Thanks! I've always loved that Gnomes name. Just came to me one day.
Hehe yeah. I actually assumed that my paladan couldn't get married, but his god, Enki is based on an old sumerian god who definatly allows marrage and even encourages it.
I do have some ideas why most people don't opt for the little folk. I know in my group, many of us have played Dwarfs, but Halflings are rare and I'm the only one to ever play a Gnome. Mabey, I dont know, Gnomes and Halflings tend to be underdogs, or at least physically underwhelming.
Also, a lot of players have a visual reference or idea for thier character, inspired by or leading to the character and I think that it's just more natural to imagine a human or elf.
The last thing is steryotypes. People generally tend to associate halflings with Bilbo, Frodo and the like from LOTR. Either that, or a very average thiefing halfling. Steryotypes can be very difficult to overcome in real life and it makes sense that this tendency would carry over into the more fictional aspects of things.
Gnomes are just wierd.
Who knows if any of this is correct, it's definatly an interesting question though.
Well, I'm enjoying a nice cappuchino. To quote Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks "This is one **** fine cup of coffee!"
Hehe yeah. I actually assumed that my paladan couldn't get married, but his god, Enki is based on an old sumerian god who definatly allows marrage and even encourages it.
/Off Topic
Enki is also the name of one of the Kirin from The Twelve Kingdoms. Each kingdom has one ruler, and also a kirin (magical half-unicorn thing, like this - Celestial Kirin) that chooses the ruler and guides him/her in governing the kingdom. A kirin's name is comprised of both its kingdom's name, and the suffix -ki if it is male or -rin if it is female. The kirin of the kingdom of En is male, and hence is named Enki.
Please read the first post... And yes, this clan discusses D&D, as well as other roleplaying games, paper or otherwise. It's always good to see new faces.
Hrmm, first post read... *got distracted by dark dungeon, i usually ignore it, but... yeah why not.
Amazingly, paladins CAN be fun to play.
Im actually going through a multiplayer Bg2 campaign with a friend halfway across canada. *3 time zones* and im making my own Campaign world. Its taking quite some time, but it should be fun as we go.
Ironically, my way of fleshing out the history was to have little mini campaigns where the player would take someone ive already decided on to be influencial, and make the character and play them.
Player choices, and journals will flesh out that characters myth, and in the first one, he accomplished some quite... mythical things.
Legitmately, as a level 1 half-elf rogue without magic *clerical and arcane being non-existant*, him and his brother, a level 2 wood elf ranger defeated 20 orcs of above average quality.
I DONT understand how, but it kinda bugged me as one of them WAS to die.
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[19:59] greymon90210: Hey StormBlind how tall are you? "I'm six money *****, don't forget it"
"The Critics always said that we'd only have a black president when pigs flu"...
That is a great way to establish a campaign world. Create characters, have people play them, and lay down their exploits as ancient history. I've done some of that myself in the past.
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Banner and avatar by me.
Official Character Sheet Shredder of DAMNIT
DAMNIT: I should never have to shred my own character sheet in frustration.
That is a great way to establish a campaign world. Create characters, have people play them, and lay down their exploits as ancient history. I've done some of that myself in the past.
See that was the fun part. I just gave the player a VERY rough history of what will happen, and who he is. He chose skills, Race *basically, he had to make an elf or human*, and COULDNT be any form of magical user.
The player chose a half-elf because he figured "This is history, so by him being a half-elf, it allows for whatever DM to say 'Well the elves believe he was an elf, and humans a human'".
Except for this... it was his choice.
Since its a relatively mini-campaign, this was decided to be a solo campaign until the ranger mysteriously survived.
At that point, i decided that i would modify it. The 6 races of elves would each have a paragon *not the class* that would become the first Arcane Casters. Woodelf Sorcerer *the surviving ranger*, Drow something, and Half-elf wizard were those revealed so far.
it's REALLY fun.
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[19:59] greymon90210: Hey StormBlind how tall are you? "I'm six money *****, don't forget it"
"The Critics always said that we'd only have a black president when pigs flu"...
Welcome, Stormblind! Nice to see new faces in here. I'm a little confused, though; did you want to be a friend or a member? Either is fine =)
On smaller races: I've wanted to play a Dwarf for some time, but I've never found the right class for them. Although, with Incarnum working the way it does, Dwarves work perfectly. All Incarnum classes are CON-dependent, so yeah. Great for Dwarves and Nezumi.
Photon's brother, Adam, hates Gnomes with a bloody passion. We can't figure out why; whenever we ask him, he always answers with "they're Gnomes, that's why!" So in response I started telling Adam how much I hated Yuan Ti, since that's his favorite variant race. He's so fun to piss off ^__^;;
Sorry for my lack of activity. I'd like to say I've been busy- and to a degree, I have been. But at the same time, I'm just sort of out of MTGS and all its associated follies right now, so I'm not much feeling like stopping by the site.
However, I'll get those cards compiled and start the contest here, if everyone is finished and submitted.
Also, Stormblind, were you wanting to be a member?
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[16:23] Alacar Leoricar: maybe if you do it'll make the porn more meaningful
Our Azure-bonded party wandered into the torn city of Yulash, to find an underground temple. The party has to free itself of a series of azure curses that cannot be removed under normal means--this time, the group had to defeat the Cultists of Moander, a group of clerics and cultists who worship the dead god of decomposition, decay, and fungus.
Seeing as how I no longer wanted to play the paladin in the group, Roland was called on a mission from his god to repent his sins for having to deal with a half chaotic and/or evil group.
Anyways, 2 new people have joined our group: A polymorphing sorcerer, and a Cleric of Lathander.
The party also met Alias and Dragonbait, a pair of heroes that had a similar predicament. Alias was a level 7 fighter, and dragonbait a level 7 paladin. With their help, they stormed the temple and cleared it of evils.
The final battle was intense--a struggle against an Aspect of Moander.
Neutral Evil Plant
HP: 250 AC: 20 Attacks: +9 Vine strike, 2d10+5, attacks all enemies within melee range.
+6 to all saves, immune to fire, cold does double damage. Minor Globe of Invulnerability
All successful hits automatically initiate a grapple--a successful grapple entwines the character and renders them unable to move from their location
Originally, I was going to make a separate thread, but I've decided against it, as I want to keep this in Natural 20.
Once more-
Clan Contest 2:
Card Up Your Character
Open to: Members and Friends
Submissions Due by: Sunday, September 3rd
Rules:
Each entry must consist of 3 things-
1 Legendary Creature card
1 Legendary Artifact card
1 card of any type
Each card must relate to a character you have played or are playing in an RPG. It can be from a tabletop or forum RP. You must post a brief outline of the character, and also state the game system and campaign setting the character was designed for with your entry, also. If it is a forum RP, please provide a link to the game itself, and to your character's profile (if applicable).
If you desire a rendering to be done of your card, please submit the final rulestext and an art selection to Alacar Leoricar. However, renderings are not required for entry.
The card's will be judged on the following criteria-
1. Flavor
2. Balance
3. Originality
Once submissions are complete, I will make a thread on the topic in testing grounds. All members and friends are welcome to vote. You may evaluate each submission by giving it a rating of 1-5 on each category. The submission with the highest ratings overall will be the winner. In the case of a tie, a tiebreaker vote will be held.
Please make a post evaluating each card by the following scale-
Flavor: Obviously, not having actually seen any of the characters in action, it will be difficult to peg just how accurate each card represents the character. However, a paladin that is represented as a mono-black zombie is clearly off-base. Judge flavor based on the information presented, and by how accurate the card fits the color pie.
Score: 1 (lowest- Think Psionic Blast) to 5 (highest)
Balance: This one is pretty clear. Is the card overpowered? Underpowered? A bit above the curve? We are looking for good design, primarily. The card shouldn't be judged by any one format, but rather be judged in a vacuum and evaluated based on how it would perform in one of any given games.
Score: 1 (lowest- we're talking Black Lotus) to 5 (highest)
Originality: How unique is the card? This is not just in terms of effect, but also in how it represents the abilities of the character as can be determined by the information given. Primarily, we are looking for cards that have shown some thought and attention to detail in terms of their source.
Score: 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest)
Each card will recieve a rating, and at the end, each vote will be tallied. Then, all votes will be tallied, and the individual with the highest point total will be the winner. A poll will be opened in the case of ties.
The highest score an entry can recieve in a single vote is 45. The lowest score is 9.
The vote will be held until either A) all actual members of the clan have voted, or B) 5 days have passed. Whenever one of these conditions is met, the voting will cease, and I will tally points.
All members, friends, and even visitors to the clan are permitted a vote.
Some notes on voting:
1. Art is irrelevant. It doesn't matter how well rendered a card is, the art is merely superfluous and should not effect your voting.
2. We are not critiquing character concept. If you don't like a character, do not let your opinion influence your voting process.
3. Don't play favorites. Don't give your buddy all 5's across the board just to be nice. If I feel that a vote was made just to boost a certain person's score, that vote will be omitted. This will only be done in very obvious cases of trying to influence the voting (we're talking final round BotU level crap here).
Alright, so let the voting begin!
StormBlind becomes a mysterious well!
Shaharazad gets a +1 lance for his birthday, and a +1 guisarme for his birthday!
And guys, just a friendly reminder:
1. This should go without saying, but no flaming/trolling, or otherwise being a butthead to members of this clan, or any other (We absolutely will not tolerate badmouthing other clans in Natural 20!)
Emphasis mine. I understand there was just some minor discussion, but if there is drama in another clan, please keep it there.
Also, I will not be submitting my vote until I am ready to tally them. Furthermore, it is very likely my presence on the board will continue to be lax over the next couple of days, at the very least. I will be lurking to keep up on Nat20, but that's about it. If you have clan concerns, you can PM me, or direct your questions to ethersphere or Mamelon.
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[16:23] Alacar Leoricar: maybe if you do it'll make the porn more meaningful
my gaming friends! how goes it?
im trying to get a few collo projects moving... if anyofyou took part, im reviving the test The Sanctuary (Sen for some reason didnt like it, when everyone else did... and our current mods seem to like it) so itll be up pretty quick
but ive also wanted to start working on a project that would use dice, spells and such (like a good ol' RPG) it might be doable... might not... your thoughts?
I will not vote for myself. That's a little conceited.
Calen Darkchylde
Flavor 5/5: Playing a half-elf character myself, I like how it does have the Human/elf clause. I'd have put it on Alacar myself if I'd had room. Balance 2.5/5: Double strike to represent two-weapon fighting is a stretch. I am STILL worried about Arguas Kinneley's power level. I mean, he's essentially a 6/2 when unblocked. But, the fragile body is easy to deal with burn--oh wait, it's got protection from red. This card is undercosted. Originality 4/5: A elf with pro red and double strike? I'd thought I'd never see the day. Only D&D could come up with a character with such a smattering.
Dragonbane Longbow
Flavor 3/5 A dragon-slaying Viridian Longbow. Balance 3/5 A LEGENDARY dragon-slaying Viridian Longbow, with decent flavor text. Originality 2/5 This card seemed rushed. It's not too original. A dragon-slaying Viridian Longbow.
Spirit of the Dragon
Flavor 4/5 An aura that can bring out a creature's inner power? Cool. Balance 1/5 This card is ridiculously easy to abuse, and the way it works, it doesn't even turn your creature into a full dragon when you have threshold. Sure it has flying until then, but when I sac the aura, it doesn't have flying when I'm laying down the Dragon-style beats! It's not even in the right colors. The card needed to be re-designed. Originality 3/5 The concept is cool, and fits the character. But the execution needs work.
Total:27.5
Cewellin of Silverymoon
Flavor 3/5 A metamage? Cool! The prestige class I slapped together is a neat concept, and the card is the prime example. I would've REALLY liked to see flavor text though Balance 2/5 This card doesn't show the 'sacrifice some raw power' half of being a metamage. It's all card advantage with this guy. The body is small for the triple mana colors, but you could've increased it if you'd included a drawback. Originality 3/5 Nothing too unusual, but nothing I've seen before.
Cewellin's Spellbook
Flavor 4/5 A spellbook that slides creatures in and out and protects them from spells. Metamagic. Again, though, I'd like to see flavor text. Balance 4/5 This card would've gotten a 5, but the in the ability limits its usefulness a lot. Originality 4/5 Never saw a spellbook for a creature before!
Mischief
Flavor 4/5 Metamagic at its finest! Again, I WANT FLAVOR TEXT. Balance 2/5 Eep! Two powerful effects on a 2-mana card? I haven't seen anything this overpowered since Pyroblast. Luckily, the things you can redirect or counter is limited. Changing targets or countering activated/triggered abilities is a fairly new concept. Originality 3/5 The card is one that I wouldn't see Wizards print because it's a little narrow, but it fits the contest well.
Total :39
Feenix, Dragon Friend
Flavor 4/5 The card is fine, but I am missing my flavor text.. Balance 5/5 It's not badly designed. I could see a similar card being made. It's not particularly legendary, but there have been worse legends. (Who plays Fumiko the Lowblood outside of a combo deck?) Originality 2/5 This is where the card can fall flat. The card is just.. another in a long mass of white flying control creature cards that I see floating around the CCC forums.
Jade, Dragon Hatchling
Flavor 4/5 Aww! A cute little dragon. Where's my flavor text? Balance 3/5 It's a green dragon. A small one. With an ability not really in green. It's not stellar, but not fantastic. Originality 2/5 Again, the concept is cute--the main character's familiar companion. But the card itself doesn't seem too amazing.
Pulse of the Stardance
Flavor 4/5 A tribal Glorious Anthem X2 for a race that is new. It's cool. Balance 2/5 This card is strictly better than Anthem for Icarii decks. Originality 2/5 This is Feenix's signature spell? It's a little bland..
Total:28
Caise Maddox, Reborn King
Flavor 3/5 Without the expose on this card, I would have little idea what it was doing having those abilities. And where is my flavor text?? Balance 3/5 It's a Akroma-style card. Perfect blocker, perfect attacker. Middle of the road. Originality 2/5 The card itself barely lends to showing the aspect of who Cais is. You say she's a swashbuckler, but the name and the lack of flavor text don't really show it, even if the name has a specific purpose.
The White King
Flavor 3/5 It's lacking flavor text. The name implies legendary-status. Balance 4/5 It's a Holy Strength on a stick that's damn near impossible to get rid of. Who doesn't like that? Originality 2/5 It doesn't feel legendary enough. It needs more explanation. Without your info, I'd arch a brow.
Critical Hit
Flavor 4/5 A D&D staple effect. No flavor text! Balance 2/5 Berserk is GOOD for a reason. This is a drawback-less Berserk for 3 mana. Originality 4/5 The concept works, but the execution is flawed.
Total:26
Elrion, the Whispering Star
Flavor 4/5 An elven wizard/cleric. Neat! No flavor text.. Balance 5/5 This card is well designed. The body, abilities, and costs even out, and it's abilities are powerful enough to be highly useful for a legendary card. Originality 4/5 The cleric/wizard dual class option is not too common. This card executes it well.
Brooch of Shielding
Flavor 5/5 A brooch that magically prevents burn? Awesome. I don't count off for flavor text because it probably wouldn't fit. Balance 3/5 It's a good card, and well costed, but the prevention isn't useful enough. Originality 4/5 The card itself is unique, but the lack of oomph keeps it from being something out of this world.
Dispel Magic
Flavor 4/5 Neat! That spell is very useful. I need flavor text.. Balance 4/5 Hybrid is hard to design for. Blue and white hate enchantments and can counter some things together (Arenson's Aura). Originality 4/5 The card is.. well, it's certainly new. It captures the concept wonderfully.
Total:37
Cheld Karagask, Dyrk's Companion
Flavor 5/5 Yay! Flavor text, and a whole website of content. Balance 3/5 Assassins usually 'destroy', not Shock. Still, it's a novel concept. Originality 4/5 The card captures the assassin's versatility well, and fits the character concept.
A'rangar, Cheld's Dagger
Flavor 5/5 Can this assassin get any more sneaky and deadly? Balance 3/5 It's a little cheap for the abusable effect.. I mean, Cheld can deal 4 damage with this thing. Originality 3/5 It's a Furnace of Rath on a colored stick. Yay?
Poisonlance
Flavor 4/5 Ooh! Assassin poison. Flavor text! Balance 3/5 This card feels like it should've been what Cheld should've done by himself. Originality 3/5 It's just an addon to Cheld, in my eyes, but it is highly useful in any case
Total:33
Tyler Oberon, Spirit of Youth
Flavor 5/5 A spellthief? I want to play one. Flavor text is nice. Balance 3/5 This guy is VERSATILE. Izzet would've loved him. A little too useful, and hard to eliminate, but that's his point I guess. Originality 4/5 The card captures well the character's concept and executes it equally well with a powerful legendary effect.
Matriarch's Pendant
Flavor 4/5 I know the card combos with Tyler, but the name made me think of Masques. The flavor text is a little confusing but humorous, I guess. Balance 4/5 A recurring machine! Regrowthing instants and sorceries is cool, and the cost is well balanced for the effect. Originality 3/5 It's neat, but doesn't stand out. It combos with Tyler sure, but that's the only connection I can see.
Arcane Sight
Flavor 4/5 It's cute, and useful. The flavor text made me smile a little. Balance 4/5 A Sudden Impact in gold for instants and sorceries only. It's cheaper, but not quite as useful. Originality 3/5 In terms of the character's cards, it fits well. But overall, the card alone isn't too original.
Total:34
Portia, Argent Champion
Flavor 5/5 The lack of flavor text is made up with the mere concept of a knight that uses holy blessings to smite enemies. Balance 3/5 It's useful, don't get me wrong. Damn near impossible to kill if there's a simple aura on it. The small body is a good enough drawback, for a legend. Originality 4/5 I liked this card as soon as I saw it. It took advantage of auras and feels legendary.
Rising Umbrage
Flavor 4/5 The equipment is useful alone, but against a particular color it shows it's bad-assery. Balance 4/5 The card is very potent. The double damage shows the 'smite' factor well, and is evenly costed. Originality 3/5 The card is cool and powerful, but not entirely original to the game. Still, it synergizes well with the damn-near unstoppable Portia.
Divine Grace
Flavor 5/5 This card is awesome! A blessing you can choose. Balance 2/5 It's way undercosted for the malleability of the effect. Originality 3/5 It's a Ward that you can choose. Strictly better.
Total:33
Valos Drelon
Flavor 3/5 The flavor text is uninspiring, and the character doesn't show through the abilities. Balance 3/5 'First strike when attacking'? A little dated but it works. The ability doesn't match psionics as well as I'd like it to. Originality 2/5 Bland. Sorry
Vircemirch, Sword of Flames
Flavor 5/5 An intelligent weapon? Awesome. Balance 4/5 The drawback matches the low cost-to-power ratio. Originality 4/5 I wish the concept of intelligence could come out better, but it works well enough as a whole.
Psiburst
Flavor 5/5 THIS is what a psionic strike should do. Balance 4/5 A little cheap, but very powerful for a signature spell. Originality 4/5 Psionics FTW! It's a good card, and I'm surprised red hasn't done this yet.
but ive also wanted to start working on a project that would use dice, spells and such (like a good ol' RPG) it might be doable... might not... your thoughts?
I'll warn you, it's quite an undertaking. If you are developing your own system, I'll advise you to study other systems to see what you like, and take as much time as you can ironing out the bugs. If you are using a pre-made system, be certain you are operating within OGL so that you aren't stepping on any toes, legally.
And no, Alacar, none of my cards had flavor text. Last I checked, that wasn't a requirement.
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[16:23] Alacar Leoricar: maybe if you do it'll make the porn more meaningful
Our Azure-bonded party wandered into the torn city of Yulash, to find an underground temple. The party has to free itself of a series of azure curses that cannot be removed under normal means--this time, the group had to defeat the Cultists of Moander, a group of clerics and cultists who worship the dead god of decomposition, decay, and fungus.
Seeing as how I no longer wanted to play the paladin in the group, Roland was called on a mission from his god to repent his sins for having to deal with a half chaotic and/or evil group.
Anyways, 2 new people have joined our group: A polymorphing sorcerer, and a Cleric of Lathander.
The party also met Alias and Dragonbait, a pair of heroes that had a similar predicament. Alias was a level 7 fighter, and dragonbait a level 7 paladin. With their help, they stormed the temple and cleared it of evils.
The final battle was intense--a struggle against an Aspect of Moander.
Neutral Evil Plant
HP: 250 AC: 20 Attacks: +9 Vine strike, 2d10+5, attacks all enemies within melee range.
+6 to all saves, immune to fire, cold does double damage. Minor Globe of Invulnerability
All successful hits automatically initiate a grapple--a successful grapple entwines the character and renders them unable to move from their location
That sounds awesome! I've always loved Moandor. In 2nd edition, he's still a dead god, and I love how they brought him back in 3rd. Alias and Dragonbait are great npcs. I don't think we've ever had them appear in our games yet though. That must have been fun.
Is your paladan named Roland too?
I'll get to my vote a little later, but I have been making lasagna today and I still have some work to do. Yum.
And no, Alacar, none of my cards had flavor text. Last I checked, that wasn't a requirement.
That's something particular to me. I look for flavor text in custom card entries I'm judging or will have judged. If it can fit, put it on there. That's that.
Shaharazad: Actually, Alias and Dragonbait, and the fight with Moander, and indeed the whole adventure, was converted from an old 2nd edition game pack printed in 1989, so yeah, Moander is still around in my campaign. And 3rd edition doesn't expressly say Moander is gone for good.
And yes, my paladin's name was Roland, but he was far more flat of a character, being the a-typical knight in shining armor. He was a total house, though.
That's something particular to me. I look for flavor text in custom card entries I'm judging or will have judged. If it can fit, put it on there. That's that.
Unfortunately, this is irrelevant in terms of this contest. For flavor, just ask yourself: Does it illustrate the concept? If so, then rate it good. If not, then don't. Don't use otherwise non-essential elements like flavor text and art influence judging. That's fine if you personally feel flavor-text is important, but for the purposes of this contest, it isn't. This isn't the FCC, after all.
Anyway, I know I said I would post my votes later, but I am going to go ahead and do them now, so that no one can say accuse me of trying to sway the results in particular direction once this is underway.
Alacar Leoricar:A card with some potent firepower, and fairly standard flavor. F: 3/5. It's a bit meta for my tastes. Not bad, but not your best. B: 2/5. No. Just... no. There are memory issues, plus, it's direct damage in green and blue, and a 2 mana reusable counterspell. O: 3/5. I'm really on the fence on this one. I really would have liked to have not seen Alacar in his umpteenth incarnation. Also, his ability is really oddball, but at the same time, so predictable given the creator.
Blade of Krallis:An interesting card that seems subtle, but could have some nice Johnny potential. F: 3/5. It doesn't elicit any really strong reactions from me as far as flavor is concerned, but it's not wildly off the mark, either. B: 3/5. It's powerful, but also pretty mana-intensive. Could afford to be more playable in my opinion. O: 4/5. These sort of effects are always neat, and it's nice to see them expounded upon.
Alacar's Guile:An awkward card that might make the rare breed of Timmy Control players happy. F: 2/5. Doesn't really mesh with the Spellsword concept, nor does the name particularly imply anything about the ability, which I assume is meant to represent some sort of Dominate Person effect. B: 3/5. At 7 mana for it's effect, it's pretty steep. However, at the same time, I don't know... It's about right at average in terms of it's power and effects, I think. O: 2/5. It's hard to recreate an effect like this without it seeming a little like overkill. I think Mindslaver may have forever spoiled dominate effects like this. Furthermore, the built-in drawbacks are awkward and fairly deliberate, which really wreck the sense of elegance a card like this needs, in my opinion.
Calen Darkchylde:An unusual card that goes too far outside the color pie for my sensibilities. F: 2/5. ... What? Green black double-striking with protection? Why isn't this White or White/Red? I understand what you were going for, but I think this is just too off-color for my tastes. B: 3/5. A 3/2 double-striker with protection for 5 is pretty wild, even in multicolor. The other abilities are fairly superfluous, if viewed in a vacuum. In a set where creature type was particularly important, it could be worth more. So ultimately, I think the creature is pretty level. Not exceptionally balanced, but certainly not problematic, either. O: 3/5. While part of me wants to say that given it's off-color abilities, it is pretty original, the concept and effects themselves are somewhat predictable given the concept, and don't really break any new ground. So, about average, I would say.
Dragonbane Longbow:A D&D standard given form in MTG. F: 4/5. The character's concept is very well supported, if not summarized by this card. Whereas the original character was lacking in flavor, I think this card makes up for it. B: 3/5. I think it's pretty good, all in all. It's an overcosted Viridian Longbow for the most part, but it also can operate as a situational bit of removal to take down an opponent's finisher. All in all, it balances out to a fairly average curve. O: 4/5. They don't really have a concept of bane-style weapons in D&D, but this did it pretty well.
Spirit of the Dragon: A potentially problematic big brother forDragon Wings F: 3/5. Nothing groundbreaking, but pretty solid, nonetheless. B: 2/5: I'm not sure about this, really. Even with threshold, I don't know if blue should get a way to give anything +5/+5 until EOT. O: 1/5. It reminds me too greatly of the cycle of Dragon auras from Scourge, personally.
Cewellin of Mistymoon: A neat card with an unusual cost reminiscent of something out of Legends. F: 2/5. Based on the abilities, I can tell you absolutely nothing about the character whatsoever. B: 3/5. I think it's right on, although I do question the triple-color mana cost. This could have been UW, or even mono-blue in my opinion. O: 4/5. I think that you were headed in the right direction with this card, and it's pretty neat.
Cewellin's Spellbook:A quirky card with a questionable flavor. F: 1/5. The abilities don't match the concept much at all, in my opinion. This may not be the case, but without further detail, I have to assume that this is a run of the mill spellbook. B: 3/5. I really don't know what to think about it, in terms of power. It could be that it is undercosted, but then again, it could be fine. In cases like this, I tend to think that the card will most likely fall in the middle somewhere. O: 5/5. This card is crazy tasty. I love how it can make a creature utterly unkillable, and also has synergy with it's corresponding character.
Mischief: An amazingly elegant card. F: 5/5. Awesome. Just Awesome. Metamagic FTW. B: 5/5. This is hot. O: 5/5. Were I to see this in a spoiler, my nipples would immediately become hard in excitement.
Feenix, Dragon Friend: grappler12 paints a pretty picture of his character, who, while somewhat vanilla, is still quite elegant. F: 5/5. Perfect mechanical translation of the abilities of the character. B: 4/5. Pretty well balanced. She can swing for the finish, or she can tap down the opponent's biggest blockers and let her friends alpha-strike- but not both. O: 3/5. Doesn't really do anything innovative, but still pretty solid.
Jade, Dragon Hatchling: A greenHill Giantdoing two things that green doesn't do. F: 2/5. The ability is black. The creature is not only green, but also the companion of a druidic individual who would very much be opposed to decay and death. B: 2/5. A 2/2 green flier with spot removal... I may not be Jewish, but I certainly know when something isn't Kosher. O: 2/5. I want to give this a higher score for being an animal companion, but it doesn't really do anything that strikes me as being particularly original.
Pulse of the Stardance: An incredibly narrow buff enchantment that doesn't live up to it's concept. F: 3/5. Interesting idea, but executed in a fairly vanilla fashion. B: 2/5. Would be higher, but loses points because it's not very good. For the same converted mana cost, you get Glorious Anthem, which works on everything. This only works on 1 creature, and that creature isn't even real. O: 1/5. Fairly uninspired signature ability. Would have liked to have seen an expansion on her unique abilities.
Elrion, the Whispering Star: Mystic Theurge FTW. Much like the Theurge, though, there are some issues. F: 4/5. I would imagine such a character concept would be drawn to the virtue of wisdom. It seems pretty fitting. Furthermore, I also see Turn Undead. B: 3/5. Eh... The first ability is fairly meager, the second is above the curve. O: 3/5. I get what you were trying to do, but I can't help but think there is a better way to do it.
Brooch of Shielding: A narrow defensive card that could really frustrate Gelectrode.dec F: 3/5. Pretty standard flavor. B: 3/5. I don't care what anyone says, I like Palliation Accord. So I like this card. But at the same time, it's really narrow. O: 3/5. It could have been better, and it was really wordy, but the concept is nice.
Dispel Magic: Phantom Ronan shows us why Azorius shouldn't get a hybrid counterspell. F: 5/5. Well, you certainly hit the nail on the head with this one. B: 1/5. Mono-white counterspell?! Oh God, say it isn't so. O: 4/5. You took a D&D spell, but you really made it stand out, at least in my opinion.
Cheld Karagask, Dirk's Companion: A neat new take on assassins in MTG. F: 4/5 I get the flavor, but I'm questioning the color. Still, it's pretty good. B: 3/5 I see nothing wrong with this card at all. Doesn't blow my mind or win any awards for elegance, but it's stylish and fair. Still, I think I might like to see mark counters come off after the damage is dealt. O: 5/5. I was pretty impressed. But then, I'm always impressed when someone can come up with an extraneous counter-type and make it work.
A'rangar, Cheld's Dagger: Somewhat run-of-the-mill item with a potentially nasty effect. F: 3/5. Perhaps I'm not getting something. B: 2/5. It's scary. O: 3/5. I have to admit, I really expected something like this from an assassin.
Poisonlace: The sleekest thing in assassination since Lucy Liu F: 5/5. Sheerly for the awesomeness of the name alone. B: 5/5. Hot. O: 5/5. I would give it a 6 if I could.
Tyler Oberon, Spirit of Youth: A card for the clever, or perhaps just crazy. F: 4/5. I know Tyler pretty well, and I can say that this is a pretty good translation of his abilities. B: 3/5. He's really obnoxious, but I don't think he's overpowered. In fact, he seems like any given Izzet creature from Ravnica in that he's really mischievous and ornery to play, but too ornery to be considered much of a threat in most decks. O: 5/5. There just aren't enough misdirection effects for my tastes. In a perfect world, people wouldn't hesitate to cast a big spell because of the threat of counter- they would do it because of the threat of having it turned back in their smug little faces.
Matriarch's Pendant: You wouldn't believe the crazy things that came out of Mommy's necklace. F: 2/5. It's neat, but doesn't really blow my mind. Sorry, pup. B: 4/5. Hahaha, I would have so much fun with this. Plus, it's pretty well designed, in my opinion. O: 5/5. This is a real Johnny card.
Arcane Sight: D&D staple as a burn spell?! F: 4/5. The name is misleading, but the effect is spot-on considering Tyler's abilities. B: 3/5. Swingy, but in a good way. O: 4/5. While yes, it's not a novel effect, it's still pretty fresh and is synergistic with the overall theme of the character. Plus, this is hardly Shock.
Portia, Argent Champion:The Johnniest white weenie sinceAuriok Champion. F: 3/5. I like her a lot, but I really thought that a Portia card would also showcase her bad-ass combat skills some, too. B: 4/5. She makes me go yikes, but she's also only yikes in certain conditions. O: 5/5. What can I say? Aura-based control that doesn't suck!
Rising Umbrage: My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. F: 4/5. I like the effect a lot, and it really sums Umbrage up, but the ability to choose the color seems odd to me. B: 4/5. Hot. O: 5/5. HAWT.
Divine Grace: I think I just crapped myself. F: 5/5. This is such an awesome way to sum up just how bad-ass divine magic is. B: 5/5. Craaaazy good! O: 5/5. This is the best thing that has ever happened.
Valos Drelon:A sexy red legend doing what red does best- kicking ass with no regard to anything else. F: 4/5. I'm reminded of Gatz from Berserk for some odd reason... B: 4/5. I think it's pretty nicely done. O: 5/5. If this guy wants to kick your ass, he's gonna. And there is nothing you can do to stop it.
Vircemarch, Sword of Flames:A powerful bomb, but somewhat predictable flavor. F: 3/5. I like it, but it's not really a jaw-dropping concept for me, either. B: 4/5. Good stuff here. O: 3/5. Good, but nothing out of the ordinary. I've sort of had my fill of flaming magic swords over the span of my gamer career, so now I am sort of jaded to them.
Psiburst:Giving new life to burn. F: 5/5. This is what Psionic Blast should have been. B: 3/5. I'm questioning. It's possibly too good, particularly at instant speed. O: 5/5. Awesomely good idea.
I apologize if some of my ratings seem overly critical. I'm just being frank. Furthermore, I'm notoriously hard to impress when it comes to concepts, as I'm pretty jaded to the standard array of fantasy conventions.
Also, note that I didn't vote for myself. You can rate yourself if you want, but those numbers won't be tallied at the end, just so you know.
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[16:23] Alacar Leoricar: maybe if you do it'll make the porn more meaningful
Alacar Leoricar: 8 F: 3/5. Good ability, but stats seem off and first strike seems tacked on. B: 2/5. Pinging is no longer blue, however much you'd like it to be. Plus, 6 mana feels weird for a 2/3 body. The ability is crazy good. O: 3/5. It does have an interesting effect, but countering and pinging have both belonged to blue wizards in the past. I'm not sure what's green about it.
Blade of Krallis: 9 F: 4/5. It's a spell-blade. Duh. Not sure about the +1/+1 though. B: 2/5. Loses points for being nigh upon unplayable in terms of mana costs, and for letting you play stuff when it swings for morer than it costs to play them from your hand. O: 3/5. It's an idea that's been seen before on equipment. The +1/+1 feels rather random.
Alacar's Guile: 11 F: 2/5. Does Alacar actually use this? It seems like it's too powerful to match his card. B: 5/5. It feels like this is costed about right. O: 4/5. I'm surprised this card hasn't seen print yet. It needs to.
Calen Darkchylde: 9 F: 3/5. Trying to "force" flavorfulness doesn't really work. The idea is to adapt the card to Magic, not adapt Magic to the card. B: 3/5. 3/2 double-strike for 5, but it's gold... a bit wonky, but workable. O: 3/5. Exactly the abilities I'd expect on a ranger.
Dragonbane Longbow: 10 F: 4/5. B: 3/5. O: 3/5.
Spirit of the Dragon: 11 F: 4/5. Wins an extra point for putting Careful Study in the flavortext. B: 3/5 O: 2/5.
Cewellin of Mistymoon: 8 F: 2/5. B: 3/5. O: 3/5.
Cewellin's Spellbook:9 F: 2/5. How does this spellbook phase out stuff? We'll fix it in the flavor text... except we didn't. Synergy with the character gains a point. B: 3/5. O: 4/5. It's... different, that's for sure.
Mischief:13 F: 4/5. B: 5/5. O: 4/5.
Feenix, Dragon Friend:11 F: 4/5. I don't get the Flying, but I dig the rest. B: 4/5. O: 3/5.
Jade, Dragon Hatchling: 7 F: 3/5. This wants to be a black card. Maybe B/R. Alas, it is not. B: 2/5. O: 2/5.
Pulse of the Stardance: 8
F: 3/5. B: 4/5. O: 1/5.
Elrion, the Whispering Star: 9 F: 4/5. B: 3/5. Second ability is close to broken, but he's expensive and fragile. O: 2/5.
Brooch of Shielding: 8 F: 3/5. B: 2/5. Very narrow. O: 3/5.
Dispel Magic: 9 F: 5/5. B: 1/5. This wants to cost UW. Instead, it's a mono blue disenchant or mono white counter. O: 3/5.
Cais Maddox: 10 F: 4/5 She's a warrior. I get it. B: 4/5 Fairly balanced. O: 2/5. Like I said. She's a warrior.
The White King:7 F: 2/5. A legendary sword should be more exciting than this. B: 4/5. O: 1/5. It might as well be a legendary Vulshock Morningstar. It doesn't do much.
Critical Hit: 8 F: 4/5. If you don't understand this, you shouldn't be in this clan. B: 3/5. Decent. O: 1/5. Her special ability is something any character can do?
Valos Drelon: 12 F: 5/5. Stay out of my way, indeed. B: 3/5. O: 4/5.
Vircemarch, Sword of Flames: 9 F: 3/5. Where's the intelligent-ness? Otherwise, good. B: 2/5. +4/+3 is a bit strong, and pumps the creature enough to negate the drawback. +4/+1 would be a lot better. O: 4/5. Gains a point for the inclusion of a drawback, however poorly executed.
Arcane Sight: 10 F: 4/5. B: 3/5. Not close to broken, but borders on jank. Still, it's balanced. O: 3/5.
Portia, Argent Champion: 12 F: 4/5. B: 3/5. Pretty well designed, but the tap ability feels like it should have been a mana cost instead. O: 5/5. This is what a white, legendary Simic Guildmage would be like.
Rising Umbrage: 11 F: 3/5. A katana that gives +1/+1... Hrmm. I like the other ability though. B: 4/5. O: 4/5. A decent ability for an equipment. The +1/+1 loses a point.
Divine Grace: 12 F: 4/5. Flavorfully interacts with the character card. B: 4/5. Simple, elegant, ... and a little underpowered. Oh well. O: 4/5.
@Mr. Stuff: Cais is a she, not a he. And for the critical hit- it's not her special ability, but it was sort of signature of hers. Like I said, due to her class/feats/weapons, she would critical hit once in a full attack usually, and usually 3 or 4 times a battle, and she's the only character I've ever seen in my D&D career who has managed to instant kill with a single blow on multiple occasions. That's why she has it. Furthermore, finding a signature spell for a non-magical character is somewhat challenging unless you start making crap up.
Also, I'm pretty sure Feenix has flying because she's a chick with wings.
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[16:23] Alacar Leoricar: maybe if you do it'll make the porn more meaningful
Sorry about that. I blame tiredness, which I had a lot of last night. I read the story and totally realized that, but I forgot about when making that post.
I'll post it here like I did in Coffeehouse - first person to name the series in my sig/avvy gets a cookie.
Is it Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, Mr. Stuff?
In other news, I have my scored right here for you all. Let's see if a copy-paste from Wordpad doesn't screw this up entirely O_o;;
Alacar
Alacar Leoricar Flavor: 3/5. Well, the spellsword concept comes through nicely. I do get the image of a half-elf fencer slinging spells. I guess I'm just disappointed that it's yet another character named Alacar Leoricar. Balance: 2/5. Blue doesn't get direct damage anymore, and green hardly ever has, so I found that to be a concern. The counter effect is really annoying, but instants can get through. And the First Strike seems tacked on as an afterthought. Originality: 2/5. Again, I would've scored this higher if it were a character we haven't gotten to know as well as the fabled Alacar. I allowed some points for him being a pretty out-of-color creature, though.
Blade of Krallis Flavor: 5/5. I think the Spellsword flavor comes through very well with this artifact. It's probably the best way to do spell storing that I've seen. Balance: 3/5. Well, the mana cost for the spell storing effect is balanced, but I think the sword itself costs a bit too much to hard cast and equip given that. It's barely playable with all the mana you have to plunk into it. Originality: 2/5. It works well with Alacar, that's for sure, but it's mainly just a more roped-in Imprint mechanic.
Alacar's Guile Flavor: 2/5. I'm not sure of this, really. A Dominate Person effect doesn't seem to jive with the whole spellword concept. Balance: 3/5. Well it's expensive, but an effect like this has to be. The casting clause is imperative to prevent Blade of Krallis trickery. I'm not sure that turn control effects are categorically useful, though, so I don't know if anyone would pack four of these in a deck. Originality: 2/5. It's basically just a non-artifact Mindslaver with a prohibitive casting condition.
Total: 24
Dragonstar
Calen Darkchylde Flavor: 5/5. I'm usually not a fan of elves or elf variants but this guy got me. I love the "is both a Human and an Elf" oracle text, for some reason. Balance: 4/5. He's well-costed and has good power and toughness. I'm always a little wary of double strike on green or green-like creatures, though, because they can get huge relatively quickly in the right hands. Originality: 3/5. All points awarded due to a great set of abilities and the human/elf oracle text. I'm lovin' it.
Dragonbane Longbow Flavor: 5/5. Perfect! I'm a big fan of bane abilities in D&D and this was a perfect representation. Balance: 5/5. VERY well costed, and the dragonbane mechanic is balanced in and of itself. Originality: 5/5. I guess I love this artifact, heh. Seriously, I've been working on my own Bane mechanic lately because I feel that MTG could really use something like that on a regular basis.
Spirit of the Dragon Flavor: 4/5. It's very on-target. Even the name just implies to me, "hey, creature buff and flying!" I know it's probably blue for the flying aspect, but it could've been multicolored or even just red. Balance: 3/5. The one-drop flying effect is fine, but even if sacrificing is the activated cost, +5/+5 is a BIG deal in blue. Like I said, I see it more as multicolored and at least one mana more expensive. Originality: 3/5. It's a good ability, and if off-color blue was your goal it does that very well.
Total: 37
Shaharazad
Cewellin of Silverymoon Flavor: 3/5: He's very wizardly, and that explains the instant/sorcery tutoring. Other than that, I feel like he could've had another ability to illustrate himself a little more clearly. He doesn't feel expressly legendary to me. Balance: 3/5. I feel like he needs to be MORE powerful. He costs aboutt he same as Anarchist, but with the multicolor thing it seems as though he really costs more. Plus, his ability could've been repeatable; I see a "return to hand" ability in there somewhere. Originality: 2/5. He's really Izzet, and would fit very well into any Izzet-like deck. The tutoring thing is being done a lot more lately, though.
Cewellin's Spellbook Flavor: 3/5. I understand the premise; a spellbook is every wizard's best defense. It didn't strike me in any other way, though. Balance: 5/5. It's a very balanced card, even with the 0-mana equip cost. It helps facilitate Cewellin's tutoring ability without breaking him wide open, too. Originality: 3/5. A different way of going about Voyager Staff, and a good one at that. Still, I feel like something's missing from it.
Mischief Flavor: 5/5. Awesome. I've always loved the term "mischief" in reference to target-changing and temporary creature stealing, and this is a personification of some of my favorite abilities. Balance: 5/5. Again, perfect. Perfect cost and perfect ability descriptor. It could get out of hand in Scepter decks, but what doesn't? Originality: 5/5. Finally, a card that can lead the pack, so to speak, when it comes to abilities like this. I wish this were a real, physical card so I could build a deck around it.
Total: 34
grappler12
Feenix, Dragon Friend Flavor: 4/5. Bonus points for coming up with your own race. That enhances flavor in a big way. A mono-white druid isn't unbelievable, but is still a little weird considering the card has no druid-like abilities. Balance: 5/5. Very balanced considering its mana cost and abilities. Tapping two creatures at a time isn't out of hand, especially considering you can only have one Feenix in play at a time. Originality: 2/5. Well, points are earned for a new race and a mono-white druid, but otherwise there doesn't seem to be anything else standing out to me.
Jade, Dragon Hatchling Flavor: 2/5. Uhm...I'm not quite sure what I should think. A -1/-1 effect on a green dragon is more than a little strange. Maybe if I understood the characters a little better. Balance: 3/5. Well, other than the -1/-1 effect Jade is pretty well constructed. Nothing much to say here =) Originality: 2/5. Points for giving green another flyer, but it doesn't really stand out to me in any other way.
Pulse of the Stardance Flavor: 5/5. I actually really get the flavor of this card, and I like it a lot for that. It reminds me of the Rangers I made for Unnamed. Plus I love the name. Balance: 5/5. Great balance. Aggressively costed and the +2/+2 effect is race-specific, so it won't get totally out of hand. Originality: 3/5. Well, at the end of the day it's just another pump effect, but it's still a well-executed one.
Total: 31
Photon Eater
Cais Maddox, Reborn King Flavor: 5/5. She's unstoppable, and this is very well illustrated in her massive ability text. Cais is just...a damage machine. Balance: 4/5. Well, as I said outside the forum, I swear she could be cheaper, if only by one mana. Other than that, she's no more broken than Akroma would be in the current environment. Originality: 3/5. She's a straight fighter, yeah, with a lot of great potential for combat nastiness. But there's nothing else about her that pops.
The White King Flavor: 2/5. I have to score this a little low because I expected the sword to better illustrate the spirit trapped inside. Balance: 5/5. for what little it does, the card is well costed. I would expect more than just a +2/+1 from a legendary piece of equipment, though. Originality: 2/5. Well, there's nothing about it that stands out from any other piece of equipment.
Critical Hit Flavor: 5/5. Ha! Why hasn't there been a Magic card simpy called "Critical Hit" yet? It's aperfect accompaniment to Cais, that's for sure. Balance: 5/5. Well costed and at instant speed. I can see what would happen with this and a Djinn Illuminatis, though O_o;; Originality: 4/5. It's very original if only for its elegance and the "why haven't they thought of this yet" factor. It's still an Enrage that works on slightly different rules, though.
Total: 35
Phantom Ronan
Elrion, the Whispering Star Flavor: 4/5. Hmm, a wizard cleric? I can see that. The turn undead effect and spell copying make for some great flavor. Balance: 2/5. I think both of his activated abilities should either cost a little more or be tap abilities. A renewable Twincast is power on a platter, even if the spells it can copy are limited. Originality: 5/5. To be honest, I love the turn undead effect, and I think white should be able to creep into creature kill more often in this particular way.
Brooch of Shielding Flavor: 4/5. The name and the effect match up perfectly. I get the image in my head of this ornate piece of jewelry just hanging on a mage's robe, and it comes to life the minute an attack is aimed his way. Nice. Balance: 3/5. I almost think it's not powerful enough. I see it being more like a Walking Archive, where it gains counters from an activated ability and you're allowed to remove multiple counters all at once. Originality: 2/5. It's basically a weaker artifact version of Palliation Accord, so I dunno.
Dispel Magic Flavor: 5/5. Great! It's just what I thought a card with that name would be. Balance: 5/5. Perfect balance. The cost prohibition and the mana cost of the card itself match up very well. Originality: 5/5. I have to say, this should've been an Azorius card.
Total: 35
Mr. Stuff
Cheld Karagask, Dyrk's Companion Flavor: 4/5. I love it. A bounty hunter or mercenary of some sort, which I love. The ability really takes the card places in terms of flavor. Balance: 4/5. Very well-balanced. Against the right deck it could turn into total creature kill, but I give out bonus points for the potential ruination of white weenie. Originality: 4/5. Sure, some other cards have done this before, but none of them so elegantly. I would totally play this guy.
A'rangar, Cheld's Dagger Flavor: 2/5. I'm not sure what to think. It's a good piece of equipment, but maybe I don't understand enough about it. Balance: 3/5. Pretty well-costed and the colored mana requirement makes it playable in far less decks than it could be. If it's equipped on the right creature, though, you've got problems. Originality: 2/5. Points for it being Overblaze on a stick, but then again...it's Overblaze on a stick.
Poisonlace Flavor: 3/5. I'm loving the ability and the card name a LOT. Not sure where else to go with it, though. Balance: 5/5. Even with such a low cost it's balanced, only because it's a lace. An ability akin to Gaze of the Gorgon won't get out of hand, as much as spastic Timmies might have you believe. Originality: 3/5. It's a lace, yeah. But it's a lace that doesn't just change something's bloody color, and I highly appreciate that.
Total: 30
Mamelon
Portia, Argent Champion Flavor: 5/5. Ho-ho. I have a typical destructive hatred toward Paladins, but Portia shines. This card is everything she is as a character and more. Balance: 3/5. I had to score her a little lower considering how abundant cheap and awesome auras can be, but otherwise she's as balanced as all get-out. Originality: 3/5. The "as long as it's enchanted" thing has been done before, but never with so much flavor.
Rising Umbrage Flavor: 5/5. Spot-on. Oh man, just hearing the name makes me think of a powerful weapon. Balance: 4/5. MURDER against mono-color decks, but that's kind of the point. Well-costed, a minute effect until combat is factored in, all around very good. Originality: 3/5. I'm lovin' the color hate, even though that's been a recent theme.
Divine Grace Flavor: 5/5. It captures the essence of a paladin's divine favor very well. Considering the abilities it tacks on, it really provides a boost to Portia's image of a holy warrior. Balance: 3/5. The more I look at the card, the more I think that it should cost two mana instead of just one. A smaller, localized Concerted Effort is still a pretty big deal, especially in the right deck. Originality: 4/5. Very well implemented, especially considering it's an aura and auras don't get enough credit these days.
Total: 35
Psychoburner
Valos Drellon Flavor: 5/5. I see everything you mean when you describe Valos' character, all wrapped up in this card. Rash, impulsive, destructive; it's all there. Balance: 3/5. The 4 damage thing is a pretty powerful ability, even though it's a tap ability. Other than that, he's a well-costed card with a good combat ability and a husky body. Originality: 2/5. Although I really like him, Valos is a red Warrior through and through.
Vircemirch, Sword of Flames Flavor: 5/5. Very well done. I love the idea of a weapon what wants its wielder to kill, and will kill HIM if there's no flesh to rend. Balance: 4/5. The +4/+3 is a big deal, but the damage you take from not being aggressive is a good balancing factor. I could see this card going into a lot of smast decks and never once being referred to as "broken." Originality: 4/5. The damage condition is where the originality comes from, as well as the flavor of an intelligent weapon with a taste for blood.
Psiburst Flavor: 5/5. VERY awesome. It captures the concept of a "mind blast" perfectly, damaging one's senses and leaving them stunned. Balance: 4/5. Well, it's a very potent effect, but it's balanced out by the damage division and the fact that there'll only ever be four played during the course of a game. Originality: 3/5. I love almost everything about this card, but it is two red mechanics packaged together. Otherwise it's great.
This should have no real affect on the judgings, and I don't want it to, but Alacar's Guile is supposed to be his most powerful spell, basically a Dominate type spell that allows him to control whomever he hits. Guess it was too epic for you people
Also, he's because he's half-elven. I guess that's not a good enough reason. Still, judge the card, not the character.
I've recently been trying to balance the Githyanki and the Githerzai, as well as the drow, trying to reduce their LA.
Ive gotten the drow down to a LA of 0, and the giths down to a LA of 1.
Thing is that im unsure how... good a choice ive made regarding them.
Quote from Drow Stats »
Drow
Also known as dark elves, the drow was once a depraved and evil subterranean offshoot. The Drow have since become a survivalist arctic clime race.
White is the most common hair color among drow, but almost any pale shade is possible. Drow tend to be smaller and thinner than other sorts of elves, and their eyes are often a vivid red.
Drow Traits (Ex)
These traits are in addition to the high elf traits, except where noted.
+2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma
Darkvision out to 80 feet. This trait replaces the high elf’s low-light vision.
Spell-Like Abilities: Drow can use the following spell-like ability once per day: Faerie Fire. Caster level equals the drow’s class levels.
Weapon Proficiency: A drow is automatically proficient with the hand crossbow, the rapier, and the short sword. This trait replaces the high elf’s weapon proficiency.
Automatic Languages: Common, Elven, Undercommon. Bonus Languages: Abyssal, Aquan, Draconic, Drow Sign Language, Gnome, Goblin. This trait replaces the high elf’s automatic and bonus languages.
Light Blindness: Abrupt exposure to bright light (such as sunlight or a daylight spell) blinds drow for 1 round. On subsequent rounds, they are dazzled as long as they remain in the affected area.
Favored Class: Sorcerer (male) or Mystic (female). This trait replaces the high elf’s favored class.
Quote from Githerzai stats »
Githerzai (Located in Durvist Principality)
The Githyanki and Githerzai were originally one race, lead by Gith around Lake Zerth. After a time, Gith died, and his twin sons Yanki and Erzai took power. Each leader attracted a strong following, and tried to force the other faction under its domain. After generations, the races started to psionically, and physically differ from one another, leading to the Githyanki and Githerzai. The Githyanki settled south of Lake Zerth, and the Githerzai settled north of Lake Zerth.
Githerzai tend to have no hair, or hair located in a tight bun upon their hair in wispy white. Eyes tend to be grey for the Githerzai, with Amber and yellow also common colours.
Githerzai Traits
Githerzai possess the following traits:
+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Intelligence
Medium size
Githyanki's base speed is 30 ft.
Darkvision out to 60 feet.
Special Qualities: Psionics (For all effects, Githerzai are considered as psionic-users), Inertial Armor (As a standard action, the Githerzai can use psychic force to grant themselves a +2 misc bonus to AC that lasts as long as they are conscious. Githerzai can activate and deactivate this ability at will).
The Githyanki and Githerzai were originally one race, lead by Gith around Lake Zerth. After a time, Gith died, and his twin sons Yanki and Erzai took power. Each leader attracted a strong following, and tried to force the other faction under its domain. After generations, the races started to psionically, and physically differ from one another, leading to the Githyanki and Githerzai. The Githyanki settled south of Lake Zerth, and the Githerzai settled north of Lake Zerth.
Githyanki tend to have brown, black or white hair, with brown being dominant. Eyes tend to be black for the Githyanki, with Amber and Crimson also common colours.
Githyanki Traits
Githyanki possess the following traits:
+2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, -2 Wisdom.
Medium size
Githyanki's base speed is 30 ft.
Darkvision out to 60 feet.
Special Qualities: Psionics (For all effects, Githyanki are considered as psionic-users), Inertial Field (As a standard action, the Githyanki can use psychic force to grant themselves +10 bonus to movement speed, and a +1 bonus to initiative that lasts as long as they are conscious. Githyanki can activate and deactivate this ability at will).
Hehe yeah. I actually assumed that my paladan couldn't get married, but his god, Enki is based on an old sumerian god who definatly allows marrage and even encourages it.
I do have some ideas why most people don't opt for the little folk. I know in my group, many of us have played Dwarfs, but Halflings are rare and I'm the only one to ever play a Gnome. Mabey, I dont know, Gnomes and Halflings tend to be underdogs, or at least physically underwhelming.
Also, a lot of players have a visual reference or idea for thier character, inspired by or leading to the character and I think that it's just more natural to imagine a human or elf.
The last thing is steryotypes. People generally tend to associate halflings with Bilbo, Frodo and the like from LOTR. Either that, or a very average thiefing halfling. Steryotypes can be very difficult to overcome in real life and it makes sense that this tendency would carry over into the more fictional aspects of things.
Gnomes are just wierd.
Who knows if any of this is correct, it's definatly an interesting question though.
Well, I'm enjoying a nice cappuchino. To quote Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks "This is one **** fine cup of coffee!"
/Off Topic
Enki is also the name of one of the Kirin from The Twelve Kingdoms. Each kingdom has one ruler, and also a kirin (magical half-unicorn thing, like this - Celestial Kirin) that chooses the ruler and guides him/her in governing the kingdom. A kirin's name is comprised of both its kingdom's name, and the suffix -ki if it is male or -rin if it is female. The kirin of the kingdom of En is male, and hence is named Enki.
/Off Topic
If D&D you do say, As some names would suggest, im SO here :p.
Amazingly, paladins CAN be fun to play.
Im actually going through a multiplayer Bg2 campaign with a friend halfway across canada. *3 time zones* and im making my own Campaign world. Its taking quite some time, but it should be fun as we go.
Ironically, my way of fleshing out the history was to have little mini campaigns where the player would take someone ive already decided on to be influencial, and make the character and play them.
Player choices, and journals will flesh out that characters myth, and in the first one, he accomplished some quite... mythical things.
Legitmately, as a level 1 half-elf rogue without magic *clerical and arcane being non-existant*, him and his brother, a level 2 wood elf ranger defeated 20 orcs of above average quality.
I DONT understand how, but it kinda bugged me as one of them WAS to die.
That is a great way to establish a campaign world. Create characters, have people play them, and lay down their exploits as ancient history. I've done some of that myself in the past.
See that was the fun part. I just gave the player a VERY rough history of what will happen, and who he is. He chose skills, Race *basically, he had to make an elf or human*, and COULDNT be any form of magical user.
The player chose a half-elf because he figured "This is history, so by him being a half-elf, it allows for whatever DM to say 'Well the elves believe he was an elf, and humans a human'".
Except for this... it was his choice.
Since its a relatively mini-campaign, this was decided to be a solo campaign until the ranger mysteriously survived.
At that point, i decided that i would modify it. The 6 races of elves would each have a paragon *not the class* that would become the first Arcane Casters. Woodelf Sorcerer *the surviving ranger*, Drow something, and Half-elf wizard were those revealed so far.
it's REALLY fun.
On smaller races: I've wanted to play a Dwarf for some time, but I've never found the right class for them. Although, with Incarnum working the way it does, Dwarves work perfectly. All Incarnum classes are CON-dependent, so yeah. Great for Dwarves and Nezumi.
Photon's brother, Adam, hates Gnomes with a bloody passion. We can't figure out why; whenever we ask him, he always answers with "they're Gnomes, that's why!" So in response I started telling Adam how much I hated Yuan Ti, since that's his favorite variant race. He's so fun to piss off ^__^;;
However, I'll get those cards compiled and start the contest here, if everyone is finished and submitted.
Also, Stormblind, were you wanting to be a member?
But i WOULD like to request friendship.
Our Azure-bonded party wandered into the torn city of Yulash, to find an underground temple. The party has to free itself of a series of azure curses that cannot be removed under normal means--this time, the group had to defeat the Cultists of Moander, a group of clerics and cultists who worship the dead god of decomposition, decay, and fungus.
Seeing as how I no longer wanted to play the paladin in the group, Roland was called on a mission from his god to repent his sins for having to deal with a half chaotic and/or evil group.
Anyways, 2 new people have joined our group: A polymorphing sorcerer, and a Cleric of Lathander.
The party also met Alias and Dragonbait, a pair of heroes that had a similar predicament. Alias was a level 7 fighter, and dragonbait a level 7 paladin. With their help, they stormed the temple and cleared it of evils.
The final battle was intense--a struggle against an Aspect of Moander.
Neutral Evil Plant
HP: 250 AC: 20 Attacks: +9 Vine strike, 2d10+5, attacks all enemies within melee range.
+6 to all saves, immune to fire, cold does double damage.
Minor Globe of Invulnerability
All successful hits automatically initiate a grapple--a successful grapple entwines the character and renders them unable to move from their location
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Ryttare Kelasin Luna Orelinalei
Once more-
Card Up Your Character
Open to: Members and Friends
Submissions Due by: Sunday, September 3rd
Rules:
Each entry must consist of 3 things-
1 Legendary Creature card
1 Legendary Artifact card
1 card of any type
Each card must relate to a character you have played or are playing in an RPG. It can be from a tabletop or forum RP. You must post a brief outline of the character, and also state the game system and campaign setting the character was designed for with your entry, also. If it is a forum RP, please provide a link to the game itself, and to your character's profile (if applicable).
If you desire a rendering to be done of your card, please submit the final rulestext and an art selection to Alacar Leoricar. However, renderings are not required for entry.
The card's will be judged on the following criteria-
1. Flavor
2. Balance
3. Originality
Once submissions are complete, I will make a thread on the topic in testing grounds. All members and friends are welcome to vote. You may evaluate each submission by giving it a rating of 1-5 on each category. The submission with the highest ratings overall will be the winner. In the case of a tie, a tiebreaker vote will be held.
Contestants- (Only complete entries with all 3 of the required cards are listed)
Alacar Leoricar: Alacar Leoricar (with Blade of Krallis and Alacar's Guile)
Dragonstar: Calen Darkchylde (with Dragonbane Longbow and Spirit of the Dragon)
Shaharazad: Cewellin of Silverymoon (with Cewellin's Spellbook and Mischief)
grappler12: Feenix, Dragon Friend (with Jade, Dragon Hatchling and Pulse of the Stardance)
Photon Eater: Cais Maddox (with the White King and Critical Hit)
Phantom Ronan: Elrion, the Whispering Star (with Brooch of Shielding and Dispel Magic)
Mr. Stuff: Cheld Karagask (with A'rangar, Cheld's Dagger and Poisonlace)
ethersphere: Tyler Oberon (with Matriarch's Pendant and Arcane Sight)
Mamelon: Portia, Argent Champion (with Rising Umbrage and Divine Grace)
Psychoburner: Valos Drelon (with Vircemarch, Sword of Flames and Psiburst)
Please make a post evaluating each card by the following scale-
Flavor: Obviously, not having actually seen any of the characters in action, it will be difficult to peg just how accurate each card represents the character. However, a paladin that is represented as a mono-black zombie is clearly off-base. Judge flavor based on the information presented, and by how accurate the card fits the color pie.
Score: 1 (lowest- Think Psionic Blast) to 5 (highest)
Balance: This one is pretty clear. Is the card overpowered? Underpowered? A bit above the curve? We are looking for good design, primarily. The card shouldn't be judged by any one format, but rather be judged in a vacuum and evaluated based on how it would perform in one of any given games.
Score: 1 (lowest- we're talking Black Lotus) to 5 (highest)
Originality: How unique is the card? This is not just in terms of effect, but also in how it represents the abilities of the character as can be determined by the information given. Primarily, we are looking for cards that have shown some thought and attention to detail in terms of their source.
Score: 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest)
Each card will recieve a rating, and at the end, each vote will be tallied. Then, all votes will be tallied, and the individual with the highest point total will be the winner. A poll will be opened in the case of ties.
The highest score an entry can recieve in a single vote is 45. The lowest score is 9.
The vote will be held until either A) all actual members of the clan have voted, or B) 5 days have passed. Whenever one of these conditions is met, the voting will cease, and I will tally points.
All members, friends, and even visitors to the clan are permitted a vote.
Some notes on voting:
1. Art is irrelevant. It doesn't matter how well rendered a card is, the art is merely superfluous and should not effect your voting.
2. We are not critiquing character concept. If you don't like a character, do not let your opinion influence your voting process.
3. Don't play favorites. Don't give your buddy all 5's across the board just to be nice. If I feel that a vote was made just to boost a certain person's score, that vote will be omitted. This will only be done in very obvious cases of trying to influence the voting (we're talking final round BotU level crap here).
Alright, so let the voting begin!
StormBlind becomes a mysterious well!
Shaharazad gets a +1 lance for his birthday, and a +1 guisarme for his birthday!
And guys, just a friendly reminder:
1. This should go without saying, but no flaming/trolling, or otherwise being a butthead to members of this clan, or any other (We absolutely will not tolerate badmouthing other clans in Natural 20!)
Emphasis mine. I understand there was just some minor discussion, but if there is drama in another clan, please keep it there.
Also, I will not be submitting my vote until I am ready to tally them. Furthermore, it is very likely my presence on the board will continue to be lax over the next couple of days, at the very least. I will be lurking to keep up on Nat20, but that's about it. If you have clan concerns, you can PM me, or direct your questions to ethersphere or Mamelon.
im trying to get a few collo projects moving... if anyofyou took part, im reviving the test The Sanctuary (Sen for some reason didnt like it, when everyone else did... and our current mods seem to like it) so itll be up pretty quick
but ive also wanted to start working on a project that would use dice, spells and such (like a good ol' RPG) it might be doable... might not... your thoughts?
Calen Darkchylde
Flavor 5/5: Playing a half-elf character myself, I like how it does have the Human/elf clause. I'd have put it on Alacar myself if I'd had room.
Balance 2.5/5: Double strike to represent two-weapon fighting is a stretch. I am STILL worried about Arguas Kinneley's power level. I mean, he's essentially a 6/2 when unblocked. But, the fragile body is easy to deal with burn--oh wait, it's got protection from red. This card is undercosted.
Originality 4/5: A elf with pro red and double strike? I'd thought I'd never see the day. Only D&D could come up with a character with such a smattering.
Dragonbane Longbow
Flavor 3/5 A dragon-slaying Viridian Longbow.
Balance 3/5 A LEGENDARY dragon-slaying Viridian Longbow, with decent flavor text.
Originality 2/5 This card seemed rushed. It's not too original. A dragon-slaying Viridian Longbow.
Spirit of the Dragon
Flavor 4/5 An aura that can bring out a creature's inner power? Cool.
Balance 1/5 This card is ridiculously easy to abuse, and the way it works, it doesn't even turn your creature into a full dragon when you have threshold. Sure it has flying until then, but when I sac the aura, it doesn't have flying when I'm laying down the Dragon-style beats! It's not even in the right colors. The card needed to be re-designed.
Originality 3/5 The concept is cool, and fits the character. But the execution needs work.
Total:27.5
Flavor 3/5 A metamage? Cool! The prestige class I slapped together is a neat concept, and the card is the prime example. I would've REALLY liked to see flavor text though
Balance 2/5 This card doesn't show the 'sacrifice some raw power' half of being a metamage. It's all card advantage with this guy. The body is small for the triple mana colors, but you could've increased it if you'd included a drawback.
Originality 3/5 Nothing too unusual, but nothing I've seen before.
Cewellin's Spellbook
Flavor 4/5 A spellbook that slides creatures in and out and protects them from spells. Metamagic. Again, though, I'd like to see flavor text.
Balance 4/5 This card would've gotten a 5, but the in the ability limits its usefulness a lot.
Originality 4/5 Never saw a spellbook for a creature before!
Mischief
Flavor 4/5 Metamagic at its finest! Again, I WANT FLAVOR TEXT.
Balance 2/5 Eep! Two powerful effects on a 2-mana card? I haven't seen anything this overpowered since Pyroblast. Luckily, the things you can redirect or counter is limited. Changing targets or countering activated/triggered abilities is a fairly new concept.
Originality 3/5 The card is one that I wouldn't see Wizards print because it's a little narrow, but it fits the contest well.
Total :39
Flavor 4/5 The card is fine, but I am missing my flavor text..
Balance 5/5 It's not badly designed. I could see a similar card being made. It's not particularly legendary, but there have been worse legends. (Who plays Fumiko the Lowblood outside of a combo deck?)
Originality 2/5 This is where the card can fall flat. The card is just.. another in a long mass of white flying control creature cards that I see floating around the CCC forums.
Jade, Dragon Hatchling
Flavor 4/5 Aww! A cute little dragon. Where's my flavor text?
Balance 3/5 It's a green dragon. A small one. With an ability not really in green. It's not stellar, but not fantastic.
Originality 2/5 Again, the concept is cute--the main character's familiar companion. But the card itself doesn't seem too amazing.
Pulse of the Stardance
Flavor 4/5 A tribal Glorious Anthem X2 for a race that is new. It's cool.
Balance 2/5 This card is strictly better than Anthem for Icarii decks.
Originality 2/5 This is Feenix's signature spell? It's a little bland..
Total:28
Flavor 3/5 Without the expose on this card, I would have little idea what it was doing having those abilities. And where is my flavor text??
Balance 3/5 It's a Akroma-style card. Perfect blocker, perfect attacker. Middle of the road.
Originality 2/5 The card itself barely lends to showing the aspect of who Cais is. You say she's a swashbuckler, but the name and the lack of flavor text don't really show it, even if the name has a specific purpose.
The White King
Flavor 3/5 It's lacking flavor text. The name implies legendary-status.
Balance 4/5 It's a Holy Strength on a stick that's damn near impossible to get rid of. Who doesn't like that?
Originality 2/5 It doesn't feel legendary enough. It needs more explanation. Without your info, I'd arch a brow.
Critical Hit
Flavor 4/5 A D&D staple effect. No flavor text!
Balance 2/5 Berserk is GOOD for a reason. This is a drawback-less Berserk for 3 mana.
Originality 4/5 The concept works, but the execution is flawed.
Total:26
Flavor 4/5 An elven wizard/cleric. Neat! No flavor text..
Balance 5/5 This card is well designed. The body, abilities, and costs even out, and it's abilities are powerful enough to be highly useful for a legendary card.
Originality 4/5 The cleric/wizard dual class option is not too common. This card executes it well.
Brooch of Shielding
Flavor 5/5 A brooch that magically prevents burn? Awesome. I don't count off for flavor text because it probably wouldn't fit.
Balance 3/5 It's a good card, and well costed, but the prevention isn't useful enough.
Originality 4/5 The card itself is unique, but the lack of oomph keeps it from being something out of this world.
Dispel Magic
Flavor 4/5 Neat! That spell is very useful. I need flavor text..
Balance 4/5 Hybrid is hard to design for. Blue and white hate enchantments and can counter some things together (Arenson's Aura).
Originality 4/5 The card is.. well, it's certainly new. It captures the concept wonderfully.
Total:37
Flavor 5/5 Yay! Flavor text, and a whole website of content.
Balance 3/5 Assassins usually 'destroy', not Shock. Still, it's a novel concept.
Originality 4/5 The card captures the assassin's versatility well, and fits the character concept.
A'rangar, Cheld's Dagger
Flavor 5/5 Can this assassin get any more sneaky and deadly?
Balance 3/5 It's a little cheap for the abusable effect.. I mean, Cheld can deal 4 damage with this thing.
Originality 3/5 It's a Furnace of Rath on a colored stick. Yay?
Poisonlance
Flavor 4/5 Ooh! Assassin poison. Flavor text!
Balance 3/5 This card feels like it should've been what Cheld should've done by himself.
Originality 3/5 It's just an addon to Cheld, in my eyes, but it is highly useful in any case
Total:33
Flavor 5/5 A spellthief? I want to play one. Flavor text is nice.
Balance 3/5 This guy is VERSATILE. Izzet would've loved him. A little too useful, and hard to eliminate, but that's his point I guess.
Originality 4/5 The card captures well the character's concept and executes it equally well with a powerful legendary effect.
Matriarch's Pendant
Flavor 4/5 I know the card combos with Tyler, but the name made me think of Masques. The flavor text is a little confusing but humorous, I guess.
Balance 4/5 A recurring machine! Regrowthing instants and sorceries is cool, and the cost is well balanced for the effect.
Originality 3/5 It's neat, but doesn't stand out. It combos with Tyler sure, but that's the only connection I can see.
Arcane Sight
Flavor 4/5 It's cute, and useful. The flavor text made me smile a little.
Balance 4/5 A Sudden Impact in gold for instants and sorceries only. It's cheaper, but not quite as useful.
Originality 3/5 In terms of the character's cards, it fits well. But overall, the card alone isn't too original.
Total:34
Flavor 5/5 The lack of flavor text is made up with the mere concept of a knight that uses holy blessings to smite enemies.
Balance 3/5 It's useful, don't get me wrong. Damn near impossible to kill if there's a simple aura on it. The small body is a good enough drawback, for a legend.
Originality 4/5 I liked this card as soon as I saw it. It took advantage of auras and feels legendary.
Rising Umbrage
Flavor 4/5 The equipment is useful alone, but against a particular color it shows it's bad-assery.
Balance 4/5 The card is very potent. The double damage shows the 'smite' factor well, and is evenly costed.
Originality 3/5 The card is cool and powerful, but not entirely original to the game. Still, it synergizes well with the damn-near unstoppable Portia.
Divine Grace
Flavor 5/5 This card is awesome! A blessing you can choose.
Balance 2/5 It's way undercosted for the malleability of the effect.
Originality 3/5 It's a Ward that you can choose. Strictly better.
Total:33
Flavor 3/5 The flavor text is uninspiring, and the character doesn't show through the abilities.
Balance 3/5 'First strike when attacking'? A little dated but it works. The ability doesn't match psionics as well as I'd like it to.
Originality 2/5 Bland. Sorry
Vircemirch, Sword of Flames
Flavor 5/5 An intelligent weapon? Awesome.
Balance 4/5 The drawback matches the low cost-to-power ratio.
Originality 4/5 I wish the concept of intelligence could come out better, but it works well enough as a whole.
Psiburst
Flavor 5/5 THIS is what a psionic strike should do.
Balance 4/5 A little cheap, but very powerful for a signature spell.
Originality 4/5 Psionics FTW! It's a good card, and I'm surprised red hasn't done this yet.
Total:34
Total scores are out of 45.
Like freeform roleplaying? Try Darkness Befalls Us
Ryttare Kelasin Luna Orelinalei
I'll warn you, it's quite an undertaking. If you are developing your own system, I'll advise you to study other systems to see what you like, and take as much time as you can ironing out the bugs. If you are using a pre-made system, be certain you are operating within OGL so that you aren't stepping on any toes, legally.
And no, Alacar, none of my cards had flavor text. Last I checked, that wasn't a requirement.
That sounds awesome! I've always loved Moandor. In 2nd edition, he's still a dead god, and I love how they brought him back in 3rd. Alias and Dragonbait are great npcs. I don't think we've ever had them appear in our games yet though. That must have been fun.
Is your paladan named Roland too?
I'll get to my vote a little later, but I have been making lasagna today and I still have some work to do. Yum.
Shaharazad: Actually, Alias and Dragonbait, and the fight with Moander, and indeed the whole adventure, was converted from an old 2nd edition game pack printed in 1989, so yeah, Moander is still around in my campaign. And 3rd edition doesn't expressly say Moander is gone for good.
And yes, my paladin's name was Roland, but he was far more flat of a character, being the a-typical knight in shining armor. He was a total house, though.
Like freeform roleplaying? Try Darkness Befalls Us
Ryttare Kelasin Luna Orelinalei
Unfortunately, this is irrelevant in terms of this contest. For flavor, just ask yourself: Does it illustrate the concept? If so, then rate it good. If not, then don't. Don't use otherwise non-essential elements like flavor text and art influence judging. That's fine if you personally feel flavor-text is important, but for the purposes of this contest, it isn't. This isn't the FCC, after all.
Anyway, I know I said I would post my votes later, but I am going to go ahead and do them now, so that no one can say accuse me of trying to sway the results in particular direction once this is underway.
Alacar Leoricar: A card with some potent firepower, and fairly standard flavor.
F: 3/5. It's a bit meta for my tastes. Not bad, but not your best.
B: 2/5. No. Just... no. There are memory issues, plus, it's direct damage in green and blue, and a 2 mana reusable counterspell.
O: 3/5. I'm really on the fence on this one. I really would have liked to have not seen Alacar in his umpteenth incarnation. Also, his ability is really oddball, but at the same time, so predictable given the creator.
Blade of Krallis: An interesting card that seems subtle, but could have some nice Johnny potential.
F: 3/5. It doesn't elicit any really strong reactions from me as far as flavor is concerned, but it's not wildly off the mark, either.
B: 3/5. It's powerful, but also pretty mana-intensive. Could afford to be more playable in my opinion.
O: 4/5. These sort of effects are always neat, and it's nice to see them expounded upon.
Alacar's Guile: An awkward card that might make the rare breed of Timmy Control players happy.
F: 2/5. Doesn't really mesh with the Spellsword concept, nor does the name particularly imply anything about the ability, which I assume is meant to represent some sort of Dominate Person effect.
B: 3/5. At 7 mana for it's effect, it's pretty steep. However, at the same time, I don't know... It's about right at average in terms of it's power and effects, I think.
O: 2/5. It's hard to recreate an effect like this without it seeming a little like overkill. I think Mindslaver may have forever spoiled dominate effects like this. Furthermore, the built-in drawbacks are awkward and fairly deliberate, which really wreck the sense of elegance a card like this needs, in my opinion.
Calen Darkchylde: An unusual card that goes too far outside the color pie for my sensibilities.
F: 2/5. ... What? Green black double-striking with protection? Why isn't this White or White/Red? I understand what you were going for, but I think this is just too off-color for my tastes.
B: 3/5. A 3/2 double-striker with protection for 5 is pretty wild, even in multicolor. The other abilities are fairly superfluous, if viewed in a vacuum. In a set where creature type was particularly important, it could be worth more. So ultimately, I think the creature is pretty level. Not exceptionally balanced, but certainly not problematic, either.
O: 3/5. While part of me wants to say that given it's off-color abilities, it is pretty original, the concept and effects themselves are somewhat predictable given the concept, and don't really break any new ground. So, about average, I would say.
Dragonbane Longbow: A D&D standard given form in MTG.
F: 4/5. The character's concept is very well supported, if not summarized by this card. Whereas the original character was lacking in flavor, I think this card makes up for it.
B: 3/5. I think it's pretty good, all in all. It's an overcosted Viridian Longbow for the most part, but it also can operate as a situational bit of removal to take down an opponent's finisher. All in all, it balances out to a fairly average curve.
O: 4/5. They don't really have a concept of bane-style weapons in D&D, but this did it pretty well.
Spirit of the Dragon: A potentially problematic big brother for Dragon Wings
F: 3/5. Nothing groundbreaking, but pretty solid, nonetheless.
B: 2/5: I'm not sure about this, really. Even with threshold, I don't know if blue should get a way to give anything +5/+5 until EOT.
O: 1/5. It reminds me too greatly of the cycle of Dragon auras from Scourge, personally.
Cewellin of Mistymoon: A neat card with an unusual cost reminiscent of something out of Legends.
F: 2/5. Based on the abilities, I can tell you absolutely nothing about the character whatsoever.
B: 3/5. I think it's right on, although I do question the triple-color mana cost. This could have been UW, or even mono-blue in my opinion.
O: 4/5. I think that you were headed in the right direction with this card, and it's pretty neat.
Cewellin's Spellbook: A quirky card with a questionable flavor.
F: 1/5. The abilities don't match the concept much at all, in my opinion. This may not be the case, but without further detail, I have to assume that this is a run of the mill spellbook.
B: 3/5. I really don't know what to think about it, in terms of power. It could be that it is undercosted, but then again, it could be fine. In cases like this, I tend to think that the card will most likely fall in the middle somewhere.
O: 5/5. This card is crazy tasty. I love how it can make a creature utterly unkillable, and also has synergy with it's corresponding character.
Mischief: An amazingly elegant card.
F: 5/5. Awesome. Just Awesome. Metamagic FTW.
B: 5/5. This is hot.
O: 5/5. Were I to see this in a spoiler, my nipples would immediately become hard in excitement.
Feenix, Dragon Friend: grappler12 paints a pretty picture of his character, who, while somewhat vanilla, is still quite elegant.
F: 5/5. Perfect mechanical translation of the abilities of the character.
B: 4/5. Pretty well balanced. She can swing for the finish, or she can tap down the opponent's biggest blockers and let her friends alpha-strike- but not both.
O: 3/5. Doesn't really do anything innovative, but still pretty solid.
Jade, Dragon Hatchling: A green Hill Giant doing two things that green doesn't do.
F: 2/5. The ability is black. The creature is not only green, but also the companion of a druidic individual who would very much be opposed to decay and death.
B: 2/5. A 2/2 green flier with spot removal... I may not be Jewish, but I certainly know when something isn't Kosher.
O: 2/5. I want to give this a higher score for being an animal companion, but it doesn't really do anything that strikes me as being particularly original.
Pulse of the Stardance: An incredibly narrow buff enchantment that doesn't live up to it's concept.
F: 3/5. Interesting idea, but executed in a fairly vanilla fashion.
B: 2/5. Would be higher, but loses points because it's not very good. For the same converted mana cost, you get Glorious Anthem, which works on everything. This only works on 1 creature, and that creature isn't even real.
O: 1/5. Fairly uninspired signature ability. Would have liked to have seen an expansion on her unique abilities.
Elrion, the Whispering Star: Mystic Theurge FTW. Much like the Theurge, though, there are some issues.
F: 4/5. I would imagine such a character concept would be drawn to the virtue of wisdom. It seems pretty fitting. Furthermore, I also see Turn Undead.
B: 3/5. Eh... The first ability is fairly meager, the second is above the curve.
O: 3/5. I get what you were trying to do, but I can't help but think there is a better way to do it.
Brooch of Shielding: A narrow defensive card that could really frustrate Gelectrode.dec
F: 3/5. Pretty standard flavor.
B: 3/5. I don't care what anyone says, I like Palliation Accord. So I like this card. But at the same time, it's really narrow.
O: 3/5. It could have been better, and it was really wordy, but the concept is nice.
Dispel Magic: Phantom Ronan shows us why Azorius shouldn't get a hybrid counterspell.
F: 5/5. Well, you certainly hit the nail on the head with this one.
B: 1/5. Mono-white counterspell?! Oh God, say it isn't so.
O: 4/5. You took a D&D spell, but you really made it stand out, at least in my opinion.
Cheld Karagask, Dirk's Companion: A neat new take on assassins in MTG.
F: 4/5 I get the flavor, but I'm questioning the color. Still, it's pretty good.
B: 3/5 I see nothing wrong with this card at all. Doesn't blow my mind or win any awards for elegance, but it's stylish and fair. Still, I think I might like to see mark counters come off after the damage is dealt.
O: 5/5. I was pretty impressed. But then, I'm always impressed when someone can come up with an extraneous counter-type and make it work.
A'rangar, Cheld's Dagger: Somewhat run-of-the-mill item with a potentially nasty effect.
F: 3/5. Perhaps I'm not getting something.
B: 2/5. It's scary.
O: 3/5. I have to admit, I really expected something like this from an assassin.
Poisonlace: The sleekest thing in assassination since Lucy Liu
F: 5/5. Sheerly for the awesomeness of the name alone.
B: 5/5. Hot.
O: 5/5. I would give it a 6 if I could.
Tyler Oberon, Spirit of Youth: A card for the clever, or perhaps just crazy.
F: 4/5. I know Tyler pretty well, and I can say that this is a pretty good translation of his abilities.
B: 3/5. He's really obnoxious, but I don't think he's overpowered. In fact, he seems like any given Izzet creature from Ravnica in that he's really mischievous and ornery to play, but too ornery to be considered much of a threat in most decks.
O: 5/5. There just aren't enough misdirection effects for my tastes. In a perfect world, people wouldn't hesitate to cast a big spell because of the threat of counter- they would do it because of the threat of having it turned back in their smug little faces.
Matriarch's Pendant: You wouldn't believe the crazy things that came out of Mommy's necklace.
F: 2/5. It's neat, but doesn't really blow my mind. Sorry, pup.
B: 4/5. Hahaha, I would have so much fun with this. Plus, it's pretty well designed, in my opinion.
O: 5/5. This is a real Johnny card.
Arcane Sight: D&D staple as a burn spell?!
F: 4/5. The name is misleading, but the effect is spot-on considering Tyler's abilities.
B: 3/5. Swingy, but in a good way.
O: 4/5. While yes, it's not a novel effect, it's still pretty fresh and is synergistic with the overall theme of the character. Plus, this is hardly Shock.
Portia, Argent Champion: The Johnniest white weenie since Auriok Champion.
F: 3/5. I like her a lot, but I really thought that a Portia card would also showcase her bad-ass combat skills some, too.
B: 4/5. She makes me go yikes, but she's also only yikes in certain conditions.
O: 5/5. What can I say? Aura-based control that doesn't suck!
Rising Umbrage: My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
F: 4/5. I like the effect a lot, and it really sums Umbrage up, but the ability to choose the color seems odd to me.
B: 4/5. Hot.
O: 5/5. HAWT.
Divine Grace: I think I just crapped myself.
F: 5/5. This is such an awesome way to sum up just how bad-ass divine magic is.
B: 5/5. Craaaazy good!
O: 5/5. This is the best thing that has ever happened.
Valos Drelon: A sexy red legend doing what red does best- kicking ass with no regard to anything else.
F: 4/5. I'm reminded of Gatz from Berserk for some odd reason...
B: 4/5. I think it's pretty nicely done.
O: 5/5. If this guy wants to kick your ass, he's gonna. And there is nothing you can do to stop it.
Vircemarch, Sword of Flames: A powerful bomb, but somewhat predictable flavor.
F: 3/5. I like it, but it's not really a jaw-dropping concept for me, either.
B: 4/5. Good stuff here.
O: 3/5. Good, but nothing out of the ordinary. I've sort of had my fill of flaming magic swords over the span of my gamer career, so now I am sort of jaded to them.
Psiburst: Giving new life to burn.
F: 5/5. This is what Psionic Blast should have been.
B: 3/5. I'm questioning. It's possibly too good, particularly at instant speed.
O: 5/5. Awesomely good idea.
I apologize if some of my ratings seem overly critical. I'm just being frank. Furthermore, I'm notoriously hard to impress when it comes to concepts, as I'm pretty jaded to the standard array of fantasy conventions.
Also, note that I didn't vote for myself. You can rate yourself if you want, but those numbers won't be tallied at the end, just so you know.
Can I still vote?
Alacar Leoricar: 8
F: 3/5. Good ability, but stats seem off and first strike seems tacked on.
B: 2/5. Pinging is no longer blue, however much you'd like it to be. Plus, 6 mana feels weird for a 2/3 body. The ability is crazy good.
O: 3/5. It does have an interesting effect, but countering and pinging have both belonged to blue wizards in the past. I'm not sure what's green about it.
Blade of Krallis: 9
F: 4/5. It's a spell-blade. Duh. Not sure about the +1/+1 though.
B: 2/5. Loses points for being nigh upon unplayable in terms of mana costs, and for letting you play stuff when it swings for morer than it costs to play them from your hand.
O: 3/5. It's an idea that's been seen before on equipment. The +1/+1 feels rather random.
Alacar's Guile: 11
F: 2/5. Does Alacar actually use this? It seems like it's too powerful to match his card.
B: 5/5. It feels like this is costed about right.
O: 4/5. I'm surprised this card hasn't seen print yet. It needs to.
Calen Darkchylde: 9
F: 3/5. Trying to "force" flavorfulness doesn't really work. The idea is to adapt the card to Magic, not adapt Magic to the card.
B: 3/5. 3/2 double-strike for 5, but it's gold... a bit wonky, but workable.
O: 3/5. Exactly the abilities I'd expect on a ranger.
Dragonbane Longbow: 10
F: 4/5.
B: 3/5.
O: 3/5.
Spirit of the Dragon: 11
F: 4/5. Wins an extra point for putting Careful Study in the flavortext.
B: 3/5
O: 2/5.
Cewellin of Mistymoon: 8
F: 2/5.
B: 3/5.
O: 3/5.
Cewellin's Spellbook: 9
F: 2/5. How does this spellbook phase out stuff? We'll fix it in the flavor text... except we didn't. Synergy with the character gains a point.
B: 3/5.
O: 4/5. It's... different, that's for sure.
Mischief:13
F: 4/5.
B: 5/5.
O: 4/5.
Feenix, Dragon Friend:11
F: 4/5. I don't get the Flying, but I dig the rest.
B: 4/5.
O: 3/5.
Jade, Dragon Hatchling: 7
F: 3/5. This wants to be a black card. Maybe B/R. Alas, it is not.
B: 2/5.
O: 2/5.
Pulse of the Stardance: 8
F: 3/5.
B: 4/5.
O: 1/5.
Elrion, the Whispering Star: 9
F: 4/5.
B: 3/5. Second ability is close to broken, but he's expensive and fragile.
O: 2/5.
Brooch of Shielding: 8
F: 3/5.
B: 2/5. Very narrow.
O: 3/5.
Dispel Magic: 9
F: 5/5.
B: 1/5. This wants to cost UW. Instead, it's a mono blue disenchant or mono white counter.
O: 3/5.
Cais Maddox: 10
F: 4/5 She's a warrior. I get it.
B: 4/5 Fairly balanced.
O: 2/5. Like I said. She's a warrior.
The White King:7
F: 2/5. A legendary sword should be more exciting than this.
B: 4/5.
O: 1/5. It might as well be a legendary Vulshock Morningstar. It doesn't do much.
Critical Hit: 8
F: 4/5. If you don't understand this, you shouldn't be in this clan.
B: 3/5. Decent.
O: 1/5. Her special ability is something any character can do?
Valos Drelon: 12
F: 5/5. Stay out of my way, indeed.
B: 3/5.
O: 4/5.
Vircemarch, Sword of Flames: 9
F: 3/5. Where's the intelligent-ness? Otherwise, good.
B: 2/5. +4/+3 is a bit strong, and pumps the creature enough to negate the drawback. +4/+1 would be a lot better.
O: 4/5. Gains a point for the inclusion of a drawback, however poorly executed.
Psiburst: 14 (HAWT)
F: 5/5.
B: 4/5.
O: 5/5.
Tyler Oberon, Spirit of Youth: 11
F: 4/5.
B: 4/5.
O: 3/5.
Matriarch's Pendant: 10
F: 2/5.
B: 4/5.
O: 4/5.
Arcane Sight: 10
F: 4/5.
B: 3/5. Not close to broken, but borders on jank. Still, it's balanced.
O: 3/5.
Portia, Argent Champion: 12
F: 4/5.
B: 3/5. Pretty well designed, but the tap ability feels like it should have been a mana cost instead.
O: 5/5. This is what a white, legendary Simic Guildmage would be like.
Rising Umbrage: 11
F: 3/5. A katana that gives +1/+1... Hrmm. I like the other ability though.
B: 4/5.
O: 4/5. A decent ability for an equipment. The +1/+1 loses a point.
Divine Grace: 12
F: 4/5. Flavorfully interacts with the character card.
B: 4/5. Simple, elegant, ... and a little underpowered. Oh well.
O: 4/5.
Also, I'm pretty sure Feenix has flying because she's a chick with wings.
I'll post it here like I did in Coffeehouse - first person to name the series in my sig/avvy gets a cookie.
In other news, I have my scored right here for you all. Let's see if a copy-paste from Wordpad doesn't screw this up entirely O_o;;
Alacar
Alacar Leoricar
Flavor: 3/5. Well, the spellsword concept comes through nicely. I do get the image of a half-elf fencer slinging spells. I guess I'm just disappointed that it's yet another character named Alacar Leoricar.
Balance: 2/5. Blue doesn't get direct damage anymore, and green hardly ever has, so I found that to be a concern. The counter effect is really annoying, but instants can get through. And the First Strike seems tacked on as an afterthought.
Originality: 2/5. Again, I would've scored this higher if it were a character we haven't gotten to know as well as the fabled Alacar. I allowed some points for him being a pretty out-of-color creature, though.
Blade of Krallis
Flavor: 5/5. I think the Spellsword flavor comes through very well with this artifact. It's probably the best way to do spell storing that I've seen.
Balance: 3/5. Well, the mana cost for the spell storing effect is balanced, but I think the sword itself costs a bit too much to hard cast and equip given that. It's barely playable with all the mana you have to plunk into it.
Originality: 2/5. It works well with Alacar, that's for sure, but it's mainly just a more roped-in Imprint mechanic.
Alacar's Guile
Flavor: 2/5. I'm not sure of this, really. A Dominate Person effect doesn't seem to jive with the whole spellword concept.
Balance: 3/5. Well it's expensive, but an effect like this has to be. The casting clause is imperative to prevent Blade of Krallis trickery. I'm not sure that turn control effects are categorically useful, though, so I don't know if anyone would pack four of these in a deck.
Originality: 2/5. It's basically just a non-artifact Mindslaver with a prohibitive casting condition.
Total: 24
Dragonstar
Calen Darkchylde
Flavor: 5/5. I'm usually not a fan of elves or elf variants but this guy got me. I love the "is both a Human and an Elf" oracle text, for some reason.
Balance: 4/5. He's well-costed and has good power and toughness. I'm always a little wary of double strike on green or green-like creatures, though, because they can get huge relatively quickly in the right hands.
Originality: 3/5. All points awarded due to a great set of abilities and the human/elf oracle text. I'm lovin' it.
Dragonbane Longbow
Flavor: 5/5. Perfect! I'm a big fan of bane abilities in D&D and this was a perfect representation.
Balance: 5/5. VERY well costed, and the dragonbane mechanic is balanced in and of itself.
Originality: 5/5. I guess I love this artifact, heh. Seriously, I've been working on my own Bane mechanic lately because I feel that MTG could really use something like that on a regular basis.
Spirit of the Dragon
Flavor: 4/5. It's very on-target. Even the name just implies to me, "hey, creature buff and flying!" I know it's probably blue for the flying aspect, but it could've been multicolored or even just red.
Balance: 3/5. The one-drop flying effect is fine, but even if sacrificing is the activated cost, +5/+5 is a BIG deal in blue. Like I said, I see it more as multicolored and at least one mana more expensive.
Originality: 3/5. It's a good ability, and if off-color blue was your goal it does that very well.
Total: 37
Shaharazad
Cewellin of Silverymoon
Flavor: 3/5: He's very wizardly, and that explains the instant/sorcery tutoring. Other than that, I feel like he could've had another ability to illustrate himself a little more clearly. He doesn't feel expressly legendary to me.
Balance: 3/5. I feel like he needs to be MORE powerful. He costs aboutt he same as Anarchist, but with the multicolor thing it seems as though he really costs more. Plus, his ability could've been repeatable; I see a "return to hand" ability in there somewhere.
Originality: 2/5. He's really Izzet, and would fit very well into any Izzet-like deck. The tutoring thing is being done a lot more lately, though.
Cewellin's Spellbook
Flavor: 3/5. I understand the premise; a spellbook is every wizard's best defense. It didn't strike me in any other way, though.
Balance: 5/5. It's a very balanced card, even with the 0-mana equip cost. It helps facilitate Cewellin's tutoring ability without breaking him wide open, too.
Originality: 3/5. A different way of going about Voyager Staff, and a good one at that. Still, I feel like something's missing from it.
Mischief
Flavor: 5/5. Awesome. I've always loved the term "mischief" in reference to target-changing and temporary creature stealing, and this is a personification of some of my favorite abilities.
Balance: 5/5. Again, perfect. Perfect cost and perfect ability descriptor. It could get out of hand in Scepter decks, but what doesn't?
Originality: 5/5. Finally, a card that can lead the pack, so to speak, when it comes to abilities like this. I wish this were a real, physical card so I could build a deck around it.
Total: 34
grappler12
Feenix, Dragon Friend
Flavor: 4/5. Bonus points for coming up with your own race. That enhances flavor in a big way. A mono-white druid isn't unbelievable, but is still a little weird considering the card has no druid-like abilities.
Balance: 5/5. Very balanced considering its mana cost and abilities. Tapping two creatures at a time isn't out of hand, especially considering you can only have one Feenix in play at a time.
Originality: 2/5. Well, points are earned for a new race and a mono-white druid, but otherwise there doesn't seem to be anything else standing out to me.
Jade, Dragon Hatchling
Flavor: 2/5. Uhm...I'm not quite sure what I should think. A -1/-1 effect on a green dragon is more than a little strange. Maybe if I understood the characters a little better.
Balance: 3/5. Well, other than the -1/-1 effect Jade is pretty well constructed. Nothing much to say here =)
Originality: 2/5. Points for giving green another flyer, but it doesn't really stand out to me in any other way.
Pulse of the Stardance
Flavor: 5/5. I actually really get the flavor of this card, and I like it a lot for that. It reminds me of the Rangers I made for Unnamed. Plus I love the name.
Balance: 5/5. Great balance. Aggressively costed and the +2/+2 effect is race-specific, so it won't get totally out of hand.
Originality: 3/5. Well, at the end of the day it's just another pump effect, but it's still a well-executed one.
Total: 31
Photon Eater
Cais Maddox, Reborn King
Flavor: 5/5. She's unstoppable, and this is very well illustrated in her massive ability text. Cais is just...a damage machine.
Balance: 4/5. Well, as I said outside the forum, I swear she could be cheaper, if only by one mana. Other than that, she's no more broken than Akroma would be in the current environment.
Originality: 3/5. She's a straight fighter, yeah, with a lot of great potential for combat nastiness. But there's nothing else about her that pops.
The White King
Flavor: 2/5. I have to score this a little low because I expected the sword to better illustrate the spirit trapped inside.
Balance: 5/5. for what little it does, the card is well costed. I would expect more than just a +2/+1 from a legendary piece of equipment, though.
Originality: 2/5. Well, there's nothing about it that stands out from any other piece of equipment.
Critical Hit
Flavor: 5/5. Ha! Why hasn't there been a Magic card simpy called "Critical Hit" yet? It's aperfect accompaniment to Cais, that's for sure.
Balance: 5/5. Well costed and at instant speed. I can see what would happen with this and a Djinn Illuminatis, though O_o;;
Originality: 4/5. It's very original if only for its elegance and the "why haven't they thought of this yet" factor. It's still an Enrage that works on slightly different rules, though.
Total: 35
Phantom Ronan
Elrion, the Whispering Star
Flavor: 4/5. Hmm, a wizard cleric? I can see that. The turn undead effect and spell copying make for some great flavor.
Balance: 2/5. I think both of his activated abilities should either cost a little more or be tap abilities. A renewable Twincast is power on a platter, even if the spells it can copy are limited.
Originality: 5/5. To be honest, I love the turn undead effect, and I think white should be able to creep into creature kill more often in this particular way.
Brooch of Shielding
Flavor: 4/5. The name and the effect match up perfectly. I get the image in my head of this ornate piece of jewelry just hanging on a mage's robe, and it comes to life the minute an attack is aimed his way. Nice.
Balance: 3/5. I almost think it's not powerful enough. I see it being more like a Walking Archive, where it gains counters from an activated ability and you're allowed to remove multiple counters all at once.
Originality: 2/5. It's basically a weaker artifact version of Palliation Accord, so I dunno.
Dispel Magic
Flavor: 5/5. Great! It's just what I thought a card with that name would be.
Balance: 5/5. Perfect balance. The cost prohibition and the mana cost of the card itself match up very well.
Originality: 5/5. I have to say, this should've been an Azorius card.
Total: 35
Mr. Stuff
Cheld Karagask, Dyrk's Companion
Flavor: 4/5. I love it. A bounty hunter or mercenary of some sort, which I love. The ability really takes the card places in terms of flavor.
Balance: 4/5. Very well-balanced. Against the right deck it could turn into total creature kill, but I give out bonus points for the potential ruination of white weenie.
Originality: 4/5. Sure, some other cards have done this before, but none of them so elegantly. I would totally play this guy.
A'rangar, Cheld's Dagger
Flavor: 2/5. I'm not sure what to think. It's a good piece of equipment, but maybe I don't understand enough about it.
Balance: 3/5. Pretty well-costed and the colored mana requirement makes it playable in far less decks than it could be. If it's equipped on the right creature, though, you've got problems.
Originality: 2/5. Points for it being Overblaze on a stick, but then again...it's Overblaze on a stick.
Poisonlace
Flavor: 3/5. I'm loving the ability and the card name a LOT. Not sure where else to go with it, though.
Balance: 5/5. Even with such a low cost it's balanced, only because it's a lace. An ability akin to Gaze of the Gorgon won't get out of hand, as much as spastic Timmies might have you believe.
Originality: 3/5. It's a lace, yeah. But it's a lace that doesn't just change something's bloody color, and I highly appreciate that.
Total: 30
Mamelon
Portia, Argent Champion
Flavor: 5/5. Ho-ho. I have a typical destructive hatred toward Paladins, but Portia shines. This card is everything she is as a character and more.
Balance: 3/5. I had to score her a little lower considering how abundant cheap and awesome auras can be, but otherwise she's as balanced as all get-out.
Originality: 3/5. The "as long as it's enchanted" thing has been done before, but never with so much flavor.
Rising Umbrage
Flavor: 5/5. Spot-on. Oh man, just hearing the name makes me think of a powerful weapon.
Balance: 4/5. MURDER against mono-color decks, but that's kind of the point. Well-costed, a minute effect until combat is factored in, all around very good.
Originality: 3/5. I'm lovin' the color hate, even though that's been a recent theme.
Divine Grace
Flavor: 5/5. It captures the essence of a paladin's divine favor very well. Considering the abilities it tacks on, it really provides a boost to Portia's image of a holy warrior.
Balance: 3/5. The more I look at the card, the more I think that it should cost two mana instead of just one. A smaller, localized Concerted Effort is still a pretty big deal, especially in the right deck.
Originality: 4/5. Very well implemented, especially considering it's an aura and auras don't get enough credit these days.
Total: 35
Psychoburner
Valos Drellon
Flavor: 5/5. I see everything you mean when you describe Valos' character, all wrapped up in this card. Rash, impulsive, destructive; it's all there.
Balance: 3/5. The 4 damage thing is a pretty powerful ability, even though it's a tap ability. Other than that, he's a well-costed card with a good combat ability and a husky body.
Originality: 2/5. Although I really like him, Valos is a red Warrior through and through.
Vircemirch, Sword of Flames
Flavor: 5/5. Very well done. I love the idea of a weapon what wants its wielder to kill, and will kill HIM if there's no flesh to rend.
Balance: 4/5. The +4/+3 is a big deal, but the damage you take from not being aggressive is a good balancing factor. I could see this card going into a lot of smast decks and never once being referred to as "broken."
Originality: 4/5. The damage condition is where the originality comes from, as well as the flavor of an intelligent weapon with a taste for blood.
Psiburst
Flavor: 5/5. VERY awesome. It captures the concept of a "mind blast" perfectly, damaging one's senses and leaving them stunned.
Balance: 4/5. Well, it's a very potent effect, but it's balanced out by the damage division and the fact that there'll only ever be four played during the course of a game.
Originality: 3/5. I love almost everything about this card, but it is two red mechanics packaged together. Otherwise it's great.
Total: 35
Guh, random bolding in places ~_~;;
Also, he's because he's half-elven. I guess that's not a good enough reason. Still, judge the card, not the character.
Like freeform roleplaying? Try Darkness Befalls Us
Ryttare Kelasin Luna Orelinalei
I've recently been trying to balance the Githyanki and the Githerzai, as well as the drow, trying to reduce their LA.
Ive gotten the drow down to a LA of 0, and the giths down to a LA of 1.
Thing is that im unsure how... good a choice ive made regarding them.
What do you think of the balance?
EDIT: These are all legal as they are player made races. The names of said races are part of the OGL. Thank you for your time.