Post by col on Jun 22, 2024 12:31:33 GMT
I'm playing around with a custom 'Ranged' mechanic, representing creatures that can shoot in some way (arrows, eye-beams, throwing stars, whatever).
The core keyword is:
Ranged n
With the meaning of:
~ enters the battlefield with n ammo counters on it.
~ enters the battlefield with n ammo counters on it.
Then I have two options. Option one is to change the keyword meaning to:
~ enters the battlefield with n ammo counters on it and has "
, remove an ammo counter: ~ deals damage equal to ~’s base power to target creature".
, remove an ammo counter: ~ deals damage equal to ~’s base power to target creature".I like this because the keyword contains everything. So it's consistent, and the keyword doesn't take up much space in the rules text.
Option two is to leave the original keyword meaning in place, but make sure that anything with the ranged keyword also has an explicitly stated activated ability of: ", remove an ammo counter: something something something".
, remove an ammo counter: something something something".This gives a greater design space:
- I can put ranged on non-creatures (e.g. a Quiver artifact)
- I can make removing an ammo counter deal a different amount of damage than the creature's power (e.g. it's a 2/2 soldier with ranged 1. I can have removing an ammo counter deal one damage instead of two to represent a throwing knife the soldier is carrying;whereas his base 2 power represents him using his sword).
- I can make removing an ammo counter do something else other than dealing damage (e.g. an Ammo Cart artifact with ranged 3., remove an ammo counter: Put an ammo counter on target creature with ranged).
- I can remove multiple ammo counters for a bigger effect (representing a barrage or volley or something). E.g. Goblin Archer Squad with ranged 3 could have both ", remove an ammo counter: deal 1 damage to target creature" and ", remove two ammo counters: deal 3 damage to target creature"; or perhaps ", remove all ammo counters: Deal that much damage distributed among any number of target creatures."
Would you go for the simpler/consistent approach, or the more flexible approach?
Finally, I'd kind of like ranged to also grant reach to creatures while there are ammo tokens on them (which again could be inherent to the keyword, or specified when needed as an activated ability):
Discard an ammo token: ~ gets reach until end of turn
Is that too much on already-strong ability?
What do you think of the ranged concept overall?
