Zombie Hero special abilities

[Grudunza]

I was thinking the other day about this Zombie Masters variant and how it would add some great character and more tactics to the Zombie team (which has already been helped by the Grave Weapons). And then I was playing the other night as the Zombies and feeling a little disappointed that I had two Zombie Heroes in my control but they had no distinction other than the number of wounds they had. And I thought, what if each of the Heroes had a special ability for when they become Zombie Heroes?

I'd forgotten about that idea, but then yesterday I saw exactly that kind of thing here, used for some custom characters.

Granted, it would probably be prohibitively costly for FFP to reproduce all new double-sided character cards for the existing Heroes. But I'd love to see them release something along those lines. I think it could work to just have regular sized Hero cards, or smaller-sized cards (like FFG uses a lot), that could fit in landscape orientation to cover up a Hero's original special abilities when they become a Zombie Hero, and include one character-specific Zombie Hero ability. In the meantime, I'd be up for creating some actual cards for that via Artscow if we can agree on the abilities for everyone.

Considering Zombie Heroes already have extra wounds and can move d3, I think each ability would have to be something relatively mild (compared to the Grave Weapons zombie abilities), and I'm sure this would be worth an extra dot for the Z's. In a lot of cases, I think the Hero's original ability could come into play in the same or similar way.

Here's what I've got for each character...

BILLY: Moves d3+1.

SALLY: May cause Heroes fighting her to re-roll any of their Fight Dice.

FATHER JOSEPH: May take a wound to cancel any Hero card on the roll of 4+.

BECKY: May heal one wound from herself or another Zombie Hero at the end of the Zombie turn.

JENNY: Heroes may not use Hand Weapons against her.

JOHNNY: When entering a space with more than one Hero, may fight all of them.

JAKE: At the start of the Zombie Turn, draw back up to 5 cards, then immediately discard one card.

SHERIFF: Has a Revolver with 5 Ammo markers and may shoot at a Hero once per turn during the Fight Heroes phase by discarding an Ammo marker. Range 3, hits on 1 or 2.

KENNY: When he takes a Wound in a Fight, the Hero loses one Item.

RACHELLE: May ignore any Wound on the roll of 6+.

SAM: May cancel any Hero card used against him on the roll of 4+.

AMANDA: Any Male Hero fighting her rolls one less Fight Dice.

VICTOR: May use the ability of one Hand Weapon held by a Hero he is fighting (who may not use that weapon).

JADE: Gains one Fight Dice against any Hero who is not Strange.

MR. GODDARD: May take a Wound to immediately draw a Zombie Card or take any Event (except Play Immediately) out of the Zombie Cards discard pile.

STACY: If she ends her Move on a Spawning Pit, may immediately draw one Zombie Card.

Whaddya think? Any suggestions?

[mqstout]

I like. A couple need tweaking (Jake and Goddard immediately stick in my mind).

[Grudunza]

Yeah, I think Goddard would be too powerful to be able to draw any Event from the discard pile. Some of those are really nasty. Jake's ability seems good to me, though maybe the wording could be better...

Any ideas for these, by all means, let me know...

Here are some images of what I have in mind:




Regular size cards fit just right over the ability section of each character sheet... the only thing that doesn't quite fit is for Sam, because of his extra wound. Once I can solidify the abilities for everyone, I'll probably create an Artscow deck to get these done in decent quality. That's only 16 cards, though... I'll need some ideas for other things to fill out the other 38 cards.

[bigbertha1000]

Superb idea and nicely presented. Being a predominantly zombie player, I've often been at odds with the 'diluted' play of the zombies compared with the heroes. I agree with the fact that zombie heroes are kind of a 'prize' for the zombie player, so these 'dark side' alternatives are just what I've been looking for.

The only thing I could even remotely wonder about is Jenny (and this is a very minor thing). My initial reaction was that her ability was quite heavy. Maybe limit it to one-handed hand weapons or just two-handed hand weapons, or even do a token-based 'finite' ability like you've done with Sheriff Anderson's gun trait. Just a suggestion for you to run through the old brainbox.

Great work though. I'll be eagerly awaiting your updates/finished cards. Like so many people on these forums, I respect and appreciate the effort and imagination folks put it for the enjoyment of the other fans.

[mqstout]

Grudunza, I seriously approve!

[Grudunza]

That's a good point about Jenny. I think what I'll change it to is that Heroes may not use Hand Weapons against her on the roll of 4+. That way, it's only a "sometimes" kind of thing.

[Lyude]

That's nice

I think Amanda's ability can be a bit different:

Beautiful--- for a zombie: each zombie fighting in the same space as her roll one extra fight dice.

It makes more sense for the title ability

[bigbertha1000]

I like Lyude's addition. Problem is - I also love the whole male/female dimension. It adds that little bit more, if you know what I mean. I think that the beautiful aspect is the way to go (given that her 'normal' ability is such), but if it were to flip to the other side, she should be bolstering the zombie's efforts. Alternatively, because she represents beauty 'gone wrong', that could have a doubly negative effect on the human males. Tough one, as I love both ideas.......

[Grudunza]

bigbertha1000 Wrote:I like Lyude's addition. Problem is - I also love the whole male/female dimension. It adds that little bit more, if you know what I mean. I think that the beautiful aspect is the way to go (given that her 'normal' ability is such), but if it were to flip to the other side, she should be bolstering the zombie's efforts. Alternatively, because she represents beauty 'gone wrong', that could have a doubly negative effect on the human males. Tough one, as I love both ideas.......

Well, that's what I was thinking originally, that the male Heroes lose Fight Dice because they're more in shock than anything... "Hey, it's Amanda! (moving closer) Hey, Amand-- Auughh! She's a zombie! No!!"

To me that's more amusing and flavorful, and I also don't want these abilities to be too overpowered (compared to the Grave Weapons, for example), so to have that be a more limited effect is better, I think.

[bigbertha1000]

I think stick with the original idea. When I played LNOE with my Wife and friends, they have frequently commented on aspects that effect the gender of adjacent heroes as being a great idea. In my opinion, there isn't enough gender-driven content. So, its a thumbs up from me.