[Prev] [Solo Quest Pack] [War Priest] - Faith and Conviction

[Count Mohawk]

So for those that like numbers (who could maybe check my math)....

Did somebody page Count Mohawk??

Your math damage tables are correct as far as I can tell. In broader terms, your proposed Warhammer weapon is never as good as the Battle Axe, but beats the Broadsword in terms of expected damage for any monster with 7 Defend dice or less. Since this category basically only excludes super-endgame-boss-class monsters, you should probably price it around the same as the Longsword in your armory - that is, midway between the Broadsword and the Battle Axe. The hammer is most useful against figures with multiple Body Points, but comparatively low Defense. It's not as good against 1-BP monsters, of course, as its special properties go to waste.

(The same logic also applies for a 3-dice weapon with the same "double damage" property, just scaled up a bit. It's never as good as a 6-dice weapon, but it beats 5 against all monsters with 6 or fewer Defense dice. Suffice to say, the extra die helps quite a lot with the consistency problems of the Warhammer you suggested above.)

[Anderas]

Me thinks that the Trollslayer ability breaks this weapon. Rolling two, three, four dice extra? Woo-hoo!

[The Road Warrior]

So for those that like numbers (who could maybe check my math)....

Did somebody page Count Mohawk??

Yes, and thanks I really appreciate it. It's nice to know that the hours I spent learning binomial formala and how to do them in excel weren't wasted.

Me thinks that the Trollslayer ability breaks this weapon. Rolling two, three, four dice extra? Woo-hoo!

The Trollslayer/Warhammer combo is a bit concerning. Initially I thought I could just go back to Solace and Redemption and add a rule that runes can't be added to artefacts. But the restriction may actually need to be applied to Warhammers, and I think that would be a shame

[Count Mohawk]

Me thinks that the Trollslayer ability breaks this weapon. Rolling two, three, four dice extra? Woo-hoo!

The Trollslayer/Warhammer combo is a bit concerning. Initially I thought I could just go back to Solace and Redemption and add a rule that runes can't be added to artefacts. But the restriction may actually need to be applied to Warhammers, and I think that would be a shame

It is true that a double-damage hammer rolling more than 3 dice is going to be stupid powerful. Off the cuff, I can think of two potential fixes that would make Trollslayer + Warhammer less backbreaking:

1. Change the Warhammer's ability from "deals double damage" to "deals 1 extra damage" on any successful hit. You retain the most relevant property of the Warhammer (the fact that any successful hit deals at least 2 damage) while toning down the upper end of the weapon's damage output.
2. Change the Trollslayer's rage ability so that instead of rolling N extra attack dice, he instead can reroll N attack dice. Rerolls are almost equivalent to getting a full extra die, although each additional reroll is incrementally less powerful than the previous one. More importantly, the maximum damage for the hammer does not increase into the stratosphere with rerolls the way it does with extra dice.

[Anderas]

Or you could... it's a bit different, though... let the warhammer roll orange dice. The new oranges have 2 sides with two skulls each. Then the Trollslayer ability can add white dice as you like, it will never break the weapon.

A roll of two skulls on a single die is of course different in the defense... I say it's better for the attacker. But the die has only two sides with skulls. So here you get your armor breaking ability that is unreliable.

[The Road Warrior]

A few good suggestions. Thank you.

1. Change the Warhammer's ability from "deals double damage" to "deals 1 extra damage" on any successful hit. You retain the most relevant property of the Warhammer (the fact that any successful hit deals at least 2 damage) while toning down the upper end of the weapon's damage output.
2. Change the Trollslayer's rage ability so that instead of rolling N extra attack dice, he instead can reroll N attack dice. Rerolls are almost equivalent to getting a full extra die, although each additional reroll is incrementally less powerful than the previous one. More importantly, the maximum damage for the hammer does not increase into the stratosphere with rerolls the way it does with extra dice.

Changing the Trollslayers ability isn't really an option for me at this point. I've played quite a few quests with him and I'm very happy with how he has turned out. I do need to do some more thorough playtesting with him when he is maxed out. But for now I think it is easier to change the Warhammer than change the Trollslayer.
The change from "deals double damage" to "deals 1 extra damage" is very workable and worth experimenting with. It does dilute the weapon's character a bit and part of the appeal of the original mechanic for me is the max damage of 4 that is equivalent to a Battleaxe.

Or you could... it's a bit different, though... let the warhammer roll orange dice. The new oranges have 2 sides with two skulls each. Then the Trollslayer ability can add white dice as you like, it will never break the weapon.

Hmm... the coloured dice. I fully agree that these would probably be the best way to fine tune the strength/precision of each weapon. Lemmeron has already created a custom set of equipment cards using these and I really wish they had been included in the original game but... They're not part of my game and I don't really have any desire to buy a set.

I think I'm just going to have to spend a little time playtesting this weapon, which is never a bad thing
If it turns out that the Trollslayer's skill breaks the weapon but I'm happy with how it plays with the other Heoes, then it really wouldn't be the end of the world if I have to restrict the Trollslayer to axes only. After all, this is how I've been playing him for the last year anyway.

[Anderas]

Another idea could be that you rule for the Trollslayer extra dice that they don't benefit from Weapon extra rules. The Weapon stays the same, the Trollslayer rule also. Topic solved!

[The Road Warrior]

Another idea could be that you rule for the Trollslayer extra dice that they don't benefit from Weapon extra rules. The Weapon stays the same, the Trollslayer rule also. Topic solved!

So the extra 'rage' dice don't inflict double damage? You would need to be able to distinguish between the original 2 dice from the weapon and the extra dice from the Slayers rage.

I did get a little bit of time to do some testing this weekend but not enough to make a firm decision on this. My preferred solution is to rebrand the 'runes' as 'axe runes' and this seems to make the warhammer a really bad choice for the Slayer.

[The Admiral]

was this only meant to have two quests or were more intended. I ask because the Slayer pack had 5 quests?

[Daedalus]

Thanks for the interest Daedalus, I really need to put some effort into finishing this off. I've just been so busy this year...

As a general comment, I like the poisoned spring background and tiles as a simple, unique theme to start things out. Also, a solo Priest with Mercenary followers is a cool idea.

It's actually kind of important and sets up the theme of the whole QP, which is the Chaos Stone. Thantos' Chaos Stone is going to be the main objective of the final quest. I felt the Mercenaries were necessary to properly demonstrate the full effect of the Priests Prayers. . . .

Based on these two posts from p.3 of this thread I'd say at least one more Quest was planned. The source of the Chaos Stone mentioned in the Parchment Text of Quest 2 still hasn't been found by the end of that Quest.