Abilities?

[Lord Mercat]

I have noticed that there are quite a few units that people have made that posses various unique abilities, such as multi-dexterity, dual wielding, CC master, Ranged Master, etc. I was just wondering if there was a list of all these various abilities, or are they simply all made up as needed? Thanks!

[IVhorseman]

The only "official" abilities are those listed on stat cards and in the rulebook, but Sylvanius and I have both put up our own houserule abilities if any of those look interesting.

Other than that, yeah, just make up abilities for your units. My suggestion would be just to outfit your units with whatever weapons you want them to use, and if you realize later that you technically can't carry both a spear and a knife, you invent an ability like "skirmisher" that lets you do so.

[Lord Mercat]

Awesome, that was exactly what I was looking for, thanks!

[IVhorseman]

Feel free to share your ideas for abilities as well, either here or on either of those pages!

[Rev. Sylvanus]

Yup. More input and more ideas are always good. Many "special abilities" from other table top games port over well (with modifications, of course).

[Gungnir]

The vast majority of abilities I use are made up as needed, but I have been known to use stuff from here. I believe there are a few threads in the Bonus Material section of the forum.

[Lord Mercat]

Okay, I haven't played nearly as much brikwars as I would have liked, so I can't vouch for how well they would work, but here are a few abilities I came up with, please let me know what you think, too overpowered, too underpowered, what should the cost be, etc. Thanks!

Fluid Savagery-(melee) Upon killing an enemy unit, this unit may move up to one inch and make another attack. Made with either berserkers, or expert swordsmen in mind, like in the movies, where one killing blow is transferred effortlessly into the character's next attack/kill, basically a good way to deal with a lot of enemies that are close together, IE squads.

Assassin's Mark- You may mark one enemy unit (per battle). Add 1d6 to all rolls targeting the marked unit. (only affects rolls made by the unit with ability assassin's mark) Self explanatory.

Superior Form- (melee) Against units without Superior Form, you may add +2 to either the skill roll, or the damage roll.

Flourish of Steel- (melee only) May Parry/Riposte with only one weapon, no limit on parry/ripostes per turn.

One Shot, One Kill- (Does not apply to machines. Size 3 and lower only) On a natural critical, if you roll a 4 or higher on the bonus die, the target is eliminated, regardless of armor/health.

You Shall Not Pass- Unit exudes a powerful defensive aura that nothing (excepting units with flight) may pass through, extending up to 3" from each of the units arms. Wasn't sure how long the aura should extend for this ability. Perhaps different levels may be the best solution? Anyway, idea is taken from movies where you always end up with the one guy holding back ridiculous amounts of enemies by their lonesomes, could be used to have one unit hold an important pass, etc, or several figs with this talent could be used to hold a front line with less men. Draws attention toward tanking figs that can take some punishment before they die, etc. Probably only be useful in more of a medieval setting however, as space has way too many ranged options for this to work nearly as well.

Implausible Fencing Skills- (melee) When rolling an attack against any unit with a size greater than one, the defending unit's armor is reduced by one size level. Taken from shows where you have the swordsman that cuts through pretty much anything, IE Goemon Ishikawa from Lupin III.

And those are all that I have right now. Please give your opinions, I'd like to know if these would work, or would be useful. Thank you for your input!

[samuelzz10]

the one shot one kill is a little cheap. EX: A mountain giant that is size 3 that cost about 40 CP comes down a valley to attack units, and one arrow kills it and the enemy team's whole troop is without a powerhouse.

[Rev. Sylvanus]

I would also suggest capping "Fluid Savagery" to a single extra attack; someone else here on the forums had a cleave-type special that was similar and had such a limitation. Point being, it's pretty easy to craft a beast of a CC Hero (1d10 or 1d12 skill, two-handed weapon or magic sword, CC Weapon Master if you like being a munchkin) that effortlessly cleaves through an entire squad or two of units. Especially when its my opponent pulling cheez like that, I find it pretty un-fun, to retaliate with either a severe beating or the most munchkiny Heroic Feat I can think of...

And, yeah, One Shot One Kill might need some tweaking, too. Would be pretty frustrating a Robin Hoodlum hero one-shotting all my griffins and dragons. Perhaps just make it an improved critical threat range while aiming (i.e. 5's and 6's count as critical successes to hit if the figure used last turn to aim).

[Lord Mercat]

Okay, Can see where not having a cap on fluid savagery might be a problem, so I'll put in a one-use per turn cap on the extra attack.

As for One Shot, One kill, If the is skill is OP, what about this?- After taking one turn to aim, if the unit's next shot is successful, damage roll is doubled, and may not be parried.

Thank you for the input, it is much appreciated! Also, how are the other abilities, are they alright?

Regardless, here are a few more abilities I have:

Whites of their Eyes- Ranged attacks deal +2 damage when used at half of the weapon's maximum range.

Blazing Tenacity- When this unit would be killed, roll 3d6. If each of the 3 die has a result of 4 or higher, the unit will revive at the start of it's next turn with 1 health. May only be used once per match.

Quick to Bail- When this unit would be hit by an AoE attack, roll 1d6, upon a roll of 5 or higher, this unit takes no damage. Unit is automatically moved in a random direction outside of the AoE attack's range of effect. A natural critical cancels this ability.

After-Image-(Heroes Only) Enemy units take a -2 penalty on their skill rolls when targeting this unit. After-Image is only considered to be in effect when there is an open space of at least 1 inch on at least one side of the fig.

Death to Cowards- Free Counters against fleeing/disengaging Opponents deal +1d6 bonus damage.

Man I'm Pretty- Every other turn, roll 1d6. Upon a result of 3 or lower, nothing occurs. Upon a result of 4 or above, this unit may not take a normal action. Instead, the unit pauses to admire himself/herself. All units (allies included) within a 6" radius of the narcissistic unit must roll 1d6. If the roll for a unit is below 4, that unit may not take a normal action on their next turn, instead taking their turn to admire the studliness (pun intended) of the Self-Admiring fig.

[IVhorseman]

For memory's sake, I suggest replacing as many of the figures you can with 1, or 1d6 where you can. Adding +2 here and +3 there with another guy taking +1 but only every other turn can get very complicated very fast in the heat of brikwars. Here's a few tweaks you might think about:

Blazing Tenacity- When this unit would be killed, roll 3d6. If each of the 3 die has a result of 4 or higher, the unit will revive at the start of it's next turn with 1 health. May only be used once per match.

Why not just roll 1d6, and revive on a 6? It's not the exact same statistics, (use an 8 on a d8 if you want that), but it's fewer dice rolls.

Quick to Bail- When this unit would be hit by an AoE attack, roll 1d6, upon a roll of 5 or higher, this unit takes no damage. Unit is automatically moved in a random direction outside of the AoE attack's range of effect. A natural critical cancels this ability.

Bailing already exists, so why not just let these guys bail to try to get out of an explosion as a free action? If they roll high enough to dive out of range, then they successfully do so.

After-Image-(Heroes Only) Enemy units take a -2 penalty on their skill rolls when targeting this unit. After-Image is only considered to be in effect when there is an open space of at least 1 inch on at least one side of the fig.

I feel like this and superior form are a little boring, but that's just my opinion and you're welcome to ignore it.

Man I'm Pretty- Every other turn, roll 1d6. Upon a result of 3 or lower, nothing occurs. Upon a result of 4 or above, this unit may not take a normal action. Instead, the unit pauses to admire himself/herself. All units (allies included) within a 6" radius of the narcissistic unit must roll 1d6. If the roll for a unit is below 4, that unit may not take a normal action on their next turn, instead taking their turn to admire the studliness (pun intended) of the Self-Admiring fig.

Why every other turn? A true narcissist NEVER forgets! Besides, it'd be pretty easy for you to forget whether or not he rolled last turn (especially if three or four opponents just went!)


Other than those few tweaks, I really like all your abilities! The Sniper ability is very similar to your one shot one kill ability as it stands now, so you might want to just look into that and see which you prefer. Having a unit that can insta-kill other units is actually pretty alright for Brikwars, since you don't have to roll dice or waste time, and can instead just point and laugh at your opponents. It'd have to be pretty situational to not get everyone else at the table to get up and bludgeon you over the head over it, but if you can justify it, go for it!

[Keldoclock]

The extra attack lines up fairly nicely with a common D&D feat:

Cleave(3cp)
LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR!
- If this unit kills a unit with its (first and only) attack on this turn, it may make another attack.
Great Cleave(16cp)-
BLOOD FOR AMOK, GOD OF BLOOD!
-If this unit kills a unit with any of its attacks on this turn, it may make another attack.


The only problem is that someone who is dual-weilding daggers or pistols can't attack three times in a turn, but I'm okay with that.

[Lord Mercat]

Okay, point taken, will alter the additional points to be 1d6, or just 1 additional point. Also, I see that bailing is already an action, so I'll just scratch that ability, doesn't seem like a need for it. Took another look through the abilties list, and I prefer your sniper ability, so I'll probably just use that; in addition refining Blazing Tenacity to a 1d6 would make it the same essentially as the ability I'll be Back, so I'll do this-

Blazing Tenacity- Upon defeat, Roll 1d8, on a roll of 8, this unit is revived with 1 hp at the start of it's next turn. May be used up to two times during a match. Figured the harder roll would then make it okay to enable it to be used twice, rather than the one time afforded by the easier roll of I'll be Back. That is, assuming I'll be back does have a one time use cap?


Point taken about Afterimage and Superior form, looking back they feel.... unispired. So I will remake them to be more interesting, starting with AfterImage, how's this instead?

After-Image (Unit must have a minimum of 8" move, unit may not have any abilities that hinder movement) After this unit makes a movement amounting to at least half of its full move, place a token (preferably an identical figure if you have one) on the space the unit began its move from. When this figure is targeted and there is a token on the field, before skill is rolled, the attacking unit rolls 1d6. Should the unit roll below 4, the unit's attack/movement is redirected towards the token instead. (if the attacking unit may not reach the token, the attack cannot be made and is canceled) Tokens are destroyed after any successful hit, or vanish regularly upon the unit's next activation after leaving the token. Additionally, the unit may opt to roll 1d6 upon moving it's full move value. Should the roll be 5 or higher, one additional token may be placed on the field at the halfway point between the first token and the end of the unit's move. Should the roll be lower than 5, no tokens may be placed this turn.

I will also alter the Man I'm Pretty ability to activate every turn, I didn't want to make it every turn at first because it seemed like it might be a bit overpowered, but looking back I don't think it will hurt.

[Whiteagle]

Point taken about Afterimage and Superior form, looking back they feel.... unispired. So I will remake them to be more interesting, starting with AfterImage, how's this instead?

After-Image (Unit must have a minimum of 8" move, unit may not have any abilities that hinder movement) After this unit makes a movement amounting to at least half of its full move, place a token (preferably an identical figure if you have one) on the space the unit began its move from. When this figure is targeted and there is a token on the field, before skill is rolled, the attacking unit rolls 1d6. Should the unit roll below 4, the unit's attack/movement is redirected towards the token instead. (if the attacking unit may not reach the token, the attack cannot be made and is canceled) Tokens are destroyed after any successful hit, or vanish regularly upon the unit's next activation after leaving the token. Additionally, the unit may opt to roll 1d6 upon moving it's full move value. Should the roll be 5 or higher, one additional token may be placed on the field at the halfway point between the first token and the end of the unit's move. Should the roll be lower than 5, no tokens may be placed this turn.

I will also alter the Man I'm Pretty ability to activate every turn, I didn't want to make it every turn at first because it seemed like it might be a bit overpowered, but looking back I don't think it will hurt.

The new After-Image ability is certainly far better and much closer to what the name brings to mind.