 4 □5 □6 □7
Armor 2 □3
Item 4 □5 □6
Ally 1 □2
Blessing 2 □3 □4
Cohort: Ring of Kings
So he doesn’t cast spells (yet – this will change when we get to his roles). Instead, he is focused on using his alchemical/healing items to sustain his strength (and constitution, they go hand in hand) and he uses his spells to summon monsters to fight. As the novels clearly state, though, he is trained in fencing and archery, hence the skills.
He is still somewhat weak, though this is adjusted a bit with the Ring of Kings:
(Cohort)
Traits: Accessory, Magic, VeteranDisplay this card. While displayed, when you attempt a non-combat check against a card that has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait, you may put a card on top of your deck to add 1d6 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number to that check.
Recharge this card to recharge a spell or blessing from your discard pile.
You may discard this card to add 2d6 to your check against a bane that has the Army, Skirmish, or Swarm trait.
The Ring of Kings clearly draws upon Padrig as a model. It should be noted that the last power looks at various instances of Elric summoning aid when fighting large forces (e.g., against the Kelmain and Elenoin). It is also derived from the portrayal of the Actorios (the stone set in the Ring of Kings, from which the ring derives its power) seen in The Dragon in the Sword, which, while a tale about a different incarnation of the Eternal Champion, seems appropriate enough for Elric.
So Elric is weak, but can boost his physical prowess through herbs and potions; and he can call for aid from supernatural powers. He won’t be exploring much due to the low blessings and allies card count, but the ability to recharge blessings (via the Ring of Kings) offsets this somewhat. I went with a low weapon/armor count to keep him focused on his spells (summoning aid), with the ability to recharge spells ensuring that he can do so fairly regularly. He has some flexibility, however, in that alchemical items offer some degree of variety and his craft skill means that he might be able to recharge some of those.
He looks a wee bit on the weak side to me, but I have designer’s bias, so some external eyes should help to identify where I might improve upon him a little.
Now we get into his roles, where he gets interesting.
First is the “classic” version of Elric as represented by his bond with the black sword, Stormbringer.
’Blood and souls for my lord, Arioch!’
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may recharge a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d6 (□ 1d8) instead of your normal Strength and Constitution dice.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish any number of monsters from your hand; for each monster banished, add 1d6 (□ +1)(□ +2) to your combat check. You may add an additional 1d4 for each banished monster that has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait.
Each scenario, take the cohort Stormbringer.
□ When you attempt to acquire a spell (□ or an item), you may use the skill Arcane: Intelligence +2.
□ When you succeed at your combat check that invokes the Black Blade trait and would banish a monster, you may shuffle 1d4 (□ +1)( □ +2) cards from your discard pile into your deck.
□ You may discard a spell to search your deck or discard pile for Stormbringer and return it to your hand.
The focus with this role is definitely on Stormbringer (which appears below), though there is a minor increase to his core role. The Arcane skill appears in a very limited form as an augmentation to his sorcerous skill, enabling him to summon aid more often, strengthening his combat.
To get a solid feel for the role, however, you need to see Stormbringer:
Weapon 3
Traits: Sword, Melee, Slashing, 2-Handed, Veteran, Magic, MythicFor your combat check, reveal this card to use your Strength or Melee skill +2d6 plus the adventure deck level; you may additionally discard this card to add your Strength die. If not proficient with weapons, the difficulty of this check is increased by 4.
When you succeed at a combat check that invokes the Black Blade trait and would banish a monster on your turn, you may reveal this card to immediately explore your location.
At the start of your turn, you may display this card to recharge a card from your discard pile. Before you reset your hand, draw this card.
So this role is decidedly about combat with Stormbringer and healing (via Stormbringer).
The next role is an exploration of Elric progressing along his original path, without pledging himself to Arioch or gaining Stormbringer:
He draws his power from a secret and terrible source.
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may recharge a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d6 (□ 1d8) (□ 1d10) instead of your normal Strength and Constitution dice.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish any number of monsters from your hand; for each monster banished, add 1d6 (□ +1) (□ +2) to your combat check (□ or the combat check of any character at your location). You may add an additional 1d4 for each banished monster that has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait.
□ You gain the skill Arcane: Intelligence +2.
□ You may discard a spell to add your Charisma skill to your combat check that invokes the Animal or Demon or Elemental (□ or Dragon or Outsider) trait.
□ You may banish a monster to examine the top card of your location deck; then shuffle the card back into the location deck.
So this role is much more focused on the sorcery/magic, being more effective at summoning monsters to augment his own combat abilities. He is also slightly more proficient with his herbs and potions, augmenting his own strength and constitution to better effect. Thematically, the casting of spells (gained via the power feat to gain the Arcane skill) represents the summoning of demons, elementals, and animal powers to achieve the effects.
A more accurate representation of Elric would really require that both of these roles be combined, and perhaps augmented with rules about riding dragons, etc. That would be far too powerful for the PACG, however, so I’m looking at each of these roles (and potential others) as each codifying a subset aspect of the character. It has been a very interesting process, and the versions you see here are very clean compared to the previous working versions (especially those I started with).
For the flavor text, I’ve cobbled together several passages from Elric of Melniboné, paraphrasing slightly for more consistent effect:
It is the colour of a bleached skull, his flesh; and the long hair which flows beneath his shoulders is milk-white. From the tapering, beautiful head stare two slanting eyes, crimson and moddy, and from the loose sleeves of his gown emerge two slender hands, also the colour of bone. The eyes are troubled. By magic potions and the chanting of runes, by rare herbs his strength is sustained artificially by every art known to the Sorcerer Kings of Melniboné. And he lives thanks to sorcery alone, for his is naturally lassitudinous and, without his drugs, would barely be able to raise his hand from his side throughout most of a normal day. Four hundred and twenty-eighth in direct line of descent from the first Sorcerer Emperor of Melniboné, he is lord of a dying race.
Any help y’all can provide in refining this character would be appreciated. This is really just a side project while I work on the magus characters, but one I will probably run through an adventure path (Wrath of the Righteous seems appropriate) if/when I ever get the character finalized.
D'oh! The Stormbringer cohort also has the Black Blade trait.
I don't know the character this is based on, but I see that you put a lot of work into this design. And I like the design conceptionally very much, but I think you overdid it on the strong side in my eyes.
While I won't be able to give you an extensive analysis, just some notes that immediately struck me while reading (please take this as constructive critic - I appreciate your enthusiam for homebrew content very much).
Pre-role:
- Ranged: Strength seems kinda odd. I know it's on wraths imrijka, but why? Is he mainly using crossbows?
Compared to balazar:
While getting monsters from the box, you have more choices (spells / blessings) need less cost (recharge instead of discard) and add more dice (d6 vs d4). That seems vastly superior on that regard (even though you don't get them for defeating them).
Then, you can use weapons on top of your summons and the cohort power, even thought their respective dies are smaller:
Balazar can get d4+d6+d10+2+AD for a single monster.
Elric can get 2d6+1d10+AD for a single monster and using a crossbow.
Additionally, he has a lot more skills than balazar and can recharge blessings.
Overall, I get the feeling he is less versatile but much stronger balazar, since he can easily generate ressources for free. Recharging spells/blessings for drawing monsters are basically free, disposable hitpoints, which don't even clog your hand if played smartly).
Soulstealer:
Basically, that is a stronger (yet less versatile) version of balazar, with a stronger version of the signature weapon salim is built around. In particular, the heal on monster defeat is very broken in my opinion - just compare it to chellan, sword of greed from RotR, which has a similiar power but is a gamble or salims similiar heal which he can never upgrade (or the waiting time on cure after recharging or the lost exploration on the clerics).
Pact Sorcerer:
Having arcane without restrictions makes him much more versatile than balazar - he can use weapons, spells and summons to his hearts content.
I feel like the character is interesting and cool, but too strong on some aspects. Since I don't know the character, I can't suggest any thematic changes, but I think there are some angles which should be nerfed in order to bring him in line with PACG.
EDIT:
But here is an idea for you:
Since this character seems to be from an epic fantasy story, why don't you try to externalize some of his cooler powers into a unique mythic path card for him?
You would have more design space and a greater power ceiling for the overall design.
Elric has very poor body, so weak strength weak constitution maybe weak agility etc.
He gets his power from the soul eating sword, so if he loses it, he should be wery weak endeed. The Sword has a will on its own so the user have to strugle to controll the Sword (as a cursed weapon) so Sword could be a lot like witch Animal, but with somekind of drawback. If character lose the controll to the Sword will controll the Elric. Maybe he will hit his own fellow players? Or do something else destructive.
So the Sword should be the source of Elric strength and abilities, but Also an hard to controll device that can turn against the wielder and his companions.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elric_of_Melnibon%C3%A9
Thanks for the feedback. :)
To add on to what Hannibal_pvj said, Elric is the most powerful sorcerer in the Young Kingdoms setting, as well as being highly accomplished at fencing and archery (the best of his people, except for his cousin, Yyrkoon). He is an incarnation of the Champion Eternal. He would properly be a "mythic" character, but any character needs to be balanced with the others. So the trick is in tuning him down sufficiently.
I've taken all of the feedback so far and am working on some adjustments to both better balance him as well as make him distinctive. I'll probably post a revised version some time this weekend (though I would love to see additional feedback to help me shape the character).
Okay, I should have said this in my previous reply, but I forgot, so here goes…
I don’t know the character this is based on…
Wait … what? How?
Okay, now that I got that out of my system, here goes the serious portion of the reply.
Comparisons with Balazar are fair, but I also want the character to evoke thoughts of Seltyiel and Yoon (what little we’ve seen of Yoon in the blog so far, that is). I’m not going to provide a point-counterpoint response because the points made were fair. Instead, here are the changes I’ve implemented in response to the feedback that has been provided. There might be some more adjustments once I see the Mummy’s Mask characters (assuming any of the mechanics they use are relevant to Elric).
I removed the Ranged skill, largely because Elric rarely utilizes archery in the novels (the stories focus on his sorcery and swordsmanship). As a result, his Melee skill has been increased from +1 to +2.
The only other real changes I’ve made to the core character are in the Powers.
Hand Size 6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may recharge a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your normal Strength and Constitution dice.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish any number of monsters from your hand; for each monster banished, add 1d6 (□ 2d6) to your combat check. You may add an additional 1d6 for each banished monster that has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait.
So the first power has changed from a recharge to a discard mechanism, but with a check to recharge available. A starting character will succeed 7/12 times while a maxed out character will succeed 11/12 times. There’s room to increase (i.e., worsen) the chance, but I don’t think it should be by much (if at all). The big change here was to increase the die from 1d6 to 1d8. It basically puts Elric at the “average” score (if he discards a suitable card). This change cascades into the power feat increases (though he never gets a power feat to use 1d12).
I’ve left the second power alone. This power and the third power are what really make the character, so changing it to a discard spell mechanism would simply force the addition of a recharge option. So this one is like RotR Seoni’s ability to automatically recharge Attack spells or other similar powers.
The third power has been changed, limiting it to a single monster (vice the previous option to banish any number of monsters). To compensate for this, the bonus for the Animal, Demon, or Elemental trait has been increased from 1d4 to 1d6. In addition, Elric gets a bonus if the banished monster has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait. At starting levels, his combat skill is a bit more limited now, hopefully balancing things a bit. He is about on par with Seltyiel (averaging 1 or 2 lower) when he discards a card to get bonus Strength. The main difference is that Elric can use weapons that have the Two-Handed trait, in which case he is about the same as or slightly better than Seltyiel due to the increased damage that such weapons inflict.
I’ve also made a few tweaks to the Ring of Kings:
(Cohort)
Traits: Accessory, Magic, VeteranDisplay this card. While displayed, when you attempt a non-combat check against a card that has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait, you may put a card on top of your deck to add 1d4 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number to that check.
Recharge this card to add 2d4 to your check to acquire a spell.
You may discard this card to add 2d6 to your check against a bane that has the Army, Skirmish, or Swarm trait.
The first change was a reduction in the non-combat die bonus down to 1d4. The second change is in the second power, now providing a bonus to acquiring a spell instead of recharging a discarded spell. This enables Elric to increase the number of spell cards he has during a game, and represents the symbolism of the various pacts his ancestors made with the animal spirits, elementals, and demons, enabling him to call on them for power and aid (so instead of Elric casting a, say, Divine Blaze, has demonic allies manifest and perform a similar effect).
And now for the Soulstealer role:
‘Blood and souls for my lord, Arioch!’
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may discard a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice. Succeed at a Craft 7 check to recharge the card instead of discarding it.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d6 (□ 2d6)(□ plus the adventure deck level) to your combat check. You may add an additional 1d6 if the banished monster that has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait.
Each scenario, take the cohort Stormbringer.
□ For your check to acquire a spell, you may use your Intelligence (□ Knowledge) skill.
□ When you succeed at your combat check that invokes the Black Blade trait and would banish a monster, you may recharge 1 card (□ 2 cards) from your discard pile (□ or you may shuffle them into your deck).
□ You may discard a spell to search your deck or discard pile for Stormbringer and return it to your hand.
So the big changes were the removal of the Arcane skill (so Elric still can’t cast spells like a true PACG Sorcerer/Wizard) and the reduction in cards healed when using Stormbringer.
Small change to Stormbringer:
Weapon 3
Traits: Sword, Melee, Slashing, 2-Handed, Veteran, Magic, Black Blade, MythicFor your combat check, reveal this card to use your Strength or Melee skill +2d6 plus the adventure deck level; you may additionally discard this card to add your Strength die. If not proficient with weapons, the difficulty of this check is increased by 4.
When you succeed at a combat check that invokes the Black Blade trait and would banish a monster on your turn, you may reveal this card to immediately explore your location. If you encounter an ally, banish it and all other characters at your location take 1 combat damage, then end your turn.
At the start of your turn, you may display this card to recharge a card from your discard pile. Before you reset your hand, draw this card.
The change here was the penalty upon encountering an ally, seeing the banishment of the ally, all other characters at the location suffering 1 combat damage, and ending the turn. Those familiar with the stories recall how, when Elric goes into a battle frenzy with Stormbringer (not a PFRPG berserker rage, per se, but similar in result), he occasionally kills his own people. They don’t call him kinslayer, womanslayer, etc. for nothing.
This role is largely a one trick pony, good at fighting. Along with that, Stormbringer provides him with energy and steals the souls of those he kills, infusing him with power.
I considered ways to build in the struggle between Elric and Stormbringer for dominance, but that is better suited to a roleplaying game. The killing allies drawback added to Stormbringer sort of brings this in. This only matters for the Soulstealer role, however, as the Pact Sorcerer role is built under the concept of an alternate Elric.
And now the Pact Sorcerer role:
He draws his power from a secret and terrible source.
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may discard a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice. Succeed at a Craft 7 check to recharge the card instead of discarding it.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d6 (□ 2d6) (□ plus the adventure deck level) to your combat check (□ or the combat check of any character at your location). You may add an additional 1d6 if the banished monster has the Animal or Demon or Elemental (□ or Dragon or Outsider) trait.
□ You may use the above power for your non-combat check against a barrier.
□ For your check to acquire a spell, you may use your Knowledge skill.
□ You may banish a monster to examine the top card of your location deck; (□ then you may shuffle the card back into the location deck).
Again, the Arcane skill has been removed, replaced with the power feat to use Elric’s Knowledge skill to acquire a spell. This provides a similar effect as before with regard to acquiring, and it prevents Elric from turning into a standard sorcerer/wizard.
The way I see it, the really important power here is the one that allows Elric to use his expanded core “banish monster” power for his non-combat check against barriers. This power represents Elric’s ability to summon aid in overcoming the various challenges he faces in his adventures, and especially his ability to summon aid from the animal kings, elementals, and demons. It basically makes his spells/blessings/monsters flexible against any bane, except for monsters that don’t use combat checks.
This role is still good at fighting, but is also good at taking down barriers and limited scouting (which requires him to speak with the dead, as in the novel Stormbringer).
… why don't you try to externalize some of his cooler powers into a unique mythic path card for him?...
While creating a unique mythic path is an intriguing idea, I would see such an idea as working across a broader spectrum. In this case, Elric is an incarnation of the Champion Eternal, so a mythic path for Elric would probably be better implemented under that concept. The mythic path might then also be used for other incarnations. However, the Champion Eternal doesn’t figure into the Pathfinder setting. Admittedly, neither does Melniboné. My goal here, though, is to create Elric transplanted into the Pathfinder setting, including balancing him (i.e., tuning him down) so that he works within the official PACG adventure paths. Elric is a very powerful character in the novels, so the only way to bring him down to the level of “normal” characters is really to break his aspects up into the different roles. Otherwise, the effects that might be achieved, even if tuned down, would take up more space that the cards allow. If I ever decide to create a custom adventure path, I might pursue this idea, however.
I have some ideas about a Dragon Master (I’m going to have to review the books to see what the proper title for Elric would be) role that I might work on later, but I would first have to come up with a fourth role. Or maybe I don’t. We’re used to each character having two role options because of the physical aspects of the cards, but I don’t suppose we need to follow those limits when we’re working outside of that construct. Hmmm…
For now, I’ll follow the standard path of character + 2 role options.
Elric has very poor body, so weak strength weak constitution maybe weak agility etc.
He gets his power from the soul eating sword, so if he loses it, he should be wery weak endeed. The Sword has a will on its own so the user have to strugle to controll the Sword (as a cursed weapon) so Sword could be a lot like witch Animal, but with somekind of drawback. If character lose the controll to the Sword will controll the Elric. Maybe he will hit his own fellow players? Or do something else destructive.
So the Sword should be the source of Elric strength and abilities, but Also an hard to controll device that can turn against the wielder and his companions.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elric_of_Melnibon%C3%A9
In every significant fight Elric participates in.. his sword feeds on one of his allies. The totality of Stormbringer's nature can't be adequately described using gaming stats, it's essentially a diety-level MacGuffin.
The Elric roleplaying game actually had a two part adventure which features the daughter of a man that Elric's sword killed, a murder he didn't want to commit, but the sword did it anyway.
Maybe stormbringer should have a game text: When you Display this card. Roll d4, on roll 1 deal d4 damage to your self. if you roll 2 deal d4 damage to fellow character. If you roll 3 deal 4 damage to fellow character. Or you roll 4' kill a fellow character, if you don't have fellow characters, kill yourself! ;-)
First, I took a look at Elric as he appears at the start of Elric of Melniboné , prior to taking up Stormbringer (and perhaps prior to pledging himself to Arioch). Elric doesn’t fit into the normal scheme of classes. While he is called a “sorcerer” and a “wizard,” his magic mostly appears to be the preparation of herbs and potions (which is more like an alchemist) and the summoning of creatures bound through ancient pacts (which is sort of like a summoner, but not quite). What you don’t see in the novels is Elric hurling magic fireballs or similar, though he does emulate some of those qualities by calling elementals and the like. So the functioning of his magic is quite distinctive, combining qualities of PFRPG sorcerer, wizard, and summoner.
It's important to remember that Michael Moorcock created Elric as a subversion of the sword and sorcery hero trope. It's even more important to rememember that D+D and Pathfinder are abstracted versions of fantasy heroes, distilled down to a minimal subset for wargaming purposes.
After seeing both the warpriest and summoner class decks, as well as the Mummy’s Mask Base Set and Character Add-On Deck characters, I made a few more minor tweaks to the Elric character and am satisfied that on paper, he looks balanced enough for playtesting.
.
.
ELRIC
Male Melnibonéan Sorcerer
SKILLS
Strength d4 □ +1 □ +2
-Melee: Strength +2
Dexterity d6 □ +1 □ +2
Constitution d4 □ +1 □ +2
Intelligence d12 □ +1 □ +2 □ +3 □ +4
-Craft: Intelligence +1
-Knowledge: Intelligence +2
Wisdom d8 □ +1 □ +2
Charisma d8 □ +1 □ +2 □ +3Powers
Hand Size 6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may discard a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice until the end of your turn. Succeed at a Craft 7 check to recharge the card instead of discarding it.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d6 (□ 2d6) to your combat check. You may add an additional 1d6 if the banished monster has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait.
Cards List
Favored Card Type: Spell or ItemWeapon 2 □ 3
Spell 4 □ 5 □ 6 □ 7
Armor 2 □ 3
Item 4 □ 5 □ 6
Ally 1 □ 2
Blessing 2 □ 3 □ 4
Cohort: Ring of Kings
The main changes to the base character were to change the first power from a recharge to a discard verbiage, but with the addition of a chance to recharge the item; clarification that the enhanced Strength/Constitution only lasts until the end of Elric’s turn; and the reduction of the monster banish power to a single power.
Overall, this character is extremely reliant upon having a spell (to summon a monster), a weapon (and he only has 2), and an item with the Alchemical or Healing trait in his hand.
The recharging of a spell to get a monster has precedent in class deck Balazar.
RING OF KINGS (Cohort B)
Traits: Accessory, Magic, Veteran
Display this card. While displayed, when you attempt a non-combat check against a card that has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait, you may put a card on top of your deck to add 1d6 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number to that check.
Recharge this card to add 2d4 to your check to acquire a spell.
You may discard this card to add 1d6 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number to your check against a bane that has the Army, Skirmish, or Swarm trait.
The only real change to this cohort was to adjust the bonus when discarding for checks against certain banes – from 2d6 to 1d6 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number. This provides a better scaling of power across an adventure path.
ELRIC (SOULSTEALER)
’Blood and souls for my lord, Arioch!’
Powers
Hand Size 6 □ 7 □ 8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may discard a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice until the end of your turn. Succeed at a Craft 7 check to recharge the card instead of discarding it.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d6 (□ 2d6)( □ plus the monster’s adventure deck number) to your combat check. You may add an additional 1d6 if the banished monster has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait.
When building your deck, include the loot weapon Stormbringer as 1 of your weapons.
□ For your check to acquire a spell, you may use your Intelligence (□ or Knowledge) skill.
□ When you succeed at your check that invokes the Black Blade trait and would banish a monster, you may recharge 1 card (□ 2 cards) from your discard pile (□ or you may shuffle them into your deck).
□ You may discard a spell to search your deck or discard pile for Stormbringer and return it to your hand.
The only real change to this role was to change the verbiage of the (new) power that allows Elric to take Stormbringer. Instead of being a cohort (and, therefore, an extra card/health), Stormbringer is treated as a loot/weapon, taking up one of Elric’s weapon card slots. This follows the example of Estra and Honaire.
STORMBRINGER (Loot 3)
Type: Weapon
Owner: Elric (Soulstealer)
Traits: Sword, Melee, Slashing, 2-Handed, Veteran, Magic, Mythic, Black Blade
For your combat check, reveal this card to use your Strength or Melee skill +2d6 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number; you may additionally discard this card to add your Strength die. If not proficient with weapons, the difficulty of this check is increased by 4.
When you succeed at a combat check that invokes the Black Blade trait and would banish a monster on your turn, you may reveal this card to immediately explore your location. If you encounter an ally, banish it, and all other characters at your location take 1 combat damage, then end your turn.
At the start of your turn, you may display this card to recharge a card from your discard pile. Before you reset your hand, draw this card.
Stormbringer has been changed from a cohort to a loot. Also, the wording of the first power has been adjusted for consistency (“…adventure deck number…”) and clarity (it’s the scenario’s adventure deck number that is being added).
ELRIC (PACT SORCERER)
He draws his power from a secret and terrible source.
Powers
Hand Size 6 □ 7 □ 8
Proficient with Light Armors and WeaponsYou may discard a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice until the end of your turn. Succeed at a Craft 7 check to recharge the card instead of discarding it.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d6 (□ 2d6)(□ plus the monster’s adventure deck number) to your combat check (□ or the combat check of another character at your location). You may add an additional 1d6 if the banished monster has the Animal or Demon or Elemental (□ or Dragon or Outsider) trait.
□ You may use the above power for your non-combat check against a barrier.
□ For your check to acquire a spell, you may use your Knowledge skill.
□ You may banish a monster to examine the top card of your location deck; (□ then you may shuffle the card back into the location deck).
There were no additional changes to this role.
Overall, the character relies upon having certain card types in his hand in order to be effective; and his powers are much less flexible than other comparable characters. The rendition here is only a partial rendition of what a truly accurate Elric character would look like – necessary for balance. You would need to extend his card feats out and combine all of his roles (and their powers) in order to get a version that would be somewhat close to the portrayal of Elric in the novels (and that would probably require two additional roles). That wouldn’t be appropriate for any of the existing adventure paths, though, including Wrath of the Righteous. So I’m satisfied with this pseudo-Elric, scaled down for regular PACG balance, rather than a true Elric.
Now to playtesting. ;)
I considered the Corrupted trait, but figured that it would be largely superfluous. That trait really only matters when the Wrath of the Righteous box is being used, so the trait wouldn't matter in the other adventure paths. Also, Stormbringer really can't be redeemed, as the events of the novels (especially the final scene of the eponymous novel) demonstrate. The black sword is definitely a construct of Chaos, but its evil nature doesn't really work within the Corrupted/Redeemed construct of the Pathfinder setting.
I'm concerned about overstating Stormbringer's thirst for the blood of Elric's friends and loved ones. While those events definitely take place in the stories, they are, for the most part, plot devices that drive the story along. There are plenty of examples of instances where Elric wades into battle alongside allies that survive the fight (even those who later perish to Stormbringer when the plot demands it).
More importantly, the threat that Stormbringer poses to Elric's allies, friends, and loved ones is a necessary part of the story, but that simply would not fit well in a cooperative game, whether playing Elric as a PC in a roleplaying game or as a character in the PACG. The point of these games is to cooperate in order to succeed, whereas the purpose of the novels is to tell the tragic tale of the doomed albino and his vampiric sword. In the novels, the other characters are truly expendable. In the games, they are not.
That said, there are multiple characters with powers that demonstrate how they can pose a (mild) threat to other characters. While I want to avoid the reckless mayhem that the various Goblin characters present, characters like Crowe show how such a concept might be incorporated in a reasonable manner. I'll do a little more tinkering.
Thanks for the input. :)
I've made further changes, largely based on getting the rules quantity down to something that would actually fit on the cards. I also built in a rule that might satisfy the suggestion to show how Stormbringer often slays Elric's friends in the heat of battle.
In the interest of saving you time, everything is below. Changes are based on the last version that was posted.
ELRIC
Male Melnibonéan Sorcerer
SKILLS
Strength d4 □ +1 □ +2
-Melee: Strength +2
Dexterity d6 □ +1 □ +2
Constitution d4 □ +1 □ +2
Intelligence d12 □ +1 □ +2 □ +3 □ +4
-Craft: Intelligence +1
-Knowledge: Intelligence +2
Wisdom d8 □ +1 □ +2
Charisma d8 □ +1 □ +2 □ +3POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may discard a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice until the end of your turn.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d6 (□ 2d6) to your combat check. You may add an additional 1d6 if the banished monster has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait.
CARDS
Favored Card Type: Spell or ItemWeapon 2 □ 3
Spell 4 □ 5 □ 6 □ 7
Armor 2 □ 3
Item 4 □ 5 □ 6
Ally 1 □ 2
Blessing 2 □ 3 □ 4
Cohort: Ring of Kings
The first power has reverted to the "recharge" verbiage (from "discard"). This was strictly in the interest of reducing space.
The "banish a monster" power saw the removal of the additional 1d6 if the banished monster has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait. Again, this was strictly in the interest of reducing space.
RING OF KINGS (Cohort B)
Traits: Accessory, Magic, Veteran
Display this card. While displayed, when you attempt a non-combat check against a card that has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait, you may put a card on top of your deck to add 1d6 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number to that check.
Recharge this card to add 2d4 to your check to acquire a spell.
You may discard this card to add 1d6 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number to your check against a bane that has the Army, Skirmish, or Swarm trait.
The Ring of Kings has not changed since last time.
ELRIC (PACT SORCERER)
He draws his power from a secret and terrible source.
Powers
Hand Size 6 □ 7 □ 8
Proficient with Light Armors and WeaponsYou may recharge a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice until the end of your turn.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d6 (□ 2d6)(□ plus the monster’s adventure deck number) to your combat check (□ or the combat check of another character at your location). You may add an additional 1d6 if the banished monster has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait.
□ You may use the above power for your non-combat check against a barrier.
□ For your check to acquire a spell, you may use your Knowledge skill.
□ You may banish a monster from your hand to examine the top card of your location deck; (□ then you may shuffle the card back into the location deck).
The additional 1d6 if the banished monster has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait has been added to this role's powers. The bonus for a banished monster adding 1d6 to your combat check if it has the Dragon or Outsider trait has been removed, largely in the interest of space.
The "banish a monster ... to examine" power has had the requirement for the monster to be from your hand added.
ELRIC (SOULSTEALER)
’Blood and souls for my lord, Arioch!’
Powers
Hand Size 6 □ 7 □ 8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may recharge a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice until the end of your turn.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d6 (□ 2d6)( □ plus the monster’s adventure deck number) to your combat check.
When building your deck, include the loot weapon Stormbringer as 1 of your weapons.
□ For your check to acquire a spell, you may use your Intelligence (□ +2) skill.
□ When you succeed at your check that invokes the Black Blade trait and would banish a monster, you may recharge 1 card (□ 2 cards) from your discard pile (□ or you may shuffle them into your deck).
□ You may discard a spell to search your deck or discard pile for Stormbringer and return it to your hand.
The power with a bonus to acquire a spell has had "Knowledge" replaced with "+2" as the additional power feat, in the interest of space ("Knowledge" added another line, whereas "+2" doesn't).
STORMBRINGER (Loot 3)
Type: Weapon
Owner: Elric (Soulstealer)
Traits: Sword, Melee, Slashing, 2-Handed, Veteran, Magic, Mythic, Black Blade
For your combat check, reveal this card to use your Strength or Melee skill +2d6 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number; you may additionally discard this card to add your Strength die; if you would fail your combat check using this weapon, discard an ally to add 1d4 plus the ally's adventure deck number. If not proficient with weapons, the difficulty of this check is increased by 4.
When you succeed at a combat check that invokes the Black Blade trait and would banish a monster on your turn, you may reveal this card to immediately explore your location. If you encounter an ally, banish it, and all other characters at your location take 1 combat damage, then end your turn.
At the start of your turn, you may display this card to recharge a card from your discard pile. Before you reset your hand, draw this card.
While the second power sort of included a rule to represent Stormbringer killing Elric's allies, I've added the bit to the first power where you discard an ally to add to the combat check. This isn't a "may" power - Elric must discard the ally. If he doesn't have any allies in his hand, he's off the hook (though he still loses the combat check). And there's no "would lose by x" caveat - Elric must discard the ally whether he would lose the combat check by 1 or by 25 (meaning that the ally might be sacrificed for no reason if the combat check roll is too low in the first place).
So I didn't make any sweeping changes. Again, all of the changes (with one exception) were driven around reducing text on the card down to something that is in line with official characters. The only addition was Stormbringer's additional ability to schwack Elric's allies.
I've made one slight change to this character. Actually, it's to the cohort, Stormbringer. The second power ("When you succeed at a combat check that invokes the Black Blade trait...") has been removed. The first power ("For your combat check...") has been pushed down to the #2 position. The new #1 power is:
"Each other character at your location must discard an ally or you may not play this card."
I think this does a better job of scratching to itch for Stormbringer to seek to hurt Elric's allies, conceptually drawing upon a few of the weapons with the Corrupted trait in the WotR set as well as the villains in the Hell's Vengeance character decks.
So the revised Stormbringer card looks like:
(Loot 3)
Type: Weapon
Owner: Elric (Soulstealer)
Traits: Sword, Melee, Slashing, 2-Handed, Veteran, Magic, Mythic, Black Blade
Each other character at your location must discard an ally or you may not play this card.
For your combat check, reveal this card to use your Strength or Melee skill +2d6 plus the scenario's adventure deck level; you may additionally discard this card to add your Strength die; if you would fail at your combat check using this weapon, discard an ally to add 1d4 plus the ally's adventure deck number. If not proficient with weapons, the difficulty of this check is increased by 4.
At the start of your turn, you may display this card to recharge a card from your discard pile. Before you reset your hand, draw this card.
The rest of the Elric character (core rules and roles) remains as seen in the post above.
2) Pretty much anyone not Elric or another Imrryrean prince really doesn't want to be near Stormbringer. Perhaps,
After playing Stormbringer, if the check does not invoke the Melnibonean trait bury [discard?] a card.
I'd missed this suggestion earlier. It's intriguing and thematic. I'll see if I can work it in. My only real concern is that other incarnations of the Eternal Champion might be able to wield Stormbringer (several carry other incarnations/brothers to Stormbringer, after all). The one thing that will prevent me from working this concept in will be space on the card.
Now I'm working on a few other incarnations of the Champion Eternal (Corum is on the drawing board).
After posting my changes to Stormbringer, instead of examing Corum Jhaelen Irsei/Corum Cremm Croich, I took another gander at Elric. There were things about the previous version that weren’t working for me. So I spent some time reworking the character. Here are the results.
Male Melnibonéan SorcererSKILLS
Strength d4 □+1 □+2
-Melee: Strength +2
Dexterity d6 □+1 □+2
Constitution d4 □+1 □+2
Intelligence d12 □+1 □+2 □+3 □+4
-Craft: Intelligence +1
-Knowledge: Intelligence +2
Wisdom d8 □+1 □+2
Charisma d6 □+1 □+2 □+3POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may recharge a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice until the end of the turn.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d4 (□ or a number of d4s equal to the banished card’s adventure deck number) to your combat check.
CARDS LIST
Favored Card Type: Spell or ItemWeapon 2 □3
Spell 4 □5 □6 □7
Armor 2 □3
Item 4 □5 □6
Ally 1 □2 □3
Blessing 2 □3 □4
There were several key changes. First, the banish monster power additional damage was reduced to 1d4, with a feat to increase to 1d4 per adventure deck number of the banished monster (vice 1d6 (□ 2d6)). This decreases the initial potency of the power, but the feat allows it to scale better with the adventure. Thematically, it represents the relative potency of whatever monster he summons and its ability to deal with the threat.
The second change is that the Ring of Kings cohort was removed. Where possible and appropriate, I’ve incorporated its powers in the role cards. However, the character was getting to be a bit fiddly and the cohort added too many powers.
The Soulstealer role received the most significant changes. I was trying to tone things down a bit while making the role more representative of Elric in his aspect as a hellbound swordsman. This is very much a combat-oriented role.
He is the white-faced reaver with a hellblade that drinks the souls of men.POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may recharge a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice until the end of the turn.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d4 (□ or a number of d4s equal to the banished card’s adventure deck number) to your combat check.
When building your deck, include the loot Stormbringer as 1 of your weapons. (□ You may bury a spell (□ or a blessing) to search your deck or discard pile for Stormbringer and return it to your hand).
□ Add 2 to your check to acquire a spell.
□ When you succeed at your combat check that invokes the Black Blade trait and would banish a monster that is not immune to the Attack trait, you may recharge 1 card (□ 2 cards)( □ a number of cards equal to the adventure deck number of the banished monster) from your discard pile, or you may draw it instead. (□ If it is your turn, you may immediately explore your location; if you encounter an ally, banish it).
The first change was the addition of the power to include Stormbringer in the deck. This was added to the power to bury (used to be discard) a spell (□ or a blessing) to put Stormbringer back in your hand.
The second change was the rewording of the power to add 2 to your check to acquire a spell. The power used to allow you to use your Intelligence skill +2. The new wording has the same effect for most Arcane spells, but makes the power less potent for Divine spells (which tend to require Wisdom/Divine to acquire).
The most significant revisions were to the last power. One change was the addition that monsters immune to the Attack trait don’t confer any benefit. There are numerous examples in the stories where Elric fights some soulless beast that doesn’t provide him with any strength, so this addition was necessary. Next was the additional feat to change the number of cards that can be recharged to the adventure deck number of the banished monster. This has some drawbacks in that low level monsters will provide less strength, but it better conveys the times when highly potent creatures (such as demon lords and the like) provided Elric with lots of strength. The next change was the option to draw the monster (instead of banishing it to recharge cards). While my initial versions of this re-working allowed you to display the monster for bonuses, those were all far to text-intensive. So I settled for drawing the monster, using it in the normal way. Finally, the option to explore again was added, along with the requirement to banish an ally encountered on such an exploration. This conveys the times that Elric goes into a killing frenzy and accidentally slays his allies.
This role doesn’t expand on the core character powers, other than the power feat. Instead, it focuses on Elric’s symbiotic relationship with Stormbringer.
I also made further changes to Stormbringer.
Loot 3 (Type: Weapon)
Traits: Sword, Melee, Slashing, 2-Handed, Veteran, Magic, Mythic, Black BladePowers:
Each other character at your location must discard an ally or you may not play this card.
For your combat check, reveal this card to use your Strength or Melee skill +2d6 plus the scenario’s adventure deck level; you may additionally discard this card to add your Strength die. If not proficient with weapons, the difficulty of this check is increased by 4.
At the start of your turn, you may display this card to recharge a card from your discard pile. Before you reset your hand, draw this card.
After you play this card for its power, if you don’t have the Melniboné trait, banish an ally or bury 1d4-1 cards.
There were two changes (in addition to the one posted above). First was the removal of the option to discard an ally to increase your combat check score. I figured that the first power was sufficient to reflect Elric’s allies feeling the pain of fighting alongside Stormbringer. Also, I had to reduce the text on the card. Second was the final power penalizing non-Melnibonéans that wield Stormbringer.
The Pact Sorcerer role also saw some modifications.
He draws his power from a secret and terrible source.POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may recharge a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice until the end of the turn.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d4 (□ or a number of d4s equal to the banished card’s adventure deck number) to your combat check (□ or the combat check of a character at your location), (□ you may add an additional 1d6 (□ 2d6) if the banished monster has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait).
□ You may use the above power for your non-combat check against a barrier.
□ Add 2 (□ 4) to your check to acquire a spell.
□ When you play a card that has the Alchemical trait and would banish it, you may recharge it instead.
This role is meant to reflect Elric as we meet him in the first novel, if he had developed in a more benign (for a Melnibon éan) path without Yyrkoon’s scheming forcing him down another path. He remains a gifted sorcerer, but he focuses on his workings with the Beast Lords and Elementals (though he is conversant with Demonology, as befits a Bright Emperor). In order to sustain his strength, he is also gifted at making potions and drugs, drawing a bit on the alchemist class powers that we’ve seen in Damiel and other alchemists.
The first two changes were already explained for the core character and the Soulstealer role. Only the last change is really unique to this role. The final power now represents his knowledge of potion making and alchemy (I’ve removed the power to examine a location deck – that will come later).
I didn’t stop there. Since I’m in the process of re-reading the Elric novels, I also took a stab at creating two other roles representing additional aspects of the character.
(no nifty filler text yet)POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may recharge a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice until the end of the turn.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d4 (□ or a number of d4s equal to the banished card’s adventure deck number) to your combat check. (□ You may add an additional 1d6 if the banished monster has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait).
When building your deck, include the cohort Flamefang. (□ You may discard a spell to search your deck or discard pile for Flamefang (□ or a card that has the Mount trait) and return it to your hand).
□ You gain the skill Ranged: Strength +2.
□ You may bury (□ or discard) a spell to add 1d4 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number to your check (□ all checks) against a bane that has the Army, Skirmish, or Swarm trait.
This role reflects Elric’s role as Bright Emperor and leader of the army and navy of Melniboné. It draws heavily upon the cavalier, Alain, as well as other characters that use mounts (Raz and Hayato) since the Melnibonéans were noted for their use of dragons. The role is not reliant upon the dragon, Flamefang, though, since the Melnibonéan dragons are prone to sleeping for long periods after use.
Here is the initial version of the dragon, Flamefang.
Cohort 3
Traits: Dragon, Veteran, Mount, MythicPowers:
At the start or end of your turn, reveal this card to move; you may also move another character at your location to your new location.
When you encounter an ally, you may reveal this card to banish the ally and explore again.
Put this card on top of your deck to add 1d8 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number to your combat check, for each of your mythic charges, add 1 to your combat checks; you may additionally discard this card to add 1d8 and the Fire trait.
The first power is derived from that of the WotR Dire Griffon (the verbiage I’ve used is based on a FAQ change).
The final role reflects Elric’s aspect as a servant of the Duke of Hell, Arioch. This is a counter to the Pact Sorcerer role, which is more reflective of the other sorcerous powers. This role is focused on demons and necromancy, though that form of necromancy differs from what we’ve seen with Nyctessa and Darago (less about commanding legions of the undead and more about consulting them for power).
‘Blood and souls for my lord Arioch!’POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may recharge a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice until the end of the turn.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d4 (□ or a number of d4s equal to the banished card’s adventure deck number) to your combat check. (□ You may add an additional 1d6 (□ 2d6) if the banished monster has the Demon or Outsider trait).
□ You may ignore the Corrupted trait on a blessing (□ or a boon) you play on your check.
□ You may add your Charisma skill to your check against a card that has the Demon or Outsider trait (□ or to acquire a spell).
□ You may banish a monster from your hand to examine the top card of your location deck.
This role is based around a devotion to Arioch and Chaos, at the expense of the Beast Lords and Elementals. I took the location examination power from the Pact Sorcerer and gave it to this role, since that power/effect in the novels was based on necromancy. I also gave the “Blood and souls for my lord Arioc!” flavor text to this role since it was more appropriate. This role would be okay with either of the Hell’s Vengeance character decks and/or in the Wrath of the Righteous/Season of the Righteous adventure paths.
Ultimately, I think that all four of these roles are fairly effective at portraying a master version of Elric that is consistent with the novels, but that version would be far too potent for PACG.
While I’m mostly satisfied with the core character, the Soul Stealer and Pact Sorcerer roles, and the Stormbringer loot, they’re not necessarily “final” and could do with other sets of eyes to scrutinize.
The Lord of the Dragon Isle and Chosen of Arioch roles and the Flamefang cohort are first versions, though, and could definitely be improved upon by others. This includes sweeping changes or even complete overhauls if they are thought to be inadequate.
Again, your feedback is appreciated.
I’m still working on Corum Jhaelen Irsei (I’m almost done re-reading The King of the Swords) and will soon get to Corum Cremm Croich (once I’ve re-read the second Corum trilogy). Each is a different role for the Corum character. Meanwhile, I’ve taken another look at Elric of Melniboné. There were some things about the character that I felt needed streamlining. Here are the results.
Male Melnibonéan Sorcerer
SKILLS
Strength d4 □+1 □+2
-Melee: Strength +2
Dexterity d6 □+1 □+2
Constitution d4 □+1 □+2
Intelligence d12 □+1 □+2 □+3 □+4
-Craft: Intelligence +1
-Knowledge: Intelligence +2
Wisdom d8 □+1 □+2
Charisma d6 □+1 □+2 □+3POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may display a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice; recharge the card before you reset your hand.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d4 (□ or a number of d4s equal to the banished card’s adventure deck number) to your combat check.
CARDS LIST
Favored Card Type: Spell or ItemWeapon 2 □3
Spell 4 □5 □6 □7
Armor 2 □3
Item 4 □5 □6
Ally 1 □2 (previous versions showed a card feat for 3, but that was a copy/paste error)
Blessing 2 □3 □4
The first power was changed significantly. It is now worded so that the card can be played at any time and it will last until the end of Elric’s turn. The play method was changed from recharge to display so that there would be a visual cue that Elric is benefitting from increased Strength/Constitution.
There were no other changes to the core character.
The Soulstealer role received more significant changes (and it was the focus of my efforts because it was the most complicated/busy).
He is the white-faced reaver with a hellblade that drinks the souls of men.
POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may display a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice; recharge the card before you reset your hand.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d4 (□ or a number of d4s equal to the banished card’s adventure deck number) to your combat check.
When building your deck, include the loot Stormbringer as 1 of your weapons. (□ You may bury (□ discard) a spell (□ or a blessing) to search your deck or discard pile for Stormbringer and return it to your hand).
□ Add 2 to your check to acquire a spell.
□ When you defeat a monster that is not immune to the Attack trait and would banish it on your combat check that invokes the Black Blade trait during your turn, you may immediately explore your location (□ and add 2 (□ 4) to your combat checks during that exploration); if you encounter an ally, banish it.
The core of the change was revising the power for using Stormbringer. Previously, there were two ways to use Stormbringer to heal, one as a role power and the other as a power on the Stormbringer card. That was too much, so I consolidated them onto the Stormbringer card. That portion was removed from the role power, though the option to explore was retained (representing the occasional berserker fury that Elric succumbs to when wielding Stormbringer). Some bonuses to combat checks were incorporated into that power as power feats. I was trying to reduce text on the card, so these were easy solutions.
The other change was the addition of the power feat to discard a card instead of burying it to recover Stormbringer.
I also made further changes to Stormbringer.
Loot 3 (Type: Weapon)
Traits: Sword, Melee, Slashing, 2-Handed, Veteran, Magic, Mythic, Black BladePowers:
Each other character at your location must discard an ally or you may not play this card.
For your combat check, reveal this card to use your Strength or Melee skill +2d6 plus the scenario’s adventure deck level; you may additionally discard this card to add your Strength die. If not proficient with weapons, the difficulty of this check is increased by 4. If you succeed at your check against a monster that isn’t immune to the Attack trait, you may recharge 1 card from your discard pile.
After you play this card for its power, if you don’t have the Melniboné trait, banish an ally or bury 1d4-1 cards.
I removed the power to recharge a card from the discard pile at the start of the turn. It was combined with the power to heal after combat.
The Pact Sorcerer role also saw some minor modifications.
He draws his power from a secret and terrible source.
POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may display a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice; recharge the card before you reset your hand.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d4 (□ or a number of d4s equal to the banished card’s adventure deck number) to your combat check (□ or the combat check of a character at your location), (□ you may add an additional 1d6 (□ 2d6) if the banished monster has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait).
□ You may use the above power for your non-combat check against a barrier.
□ You may use your Knowledge skill (□ and you may add your Charisma die) on your check to acquire a spell.
□ When you play a card that has the Alchemical trait and would banish it, you may recharge it instead.
The only real change was to the power for acquiring spells. The initial power allows the use of Knowledge, which is effectively identical to the +2 bonus previously conferred for Arcane spells, but much better for Divine spells. The additional power feat allows the addition of the Charisma die rather than a flat +4. I think that this better represents the sorcery that Elric uses, which requires bargaining with supernatural entities for aid; and is tied to the role. It still doesn’t allow him to recharge spells, so it allows him to better fuel his combat.
The Lord of the Dragon Isle also received two minor tweaks.
(no nifty filler text yet)
POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may display a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice; recharge the card before you reset your hand.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d4 (□ or a number of d4s equal to the banished card’s adventure deck number) to your combat check. (□ You may add an additional 1d6 if the banished monster has the Animal or Demon or Elemental (□ or Dragon) trait).
When building your deck, include the cohort Flamefang. (You may discard a spell to search your deck or discard pile for Flamefang and return it to your hand).
□ You gain the skill Ranged: Strength +2.
□ You may bury (□ or discard) a spell to add 1d4 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number to your check (□ all checks) against a bane that has the Army, Skirmish, or Swarm trait.
The change to this was to make Elric more reliant on Flamefang by taking away the ability to return any other mount to your hand. In exchange, the combat bonus for banishing monsters from Elric’s hand now includes the bonus if the banished monster has the Dragon trait. It’s not a huge change, but it drives more toward the theme of being a dragon lord.
The dragon, Flamefang, wasn’t changed.
Cohort 3
Traits: Dragon, Veteran, Mount, MythicPowers:
At the start or end of your turn, reveal this card to move; you may also move another character at your location to your new location.
When you encounter an ally, you may reveal this card to banish the ally and explore again.
Put this card on top of your deck to add 1d8 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number to your combat check, for each of your mythic charges, add 1 to your combat checks; you may additionally discard this card to add 1d8 and the Fire trait.
The final role wasn’t changed (other than the correction to the spelling of ‘Arioch’ below).
‘Blood and souls for my lord Arioch!’
POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may display a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice; recharge the card before you reset your hand.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d4 (□ or a number of d4s equal to the banished card’s adventure deck number) to your combat check. (□ You may add an additional 1d6 (□ 2d6) if the banished monster has the Demon or Outsider trait).
□ You may ignore the Corrupted trait on a blessing (□ or a boon) you play on your check.
□ You may add your Charisma skill to your check against a card that has the Demon or Outsider trait (□ or to acquire a spell).
□ You may banish a monster from your hand to examine the top card of your location deck.
The overall goal was to streamline and get the text on cards reduced. I also changed the character’s background text from a quote of a passage from the first book to a lower word-count paraphrasing. I still need to test the text on cards bits with my mock ups (and playtest, of course).
Again, your feedback is appreciated.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Here's my comments from reading it. I'll just disclaim first that I've only properly read the most recent post, and I know nothing of the source material.
I'd template that first power like as below. The current wording sounds like you only get the d8 on one check, when you display it, and it stays displayed just to make it harder to cycle it or some such. I also say "as" your die rather than "instead of" so that it's clear that the check would still have the Strength/Constitution trait.
"You may display a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait. While displayed, you may use 1d8 as your Strength or Constitution die. Recharge the displayed card at the end of your turn"
The "You may use the above power for your non-combat check against a barrier." should just be part of the mentioned "above power", in brackets either directly before or directly after "(or the combat check of a character at your location)". They both extend the scope of the power in a similar way, doesn't make sense to separate one out and not the other. As it stands it looks like it's separated so that those two check boxes work together in a way that they don't (and I think aren't intended to?) - specifically on other people's barrier checks. It seems to be purely so that there's exactly 6 powers listed but I'm not aware of that being a strict rule, the number of total boxes to tick is what ought to matter. Also, the words "non-combat" are effectively redundant.
Flamefang's put-on-top power could use some cleaning up of the wording. First time I read it I thought it was (1d8+AD#) for each mythic charge. Even after re-pairing the clauses I'm still not entirely sure what the time-scope of the "add 1 to your combat checks" part is. Is it just this check (which is what I think but then why "checks" plural), or the rest of the turn, or forever and cumulatively? Also, you can't put the card on top of your deck and "additionally" discard it, you'd have to discard it instead. The "additionally" templating only works with reveal powers.
Stormbringer's first power is confusing. Can you play it if no-one else is at your location? I think so. But if someone is there but has no allies in hand you can't? There's multiple levels of "impossible" actions and they resolve in different ways, and the net effect feels a bit arbitrary as well. If it's exactly optimal for flavour leave it, but otherwise I'd say just "When you play this card, each other character at your location discards an ally". That still involves a sometimes impossible action but it's simpler and there's no wondering whether you can play the card at all or not. Also the current wording leads to odd situations where one person discards an ally but then a second person can't, does the first person get their ally back or not?
There's something a little odd about Flamefang being a cohort, but it starts in your deck, but you can still search for it (without having to tick a box). It seems too functionally similar to a normal cohort to be worth the complication of it working so differently.
I can't imagine ever wanting to check the "or Dragon" box. I like the flavour of the bonus for creature types, but it would be more interesting if you had any control over what monsters are put in your hand.
Three of the roles come with a huge upside (awesome weapon or mount without even ticking a box, and the ability to reuse potions), the "Chosen of Arioch" feels a bit lacklustre in comparison. Mind you I lean towards thinking the other roles are too good.
Overall though some awesome design ideas. Melee d4+2 really drew me in. It's also interesting mechanically that he functions as a kind of stash for other characters' spells. Sounds like a fascinating character you're designing to as well.
I'd make fun of the fact that you don't know who Elric is, but I haven't read Lord of the Rings (I've seen all of the movies and I have all of the books, I just haven't gotten around to actually reading anything other than The Hobbit) or Game of Thrones (and I haven't watched the show, either, though my wife is a fan and has all of the books), so I suppose I'm not one to talk. ;)
Thank you very much for the feedback.
I've made the recommended change to the first core power.
The Pact Sorcerer "against a barrier" power feat was structured similarly to another character's (I'll have to dig to figure out which). Separating it from "the above power" allows for it to be taken regardless of the state of power feats in the core power. So one version of the character might apply the power against barriers without any power feats in the core power, where another might first have some power feats in the core power. Separating it basically avoids confusion as to when the power can be taken. I have taken "non-combat" out of the wording.
I've made some adjustments to Flamefang's "put on top of your deck" power. First, I made it a "shuffle into your deck" power (one of the plot devices of the dragons is that they need sleep and are unavailable after being used, though they can be awoken with magic). I've also changed "checks" to "check" (that was a typo), and the comma has been changed to a semicolon:
Shuffle this card into your deck to add 1d8 plus the scenario's adventure deck number to your combat check; for each of your mythic charges, add 1 to your combat check; you may additionally discard this card to add 1d8 and the Fire trait.
This change reduces the role's overall power level.
I've added a condition to Stormbringer's first power: "If any other characters are at your location," to make it more clear. I think that your suggestion also works perfectly well, but I (think I) was following the pattern of at least one of the weapons with the Corrupted trait (despite Stormbringer not having that trait). Ultimately, I think I'll use whichever of the versions is shortest (card space issue), which probably means I'll end up using your suggested version.
I changed the wording on the "gain Flamefang" power, now it simply says "You gain the cohort Flamefang." He doesn't start in your hand, though. That follow on power is because, like some other cohorts, he can end up in your hand (or discard pile) during play and I wanted a mechanism where the character can get him back, at a cost, since the role is reliant upon the cohort.
I agree about the "or Dragon" box likely being unchecked. I'll think about that a little. It's thematically intended to represent Elric leading a force of dragon riding warriors or just dragons, but monsters with that trait are few and far between. To be honest, I wanted to give "minor" power feats since the core role is, as you pointed out, somewhat strong. If there is ever a dragon-heavy AP (Wrath of the Righteous has a few banes with the dragon trait, but I think that many are henchmen and not usable), the value of this power feat might change.
Three of the roles come with a huge upside (awesome weapon or mount without even ticking a box, and the ability to reuse potions)...
This is a very good point, and a very important factor that I've been taking into account as I continue to design the character with regard to these roles. My intent for balancing the Soulstealer and Lord of the Dragon Isle roles has been to make the character almost reliant upon those additional cards (Stormbringer and Flamefang, respectively). When he doesn't have those cards displayed/in hand, he's much weaker. Six of Soulstealer Elric's power feats have to do with Stormbringer, and the character is very much combat-focused. The Lord of the Dragon Isle role is a bit more balanced, with only one of its power feats focused on Flamefang. All of the other power feats have much less of an impact, though his Army/Skirmish/Swarm power feats will come in very handy in Wrath of the Righteous. The Pact Sorcerer role's ability to recharge Alchemical cards is really the one I'm most concerned with, and I might change "recharge" to "bury" or "discard" for balance (Elric can still use those items for his powers, which is the intent). I don't know that he's weak enough to provide "true" balance, but I'm willing to make adjustments, if necessary.
I added "and immediately end your turn" to the last of the Soulstealer powers. It's minor, but represents Elric realizing that he has slain an ally and stopping his berserk rage.
Looking at the Chosen of Arioch role, it was written for Wrath of the Righteous, where I theorize that it will be very useful. He has a flat d6+ bonus against cards with the Demon/Outsider traits. That includes any check against Demon/Outsider banes, but also includes a few allies. This role can really only be considered for Wrath/Season of the Righteous. Also consider that the third core power is much more powerful in this AP because a much higher percentage of monsters have the Demon/Outsider traits. I'm not saying that your assessment is wrong - I just want to be sure that you're looking at it from the right perspective. The role is very weak in most of the APs, but that's by design.
I'll think about your suggestions some more and will post a revised version later today or tomorrow. Thanks again!
Here is Elric after revisions prompted by Irgy’s post yesterday.
Male Melnibonéan SorcererSKILLS
Strength d4 □+1 □+2
-Melee: Strength +2
Dexterity d6 □+1 □+2
Constitution d4 □+1 □+2
Intelligence d12 □+1 □+2 □+3 □+4
-Craft: Intelligence +1
-Knowledge: Intelligence +2
Wisdom d8 □+1 □+2
Charisma d6 □+1 □+2 □+3POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may display a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait. While displayed, you may use 1d8 (□ 1d10) as your Strength and Constitution dice; recharge the card at the end of your turn.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d4 (□ or a number of d4s equal to the banished card’s adventure deck number) to your combat check.
CARDS LIST
Favored Card Type: Spell or ItemWeapon 2 □3
Spell 4 □5 □6 □7
Armor 2 □3
Item 4 □5 □6
Ally 1 □2 (previous versions showed a card feat for 3, but that was a copy/paste error)
Blessing 2 □3 □4
The first power was changed per Irgy’s recommendation.
There were no other changes to the core character.
The Soulstealer role received one small change:
He is the white-faced reaver with a hellblade that drinks the souls of men.POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may display a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice; recharge the card before you reset your hand.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d4 (□ or a number of d4s equal to the banished card’s adventure deck number) to your combat check.
When building your deck, include the loot Stormbringer as 1 of your weapons. (□ You may bury (□ discard) a spell (□ or a blessing) to search your deck or discard pile for Stormbringer and return it to your hand).
□ Add 2 to your check to acquire a spell.
□ When you defeat a monster that is not immune to the Attack trait and would banish it on your combat check that invokes the Black Blade trait during your turn, you may immediately explore your location (□ and add 2 (□ 4) to your combat checks during that exploration); if you encounter an ally, banish it and immediately end your turn.
The change was the addition of immediately ending your turn if you encounter an ally during a berserk rage (very last power).
Stormbringer received two small tweaks:
Loot 3 (Type: Weapon)
Traits: Sword, Melee, Slashing, 2-Handed, Veteran, Magic, Mythic, Black BladePowers:
When you play this card, each other character at your location discards an ally.
For your combat check, reveal this card to use your Strength or Melee skill +2d6 plus the scenario’s adventure deck level; you may additionally discard this card to add your Strength die. If not proficient with weapons, the difficulty of this check is increased by 4. If you succeed at your check against a monster that isn’t immune to the Attack trait, you may recharge 1 card from your discard pile.
After you play this card for its power, if you don’t have the Melnibonéan trait, banish an ally or bury 1d4-1 cards.
The first power was changed (I used Irgy’s wording). The last power was fixing a typo to say “Melnibonéan” (vice "Melniboné"). This matches the actual trait that Elric has.
The Pact Sorcerer role also saw two small tweaks.
He draws his power from a secret and terrible source.POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may display a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice; recharge the card before you reset your hand.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d4 (□ or a number of d4s equal to the banished card’s adventure deck number) to your combat check (□ or the combat check of a character at your location), (□ you may add an additional 1d6 (□ 2d6) if the banished monster has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait).
□ You may use the above power for your check against a barrier.
□ You may use your Knowledge skill (□ and you may add your Charisma die) on your check to acquire a spell.
□ When you play a card that has the Alchemical trait and would banish it, you may bury it instead.
The first change was to remove the “non-combat” wording from the power feat to make the third core power work against barriers. The second change adjusted the last power, allowing you to bury a card that has the Alchemical trait instead of banishing it (vice the old “recharge” effect). This drastically reduces the usefulness of the power, but better reflects the stories. Elric is not a PFRPG Alchemist, though he is capable of making potions and the like. In the stories, he often runs out of the rare ingredients he needs. This change gives him the potion-making skills, but keeps his focus squarely on his pacts with supernatural entitites.
The Lord of the Dragon Isle also received two tweaks, one minor and one not so minor.
(no nifty filler text yet)POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may display a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice; recharge the card before you reset your hand.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d4 (□ or a number of d4s equal to the banished card’s adventure deck number) to your combat check. (□ You may add an additional 1d6 if the banished monster has the Animal or Demon or Elemental (□ or Dragon) trait).
You gain the cohort Flamefang. (You may discard a spell to search your deck or discard pile for Flamefang and return it to your hand).
□ You gain the skill Ranged: Strength +2.
□ You may bury (□ or discard) a spell to add 1d4 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number to your check (□ all checks) against a bane that has the Army, Skirmish, or Swarm trait.
The wording of the power to gain Flamefang was adjusted. The previous version was a cut and paste job from the Soulstealer role, but that role has Stormbringer as a loot. This wording is a lot more clean, and hopefully avoids any confusion.
The second tweak was to the final power and has three components. The first was to adjust the bury (□ discard) to discard (□ recharge). This is because the power is limited in its applicability. The second component was reducing the bonus from 1d4 to a flat 1. The problem I saw with 1d4 was how it potentially stacked (Flamefang’s combat plus banishing a monster plus Elric’s weapon). This reduction helped justify the change to discard/recharge (if I kept it at 1d4, I’d be fine with retaining the bury/discard requirement). The last was to change “all checks” to “any check” and this was a power reduction thing that also helped justify the reduction to discard/recharge. The changes to this power were basically intended to help balance the role with the others (the Soulstealer and Pact Sorcerer roles also being reduced in potency a bit).
The dragon, Flamefang, had three small tweaks:
Cohort 3
Traits: Dragon, Veteran, Mount, MythicPowers:
At the start or end of your turn, reveal this card to move; you may also move another character at your location to your new location.
When you encounter an ally, you may reveal this card to banish the ally and explore again.
Shuffle this card into your deck to add 1d8 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number to your combat check; for each of your mythic charges, add 1 to your combat check; you may additionally discard this card to add 1d8 and the Fire trait.
All three of these tweaks were to the last power. The first was to require Flamefang to be shuffled into the deck when used for combat. This is a huge reduction from putting him on top of your deck; and it reflects the fact that the dragons of Elric’s world need long periods of sleep after being used in combat. The second tweak was changing the comma after the first portion to a semicolon. Hopefully, this clarifies that the bonus for mythic charges (assuming your playing Wrath/Season of the Righteous) is separate from the base 1d8. The third tweak was correcting the “checks” in the mythic charges bit to “check.”
I didn’t remove the dragon power feat from the first core power. I’m not opposed to removing it, but I haven’t yet come up with a viable alternative (based on wanting to better balance all three roles). The only thing I’ve considered as an alternative so far is a power feat to increase the bonus of the last power to 2.
The final role wasn’t changed.
‘Blood and souls for my lord Arioch!’POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and WeaponsYou may display a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d8 (□ 1d10) instead of your Strength and Constitution dice; recharge the card before you reset your hand.
You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.
You may banish a monster from your hand to add 1d4 (□ or a number of d4s equal to the banished card’s adventure deck number) to your combat check. (□ You may add an additional 1d6 (□ 2d6) if the banished monster has the Demon or Outsider trait).
□ You may ignore the Corrupted trait on a blessing (□ or a boon) you play on your check.
□ You may add your Charisma skill to your check against a card that has the Demon or Outsider trait (□ or to acquire a spell).
□ You may banish a monster from your hand to examine the top card of your location deck.
So I have (hopefully) brought a bit more balance to the roles by reducing the effectiveness of the first three. The Soulstealer role is heavily reliant upon having Stormbringer in hand (and Stormbringer isn’t guaranteed to be in your starting hand). Elric is a really powerful combatant when he has Stormbringer, but he’s barely more powerful than the core character without Stormbringer. The Pact Sorcerer role is probably the most balanced all around. The Lord of the Dragon Isle role has the powerful Flamefang cohort, but that card can disappear into his deck. The Chosen of Arioch is, by design, the least powerful of the roles all around. However, it is theoretically the most powerful in the Wrath/Season of the Righteous AP, allowing him to use Corrupted boons without penalty and giving him a bonus against Demons/Outsiders. That’s a theory and needs to be playtested (I’ll get around to that eventually), but it is the intent.
Again, your feedback is appreciated.