Gollum Condition

[Dmessy]

I was thinking about Gollum and how cool it would be to have a Gollum as a condition rather than a minion. Something like this:
(Don't know how to do the unique symbol but it is unique) Gollum, Corrupted Hobbit.
Condition
Plays on Sméagol
At the beginning of the assignment phase, Sméagol turns into a minion that fights against the free peoples player until the regroup phase. Each time Sméagol is about to take a wound that would kill him, the free peoples player may discard this condition to prevent that wound.

The idea behind this card is that Sméagol is treacherous. It is never completely safe to be with Sméagol, no matter how friendly he appears.
Please share your thoughts, comments, and lore ideas  

[ket_the_jet]

The idea of ensnaring an opponent's character is seen in other games such as Magic or Versus System. I don't know that it fits very well in this game though.

The first issue would be Smeagol, Bearer of Great Secrets.

The next would be the idea of forcing Smeagol to be a minion without an exertion or a condition being met. It's just, "Your companion is now a minion."

The third issue would be the lack of a spotting requirement to playing the card...it could be splashed in any deck and effectively render Smeagol useless.

The fourth issue...what happens with threats? If Smeagol wins the skirmish and kills another companion, what happens? What happens if you choose to let the other companion kill Smeagol?

Seems very easy to play in Swarm decks...I would rather see something like this:

Treacherous and Terrible
Event * Shadow
Discard a [Smeagol] card (except the Ring-Bearer) to play Gollum from your discard pile.

That would allow the Shadow player to discard a Smeagol and play Gollum, or possibly discard a difficult Don't Look at Them or Deagol or whatever. It is also fairly reminiscent of Clever Hobbits, which a Free Peoples player could use to wipe out a Ninja Gollum support area.
-wtk

[Dmessy]

So First off I forgot about Sméagol Bearer of Secrets, that's a good point.
Secondly, Sméagol is not in every deck so if your opponent has not played a Sméagol, the card is dead weight in your hand.
Thirdly, it wouldn't be hard to wound/exert him enough times to get rid of the condition.
I do kind of see your point though that it doesn't really fit into the game well. I just thought it would be cool to play off of the fact that Sméagol and Gollum are the same person.
should probably up the twilight to though.

[ket_the_jet]

Again, it's a cool idea, but I think it wasn't developed by Decipher because it just doesn't make much sense.

Vitality is difficult to come by for the Free Peoples player. Your suggestion has the Free Peoples player wagering his her own vitality against more of his or her own vitality. Additionally, while Smeagol is just strength three, you are still dealing with the fact that you are taking away a Free Peoples companion that *has* to be assigned to another companion.

Finally, at strength three, most companions besides Hobbits will overwhelm Smeagol. If he is overwhelmed, he doesn't die because of a wound. He just dies. And he goes to the dead pile and activates threats. It's basically a free kill of a companion who can be important to a deck design or strategy.

Here's another thought that might be along the lines of what you are looking for [in flavor].

*Gollum, Greater Mind
Minion
Strength 5, Vitality 4, Site 3
Maneuver: Spot Smeagol and exert Gollum twice to make Gollum strength +X and Smeagol strength -X, where X is Smeagol's strength. The Free Peoples player can add two burdens to prevent this.

Still a lot of game text, but I think it does what you kind of want without entirely hamstringing a deck that uses Smeagol as a main fighter (like Smeagol, Always Helps, Smeagol, Stinker, or Smeagol, Poor Creature).
-wtk

[Dmessy]

Yep you're right. I hadn't completely thought it through. It wouldn't really work but I still think it is a cool idea.

[Dictionary]

It is an interesting idea. It adds to the theme of resistance and betrayal within the Fellowship. Rather than having a companion minion, you could focus on wounding instead. It's not strictly relating to Smeagol, but a card with a similar theme could look like this:

Betrayal [gollum]
Event • Maneuver
Spot a companion with resistance 0 to deal X wounds to another Free Peoples character. X is that companion's damage bonus.

Smeagol's resistance is under average (Particularly Simple Stoor), but he doesn't usually have damage bonuses, so maybe there's a better way of doing it. Although spotting Boromir to deal wounds to Frodo would be pretty thematic

[Chrispy77]

I think it should be something more like-

Condition-Plays on Smeagol.
If Smeagol does not bear the one ring, at the start of the manuever phase, the free peoples player either adds a burden, or Smeagol may not be assigned to a skirmish and the shadow player may play gollum from his draw deck, discard pile, or hand.

The free people's player may discard 2 gollum cards to discard this condition

[Dmessy]

Yeah there you go Chrispy that's exactly what I'm talking about.
Much better than mine