Help me balance a custom Fallen Jedi hero!

[Quintus515 4]

Hey, I am making a custom expansion with my friends for my playgroup since we have already played all the campaigns (and we loved them so much that we want more content) and board game design is one of our hobbies. 

We (me and 2 of my buddies) agreed to make a small box expansion, and gift it for rest of our playgroup as a birthday gift. Obiviously we will be playtesting everything as excessively as 3 people can, but we would really apprechiate the insight of people on this forum as well when it comes to balance (and wording). Thanks in advance for anyone helping out! 

Deraion Hart - Misguided Sentinel

Active: Exterminate - 1 Action, 2 Strain => Perform 2 attacks with 2 different melee weapons (They may target different units). Then you become Stunned.

Passive: Sadism - Whenever an enemy figure is defeated within 2 Spaces of you, you recover one Strain

Statline: 12 HP, 4 Endurance, 5 Speed, White Defense die. 
Attributes: Strenght: Green, Blue; Insight: Green, Green, Blue; Tech: Green, Green, Blue

Wounded: Lose Sadism. 12 HP, 3 Endurance, 3 Speed, White Defense Die, Attributes: Strenght: Green, Yellow; Insight: Red, Green, Blue; Tech: Green, Red, Red

1XP - Force Choke: 2 Strain => Apply Stunned, Bleeding and Weakened to an enemy figure

1XP - Shadowstalk: After attacking, you may spend 2 Strain to become Hidden

When attacking, if you are Hidden apply +1 Damage to your attack.

2XP - Bladesurge: Action, 2 Strain => Gain 4 Movement Points, you may attack with a melee weapon. Apply 1 extra White Defense die to the targets Defense pool for this attack.

2XP - Personal Shield Generator: - Gear, Accesory

Exhaust this while defending to gain +2 Armor

3XP - Resurgence: Recover 2 Strain each time an allied hero becomes Wounded or Defeated. If you would become Wounded you may instead deplete this card to cancel the attack targeting you and recover 3 Health, then become Stunned.

3XP - Tactical Armor: - Gear, Armor

+1 Speed, Start each Combat Hidden. Surge Cancel results from your defensive rolls also count as Armor results.

Exhaust this to become Hidden

4XP - Energized Lightsaber: - Weapon, Melee, Lightsaber

Attack Pool: Red, Blue, Yellow 

Surge: +1 Damage, 2Surge: Focus, Surge: +1 Surge Token

If Energized Lightsaber and Malfunctioning Lightsaber (Deraion’s starting weapon) or Augmented Lightsaber (Deraions Reward) are both used for Exterminate, you no longer become Stunned when using Exterminate.

4XP: And the Force Shall Free Me:

Apply +2 Endurance to your hero.

While attacking or defending, you may reroll any number of die (once per attack or defense)

Starting Weapon: Malfunctioning Lightsaber

Attack Pool: Yellow, Yellow

Surge: +1 Damage, Surge: +1 Damage Token, Surge: Pierce

Reward: Augmented Lightsaber

Pierce 1, Cleave 2

Attack Pool: Yellow, Yellow, Red

Surge: +1 Damage, Surge: +1 Damage Token, Surge: Pierce

 

[JasonTheConner 7]

11 minutes ago, Quintus515 said:

Starting Weapon: Malfunctioning Lightsaber

Attack Pool: Yellow, Yellow

Surge: +1 Damage, Surge: +1 Damage Token, Surge: Pierce

 

I love this.  Should there be like an Insight Test or Tech Test before each use, failure means -1 Surge on the roll maybe??

[Quintus515 4]

^ Excellent and flavorful idea, I love it. Thanks for input.

Edited March 8 by Quintus515

[Quintus515 4]

9 hours ago, JasonTheConner said:

I love this.  Should there be like an Insight Test or Tech Test before each use, failure means -1 Surge on the roll maybe??

[ArcticJedi 142]

On 3/7/2020 at 8:37 PM, Quintus515 said:

1XP - Force Choke: 2 Strain => Apply Stunned, Bleeding and Weakened to an enemy figure

THIS is a bit much. If you want a versatility of conditions, make it an or thing (e.g. Stunned OR bleeding)

 

On 3/7/2020 at 8:37 PM, Quintus515 said:

2XP - Bladesurge: Action, 2 Strain => Gain 4 Movement Points, you may attack with a melee weapon. Apply 1 extra White Defense die to the targets Defense pool for this attack.

For 2 xp/strain I don't think you need to add extra defense die to balance it if that's why that white die is there. Buuuut if you want it for flavor than that's cool too.

 

On 3/7/2020 at 8:37 PM, Quintus515 said:

2XP - Personal Shield Generator: - Gear, Accesory

Exhaust this while defending to gain +2 Armor

I would make it say deplete so you can only use it once per mission as having +2 defense to the first attack you suffer every round might be a bit much

On 3/7/2020 at 8:37 PM, Quintus515 said:

3XP - Tactical Armor: - Gear, Armor

+1 Speed, Start each Combat Hidden. Surge Cancel results from your defensive rolls also count as Armor results.

Exhaust this to become Hidden

Try removing the start each mission hidden thing and this is pretty much balanced in my opinion, either that or remove the +1 speed

On 3/7/2020 at 8:37 PM, Quintus515 said:

4XP: And the Force Shall Free Me:

Apply +2 Endurance to your hero.

While attacking or defending, you may reroll any number of die (once per attack or defense)

This is a smidge to powerful. try making it an exhaust sorta thing.

Very interesting character, hope this helps some!

-Arctic

[a1bert 4,027]

Force Choke is also missing "once" and "during your activation". It would be game-breaking if you can at any time stun the figure that moves to try to attack you. (Or stun 4 hostile figures per round, 5 on the first round, and even more if there are certain supply cards and items. And 6 with And the Force Shall Free Me...) It would probably be prudent to require line of sight or within 3 spaces as well.

 

Edited March 9 by a1bert

[Grruberr 2]

I did some design for this hero. I imagine him as mercenary or neutral rather than imperial.

What do you think?

[Quintus515 4]

 

@ArcticJedi Big thanks for detailed feedback. I think I’ll make Force Choke do 1 damage and Weaken. For Personal Shield Generator, I think I’ll nerf it to give only 1 Block instead. Maybe 1 Block or 1 Evade. For Bladesurge, I think I will make it give them White die unless you are Hidden (if they don’t see you they cannot dodge!) for more synergy within his kit. Removing Start Hidden clause from Tactical Armor too. Still thinking about how to change And the Force Shall free me, or to maybe rework it altogether. 

I also think I will nerf his speed from 5 to 4 (6 Speed with Tactical Armor would be a bit much), but perhaps allow him to retain speed 4 while Wounded. Maybe buff his health to 13 to slightly compensate the loss of survivability from the nerfs for his survivability cards.

@a1bert Thanks for important wording feedback! I will apply those changes.

@Grruberr Thanks a ton for going an extra mile for me, the art makes all the difference when playtesting! Players are always way more exited if there is some art on the project! 
 

Edits: Just formatting.

Edited March 13 by Quintus515

[Grruberr 2]

Glad you find it useful! I'll do the class cards as well. I'll also provide some feedback on balance.

You notice I imagined it as neutral or mercenary hero, it might be a good concept.

Also, do you work on some kind of custom campaign or scenarios or you just plan to do them as addition for existing ones?

I'd like to team up with some people to work on custom campaigns...

 

[Quintus515 4]

36 minutes ago, Grruberr said:

 

Also, do you work on some kind of custom campaign or scenarios or you just plan to do them as addition for existing ones?

I'd like to team up with some people to work on custom campaigns...

 

I’m working on a custom mini-campaign yes! Althou now the work has been somewhat halted since I had to cancel my planned game testing sessions due to the coronavirus regulations. I’ll gladly post you the missions to hear your opinion and input on them once I get them written down, for now the scenarios are still on my physical notebook.

[Grruberr 2]

Great. I'm willing to help let me know if you need something specific.

I would also be willing to help create missions, co-develop or further develop the campaign.

Glad to see people still enjoying this great game and creating new content!

 

PS I have to ask:

Quote

2XP - Personal Shield Generator: - Gear, Accesory

Exhaust this while defending to gain +2 Armor

3XP - Tactical Armor: - Gear, Armor

+1 Speed, Start each Combat Hidden. Surge Cancel results from your defensive rolls also count as Armor results.

I trust here, under both abilities, you wrote 'Armor' but actually meant 'Block'?

Edited March 13 by Grruberr
additional content

[Grruberr 2]

Alright, here's some thoughts and a complete class deck, beta version:

 

Personal Shield Generator

these should probably be under Items rather than hero/class deck.
If there is specific intention to make this a hero class ability it can be reworded but I'd keep it an Item and think of something else for 2xp class card.

Shadowstalk:
The first part of the ability I'd change to:
At the end of your activation, if there are no hostile figures adjacent to you, you may spend 1 strain to become Hidden.
Therefore making it cheaper (1 strain vs 2) but limiting it to once/activation, requiring a round to prepare plus avoiding to hide if you stand in the middle of enemy force...

Resurgence
Recover 2 <Strain> each time an allied hero becomes Wounded or Defeated.
If you would become Wounded you may instead Deplete this card to cancel the attack targeting you and recover 3 Health, then become Stunned.

I would adapt this toward:
Recover 1 <Strain> each time a hostile figure within 3 spaces is Defeated.
If you or an allied hero would become Wounded or Defeated, you may instead Deplete this card to cancel the attack against the target and allow it to Recover 3 (or Recover 3 <damage>. Then, you become Stunned.

This is perhaps more thematic as the hero feeds on hostile figure energy and the overall rework might allow this ability to be used more frequently throughout the campaign. Also, it might help to lower the power of already overpowered 4xp The Force shall free me to only +1 Endurance (as you will be able to regain Strain constantly).

Tactical Armor
I would definitely remove the last ability from this card. Becoming hidden is already included in 1xp class card Shadowstalk and allowing it to do the same thing would not only disturb balance but also make Shadowstalk obsolete which is bad design. Also, permanent +1 speed is too much. I'd use Exhaust this card to gain +1 Speed.

And The Force Shall Free Me
Apply +1 Endurance to your hero.
While attacking or defending, you may reroll one die of your choice.  (no need for further limitations, i think it's balanced now)

     

Edited March 13 by Grruberr
additional content

[a1bert 4,027]

Force Choke: still missing "During your activation, ... Limit once per activation."
See the "Cunning" ability (Nexu, Han Solo) for wording of Tactical Armor.
Resurgence "allied hero" -> "friendly hero"? What if you get defeated from damage that isn't caused by an attack?
There are two different Resurgence cards.
Use symbols instead of terms that do not exist in the rules (e.g. surge cancel).
Abilities can only be used once per their trigger, so the explanation in The Force Shall Free Me is unnecessary. Also, you can only reroll each die once per attack anyway.

There are others, but I don't want to rewrite everything for you.

Edited March 13 by a1bert

[Grruberr 2]

1 hour ago, a1bert said:

Force Choke: still missing "During your activation, ... Limit once per activation."
See the "Cunning" ability (Nexu, Han Solo) for wording of Tactical Armor.
Resurgence "allied hero" -> "friendly hero"? What if you get defeated from damage that isn't caused by an attack?
There are two different Resurgence cards.
Use symbols instead of terms that do not exist in the rules (e.g. surge cancel).
Abilities can only be used once per their trigger, so the explanation in The Force Shall Free Me is unnecessary. Also, you can only reroll each die once per attack anyway.

There are others, but I don't want to rewrite everything for you.

I am aware of most you have written, just started polishing it and did not want to change too much already, rather try to slowly polish step by step. (as this hero is not originally my idea).

Regarding Force choke, I agree with you but already had another idea for polishing it:

<Action>: Choose one figure in your line of sight within 5 spaces. Roll yellow die. The figure suffers <damage> equal to the <surge> result and becomes Weakened. (or The figure suffers 1 <damage>  and becomes Weakened). 

Perhaps it can also be reworked in another way but an action requirement i think would be appropriate. Maybe allow a hero to either choose a regular, less powerful action or take Strain and roll 2 Yellow dice for damage as an option. Like Below:

 

 

Resurgence: allied -> friendly yes, good notice. Wording could be: "Deplete this card to cancel the damage causing it" *meaning Wounded or Defeated" - any better idea while keeping it short and concise? Two cards are there because the first one is Quintus515's original and the  second is my proposed version.

Edit: all this is not obsolete as this idea is already implemented in basic ability Sadism which I completely missed. Back to rethinking original Resurgence then..

The Force Shall Free Me: look at my post above, already proposed change.

 

Also, what are others might I ask?

 

In addition, as noted before, I think Personal Shield Generator and Tactical Armor could be reworked as Items and those abilities re-imagined or filled with different ones.

Any ideas a1bert or anyone else?

(I will be changing images in the original post the future to avoid much confusion)

Edited March 13 by Grruberr