A long response deserves another...
•Denethor, Steward of the High King
Steward would be an unloaded keyword found only on Denethor at the start but expanded to others later-on. I further imagine a cycle of Shadow cards that get nastier when used against a Steward.
I like his stats. But he's too expensive and his effect seems too weak by itself, and while Aragorn or
Elrond LoR have impactufl effects whenever they are played, this Denethor has to be played early to have a considerable effect. So if you keep the drawing skill (instead of a special ability), make it draw 1 for free or 2 if discards a
fortification (abandon a building) or knight (relieve a soldier from duty, which can be beneficial if is spent or bears Shadow conditions). Also, that expensive cost is too perilous being mandatory.
Steward might be loaded and used instead of Unhasty, something like "Steward characters cannot take archery wounds, and while you cannot spot more minions than
companions, cannot participate in skirmishes." It'd absorb the last sentence of your Denethor (2 lines). Your original gametext is so extensive that uses all 7 lines of Decipher's standard, leaving no room for lore.
•Denethor, Steward of the High King Ally • Home 3[K]
& 6[K] • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 4
Signet: Denethor
Steward. (loaded but not explained)At the start and end of your turns, draw a card (or discard a
knight or
fortification to draw 2 cards).
"But the throne was empty. At the foot of the dais... there was a stone chair, black and unadorned, and on it sat an old man gazing at his lap."(4 gametext and 3 loretext lines.)
Still, given that allies cannot be played in starting fellowship and needs to be played early (with other cards depending on him), he'll need a fetching card.
While His Stewardship Lasts Event • Fellowship
Choose one: play Denethor from your draw deck; or spot Denethor to play a knight, a
possession or a
fortification from your draw deck or discard pile.
"'Whatever betide, you have come to the end of the Gondor that you have known. Let me pass!'"and Denethor is a primate candidate (that's a typo but I'm leaving it in)
Man, keep it that way! I really love your sense of humor!
Decipher did allies dirty in Return of the King. There should've been lots of allies in Minas Tirith, little helpful squishy characters for Shadow cultures to target and for the player to protect.
Yeah, the only
ally is ridiculous (unique, exhausted and wrong block home), but they made such move not include unexpensive speedbumps. Allies didn't end up being protected but being sacrified for the Fellowship, the FP player had little to lose by throwing them to the lions. FOTR site 6 is often a lost cause; Towers sites witness ally immolation at 3, 4 and 6 (plus Treebeard's hastiness at 2 and 8). Newly introduced Threats punish the use of cannon fodder and they even reissued
TPIIT, but apparently were still too afraid of allowing easy speedbumps in the most important Battle of the late Third Age. (Similar to the Palantír of Orthanc: fearing to make another OP palantír in TTT, they created one that cost twice for a worthless effect.)
Most farmers, grocers and leechers shouldn't fight, but there are better ways around it. One is making Shadow cards that exploit the dead pile (
Houses of Lamentation and
FotF do so, but should have been one per Shadow
subculture at least). Another is using a keyword to make non-warriors fight by paying some significant price, like "to assign this character to a skirmish, the Free Peoples player must first exert a companion of the same culture or discard 2 cards of that culture from hand," similar to
Morgul Spearman but culturally enforced (and very perilous in conjunction with threats). Let's call it "
villager"... wait, already exists? Let's turn it loaded then (and retroactively!). And give those Mordor trench-delvers some catapult to use their battle-earned cephalic ammunition!
So
Gondorian Merchant, Child of Gondor, Bergil, Ioreth, the Herb-master... all should be loaded "
villagers" (or peasants, civilians, bureucrats, proletarians... anything but warriors). And all Hobbit and Bree allies (except Bilbo and
Bounder).
cards could then have their own
Well Stored and
Eowyn's Sword (though should work well with villagers of any culture).
As promised, a Mordor catapult and some raining heads:
Great Hurling Devices Condition • Support Area
Engine. To play, exert a
Orc.
The special abilities of fortifications gain this cost: "exert 2 companions."
Shadow: Exert a besieger and discard a
card from hand to add a threat.
"...with many yells and the creaking of rope and winch, they began to throw missiles marvellously high..."With 2 of these in play, your opponent will need 4 (four!) exertions to put a lame
Fourth Level on your Troll (but doesn't touch "passive" gametexts like your fortifications). Also, can add threats for
Mordor Veteran,
Gorgoroth Agitator,
Orc Ravager and
Their Marching Companies.
Release the Prisoners! Event • Assignment
Spot 2
engines to make the Free Peoples player make X unbound companions strength -X until the regroup phase, where X is the number of cards in the dead pile.
"For the enemy was flinging into the City all the heads of those who had fallen... and all were branded with the foul token of the Lidless Eye."Plays after archery and potential threats, so that the warm corpses of recent cannon fodder add to this nasty surprise.
I don't think Pippin ought to be pushed too far in the strength-boosting direction. He's still a Hobbit after all!
Still, I would suggest bumping him up to and cutting the skirmish ability.
He's a Hobbit, yes, but one that killed a
Troll chieftain! It was a fluke, I know, but so would be pumping Pippin by exerting Denethor and his two sons 7 times in total; very far from a base str 14 Last Alliance Supergorn. He must cost
(with no spotting cost) to be able to start along with Denethor or Faramir; the healing is to allow him to save an exhausted Faramir or Beregond from death. Yes, he's the Prince or "Third Marshal" of Hobbits and gets access to
and
tricks, but if you factor in the general power creep including
Sam GEW (and the fact that he's still weaker than a
Gondorian Knight, using a companion slot in a
deck) it should be justified.
Besides, Pippin is not the only Hobbit with a warrior character arc:
•
Merry, Master Holbytla Companion • Hobbit
Strength 3 Vitality 4 Théoden Signet
While you can spot a
Man, Merry is strength +2 and a
valiant companion.
Skirmish: Discard a
card from hand to make a valiant companion strength +2 or exert a minion assigned to him or her.
"'May I lay the sword of Meriadoc of the Shire on your lap Théoden King? Receive my service, if you will!'"The
culture doesn't give him access to pumps or possessions (save
Banner of the Mark) in Movie Block, so being
serves only to be spotted by
Rohirrim Army or
King's Advisor, or exerted for
Mustering for Battle, or healed by
Rekindled King or
WSTF. The skirmish skill covers that weakness, turning
cards into pumps for him or for any valiant
Man, or mid-skirmish exertions for their foes. (Merrily, Valiant excludes
Eomer TMoR,
Elite Rider and
Eowyn LoI; it actually gives nothing else to Merry except being spotted by
Eomer VW, since all other valiant tricks and skills (even post-Shadows) need "Valiant Men.")
That being said - change the culture to [Arnor] and make it an Artifact!
Not [Arnor], since
stands for all Numenor. But you're right, it should be an artifact. And have a sibling:
•
Merry's Sword, Work of Westernesse Artifact • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be Merry.
Skirmish: Exert Merry twice (or discard
Merry's Sword) to make a minion assigned to a companion with the Théoden signet strength -3 and remove a keyword from it.
"No other blade, not though mightier hands had wielded it, would have dealt that foe a wound so bitter..."Enduring, damage bonuses, even Southron or Nazgul, all keywords succumb to Merry's enchanted sword. So Merry can use his sword twice (losing it) to make
Black Captain str -6 and lose both Nazgul (blocking
All Blades Perish and pumps) and Enduring; then
Dernhelm (Valiant + Théoden signet) can kill him with a str +3 pump and 3 wounds/exertions (a horse, her sword and gimme one more... Master Holbytla). Pretty straining but powerful.
I never liked fortifications very much either. I never bought into the concept of moving a bastion of stone onto a single minion.
Attaching fortifications to a minion is like directing that minion to your trap. But that should work only at certain sites or stretches of the sitepath (like
stealths), and be discarded (abandoned) for some weaker effect like drawing or some limited healing at any site. The Set 4
site conditions do exactly that (
Forests of Ithilien,
Forbidden Pool,
Henneth Annun &
Ruins of Osgiliath), they should have stuck with that mechanic for fortifications.
What do you think of fortifications that behave like these:
Rammas Echor
Looks great in flavor but is too complicated. Playing conditions on sites requires having the site in play first (thus someone moving there first) to then pile up your defenses just before using them (or even after), which is the opposite of how slowly-built stone walls work. I'd use instead a
Shadowplay "limit once" approach during assignment, so the more copies you have (defended segments of the wall) the more minions you stop at the Rammas:
Rammas Echor Condition • Support Area
Fortification. To play, spot 2
Men.
Each time a knight is assigned to a minion at sites 2[K] to 5[K], you may make that minion lose (and cannot gain)
fierce until the regroup phase (limit once).
"So the men of Gondor called the out wall that they had built with great labour, after Ithilien fell..." Wall of White Stone
•
Wall of White Stone Condition • Support Area
Fortification. At sites 3[K] and 4[K], the fellowship archery total is +1 for
each Man bearing a ranged weapon you can spot.
Regroup: Discard a unique
fortification to heal a
Man.
"'...not even he could enter here while we yet live.'"64% of me wants these to be possessions, since they are physical objects privy to destruction.
Just like Corsair Ships.
Enola's Hobbit Draft Game has 3
fortifications (
Great Barricade,
Ancient Forges and
Horn of Erebor), and we made them all possessions. But possession discard is scarce or unexistent for many Shadow cultures (
, non-Corsair
,
Uruks and [gollum]) so that'd need to be fixed simultaneously.
Battering Ram should discard fortifications!
Stout Resistance
Ditch the dependance on threats and sites, and add some damage potential:
Stout Resistance Event • Skirmish
Spot X
fortifications (limit +4) to make a
Man strength +X (and
damage +1 if you discard one of those fortifications).
"Under the south walls of the City the footmen of Gondor now drove against the legions of Morgul that were still gathered there in strength."One more ally:
•Beregond, Guard of the White City
No, he cannot be weak, he killed 3 of Denethor's guards and held others at bay. Also he fought at the Black Gate, so must be a companion.
•Beregond, Guard of the Third Company Companion • Man
Strength 6 Vitality 3
Denethor SignetKnight.For each wound on Faramir (or
Man) you can spot, Beregond is strength +1.
Response: If Faramir is about to take a wound, exert Beregond to prevent that.
"...he drew a knife and strode towards the bier. But Beregond sprang forward and set himself before Faramir.""
Man," if you know what I mean!
•Gimli, Emissary of Stonewrights
Looks great. But fortifications might inspire him instead: "For each fortification you can spot over 2, Gimli is strength +1 (limit +4)."
========
I still owe you the Palantír of Minas Anor, which already have, but need to redact the post first.
Bonus:
villagers!
•Ioreth, Wise Old Woman Ally • Home 3[K] & 6[K] • Man
Strength: 2
Vitality: 3
Villager. At the start of your turn, you may add
to heal a character at site 3[K] or 6[K].
Fellowship: Exert Ioreth to shuffle
Athelas (or a
tale) from your discard pile into your draw deck.
"'Ioreth, men will long remember your words.'"(
11U61)
Makes
sanctuaries heal 6 wounds instead of 5, or heal a 3[K] or 6[K] ally at any turn.
•Herb-master, Warden of the Houses of Healing Ally • Home 3[K] & 6[K] • Man
Strength: 4
Vitality: 3
Muster. Villager. Each time your character heals at site 3[K] or 6[K], remove
or draw a card.
Fellowship: Exert Herb-master and add
to play
Athelas from your draw deck.
"'A great lord... and it is a thing passing strange to me that the healing hand should also wield the sword.'"Doesn't heal but helps
Athelas to do so, and turns healing at
sanctuaries into drawing (or choke when doubling from 6). The synergy with Ioreth is two-fold: you can get one
Athelas back into play by exerting both allies, and can use Ioreth's ally healing either for no twilight or to draw a card.