next »

[Hiro]

Something like an 11 Attack / 11 Damage 3 ap move would mean that he would one shot killing or close to it most of the A:T characters.

Grrbbly should have a lower attack score should be lower as well as his cost. 15 points would be fine. Right now his charge is attack 8 which is a bit too much for his cost.

[Ape2020]

Grrbbly should have a lower attack score should be lower as well as his cost. 15 points would be fine. Right now his charge is attack 8 which is a bit too much for his cost.

But that's all he does, is charge then he dies!!!

But yeah I know he cost too much & his stats are out of whack, I did him like three or four years ago.

Revised Gribbly

Gribbly
Samael
Dark
Prowler
10 levels
(Small Base - 30mm)

Quote “We'd better get back, 'cause it'll be dark soon, and they mostly come at night... mostly. ”

Attack: 4
Damage: 1
Defense: 12
Armor: 1
Life Points: 4
Resistance: 10
Movement: 12/16
AP Recovery: 2/3

Minion: Gribbly is not a unique unit & you may include one for every 50 levels in a Samael or Dark party.  For example a party of 300 levels may include up to 6 Gribblies.
Hellspawn: A Gribbly may only be included in party that has at least one Dark Mystic in it.
Small Creature: A Gribbly may not have any Advantage cards attach to them & don't increase the parties Advantage Card limit.
Acid Blood: If this unit takes damage, even if it kills it, all units in base-to-base contact take 4 damage, Effect 16.

OOO Dark Seeding (Magic, Charge)
+2 Attack, Gribbly has Open Movement for this charge.  If this attack causes damage remove the Gribbly from play.  The target unit must make a Resistance check, Effect 18 or this card become attached to them.  At the end of the each Action Phase the unit that this card is attached to suffers Lv 1 Doom.  An attached Gribbly is considered an Innate Ability on that unit.

-ape2020

[spacemonkey]

I like the revised Gribbly. The stats seem fitting for such a creature and I like the innate abilities though I would think Acid Blood would work more like an instantaneous Final Protocol or a Final Conflagration type attack instead of an effect if you're going for a gooey creature explosion. As for Dark Seeding I think it is great ability; I have wonder if you couldn't drop the ability's cost 3 AP and also make the Gribbly's Action Points regen a 2/3 as the Gribbly is meant as little more than a delivery vehicle for this ability?

Honestly the 2/3 AP regen idea is something that stems out of my own ideas of what "Minion" type helper characters might look like for the "Boss" type characters I was considering in the old thread.  

[Ape2020]

Liked your idea of a 2/3 unit as this is a basically a bomb on legs so I adjusted it down along with Dark Seeding special skill.  I left Acid Blood the same as it is suppose to spew out acid even if its just cut.  So its sorta of offensive weapon in that you better be able to shoot it dead quickly or one shot if your going to take the damage.  I do find it funny that I made Dark Seeding a one way ticket that if the Gribbly does damage its gone regardless if the auto Doom sticks or not.

Now I got to go and find my two Gribblies and paint them up.     

-ape2020

[Ape2020]

The waves broke on the bow of the Helena as it surged forwards, the Northern winds pushing it onwards, faster than it had ever gone before. Not fast enough. As another volley of leaden balls from the lead pursuer came whizzing overhead & an aft ballista took a direct hit and flew off its stand into the sea. The pursuit had lasted for over an hour, & slowly but surely they were catching up, each salvo of fire that bit closer to hitting something-or someone- & sooner or later the one the pirate mystics would be in range. A direct hit from them & the Helena was finished, & so was Shu’s mission.

His choices were clear die with his secrets discovered of another Pirate Lords raid or surrender.  Not really a choice in Shu mind as a ship officer called for his attention.  

“Sir!  The storm, it forming a malstrøm!”

Shu look ahead & before him the entire ocean seem to converge into a pit of darkness.  Suddenly rising up above them from the sea behind them was a ship flying the dark colors of legendary the Black Pearl!

Drawing his sword “Men its time to fight.  For we might not live for another day!  But our deaths will be glorious!”

******
“And then what happened next Shu?”  The little boys & girls all pleaded in antispation.

“Now that is for tomorrow night, but only if your are all good little children.  Nightly, night.”  Shu blew out the candle to the mournful little sighs.

“Really, how are you going to escape that little spot.”  Erika questioned.

“The truth of course!” as Shu softly rubbed his sword hilt.


Shu Makato
Empire
Light
Empire
40 levels
(Small Base - 30mm)

Quote “Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death.”

Attack: 5
Damage: 4
Defense: 8
Armor: 3
Life Points: 14
Resistance: 8
Movement: 8/12
AP Recovery: 2/4

Innate Ability: Open Movement

OOO Fukuryuzan (Ki, Ranged Attack)
Distance (8 Inches) +2 Damage / -2 Armor.

OOOO Kouryu (Ki, Attack)
+4 Damage; Reactive Actions cannot be used in response to this Attack.  Shu suffers Lv. 2 Slow after this attack is resolved.

<Advantage Card>
Enchanted Armor
Type: Equipment  Category: Warrior
Actions: Automatic      Level: +5
While this character is affected by a Positive or Negative State their printed Armor can not be reduced or ignored.

Name: Shu Makato
Rank: Knight of the Third Heaven
Place of birth:  Port Meidel, Phaion
Age: 23
Combat style: The Path of Meizo
Ethic Background: Ryuan/Aion
Raza: Human Nepilim Sylvain
Height: 1.79m
Weight:  62kg
Pasttimes: Telling Bedtime Stories.
Likes: Heroic Actions.
Dislikes: Pirates.

Fluff: An orphan from the streets of Phaion, Shu Makato is one of the few survivors of devastating raids of the Pirate Lords.  Smart & strong, Shu became one of the most promising practitioners of The Path of Meizo, but he always felt out of place.  That was until he joined the Empire forces.  While his headstrong personality at first held him back.  When he was assigned to a squad under the command of Duncan Reid began to excel.  Now this young warrior is rising fast among the ranks of the Heavenly Knights & has finally found a purpose & place of his own.

Notes: Believe or not this is a revision of an older character I did a long time ago.  Seen here Shu Makato.  Of course before I could finish him Wen posted his Shu picture, but I swear I didn’t start this based off of that.  It just really fits him well.  I was re-working him to give him new set of skills based off the techniques found for The Path of Meizo seen in the Ki book.  I wanted him to be a low cost warrior that you have to take huge chances with if you wanted to use him, but the payoff I’m hoping is worth it.  Oh I was going to give him Critical Mastery so he could be the lowest cost unit with that innate ability but then changed my mind to Open Movement being use to the open seas he isn’t affected by rough terrain like others.

Like always I’m open to any questions, comments, and suggestions.  

-ape2020

[spacemonkey]

Meant to comment on Shu last week but honestly I don't think he needs much of a critique. I love the character's background and his stats are solid. Open Movement does seem fitting and both abilities are quite good but balanced. His low AP regen and Kouryu causing Slow Lv. 2 really makes you think how and when is best to use either ability. Overall Shu presents a balanced character that fits right in with the general Empire theme; nice job, Ape2020.  

I see Enchanted Armor making for a nice addition to any heavily armored Warrior (though it's good thing Gears can't have advantage cards) but I have to wonder if it shouldn't have a 5 Level cost since it's situational on facing units with Armor Penetrating abilities (which are increasing) and dependent on having a State affect the character?

[spacemonkey]

Alright, can't let Ape2020 have all the fun.  
I finally got my butt in gear and have been finishing up some long overdue fluff for a batch of characters I presented back in the YAHCT thread. Also I've been working on minor and major character tweaks to most of them. So without further ado, I reintroduce:

—THE MAGUS ORDER—

Slightly more than two centuries old, the Magus Order is the most important secret society for the wizards of Gaïa. The organization’s goal is to preserve supernatural knowledge and the use of magic. They believe that the mystical arts are a discipline that must not be forgotten, but understand they are an exceptionally dangerous powers that neither society nor the world is prepared for at the moment. At present, the main interests of the Magus Order are to promote the study of the supernatural arts and to subtly control the intervention of supernatural powers in Gaïa. The organization also seeks to ensure that monstrous creatures, macabre spirits or dark necromancers do not commit atrocities or openly abuse their powers. Thus they hope that they can someday present themselves before the world without fear and prejudice.
(Information taken from the Organization description in Gaia Volume I)

Advantages of the Magus Order
Defense against the Dark Arts
All Characters in the Party receive +1 Resistance. When afflicted by the Seal State, the innate abilities of Characters in the Party remain unaffected.
Master of Magic
At the start of play, choose a Mystic character in your Party. This character receives an additional Action Point per turn and enemy characters must spend an Action Point to make a Resistance Roll against any Effect cast by this character.
Mystical Ritual
During each Recovery Phase any Mystics in your party may recover one less Action Point each to receive a Ritual Counter. For each Character that recieves a Ritual Counter subtract 1 from that turn's Initiative roll. Any Character with a Ritual Counter receives the following bonuses: Increase the distance of magical Ranged Attacks by 2 inches, increase the Effect value of magical and innate abilities by 1, and reroll any individual die that results in a roll of 1. These bonuses expire at the end of the turn and the Ritual Counters are removed from all Characters.

========================================================================================

Iara
Mystic- Magus Order -Neutral- Lv. 40
Small Base
Att: 4
Dam: 1
Def: 8
Arm: 0
LP: 10
Resist: 10
Move: 6/10
AP: 3/4

Magical Reflection: Whenever Iara successfully passes a Resistance Check, the unit that triggered the check must also make a Resistance Check against Effect 14.  If the check is failed, then the same negative effect that would have affected Iara affects them instead.
00 Ice Splinters (Magic, Ranged Attack)
Distance (16 inches).  +1 Attack/+3 Damage.
0000 Frozen Prison (Magic, Effect)
Cast Paralyze Lv. 2 on an enemy unit inside Iara’s Control Zone. Effect 16.

<Advantage Card>
Hamper Footing
Type: Power   Category: Mystic   Actions: Automatic      Level: +5
Retire this card at any time to make the area inside the possessor’s Control Zone count as Abrupt Terrain for the rest of the turn.

Name: Iara Mirabella Ramond
Rank: Magus of the Magus Order
Place of birth: Gabriel
Age: 31
Combat style: Water Magic
Ethnic Background: Aion
Hobbies: Shopping for clothes
Likes: The admiration of her peers
Dislikes: Bad manners and sloppiness

Iara is a beautiful, confident, always fashionable woman but undeniably haughty and self-absorbed; in essence she is stereotypical of the Gabrielese bourgeois. She is also a witch of considerable talent and a third generation member of the Magus Order; a fact that she is quick to point out to her students and colleagues at the Chaville Academy. Iara inherited both the Gift and her teaching position from her father Baron Marcelo Ramond, a respected Magister who retired some years ago to a mansion in the Lucille Mountains. As the baron’s only child, Iara visits him sporadically out of obligation and he in turn guarantees she wants for nothing. Still Iara feels a burden to live up to her father’s reputation and constantly petitions the council of the Magius Locci for special assignments. With world events heating up, this is Iara’s chance to prove that her magic is as icy as her disposition.


Tevona
Mystic- Magus Order -Light- Lv. 45
Small Base
Att: 3
Dam: 1
Def: 8
Arm: 0
LP: 10
Resist: 12
Move: 6/10
AP: 3/4

Aura of Protection: Any friendly Unit within Tevona's Control Zone (except herself) gets +1 Resistance.
00 Mystical Barrier (Magic, Effect)
One friendly unit inside Tevona's Control Zone gains Shield Lv. 2.
000 Superior Recovery (Magic, Effect)
Heal 8 Life Points of a friendly unit inside Tevona's Control Zone.
00 Enhanced Enchantment (Magic, Reactive)
One friendly unit inside Tevona's Control Zone adds +1 Lv to all States caused by magical abilities used by that unit until the end of the turn. For example a skill that casts Lv. 2 Berserk would become Lv. 3 Berserk instead.

<Advantage Card>
Pacifism
Type: Power   Category: Light   Actions: Automatic      Level: +5
Reveal this card when the possessor of this card is deployed. This character receives a bonus to their Defense attribute equal to their Attack attribute and becomes unable to perform any offensive action.  This card may be retired at the end of any turn in which a friendly unit has been killed or destroyed by an enemy unit.

Name: Tevona Nangona
Rank: Magus of the Magus Order
Place of birth:  Baho
Age: 28
Combat style: Creation Magic
Ethnic Background: Tayahar
Hobbies: Playing with children
Likes: Studying alongside her fellow mages
Dislikes: Violence

Recruited from the small village of Vishe in Baho, the 19-year old Tevona already possessed considerable medicinal knowledge and magical abilities when she was inducted into the Magus Order. Tevona’s sociable and compassionate nature quickly earned her many friends inside and outside of the Order. This gentle woman has proven a significant resource to the Order since her advancement to Magus; whether it be performing field research or providing support on clandestine operations, Tevona has always been eager to be of service. Until recently Tevona was helping investigate the source of the Burnt Countryside in Kanon but she has been recalled to Gabriel to await special reassignment by the council of the Magius Locci.

========================================================================================

Overall I'm pretty please how these two turned out so far but as always comments and critiques are welcome, wanted, and needed.  

[spacemonkey]

Ventus
Mystic- Magus Order -Neutral- Lv. 50
Small Base

“A storm is coming? Good, I like the feel of the wind on my face.”

Att: 5
Dam: 3
Def: 9
Arm: 0
LP: 12
Resist: 11
Move: 8/12
AP: 3/4

Innate Abilities: Flight
Master of the Winds: Ventus and any friendly unit within 3 inches receive +2 Defense against all Ranged Attacks.
00 Purifying Breeze (Magic, Effect)
Discard up to two negative State counters of your choice affecting a single friendly unit inside Ventus's Control Zone.
00 Hurricane Gust (Magic, Effect)
All enemy units with a small sized base in hand-to-hand contact with Ventus are moved 2 inches. Ventus's controller determines the direction of this movement like a Push.
00 Debris Storm (Magic, Effect)
All enemy units within Ventus's Control Zone suffer Blind Lv. 1. Effect 14.
00+ Demolishing Blast (Magic, Ranged Attack)
Distance (16 inches). This Attack causes Throw. This Attack receives +3 Damage for each additional Action Point used.

<Advantage Card>
Windblown Wanderer
Type: Plot   Character: Ventus only   Level: +5
Ventus may be taken as a Wanderer in any Organization Party except Church and Order of Yehudah.

Name: Ventus
Rank: Magister of the Magus Order
Place of birth: Dalaborn
Age: 53
Combat style: Air Magic
Ethnic Background: Asher
Hobbies: Traveling
Likes: Spending time with Nadine
Dislikes: The Inquisition

The vagabond Ventus is known by many names and has garnered a mixed reputation throughout the Old Continent. He is feared as Boreas the Stormcaller among the peoples of the Barren Icy Lands; he is esteemed as the healer Eurus by the inhabitants of Varja; he is Livas the lucky charm for the sailors of the Pearl Coast; he is respected in the deserts of the south as the nomad Notus; but regardless of his alias he continues to secretly advance the objectives of the Magus Order.

Before Ventus became a drifter and a fugitive he was known simply as Zeph. When Zeph was six his parents and his birth village were destroyed in a brutal Inquisition purge. Rescued by his paternal grandfather, Zeph was secreted away to a remote hut situated in the Mountain Range of the Winds. Zeph’s kindly grandfather raised the boy in isolation and never once took the boy anywhere more populated than the nearest mining village. As such Zeph’s childhood was very lonely except for the sporadic visits of a drifting air elemental he had befriended and named Nadine. The over years Zeph slowly became aware of his own magical talents and as he learned to mimic the Slyph’s innate abilities he developed an affinity towards air magic.

By the age of fifteen Zeph had grown tired of living in isolation and was eager to see the wider world. So one moonlit night Zeph left a note for his grandfather and set out with the Nadine as his guide and companion. They had many adventures as they traveled throughout the northern Empire. After a near fatal run-in with a very persistent Inquisitor, Zeph decided to return to the safety of home and parted ways with Nadine. Unfortunately Zeph discovered that during his year’s absence his grandfather had passed away. Aggrieved yet strangely liberated by the loss of his only remaining family, the boy left the lonely mountain never to return.

Traveling alone proved a much harder task for Zeph as he ran afoul of the Inquisition again. Fortunately Zeph was rescued by a beautiful woman named Cassia. As a mage and a member of the Magus Order, Cassia hoped to recruit the obliviously gifted boy into the secret organization. The two spent several harrowing weeks on the run before escaping pursuit in the port city of Chaville. It was there where Zeph changed his name to Ventus and was formally initiated into the Magus Order.

Aware that staying in Chaville might compromise the Order’s presence in the city, Cassia and Ventus boarded a ship bound for Nanwe. Disappearing into the region’s unexplored jungles, Ventus spent the next six years studying magic under Cassia’s tutelage and adventured with her amongst Nanwe’s many ruins to test his new skills. By his 23rd birthday, he had reached the limits of what Cassia could teach him and the pair secretly returned to Chaville. Here Ventus passed his graduation examinations and was granted the title of Magus.

Ill content to spend his days researching in some tower or basement, Ventus desired to see even more the world. Within months of his promotion, Ventus secured a position as a trusted courier for the council of the Magius Locci. Ventus spent the better part of the last thirty years traversing the Old Continent under assumed names. He has made numerous friends along the way, many belonging to other secretive societies. During the course of his wanderings Ventus has made time to do and see many amazing things: he has studied martial arts in Varja, visited the heights of the Peack of the World, and toured the Tower of the Winds in Galgados where he became reacquainted with Nadine. Ventus eventually earned the title of Magister as he completed increasingly important tasks on behalf the Magius Locci including thwarting a number of plots by the Order of Yehudah.

The most infamous of Ventus’s assignments involved breaking into an Inquisitorial Tribunal. He was part a combined team of Magus Order and Samael operatives tasked with liberating some leaders who had been captured at a recent summit between the two organizations. Despite help from a D’Anjayni infiltrator, the rescue mission quickly devolved into a battle. After hours of fierce fighting and a very narrow escape, Ventus was shocked to learn that Cassia was among the rescued prisoners. Unfortunately the Inquisition’s torture had taken its toll on his old mentor and Cassia died soon afterwards.

In the aftermath of the raid on the tribunal, Ventus received a hefty reward placed on his head by the Inquisition and chose to disappear in Kushistan’s unforgiving deserts. Rumors about what he did during his year absence abound but it is said by some that he set out across the Desert of Destiny on foot and made contact the lords of the Djinn. Upon his return to the Magus Order, Ventus resumed his aliases and once again began to travel at the behest of the council of the Magius Locci.

As an undeniable Master of the Winds, Ventus possesses a powerful and innate mastery of the air and weather around him; he is able to fly vast distances, conjure fierce windstorms with ease and propel solidified masses of air like cannon shots. Despite the constant threat of discovery and execution by the Inquisition, Ventus remains dedicated to his work for the Magus Order while still managing to secretly watch the famous Galense Wind Tournament every couple years with Nadine.

========================================================================================

And he's finally up. Ventus was one of my first character designs back in the YACHT thread and he has become one of my favorites as well. His stats and abilities haven't changed much over time but his background has evolved greatly. Overall I still see him as strong character with a flexible skill set that allows him to support his team while harassing the enemy and remaining hard to pin down.

[Ape2020]

Defense against the Dark Arts
Pretty strong with just protection against of innate abilities being sealed.  Add to the fact Mystics tend to have high resistance I'm not sure you really need the +1 resistance.  Or to keep it simple but versatile maybe just have your party chose before the start of the game to be immune to one negative state.  It won't always be Paralyze or Seal especially if facing off against Azur or Slow dominate Empire.

Master of Magic
This one might be too strong in that it will likely give the character full AP recovery or at the least AP recovery of 4 alone.  The spending of AP to resist is fairly strong but what if you have say a leader or important unit that doesn't trigger effects.  It would be a wasted bonus.  I would think about just making all their Magical Actions reduced by one AP (min 1 AP).  If that isn't enough increase the range of any Magical Action by 4 inches, meaning their ranged attacks, AOE if it gives a range, and control zone.

Mystical Ritual
Not too enamored with this latest revision, as it give two penalties for the use of this advantage.  I do like the idea of suffering initiative to gain tokens so maybe just run this just before the initiative roll.  This is for two reasons, one the mages don't have to worry about losing AP to pay for some of their expensive spells and makes you think if I take advantage of this I might lose initiative.  There is not threat of "losing" initiative if you already know the outcome and chose to lose it or already lost it.  To avoid all other problems maybe it would be easier to allow mystics to store up Ritual Tokens that can be spent to reduce the base cost of magical special skills by one for each one spent.  This would allow them to be used on anything including powerful spells at the right time to avoid making it a suicide casting.  Think of Ventus spending two turns saving up tokens to end up unleashing an Att 5 / Dam 15 mother of all Demolishing Blast! 

Iara
Seems about right to me in that she's rank in file mage that's not too powerful but cheap enough to be worth the effort.

Tevona
On the other hand this girl look more like a 35-40 level character more in line with St Astraega.  Lots of very good support skills including one very nice heal, but overall very weak and needs a ton of protection. 

Ventus
Looks fairly good all by himself.  The plot card "Windblown Wanderer" on the other hand look more like Ophiel's Lord of Shadows, a waste of levels and an advantage card slot for an effect that should have just been included as an Innate Ability.

But most important is the fact I love all the fluff you added.  Very cool and keep up the good work.  I might post up some new stuff Sunday so stay tuned.

-ape2020

[Ape2020]

Not quite the big one I'm working on but one of my favorites any ways

***************

“Come her little girl I’ll show you what a real man is like” the huge drunken pirate slurred as he stood up.

Caska did all she could to check her anger as readied her attack stance.  “I’m not here for your pitiful excuse for a human.  Your friend there knows where the slave ship is docked & he going to tell me where it is now.”

“Huh?  Oh capitan I think she wanna talk with you.”  

“Really, you don’t say.”  The man leaning back corner table chucked.  “Maybe our shiny little lady wants a piece of this.”

Suddenly jerking a chain, up from under the table came a young girl, half naked, with a black eye & frighten to death.  That was the final straw, as Caska sprung. “Die!”

The huge thug pirate lurked forward to slam the charging knight but completely missed as Caska nimbly leaped into the air past him.  Within Seconds she severed the hand holding the chained slave girl, then the surprised captain's throat.

Before the lumbering pirate that missed the charge could recover, Caska sprung again.  The pirate swinging wildly at her, but Caska easily avoided tumbling under the attack.  She severed his Achilles heels, causing him to wroth in pain as he fell to the ground.

With her blade aimed squarely at the fallen man’s right eye “You now have a choice, die slowly & painfully.  Or tell me where that slave ship is.”

Caska Aguilera
Empire
Neutral
Warrior
40 levels
(Small Base - 30mm)

Quote “A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.”

Attack: 5
Damage: 3
Defense: 9
Armor: 2
Life Points: 12
Resistance: 9
Movement: 8/12
AP Recovery: 3/4

Innate Ability: Initiative

Combat Agility: Caska may ignore one unit in her Line of Charge or Line of Run including an enemy unit trying to intercept her, as if she had Flight.  This does not allow her to move pass impassable terrain.

OO Coup de Jarnac (Ki, Attack)
-3 Damage; if this attack gets a Critical Hit the target suffers Lv 3 Paralyze, Effect 18.

OOOO Débattement D’Amor (Subterfuge, Counter-Attack)
+3 Defense / +3 Attack / +3 Damage; the attack part of this counter is a Push instead of an Attack.

Name: Caska Aguilera
Rank: Knight of the Fourth Heaven
Place of birth:  Ribera, Argos
Age: 25
Combat style: Imperial Fencing.
Ethic Background: Vildian/Tayahar
Raza: Human
Height: 1.62m
Weight:  46kg
Pasttimes: Teaching Self-defense at shelter.
Likes: Duncan Reid & Her Rank.
Dislikes: Sleazy People.

Fluff:  Caska was born & raised in a poor mountainous farming village along a political unstable border between Argos & Kushistan. Her parents, unable to face the bigotry around them, sold her into a local lord's service at a young age, but he attempted to sexually assault her before they could even reach his estate. She was rescued by Duncan Reid, who did not do so directly, but instead lent her a sword to which she used to kill the noble.  With nowhere else to turn, she learned to wield that sword & joined the Heaven Order, eventually rising to the rank of commander, & Duncan's Second-in-Command.  Both beautiful & fierce, woe to anyone who underestimates this woman’s combat abilities.

<<Advantage Card>>
Imperial Detachment
Type: Team Plot  
Characters: Duncan Reid, Caska Aguilera, Shu Makato
Level: +5

Duncan Reid, Caska Aguilara & Shu Makato form a Team gaining the following special abilities:

Duncan’s Additional Abilities
* Heavy Strikes: Duncan may declare at the start of the recovery phase a -1 Attack / +2 Damage modifications to his attributes until the end of the turn.
* Perfect Cut: If Duncan gets a Critical Hit add +3 Damage to the attack.

Caska’s Additional Abilities
* Perfect Cut: If Caska gets a Critical Hit add +3 Damage to the attack.
* Admiration: Caska gains Lv 1 Protection whenever Duncan or Shu get a Critical Hit while in Line of Sight.

Shu’s Additional Abilities
* Heavy Strikes: Shu may declare at the start of the recovery phase a -1 Attack / +2 Damage modifications to his attributes until the end of the turn.
* Admiration: Shu gains Lv 1 Protection whenever Duncan or Caska get a Critical Hit while in Line of Sight.

Notes:  This is another character that I revised from the past.  She didn’t really change that much but still think she is a good cheap Empire warrior.  I did make a few changes to the team card in that it enhances both an old character Duncan and shows how he influences the others.  I thought about not putting in Shu but instead using Empire Agents but then it was just simpler to go with a straight team.  Oh and yes this is a straight rip off of one of my favorite female anime characters, I'm sure many of you know from what.

Like always if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions I open to all.  Until next time, cheerio!

-ape2020

[spacemonkey]

Defense against the Dark Arts
Pretty strong with just protection against of innate abilities being sealed.  Add to the fact Mystics tend to have high resistance I'm not sure you really need the +1 resistance.  Or to keep it simple but versatile maybe just have your party chose before the start of the game to be immune to one negative state.  It won't always be Paralyze or Seal especially if facing off against Azur or Slow dominate Empire.

Well most Organization Advantages do offer pretty significant bonuses. The intent of this Advantage was to duplicate nature of Imperial Armor: strengthening a strength. Increasing their Resistance further protects them from more than just negative States as there are an increasing number specialty effects. Also this is the only Org Advantage that carries over to non-Mystic Wanderers that may be included in the party. That said improved Resistance checks don't have the same universal combat benefit as an extra (irreducible) point of armor, hence I added the semi-negation of Seal as a bonus (which is powerful but would still require them to fail the Resistance check to be affected in the first place).

Master of Magic
This one might be too strong in that it will likely give the character full AP recovery or at the least AP recovery of 4 alone.  The spending of AP to resist is fairly strong but what if you have say a leader or important unit that doesn't trigger effects.  It would be a wasted bonus.  I would think about just making all their Magical Actions reduced by one AP (min 1 AP).  If that isn't enough increase the range of any Magical Action by 4 inches, meaning their ranged attacks, AOE if it gives a range, and control zone.

Well this one is kind of a combo between the Azur Alliance's Advantage "Organization" (which grants extra AP to the party) and the Empire's Advantage "Empress's Chosen" (which significantly boosts one character). So the AP recovery definitely has some precedence. As for the "AP cost for Resistance" element, it is unlikely go be wasted as I think Tevona is the only character  out of 9 or 10 under revision for the Magus Order without some sort of Effect ability. I was actually worried this bonus might be too potent as it makes for an auto-affect if catching someone without any AP or at least acts as quite the AP burner especially with someone like Ventus with an AoE Effect.

As for Mystical Ritual, you make some very good points and as it's the one that I had the hardest time nailing down so some tweaks are probably in order. And I'm not rejecting of your input of the other two Organizational Advantages but my responses are meant to show my original intent and evaluation of their strengths.  So I'll take into everything into consideration as I consider revisions, but I think I'll wait a bit for any further input from you (Ape2020) and anyone else.

Iara
Seems about right to me in that she's rank in file mage that's not too powerful but cheap enough to be worth the effort.

Tevona
On the other hand this girl look more like a 35-40 level character more in line with St Astraega.  Lots of very good support skills including one very nice heal, but overall very weak and needs a ton of protection.

Thanks and I think I will knock Tevona down to 40 Levels since I've been on the fence about her cost in the light of recent character releases like Juliette and Sarah.

Ventus
The plot card "Windblown Wanderer" on the other hand look more like Ophiel's Lord of Shadows, a waste of levels and an advantage card slot for an effect that should have just been included as an Innate Ability.

While I agree that Ophiel's Lord of Shadows is a waste (as yes it would have been an easy addition to his main card, it doesn't dramatically change Ophiel's style of play, and it uses up his personal advantage card allowance which is much better spent on other cards like Control Bound or Supernatural Devourer), I don't think the same is entirely true here. As a plot card, it doesn't take away a personal advantage card slot from Ventus but instead works similar to a team card by granting additional resources to a party, in this case adding Ventus to a non-Magus Order party. As a flying character, he is rare commodity for most parties; he grants mobility for out maneuvering enemies and reaching objectives for slower parties as well as granting intercept options against enemy fliers. For parties with lower Resistances, Purifying Breeze offers an excellent antidote to pesky States. As part of a Samael party his strengths can be improved or discounted thanks to Supernatural Mastery or Innate Mystics. Overall, I think Ventus warrants a slight cost bump if used as a Wanderer and I think the advantage card achieves that nicely while also presenting the option with the simplest wording.

But most important is the fact I love all the fluff you added.  Very cool and keep up the good work.

Thanks. I'm putting a lot of work into each piece and my wife has been helping me edit them, so it's nice to be appreciated.  

========================================================================================

So a fan of Berserk, huh? I really liked the anime until the last couple episodes took that rather unpleasant turn. Too bad they didn't produce another season because it was a rather sour way to end the series. Anyway on with the character review.

Caska
Might consider a slight tweak on her stats as she seems little to good for her cost especially when compared to her teammate Shu. As for her abilities,  I would consider seeing if there is a way to simplify or condense the wording of Combat Agility, but otherwise I think its a cool ability. The rest are good as well, very characterful and balanced. The fluff piece and background bit are nice as always (though I think you meant "woe" instead of "whoa" unless there's a wow factor ).

I'm really liking this revised version of the team card but I would go with consistent stat alterations across the board instead of slight variations since the abilities go by the same name and it would make for easier reference/memorization. I'd probably opt of a +2 Damage on both Heavy Strikes and Perfect Cut otherwise you're looking at 11 Damage attack on Duncan without considering levels of success (which feels a bit much for 45 Level character with +5 Levels team card).

[Ape2020]

Yeah originally I had Caska as a 45 level unit so when I redid her I might not have adjusted her stat quite right.  So considering her innate abilities and special skills I thought she should have lighter armor and lower LP.  I reduced the wording on Combat Agility so it still clear you can use against intercepting units but since I said it was like flight I left out the part about enemies with flight stopping her. 

As for the Team Card I wanted it to show Duncan as the one who taught or inspired the other two so his version of the combat abilities was superior, similar to how Harod's Murder Attack is better then the Azur Agent's version of Murder Attack.  But your right about the damage 11 so I lowered Heavy Strikes but upped Caska's Perfect Cut.  This way Duncan could get a Damage 10 hit on a crit like Yuri but not as good since he has to lower his accuracy to Attack 4.  This way Caska can make her Coup de Jarnac a real jackpot if she hits or blow someone away wither her counter.

As for Berserk it really gritty and not a typical anime show.  I wish it continued and I've hear rumors it might, but at least I kept following the manga.

-ape2020

[0-0-17]

Just to throw my hat back into the arena, because I hope to convert up a couple of characters for use in our local circles.

Rei – Neutral – Mystic - Azur Alliance
•ATK: 3
•DAM: 1
•DEF: 9
•ARM: 0
•LP: 9
•RST: 12
•SPD: 8/12
•AP: 3/4

Cheating Fate Place a Fate counter on Rei each time a doom counter is removed from her. Rei always starts with 0 counters.
•1 Counter: Undead units within Rei’s ZC suffers a -1 penalty to uncontrollable rolls (min 2+) and summons increase their stability threshold by 1 (max 10).
•2 Counters: Effect checks of abilities originating within Rei’s ZC increase by 1.  
•3 Counters: Enemy characters cannot gain Shield or Protect counters within Rei’s ZC.
•4 Counters: Enemy characters in Rei's ZC suffer -2 ATK
•5 Counters: Any Character taking damage from Bearer of Disaster suffers Doom L1.

Fatal Presence Enemy characters which are affected by Doom within Rei’s ZC will be removed from play on a 6+. If another character is removed from play by Doom within Rei’s ZC she recovers 1 AP.

Destiny Bound Rei is only removed from play by a doom counter on a 9+. This threshold falls by 1 for each doom counter after the first on Rei. Each time a Gnosis point is used by any character within Rei’s ZC she suffers Doom L1.

Bearer of Disaster If an enemy character uses Gnosis within Rei's ZC they suffer 2 LP damage, Effect 16

0 Balance (Magic, Effect, Reactive) Use this ability in response to any dice roll made by a friendly character before the dice are rolled. The roll is increased by 1. (Limit: Once Per Turn)

00 Ominious Shroud (Magic, Effect, Reactive) Use this ability in the upkeep phase. Nominate a friendly Prowler within Rei's ZC, seek rolls against that Prowler only succeed on a 9+ regardless of modifiers for the rest of the turn.

00 Calamity (Magic, effect, reactive) Destroy an Equipment card used by a character within Rei’s ZC, Effect 13. If the effect check is failed the card is destroyed before use.

Background
Alone in silent contemplation, High Arbiter Arkeid gazes out over the city, fidgeting with her precious wedding ring as a silent prayer for her husband to always be beside her. Her anxiety shatters into both relief and deeper worry as Markus enters.

“My Lady, I’m sorry for the delay –“

Arkeid raises a hand to silence him. Understanding instantly Markus closes the door behind him.

“No Markus, I’m sorry I had to ask that of you.” Arkeid responds softly behind her helm. She gestures to the weary soldier to take a seat which he graciously does. “Feel free to take a drink, you know where the goblets are by now I trust?”

“Thank you my lady, but I’m fine for now.” Markus takes a deep breath and relaxes somewhat, still humbled by Arkeid's kindness “I’ll keep it brief my Lady, although I am certain Alastor knows why I was sent to support his lines.”

“He made a show of them?”

“Very much so. Melody in particular is everything the rumours state about her – a bleary eyed filthy creature one moment, a psychotic butcher the next... But your main concern my Lady, the Black Witch. I’m afraid that’s true as well.”

Arkeid strokes her ring again, screwing up her face beneath her armoured visor.

“And, she was everything the rumours said, although perhaps younget than I expected. Pure menace, I would describe it. She just wandered calmly behind Alastor, sometimes weaving an incantation but I never heard a sound leave her lips I must confess. But everywhere around her, fate seemed to twist against our foes. Magic failed, relics shattered, expert swordsmen flailed like novices... and some even just dropped dead like flies. More than that, I don’t know. Apart from the fact she was found in the northern territories and was in some covenant with Alastor. There was some gossip about her being insane or fatally ill and using magic to ward off fate but that's could be anything. As far as I observed, she didn’t speak to anyone, not even Alastor, which surprised me - but she revelled in the calamity, that I can say for sure. She grinned widely, like she was going to burst into laughter every time fate turned against our opponents...”

------

In game concept: The idea with Rei (named for the Japanese word for Zero, not after a certain blue haired anime character :p) is to act as a novel debuffing character, stacking passive abilities to level the fight rather than directly weaken the opponent - she blunts opponents rather than breaking them. Cheating Fate I feel scales well so that it is initially situational (1 being useless against anyone but Black Sun or Summoners) but becomes a very powerful and universally applicable ability... if you can survive enough doom counters to get that far. Fatal Presence is more for flavour but may be helpful. Regardless, Bearer of Disaster allows not only for cancelling Gnosis (which is not as good as abilities which do this as you have to spend one of your own Gnosis) but for some situational havoc (Elienai being forced to re-roll a low Door to Beyond roll for example).

More generally she gives a strong buff (Ominous Shroud) to Prowlers but to keep these benefits up they will have to stay near her, in some cases costing them much of their speed. Omen can be used on a lot of rolls, including seek, escape and resistence checks... but is obviously not useful for Doom checks... Calamity is perhaps her most powerful ability, destroying Clocks of Cronos or Life Potion in particular can ruin a fight back, but it has a low enough starting effect (bearing in mind that she can beef it up to 15 with Fate counters and Control Bound) that non-Empire characters have a decent chance of resisting it.

Personally I'd charge her at 40-45 levels, she is in many ways her own worst enemy, needing to be gamble on Doom to get the best buffs, and needs to be around for a few turns to become effective. Nonetheless her abilities help Azur's Prowlers and there is very rarely an instance where destroying an advatage, especially Clock of Cronos won't help immensely. She buffs Rindhold and Wolfgang, blunts each of the other factions in some way and gives you different ways of using Gnosis but doesn't give that same bump that Dinah and Elienai will. Taking Control Bound buffs Calamity but Presence makes her a bigger threat and Fate Clock's doom isn't a deterrant since she'll probably be affected by it anyway...

EDIT: Since fixing her up a bit on Ape2020's suggestions now Destiny is a one-use get out of doom card for her.

[Ape2020]

As she is now I would think she is 60-65 levels easy.  This mainly comes from her Innate Abilities which are much more powerful then you think.

Cheating Fate should be allowed to be Sealed as it not likely to happen with her Res 12 and I would also dump the must start at 0 part as it will force the player to chose between Power Source or Control Bound.

1st level really screws Undead Black Sun parties.  Remember an increase of just one point in Uncontrollable is a 10% shift and you have a 20% penalty making most Undead go out of control 30-40% (more powerful baddie the worst) of the time each turn or more for the Type-012s.  I would dial that back to 1 like Stability checks which will be rarer and much less devastating if failed.

2nd level is fine but its a double edge sword the way its written.  As any effect check from friend or foe will increase.

3rd and 4th are pretty powerful but considering the road to get there it okay.

5th even though that is 5 Doom checks in a row that power is too much.  You basically make her god after 5 turns and she has a good chance of surviving that with her other ability.  If you want something super powerful reward then make her automatically pass any Resistance Check period. 

Fatal Presence make Doom 50/50 and super heal.  That seems rather harsh and powerful at the same time.  Maybe one or the other or have it effect all units except Rei within her control zone.  Then she would be a fatal presence to all involved.

Destiny Bound is basically a plus one die to one of her rolls and likely used to make her doom save. Which in turn as written will give her Doom to continue the chain next turn so she will have 5 tokens by turn 5 and then can stroll right into the middle of the end game scrum with not worries and dooming the hell out of the enemy if you still have the right people around.  Add to the fact having more then one Doom at a time doesn't mean anything and by turn 5 she will be immune to it doesn't seem really balanced.  Basically again I would strip it down to either one effect or the other not both.

Bearer of Disaster has unlimited range and is an enhanced and no limit version of Anna Never's Destiny's Chosen.  Wow that is much more powerful then you seem to think it is.  Anna Never power is limited to attacks on her and so an opponent can work around it.  This ability is ten times better.

Balance is fine but maybe limit to once per turn since its so cheap.  Ominous Shroud is fine as well but there is a funny thing about it.  As written it can be used against enemy units like say Aizen to make it easier to find him or a enemy unit hiding in the woods with Nue on them.  Maybe you want to put friendly units instead.  Calamity is fine as well if not rather expensive for such a low odds special I would think about lowering it to 2AP.

Overall a cool concept just seem more powerful then you think.  But I do love your fluff and look forward to any and all future units you send up.

-ape2020

[0-0-17]

Thanks for the feedback.

The initial version of Rei was a lot weaker (...and I completely forgot Anna Never so Bearer of Disaster will be changed - see below) but the problem I have is that she needs to have some horrible effects to actually be worth taking in Azur. Ironically I think you're overestimating her somewhat however; she is a pure support character who does no damage to the enemy on her own, dies very easily even without Doom and is situational at best in many cases. Fatal Presence in particular fits her background very well but she has no way of inflicting doom and has no Azur character has this ability at present - making it affect allies as well means she's a dead weight.

Destiny Bound: This was tacked in becasue she is actively detrimental otherwise - you basically have to burn a Gnosis to have a good shot of her surviving long enough to pay off so in essence she will cost xx levels and a Gnosis which Azur needs way more than other parties... It does (and indeed is intended to)keep the chain going but you still have a good 20% chance of her dying outright every turn - only around 1 in 3 games will she actually make it to stage 5 and even then she may drop "dead" afterwards.

Proposed replacement: Doom only affects her on a 8+ or 9+ and/or she may roll Gnosis after a Doom roll.

Bearer of Diaster: For saying it's her titular ability, This was the hardest thing to write as I didn't really know what to do with it - I forgot Anna Never has a similar ability which has obviously been playtested more.

Proposed replacement: Enemy characters that spend Gnosis within Rei's ZC suffer 2 LP damage after resolving the roll, Effect 16. (Note: as an innate abilty Control Bound has no effect here)

Fatal Presence: As above, no Azur character can inflict Doom so it's just a buff for the enemy if it affacets both sides (Samiel, Promethea and Ayl will love her...). Recovering all LP is balanced I feel by how little she has to begin with. An initial version of this ability made characters on 0LP in her ZC take an effect 15 check or die but I felt that was too much of a gimp against Samiel (it would affect Maria's puppets as well).

Cheating Fate: The reason I left unsealable is for fluff reasons - you are correct that there;'s hardly any chance of sealing her unless Bael is involved - partially because most other characters will be better off just killing her. Must start at 0 was there to balance out how good it can get - you HAVE to gamble on Doom several times rather than meeting the enemy with 3 or 4 Fate Counters on her.

Level 1 - whoops, I forgot to fix that (it was going to be an ability), it was only supposed to be 1 on uncontrollable checks.

Level 2 - It is worded that way deliberately because I was afriad it would be too powerful otherwise given how early on you can acquire it and the sheer number of characters it can buff (Rindhold, Wolfgang, Hel, Kirsten, Harod and Adolf). Making it abilities that originate within her ZC can really power up some of those characters, especially Rindhold.

Proposed Change: Effect checks made by against enemy characters within Reis ZC increase their effect by 1.

Level 5 - The way I see it is that at this stage if she's actually survived that long then your opponent has probably been smacking other characters about so much that she won't have anyone to work with. Nonetheless an alternative version I ummed about was to give her 10 LP and make it so she recovers all her LP at the end of each activation - meaning you have to one-shot her, which is very doable given her laclk of ARM and low LP. Another version was to make any character in her ZC suffer Doom L1 Effect 13. The thing that's missing is that she is not immune to Doom so she can still die. Despite that...

Proposed Changes: Rei is immune to negative states (except Doom) for the rest of the game and recovers all LP whenever a Doom counter is removed.

Ability changes are all fine.

Further feedback is very welcome, as I say I firmly intend to actually convert her (and other characters) up for use in local friendlies so getting her right is going to be paramount. She will be apart of a group of 4 characters for use with Alastor that benefit from strength from negative statuses. I also updated the fluff for better grammar and flow.