Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - DC's Are Exhausting at 4 A.M. (12/23)

[Thranduil]

•Balberith
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength: +2
Vitality: +1
Weapon: Dark
Spell.
While skirmishing a character with Weapon: Light, bearer is strength +3.

I'd like to see some other ability as well on this card.

Master Crown [Cultureless: Fellowship]
Event • Fellowship
Play a Class Change condition from your draw deck.

Hmmm... Show us more!

Thranduil

[Elf_Lvr]

Haven't seen this thread in over a month. I'm sort of ashamed of myself.

Anyways, I think I'll skip ahead to another culture pretty soon - there's one I'm pretty excited about - and post the more vanilla possessions in cycles later. Or just added onto other posts. I don't really know. And I'll probably come back to the Free Peoples eventually. For now, I have a few more cards to finish off the culture...

•Noble Sacrifice
Condition
Resistance: +1
Bearer must be Sothe.
Response: If an exhausted companion is about to be killed, place Sothe in the dead pile to prevent that.
"I'm not leaving your side. I swore I'd protect you, no matter what. I keep my promises. If I can't talk you out of this insanity, I'll fight Commander Ike and his men."

Order to Charge
Event • Skirmish
Make a companion strength +1 for each wound on each character in this skirmish.
"Everyone! Take your positions! Attack!"

[Thranduil]

Noble Sacrifice
Condition
Resistance: +1
Bearer must be Sothe.
Response: If an exhausted companion is about to be killed, place Sothe in the dead pile to prevent that.
"I'm not leaving your side. I swore I'd protect you, no matter what. I keep my promises. If I can't talk you out of this insanity, I'll fight Commander Ike and his men."

Perhaps and "Heal that companion." Also have no idea who Sothe is and so i don't know how good +4 resistance is on him. I'd probably make this card unique anyway - it feels unique.

Order to Charge
Event • Skirmish
Make a companion strength +1 for each wound on each character in this skirmish.
"Everyone! Take your positions! Attack!"

"in his or he skirmish" is clearer. Could easily be free, or /[2] for +2.

Thranduil

[Elf_Lvr]

Alright! Since Dain probably isn't gonna be around for a while, I'll accept one review on these two simple cards. to Thran.

I'll be back to the culture, and not just for its shadow portion. But until I get a feel for some other cultures I'll leave this one behind.

The next culture I'm gonna move on to is . A.K.A. Crimea. This culture is probably gonna run like a combination of 's Knights and . Whereas I didn't have a direction in mind when I started (STUPID EL!  ), I already (mostly) know what's happening here. But what's life without a little surprise?

Anyways, I little re-run of who the heck Crimea is: It's the first country that Daein's Mad King invaded, and the homeland of Ike and his mercenaries. The country is ruled by Queen Elincia, after her father was killed by Daein, and her uncle kidnapped.

The story for Radiant Dawn - Some militant fractions think that Elincia isn't ready to take the throne. To be honest, she isn't sure either. But no one really wants a civil war on their hands - too bad they get one.

The Queen's first (and last, really) line of defense are the Royal Knights, a group of elite mounted warriors that head the army.

Now we get somewhere. Let's get some DCing done, eh?

•Geoffrey, Captain of the Royal Knights
Companion • Beorc • Paladin
Strength: 7
Vitality: 4
Signet: Elincia
Weapon: Lance
Royal Knight.
When you play Geoffrey (except in your starting fellowship) you may play a possession on him from your draw deck.
Each time you move during the regroup phase, you may take a event from your discard pile into hand.
"I myself will march into Felirae and seize Ludveck and his rebels."

Geoffrey's the first companion we'll get into. He's the queen's right-hand man and Captain of the Royal Knights. Not much else to say besides, well, he's a beast.

This guy is gonna be a staple in all decks that use Royal Knights, and probably decks in general. His ability is useful to pull his weapon whenever you play him, or even a mount (which you'll see later is really helpful).

•Geoffrey, Queen's Guard
Companion • Beorc • Paladin
Strength: 7
Vitality: 4
Signet: Elincia
Weapon: Lance
Royal Knight.
At the start of your fellowship phase, you may heal a companion with the Elincia signet.
Regroup: Exert Geoffrey and add 3 threats to reconcile your hand.
"Actually, I'm more worried about the queen's safety. Make sure the guards stay sharp."

Yay for signets.

Let me know if the Regroup ability is overpowered. This culture is probably going to have next to nothing in the realms of threat removal.

•Brave Lance, Captain's Long Spear
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +2
Weapon: Lance
Bearer must be a companion. Bearer is damage +1.
If bearer is Geoffrey and he is mounted, the first time he wins a skirmish at this site, you may assign a minion not assigned to skirmish to him to suspend the current phase. Begin a skirmish involving Geoffrey and that minion. When it ends, resume the suspended phase.
Geoffrey's weapon was made so he could strike more quickly while mounted.

In FE, when one character fights another, both get to attack, the one who initiated first. Then, if one character is a lot faster than the other, they get an additional attack. The Brave Lance (yeah, there IS a reason for such a horribly-titled unique weapon) is a weapon that always comes with Geoffrey that allows double the amount of usual attacks. If you'd normally attack once, you attack twice before the opponent has a chance to strike. If you'd attack twice, well, you get to FOUR times. Yeah. The DC version of this weapon is meant to be as much of a minion destroyer as in-game. With mounts and a built in damage bonus, this thing can let a companion land 3 wounds on a minion not assigned to skirmish.

•Geoffrey's Charge
Condition • Support Area
Epic.
While you cannot spot an unmounted companion, the move limit is +1.
Each time the fellowship moves during the regroup phase, each player may draw 2 cards.
Skirmish: If the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, exert a companion to make an  companion (except the Lord) strength +2.
"Set lances! All forces, charge!"

Named for one of my favorite chapters in the game, this card is the staple of decks. It only works while each companion is mounted, but it's still really powerful. A lot of companions will automatically be considered mounted (unfortunately, Geoffrey isn't one of these).

I wasn't sure what abilities to tack onto this card and what abilities to give to individual companions. I really want your ideas on whether is card is OP or not, or what other abilities I could put on it if something doesn't fit right.

One thing I'd like to explain: mounted guys in FE have a very special talent - after they move in a turn, instead of stopping, they may use their remaining movement to move again, although they can't attack, putting them at a bit of a disadvantage if, say, they charge into the middle of a horde of enemies.

Card representation? Increasing the move limit! But, of course, moving twice can land you in a load of minions if you don't kill enough first...

[Elf_Lvr]

Not even ONE review?

[Thranduil]

•Geoffrey, Captain of the Royal Knights
Companion • Beorc • Paladin
Strength: 8
Vitality: 4
Signet: Elincia
Weapon: Lance
Royal Knight.
When you play Geoffrey (except in your starting fellowship) you may play a possession on him from your draw deck.
Each time you move during the regroup phase, you may take a event from your discard pile into hand.
"I myself will march into Felirae and seize Ludveck and his rebels."

Sorry, I meant to get back to this but then forgot about it... Depending on how useful "lance", "Elincia" and "Royal Knight" are he might be overpowered, mainly from the regroup ability. I suspect that his strength should be 7 or his vitality 3.

•Geoffrey, Queen's Guard
Companion • Beorc • Paladin
Strength: 8
Vitality: 4
Signet: Elincia
Weapon: Lance
Royal Knight.
At the start of your fellowship phase, you may heal a companion with the Elincia signet.
Regroup: Exert Geoffrey and add 3 threats to reconcile your hand.
"Actually, I'm more worried about the queen's safety. Make sure the guards stay sharp."

This guy, on the other hand, seems fair enough (though he overshadows King In Exile but that Aragorn is not especially good). That said, he could easily have strength 7 to match the other version if you change it.

•Brave Lance, Captain's Long Spear
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +2
Weapon: Lance
Bearer must be a companion. Bearer is damage +1.
If bearer is Geoffrey and he is mounted, each time he wins a skirmish, you may assign a minion not assigned to skirmish to him to suspend the current phase. Begin a skirmish involving Geoffrey and that minion. When it ends, resume the suspended phase.
Geoffrey's weapon was made so he could strike more quickly while mounted.

I think, actually, that this currently says "kill all surviving minions": you leave Geoffrey's skirmish till last, he wins so you fight an unassigned minion, he wins again so you fight another unassigned minion and so on and so forth. In fact, if you didn't kill a particular minion because they have high vitality (like Menace, for example) you could keep coming back alternately to fight them and so eventually kill them. This is too good! I would word it slightly differently which should conform to intentions:

"If bearer is Geoffrey and he is mounted, each time he wins a non-fierce skirmish you may assign an unassigned minion to him."

This means you would be assigned when the fierce assignment phase came along and would therefore fight a fierce skirmish with a minion who is not necessarily fierce.

The concept of this card, though, is fun and interesting!

•Geoffrey's Charge
Condition • Support Area
Epic.
While you cannot spot an unmounted companion, the move limit is +1.
Each time the fellowship moves during the regroup phase, each player may draw 2 cards.
Skirmish: If the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, exert a companion to make an  companion (except the Lord) strength +2.
"Set lances! All forces, charge!"

This is fun! I keep asking you to re-explain "Epic" and you never do...

Thranduil

[Elf_Lvr]

Sorry, I meant to get back to this but then forgot about it... Depending on how useful "lance", "Elincia" and "Royal Knight" are he might be overpowered, mainly from the regroup ability. I suspect that his strength should be 7 or his vitality 3.

I'll lower strength.

I think, actually, that this currently says "kill all surviving minions": you leave Geoffrey's skirmish till last, he wins so you fight an unassigned minion, he wins again so you fight another unassigned minion and so on and so forth. In fact, if you didn't kill a particular minion because they have high vitality (like Menace, for example) you could keep coming back alternately to fight them and so eventually kill them. This is too good!

Massive my bad. I really didn't think about the fact that it would trigger off of itself.

I would word it slightly differently which should conform to intentions: "If bearer is Geoffrey and he is mounted, each time he wins a non-fierce skirmish you may assign an unassigned minion to him."

This means you would be assigned when the fierce assignment phase came along and would therefore fight a fierce skirmish with a minion who is not necessarily fierce.

Yeah, but that'd also stop him fighting other minions that ARE fierce. It seems, I don't know, slower than I intended the card to be. I was thinking about changing "each time" to "the first time... this turn," but that would stop it triggering from fierce skirmishes, which I'd again really like to be able to do, from a flavor point of view. I was thinking about adding an "except from this card's effect" or "You may not assign additional minions to Geoffrey until the next assignment phase" clause. Do you think that'd be too wordy? I think I have plenty of text already....

This is fun! I keep asking you to re-explain "Epic" and you never do...

I'm sure I do!

Sometimes.

Maybe... 40% of the time.

Anyways, Epic means the condition can't be discarded. I hope it doesn't make the condition too powerful, but I doubt it would, since you still give your opponent a little bonus when you move.

[Thranduil]

Yeah, but that'd also stop him fighting other minions that ARE fierce. It seems, I don't know, slower than I intended the card to be. I was thinking about changing "each time" to "the first time... this turn," but that would stop it triggering from fierce skirmishes, which I'd again really like to be able to do, from a flavor point of view. I was thinking about adding an "except from this card's effect" or "You may not assign additional minions to Geoffrey until the next assignment phase" clause. Do you think that'd be too wordy? I think I have plenty of text already....

Yes that would be too wordy. I would go for your first suggestion.

I'm sure I do!

Sometimes.

Maybe... 40% of the time.

Anyways, Epic means the condition can't be discarded. I hope it doesn't make the condition too powerful, but I doubt it would, since you still give your opponent a little bonus when you move.

You really don't, but thank you!

[Elf_Lvr]

•Elincia, Queen of Crimea
Companion • Beorc • Queen
Strength: 5
Vitality: 4
Signet: Elincia
Weapon: Sword, Staff
Lord (Resistance 7).
Maneuver: Exert Elincia. Until the start of the regroup phase, each time Elincia is about to take a wound, add a burden instead and Elincia has Mastery - Stun 5. Wound each minion skirmishing Elincia and cancel this skirmish.
"If we allow hatred to rule our hearts, we become prisoners of our past."

Well, here she is. The Lord and the Queen, Elincia. She's probably woefully overpowered... Or maybe underpowered. Here's the thing - she's a pre-promoted unit. Meaning? She can already use multiple weapons, and she should already have her mastery skill. Since she is the Lord, I made it's cost high (Mastery - Skill 5 is probably the highest cost we'll see), meaning that the card you'd topdeck would have to have a cost of 5 or more to trigger. Plus she has to "wear the Ring" to use it, and you have to chance her being in a skirmish she'd probably lose otherwise. So, I think it can possibly be balanced. Plus, I wanted a break from the massive strength bonuses pretty much every other mastery skill is gonna give. The rule that "Ring-bearers" can't cancel skirmishes is void in FE DC's now, I guess, but I wasn't planning on making canceling cards anyways - canceling a battle is just something that generally doesn't happen in FE.

Since I think I'm gonna have to make some changes, she's the only card for right now. We'll see how long it takes for my like, one reviewer to respond. 

[sickofpalantirs]

sorry I
ve been busy.

anyway I think you raelly could make her stun 4.  I mean how mean twilight cost 4 or more cards are you going to have? I don't know if I like the have 2 weapons thing...but hey, whatever floats your boat.

[Thranduil]

I'm having trouble reviewing this card because I'm not entirely sure of its implications. How significant is having Sword and Staff? And can I have a detailed description of Mastery and Stun?

Thranduil

[Elf_Lvr]

I'm having trouble reviewing this card because I'm not entirely sure of its implications. How significant is having Sword and Staff? And can I have a detailed description of Mastery and Stun?

Now this is something I actually explained once.

Anyways, here's what Mastery is in all its italics and glory:

Mastery - Skill X. (At the start of each skirmish involving this character, reveal the top card of your draw deck. If its twilight cost is X or greater, you may use this special ability. Place the revealed card beneath your draw deck). Insert Special Ability here.

So, you'd have to reveal a card with cost 5 or greater from the top of your deck, then you would be able to cancel her skirmish and wound each minion involved.

SoP suggests making the cost lower; what do you think?

Anyways, as for wielding two weapons, it's something that most class-changed characters will be able to do, so it's by no means a unique ability (nor an ability limited to the Free Peoples...) But it could be very powerful. For example, a character with "Weapon: Sword" and "Weapon: Lance" could wield both a sword AND a lance, even though both are hand weapons. So obviously this would be a better combination to have. Sword/Staff, though, gives the user Gandalf-like status in weapon wielding. It means Elincia will be able to get pretty much just a mount (no weapon requirement) a sword, and a staff. Staves won't add to strength, but some may add to vitality, or be able to heal, replace sites, or have other abilities. The best thing you have to compare it to right now, I guess, is Gandalf bearing Glamdring and Gandalf's Staff. Not so overpowered, really.

[Thranduil]

I knew you'd explained this one, but I'd just forgotten!

Now that I understand the card, I think it's fine. is not too hard to come by anyway - it basically means you reveal a minion - and it makes deckbuilding more interesting.

Thranduil

[Elf_Lvr]

I'll keep it at 5 for now. I may make a second version of her later. I don't know. Anyways, we've got a couple more companions and some more support cards to do today!

•Kieran, Hot-Blooded Knight
Companion • Beorc • Paladin
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Signet: Elincia
Weapon: Axe
Royal Knight.
While you can spot a Royal Knight, Kieran is twilight cost -1.
At the start of each skirmish involving Kieran, you may make him strength -1 to make him damage +1 until the end of the skirmish.
"And the rest are a bunch of amateurs! You should see them flop around on their horses like rag dolls. They won't last long against the finely tuned skills of our Crimean Royal Knights."

•Astrid, Dame Damiell
Companion • Beorc • Paladin
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Signet: Elincia
Weapon: Bow
Royal Knight. Archer.
If Astrid is about to lose a skirmish, you may exert a Royal Knight not assigned to skirmish to have that companion replace Astrid in this skirmish.

Royal Steed
Possession • Mount
Strength: +1
Bearer must be a Royal Knight. While at a battleground, bearer has muster.
At the start of each skirmish involving bearer, each minion skirmishing bearer must exert.
"But how?! Quickly! Rally the troops! We must return to Melior at once!"

Sweeping Stroke
Event • Skirmish
Make a companion strength +2 (or strength +5 if the fellowship has moved more than once this turn).
"Listen up! We're to sweep aside the rebels and punch through the fortress gate!"

[sickofpalantirs]

hee hee,oops I forgot minions than 5 is fine. I thought you had to reveal a freeps card or something...or I just plain forgot IDK

I'll keep it at 5 for now. I may make a second version of her later. I don't know. Anyways, we've got a couple more companions and some more support cards to do today!

•Kieran, Hot-Blooded Knight
Companion • Beorc • Paladin
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Signet: Elincia
Weapon: Axe
Royal Knight.
While you can spot a Royal Knight, Kieran is twilight cost -1.
At the start of each skirmish involving Kieran, you may make him strength -1 to make him damage +1 until the end of the skirmish.
"And the rest are a bunch of amateurs! You should see them flop around on their horses like rag dolls. They won't last long against the finely tuned skills of our Crimean Royal Knights."
nice and balanced

•Astrid, Dame Damiell
Companion • Beorc • Paladin
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Signet: Elincia
Royal Knight. Archer.
If Astrid is about to lose a skirmish, you may exert a Royal Knight not assigned to skirmish to have that companion replace Astrid in this skirmish.
seems like she should have weapon: bow...fine.

Royal Steed
Possession • Mount
Strength: +1
Bearer must be a Royal Knight. While at a battleground, bearer has muster.
At the start of each skirmish involving bearer, each minion skirmishing bearer must exert.
"But how?! Quickly! Rally the troops! We must return to Melior at once!"
gains muster perhaps? It almost seems too good...if I were you i would cut the muster or the strength. IDK

Sweeping Stroke
Event • Skirmish
Make a companion strength +2 (or strength +5 if the fellowship has moved more than once this turn).
"Listen up! We're to sweep aside the rebels and punch through the fortress gate!"

where have I seen a card like this before?
fine.