]i]Disclaimer:[/i] Me? Well, I'm just a great fan of the game and can't stop playing it with the misses. We just love the game so much and have played through RotR three times and are almost done with S&S now. Also, with the new box coming right around the corner, we can not wait for it to start shipping!
Now, since I'm such a fanatic, I started to develop some of my own characters. Granted, they are still under construction and need to be playtested. But I would love some user feedback.
I will eventually work these in to cards, but I want them to be just right and balanced before I do that.
So please review these on every aspect: both positive and negative are welcome! (You're free to playtest them too!)
Krazz’k:
Male Goblin Merchant
Strength d4 []+1 []+2
Dexterity d10 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4
- Acrobatics: Dexterity +2
Constitution d6 []+1 []+2
Intelligence d8 []+1 []+2
- Knowledge: Intelligence +2
Wisdom d4 []+1
Charisma d10 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4
- Diplomacy: Charisma +2
Favored Card Type: Item
Weapon: 1 []2
Spell: - []1
Armor: 1 []2
Item: 6 []7 []8 []9
Ally: 4 []5 []6 []7
Blessing: 3 []4
Powers:
Hand Size: 6 []7
Proficient with: Light Armors [] Weapons
When you reset your hand, you may recharge items instead of discarding them.
When you would discard ([]banish) an item, you may recharge it instead.
When another ([]any) character at your location succeeds at a combat check, you may draw a random Basic item from the box.
Dealer:
Hand Size: 6 []7 []8
Proficient with: Light Armors [] Weapons
When you reset your hand, you may recharge items instead of discarding them.
When you would discard ([]banish) an Item, you may recharge it instead. ([]You may then draw card.)
When another ([]any) character at your location succeeds at a combat check, you may draw a random Basic ([]or Non-Basic)([]or Non-Elite) item from the box.
[] At the end of your turn, you may display an Item. Every character is considered to have one copy of this Item until the start of your next turn. Discard the displayed card at the start of your turn.
[] You may use your Diplomacy skill to acquire Items instead of the listed skill.
[] When you encounter an Item ([]or any boon) you may draw a random card of the same type from the box. You may then choose to encounter the drawn card instead.
Sapper:
Hand Size: 6 []7 []8
Proficient with: Light Armors [] Weapons
When you reset your hand, you may recharge Items instead of discarding them.
When you would discard ([]banish) an Item, you may recharge it instead.
When another ([]any) character at your location succeeds at a combat check, you may draw a random Basic ([]or Non-Basic) item ([] with the Tool trait) from the box.
[] When you defeat a barrier, you may immediately explore again.
[] You gain the skill Disable: Dexterity +3
[] Add 2 ([]4) to your noncombat check to defeat a barrier ([]or close a location).
When you reset your hand, you may recharge items instead of discarding them.
As written,this would apply to all resets of the hand, not just the one that is part of the end of your turn. Since other hand resets are usually a penalty, you are sort of negating the penalty. So you might want to trigger of ending your turn instead of resetting your hand. (Check out the FAQ about resetting your hand and ending your turn.)
When you would discard ([]banish) an item, you may recharge it instead.
This has the Damiel problem, in that it would apply to all banished items, not just the ones you play. So you could choose to fail to acquire an item, then recharge it instead of banishing it. Basically, you couldn't really fail to gain an item you encounter, it would just have to be recharged instead of put into your hand. It would even apply to items in a location you closed. So it probably needs some more limits. Making it an item you played would work well.
Also, usually a card played by banishing it does something really powerful, like succeed at a check. Damiel's (and Sajan's) power to recharge banished items is limited by the traits. So all the designers have to do is make sure they don't make a card that is too powerful with those traits. Krazz'k has no such limit. He could banish the Emerald Codex or the Dreamstone to add cards to his hand, but really recharge it instead. Imagine the spells and allies you'd gain for you and your traveling companions! So you probably need some other limit here. You could make it so that it was only items that add to a check, or make so it was items that don't acquire or gains cards. But you are at the whim of whatever the designers might come up with yet. Imagine an item like Mayor Kendra, where you could examine a whole location deck. If you can recharge that you can examine examine lots of location decks in a scenario.
I like the ideas here, just realize you don't know what might come out that might turn this character into an unstoppable force. To some extent that is the issue with all homebrew characters, but this one just seems like it might be more an issue than normal.
Also, usually a card played by banishing it does something really powerful, like succeed at a check. Damiel's (and Sajan's) power to recharge banished items is limited by the traits. So all the designers have to do is make sure they don't make a card that is too powerful with those traits. Krazz'k has no such limit. He could banish the Emerald Codex or the Dreamstone to add cards to his hand, but really recharge it instead. Imagine the spells and allies you'd gain for you and your traveling companions! So you probably need some other limit here. You could make it so that it was only items that add to a check, or make so it was items that don't acquire or gains cards. But you are at the whim of whatever the designers might come up with yet. Imagine an item like Mayor Kendra, where you could examine a whole location deck. If you can recharge that you can examine examine lots of location decks in a scenario.
I think you made a fair point, but I also think that I kind of like the way that he could be such a character to your team. He obviously isn't meant for your solo campaign. He should stick to a guy like Valeros or Seelah and just wait for them to execute orders.
So, I decided to change some of his skills.
Mainly: I lowered his combat value. Krazz'k shouldn't be fighting. He should be helping. "Me Good Goblin, yes yes!"
New skills:
Strength d4 []+1 []+2
Dexterity d6 []+1 []+2
- Stealth: Dexterity +2
Constitution d6 []+1 []+2
Intelligence d8 []+1 []+2
- Knowledge: Intelligence +2
Wisdom d8 []+1 []+2 []+3
Charisma d10 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4
- Diplomacy: Charisma +2
And I think that is fine. You are making a character for your own use. You can obviously say "Using his power on this card that came out in 2016 would be too powerful. I'll just not let him use it on that card." That is kind of the world you live in with homebrew.
I think that character looks really interesting. It does the kinds of things that I tend to enjoy characters doing. And I think it would be really fun to play.
Definitely an interesting character here. I'm not sure how this will play in practice, but I'm definitely going to review it as best I can, and hopefully this will help.
As for skills, obviously this is going to be very rough in combat, even compared to most non-combatants, like Siwar. You could probably justify having another skill, more along the line with a Rogue. I'd consider craft.
Cards look about right. I don't see any need to change there. Same for Hand Size and proficiencies.
The first power seems fine to me. I can kind-of see the issue Hawkmoon brought up with being able to use it any time you reset, but I'm having trouble thinking of a scenario where it's really going to affect the result.
For your second power, I agree with Hawk that all banish is too good, especially after he brought up Codex and Dreamstone. I'd say When you discard an item ([]or banish an item with alchemical trait) to allow for that issue.
That third ability is really interesting. I'm having trouble assessing if it's good or bad, so it's probably about right. The ability to draw a card after every successful combat at your location has the potential to add a ton of HP to your character, but the fact that they clog your hand, and are only basic is probably enough of a balance.
Going into roles, I'm a bit worried about the dealer. First, he gains the ability to get better items, and to draw a card when he recharges them. My fear is that that reduces the penalties for his third power and he'll become near immortal. I think it's worth testing as is, but if you want to weaken it, here's an idea for a change to the power:
When ([]you or) another character at your location defeats a monster, if there are less than 1 ([]2) cards displayed this way, display a basic ([]or non-basic) item. At the start of your turn, put the displayed cards in your hand.
The idea there is that you limit the number of cards you can get in a turn, hopefully reducing the maximum power level.
The ability to grant others the ability to use an item is cool, but I am worried about memory issues. Everyone can use it once, but over a full round, especially in a six-player game, it's gonna be really hard to keep track of. It might be good to make it a general buff to characters at your location to avoid those issues. That being said, there's nothing else really wrong with it, so if you're not worried about memory issues, the power is probably fine.
The charisma power, as you know, is one I'm not a fan of. It's probably fine, but since Cha is one of the best dice he has, it may be too good. Being limited to just items is probably all right.
I really like the power to choose the item you counter conceptually. The wording is perhaps a bit weird, as it doesn't say what you do with the card you don't encounter. I assume it's banished in either case, but it might be worth considering if it's put back in the box, since that affects whether it's removed from the game.
The sapper role is much more straight-forward and works well. I do wonder how the 'with the tool trait' works. Do you only get tools at that point? Can you choose to get tools or any item? It could stand to be a bit clearer.
I like the other 3 abilities, and they look straight-forward enough, so I'd stick with them as written.
Sorry if this isn't as good as usual, I'm a bit off today, but wanted to get this out there. Hope it helps!