New Game Mechanics Article: Sorcery Subfactions

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07/19/2004, 21:27

Shoveler

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New Game Mechanics Article: Sorcery Subfactions

Mage Knight: SorceryNew Game Mechanics
Subfactions
by Kevin Goddard

Mage Knight: Sorcery introduces 10 new powerful Subfactions to Mage Knight. 8 of the Subfactions provide a group of specialist who can take advantage of the new spell books and spells found in Mage Knight: Sorcery. The other two Subfactions provide their parent factions with some new options and strategies.

	Atlantean Empire – Delphana: Delphane is the birth place of Tezla. As you may expect with such a noble history, the Delphana are very powerful sorcerers. Their subfaction ability, Focus, allows the sorcerer to add 1 to its counterspell rolls. It does not matter if the warrior is the casting or countering sorcerer either!
	Black Powder Revolutionaries – Forgemasters: The Forgemasters are almost exclusively dwarves and their assistants. Working to arm the Revolutionaries with new magical weapons, these Dwarves have lost their magical immunity. Instead, they have actually become infused with magic, even gaining the ability to wield it! Having overcome their own magic immunities, the Forgemasters' Spellbreach optional subfaction ability allows them to overcome the magic immunities of other warriors as well.
	Dark Crusaders – Blood Cultists: The Blood Cultists are using the increased power to fuel their dark rituals. Members of the Dark Crusade are willing to give themselves to their holy cause, no matter what is asked. The Blood Cultists only ask for a little bit of life force! Syphon Energy, another optional subfaction ability, allows a friendly figure in base contact with a Blood Cultists member to take a click of damage, and remove a token from the Blood Cultist.
	Elemental Freeholds – Storm Druids: The Storm Druids are as unpredictable as their namesakes and their sub-factional ability reflects this as well. Nature's Fury requires that the Storm Druid member roll one six sided die with making a close or ranged combat action. If the result is less then the unmodified damage value of the warrior, add its attack bonus (assuming it has one) to the attack. Yes, this means that you can possibly add the attack bonus twice!
	Elven Lords – Order of Sorcery: One of the stronger magic wielding factions, the Elven Lords' Order of Sorcery are adapt at working with the stronger magics. Their subfaction ability, Ley Harmony, allows all members of the Order of Sorcery to reduce the browse cost of a 3 tabbed spell to 2 instead.
	Orc Khans – Chaos Shamans: Orc players will be use to the "chaotic" nature of their favorite faction, and the Chaos Shamans continue that tradition. An optional subfaction ability, Magestone Trance allows a member of the Chaos Shamans to take a second action during the current turn. This breaks one of the founding rules of Mage Knight, no warrior may be given an action twice in one turn. The cost, however, can be heavy. After the action is resolved, two six-sided dice are rolled. If the result is less then the warrior's unmodified attack value (not including the attack bonus), the dice are rolled again. The warrior takes 1 pushing damage every time the result of the dice are less then the unmodified attack value.
	Draconum – Dragon Mystics: The Draconum are perhaps the strongest magic wielders in the Land. An ancient race, they have been using magic for thousands of years. Having such a background it only follows suit that the Dragon Mystics subfaction ability is Ancient Mastery. This ability allows the Dragon Mystic to always use the affinity page count for all spells, regardless of the faction requirement. It can also use any spell that has an affinity page count, regardless of the faction requirements.
	Solonavi – Oracles of Rokos: Possibly one of the most powerful new subfactional abilities is the Oracles' Mind Tap. This optional ability lets the warrior gain a single special ability of a single target figure within it's range until the beginning of the controlling player's end phase. Since this ability happens at the beginning of your command phase, all sorts of surprises can arise. Your opponent bases your Oracle of Rokos figure with a figure with Venom. Turn the tables and copy Venom onto your Oracle, causing he damage first! This ability provides a great deal of flexibility to the strategic player.

Two other factions receive new subfactions, though those subfactions don't really focus on the magic available in the set.

Mage Spawn – Order of the Ninth Circle:
In the past, Mage Spawn were seen as wild animals, thinking more with their stomachs then with their brains. The members of the Order of the Ninth Circle, however are not animals. They are mercenaries, available to whoever will pay their point cost. Their subfaction ability, called Pact, provides them with the faction symbols of all friendly figures in play. Only five warriors in Mage Knight: Sorcery are members of the Order. The four ultra-rare warriors, and one unique, who will be a familiar face to long time players.

Apocalypse – Minions of Apocalypse:
The second subfaction for the Apocalypse, the Minions of Apocalypse are the secret operatives of the Apocalypse. Bedlam is written in a special way, and attention must be paid to the wording. The first part states that no figure with 10 inches of the warrior may use gang up. This is not optional. The second part, proceed with the Optional keyword is. When a Minions of Apocalypse warrior is given a close or ranged combat action, it can used the unmodified attack value of any Minions of Apocalypse instead of its own.

In order to ensure that players can field as many sorcerers as they would like, warriors numbered 61 and up are available on the slotted bases. In the past only Unique warriors had these bases, however, the warriors from number 61 to 84 are non-Unique.

Mage Knight: Sorcery introduces ten new, powerful subfactions that will add new variety and options to your Mage Knight games, whether you play in competitively in tournaments, or competitively around the house!

07/19/2004, 21:36

imported_imported_imported_Bahamut

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And here it is, dwarven sorcerors can pierce magic immunity, and the oracle ability is interesting in that it can copy a SA of a target figure in range.

07/19/2004, 21:39

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yeah the solonavi subfaction is pretty cool.

Wonder who the familiar unique magespawn will be. Maybe a krugg since they seem somewhat inteligent? i would love a new wraith though.

07/19/2004, 21:41

imported_!!#1balla!!

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These are awsome!

07/19/2004, 21:45

imported_Venomous

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i wonder who the familiar magespawn is. it couldd be gate guardian.. thatd be cool

07/19/2004, 21:45

Drac_Mike

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Wow....just wow, I have to assimilate this info and then I will freak out more.

07/19/2004, 21:50

LrdDarkKnigh

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Very interesting sub-factional abilities... Can't wait to see some figure sneak peaks.

Somehow I think that Raydan Marz might be the Unique order of the ninth circle figure. I guess we'll have to see.

07/19/2004, 21:50

Sho-nuff

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Wow, they've been posting these things later at night lately, eh?

Outstanding powers all around. Can't wait to see how the Atlantis one counters counterspells. And the elf one seems quietly nice, also.

One question though - do you think the Solonavi one will allow you to copy friendly figures as well, or just opposing - it doesn't seem to specify enough for me.

-S

07/19/2004, 21:58

outlaw7

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:eek::eek::eek:
These are pretty friggin' sweet!!! :D

They all seem pretty useful, but the BPR and Draconum ones really stick out. Being able to pierce :mi: is going to be crucial, as that is one of the few abilities keeping sorcerers from getting out of hand. The Draconum one has got to take the cake IMHO. Being able to use practically any spell, let alone always getting the cheapest cost, allows for incredibly powerful spellbooks. A sorcerer is only as powerful as the spells he's caring, afterall.

The Elven Lords subfaction seems a bit disappointing for "one of the stronger magic wielding factions." I don't know, maybe it is too early to tell, but browse costs don't seem that bad to me. Plus how many spells are going to have a browse cost of three, anyway? Maybe if it made everything a browse cost of one it would be powerful, but as it is now it is a little weak.

The Solonavi one is also interesting, but it seems a bit too situational to me. It is either going to be incredibly powerful, or useless. I'm thinking the majority of the time it is going to be the latter. You are going to have to bring your extra abilities with you, cuz you know your opponent isn't going to help you out. Also, it ends at the end of your turn, so you can't copy defensive abilities like Ghost Form or Invulnerability. It will make for some interesting builds, but it won't be game shaking.

The Mage Spawn and Apoc subfactions really disappoint me. The Mage Spawn one is no different than the ability all Apoc have built right into them. The Apoc one has potental, but with only one or two figures available, it won't have much use. Anti-swarm is the only thing it will be helpful with.

07/19/2004, 21:59

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The Lich has got to be the magespawn unique!

But man, this is a whole bunch all at once, it seems they're just adding things exponentially here from set to set....

07/19/2004, 22:00

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rekced

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single target figure...that would mean friendly or opposing. Just like the forgemasters should be able to be used on friendly or opposing figures as well.

Also the draconum one seems pretty cool. Getting the cheaper cot always and ignoring faction rules.

07/19/2004, 22:06

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Was it just me or did anyone else think of Valkyrie Tazia when the read the Blood Cultists' subfaction ability. This would give you an easy way to get her on her bound click and also let you move up you blood cultist figure quickly. It would also be really cool if the solonavi subfaction applied to your own figures. (a chain of invulnerable solonavi thanks to a cheap Vurgoyle. Sound fun to me.) These new subfactions sound like they are going to be a blast to play with.

07/19/2004, 22:09

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Quote

Originally posted by Outlaw7
I don't know, maybe it is too early to tell, but browse costs don't seem that bad to me. Plus how many spells are going to have a browse cost of three, anyway?

Hard to say, but they will certainly be the most powerful spells.

Quote

The Mage Spawn and Apoc subfactions really disappoint me. The Mage Spawn one is no different than the ability all Apoc have built right into them

The ability that the Apocolypse figures used to have. Apocolypse figures no longer have the abilities that built into the faction during Unlimited.

07/19/2004, 22:09

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imported_imported_imported_imported_spike

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the mage spawn unique will probably be a person with an actual name not a title :( it would be nice to get another lich though

07/19/2004, 22:17

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I'm assuming that the non uniqe with slots can't carrie Relics of items (though this may have been stated or something, I missed it)

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