No. 3
Arwen
Yeah, she’s Golden Age. But so are a fair number of brand-new figs these days. And like Brother Voodoo, she’s become one of those pieces that’s so good that she’s an auto-pick. She needs a fix.
The trouble with her is her epic action trait that allows her to repeatedly deal multiple characters penetrating damage practically anywhere on the map without an attack roll while she stays in her starting area. Just the threat of Loudwater can force opponents to bunch up in the center of the map, which is usually a killzone itself.
Free-damage effects should always have some element of risk. This one has absolutely none. Even for an epic action, it’s bonkers.
Heroclixin’s fix:
I CALL ON THE LOUDWATER!: Once per game, if she has zero action tokens, give Arwen an epic action; she can use Smoke Cloud as a free action regardless of range and line of fire, but the first token must be placed in any square on the edge of the map and she may place 1 additional hindering terrain marker per 100 points of the build total; after action resolves, deal 2 penetrating damage to each opposing character occupying a square into which a marker was just placed. Give Arwen two action tokens.
She did this move once in the movie on her home turf and had to wait for just the right moment to unleash it; it was an all-or-nothing technique. That’s the way it ought to work in the game. Once per game, but with a bigger bite to still make it worth using that one time.
No.2
Resources
Almost all are too powerful for too few points and have no real counters outside of about a dozen silver bullets in the game:
- Catwoman [DC 10th Anniversary 015]
- Iron Man [Marvel 10th Anniversary 009]
- Iron Man [Fear Itself 300]
- Phantom Girl [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 008]
- Disintegration Beam [Invincible Iron Man S101]
- …
Wait. Are there only about a HALF dozen? Really? That’s unacceptable.
Therefore, Heroclixin’ proposes the following rewrite to this standard power:
OUTWIT Give this character a free action to counter a power or a combat ability possessed by a single target opposing character until the beginning of your next turn. Any game effects with a duration specified by the countered power or combat ability are removed. A character using this power must be within range (minimum range 6) and line of fire to the target and can counter use of an attached resource or relic as though it were a combat ability.
This kills off resources as the almighty crutch they have become but isn’t nearly as harsh as the silver bullets mentioned above. It draws the Outwitters’ fire from a character’s natural powers and abilities, so it balances itself out.
1
Highfather
I somewhat like that he’s a silver bullet for the One Man Army. But this is the SIF debacle all over again.
A little history for players who don’t remember HeroClix circa 2007-08: SIF = Structural Integrity Field. It was a special object that prevented terrain from being destroyed. So what some players did was use a double Barrier team to hide all game long with an underbuilt team, which used to determine the winner in a 0-point game instead of going to a roll-off.
This is the new version of that, effectively, if a player runs a OMA or even a slightly tentpoled team. The Highfather team can simply KO the likely less dangerous teammates of the imPacted figure and just refuse to attack the target of the Pact until time runs out.
It’s like a football team allowed to do the “victory formation” for an infinite number of downs. It’s like a pitcher with a lead being allowed to walk batter after batter and instead of forcing baserunners home, they’re forced out at the plate.
It’s completely against the spirit of the game.
Therefore, something like this needs to happen:
THE PACT: At the beginning of the game, you may announce a pact. If you do, the highest point character on your force and the highest point character on your opponent’s force (300 points or less) can’t target opposing characters with an attack until one of them has taken damage from an attack or they are the only 2 characters on the map. If the chosen character is the only remaining character on its force before either of the above occurs, it can target all but the highest point character on your force. This ability can’t be ignored.
This keeps the advantage and control of the game tempo in Highfather’s favor, but it gives the victim a chance to at least play the late game.
____