HQ25 monster stats and abilities #6 the Cultist

[Daedalus]

Discussion links:

1. Choose your monsters for the 25th Quest Pack

• Cultist
  
  a) Mv:8 At:2 De:2 BP:1 MP:2

3. HQ25 - Choose your monsters + stats

• Cultist
  
  b) Mv:8 At:2 De:2 BP:1 MP:3
  c) Mv:6 At:2 De:1 BP:1 MP:3, more here, demon ritual
  d) Mv:8 At:2 De:1 BP:1 MP:3, Chaos spells
  e) Mv:7 At:2 De:1 BP:1 MP:3, more here, possession--a black shield defends all skulls
  f) Mv:8 At:2 De:2 BP:1 MP:5, Ball of Flame as a ranged attack
  g) Mv:8 At:1 De:1 BP:1 MP:3, more here, one Cultist may cast a randomly-drawn spell instead of attacking each turn
  h) Mv:8 At:1 De:2 BP:1 MP:3, more here, more here, one Cultist may cast a randomly-drawn spell instead of attacking each turn
  i) Mv:7 At:1 De:2 BP:1 MP:3, more here, more here, if roll a black shield on 3 dice, may cast a random Chaos Spell rather than attack
  
  K1) go berserk, become possessed, or summon demons, sacrifice 3 Cultists to summon
  K2) roll a black shield to summon a demon
  L1) cast a random Chaos Spell if at least 3 Cultists, more here
  L2) cast from preselected spells with at least 3 Cultists, more here, more here
  M1) One Cultist may cast 1 of 3 specific spells each turn.
  M2) One Cultist may cast 1 of 3 weak spells each turn if roll a black shield on 1 combat die.
  randomly drawn and cast Chaos Spells are discarded, spells cast may not exceed Cultists currently present
  N) One Cultist each turn may cast normally from a set of randomly drawn Chaos spells = the # of Cultists.

HQ25 - The great TO-DO list

• Chaos Cultist
  
  j) Mv:7 At:1 De:1 BP:1 MP:3, more here, more here, more here, each turn, one Chaos Culstist may cast the single Game System Chaos Spell which he randomly starts with, excluding Escape
  i) Mv:7 At:1 De:2 BP:1 MP:3, ability: either Doom, Mask of Chaos, or Corruption
  O) spell effect increased by 1 for each extra Cultist, more here
  P1) Roll 1 AD for each Cultist in a group as a single ranged attack.
  P2) Roll 2 AD for a Cultist in a group as a single ranged attack, defended with Mind.
  Q) A Cultist in a group may cast 3 weak Chaos spells
  I2) Doom: Rather than attack, a single Cultist may force one Hero he can "see" to despair and defend that turn with 1 less combat die for each Cultist present. [ -edit]
  I3) Mask of Chaos: Rather than attack, a Cultist may force one Hero he can "see" to reroll his next attack or defense. [ -edit]
  I4) Corruption: Rather than attack, a single Cultist may target one Hero he can "see" and inflict 1 Body Point of damage for each other Cultist present. The victim rolls one red die for each of his Mind Points and reduces the damage for every 5 or 6 rolled., more here

HQ25 - Refining the Chaos Cultist monster

• Chaos Cultist
  
  j) Mv:7 At:1 De:1 BP:1 MP:3

This is the sixth of six polls dealing with the six chosen monsters for the HQ25 Quest Pack--it's another long one. Vote once for stats (lowercase choices) and once for ability (uppercase choices.) You may change your votes. As before, feel free to express your views and ideas in this topic thread, as later ideas can be added in the placeholder options.

If you're not sure of the description in an entry, follow the matching-lettered discussion link of this post for a fuller explanation at the original post. The links also indicate original stat and ability matchups intended by the creator.

The Beastman, Minotaur, Chaos Dwarf, and Basilisk polls are still open, and a missing Kobold ability option has been swapped in.

winner, 4 votes

[Daedalus]

Way back, the idea of using random Chaos spells by Goblin-King stuck me as fun. Count Mohawk later pointed out the balance issue of some of the more powerful Chaos spells, so 3-4 weaker ones were proposed for use. Here's a new option:

R) Cultists may either draw a random Chaos spell or cast from this pool, though spells that can ever affect more than 1 Hero are discarded.

My thinking after reviewing all the options of this poll is to prohibit the "major" Chaos spells, those that can potentially damage or hinder more than one Hero (including summoning spells.) This definition accommodates both the NA Chaos spells and the Wizards of Morcar evil wizard spells. "Lesser" Chaos spells would still be randomly drawn and could be cast later. If a "greater" spell is drawn, it is discarded and the Cultist's action is wasted. So a suitable spell can be drawn about 7 in 12 times using the NA Chaos Spell Cards of the Main Game System.

Rather than capping spell casting to just 1 spell a round, Cultists are sort of paired off with Cultists that have used their action to draw a spell. For instance, 4 newly encountered Cultists could at best cast 2 spells on the first round if none of them were first killed and no "greater" Chaos spells were drawn.

The goal of more open casting is to model more potential threat with a greater number of Cultists. I feel this is needed to differentiate them from a Chaos Sorcerer with an equivalent number of Body Points. Also, a bit of tactical choice opens up between spell acquisition and casting vs. attacks.

[Anderas]

I like two options:
A group of them may cast a spell, together.
And
A group of them may be sacrificed and replaced by a demon.


I would also like:a cultist may be sacrificed to reroll a die during a cast action.

So I am one of two votes vote short.

[clmckay]

I'm curious if this project is still alive.

I remember seeing some quests had been completed. Perhaps rather than.....mental masturbation, if you will, someone should just decide on these stats. I'd like to think that those interested in this are mature enough to live with it if things aren't perfect for them.

Ill go back and see what quests are missing, I can make a couple.

[Goblin-King]

I'll be honest here and say I ended up not enjoying working on the project anymore.
Way too many chefs in the kitchen. Entire pages of discussion just for (not) deciding on some stat or ability...

I'll say though, I learned a LOT from this! I certainly know a lot of things I would do very differently if I was to try something like this again.
I'm glad I was a part of it, but it won't be me who takes this across the finish line.

[Count Mohawk]

@Anderas, you should take another look at the Quests I submitted a while ago; I have a few sets of Cultists doing the things you mentioned (in the Quest Notes).

On-topic, these should probably be 1/1. They could be 2/1 or 1/2 instead, although 2/1 encourages them to melee instead of cast magic if their magic options aren't strong enough. 1/2 does make them more resilient (which helps them cast spells more often), but also matches the Kobolds' stats. Fortunately, Zargon plays these pieces very differently from the Kobolds; where the lizard-men get in close to deal damage, the Cultists will want to hang back and attack from a distance.

Ability-wise, it was said somewhere that the ability should be as simple as possible, with minimized dice-rolling, and I kinda agree with that approach. Daedalus's latest option 'R' has the benefit of being both simple and flavorful, while eliminating the potential for OP garbage e.g. if they draw Firestorm and Lightning Bolt one after the other.

@clmckay, there are roughly a half-dozen Quests out of 25 in various stages of construction in the Quests section of this subforum. If anyone has 'claimed' any of the others, I don't remember, as it's been a while. I do agree it's been long enough since we started that some final decisions should be made at this point, though!

[Daedalus]

I'm curious if this project is still alive.

I remember seeing some quests had been completed. Perhaps rather than.....mental masturbation, if you will, someone should just decide on these stats. I'd like to think that those interested in this are mature enough to live with it if things aren't perfect for them.

Ill go back and see what quests are missing, I can make a couple.

It's great news to hear you're interested in writing some Quests, clmckay! Did you check this status post? There are some chapters still available. Post the one you want in that thread--it will bring some much-needed progress to the project.

As for the monsters, both Goblin-King and Sjeng were assigned as project heads in the design document. As such, either could break the loggerheads and finalize monster decisions. Of them, only Sjeng remains, though he has long been inactive. If Sjeng doesn't make the call, I can think of no one better suited than Count Mohawk to take up the Mandate of Heaven and finalize the monsters. After Goblin-King, he has shown the most initiative and backs it up with solid reasoning, in my opinion.

As always, anyone can voice their ideas/opinions or change votes. Failing these solutions, I will pull out the hand cream and circulate a final poll with all monster front-runners.

For reference, here are the front-runners (top score or within 1 vote):
Kobold (finalized)
o) Mv:9 At:1 De:2 BP:1 MP:1
P) Ability choice: gang-up from 4 adjacent squares
Beastman
i) Mv:7 At:3 De:2 BP:2 MP:2
H) Ability: immediate counter-attack when BP are reduced to 1, (use 3 AD) [3 votes]
I) Ability: immediate counter-attack when BP are reduced to 1, use 2 AD [3 votes]
Minotaur
b) Mv:6 At:5 De:5 BP:5 MP:1 [4 votes]
f) Mv:6 At:5 De:3 BP:4 MP:2 [3 votes]
A) Rage Attack: may attack after movement of up to 10 squares if the opponent is in Line of Sight at the beginning of its turn. [2 votes]
B) Goring Charge: If it moves at least 3 squares without going over the same square twice, it attacks with 6AD. [2 votes]
D) Large Monster: Can attack any diagonal or adjacent square. Two attacks can be made against 1 or 2 opponents, but Hero defends once only. [1 vote]
H) Large Monster: adjacent and diagonal attack [2 votes]
K) No ability: It's good enough as statted [1 vote]
Chaos Dwarf (finalized)
f) Mv:6 At:3 De:4 BP:3 MP:2
A) Phalanx: When adjacent to another monster with Phalanx this monster rolls +1 DD
Basilisk
a) Mv:8 At:3 De:5 BP:4 MP:3 [1 vote]
b) Mv:8 At:4 De:5 BP:8 MP:4 [1 vote]
g) Mv:8 At:3 De:4 BP:3 MP:3 [2 votes]
D4) As a ranged attack, paralyze any one Hero--no move, attack, or defend. Break with a 6 using MP and red dice, rolling immediately and on future turns. [2 votes]
H) As Petrify spell/ranged attack, victim can't move, attack, drink a potion, or be harmed. Break with a 6 using MP and red dice, rolling immediately or on future turns. [1 vote]
L) As a spell, Hero is turned into a stone statue for a number of turns equal to the result of one red die. Hero may not move, take any action, or be harmed until the effect ends. [2 votes]
Cultist
a) Mv:8 At:2 De:2 BP:1 MP:2 [1 vote]
c) Mv:6 At:2 De:1 BP:1 MP:3 [1 vote]
g) Mv:8 At:1 De:1 BP:1 MP:3 [2 votes]
I2) Rather than attack, one Cultist may force a Hero he can "see" to defend that turn with 1 less combat die for each Cultist present. [1 vote]
K1) Sacrifice 3 Cultists to summon a daemon. [1 vote]
R) Cultists may either draw a random Chaos spell or cast from this pool, though spells that can ever affect more than 1 Hero are discarded. [2 votes]

[Anderas]

Daedalus, I think you are the best person here. You keep pushing the topic more than anyone.
For the minotaurs and beastmen, I tried some variants and they play quite ok, filling a gap in the monster range.

[Daedalus]

Yeah, I followed your PBP game and they seemed to work well with your stat and ability choices. I for one would like to see them used in HQ25.

[Daedalus]

The small sacrifice of $5.29 for these Bones will add two Cultists to the fold. Looks about the right amount of detail, though they'd probably need some basing. A stone ring is included.

I'll be ordering these sinister looking folks from Reaper shortly; . . .