Building Your Character - Discussion on Balance and Flavor 3

Well, this is going to be our last installation (for the moment) on Character Design. And for this week's blog, I'm going to talk about raw strength and power. AND I am also going to be making a character out of the "Hostile Hands: Races of New Earth" deck. AND because I like you guys so much, I'm going to be building not just one, but two (yep, two!) characters today. I know, I know...it's like Christmas morning for you right now...but calm down...you might not like what you see...

Untold has some great races. The Klik with their endless tools, the L'na and their mighty magic, and the Apoc with the Churl's barbarian strength and the Highbred's military training. But, I have always been a fan of the unusual and uncommon. I like my monsterous races a lot. Whether playing a bad guy turned good, or just a bad guy (which I like to do), monster races are for me. You get to do stuff others can't or won't. So what are our two races for today? Well, first, we'll be dealing with a Flux twisted Perverse. And secondly, we'll be creating a Loph and for added flavor, it'll be Flux twisted as well. Ok, so I'm cheating a little bit by using the same set of powers for both creatures. BUT the flavor of these characters differ greatly.

I am a huge H.P. Lovecraft fan. I've always liked Lovecraft. His stories of the bizarre elder gods are incredible works of fiction (I hope..) that have greatly influenced the scifi/fantasy community at large. With Lovecraft in mind, we're going to be building our two characters. If you want to have a little more fun with this, then after reading this blog, let me know what TWO stories you think inspired these characters and why.

Both of these characters are going to be epic level, 100 UP, and can be used either as a powerful boss creature or a character as well. Keep it mind that these character designs are going to be fairly simple and straight forward in nature. Some might look at these characters and think the designs are too simple. But that is the beauty of Untold: even a simple character can still be incredibly powerful.

So, the Perverse is first on deck. The Flux horror is the embodiment of tainted and twisted evil. So, here's the Character Deck:
Character Deck: 76UP
Perverse Race Card - 4UP
Soul 6 - 17UP
Flux Strike 3 - 8UP
Greater Regeneration 2 - 12UP
Insane Aura 2 - 14UP
Plague Bearer - 5UP
Soulless Touch - 8UP
Warp Touch - 8UP

So here is our Perverse QRC: VIT 6, Body 1/0/1, Soul 6/6/6. Now, this may not look like much, but this character can do some real damage. My favorite card out of this character deck is "Insane Aura". It's an AoE draining card, and once it has a target down to -30 Mind Boost, that target PERMANENTLY gains the "Insane" Bane. Soulless Touch, Warp Touch, and Plague Bearer can all stack on one another, making any thing within touch range regretting ever looking on your insane visage. Flux Strike provides a straight up damaging ability, and Greater Regeneration allows you to recover any UP you might lose during combat.

So, this leaves us 24 UP for the Swap Buffer. The Swap Buffer is going to have 4 cards total, but more can be added as the character gains more UP. This is the Swap Buffer:

Eye of the Beyond
Feed On Sanity
Insane Eye
Reality Bubble

Eye of the Beyond functions in a manner similar to Insane Aura, but instead of the drain effect, Eye of the Beyond inflicts the "Despair" Bane. Insane Eye inflicts the "Demented" Bane, and combo'd with Eye of the Beyond can send a target running for the hills. Feed on Sanity is another way for the Perverse to heal and gain back UP. Reality Bubble is a really fun card. An AoE card, that can make a target "Prone".

So, here is our first horrible creation. A creature to terrible to look upon or even imagine. Now, remember, Untold can be whatever you want it to be. I might play this character as something that looks "normal" on the outside, but on the inside is really a Flux beast. Once it has gained the party's trust, it can turn on them, making them all insane and slaves to the Flux.

Now, the next character we're going to build is the Loph. Loph's are an ancient race of sea-dwelling creatures, lurking in the murky depths, wishing only to cover the globe in dark water. Now, in my mind, Lophs are related to the Flux. They live in the dark depths, preying on those above with a hatred and menace unmatched by others. And let's face it, the bottom of the ocean is practically an alien environment, so who knows whats down there? Anyways, so here's a Loph character deck:
Character Deck - 97 UP
Loph Race Card - 2UP
Body 11 - 37UP
Soul 4 - 11 UP
Awareness 2 - 2UP
Bite 3 - 6 UP
Piercing Claws 2 - 8UP
Echolocation - 3UP
Quick Swimmer - 4UP
Strong 2 - 4UP
Flux Strike 3 - 8UP
Greater Regeneration 2 - 12UP


So the QRC is looking like this: VIT 4, Body 11/12/13, Soul 5/4/4. So, the Loph shares some characteristics with the Perverse. However, this character shows some real flavor. Loph's are an aquatic race, so this character has Quick Swimmer. Lophs also live in the deep dark ocean, so this character also has Echolocation. Since the Loph has claws and a mouth full of teeth, this character also has Bite and Piercing Claws for physical damage. And the Loph likes physical damage.

That leaves up on 3 UP for the Swap Buffer, but thats ok. The Swap Buffer on has two cards: Charge and Grapple. These cards can be used in combination, and to devastating effect given the Loph's physical strength. And in the open environment the Loph would be found in, these cards are slightly remniscent of a Great White shark ambushing a seal in the water. A quick, brutal attack that will leave the opponent stunned and bleeding out. Raw power.

So there you have it, two powerful characters. Both are a lesson in raw strength and power. So, do you know what Lovecraft stories inspired these creatures? One is a dead (hehe) give away.

These characters are fun but simple builds that can do a lot of damage. Both characters can be found in the "Hostile Hands: Races of New Earth" deck, and all of the powers came from either this deck or "Powers: Flux Horrors". So, for $13.00, you can build two really nasty characters. And remember you can find these decks at your local Untold retailer, or here (http://untoldthegame.com/store) at the Untold store.

Next week, we'll be tackling Untold Battle. Also, if you there is anything Untold related you'd like to see discussed in this blog, let me know!

Thanks for reading and have fun!