WoE - Skill polishing - Aether

[Scaredgirl]

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It's time to go through all the 13 skill trees and make them "perfect". Main goals are:

1. Make all the skills fit to the theme of their path
2. Balance skills between different skill trees
3. Make big changes now that we have the technology trees and City buildings


We'll start from Aether.

Post any ideas if you have. Thanks.

[the dictator]

Ok, I will start.

First some general stuff (Yeah, I could have said it earlier, but I wasn't sure you were finished yet):

I understand the numbers on the left of a skill indicate the number of action points that skill uses, but that is never said anywhere. Also it might be a good idea to indicate passive skills with a 'F' (Free) or a 'P' (passive). (Free might be not the best option because I can imagine an active skill costing no action points but still costing a relic) Speaking of the relic cost, how will that be indicated? How about writing the AP-cost in italics and/or underlined?

A minor thing, but I have a netbook with a 12 inch screen, and a maximum screen resolution of 1366*768, which is usually fine, but the skill trees page is just too wide. If you could manage to make it a bit smaller that would be great. (Right now I miss the last 'd' in the Duplication description and everything right of it.).

Now on the skills themselves:

Dimensional Travel: Nobody knows that what that is supposed to do, so I have no idea about the balance. And bad wording is bad: "Move BETWEEN this world TO the next". 
Phantom Form: Not sure what this will do: does it mean you have 4 action points even when locked in battle (thus allowing you one more step in finishing the battle first round, or 2 extra steps on the second round). Will the phantom form be visible on the map for other players? Can the phantom form perform any action he want (might be a bit overpowered, it would allow chain-charging: attack someone, and while fighting (agressive) charge someone else, and while fighting ... etc.), or just walking (and if so, only normal move actions, or also fast travel).
Dimensional Walk: "3 hexes in any direction": does that mean only in strait lines (/, ---, \) or are routes like this also allowed __/?
Energy Barrier: "Non stacking": I can't see a symbol indicating the use of a relic, but if this skill uses one and multiple people use the skill do they all lose a relic?
Energy Strike: Feels more appropriate for the skill tree. Maybe it should have another (maybe additional) effect, some thing immobilizing: like target can spend only 3 AP on his next turn.

[UTAlan]

I understand the numbers on the left of a skill indicate the number of action points that skill uses, but that is never said anywhere.

Speaking of the relic cost, how will that be indicated? How about writing the AP-cost in italics and/or underlined?

I tried to find a good place for the relic icon but didn't really find any that I was happy about. I decided to just skip it, and use:

A) Cost underlined to show a Relic is needed
B) "Consume a Relic.." added to description

It's not optimal but too many icons might make things too confusing, plus there is the space issue.

EDIT: Adding my own comments...

Outworlder - Does this allow you to use a mark that you normally wouldn't have access to?

Energy Strike - "...in the same or adjacent hex": Is this effective as of the end of the Movement Phase? (i.e. If I use this skill, but the target player moves more than 1 hex away from me, does it still work?)

[Scaredgirl]

Thanks for feedback.

I understand the numbers on the left of a skill indicate the number of action points that skill uses, but that is never said anywhere. Also it might be a good idea to indicate passive skills with a 'F' (Free) or a 'P' (passive). (Free might be not the best option because I can imagine an active skill costing no action points but still costing a relic) Speaking of the relic cost, how will that be indicated? How about writing the AP-cost in italics and/or underlined?

A minor thing, but I have a netbook with a 12 inch screen, and a maximum screen resolution of 1366*768, which is usually fine, but the skill trees page is just too wide. If you could manage to make it a bit smaller that would be great. (Right now I miss the last 'd' in the Duplication description and everything right of it.).

I don't think 'F' or 'P' is needed because the absence of a number should be pretty clear indication that there is no cost involved. But I did a small visual tweak and added a small horizontal line to make it easier to understand. Skills that cost no action points but cost a Relic, will most likely not happen because players should have control over when they lose relics.

I also added 'Action Point' cost thing at the top of the page for clarification.

Page size is a problem that I cannot fix unfortunately. I've used that same size for most of the other tabs, including the new character sheet, and changing it now would be a nightmare. I have a 10 year old laptop that shows all the content and I used that for maximum size. People who have these crappy small laptops, are pretty much screwed and should buy better computers

Problem is of course that when I decrease the horizontal size, I have to increase the vertical size. This is why I have to pick some size that is "optimal", and just go with that.

Dimensional Travel: Nobody knows that what that is supposed to do, so I have no idea about the balance. And bad wording is bad: "Move BETWEEN this world TO the next". 
Phantom Form: Not sure what this will do: does it mean you have 4 action points even when locked in battle (thus allowing you one more step in finishing the battle first round, or 2 extra steps on the second round). Will the phantom form be visible on the map for other players? Can the phantom form perform any action he want (might be a bit overpowered, it would allow chain-charging: attack someone, and while fighting (agressive) charge someone else, and while fighting ... etc.), or just walking (and if so, only normal move actions, or also fast travel).
Dimensional Walk: "3 hexes in any direction": does that mean only in strait lines (/, ---, \) or are routes like this also allowed __/?
Energy Barrier: "Non stacking": I can't see a symbol indicating the use of a relic, but if this skill uses one and multiple people use the skill do they all lose a relic?
Energy Strike: Feels more appropriate for the skill tree. Maybe it should have another (maybe additional) effect, some thing immobilizing: like target can spend only 3 AP on his next turn.

Fixed the wording.

It will be visible. And yes, you can get bonus AP's that way (if you win the battle). Nope, you can only use 'Move' action, nothing more. Phantom Form is still under heavy construction though. It was just a quick idea I had that I think would fit the theme.

Straight line only.

Everyone loses a Relic. This is easy to avoid with some communication and teamwork.

Energy Strike is also one of my quick ideas. I actually think it fits pretty well to aether because of these two:



clearly has fast burst damage, which I translated to the skill. This brings us to one important point: WoE skills should reflect the cards of that element.

already has an immobilizing skill I think. Fits better to imo.

[the dictator]

I understand the numbers on the left of a skill indicate the number of action points that skill uses, but that is never said anywhere.

that was added after I commented

Speaking of the relic cost, how will that be indicated? How about writing the AP-cost in italics and/or underlined?

I tried to find a good place for the relic icon but didn't really find any that I was happy about. I decided to just skip it, and use:

A) Cost underlined to show a Relic is needed
B) "Consume a Relic.." added to description

It's not optimal but too many icons might make things too confusing, plus there is the space issue.

Yeah, I'm aware of that post, but I don't see anything like that in the skill trees

EDIT: Adding my own comments...

Outworlder - Does this allow you to use a mark that you normally wouldn't have access to?

Energy Strike - "...in the same or adjacent hex": Is this effective as of the end of the Movement Phase? (i.e. If I use this skill, but the target player moves more than 1 hex away from me, does it still work?)

Thanks for feedback.

I understand the numbers on the left of a skill indicate the number of action points that skill uses, but that is never said anywhere. Also it might be a good idea to indicate passive skills with a 'F' (Free) or a 'P' (passive). (Free might be not the best option because I can imagine an active skill costing no action points but still costing a relic) Speaking of the relic cost, how will that be indicated? How about writing the AP-cost in italics and/or underlined?

A minor thing, but I have a netbook with a 12 inch screen, and a maximum screen resolution of 1366*768, which is usually fine, but the skill trees page is just too wide. If you could manage to make it a bit smaller that would be great. (Right now I miss the last 'd' in the Duplication description and everything right of it.).

I don't think 'F' or 'P' is needed because the absence of a number should be pretty clear indication that there is no cost involved. But I did a small visual tweak and added a small horizontal line to make it easier to understand. Skills that cost no action points but cost a Relic, will most likely not happen because players should have control over when they lose relics.No, I was thinking of an activated skill that simply doesn't cost any (additional) action points, but still needs to be manually activated, for example some kind of buff to another action. Example, a replacement for the cloud rider skill: Consume one relic. On your next (special) move action you can move 1 additional hex. (but of course it can only be used once a turn)

I also added 'Action Point' cost thing at the top of the page for clarification.

Page size is a problem that I cannot fix unfortunately. I've used that same size for most of the other tabs, including the new character sheet, and changing it now would be a nightmare. I have a 10 year old laptop that shows all the content and I used that for maximum size. People who have these crappy small laptops, are pretty much screwed and should buy better computers

Problem is of course that when I decrease the horizontal size, I have to increase the vertical size. This is why I have to pick some size that is "optimal", and just go with that.

Yeah, I can see that, it was just a suggestion

Dimensional Travel: Nobody knows that what that is supposed to do, so I have no idea about the balance. And bad wording is bad: "Move BETWEEN this world TO the next". 
Phantom Form: Not sure what this will do: does it mean you have 4 action points even when locked in battle (thus allowing you one more step in finishing the battle first round, or 2 extra steps on the second round). Will the phantom form be visible on the map for other players? Can the phantom form perform any action he want (might be a bit overpowered, it would allow chain-charging: attack someone, and while fighting (agressive) charge someone else, and while fighting ... etc.), or just walking (and if so, only normal move actions, or also fast travel).
Dimensional Walk: "3 hexes in any direction": does that mean only in strait lines (/, ---, \) or are routes like this also allowed __/?
Energy Barrier: "Non stacking": I can't see a symbol indicating the use of a relic, but if this skill uses one and multiple people use the skill do they all lose a relic?
Energy Strike: Feels more appropriate for the skill tree. Maybe it should have another (maybe additional) effect, some thing immobilizing: like target can spend only 3 AP on his next turn.

Fixed the wording.

It will be visible. And yes, you can get bonus AP's that way (if you win the battle). Nope, you can only use 'Move' action, nothing more. Phantom Form is still under heavy construction though. It was just a quick idea I had that I think would fit the theme.

Straight line only.

Everyone loses a Relic. This is easy to avoid with some communication and teamwork. exactly my idea

Energy Strike is also one of my quick ideas. I actually think it fits pretty well to aether because of these two:



clearly has fast burst damage, which I translated to the skill. This brings us to one important point: WoE skills should reflect the cards of that element.

Yeah, I noticed the similarity with lightning, but then, what would be the difference with cards like shockwave and fire bolt

already has an immobilizing skill I think. Fits better to imo.
I looked for skills like that, but I couldn't find one

[Scaredgirl]

Yeah, I noticed the similarity with lightning, but then, what would be the difference with cards like shockwave and fire bolt

I looked for skills like that, but I couldn't find one

I didn't mean that direct damage is unique to . The point is that has cards that do that, therefore it fits the theme.

Manipulate Time eats Action Points.

[ak65ala]

Been waiting for a thread like this for a while.  Creative thought dump!!

Dimensional Walk: I am going to assume in straight lines.  It is hard to say how balanced this is without seeing any of the changes to the other movement skills, but I will assume nothing else has changed.  Standard move is 2/1.  This makes moving 1.33/1, but needing to move in straight lines and the only thing you do in the day.  Balanced.

Outworlder: My major dislike of this skill stemmed from how hard it was to get marks previously.  Now that everyone will have 8 marks at max level, this skill might be a bit under tuned, but it's still wonky to me.  It's almost too strong early then fades in usefulness later.  My vote is to axe it due to its 'overlap' in effect with mirror image. Replace.

Bane of Time: This comment will work for all the 'Bane of XXX' skills.  I feel, they are too mandatory (necessary for any T3) to be so.... blech.  I mean... 2xp for winning against 7.6% of the people in the game.  That's.... bad.  Buff!
Suggested buffs:

• In addition, gain +1 xp if opponent uses the time mark. Non-stacking. (+2 exp for time opponent with time mark... not 3)  This will make this ability useful for everyone in the game and allow some thought for those who attack you/ you attack.  Your opponent must choose to use a time mark and risk losing and you gaining more off of their choice.
• In addition, gain +1 salvage if opponent uses the time mark. See comment above.
• In addition, gain +2 upgrades when fighting on time's land. It's useful when attacking time, but might come with some exploits, like teaming up with time... which is opposite of what we want.
• In addition, you can convert any common time cards into your element's cards. (costs 1 AP each change-over). Complicated.  I'd prefer one of the top two buffs, but, this will allow someone who hates time to kill them, salvage their cards and not... like... ever have to use them.  Makes sense to me!

Mirror Image: The strength of this depends soloy on how easy you are making it to gain uncommon cards.  At the moment I will assume we are re-making characters each 'game' so, gaining uncommon cards will be easier, since you wouldn't want them to take too long to acquire (as you could do with a persistent world.) I'll also assume these 6 cards are free and disappear after your duel is over.  So, in my mind, this ability is super strong for T1.  6 free cards of your opponent's element, using their mark and all in aether (arguably the best splash element).  I'm on the fence, but I'd nerf to T2.  Nerf.

Duplication: You'll need to fix the other 'free card' abilities to match this one if you leave it here.  Any common, free, if you have it.  That's some strong stuff.  In using the life's talent for free cards, I feel like this one is balanced, you just need to make the other ones better.   Balanced.

Evasion: Perfect change. Balanced.

Ethereal Bond: I'm assuming it takes a relic, if so... Balanced.

Energy Barrier: Not sure why you changed this.  Did you find 10 free HP on a wall too strong?  I would put it back to 10 HP, non-stacking and 2 AP and a relic.  As of now it is too much like the air's town protection ability.  It's simple. if you are going to siege an aether town, bring friends.  If you don't like 10 HP, make it 5 HP, non-stacking, or some other number.  Revert.

Doppelganger: So overshadowed by Mirror image and totally situational.  If you leave it as is, you should allow Parallel Universe as well, for those who don't have the upgraded version.  I think you should put Mirror image here and axe this ability.   Replace.

Phantom Form: Beautiful ability.  Much better than Phase Shifter.  Make it "you can choose to teleport to your phantom" and I then I will feel it is T3 worthy.  Can be used as a diversionary ability as well as utility. Slight Buff.

Energy Strike: I liked Debilitate.  It felt balanced and a good fit to aether's kit.  They don't get upgrades, they don't get cool combat abilities (variable mark, free cards is, good, but not 'cool!').  If it is a problem with players not tracking de-buffs well, then I can understand this change.  Otherwise it feels like a lackluster T3 ability.   Revert.

Dimensional Travel: Until I know what it does, I cannot comment on it.  I am sure you have a plan for it, but unless we know what that is, it will be hard to shoot for it/balance it.  Unknown.

Tree Formation: Phantom side is about effecting movement, your body, your presence in this world.  All the abilities fit.  Energy side is about exerting pure energy into your environment.  Mirror image, doppelganger feel off here.  If I look at it like using energy and affecting your body to oppose your will onto your victims, it could feel better... Yea, they are alright.

New skill suggestions: Okay, removing outworlder, moving mirror image up to where doppleganger is, I am left with 2 holes.  Here are my idea suggestions:

• Put doppelganger in T1 if you still want it, make it 3 copies of PU or TU.
• Fading: Passive. If you lose all coin tosses within a duel and lose, discard 2 less cards per toss.  Mechanics, if you lose 0-2, there is a 25% chance to discard only 2 cards.  If you lose 1-2, there is a 12.5% chance to discard no cards.  It is like you are shifting into the other dimension to reduce damage to your body/army and if you win a toss, you are 'more on the aggressive' so you can't fade and attack at the same time!
• Scry:  2 AP. see target's actions for 3 days.  Since we have the ability to see other teammates actions, all you would have to do is add whomever you scry to that team's actions list.  It might be a bit for the developers to handle though...
• Lightning: 3 AP. Target player in same hex or adjacent hex discards 2 cards.  A washed down version of Energy Strike.  Usable only once a day and T1, so counter-able by light's chosen one, death's blood of the undead.
• Aether Chain: 2 AP.  Target player in your hex.  For the next three turns you may jump to them for another 2 AP.  Might be too complicated, but was one of my ideas to fix phase shifter.
• Shift of Power: Passive. You can upgrade up to 6 cards as though they were aether cards.  These upgrades cost twice as much.  Would be super synergy with mirror image, but I kind of like that. Allows some crazy choices but seems balanced for T1.  Costs twice as much means you need to spend 2 aether upgrades for each out of element upgrade you use this way.

Questions:

• At what levels do you gain mark skills? 1,4,7 etc?
• Is 24 the max level?
• Do we still gain 1 upgraded card for each skill point in a tree, only useful for that element, then 1 free upgraded card every 3 levels?

EDIT: fixed spelling....

[Jappert]

Dimensional Travel being this big unknown seemingly weak skill makes very unappealing to me in WoE.
People wish to know what their strongest possible skill will be, surprises are nice but not when it comes to this.

I'll comment more after reading what others have said.

[Scaredgirl]

Been waiting for a thread like this for a while.  Creative thought dump!!

Dimensional Walk: I am going to assume in straight lines.  It is hard to say how balanced this is without seeing any of the changes to the other movement skills, but I will assume nothing else has changed.  Standard move is 2/1.  This makes moving 1.33/1, but needing to move in straight lines and the only thing you do in the day.  Balanced.

Outworlder: My major dislike of this skill stemmed from how hard it was to get marks previously.  Now that everyone will have 8 marks at max level, this skill might be a bit under tuned, but it's still wonky to me.  It's almost too strong early then fades in usefulness later.  My vote is to axe it due to its 'overlap' in effect with mirror image. Replace.

Bane of Time: This comment will work for all the 'Bane of XXX' skills.  I feel, they are too mandatory (necessary for any T3) to be so.... blech.  I mean... 2xp for winning against 7.6% of the people in the game.  That's.... bad.  Buff!
Suggested buffs:

• In addition, gain +1 xp if opponent uses the time mark. Non-stacking. (+2 exp for time opponent with time mark... not 3)  This will make this ability useful for everyone in the game and allow some thought for those who attack you/ you attack.  Your opponent must choose to use a time mark and risk losing and you gaining more off of their choice.
• In addition, gain +1 salvage if opponent uses the time mark. See comment above.
• In addition, gain +2 upgrades when fighting on time's land. It's useful when attacking time, but might come with some exploits, like teaming up with time... which is opposite of what we want.
• In addition, you can convert any common time cards into your element's cards. (costs 1 AP each change-over). Complicated.  I'd prefer one of the top two buffs, but, this will allow someone who hates time to kill them, salvage their cards and not... like... ever have to use them.  Makes sense to me!

Mirror Image: The strength of this depends soloy on how easy you are making it to gain uncommon cards.  At the moment I will assume we are re-making characters each 'game' so, gaining uncommon cards will be easier, since you wouldn't want them to take too long to acquire (as you could do with a persistent world.) I'll also assume these 6 cards are free and disappear after your duel is over.  So, in my mind, this ability is super strong for T1.  6 free cards of your opponent's element, using their mark and all in aether (arguably the best splash element).  I'm on the fence, but I'd nerf to T2.  Nerf.

Duplication: You'll need to fix the other 'free card' abilities to match this one if you leave it here.  Any common, free, if you have it.  That's some strong stuff.  In using the life's talent for free cards, I feel like this one is balanced, you just need to make the other ones better.   Balanced.

Evasion: Perfect change. Balanced.

Ethereal Bond: I'm assuming it takes a relic, if so... Balanced.

Energy Barrier: Not sure why you changed this.  Did you find 10 free HP on a wall too strong?  I would put it back to 10 HP, non-stacking and 2 AP and a relic.  As of now it is too much like the air's town protection ability.  It's simple. if you are going to siege an aether town, bring friends.  If you don't like 10 HP, make it 5 HP, non-stacking, or some other number.  Revert.

Doppelganger: So overshadowed by Mirror image and totally situational.  If you leave it as is, you should allow Parallel Universe as well, for those who don't have the upgraded version.  I think you should put Mirror image here and axe this ability.   Replace.

Phantom Form: Beautiful ability.  Much better than Phase Shifter.  Make it "you can choose to teleport to your phantom" and I then I will feel it is T3 worthy.  Can be used as a diversionary ability as well as utility. Slight Buff.

Energy Strike: I liked Debilitate.  It felt balanced and a good fit to aether's kit.  They don't get upgrades, they don't get cool combat abilities (variable mark, free cards is, good, but not 'cool!').  If it is a problem with players not tracking de-buffs well, then I can understand this change.  Otherwise it feels like a lackluster T3 ability.   Revert.

Dimensional Travel: Until I know what it does, I cannot comment on it.  I am sure you have a plan for it, but unless we know what that is, it will be hard to shoot for it/balance it.  Unknown.

Tree Formation: Phantom side is about effecting movement, your body, your presence in this world.  All the abilities fit.  Energy side is about exerting pure energy into your environment.  Mirror image, doppelganger feel off here.  If I look at it like using energy and affecting your body to oppose your will onto your victims, it could feel better... Yea, they are alright.

New skill suggestions: Okay, removing outworlder, moving mirror image up to where doppleganger is, I am left with 2 holes.  Here are my idea suggestions:

• Put doppelganger in T1 if you still want it, make it 3 copies of PU or TU.
• Fading: Passive. If you lose all coin tosses within a duel and lose, discard 2 less cards per toss.  Mechanics, if you lose 0-2, there is a 25% chance to discard only 2 cards.  If you lose 1-2, there is a 12.5% chance to discard no cards.  It is like you are shifting into the other dimension to reduce damage to your body/army and if you win a toss, you are 'more on the aggressive' so you can't fade and attack at the same time!
• Scry:  2 AP. see target's actions for 3 days.  Since we have the ability to see other teammates actions, all you would have to do is add whomever you scry to that team's actions list.  It might be a bit for the developers to handle though...
• Lightning: 3 AP. Target player in same hex or adjacent hex discards 2 cards.  A washed down version of Energy Strike.  Usable only once a day and T1, so counter-able by light's chosen one, death's blood of the undead.
• Aether Chain: 2 AP.  Target player in your hex.  For the next three turns you may jump to them for another 2 AP.  Might be too complicated, but was one of my ideas to fix phase shifter.
• Shift of Power: Passive. You can upgrade up to 6 cards as though they were aether cards.  These upgrades cost twice as much.  Would be super synergy with mirror image, but I kind of like that. Allows some crazy choices but seems balanced for T1.  Costs twice as much means you need to spend 2 aether upgrades for each out of element upgrade you use this way.

Questions:

• At what levels do you gain mark skills? 1,4,7 etc?
• Is 24 the max level?
• Do we still gain 1 upgraded card for each skill point in a tree, only useful for that element, then 1 free upgraded card every 3 levels?

EDIT: fixed spelling....

There's some good stuff there.

I don't think that Outworlder is that powerful early in the game.. and when in max level, although you have 8 Marks, it could still be useful to be able to use those 4 other Marks, because that way you could surprise your opponent by playing a deck he didn't know you can play. But maybe I'm wrong.

I agree with the Bane buff. I increased the buff to +3XP and gave +1XP when neutralizing a hex. I like that Mark suggestion so I'll add that one as well.

I kind of disagree with the OPness of Mirror Image. I guess something like that should be tested to see how good it actually is. To me it's not that special really, especially later in the game.

My beef with the current Evasion is that it automatically evades Aggressive Charge. But what if I'm fortified and want my opponent to attack? Difficult to fix though.

I nerfed Energy Barrier because it was OP and lacked stacking. It enabled one player to fully block Siege done by 5 players. Current version blocks only 3, which is better imo. I also like the fact that it stacks because I think it fits better thematically: the more elementals you have maintaining the barrier, the more damage it absorbs. It will have to be capped though, which I will do right now.

I disagree about the Doppelganger skill. I think that the fact that the cards are upped, is a big advantage over Mirror Image. Seems like we see the usefulness of Mirror Image very differently Maybe someone else wants to give their opinion on the subject? About downgrading.. players are allowed to downgrade all upped cards if they don't have those upped cards on their account.

Letting players choose with Phantom Form is a bit of a problem.. how would it work technically?



Answers to the questions:

1, 3, 6 ..
Yes.
Yes.

I copied one of my old card ideas and changed champ skill a bit. It's not final but I think this kind of "pet" thing could be interesting. You would have this big monster with you that you could move around the map, attacking other players and cities. You would fight its battles yourself, using one of the pre-determined mono-aether decks with tons of upped cards.

[Essence]

I disagree about the Doppelganger skill. I think that the fact that the cards are upped, is a big advantage over Mirror Image. Seems like we see the usefulness of Mirror Image very differently  Maybe someone else wants to give their opinion on the subject?

I'm unhappy with Doppelganger for a completely different reason: there aren't (m)any other skills that require you to either build your deck around them or ignore the fact that you have them.  Doppelganger is a slick idea, but forcing a choice between "use TU or waste the skill" is kind of lame.

How about taking it meta: "You may invoke this power at the beginning of any battle.  You fight with an exact copy of your opponent's deck.  If you win, salvage 2 additional cards."

That's a Doppelganger, WoE style.

[the dictator]

(...)
My beef with the current Evasion is that it automatically evades Aggressive Charge. But what if I'm fortified and want my opponent to attack? Difficult to fix though.
(...)

How about adding a second line to the skill description: "Fortifying cancels this skill." It would make sense, I mean, when you just prepared yourself for battle why flee from it?

[YoungSot]

Thoughts and questions:

Tier 1:

Dimensional Walk - As Dict already mentioned, the wording's not very clear whether it needs to be in a straight line. Other then that, and assuming we will add terrain effects at some point, this skill is good.

Outworlder - Kind of loses it's usefulness the higher level you get, but it's only a t1, so while it's a good candidate to be replaced if we come up with something, it's also not a problem if we leave it as-is.

Bane of Time - The buff is appreciated. Looks good. Now Revenge is even more in need of a buff, but we can get to that later.

Mirror Image - This one is fairly awesome, just for adding a good bit of flexibility in the early game. The added flexibility in deckbuilding is almost OP for a t1, if we had something to replace it I'd consider moving it to the doppelganger spot.

Duplication - The theme is good, but ofc it needs to be balanced vs all the other electrum/card earning methods. Basically, I think we need to first figure out how much a typical "work" action will give, and then we can evaluate skills like crafting and this one to see how they compare. Duplicate has the significant advantage of being able to add cards without being in one of the specific cities that sell those cards. It synergizes very well with Ethereal Bond, allowing you to recover from a loss even more quickly, because you can recreate lost cards without visiting a merchant. Assuming a "typical" work action can generate a little over 1 average card cost in income, then I'd suggest we should make this at least a 3AP action (to prevent double usage) and then call it balanced.

Tier 2:

Evasion - I like the new version. looks good. Dict's suggestion about it not applying if you fortify seems like a good one.

Ethereal Bond - I like this skill. seems balanced and useful. The requirement to "use" the skill is a little confusing, since we don't normally think of using AP in the spirit world, so I would either:
1. Change it to something like "You may resurrect in the same hex you were defeated in, instead of your capital."
2. Note somewhere that AP can be spent in the spirit world. Random thought: In that case we might even consider also just making resurrecting a 4AP action, so that rather than having no actions for a turn, you are delayed in the spirit world by the fact that resurrecting takes your actions for that turn. That might make skills like Dimensional Travel or Chosen One more intuitive.

Energy Barrier - A fun skill, and very powerful in a siege environment. Looks good.

Doppelganger - The "Gain X copies of Y card upped during battle" abilities are not my favorites, but their balanced fine, so we could just leave them alone unless someone comes up with a better idea.

Tier 3:

Phantom Form - Interesting. Moving MORE due to battle seems kinda random though.

Energy Strike - I'm not a huge fan of skills that force other players to discard cards as their main effect. For one, the effect becomes less and less potent as the game progresses, because forcing a player to discard their 3 least useful cards won't matter unless the target is so poor that they can't spare anything. Secondly, it doesn't have much benefit to the user of the skill. What would the player be trying to accomplish by using this ability? I suppose it could work as a way to drive off unwanted players that for some reason you don't want to battle and are confident they won't just attack you, but that's too limited an appeal for a t3. That's my opinion at least.
What if we gave it a "lobotomizing" effect? Something that stops a target player from using a designated t3 or lower skill for x turns? possibly keep the discarding effect too, or perhaps not, but either way it would be a more useful ability to it's owner. Thoughts?

Tier 4:

Dimensional Travel - Presumably this allows you to resurrect instantly (possibly at the cost of a move action), and also to move to the spirit world without having to lose a duel (useful for avoiding other players). Should we word the ethereal bond power so that you can return to the Normal world in the same place you left? Or would using this ability to move to the spirit world mean you return to your capital? Either one works, just need to clarify. This is a good capstone power.
EDIT: oh now it's changed to a summoning power I see. A cool idea certainly. Only one dimensional horror per champion or total on the map? How long does the NPC last? Of course, the big question is what sort of stats does the horror possess? I'll try to think of some suggestion for the horror's stats.