HQ25 - Refining the Chaos Cultist monster

[Count Mohawk]

I made this a separate topic so as not to clutter the To-Do List one.

Chaos Cultist
Mv 7 | At 1 | De 1 | Bo 1 | Mi 3

Suffice to say, while the five other monsters from our HQ25 pack have been sorted out with relative ease, we haven't yet come to a conclusion on what form the Cultists' special ability will take. The suggestions made so far:

Each Chaos Cultist starts with one random Chaos Spell chosen from the 12 Game System Chaos spells, excluding Escape. Only one Cultist may cast a spell each turn.

How about a cultist casts a basic spell. If an extra cultist is involved the damage dice is increased by one per cultist. If it is a non damage based spell like Rust, then they effect two pieces of equipment. If it is Tempest then the hero caught looses an extra turn or perhaps two heroes can be targeted...?

How about giving them a "Dark Bolt" (or whatever) spell. The cultist rolls an amount of combat dice equal to the amount of cultists in the same room or corridor. However only a single cultist can cast the spell each round. The target defends like normal.

I am beginning to think that giving Cultists access to Chaos Spell cards in general may be what's over-complicating them, because except for Skulls of Doom from the Wizards of Morcar, Chaos Spells are strong, which contrasts with the Cultists' weakish nature. I suspect that the proper way to give Cultists weaker Chaos Spells would be to actually make 3 chaos spells for them to choose from (Skulls of Doom, a gimpier Tempest and maybe a Sharpen Blades/Shield of Protection not limited to Orcs, for example), although if I recall correctly we already decided not to make any more spells except for the Swamp ones.

Suffice to say, each has its pros and cons. About the only thing we've managed to agree on is that Cultists are not very strong and are generally poor spellcasters, having to pray to the demons and promise them a few dozen virgins' souls in exchange for their power.

In any case, I intend for this topic to be relatively short. Once we have concluded this round of negotiations, I will post the Cultist's finished stats and ability back in the To-Do list topic and close this one. Anyone else share any thoughts I didn't put in this post?

[cynthialee]

If I cast aside my (preferred of course) idea and consider the other ideas presented I think Goblin King has the best fix.
A room with 2 or 3 cultists is an easy thing to deal with, but if there is a major conclave of them (say 6-9) their collective power becomes impressive, yet they still have the weakness of only one getting to make an offensive roll. Each cultist that drops on the hero turn is one less dice on the Dark Bolt that will be sent down range. Also the dark bolt although only effecting one target gets more powerful as cultists are added making larger groups of them scary. Small groups are chumps.

[Goblin-King]

I kinda agree with CM; giving them chaos spells may be a mistake! Almost every single spell card is pretty insane if it's being cast every round!

Some things I would preferably like to avoid:

* Having to draw cards each round.
* Having to draw a random card, but start by removing OP spells.
* Having to remember stuff.

Also, I too like my own idea.

[cynthialee]

I kinda agree with CM; giving them chaos spells may be a mistake! Almost every single spell card is pretty insane if it's being cast every round!

Some things I would preferably like to avoid:

* Having to draw cards each round.
* Having to draw a random card, but start by removing OP spells.
* Having to remember stuff.

Also, I too like my own idea.

These two points highlighted are the prime reason I really like the idea of the Dark Bolt. Easy to remember rules: 1 dice per cultist. Only one cultist casts the spell.

[Count Mohawk]

I kinda agree with CM; giving them chaos spells may be a mistake! Almost every single spell card is pretty insane if it's being cast every round!

Some things I would preferably like to avoid:

* Having to draw cards each round.
* Having to draw a random card, but start by removing OP spells.
* Having to remember stuff.

Also, I too like my own idea.

These two points highlighted are the prime reason I really like the idea of the Dark Bolt. Easy to remember rules: 1 dice per cultist. Only one cultist casts the spell.

I think we have a winner here then. One more thought from me and then I'm done: Is the Dark Bolt too mechanically similar to the Kobolds' ability to augment each others' attacks? I don't mind whether it is or not (I rather like the idea actually), but if keeping the various monster types sufficiently distinct is a priority, now would be a good time to consider that.

[Goblin-King]

I share your concern, but after giving it some thought I think they are different enough after all.

Kobolds can all benefit from their gang-up attack, not just a single model.
Also it's melee based where the cultists' spell is ranged.
Kobolds will mass in for the kill and then probably die themselves while cultists can benefit from hiding in the back for a while.

The only trait they share is that the ability is dependent on the number of models.

tl;dr go go go!

[cynthialee]

One of the larger rooms with 3 or 4 kobolds guarding 3 or 4 cultists ...I think that would be a fun encounter to run.

[Teldurn]

Just wanted to throw my two cents in and say this option does definitely seem like the best solution. I think we're done here.

[Count Mohawk]

Indeed we are. Now I just need to go back and adjust Quests 15-17 to include more cultists.