The Old Took's DCs-- Dwarven!

[Thranduil]

Armor of Erebor
Possession-Armor
Bearer must be a dwarf.
Each minion skirmishing bearer loses all damage bonuses.
Skirmish: Discard this possession to heal bearer.
9.5R5

Oof! The skirmish ability makes it very powerful mainly because culture does not do healing very well. I might try something like "Response: If bearer wins a skirmish, discard this possession to heal him" or think of something else instead, or raise the cost to .

ºDain Ironfoot, Of the Iron Hills
Companion-Dwarf
Str: 6
Vit:3
Res:6
While you can spot the Arkenstone, each dwarf is damage +1 and resistance -1.
Skirmish: Discard a possession borne by a dwarf to make that dwarf strength +2.
9.5R+6

I think he's a bit piddly for the King of the Iron Hills - I want him to at least match his King Under the Mountain persona if not beat it seeing as he's considerably younger here. And I would probably leave the Arkenstone out of his text and let the Arkenstone's bonuses be on the stone itself. His skirmish ability is awesome though!

Glittering Caves
Event
Fellowship: Spot a Dwarf to reveal the top three cards of your draw deck. Discard one and take the other two into hand.
9.5R7

Hmmm... Tough comparison to Delving. I think it's probably alright, though it might sit more comfortably at and a tale.

ºGloin, Father of Gimli
Companion-Dwarf
Str: 5
Vit: 6
Res: 7
While you can spot Bilbo and a tale, Gloin is strength +3.
While you can spot Gimli, Gloin is damage +1.
9.5R8

Saw this guy. I'd probably still leave out the tale part.

ºThorin Oakenshield
Companion-Dwarf
Str: 5
Vit: 3
Res: 4
While Thorin bears the Ring, he is strength +1 and resistance +1 for each possession and artifact he bears.
At the start of each skirmish involving Thorin, discard two possessions or artifacts borne by him or add 3 burdens.
9.5R+9

I don't agree with this, I'm afraid. At no point is Thorin anywhere near bearing the Ring - it just makes the flavour-lover in me cringe.

ºWeapons of Erebor
Condition
Plays to your support area.
Response: If a possession or artifact is about to be discarded, stack it here instead.
Fellowship: Discard a card stacked here to play a card stacked here as if from hand.
9.5R10

Okay, seems strong, but I think fine. It is a very strong card, but there's nothing wrong with strong cards if they're cool and fun and have deckbuilding potential, and this is one of those cards, I think.

Well Crafted Spear
Str +2
To play spot a dwarf.
Bearer must be a man.
Bearer is damage +1.
9.5R11

Yeah, fair enough. I don't think it needs rare status, I could see this at common or uncommon. It probably could cost as well.

Thranduil

[Gerontius]

Oof! The skirmish ability makes it very powerful mainly because culture does not do healing very well. I might try something like "Response: If bearer wins a skirmish, discard this possession to heal him" or think of something else instead, or raise the cost to .

I think he's a bit piddly for the King of the Iron Hills - I want him to at least match his King Under the Mountain persona if not beat it seeing as he's considerably younger here. And I would probably leave the Arkenstone out of his text and let the Arkenstone's bonuses be on the stone itself. His skirmish ability is awesome though!
Really, I agree with you- I was kind of rushing to get through these.


Hmmm... Tough comparison to Delving. I think it's probably alright, though it might sit more comfortably at and a tale.

Consider it done!

ºThorin Oakenshield
Companion-Dwarf
Str: 5
Vit: 3
Res: 4
While Thorin bears the Ring, he is strength +1 and resistance +1 for each possession and artifact he bears.
At the start of each skirmish involving Thorin, discard two possessions or artifacts borne by him or add 3 burdens.
9.5R+9

I don't agree with this, I'm afraid. At no point is Thorin anywhere near bearing the Ring - it just makes the flavour-lover in me cringe.

I understand how this doesn't make sense as far as flavour goes, but I was pretty desperate for a new sort of dwarven alternate ring-bearer. The idea of a Gimli ring-bearer had an obscure connection to the book at best, and this seemed like the best alternative.


Okay, seems strong, but I think fine. It is a very strong card, but there's nothing wrong with strong cards if they're cool and fun and have deckbuilding potential, and this is one of those cards, I think.
 


Yeah, fair enough. I don't think it needs rare status, I could see this at common or uncommon. It probably could cost as well.
It isn't a strong card, but this will still be a R and R+ only set- do you think I should replace it with something else?


Thranduil

[Thranduil]

It isn't a strong card, but this will still be a R and R+ only set- do you think I should replace it with something else?

Ah sorry, forgotten about that. Then it's fine where it is.

And I don't think Gimli's connection to the ring is strenuous - he was at least at the Council of Elrond so could "theoretically" have taken it to Mount Doom. Thorin was long dead before anyone even knew what the Ring was!

Thranduil

[Gerontius]

Gimli could have taken the ring to Mordor, but there wasn't a very good chance. There aren't any other dwarves that would possibly be the ring-bearer, so I guess another alternate ring-bearer doesn't make sense. I thought that this Thorin would open up an awesome solo deck, which is pretty much the only reason I made him a ring-bearer. Is there any way I could balance his text to make him a normal unbound companion?

[Braler]

ºThorin, Oakenshield
Companion º Dwarf
Str: 6
Vit: 3
Res: 5
Thorin is strength +1 for each of the following that is true: he is bearing a possession, he is bearing an artifact, you can spot a  tale, you can spot a token.

[Thranduil]

Gimli could have taken the ring to Mordor, but there wasn't a very good chance. There aren't any other dwarves that would possibly be the ring-bearer, so I guess another alternate ring-bearer doesn't make sense.

That is essentially my problem. But, your ideas are really cool and there's not much reason that there couldn't be a version of ARB Gimli that did that, or something similar. I'd go for something different for Thorin though; you don't want to make him too much like Durin III, he should stand out as his own awesome companion.

Thranduil

[Gerontius]

I've been gone for a few days, but I had a chance to quickly read the new posts on this thread.
I've decided to change weapons of Erebor to something like this:

ºSongs of Dale
Condition
Tale.
To play, spot a man.
Plays to your support area.
Response: If a possession or artifact is about to be discarded, stack it here instead.
Fellowship: Discard a card stacked here to play a card stacked here as if from hand.
9.5R?

This makes it a bit less powerful, and still makes sense as far as flavour goes.

With the Thorin, I'm thinking of giving his text to a Gimli- or even a Gloin ARB, but Gimli probably still makes more sense.
I wanted the new Thorin to have something to do with possession discardal, and I was thinking of having him strength +1 for each possession in the discard pile (limit 5), but he fought more for vengeance than to just reclaim treasure.... Then I thought of making him strength +2 for each dwarf in the discard or dead pile, but that seemed awfully morbid...(although it would give an entirely new purpose to Dwarf Guard).
I looked at Braler's idea and it seems pretty good, but I still want him to work really well with the other dwarf cards in this set.
 

[Thranduil]

ºSongs of Dale
Condition
To play, spot a man.
Plays to your support area.
Response: If a possession or artifact is about to be discarded, stack it here instead.
Fellowship: Discard a card stacked here to play a card stacked here as if from hand.
9.5R?

I like very muchly!

With the Thorin, I'm thinking of giving his text to a Gimli- or even a Gloin ARB, but Gimli probably still makes more sense.
I wanted the new Thorin to have something to do with possession discardal, and I was thinking of having him strength +1 for each possession in the discard pile (limit 5), but he fought more for vengeance than to just reclaim treasure.... Then I thought of making him strength +2 for each dwarf in the discard or dead pile, but that seemed awfully morbid...(although it would give an entirely new purpose to Dwarf Guard).
I looked at Braler's idea and it seems pretty good, but I still want him to work really well with the other dwarf cards in this set.

I love some of those ideas. I would try a few different avenues... Like I might go for something like this:

"Thorin is strength +1 for each possession and artifact in your discard pile."
Thorin is damage +1 for each companion in your dead or discard pile."

Or maybe something like this:

"Thorin is strength +1 for each possession and artifact in your discard pile.
Maneuver: Discard a card from hand and exert Thorin to exert a minion."

... or some other kind of special ability which helps you discard the cards in your hand for his uber-bonus. And I don't think that needs limits, I think without a limit you have sheer awesomeness and great deckbuilding potential!

Thranduil

[Gerontius]

How does this sound?

Skirmish: Remove a possession or artifact in your discard pile from the game to make Thorin strength +1 for each possession or artifact in your discard pile.
Maneuver: Discard two cards from hand to exert a minion.
 
But I do like being able to get the possessions back.... Maybe combine the two and do,

Skirmish: Discard a card from hand and exert Thorin to make him strength +1 for each possession and artifact in your discard pile.
Regroup: Exert 2 Dwarves to play a possession or artifact from your discard pile.

Or even:

Thorin is strength +1 for each artifact in your discard pile.
Fellowship: Discard an artifact to heal two companions or draw 3 cards.

This one is good for rainbow fellowship decks. Is the second effect too powerful?

For some reason having it +1 for each artifact and possession all the time seems a bit crazy to me... Although it would open up some interesting decks.

[lem0nhead]

ºSongs of Dale
Condition
Tale.
To play, spot a man.
Plays to your support area.
Response: If a possession or artifact is about to be discarded, stack it here instead.
Fellowship: Discard a card stacked here to play a card stacked here as if from hand.
9.5R?

Put "Support Area" next to "Condition" like the newer cards. I like it because of the balance of losing something to get something back but i might drop it to one to make it perfect.

[Gerontius]

Wait a moment... If I discard a card using Songs of Dale's second effect, does it just stack again from it's first effect?
Maybe I should reword it to, "Place a card stacked here in the discard pile..."

[Thranduil]

Wait a moment... If I discard a card using Songs of Dale's second effect, does it just stack again from it's first effect?
Maybe I should reword it to, "Place a card stacked here in the discard pile..."

No it doesn't, because the default meaning of discard is "from play and active" and stacked cards are never active.

Thranduil

[Gerontius]

I reworked some of my previous cards, there somewhere on page two of this topic. I still don't know about Dain, but the ability seems to represent him okay.
I'm thinking of a card called, The Battle of Five Armies, probably culture. something like this:
Event-Maneuver
To play, add X where X is the number of cultures you can spot.
Spot 3 free peoples cultures to play up to 3 non-unique companions of those cultures from your draw deck. Choose a shadow player who may play the same number of non-unique minions from their draw deck.

Weird, cumbersome, and probably useless. But interesting?

[lem0nhead]

I reckon thats better for the shadow than the freeps. A choice of 3 specific minions for that turn is a lot better than just 3 companions, you could really get shafted.

[Thranduil]

Ah yeah, sorry I really meant to comment on this ages ago but I must have forgotten somewhere along the line...

I think the idea is really awesome. I might try something like:

Battle of the Five Armies
Event • Maneuver
Spot 3 Free Peoples cultures to play 1 companion from your draw deck for each player. Then each Shadow player may play a minion from their draw deck.