Lands of Shadow - Something to Fear. (10/24)

[sickofpalantirs]

Spectral Banner
Possession • Hand Weapon
Bearer must be an unliving companion.
Bearer is strength +1 for each other unliving companion bearing a hand weapon.
Skirmish: Discard this possession to wound a minion skirmishing bearer.
"‘…and pale banners like shreds of cloud… Faint cries I heard, and dim horns blowing, and a murmur as of countless far voices…'"
M1C120
should have a limit on the strength bonus..., and almost rather just make it +1 and get rid of the first sentence


Spectral Horse
Possession • Mount
Strength +1
Bearer must be an unliving companion. Bearer gains flanking (If this companion is not assigned to a skirmish, at the start of another of your character's skirmishes, you may exert this companion to replace that character in the skirmish).
Skirmish: Discard this possession to wound a minion skirmishing bearer.
"‘The Dead are following,' said Legolas. ‘I see shapes of Men and of horses…'"
M1U121
fine by me

Spectral Spear
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be an unliving companion.
Skirmish: Discard this possession to wound a minion skirmishing bearer.
"‘…and spears, like winter-thickets on a misty night. The Dead are following.'"
M1C122
I guess...

•Twilight Host
Companion • Wraith
Strength 11
Vitality 4
Resistance 5
Dominate. Unliving. To play, spot Aragorn or King of the Dead.
Each time a possession is discarded from your unliving companion, you may exert Twilight Host to transfer that possession to another unliving companion instead of discarding it.
"‘There they stood silent, hardly to be seen, save for a red gleam in their eyes that caught the glare of the ships that were burning.'"
M1R124

I think he's a tad powerful, cut strength by 1-2 and he's ok though.

[Gate Troll]

Spectral Banner
Possession • Hand Weapon
Bearer must be an unliving companion.
Bearer is strength +1 for each other unliving companion bearing a hand weapon.
Skirmish: Discard this possession to wound a minion skirmishing bearer.
"‘…and pale banners like shreds of cloud… Faint cries I heard, and dim horns blowing, and a murmur as of countless far voices…'"
M1C120

should have a limit on the strength bonus..., and almost rather just make it +1 and get rid of the first sentence

Actually SoP, the first ability is the whole point of the card, the second one is just to tie it in with the other Spectral
possessions. Personally I'd get rid of the second ability.

[sickofpalantirs]

oh meh.  I meant the second one, the + strength one

[menace64]

Sorry for the bit of delay - work work work!

Now, I'm really glad you guys hit me so hard on those possessions. For whatever reason I simply didn't consider power when I wrote those skirmish-wounding abilities. I'm definitely going to completely redesign them.

Tonight I'm putting up just two more new cards; I'll edit this post in a minute with the rewritten possessions from last time.

Insurmountable Will
Event • Skirmish
Spot X unliving companions to make a minion skirmishing an unliving companion strength –X. If that companion wins the skirmish, discard all losing minions.
"‘…for the Dead needed no longer any weapon but fear. None would withstand them.'"
M1R113

This is the only skirmish "pump" within the FP culture, but it sure does pack a wallop. This is one of the ways the new Wraiths gets around lacking damage, enduring, etc.

•Unrelenting Spirit
Companion • Wraith
Strength 7
Vitality 3
Resistance 5
Unliving.
At the start of each assignment phase, you may exert Unrelenting Spirit, spot 2 or more minions and choose 1 of them. That minion's owner may assign that minion, but it is strength -5 unless assigned to skirmish Unrelenting Spirit.
"…pursued by a groping horror that seemed always just about to seize him; and a rumour came after him like the shadow-sound of many feet… he must either find an ending and escape or run back in madness to meet the following fear."
M1U125

This guy is probably my favorite companion in the entire set. It is the embodiment of a stalking terror, as seen within the lore. The only snag I see with him is his lack of cultural enforcement; the culture can't afford too many "to play, spot a companion" clauses and I can't find a decent place for enforcement within the ability. Any help here would be stellar if you think he needs it.

[Thranduil]

Insurmountable Will
Event • Skirmish
Spot X unliving companions to make a minion skirmishing an unliving companion strength –X. If that companion wins the skirmish, discard all losing minions.
"‘…for the Dead needed no longer any weapon but fear. None would withstand them.'"
M1R113

Good stuff!

•Unrelenting Spirit
Companion • Wraith
Strength 7
Vitality 3
Resistance 5
Unliving.
At the start of each assignment phase, you may exert Unrelenting Spirit, spot 2 or more minions and choose 1 of them. That minion's owner may assign that minion, but it is strength -5 unless assigned to skirmish Unrelenting Spirit.
"…pursued by a groping horror that seemed always just about to seize him; and a rumour came after him like the shadow-sound of many feet… he must either find an ending and escape or run back in madness to meet the following fear."
M1U125

Cost and effect need to be more clearly defined I think: "At the start of each assignment phase, you may exert Unrelenting Spirit and spot 2 minions to choose a minion..." How about more implicit enforcement like making the strength reduction "X", where X is the number of unliving companions you can spot?

Thranduil

[Gate Troll]

Insurmountable Will
Event • Skirmish
Spot X unliving companions to make a minion skirmishing an unliving companion strength –X. If that companion wins the skirmish, discard all losing minions.
"‘…for the Dead needed no longer any weapon but fear. None would withstand them.'"
M1R113

Good. Not too much.

•Unrelenting Spirit
Companion • Wraith
Strength 7
Vitality 3
Resistance 5
Unliving.
At the start of each assignment phase, you may exert Unrelenting Spirit, spot 2 or more minions and choose 1 of them. That minion's owner may assign that minion, but it is strength -5 unless assigned to skirmish Unrelenting Spirit.
"…pursued by a groping horror that seemed always just about to seize him; and a rumour came after him like the shadow-sound of many feet… he must either find an ending and escape or run back in madness to meet the following fear."
M1U125

Seems a little awkward, perhaps: At the start of the assignment phase if there is more than one minion in play you may exert Unrelenting Spirit and name a minion. Unless that minion is assigned to skirmish Unrelenting Spirit it is strength -5.

[DáinIronfoot]

I'll edit this post in a minute with the rewritten possessions from last time.

Once you do, I'll be happy to review them, especially since I never got to them the first time around.

Insurmountable Will
Event • Skirmish
Spot X unliving companions to make a minion skirmishing an unliving companion strength –X. If that companion wins the skirmish, discard all losing minions.
"‘…for the Dead needed no longer any weapon but fear. None would withstand them.'"
M1R113

I'd reword the last part as "discard each minion in that skirmish". But it's pretty neat.

•Unrelenting Spirit
Companion • Wraith
Strength 7
Vitality 3
Resistance 5
Unliving.
At the start of each assignment phase, you may exert Unrelenting Spirit, spot 2 or more minions and choose 1 of them. That minion's owner may assign that minion, but it is strength -5 unless assigned to skirmish Unrelenting Spirit.
"…pursued by a groping horror that seemed always just about to seize him; and a rumour came after him like the shadow-sound of many feet… he must either find an ending and escape or run back in madness to meet the following fear."
M1U125

One more rephrasing suggestion:

"At the start of the assignment phase, if you can spot 2 minions, exert Unrelenting Spirit to choose a minion. That minion is strength -5 unless assigned to skirmish Unrelenting Spirit."

I really think that covers it succinctly and clearly. There's no need to specify that its' owner may assign it since that is always assumed unless something overrides it (which is NOT the case here).

I think you could add some quasi-cultural enforcement by making the cost -1 if you can spot a (or just simply Wraith) companion. Helps get it into your starting fellowship, too.

Speaking of which, I think these guys BADLY need a -cost companion to get them going. As it is, it's very, very difficult to start with them without tossing in Strider, which I know is not what you're going for.

[sickofpalantirs]

Insurmountable Will
Event • Skirmish
Spot X unliving companions to make a minion skirmishing an unliving companion strength –X. If that companion wins the skirmish, discard all losing minions.
"‘…for the Dead needed no longer any weapon but fear. None would withstand them.'"
M1R113
maybe cost 1? and maybe have a limit as well? -4 perhaps?


•Unrelenting Spirit
Companion • Wraith
Strength 7
Vitality 3
Resistance 5
Unliving.
At the start of each assignment phase, you may exert Unrelenting Spirit, spot 2 or more minions and choose 1 of them. That minion's owner may assign that minion, but it is strength -5 unless assigned to skirmish Unrelenting Spirit.
"…pursued by a groping horror that seemed always just about to seize him; and a rumour came after him like the shadow-sound of many feet… he must either find an ending and escape or run back in madness to meet the following fear."
M1U125

yeah needs to be rephrased. fine.