Rex Does Kongai: A Second Take on the Rock Stars

Welcome back. When last we left things, I'd laid out, in general, the Rock Star group. Haven't quite gotten around to items – although I have some ideas which we'll get to in a bit – but the six characters that make up the group now have some solid details to build on.

Today, we'll do some of that building, continuing to work on those cards. Revising them, altering them, updating them and trying to hammer them into better shape and more concrete specifics. Getting closer and closer to having a finished product.

Hopefully it won't take as long as yesterday but, having laid out the groundwork yesterday, I'm pretty sure we can get right to the good stuff today.

One big structural change to talk about before we start laying out the bars again. Last time, I talked a bit about Ballads (If you'll remember, that's a special type of skill that the Rockers will be using. They're essentially buffs that affect the whole team.) and how I felt they were a bit overpriced. By which I meant to say that what a card spends to use them isn't worth the effects that they get out of using it. Not just in terms of energy although that's the most important and immediate factor but the use of each skill carries with it costs in terms of opportunity and time, as well. Using a skill prevents the use of any other. Using a skill takes a turn that cold be used for something else. They need to be doing enough to offset all that (And more) or else they're not worth your while. And, I felt, compared to other examples of teamwide buffs that Ballads were more expensive and less effective. The tradeoff that they were affecting every character on a team just wasn't worth it at the sort of energy costs and durations that I was considering.

But, rather than tweaking those costs I'm going to go a different way. The concept with Ballads are that it's a character strumming a tune on their guitar (I'd go so far as to get whoever's in charge of the game's music to have a little sample play whenever one of these skills is used. I'd even get the game's code changed enough that instead of saying “The Rocker attacks with Heavy Metal” or “The Rocker uses Heavy Metal” that the log would read “The Rocker Stars playing Heavy Metal. His teammates start rocking out.” Or similar. It's the little touches that make all the difference.), something that shouldn't be all that hard for them to do. I mean, they're only dodging lasers and parrying sword thrusts with their guitars while ducking away from arrows and fireballs and whatever else as all hell explodes around them – really, if you start thinking about how someone from a band is going to beat up on a samurai or a pirate you just have to lie down and learn not to take it all so seriously. But what I've done is to restrict them them to only Far range. It was an effort to limit their power and their effect. But I think, conceptually, we can get away with Rockers being able to play music at any range they like. And that means they get to use their calling card ability much more often. By making Ballads dual-ranged, Rock Stars can lay their buff down no matter what their opponent is doing.

This means we'll change around our template bar a little bit so that it reads as follows.

1. Guitar Blow. Close.
2. Solo. Close.
3. Echo. Far.
4. Ballad. Both.

This means that the generic Rock Stars will skew towards Close range but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. They'll have a 3/2 split in terms of the numbers of skills they can use Close versus Far and included in those up Close 3 will be both of their main attacks – Echoes are looking more like moderate debuffing effects. But we can always switch things around to mix it up. Have a character with a Far range Solo to go along with their Echo. Or who only get their nuke up Close and get their pound-away Guitar move when pushed Far.

That's not the biggest change in the world although it should have some far-reaching effects. Otherwise, I'm alright with leaving the cards that have been working largely as they are, apart from those structural changes. We'll firm up them up a bit and you never know when a flash of inspiration will strike, mostly, I'm going to concentrate on the cards that weren't working. They're headed into the shop and will receive some significant changes.

But, first, let's deal with the better cards and see if we can't put in some more detail and get them closer to having actual values.


ROCKER 1. THE BOPPER
Name: Alvis Priestly, the Big Bopper
Innate: Heals (Low. 10~15?) on crits.
Bar(v3): #4 Ballad changed to Both. Healing on #3 lowered. Values made more concrete.

1. Sock Hop. Moderate damage (26), high crit (25%). (Avg dmg of @28. - Crit adds 2~3 points, overall. If innate is for +10HP, then this is +2.5HP on avg. If it's 15, then it's a base of +3.75.). Moderate cost (30), low speed (3). Close. Phys.
2. Bop Round the Clock. Hits all for moderate damage (22). High cost (70), low speed (4). Close. Phys.
3. Flashback. Target hit for moderate damage (25). At end of next turn, heals Bopper for moderate (15). Moderate cost (40), high speed (7). Far. Light.
4. Do-Wop Ditty. Team gains high crit (+25%. Look at #1 to see what this adds in terms of his innate.) for next few turns (4). High cost (50), moderate speed (5). Both. Light.

Just changing some names and zeroing in on the level here. The Big Bopper is, of course, an actual person. I'd hoped to make only a veiled reference, as with Alvis up there in case there are any, you know, copyright issues (that I probably don't have to worry about anyways). But given the way his skills are trending, it's just too delicious to pass up.

ROCKER 3. SCHLOCK ROCKER
Name: Votan One-Eye, the Metal Thrasher
Innate: When target is Bleeding, chance to crit increases by 30% (Base rate is 10%, so that's 40% ~ worth about +3~4dmg on #1.)
Bar (v3): #4 Ballad & #2 Buff changed to Both. #3 Echo changed to match Juke Box's (DOT increases over time). Values made more concrete.

1. Wicked Axe. Moderate damage (25). High chance (75) to Bleed (high – 6for3, 18DOT). Moderate cost (30), moderate speed (4). Close. Dark.
2. Spiked Armor. Buff. Gain 2 resistance, +2/+2/+2. Gain 10% dodge (All). When hit by physical, attacker Bleeds (long duration - 2for5) and buff ends. Low cost (20), low speed (3). Both. Phys.
3. Guillotine Guitar Strings. Target hit for light damage (15). Target Bleeds (3for3) at end of next several turns (3. 27 DOT overall). Moderate cost (35), moderate speed (6). Far. Phys.
4. Heavy Metal. Team gains crit (Light ~ +15%) for nex few turns (3). On crit, procs Bleed (heavy – 6for3). Moderate cost (40), moderate speed (5). Both. Dark. // Watch this stacking with innate which, at the moment, is up to a 65crit. Too high?

Again, changed up some names here. Votan is a Mezo-American god often confused for Odin. Odin, of course, being the one-eyed Norse god. I couldn't resist the idea of a clueless rocker looking for something cool to call himself making the same mistake. Now, if I could just figure out how to get an umlaut or three in there...

But we went a bit further than just fiddling around with the flavor text. We've settled on the armor buff version of #2. That should give old One-Eye a bit of extra survivability since he's seeming like a lightly armored character to make up for his offensive prowess, as well as an easy way to get those Bleeds out. And we've switched up #3, his Echo, as well. Looking over the results of the first stab at these characters, I felt the Echo from Rocker #6, the one that had a cumulative Burn effect, was nicely done. And that changing #3 to a similar version, but with Bleeds, would make it much more effective than a skill that hit and then delivered a Bleed a turn later. I've kept that initial hit, though, because of Votan's innate. He needs skills that can crit if his ability to increase crits will matter. It'll mean, if they do the same in terms of DOT, that it'll end up costing more overall than Rocker #6's Echo but I can live with that. At the moment, it kicks out enough damage to be about equal to #1, Votan's Close-range attack and I think that'll be pretty good.


ROCKER 5. GRRL ROCKER
Name: Izzy Knowles, the Headbanger's Doll
Innate: Still no idea. Something that represents her getting pumped up, though. Gains speed on buffs? Very dangerous idea, that. Maybe gains speed on consecutive hits, getting faster as match goes on.
Bar (v2): #4 Ballad changed to Both. Values made more concrete.

1. Headbang. Moderate damage (24). Target will be “sluggish” and hit if fleeing next turn (Proc chance?). Light cost (25), low speed (2). Close. Phys.
2. Power Chord. Moderate to high damage (45). High cost (60), high speed (7). Close. Light.
3. Reverb. Target takes moderate damage (18). They take 150% damage until end of next turn. Moderate cost (35), high speed (8). Far. Phys.
4. Speed Metal. Team has +2 speed for next few turns (4). Moderate cost (40), moderate speed (5). Phys.

Just a few tweaking here and there. #2 has been renamed to Power Chord from the vastly inferior Power Lick but aside from putting in some solid numbers, that's about it. I-Kno continues to be a very solid card that I'm well-pleased with. I wish I could find an innate for her but she doesn't really need a strong one and I'm sure I'll think of something before too long. But her bar is shaping into something really nice. #3 Reverb, for instance, is something that I like. It's weak by itself but sets up a nice combo. Izzy can go Reverb -> Step -> Bang -> Bang for a devastating string of moves that's deceptively strong. With the numbers I've set above that's 18+36+24. 78 raw damage capped off by a final Headbang that hits fleeing. The energy works out nicely, too, leaving our Girly Rocker with 25 energy for yet another #1 Headbang (35 for the Reverb, 50 for changing ranges, then 25 each for the Headbangs offset by 3 turns of regeneration.). Not only that, #3 sets up a nasty surprise for Close-onlies who'll be stepping into a nasty #2 P-Chord on the next turn – a high speed nuke that'll blast them for over 60.

Probably my favorite Rocker so far.

But, now, we're on to the cards that need an overhaul. So, no time to sit and admire my brilliance, let's get on with it.

ROCKER 6. JUKE BOX
Name: Tommy Fender, the Juke Box Hero
Version 2: The idea with the Juke Box hero is that he's an everyman caught up in the struggle against the dark forces when he discovers a magic guitar and becomes the rallying figure for the Rock Stars thanks to his newfound powers of Rock. He inspires them, he encourages them. He leads them. We need to play into that more by tying him directly to the Rock Star's signature mechanics. Since those mechanics revolve around their teamwide buffing, we'll give him an innate that makes him stronger for each buff that he's benefiting from. Further more, we'll change Strum from being an uninteresting plain hit into one that refreshes buffs and extends the duration of any Ballad, helping him preserve that innate driven bonus. Still don't have a real good idea about what to do with his Ballad, though, so I've just gone with giving it a variation on his innate. But, overall, these changes should make him much more solid while giving him a place it any Rocker-focused deck. Much tighter character, much more of a niche.
Innate: Gains 1 resistance (+1/+1/+1) and +10 bonus HP for each buff he has.
Bar (v2): #4 Ballad changed to Both. #1 Strum changed to refresh Ballads. #2 Resistance proc added.

1. Strum. Low damage (15). Refreshes any buff, adding 1 to their duration. Adds 2 to the duration of any Ballad. Low cost (25), moderate speed (6). Close. Light.
2. High Note. Moderate damage (36). On hit, Juke Box gains resistance for next 3 turns depending on target's resistance. Gains 10 in target's highest resistance. If they have 2 that are equal, this bonus is split and gain is +5/+5. If all 3 are the same, adds +4/+3/+3. High cost (55), low speed (2). Close. Phys.
3. Hot Lick. Debuff. Target set on Fire (light – 3for3). Set on Fire again at end of next few turns (2). Low cost (20), low speed (3). Far. Light.
4. Rock Anthem. Team gains +1dmg and +5 bonus HP for each buff for the next several turns (3). Moderate cost (40), moderate speed (5). Both. Phys.

Looking over the changes made, I think we've achieved the intended goal. Juke Box feels more like his own man now. A distinct character with an actual reasn for using him. He might not be the highest damage dealer or the hardest hitter but he's got a lot of defensive power. And, more important, he makes other Rockers better. All in all, I think the change to #1 Strum is particularly inspired.

ROCKER 4. GRUNGE ROCKER
Name: Eddie Curtis, Voice of A Generation
Version 2: The Grunge Rocker is supposed to debilitate his opponents. Weaken them, over time, with his angst-filled prog rock and the power of emo. That really hasn't happened yet. Looking back over all the Rockers from yesterday, I think he's the one with the most problems. I think it stems, like with Juke Box, from a lack of focus. It's all well and good to say “GR debilitates his opponents” but the point we're at now is how. He's needs one particular aspect of his opponent's capabilities that he's attacking or else he's just a mishmash of debuffs with little holding them together except an admittedly weak thematic concept. I've decided to focus him on making sure that his opponent can't attack through a combination of miss chances, dodging, and energy denial. Oh, and that I really need better names for his skills. Amazing how much better having some good flavor text for a character can make you feel about them. But the central theme from here on out will be wasting his opponent's energy – either by sucking it off his bar or causing him to blow it on futile attacks. As a result, we'll switch the original speed and resistance lowering proc off of his first Guitar attack and replace it with the energy drain from his mini-nuke Solo. With that, we'll replace a straight energy loss with a loss of energy regeneration. Getting tagged with his big hit means a character will gain less energy over time – I'm not completely sold about this because a target won't last very long after taking that much damage so it not going to be quite as useful as the straight loss of energy. But we'll compensate with a bit of skill synergy and make his miss debuff also act as a DOT if it co-exists with that degeneration debuff. I'm actually pretty pleased with his Ballad although I wonder about the power level. Still struggling to find an innate, however.
Innate: ??? Maybe more dodge when target has less energy? Maybe he has the Bopper's old innate – more health when he has more energy? Maybe we can do something with energy differentials – gains something depending on how much more energy than target he has.
Bar (v2): #1 changed to sap energy. #2 changed to energy degeneration instead of straight energy loss, is now the Echo on this bar. #3 changed to debuff with conditional effect when paired with debuff from #2. #4 Ballad changed to Both.

1. Downbeat. Moderate damage (24). Target loses 15 energy. Moderate cost (40), moderate speed (6). Far. Dark.
2. Despondent Scream / Punctured Eardrums. Heavy damage (40). For the next several turns (3), target loses 10 energy at the end of each turn (-10 regeneration). High cost (50), low speed (2). Far. Phys.
3. Angst. Debuff. Target has x% chance to miss for next several turns (4). If target has Punctured Eardrums then they lose 1 point of health for each point of energy they lose. If they reach 0 energy, they take moderate (25) damage and Angst ends. Moderate cost (30), low speed (3). Close. Phys.
4. Team Spirit. Team gains +3 resist (+3/+3/+3) and 25Dodge (All) for next few turns (5). Moderate cost (40), moderate speed (5). Both. Dark.

Some much needed improvements here although I don't think we've gone far enough. Just not feeling like a good card and I can't quite put my finger on why. The #4 Ballad is solid, there's some good synergy but it's not coming together. Unlike Rocker #6, we haven't found our magic bullet yet. The concern now is whether Rocker #4 and Rocker #2 can exist within the same group. Both now have a heavy energy theme and that's a bit of problem. Not too much of one, though, since one will be winding their way out of the decks before too long, the way things are going. We'll want to wind up with 5 Rockers, total, eventually and with the upgrade to #6 and the fact that I'm having a lot of fun with numbers 1, 3, and 5, it's coming down to #2 and #4 for that final spot. Not ready to kick one out of the group yet but I'm starting to think about it.

ROCKER 2. THE GLAM
Name: Weyland Von Lind, the Celestial Showman
Version 2: The Glam Rocker isn't as badly off as some of the other cards in this group but still isn't quite where I'd like him to be. It's largely a matter of filling in the blanks in a solid framework rather than having to rebuild a creaking foundation – he needs an innate, he needs some tightening of his skills, but the fundamental concept is there. His biggest problem right now is that by moving the Grunge Rocker's abilities closer to flat-out energy denial, his energy related powers are weakened since they're no longer unique. That's probably alright since we'll eventually be dropping the weakest card from this set – and at the moment, it's a competition between the Glam and the Grunge. Even if they do both make the cut, they'd be two sides of the same coin. If Grunge is about taking energy away from his opponent then Glam is about giving himself and his team more. We'll play into that with an energy increasing innate that also compliments the buff-happy group of Rock Stars: The Glam Rocker will have an increased supply of energy as the number of buffs floating around increases. This gets a bit dangerous since we could get into an infinite range loop if his energy is high enough but I think we can get around that by treating that extra energy as a bonus – it's the last out of his bar and the first to leave when the buff goes away. And while he'll have a lot of energy to play with, he'll still have to spend a lot of it to continually set the range – far more than his innate should be granting. And that inceased energy cap will nicely compliment his regeneration increasing Ballad and his energy stealing move.
Innate: For each buff in play (both characters? teammates too?), gain +10 bonus energy.
Bar (v2): #4 Ballad changed to Both. #2 settled on proc. Energy costs redone.

1. Lunar Strike / Moon Struck. Moderate damage (24). If target stunned, steals moderate energy (30). Moderate cost (35), moderate speed (4). Close. Dark.
2. Starduster. Heavy damage (52). Chance to proc buff for team (Stardust Memories: For next 6 turns, the next time you would be debuffed you are healed for 10 instead.). High cost (60~70 – depends on proc rate), moderate speed (6). Close. Light.
3. Haunting Melody. Target takes low damage (12). Stunned at end of next turn. If already stunned, take damage again (12). Moderate cost (35), low speed (3). Far. Dark.
4. Power Ballad. Team gains +5 energy per turn for next several turns (6). High cost (50), moderate speed (5). Both. Light.

Ah, better names. Settling on a spaceman/outer space theme means we can get a bit more evocative with the skill names. I'm torn as to whether #1 should be Lunar Strike or Moon Struck but, either way, it's a lot better than what we used to have. Again, I don't think we've topped the changes we've made to Rocker #6. And, at the moment, this bar is a nightmare, but I think the general concept here is strong and we can work the kinks out eventually.

I could talk more about the Glamorous One but since I'll be doin that in just a bit, I won't bother. Let's head to the wrap.

• Some much needed improvements to the weaker cards. I'm not completely happy with all of them but they're rounding into shape now. The stronger cards, too, also feel like they're close but not quite there. Now, we need to figure out innates and look seriously at what each card is doing and how well it's doing it. Can't be afraid to drastically change these characters up if we get a better idea, either. Never know when inspiration might strike.
• Going to take a day and come back and look at these cards to see if I like the Ballad change. At the moment it feels right, though.
• Issues we need to work on:

1. The Bopper looks fairly solid. At this point, it's a matter of figuring out the values for his skills. He might be set a bit low in his current incarnation but that's deliberate – he's a healer and healing can cause problems. Still, +10HP on crit might not be enough (Then again, it might be too much. I guesstimate that, as long as he's attack, he's getting a Healing Salve-like rate of return. On average. And there's the rub.). And the weak heal on what's now Flashback (we really need a better name for that), his Echo, might also not be worth it. Likewise, we might have to push his staple attack with the high crit past the normal high crit point of 25% - although with his Ballad buff up that's a 50% chance to crit and proc his innate's healing. And we haven't considered how Ballads should stack yet. Throw on Rocker #2's Ballad and we're talking almost guaranteed crits – is that something we should allow or are Ballads so strong that there can only be ne active at any given time (In other words, a Ballad is music being played. Maybe playing a new Ballad overwrites the old one because you can't be playing two songs at the same time.)?
2. The Schlock Rocker, the Scandanavian Death God of Cutlery, is fairly good, too. Figuring out how much damage he wants to deal and how quickly is the next issue with him. He'll be a real killer but the question is efficiency now. What's the DPE? How are the energy curves? Does he get to stay on the field swinging away or should he burn out in a hurry? That sort of thing. We also need to figure out just how much his increased crit rate is worth to his various skills and figure out at what level it's going to work best – I figure if we can have the extra damage from his innate in the 3~4 range or about as good as a Sharpening Stone or a General's then it's strong but acceptable. He'll jump over that with his Ballad buff although I'm alright with it. This character is supposed to be one who helps create a “high crit” strategy for creating teams that almost always crit their hits – as long as that takes some set-up we should be fine.
3. The Glam Rocker continues to be troubled. I need to figure out the boundaries of his innate better – having it affect any and all buffs on any and all characters the way it seems to suggest now is very powerful, maybe too much so. But I don't know if he procs enough buffs himself to make it worthwhile. If buffs are zipping around like mad then it's strong but if it's not it's pretty limited and conditional. Probably just the nature of the beast. More importantly, I need to figure out how his skills should work together. At the moment his costs are set so he has just enough to use his stun-echo and then step Close to use his attack that steals energy when someone's stunned. Except, of course, they won't be stunned since it happens at the end of the following turn. And Glam doesn't have any other skills, especially energy efficient skills to use while he's at Far range. Do we really want him using his echo and then resting until it goes off? That energy stolen also isn't enough for him to use his big nuke, making it hard to get off. The question I have to answer is whether or not we want all these skills working in combination or if they're too dangerous and we want them to be antithetical to each other. I tend towards the former but, at the moment, the energy costs are all off. Cutting the cost on the echo to 20 might help – that lets a player hit it twice with no impact on his energy, he can then step close freely while his opponent is stunned, deliver a Star Strike to steal enough energy to use a 60 energy skill on the next turn even as the second Echo is going off and his target is dinged for a little more damage. If Starduster did a little less damage, it might be able to fit into that 60 energy box, that sets up a fragile if threatening chain that gives an Echoed player a reason to switch away, which is what we want here, really. The problem then is that on that second round, Glam has no reason not to intercept and isn't penalized for guessing wrong. I don't know, I think I need to take some time to think about this one.
4. Emo boy got some sweeping changes. I'm too close to them right now to really gauge their impact, I think it's something I need to sleep on. Might have gone too far, though, in making them work together. Synergy is one thing but a bunch of skills that won't work unless their lead-in is used perfectly is another. Grunge might be leaning to far in the wrong direction here, with an interwoven skill bar that feeds upon itself but that an opponent can blow up extremely easily. I'm not sure that's such a bad thing, though, because it's supposed to be a card that'll drag you down into the muck if you let him.
5. Our speedy, spunky girl rocker needs an innate. I'm liking the idea of her getting progressively faster. That conceptualizes nicely into her getting in a groove as she gets her rock on. But high speed can be dangerous. It's not too big of a worry here since she doesn't have the interrupt that would keep someone consistently locked down if its priority gets too high (In other words, the ValkHelene problem.). But what she does have is a high speed nuke that could become a hits fleeing. If her speed gets boosted too far then she gets to kill opponents without worrying about getting hit in return – that might be alright because she has to get that lead-in Headbang in first and that's low enough priority that she'll can at least get knocked around a bit. But she might be hitting a bit too hard to be allowed to get too fast.
6. I'm worried I've cranked the knob up to 11 with Juke Box now. He's gone from being a weak card to one that's potentially too powerful. He can gain a lot of resistance for a long time along with a solid amount of health. He doesn't deal that much damage but he might not need to since he'll live, roughly, forever. I'm not as worried about this as I'd be if I wasn't planning to hand out a lot of armor ignoring abilities to the Gangsters but not everyone will be playing those, so Juke Box might be in for a nerf. Another thing that needs looking at with him is his Ballad. It's pretty bland and not very effective. We might need to crank it up even as we're toning the rest of his bar down. Then again, it's another cumulative nightmare that could stack up to very impressive heights so it might be alright after all – I suspect if there were more, really any, multi-hitters in the Rock Stars that I'd be worried it was too good.

Before we go, let's talk a bit about Rocker items.

As far as items go, as I said yesterday, I don't like to get too deep into item construction early on in the process. Items are what round a group out and help them to define themselves but it's hard to do that without having a clearer idea of which characters will be around and what sort of benefits they might need. So, at the start, I concentrate on making the characters while letting the items take care of themselves. They creep in as the process rolls along, as ideas come along that might not make it on a card but might make for something interesting in the game. Or characters become fleshed out and it becomes apparent what they might really like to see in a choice item. Or maybe I just get a good visual idea of a particularly well-matched concept for one of the group's items that suggests a function all on its own. As I work on the cards, then, I jot these ideas for items down. They're as rough and sketchy as the initial concepts for the characters. I don't focus on the number but, instead, an item's functionality – what it would do for a character wearing it. The numbers, the specifics come later. In the early going, it's all about getting a few ideas down on paper, so to speak, and letting them tumble around until they get better.

Here, then, are the notes that I have for Rocker items so far.

Concepts (These are ideas for what items might be named or called, or how I might like a group's items to appear):
Idea: Being Rock Stars, a musical theme is obvious. Items should tie into the theme of performance or instrumentation. Things like mics and amps that these cards will be using to enhance their performance as well as their abilities.

• Microphone (Increases buff duration?)
• Amplifiers (Increases buff duration?).
• Electric Guitar (Damage enhancer).
• The Golden Guitar (We've mentioned this in the lore. The mythical axe that the Juke Box Hero discovered. He could be holding it or we could make it into an item. Probably some kind of buff or damage enhancer.).
• Wah-Wah Pedal (Modifies buffs?):
• Groupies (Defensive?).
• Pyrotechnic Display (Something to do with burning/exploding.).

Functions (Ideas for the mechanics that items could have.):
Idea: Rock Stars are about buffing and, more importantly, about buffing up their team. This suggests not only items that should enhance buffs but that there'll be a need for items that help Rock Stars get on and off the field easier – they should want to switch out and bring in another teammate who'll benefit from their buffing.

1. Intercepting costs 40 energy.
2. Deals damage (High. 25?) to attacker on a successful intercept.
3. Gain health when switching out (A mini-MLM? Maybe both card with this item and the card that's switched in gain health. Or some other benefit...)
4. Adds to duration of buffs.
5. Gain 20 energy when casting a buff (Turns any round where Rocker uses a Ballad into a turn they've also rested.)

From here, we'll begin to put concept and function together. As you can see, I'm concentrating on the switching aspect. Either by increasing the rewards for switching out or by lowering the risks for doing so. Penalizing those who intercept or making it more costly and, thus, reducing the chances that it's what'll be chosen. We have several such concepts above. Although not all are likely to make it into the final group. We want the Rock Stars to have a way to get off the field easier but what we don't want is for them to have several ways. If they have multiple switch-friendly items then the best one gets used and the others become forgotten wastes of space. So, we want to find the best switch item and run with that and fill out the rest of the items to support different elements. Some can be picked up by other groups and some we'll just relegate to the bad idea pile. But an item that adds to buff durations is a given and is almost certain to make the final cut.

That's about all I have for now. We'll pick up again next time when we'll again try to carve a bit more into these cards.