Lizzy!

[Twilight_Sonata]

After I finished recreating T-Bone as a playable Hero, one of my friends asked me if I could also turn her favorite Townsfolk into a playable Hero as well. Here's what I'm thinking right now...

LIZZY
THE SHOPKEEPER
??? - Female
START: GUN SHOP

Special Rules:
ARSENAL - May start the game with a Pump Shotgun.
DOUBLE TAP - When another hero in the same space or in the same building beats a Zombie in a fight, may discard a Gun to kill that Zombie.
2 Health Boxes

One of our friends thought that she was the shopkeeper for the General Store, but I think that there's more evidence that she's the shopkeeper for the Gun Shop.

I thought it only right to start her off with the Pump Shotgun. She's depicted on her card with it equipped, the effect of her card seems to suggest that she's good with it, I found out that there's a unique item called Lizzy's Shotgun, and, like I said before, I'm pretty sure she's supposed to be the shopkeeper for the Gun Shop. I briefly considered letting her start with any one Gun, but I worry about allowing for that much versatility.

I wanted an ability that would be reminiscent of her card's effect, so that's how I came up with Double Tap. I guess that the closest effect to it is Kenny's Clean Up on Aisle 7, but although she can help her allies get rid of Zombies, keep in mind that Lizzy is much more limited in what kind of item she can discard and cannot use her ability during her own fights.

I think that starting the game off with a Pump Shotgun is really good, so my attempt to balance that out is to give Lizzy only two health boxes. I get the impression that she's somewhat older and relatively frail, so this fits thematically.

So, tell me what you think? In addition to how balanced this would be as a Hero character, I'm also curious what other keywords I should add other than Female. Keywords seem mostly to be occupations, but none of the existing keywords fit her, so should I just come up with a new one for the sake of completion or leave her with only her sex as a keyword? Or, though this would be adding back-story that I have no idea of knowing whether true, I could give her the Military keyword? It would explain how she's so good with guns...



EDIT: Most Recent Version...

LIZZY
THE SHOPKEEPER
Military - Female
START: GUN SHOP

Special Rules:
ARSENAL - May start the game with a Pump Shotgun.
DOUBLE TAP - Once per game round, may immediately shoot a ranged weapon at a single Zombie beaten by any Hero in a fight.
3 Health Boxes

[mqstout]

I feel this character would be a little underpowered. I would not lightly break the 2/3 health box convention for flavor. That might boost her up close enough. You might put in Military as her keyword, even though it's not used on any cards. Her card indicates it and would expand her background story potential.

[Twilight_Sonata]

Although Military is not used for any existing card effects, it does already exist as a Hero keyword on Sam. I would prefer using an existing Hero keyword exactly because of the support that such a keyword could potentially get in the future.

About the 2 health boxes, I didn't do it just for flavor. I did it because I felt that Lizzy would be overpowered with the conventional 3 health boxes for adults. Am I mistaken about the potency of getting a free Pump Shotgun right at the beginning of the game? Or should I add in some other drawback for her instead? Or did I make her Double Tap ability so limited in use that further limitations are unnecessary?

[mqstout]

Pump Shotgun can run out of ammo just as much as the revolver can (see the cop and detective who start with the revolver). Doubletap is already a pretty weak ability, discarding the gun is rarely a good choice!

[Twilight_Sonata]

Yeah, I did make Double Tap pretty limited. I figure it would mostly see use if Lizzy chanced upon a spare gun and/or ammo. If I boost Double Tap slightly by allowing it to function "in the same space, in an adjacent space, or in the same building", then I assume that I could still bring her up to 3 health boxes, yes?

[Zinthos]

Great base idea. She needs to be tougher, which I like, most homemade characters are too strong rather than too weak.

First increase to 3 health boxes, even frail looking adults get three boxes.
Starting with pump shotgun is fine. Need a Keyword how about: "Townsfolk" or "Shopkeeper" or "Old"?

Double Tap is too weak. "When another hero in the same space or in the same building" is probably the right area of effect, although some people might want to add a line-of-sight restriction.
Make it more powerful by not always requiring a discard. Instead discard on roll of 1-2, or better yet, make an ammo roll.
You could possibly simplify the whole thing by allowing her a ranged attack on any zombie beaten in a fight within 1-2 squares. This would let the gun involved answer the kill vs ammo question.

[Twilight_Sonata]

I play a lot of D&D, and I home-brew a lot of stuff for that too, so over the years I've become very conservative when it comes to balancing my homebrew material. I prefer to err on the side of caution and then give a boost later on if they need it rather than get too attached to ideas that are too powerful and then have to get rid of them.

All right, so I'll bring her up to 3 health boxes and beef up Double Tap, but again, I want to be careful about making it too good. I actually really like the idea of having her just get to make a ranged attack because it not only has a chance to fail but also has a chance to cause the weapon to run out of ammo. Additionally, it solve a couple of niche line-of-sight oddities that can occur in buildings like the Hospital or Junkyard, but I want to limit the ability to once per game round then to keep it from being too outstanding. How about wording like this?

DOUBLE TAP - Once per game round, when another Hero within one space or within the same building beats a Zombie in a fight, may immediately shoot a ranged weapon at that Zombie.

This may, however, require a clarification that the weapon is only shot at that specific zombie, not every Zombie in that space if using the Pump Shotgun.

[Zinthos]

Well, that sounds close. A game round is the combined Zombie then Hero turns, so it wont be too many extra shots. If anything its still weak. I would remove the "Other Hero" part, and maybe add a firearm restriction.

DOUBLE TAP - Once per game round, may use a firearm to make an additional ranged attack on any single Zombie that has just lost a fight.


You could add The zombie must be in the same building or similar if you want to improve connection with the original card, but having it limited only by range would probably be okay for a hero.

[Twilight_Sonata]

Yes, I was aware that a game round is the combined Zombie and Hero turns; I made it that on purpose exactly so that it doesn't grant too many extra shots. Like I said, I tend to be very cautious about overpowering home-brewed material.

I would definitely like for there to be a connection to her original card's effect, but I think that it's okay to deviate a bit on the exact effects if there's room to do so and still remain thematically evocative. Your proposal definitely still evokes the effect. I don't really see much point to restricting the ability to guns, though, as the only non-gun ranged weapon that I'm aware of is the Signal Flare, and I see no thematic or balance reason why Lizzy shouldn't be able to use that. So, how about this then:

DOUBLE TAP - Once per game round, may immediately shoot a ranged weapon at a single Zombie beaten in a fight.

I like the idea, by the way, of saying "a single Zombie" to make it more explicitly clear that the Pump Shotgun can't be used against every Zombie in the same space.

[PJON]

Hi. Nice intereresting char. I do agree with

DOUBLE TAP - Once per game round, may immediately shoot a ranged weapon at a single Zombie beaten in a fight.

What if she lost her shot gun and is shooting a revolver. Allowing for what ever ranged weapon she has for her range also.

Nice work