Player made characters

[zlack74]

My friends and I made some characters and were curious what others thought.

Jim. Adult. Bus Driver. Special: Token Black Guy: If Jim is the first hero killed, he does not count towards the the number of heroes the zombies must kill to win the game. If Jim is not the first hero killed, zombie players may not use cards to discard from the hero draw deck until he is slain.

(During my three test games with Jim, he seemed to be balanced. The zombie players harassed Jim but waited to put on the pressure until another hero had been killed. Since Jim's ability is more useful the later the game goes, he would often end up dead towards the middle of the game since his death counts at that point towards the maximum. None of the people playing felt that being unable to prevent discarding hero deck cards was over powered because it added length to the game but also only really matters when the heroes are down to ten cards or less and the infamous discard ten cards card could come into play. Normally the game was over or Jim was dead before that happened.)

Aundra. Adult. Actress. Special 1: Coward: If a zombie starts it turn in Aundra's space, she gets +1 to movement if she runs away.

Special 2: Play dead: If Aundra skips her entire turn, zombies may not attack her until the start of her next turn.

(We discovered Aundra has some interesting issues. She's good at avoiding trouble. However, she can be shut down easily. Our zombie master figured out that by waiting for Aundra to use play dead, and then keeping a zombie or two in the spaces adjacent to her prevented her from benefiting from Coward. This tactic practically forced her out of Play Dead and make her fight her way out, especially in buildings. Otherwise she could end up lying on a floor all game. Which actually happened once. But we felt that she was balanced and fun.)

Gunther. Adult. Miner. Special: starts with an explosive.

(We considered giving Gunther a bonus to "Lights Out" or a lighter but after play testing him, we felt that starting with an explosive was enough. Any thoughts on him would be great."

Adam. Prankster. youth. Special 1: Caltrops: Once a game, Adam can pick a square adjacent to him. Any token that enters that square or starts its turn there must spend its next turn in that square (though it may still fight or search room as normal). This affects heroes and zombies alike.

Special 2: Youth. May give up move action to fully heal.

(Adam has some interesting possibilities. He can effectively slow an advance of zombies or set a defensive point. One of the three games we tested with him had him throw a bunch of caltrops into the square of four zombies. Since they couldn't move, this gave the Sheriff enough time to move and fire a shotgun blast into the zombies, killing three of the four. Ironically, those caltrops killed Adam on game when he put them in a door way and then had to run out when the build got "Taken Over.")

Well there you have them, our four costume characters. I hope you will give me feed back about them and let me know what you think, and if you feel like trying them out just let me know you are and how they worked for you.

[Orguss]

Jim's first ability is funny. I like it a lot. Flavor wise, spot on. His second ability is actually a hinderence. NEVER will you lose because you run out of cards. I have the zombies mill 10, 4 times. And abused the level up system to mill and didn't come close. Never. Also, it should just read "Cancel any Zombie Card that would discard a card off the hero deck" No death clause should be added.

Aundra should read "If Aundra starts her movement in a space with a zombie, you may add +1 her movement dice roll.

No hero should start with an explosive item. So many scenarios use it as a search item.

Adam, instead of once per game, make it a roll based ability. Instead of moving, Adam may drop caltrops on a roll of 5+. That's an average of every 3 turns. Plus it's instead of moving, so no youth or search to possibly do nothing. Balanced.

[zlack74]

I really appreciate the advice for Jim and Aundra. I'm trying to make these characters as fair as i can for our next game. I've changed the wording around on them.

My friend who made Gunther is considering what to change. We were thinking maybe giving him an extra combat dice when fighting in buildings since he is a miner or being unaffected by "Lights Out" or starting with a lighter. Any thought son what to do with him?

Also, I really like the idea about Adam but do you think he would be too powerful? i worry that he could have a whole wall of caltrops covering the board if he was rolling hot. Or do you believe its balanced because it affects zombies and heroes and can act as a double edged sword?

[abomination]

since gunther is a miner you could start him with the shovel or the flashlight instead of the explosives both would still be flavorful.

Another ability you could give jim is, if he is in a space with another hero all zombies must fight him

One thing you could do with audra since she is an actress is let her move one space during the zombie turn after all zombies have moved like she's acting like a zombie.

how many wounds do each of your charaters have by the way?

[nitro9090]

For adam, thematically it would be fun to have the caltrops go away when zombies walk over them, since caltrops would get embedded in to zombies. Maybe only 3 zombies and/or heroes may be slowed down per caltrop and you could use a number counter to mark this.

Then there is always the less thematic but easier game mechanics way, in which there can only be 1 on the field at a time.

Both should help your adam balancing issue.

I like abominations idea of her zombie walking away from zombies, but it should also be a roll mechanic. Maybe immediately when a zombie moves into her space on a 5+ she can try to convince the zombie she is one of them and can zombie shamble 1 space away from the zombie that moved into her space (only once per turn).

[zlack74]

Here's what we came up with so far based off your guys advice. Any more advice would be awesome.

Adam (who is now Jeremy according to my friend lol) now reads:

Caltrops: Instead of moving, Jeremy can drop caltrops in a square adjacent to him on a roll 5+. Caltrops last until a figure (hero or zombie) enter the square. When a figure enters, they must immediately stop and must spend their next turn in that square. (Though they may search or fight as normal) You may have no more than 2 caltrops squares at a time.

Youth: May give up move action to fully heal.

Has student hit points.

Aundra: has normal adult hp pool

Thriller: when a zombie enters her space, Aundra may move to an adjacent square on a 4+ once a turn.

Act Dead: If Aundra skips her entire turn, no zombie may attack her until the start of her next turn.

Jim regular adult hp

Token Black Guy: If Jim is the first hero killed, his death does not count towards number of heroes the ZP need to kill to win.

Sucks being that Token Black Guy: Any zombie in Jim's square or adjacent to him must attack him, even if other heroes are in his square or adjacent to him.

Pills here!: While searching, Jim may take a med kit from the discard pile and add it to his inventory.

Gunther regular adult hp

Miner: Starts with flashlight.

Tunnel rat: +1 to attack rolls made inside buildings.

[abomination]

I like what you have done with your characters, I really like Jim he just makes me laugh, though his ability to always pickup a med kit might be over powered you might want to make him roll for it.
To bad there isn't a pickaxe weapon you could give gunther.

[zlack74]

Hmmm, good point on the med kits thing. Maybe should be:

While searching, roll a d6. On a six, Jim may instead pull a med kit from the discard pile.

and yeah Gunther is a hard one. lol

And I'm working on character templates, hope to upload them once I get their abilities ironed out. I'm loving everyone's help on these and my friends are too. Thank you

[abomination]

I think if you let jim pick up a med kit on a five or six even
Since your making characters you could always make a pickaxe card for gunther maybe

double handed weapon
hero may move through walls subtract 1 from movement for each wall moved through this way.

combat bonus: hero adds +1 to any fight dice if a zombie is killed roll a d6 on the roll of a one or two discard pickaxe.

[Orguss]

6 is too much, make it 5+