•Gandalf, Fire that Kindles
Companion • Wizard
Strength 7 Vitality 4 Frodo Signet-
For each Ring artifact you may spot, Gandalf is strength +1 (limit +5).
While you can spot 3 Rings of different cultures, Gandalf is defender +1.
"...for he was the enemy of Sauron, opposing the fire that devours..."
Meant for Set 10 (if possible), a King block Frodo signet companion like Elessar Telcontar. Can be defender +1, but risking being hit by Grima CC. Rings boost him too (and Barahir's).
This Gandalf is my jaaaaaaam. Feels like FotSF but cares about rings. And I like how you've written it to exclude The One Ring - I probably wouldn't have done that but I like your take so much more.
"Meant for Set 10" conjures a new thought in my brain - what do you think of our hypothetical sets releasing as "supplements" to existing sets? If Gandalf, Fire That Kindles were to become legal for play, his collector info might read "10V15", putting him in
Mount Doom (and King Block) but only in formats allowing for Virtual cards. It's slick and gives any creative team the ability to insert new cards into any format without much additional headache.
•Gil-galad, Keeper of Rings
Companion • Elf
Strength 9 Vitality 4
Second Age. (Whatever it might mean.)
Gil-galad may bear up to 2 Rings (and you may play Narya or Vilya on him).
Regroup: Exert Gil-galad and transfer an artifact he bears to another eligible bearer to remove a burden or free a site.
"...but the Red Ring he kept, until he gave it to Círdan..."
"You may play Narya or Vilya on him" doesn't make him an eligible bearer, so Narya cannot be transferred back to him next turn to repeat the cycle (nor Vilya if is the Set 3 version).
Decipher had such a good track record for differentiating characters of various eras among all of their card games that it physically hurts me how we never got the same treatment in LotR. I'm okay with mixing Ages, but I also want a way of divorcing Second from Third, or even Fourth, and adding a keyword or icon signifying a character's Age only gives card designers more room to play in.
Maybe: Gil-galad may bear
Narya or
Vilya, even if he already bears a Ring. Also, "free" should be "liberate".
I love this Gil-galad more than the two we got.
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•Thrór, Dwindled King
Companion • Dwarf
Strength 7 Vitality 4
While bearing a Ring, Thrór is vitality +1 and damage +1.
Regroup: Spot X wounds on Thrór and transfer a Ring he bears to play X cards from your draw deck. Discard Thrór.
"...now old, poor, and desperate, gave to his son Thráin the one great treasure he still possessed..."
If used when exhausted, you'll pull 4+ cards from your deck, but Thror will die instead of just walking into the sunset.
And we'd have access to images we could use, too! YES!
I think Thror, being dwindled, should have subpar stats. Maybe 7/2? Then he would emerge average once you slap a Ring on him, giving the Freeps player that much added incentive to do so. This would also limit his baseline utility (with a Ring) to 2 or 3
cards, which is already a lot, especially since the ultimate cost is merely discarding him. If you feel his stats should stay at 7/4, I'd suggest changing the ability to "Kill Thror" to make it a true once-off.
•Nár, Thrór's Companion
Companion • Dwarf
Strength 5 Vitality 3
While you can spot Thrór, each mountain or underground site is Shadow number -2.
While Thrór is in the dead pile, each Dwarf is strength +1 and damage +1.
"From Dunland, where he was then dwelling, he went north with Nár, and they crossed the Redhorn Pass and came down into Azanulbizar."
So you have a Thrór with 2 different profiles: he can be the protagonist sneaking his way towards underground and mountain sites, or pass his Ring and protagonism to his son Thráin to pull cards a la SFtF (and boost everyone if dead).
I think I might like Nar with only the second line, but that might be dependent on what formats you envision Nar to appear in. In expanded he's probably busted.
•Thráin, Son of Thrór
Companion • Dwarf
Strength 8 Vitality 3
Damage +1.
While bearing a Ring, Thráin is defender +1.
While Thrór is in the dead pile, each time you play a card, you may draw a card or exert a minion.
"Then he stood up and said: 'This cannot be borne!'"
Thráin's full potential is unleashed only when having the urge to muster an army and avenge his father (1 Baruk Khazad = 2 wounds = goodbye Wormtongue). While wielding his father's Ring of Power.
Or was it Thrain we saw in The Hobbit? I honestly don't remember.
I think Thrain is too much for
. Something's gotta go. 8/3 is fun and Damage+1 is intuitive. While I really like the flavor of needing certain companions to get killed, it'd be too easy for a Freeps player to make it happen, and this might lead to NPE abuse - dead companions is supposed to be a bad thing
Perhaps a compromise: "While Thrain bears a
Ring, he is
defender +1 for each Dwarf in the dead pile (limit +2)." or something.
In any case, I do recommend dropping the minion-exerting bit. Dwarves don't need help in that department.
•Saruman, Master of Ring-lore
Minion • Wizard
Strength 8 Vitality 4 Site Number 3
When you play Saruman, you may play an artifact from your draw deck.
While bearing an artifact, Saruman is fierce and ambush .
Each companion bearing an artifact is strength -1 (or -2 if is a Ring).
"'He wore a ring on his finger.'"
I'm all turned around on Saruman cards now. (Thanks
) An
artifact engine makes me happy but now you've converted me into the "Saruman as a condition" camp and I'm having trouble agreeing with turning him into any sort of skirmisher. It does feel wrong.
•Saruman's Ring, New Power
Artifact • Ring
Vitality +1
Bearer must be Saruman. He is enduring.
Skirmish: Remove to exert Saruman.
Response: If Saruman is about to be discarded, return him to your hand and exert a companion.
"...for his pride believed that he could use them, or It, in defiance of any other will."
Saruman's Ring should have a twilight cost > 0 to set it apart from all the others. His is imperfect, a trial, a copy.
Vitality +1 is cool, but enduring wouldn't fit into the format I see this card most-likely appearing in (Fellowship block). Here's an impulsive idea:
"
Shadow: Replace the first sentence of Saruman's game text with the first sentence of another
minion's game text until the regroup phase. End your shadow phase."
I have nooooo idea how/if that would break the game, but it's similar to
Saruman's Staff and would certainly lead to some interesting Saruman-fighters.
The main problem of Aragorn, Hurried towards the Water Closet is that he lets no twilight at all most of the times... with NSttS he actually removes , add Sting, the Gaffer's Pipe, Bill the Pony and ATfNBS, and the NPE effect cannot be borne. If he said "spot to remove " it'd be much more acceptable. But that's too wordy for your standards, and I agree with them for that goal. In such case, besides R-listing NSttS, I'd choose option #1 (since cannot pile upon NSttS + Bill + ATfNBS + Gimli DotMR so easily).
Actually, I think "Spot
to remove
" might be a perfect solution. My "replace one word" concept is just a starting point in my brain. Decipher issued a few erratas just as you suggest doing with
HttWC, and yours might be the simplest way to ensure the presence of twilight going into a Shadow phase without altering the card overmuch. I'd certainly like to see this tested!
(Also, most Pipes should need to "add " or "add ", except the Gaffer's, Gimli's and perhaps Bilbo's. That way, you'd need pipeweed to remove burdens/wounds, and then again more pipeweed if you want that without adding twilight.)
Until pipeweed decks start wrecking formats I'd say leave them be.
About Lady Redeemed, if we're going to change only 1 thing, removing the free-at-starting part will make her too different. So I'd stick with my version of the discarding skill (making her vitality both a concern and a limit), and keep everything else as Decipher did.
Any version that brought her card into balance would be the best move. I'm down for any option.