• The Daily Five • Wild men of the Dunland fells

[Gate Troll]

Hey SoP, I made Alatar's staff the way it is because technically all a staff would do is refine the damage to your target.
It wouldn't actually make the bearer more powerful. 

[sickofpalantirs]

are you talking about pallandos staff?

[Gate Troll]

Yeah I was.  My error.

[DáinIronfoot]

•Alatar, Istari
Companion • Istar
Strength: 6
Vitaltiy: 5
Resistance: 6
While you can spot Pallando, Alatar is twilight cost -2.Pallando may not be overwhelmed.

I agree with SoP: vitality 4 would be best. I'd also put the overwhelming thing on a second line for cleanliness. And why isn't he simply a Wizard?

•Alatar's Staff, Istar's Weapon
Artifact • Staff
Strength: +1
Bearer must be Alatar. Response: Each time Alatar wins a skirmish discard two
cards from the top of your opponents draw deck. Maneuver: Discard this artifact to make your
opponent discard X cards from hand where X is the amount of Istari you can spot.

Again, put the response action on a new line, and then the maneuver action on a third line.

Now, as for the actual text...far too good. I'm with SoP again here, so read his comments. Also, what is 'X' in the maneuver ability?

Istari Blade
Artifact • Hand Weapon
Strength: +3
Resistance: +1
Bearer must be an Istar. Bearer is Damage +1.

I'd like it better as a possession, since that's what Glamdring is. I'd also make the damage conditional, perhaps on them being unwounded or having a certain resistance or something.

Lightning
Condtion • Support Area
Each time you play a card you may exert an Istar to add a token here.
Skirmish or Regroup: Discard X tokens here to wound X minions.
Each minion may not be wounded more than once.

"...more than once in this way." Powerful, but probably not overly so.

Into the East
Event • Maneuver
Discard a roaming Easterling.

Any ol' roaming Man is fine since it's so specific, or perhaps even any Man minion. I'd require spotting a Wizard/Istar to use it, though. NO cultural enforcement right now.

•Pallando, Istari
Companion • Istar
Strength: 7
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 6
While Pallando is in your starting fellowship he is twilight cost -2.
Alatar may not be overwhelmed.

I like how you can start with him and Alatar...nice touch.

•Pallando's Staff, Istar's Weapon
Artifact • Staff
Bearer must be Pallando. He is Damage +2.
Maneuver: Discard this artifact to heal Pallando once (or twice if at a sanctuary).

Limit it to damage +1, perhaps with a small strength boost.

•The Blue Istar
Condition  • Support Area
To play, spot Alatar and Pallando.
While in Region 1 Pallando and Alatar are strength+2
While in Region 2 Pallando and Alatar are strength +1 and damage +1.
While in Region 3 Pallando and Alatar are damage +2.
If Pallando or Alatar dies discard this condition.

"is killed" is probably better than "dies". Could be a little cheaper and/or have some toil on it.

Small Fireball
Event • Skirmish
Spell. Exert an Istar to discard one of your opponents  machines or mounts,
if you discard a mount you may wound its bearer once.

No need for the "once". Everything from "if you discard" and on should be a new sentence, too.

Tornado
Event • Fellowship
Spell. To play exhaust an Istar. Flip all non-unique conditions over and pick three of your own conditions and X of your opponents conditions at random. Add and discard all chosen conditions.

A Wizard tornado, eh? Hard to judge the balance...perhaps require spotting 3 of your own conditions (unique or not) so it's not something you can drop at any ol' time.

[Gate Troll]

First, I feel like Wizard doesn't work as a race. Pallando's race isn't that of a Wizard any more than Aragorn's race is that of Warrior. Thats kind of like having a Sauron's that is 'Minion • Dark Lord'. With Alatar's health I wanted variety. I purposely didn't do it 7/4/7 because that would make him to similar too Pallando.

Second, I corrected the X part on Alatar's Staff. You probably just read SoP's comments with my DC's in the quote. Don't do that. I may have corrected something after he posted.

Third, I corrected Istari Blade.

Fourth, corrected Lightning.

Fifth, I added a modifier.

Sixth, no comment.

Seventh, once again, as I told SoP, I wanted something a little bit different in the way of staffs.

Eighth, took your advice on Blue Istar.

Ninth, re-did Small Fireball

Tenth, modified Tornado.

[Thranduil]

•Alatar, Istari
Companion • Istar
Strength: 6
Vitaltiy: 5
Resistance: 6
While you can spot Pallando, Alatar is twilight cost -2.Pallando may not be overwhelmed.

I actually think that in Tolkien's world, "Wizard" is most definitely a race (it's not a profession, it's a word which only describes the 5 Istari) but obviously you've gone for an Istari thing here. I also don't think that it's a problem if all the Wizards have essentially the same stats - they are after all essentially very similar. I would prefer for vitality 5 to be reserved for cost companions and the likes of Balrogs and Sauron.

•Alatar's Staff, Istar's Weapon
Artifact • Staff
Strength: +1
Vitality: +1
Bearer must be Alatar.
Response: Each time Alatar wins a skirmish discard a
card from the top of your opponents draw deck.
Maneuver: Discard this artifact to make your
opponent discard X cards from hand where X is the amount of Istari you can spot.

Your response action currently says "If Alatar wins a skirmish, discard your opponent's draw deck!" so you need to take out the word "response" or have a limited cost like exerting Alatar. Assuming it works the way you intended it to, I think it's fine.

Istari Blade
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +3
Resistance: +1
Bearer must be an Istar. If bearer is resistance 5 or higher bearer is Damage +1.

Fair enough. I would prefer a lower cost for less stat bonus ( for +2/+1 would seem fine).

Lightning
Condtion • Support Area
Each time you play a card you may exert an Istar to add a token here.
Skirmish or Regroup: Discard X tokens here to wound X minions.
Each minion may not be wounded more than once.

I would reduce the cost of this card and have the special ability discard the condition instead, which clears up your wording: "Remove X tokens from here to wound X minions. Discard this condition" means implicitly that you can only wound each minion once - the fact that you can repeat your action as it currently stands does not and necessitates the extra sentence.

Into the East
Event • Maneuver
To play, spot an Istar. Discard a roaming Easterling.

Yeah, should be a "roaming minion (or an Easterling)".

•Pallando, Istari
Companion • Istar
Strength: 7
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 6
While Pallando is in your starting fellowship he is twilight cost -2.
Alatar may not be overwhelmed.

Rather than your current cost reductions, I would have each one say "While you can spot [the other], [this one] is twilight cost -4". Just seems nicer symmetry that way.

•Pallando's Staff, Istar's Weapon
Artifact • Staff
Bearer must be Pallando. He is Damage +2.
Maneuver: Discard this artifact to heal Pallando once (or twice if at a sanctuary).

I think I would agree with DI - damage +1 with a +1 strengh +1 vitality boost.

•The Blue Istar
Condition  • Support Area
To play, spot Alatar and Pallando.
While in Region 1 Pallando and Alatar are strength+2
While in Region 2 Pallando and Alatar are strength +1 and damage +1.
While in Region 3 Pallando and Alatar are damage +2.
If Pallando or Alatar dies discard this condition.

"The Blue Istari" should surely be the title? Yes, I would put some toil on this condition, but otherwise seems fine.

Small Fireball
Event • Skirmish
Spell. Exert an Istar to discard one of your opponents  machines or mounts.
If you discard a mount you may wound its bearer once.

A bit of a silly title, but nevermind. I'm sure "Fireball" would be more than adequate.

Tornado
Event • Fellowship
Spell. To play exhaust an Istar and spot three conditions. Flip all non-unique conditions
over and pick three of your own conditions and X of your opponents conditions at random.
Add and discard all chosen conditions.

I don't understand the significance of flipping conditions - do you mean them to have no effect when the wrong way up? If so, you need to specify. Or do you mean as a method of determining conditions randomly? Basically, I'm very unsure what this card actually does so if you could explain it to me, I'd be most grateful!

Thranduil

[Gate Troll]

Hey Thran, the whole point of flipping the conditions in Tornado is to make sure that they're picked randomly.

[Gate Troll]

Five more today and a new keyword; Dragon. Having a beast with Dragon in play means that beast can not be wounded during the archery phase. Otherwise Dragon is an unloaded keyword much like Easterling. Also, if you look, you'll see that Large Dragon is not 'Minion • Dragon' it is 'Creature • Dragon'. Why the shift? Not all Dragons are enslaved to a dark power and I didn't want Dragons to be spotted as minions. Creatures can't bear possessions either, once again setting them apart from minions can, instead relying on conditions and events for needed bonuses. There is also a new culture, the Creature culture which contain only animals. Now more about their strategy. Dragons are tanks. Plain and simple. They rely on a key condition, Dragon Hordes, to keep them coming back again and again, they use their [Dragon] ability to avoid arrows and they rely on their high strength and high vitality to hit hard and absorb wound after wound.

All Dragons are site 9. Every one. There are sites and conditions that will alleviate the roaming costs somewhat and make the Dragon strategy a little more viable but you will never see a normally roaming Dragon until site 9.  Here is Smaug:

•Smaug,The Magnificent
Creature • Dragon
Strength: 18
Vitality: 5
Site: 9
Dragon. Damage +2. Fierce.
Regroup: Exert Smaug and remove to control a site.
Regroup: Add to stack this minion on an eligible condition.
"My armor is like ten-fold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the
shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!"


This is the definitive Dragon condition and the basis for all Dragon decks.

Dragon-Hoard
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a Dragon. Dragons may be stacked here.
Each time a Dragon kills a companion you may exert your
Dragon to add X tokens here where X is the amount of
possessions or artifacts the companion was bearing.
Shadow: Spot X tokens here to add .
"...His heart was filled and pierced with enchantment and with the desire
of dwarves; and he gazed motionless, almost forgetting the frightful guardian,
at the gold beyond price and count..."


A Dragon strength pump with an 'if you win' twist.

Flame-Breath
Event • Skirmish
Make a Dragon strength +3. If that Dragon wins it skirmish you
may discard all free peoples cards that companion was bearing.
"Fire leaped from the Dragon's jaws. He circled for a while high in the air above them lighting all the lake; the trees
by the shores shone like copper in like blood with leaping shadows of dense black at their feet..."

Hides, Dragon style.

•Scale Armor
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a Dragon.  Response: If a Dragon is about to take a wound,
remove or discard this condition to prevent that wound.
"...and still no arrow hindered Smaug or hurt him more than a fly from the marshes..."


And finally, a site to alleviate roaming Dragons.

Dragon's Cave
Site
Underground. Dragons are not roaming.

[Thranduil]

•Smaug,The Magnificent
Creature • Dragon
Strength: 18
Vitality: 6
Site: 9
Dragon. Beast. Damage +2. Fierce.
Regroup: Exert Smaug and remove to control a site.
Regroup: Add to stack this minion on an eligible condition.
"My armor is like ten-fold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the
shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!"

Smaug is no match for Sauron - he should have a maximum of vitality 5. Is "beast" unloaded? I would, I think, rather that Creature was a loaded keyword that meant you couldn't bear possessions and the card type was "minion". That said, that would give you too many keywords so if beast doesn't do anything else, it doesn't seem very necessary nor apt - Smaug is much more than a simple beast.

Dragon-Hoard
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a Dragon. Dragons may be stacked here.
Each time a Dragon kills a companion you may exert your Dragon 
add X tokens here where X is the amount of of possessions or artifacts the companion was bearing.
"...His heart was filled and pierced with enchantment and with the desire of dwarves; and he gazed motionless,
almost forgetting the frightful guardian, at the gold beyond price and count..."

Why do you want tokens here? And you need to specify that they are tokens.

Flame-Breath
Event • Skirmish
Make a Dragon strength +3. If that Dragon wins it skirmish you may exhaust the companion it was skirmishing.
"Fire leaped from the Dragon's jaws. He circled for a while high in the air above them lighting all the lake; the trees
by the shores shone like copper in like blood with leaping shadows of dense black at their feet..."

If dragons have damage bonuses, this card seems next to useless. Make it discard that companion instead.

Scale Armor
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a Dragon.  Response: If a Dragon is about to take a wound,
remove or discard this condition to prevent that wound.
"...and still no arrow hindered Smaug or hurt him more than a fly from the marshes..."

Could cost or maybe .

Dragon's Cave
Site
Underground. Dragons are not roaming.

cost is fine - is too much.

Thranduil

[Gate Troll]

The daily 5 is back after a lapse of a few days. 

First up is the Young Dragon. This creature continues in the Dragon theme while adding several variations.

Young Dragon
Creature • Dragon
Strength: 10
Vitality: 4
Site: 9
Dragon. Damage +1. Fierce.
Maneuver: Discard a condition to wound a companion.
Regroup: Add to stack this minion on an eligible condition.
Even the youngest Dragon is a creature to be reckoned with.

Next is Dragon Hatchling which plays off the weakness of exhausted companions.

Dragon Hatchling
Creature • Dragon
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Site: 9
Dragon. Fierce. Skirmish: If this minion is skirmishing an exhausted companion you
may exert it to make it strength +2 (or strength +3 if it is in a Fierce skirmish).
Regroup: Spot a wounded companion (or add ) to stack this minion on an eligible condition.
Hatchling dragons fight with a frenzy that belies their size

This condition has a nice bonus and packs a punch when combined with Young Dragon's condition discarding.

A Dragon's Fury
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a Dragon. Dragons are strength +1. If this condition is discarded you
may reinforce a token (or two tokens if it is discarded during the maneuver phase).
"…The dragon's wrath blazed to its height, till he was blind and mad with it."

Smaug's Wrath continues in the vein  of condition discarding and token-adding and
introduces site control. The requirement to spot Smaug limits it somewhat hopefully balancing it well.

Smaug's Wrath
Condition • Support Area
Tale. Each time a condition is discarded you may reinforce a token here.
Regroup: Spot Smaug and two tokens on this condition to discard this condition and
take control of a site.
"Barrel-rider!" he snorted. "Your feet came from the waterside and up the water you came
without a doubt. I don't know your smell, but if you are  not one those men of the Lake, you
had their help. They shall see me and remember who is the real King under the Mountain!"

A rather expensive, but effective way to exhaust companions that fits in well with Dragon Hatchling.

Blinding Flame
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a Dragon. Exert a Dragon (or spot Smaug) to transfer
this condition to a companion and exhaust that companion.
"Fire leaped from thatched roofs and wooden beam-ends as he hurtled past…"

Let's see some reviews!

[FM]

Blinding Flame needs a timing.
Smaug's Wrath actually seems kinda weak, site-control uruks did it easier in Tower Block.

[Thranduil]

Young Dragon
Creature • Dragon
Strength: 10
Vitality: 4
Site: 9
Dragon. Damage +1. Fierce.
Maneuver: Discard a condition to wound a companion.
Regroup: Add to stack this minion on an eligible condition.
Even the youngest Dragon is a creature to be reckoned with.

Surely "wound an unbound companion"? Even then, it might be too good. I would make it "wound an unwounded companion" which works nicely with this guy's damage bonus.

Dragon Hatchling
Creature • Dragon
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Site: 9
Dragon. Fierce. Skirmish: If this minion is skirmishing an exhausted companion you
may exert it to make it strength +2 (or strength +3 if it is in a Fierce skirmish).
Regroup: Spot a wounded companion (or add ) to stack this minion on an eligible condition.
Hatchling dragons fight with a frenzy that belies their size

This seems good.

A Dragon's Fury
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a Dragon. Dragons are strength +1. If this condition is discarded you
may reinforce a token (or two tokens if it is discarded during the maneuver phase).
"…The dragon's wrath blazed to its height, till he was blind and mad with it."

Seems to me that this could give a bigger bonus. Maybe strength +1 and site number -2?

Smaug's Wrath
Condition • Support Area
Tale. Each time a condition is discarded you may reinforce a token here.
Regroup: Spot Smaug and four tokens on this condition to discard this condition and
take control of a site.
"Barrel-rider!" he snorted. "Your feet came from the waterside and up the water you came
without a doubt. I don't know your smell, but if you are  not one those men of the Lake, you
had their help. They shall see me and remember who is the real King under the Mountain!"

Shadow tales can't exist nowadays thanks to A Dragon's Tale. Other than that, it does seem a little weak, but it's alright.

Blinding Flame
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a Dragon. Exert a Dragon (or spot Smaug) to transfer
this condition to a companion and exhaust that companion.
"Fire leaped from thatched roofs and wooden beam-ends as he hurtled past…"

This looks fun.

Thranduil

[Gate Troll]

Now lets move on to Spiders. Once again, we have a two new keywords, both unloaded; Poison. and Web.

Most Spiders will have low attacks and high vitality. Mirkwood spider is a good example:
and helps recycle Poison conditions.

Mirkwood Spider
Creature • Spider
Strength: 4
Vitality: 4
Site: 6
Fierce. When you play this card you may take a
Poison condition from your discard pile and place it beneath your draw deck.
"Suddenly he saw , too that there were spiders huge and horrible sitting in the branches above him…"

This spider has low attack, but don't let that dissuade you from using him. He's strength +1 for
each Poison condition and he's only , cheap and potentially nasty.

Spider Attacker
Creature • Spider
Strength: 3
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Lurker. This creature is strength +1 for
each Poison condition you can spot.
"Then the great spider, who had been busy tying him up
while he dozed, came from behind him and came at him."

Weak Poison is the first Poison condition to be spoiled, relatively weak, but effective.
Spiders rely on tons of strength reducers to get companions down to their level.

Weak Poison
Condition • Support Area
Strength -1
Poison. Exert a Spider (or spot three Spiders) to play this condition on
an unbound companion. Each time bearer is assigned to skirmish a Spider bearer must exert.
" ‘You were quite right,' they said, ‘the meat's alive and kicking!' "

Spider use swarm tactics, and while this event might be OP in a deck with high strength creatures the low
strength of these creatures make it more balanced but still powerful as well as fitting in with their abilities.

Swarm of Spiders
Event • Assignment
Spot a spider assigned to a companion (except the Ring-bearer) to assign another spider
to that companion. (the free peoples player may discard two cards from hand to prevent this).
"Practically all the spiders in the place came after him…"

Spider healing, Spiders ‘eat' the minions to heal and add tokens here. Web possessions won't be
limited to that however, they will also be bases for spiders stacking tactics and wounding and burdens.

Ensnaring Web
Possession • Support Area
Web. Maneuver: Remove and discard a minion from hand to add X tokens here.
Regroup: Remove X tokens from here to heal a Spider X times, then add for each remaining token here.
"…flinging out their long threads in all directions, till the air seemed full of waving snares."

[DáinIronfoot]

Mirkwood Spider
Creature • Spider
Strength: 4
Vitality: 4
Site: 5
Fierce. Lurker. When you play this card you may take a
Poison condition from your discard pile and place it below your draw deck.
"Suddenly he saw , too that there were spiders huge and horrible sitting in the branches above him…"

I think it's "beneath" instead of "below", but it's fine.

Spider Attacker
Creature • Spider
Strength: 3
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Lurker. This creature is strength +1 for
each Poison condition you can spot.
"Then the great spider, who had been busy tying him up
while he dozed, came from behind him and came at him."

Nifty. I might like it better at /3/4, as I assume Poisons can be out in droves, but it might be okay as is.

Weak Poison
Condition • Support Area
Strength -1
Poison. Exert a Spider (or spot three Spiders) to play this condition
on an eligible companion. Each time bearer is assigned to a skirmish bearer must exert.
" ‘You were quite right,' they said, ‘the meat's alive and kicking!' "

Who IS eligible? Doesn't specify anywhere on the card. I would assume it's any unbound companion, in which case it should be "...to play this condition on an unbound companion". Or perhaps even better: "To play, exert a Spider (or spot 3 Spiders). Bearer must be an unbound companion."

Swarm of Spiders
Event • Assignment
Spot a spider assigned to a companion
(except the Ring-bearer) to assign another spider to that companion.
"Practically all the spiders in the place came after him…"

I'd give the FP player a get-out clause, like wounding that companion or making him strength -2 or something. Then it still helps either way, but is kept a little more in check in case you have several copies of this in your hand.

Ensnaring Web
Possession • Support Area
Web. Maneuver: Remove X and discard a minion from hand to reinforce X tokens here.
Remove a token at a Spider's site to heal a Spider X times (limit three times) and
add for each remaining token.
"…flinging out their long threads in all directions, till the air seemed full of waving snares."

Just FYI: probably better to say "Remove " instead of "Remove X". Avoids confusion.

Speaking of confusion, I don't understand the "at a Spider's site" thing at all. Also, how do you get tokens on this possession in the first place? Did you mean "to add X tokens here" instead of "to reinforce X tokens here"?

I think I'd recommend this wording, unless I'm missing something with this "Spider's site" stuff....

Web. Maneuver: Remove and discard a minion from hand to add X tokens here.
Maneuver:Remove a token from here to heal a Spider, then add for each token here.

Not quite sure on the balance of the twilight-adding part. I think I'd like it better if your Poisoned played in the maneuver phase or a later phase (like skirmish) rather than Shadow, since this would then give you the twilight necessary to pay for them.

[sickofpalantirs]

Dain has said what I would.