Rex Does Kongai: Gangsters Four

Have to be brief tonight because I'm in the middle of a rather busy time. It's mid-term season and I figure to be hellishly distracted from the important cause of setting out a fictitious expansion for a game I don't even play any more.

Still, we're not doing that far behind schedule, all things considered. With only two weeks left in the month, I'll have to be quick if I want to get all the cards out there and polished, but we're nearly halfway there. At the end of this post the Gangsters should be in about the same place as the Rock Stars, ready to be put into the Compendium and set aside while I mull further changes. Still a bit left unfinished, but I probably won't have the time to set down and get to their flavor for a while yet.

If I can knock out the Psychos this week, that gives me until the end of the next to hammer out the Necros. Might have to pick up the pace but it should be within striking distance.

Anyhow, for tonight, since I actually want to get to bed, I'm going to put aside the lengthy discourses and, instead keep things simple with just my raw notes. If you're still paying attention, you'll probably be able to follow along and if not, well, that's what the comments are for.

Anyhow, on with the cards.


GANGSTER 1. SCAREFACE
Name: Sammy "Sunshine" Gilette, the Wartime Consigliere
HP: 75
RES: 5/1/1
Innate: Vicious Attacker. Has a 50% chance to Scar opponents for the next 10 turns on attack. (Scar: Your maximum health is lowered by 10. When you take damage over time it is increased by 50%.)
Bar (v3): #1 dmg to 7x4 from 14x2. #3 Speed up 5 from 3. DOT up 12for4 from 12for3. #4 Now prevents interrupts. +Crit dropped.

1. Switchblade Strikes. 25en, 4spd, 7x4(P). 95h, 25p. Bleeds 4for2. Close.
2. Machine Gun Burst. 30en, 7spd, 8x4(P). 90h, 100p. Ignores resistance. Far.
3. Molotov Cocktail. 55en, 5spd, 12(P). 90h, 100p. Burns 12for4. Both.
4. Frenzied Rage. 35en, 3spd, P. 100p. For next 4 turns, multi-hit attacks gain +1 multiplier (AxB -> AxB+1) and all skills cannot be interrupted. Both.

-#4. Now contains some interrupt protection to go along with the resistance ignoring.
-#1. Changed #1 so doesn't it doesn't work as nicely with #4. Before, when it was 14x2, it was giving a +14 damage bonus. Now it'll only give out +7. That makes it worse than #2 MGB but it has that Bleed proc to fall back on. And it IS cheaper.
-#3. Raised the speed and DOT so it's more worth that 55energy. It's now a 60 damage blast that only hits for 24 on the first turn. Might want to compress this a bit, raising the damage and lowering the duration. But with the changed innate it gets scary in a hurry.
-Innate. Changed so that so that the Scar effect matters even more. Now increases DOT damage - adding duration was alright and might even be worth revisiting later but didn't really matter for the DOT values from Sammy's bar. Turns his skills into an 18for4/72 and a 6for2/12 (3, on average).
-Protection: Gets a scrapper's bar. Above average health and resistances heavily tilted towards the physical. Good protection but not the best, will it be enough to get the job done? (Per turn kills: 2 – 43/39/39, 3 – 30/26/26, 4 – 24/21/21)


GANGSTER 2. OX
Name: Johnny "The Ox" Vaccinaro, the Goon
HP: 85
RES: 9/0/3
Innate: Dinosaur Brain. When killed does not die until end of turn.
Bar (v3): #2, cost lowered 25 from 30. #4, now raises movement costs. Tightened up values.

1. Knuckle Punch. Moderate damage (24). Lower's target's speed by 1 for next next 6. Low cost (25), low speed (3). Close. Phys. 95H/75p.
2. Gut Punch. High damage (50). If target killed, you are healed (25). Moderate cost (40), low speed (1). Close. Phys. 95H/100p.
3. Bull Rush. Moderate damage (28). Hits fleeing. Moderate cost (35), moderate speed (4). Close. Phys. 90H/75p.
4. Leg Breaker. Low damage (12). Debuff. Target has lowered resists (-5 All) and raised movement costs (+5en) for next several turns (5). Low cost (20), low speed (3). Both. Phys. 100H/100p.

Bar (v3.2): #1 proc lowered 50 from 75, speed debuff raised 4 from 1, duration lowered 3 from 6. #2, hit raised to 100 from 95. #3 cost lowered 30 from 35. #4 dmg raise 15 from 12.

1. Knuckle Punch. 25en, 3spd, 24(P). 95h, 50p. Lower's speed by 4 for 3. Close.
2. Gut Punch. 40en, 1spd, 50(P). 100h, 100p. If this attack is a killing blow, you gain 25HP. Close.
3. Bum Rush. 30en, 4spd, 28(P). 90h, 75p. Chance to hit fleeing. Close.
4. Leg Breaker. 20en, 3spd, 15(P). 100h, 100p. For next 5 turns, opponent's resistance is lowered by 5 and their movement costs raised by 5. Both.

-#1. Concerned it's going to be the weak sister on this bar. So, I've lowered the cost to make it a cheap alternative. Also, raised the proc's effect so that it makes more of an impact. Still probably going to be a third option since, when Close, Ox can nuke or hits fleeing or use this, so, why bother?
-#2. Single-ranged character only have half their energy bar to work with so I've lowered the cost here. 40 energy means its still going to be hard to work in - you only get one miss in the movement game before you're screwed out of it - but I'm not comfortable lowering it any more and leaving it dealing that much damage. And I'm not lowering the damage since I want a skill that threatens a kill on a crit.
-#3. Lowered the cost here, too, so that it works better with #2. Now if you step into range you can string both of them together, giving you 78 raw damage, one hit of which can hit fleeing and the other of which will boost your health. It's now more in line with Rising Dragon. A bit more damage but a bit less speed and certainty.
-#4. Upped the damage a bit. At 15, that's now 65 raw damage in combination with #2 and that should be a two-hit on low-health characters. Also, it now raises movement costs, becoming a procced Stoneheel, to help OX out in the movement game.
-Protection: Heavy. High health and a massive allotment of resist. We've got 12 total points here and that's breaking with tradition – it should be alright, though, as higher resistance points get slightly discounted. We've also got a big weakpoint with Light. (Per turn kills: 2 – 52/43/46, 3 – 38/29/32, 4 – 31/22/25)


GANGSTER 3. FINGERS
Name: Vinnie "Fingers" Mazerotti, the Made Man
HP: 70
RES: 4/3/1
Innate: Inside Job. Attacks ignore resistance.
Bar (v3): #1 changed to Sucker Punch, now high crit. #2 hit raised 95 from 90. #3 energy drain lowered 30 from 40. #4 cost raised 40 from 20.

1. Sucker Punch. 35en, 7spd, 24(P). 90h. High crit (25). Close.
2. Hand Gun. 35en, 8spd, 26(P). 95h. Far.
3. Pick Pocket. 10en, 5spd, 10(D). 80h, 75p. Steals 30 energy from target. Cannot be used twice in a row. Both.
4. Killer Shades. 40en, 3spd, D. 100p. For next 3 turns, your hit rate is set to 100% and cannot be lowered. Your attacks cannot be dodged or reflected. Both.

-#1 & 2. I've reworked these skills so they now average almost exactly the same damage while looking somewhat different. #1 is now a high crit with a larger chance to miss. While #2 has a better hit rate and slightly higher priority. But since they each ignore resistance they should both deal around 25 damage, on average (Numbers crunched: #1 24*0.65 + 36*0.25 = 15.6+9 = 24.6. // #2 26*0.92 + 39*0.03 = 23.92+1.17=25.1. A difference of 0.5 damage, on average. Close enough.)
-#3. I've lowered the energy drain here ever so slightly. It now drains 30 energy from an opponent's bar, giving Fingers +40 with end of turn regeneration and the cost of the skill (Fingers at 50 spends 10 energy to use, dropping to 40. He procs, gaining 30 energy and going to 70. The turn ends and he gains another 20, setting him to 90.). And the target a net loss of 10. That's enough to be painful, an opponent loses energy on the play and it's enough for Fingers to be able to set the range which is, I think, the level we want it at. With the effective proc rate of 60% (80 to hit and 75 to proc), it steals, on average, only 18 energy a turn, meaning it's almost as good as resting while delivering a slight bit of damage - that's not lowered by resistance. With Skill #4 up, it's still only the equivalent of +22.5. Still, to limit trouble, we're going to slap a cooldown on it, so that it can't be used twice in a row. That drops the per turn gain even further although we might want to go down even further and have it only wipe out regeneration, on demand (In other words, stealing 20en).
-#4. Cost goes up here and we've settled on the upper range of the proposed duration. Not being able to miss and providing protection against interrupts and reflects is big but the real reason for the increase is Skill #3. Fingers promises to be a character who won't have a lot of energy problems and this might help to drain some away.
-Protection: The goal here is equivalence with Gangster #1 while looking like he's weaker. So, we'll give him slightly less health and slightly more resistance and we'll give him the protection against at least one class of magic that Scareface lacks. (Per turn kills: 2 – 39/38/36, 3 – 28/27/25, 4 – 22/21/19)


GANGSTER 4. SULLY
Name: Salvidor "Sully" Sullivan, the Button Man
HP: 80
RES: 2/2/6
Innate: Walking Wounded. Any damage over time effects on foe discharge when they switch out while Sully is on the field.
Bar (v3): #4 DOT effect added. Values firmed up.

1. Parting Shot. 30en, 7spd, 25(P). 90h, 100p. Hits fleeing. Far.
2. Gut Shot. 55en, 8spd, 20(P). 100h, 90p. Deals 40(D) after next 2 turns. Far.
3. Piano Wire. 10en, 8spd, P. 100h, 95p. For the next 10 turns, target is Strangled. (Strangled. You take 2 damage a turn. This ends the next time you attack. When this effect ends for any reason, the range is set to Far.). Close.
4. Contract Hit. 40en, 3spd, D. 100h, 100p. For the next 10 turns, target is Marked for Death. (Marked for Death. You take 3 damage a turn. Attacks made against you ignore resistance. When you die, your killer gains 25HP.). Both.

-#1 This is weaker than Rising Dragon, overall. It's lower speed and has a worse hit rate. But, I think, the rest of the bar here is slightly stronger so it's probably alright.
-#2 Went with the mini-ToD version instead of the delayed Bleeding variant. They're both about the same but this way, that huge delayed hit is affected by armor. Also, I should say that I think Sully's innate would cause the delayed effect to go off, as well. Still feels off, though.
-#3 Set to a pretty low cost, considering the effect. But, now, it helps Sully in the range game in two different ways. Either his opponent will set it by attacking. Or he'll be able to climb up the energy ladder while still attacking with this skill and, then, change it himself.
-#4 Added a DOT effect. Now every skill except #1 while fuel his innate's effect and Skill #1 interacts with it in a different way. This does make Skill #4 a horrendously complicated skill with 3 separate effects but I'm alright with it, for now.
-Protection: Sully's a Trapper, a character that works slow so he's going to need some solid padding so we'll give him that with a good baseline of resists, a large pool of points, and high health. One should be higher than the rest, and I think fighting in with the slightly nasty, evil theme here, that should be Dark – it's also the most common resist so it's slightly less valuable and I won't feel bad pushing it too. (Per turn kills: 2 – 42/42/46, 3 – 29/29/33, 4 – 22/22/26)


GANGSTER 5. BOBBY
Name: Bobby "Shortstuff" Radiccio, the Snitch
HP: 60
RES: 4/1/5
Innate: Petty Theft. When his opponent buffs, gains that buff as well.
Bar (v3): #2 cost lowered 35 from 40, dmg changed 6x5 from 28. #3 changed to Dark from Phys. #4 changed to Phys from Dark. Values firmed up.

1. Pistol Whip. 35en, 4spd, 18(P). 95h, 100p. Target loses 15 energy. Close.
2. Wild Shots. 35en, 7spd, 6x5(P). 90h, 100p. Ignores resistance. Far.
3. Mugging. 65en, 3spd, 32(D). 100h, 90p. Target's speed and resistance are lowered by 2 and yours are raised by 2 for the next 6 turns. Both.
4. Kneecap. 30en, 5spd, 12(P). 100h, 90p. Target's energy costs are raised by 10 and yours are lowered by 10 for the next 4. Both.

-#1. Went with the certain proc and the lower energy drain. The hit is weak enough that it warrants a positive benefit and draining away energy would count. Losing 15 energy means an opponent will only gain 5 at the end of the turn, so this skill gets scary fast.
-#2. Lowered the cost and turned it into a multi-hit so it wasn't such an obviously weaker version of Gangster #3's Skill #2. Lowering the cost makes it work better with both Skills #3&4. It can now be used twice following Skill #3 while at 40 energy you'd only get one shot and that's just not lethal enough.
-#3&4. Switched around the damage types. This creates a bit more separation between the hits on #2 and #3. They're both in the 30 range but now, at least, you get to work around resistance types (Although not much since Skill #2 ignores resistance).
-Protection: I'm thinking softie here. The Stoolie is a character that seems weak and reveals his potential over time as his abilities start getting into play. So, below average health but we'll compensate with some solid resists that'll help him survive longer. I think a Juju-esque bar here, two moderates and a weakpoint will work best – let's remember that thanks to Skill #3 his resists can inflate considerably, too. (Per turn kills: 2 – 34/31/35, 3 – 24/21/25, 4 – 19/16/20)

Still having problems cracking this nut.

The way I see it working, there should be a few ways this character can get to a 3-hit kill, most of which should involve Skill #4. First, an initial cast of #4 lowers costs just enough for skill #2 to be used twice in a row (Lowering it to 55 energy) and that would be 12+32+32 or 76 raw damage. Second, you can get two shots in with Skill #2 and follow with #4 for 82 raw damage.

Bah.


GANGSTER 6. GINNY
Name: Virginia “Ginny” MaGee, the Gun Moll
HP: 70
RES: 2/1/4
Innate: Concealed Weapon. Has a 75% chance to deal bonus damage equal to opponent's physical resistance when attacking.
Bar (v3): #3 changed to Far range.

1. Derringer. 10en, 2spd, 12(P). 100h, 100p. Speed +7 (9spd) when Close. Both.
2. Tommy Gun. 40en, 5spd, 9x5(P). 90h, 100p. Far.
3. Hand Grendade. 35en, 4spd, 24(P). 90h, 90p. Hits random opponent for 24(P). Far.
4. Incendiaries. 30en, 3spd, Phys. 100p. For next 3 turns, gun attacks cause Burning, 4for3, and ignore opponent's resistance. Both.

-#1. Frighteningly efficient. By itself, it's a 12dmg hit for 10en or 1.2DPE. But it gets even better thanks to her many procs. Throw in the Burn from Skill #4 and that's 24dmg for 10en, or a ludicrous 2.4DPE (In that turn, anyway. Really, you've spent some energy gaining that buff so you don't get quite that good of a deal. But, here's the neat thing that shows how finely honed my balancing instincts are. Incendiaries lasts for 3 turns, giving it a potential damage of 3 12DOT Burns or 36 overall, if you hit everytime. That, again, doubles the damage of 3 Derringers. But if you add the energy costs, they've also doubled, so you wind up dealing 72 damage for 60 en or a return to 1.2DPE. Although since that's someone extended, regeneration comes into play and the delayed damage should probably be pro-rated as well.). It also gets to ignore damage and add more damage besides. It's still not quite a great skill but for a 9 speeder that only costs 10 energy it can pack a surprising punch. And that's exactly what I want.
-#2. Contemplating changing this to something weird like 3x15 or something so that you really, really need that resistance ignoring buff. Also plays better into the flavor since it can be rationalized as firing off a heck of a lot of inaccurate rounds.
-#3. Changed to a Far range skill, want to give her more of a Fra-ranged feel. This leaves her with only a weak hit when Close but a variety of options form the back line - a 2/4 character. That works, I think, now that we've opened up the far-ranger slot on the team by transitioning Gangster #3 to a more flex-range role.
-#4. The change to limit it to Skills #1&2 is working, I think. Skill #3 deals up to 48 dmg for only 35en – another reason we want to restrict it to Far, those are single-range numbers. I'm not a big fan of DPE, I think it's not really a useful metric, generally. But if Ginny's about anything she's about cranking out efficient damage. But giving her a skill that not only ignores resistance and procs a healthy Burn twice is just a bit too much. So, here, I think it's useful to consider. If Grenade could get that buff it would deals 48 raw plus 24 DOT, absolutely none of which gets reduced by resistance. And 72dmg for only 35en is just way too efficient.
-Protection: I hate making the girl the weakest one but it's justified here since she's also the highest damage dealer in the line. Since she can hit harder, she needs to be a little weaker so that she can be spiked out herself. So, average health and a small, for a Gangster, pool of resistance. (Per turn kills: 2 – 37/36/39, 3 – 26/25/28, 4 – 20/19/22)


GANGSTER 7. THE VAMP
Name: Rebecca Vampinsiaro, the Boss's Daughter
HP: 55
RES: 2/2/5
Innate: Black Widow. When opponent switches in, gains 20HP.
Bar (v3): #2 changed to Both, dmg raised. #4 revised to include chance to avoid stun, cost raised 35 from 30.

1. Slap. 10en, 7spd, 8(P). 80h, 100p. Interrupts if first. Cannot use twice in a row. Close.
2. Six Shooter. 45en, 2spd, 7x6(P). 90h, 100p. Ignores resistance if target is stunned. Both.
3. Kiss. 60en, 6spd, D. 100h, 90p. If this hits first, opponents attack heals rather than harms this turn. Cannot use twice in a row. Far.
4. Heart Breaker. 35en, 3spd, 12(D). 100h, 90p. For the next 2 turns, when target attacks, there is a 75% chance that they are stunned. Both.

-#2. Changed to work at both ranges. This should add a bit of punch to a character that really lacks damage. The Vamp won't be the best attacker but she needs to be able to throw a rock every now and then. I've also raised the damage slightly because it will cost her 45 energy. Now, it deals 42 raw damage and will probably be really glad to see that stunned condition.
-#4. I've altered the functionality here slightly. Now it's a 2 turn debuff that gives its target a chance to stun themselves every time they attack. An alternative idea here would be to make it stun every time they fail to attack because that would mean if Vamp landed an interrupt they'd wind up stunned the next turn. But that would probably too powerful and we're trying to limit the power level here.
-Protection. This is a scary card, one that's not going to get hit a lot. So, we're going to give her rock bottom health to make each go that much further and make her more difficult to work with. With those 55 hit points, each point of resistance is critical so we'll give her a deep pool to work with. (Per turn kills: 2 – 30/30/33, 3 – 21/21/24, 4 – 16/16/19)


We're about where we were last time. We've got 2 or 3 good cards, 2 or 3 more that could get there, in time. And then we've got the Stoolie. Who's just a mess. Most of the cards have made steady improvement whether it's coming down from the perilous heights, like the Vamp, or rising up out of the muck, like the Hit Man, or even just circling the zone, like Scareface or the Moll.

That's about it for now. We'll pick up again when we move into the Psychos. Or maybe a quick return trip to tie up some loose ends with the Gangsters. Either way, I wouldn't expect too much out of me for the next few days.