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Nice serpent, good speed and more than one or two cargo which is interesting. I’m always fascinated by Sea Monsters with cargo, since it implies they can take treasures in boarding parties and hold them.
Dinclinsin
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: The Cursed
Rarity: C
Point Value: 7
Ability: Sac. Crew Killing.Sac: Once per turn, you can eliminate one of this ship’s crew to give her an extra action.
Crew Killing: Once per turn when this ship hits an enemy ship, also eliminate one crew from that ship.Flavor text: “Dinclinsin is a loa depicted as a white colonial slave owner, feared for his temper and cruelty in Haitian Vodou. He often carries a whip and is recognizable by his habit of putting whatever is given to him in his pockets. One of his favorite tricks is being able to pour rum into his pockets without getting them wet every time.”
You can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
Taking a little break from the loa/voodoo for now, as naturally I’ve resumed thinking about things even more grand…. XD
Berzerker
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: The Cursed
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 42
Number of Masts: 10
Cargo Space: 5
Base Move: L
Cannons: 4L-3L-2S-2S-2S-3L-3L-4L-4S-4S
Ability: Junk. Cannoneer. S-Board. Sniping. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against ships she did not shoot at first this turn.
Link: Berserk OverlordS-Board: As part of a move action, this ship can initiate a boarding party against a ship up to S away from her, without having to ram. The boarded ship can’t use any boarding bonuses.
Sniping: You may double the range of this ship’s cannons each turn, but you must roll a 6 to hit.Her “unique” ability means that she gets the bonus on any ships she shoots at NOT including the ship she shot at first. She can shoot at the first ship with a shot, shoot at a different ship with the bonus, and then return to the first without the bonus. There’s probably a better way to word it.
Flavor text: Some say the Berzerker would cause devastation and chaos without a single member of her crew aboard. To regular sailors, it seems as though the ship is possessed to seek and destroy. Rumors abound that the vessel is actually a terrible dragon from a mythical age brought back to life in ship form by Xenthalos himself.
The ship’s artwork would be entirely black and dark red, with a dragon’s head figurehead and possibly some flame designs.
Berserk Overlord
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: The Cursed
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 12
Ability: Once per turn, roll a d6. On a 1, you may give any ship in your fleet +S to her base move this turn. On a 2, you may give any ship in your fleet +L to her base move this turn. On a 3, you may give any ship in your fleet +1 to her cannon rolls this turn. On a 4, you may give this ship the same action twice. On a 5, you may give any ship in your fleet an extra action. On a 6, you may give an enemy ship an action.
Link: BerzerkerFlavor text: Occasionally mistaken for Doragon the Magnificent, the Berserk Overlord can shift into his dragon form at will. He was borne in Hell, and has now risen from the depths of ocean trenches to command Cursed legions.
Would look a little like this but with more of a dragon’s head in his dragon form.
Hoping the costs are good enough for playtesting; as always I’m willing to change them.
You can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
This might be my silliest idea yet for Pirates of the Epic Seas. Not expecting people to take it completely seriously. I realize it breaks a lot of inherent rules or abilities, and the rules questions would be more trouble than it’s worth. However, might as well post it and see what people think. 🙂
Hellish Nightmare Frenzy
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: The Cursed
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 30
Number of Masts: 12
Cargo Space: 4
Base Move: S
Cannons: 3S-3S-2S-2S-4S-4S-3S-3S, 4L-3L-3L-4L (First 8 for tentacles, last 4 for ship masts)
Ability: ? This ship is surrounded by a kraken game piece. It moves and acts like a ship, with the tentacles able to fire as normal without following the kraken rules. Enemy ships may target the kraken by drawing a line of fire to any part of it, but they may also target the ship if they can draw a clear line of fire to the ship that does not cross a tentacle. If the ship inside this game piece sinks, this game piece gains the Kraken keyword and functions as a kraken.Flavor text: Arguably the most horrendous innovation seen in the latest Cursed revival, this abomination of masts surrounded by tentacles is more of a scare tactic than a warship. Having only recently concocted the bizarre conglomeration together, Valmung and the Sargasso Nightmare are satisfied with their work.
For simplicity, I would say it shouldn’t be considered a sea creature… I guess? Yikes!
You can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
Pantheon
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: The Cursed
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 40
Number of Masts: 10
Cargo Space: 8
Base Move: S
Cannons: 4S-4S-4L-4L-4L-3S-3S-2L-3S-3S
Ability: Junk. This ship ignores the first hit she takes each turn as long as she has all of her masts. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against forts within S of her. When this ship reaches her cargo limit, she gets +1 to her cannon rolls. If this ship’s point limit is reached by her assigned cargo, she gets +1 to her boarding rolls. If this ship is assigned at least 3 Cursed crew that cost at least 10 points each, she gets +1 to her d6 rolls.Flavor text: There have been so many powerful Cursed officers joining the ranks that Xenthalos doesn’t always have a ship to assign them to. The Pantheon was raised from the depths of an ancient underwater Cursed city to house all manner of powerful creatures. The ship excels when crewed with great leaders, with near-certain doom befalling her enemies when fully optimized. The ship’s original constructors took the fore and after “castles” to new heights, with top-heavy stonework at the bow and stern of the ship slowing her down but making her a monster in close-quarters combat.
This would have some unique artwork, with the forecastle and quarterdeck/etc areas being circular areas of built up stone.
You can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
Wow, I like both of these, though I probably like the Frenzy the most. From a flavor standpoint, I’m imagining it as an Octopus/Kraken living inside the hull of the ship, like a hermit crab, with the tentacles extending from the ship. Would the ship inside be able to fire its cannons as long as it could draw a line of fire that didn’t cross a tentacle?
I like the conditions you’ve made for the Pantheon. If X then Y kind of thing, and not simple ones at that. Most probably you and I would put some boarding focused crew on her, off the top of my head I’m thinking of the Skelds from RoDJ who give you +1 to boards for every crew on a ship. 0.0 With them on here and the other condition met, you’re looking at something like +9-10 to boarding rolls, enough to take out other ten masts!
Would the ship inside be able to fire its cannons as long as it could draw a line of fire that didn’t cross a tentacle?
Yes, and I’ll change that in the spreadsheet to reflect it.
With them on here and the other condition met, you’re looking at something like +9-10 to boarding rolls, enough to take out other ten masts!
Indeed, she has the potential to be a really fun combo ship. I would probably try to work something out with the 3 10+ crew, though synchronizing abilities might be tough even with all the Cursed crew that cost that much. From the word Pantheon I decided upon that main flavor ability… “a group of particularly respected, famous, or important people”; “all the gods of a people or religion collectively”. The Pantheon is designed to house some of the most powerful crew the Cursed have to offer, all in one place when they don’t have a ship of their own.
The scariest part would be if you could get all the conditional abilities to stack up at once – if you set things up right, you would get all three bonuses. Add the inevitable glut of offensive abilities that the necessary crew would be carrying, and you’d effectively have +2 to all 10 cannon shots in addition to lots of other stuff. Certainly willing to increase the cost… thinking about the possibilities, she might not be expensive enough.
Out of the last 3 days of stuff, I think my favorite is actually the Berzerker with linked crew, but they’ve all been fun to make.
I just recalled the Makuta crew from SpMg….. Putting even one of those guys on this would be nuts, especially if you get all the condiditons met. You’d essentially get +4 to cannon rolls, +1 to boarding and general die rolls…. Yikes.
@Xerecs: Yeah, I think I might up her cost. XD
Hera
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Pirate
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 23
Number of Masts: 10
Cargo Space: 7
Base Move: S
Cannons: 4S-4S-4L-4L-4L-4S-4S-4S-5L-5L
Ability: Junk. Crew Protect. If this ship shoots at a ship that was previously shot at by another ship this turn, she gets +1 to her cannon rolls against that ship this turn. If this ship is within L of the Zeus this turn, both ships get +S to their base moves.Crew Protect: This ship’s crew cannot be eliminated unless she sinks.
Flavor text: Named for the Greek goddess and sister-wife of Zeus, the Pirates built the Hera to complement Blackheart’s massive flagship. True to her namesake, the Hera is a true “mothership”, keeping her crew safe while exhibiting extreme rage against those who have wronged her.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FmkyWbgTFv_G_9DZ9Kh7PKEPYjuwGh44/view?usp=sharing
Here’s the first draft of my first custom set “Pirates of the Dutch East Indies”. Let me know your thoughts and suggestions.
Thanks
The Soul of the World
Type: Ship
Faction: The Cursed
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 22
Masts: 5
Cargo Space: 4
Base Move: L
Cannons: 2S-3L-3L-3L-2S
Ability: Soul Split. This ship gains +1 to her cannon rolls against the Cursed.
Soul Split: Ships with this keyword may only choose friendly ships in the same fleet as targets of this ability. When this ship’s controller fires her cannons at a ship in the same fleet, they may take one of the two following actions;
- This ship loses masts equal to the number of successful shots. The target ship gains masts equal to the number lost on her NEXT turn.
- The target ship loses masts normally as if she were successfully hit by an enemy ship. This ship gains masts equal to the number of masts lost by the target ship on her NEXT turn.
Flavor Text: Rumor says that The Soul of the World was built at the bottom of the sea by the ghost of Corrin Nath, an ancient mariner. Sailors claim Nath pulled usable pieces from countless wrecks to construct his vessel, and crewed her with souls bound to the Abyssal Plane.
Corrin Nath
Faction: The Cursed
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 7
Abilities: Eternal
Flavor Text:
Davy Jones made a deal with Nath: use his power to protect Jones’ fleet and support the Cursed in their efforts. In exchange, Nath is free to sail under any sail and before any mast, and free to disembark at his utter whim.
Soul Split: Ships with this keyword may only choose friendly ships in the same fleet as targets of this ability. When this ship’s controller fires her cannons at a ship in the same fleet, they may take one of the two following actions;
This ship loses masts equal to the number of successful shots. The target ship gains masts equal to the number lost on her NEXT turn.
The target ship loses masts normally as if she were successfully hit by an enemy ship. This ship gains masts equal to the number of masts lost by the target ship on her NEXT turn.The “NEXT turn” timing on both of these is problematic. What happens if the ship that’s supposed to gain masts gets sunk before its next turn? Does it bring the ship back like Eternal, or is the effect just wasted? What happens if this ability is cancelled before that next turn?
This ability would be much simpler if the mast transfer was immediate. Something like this:
Soul Split: Target a friendly ship with a shoot action. For each cannon that hits, you may remove that mast from this ship and repair a mast on the target ship, OR remove one mast from the target ship and repair one mast on this ship. Repaired masts cannot shoot during this action.Corrin Nath
Faction: The Cursed
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 7Abilities: Eternal
Does this crew have additional abilities that didn’t get listed? Eternal normally costs only 2 points on a crew.
Thanks for the replies! I’m still figuring out the reply function on here since it seems to hate me so…
That is correct, but I should have a line in there somewhere that says something to the effect of “you can’t fire on friendly ships normally, just with this ability.” And in addition, you can only use Soul Split on friendly ships, hence the Soul’s +1 against her own Faction ability.
Hit the nail on the head. This was something that I have gone back and forth with quite a bit. One one hand, yes, the next turn thing puts the ships at risk. My thought was that this forces the controller to be strategic with the ability and prevents it from being too OP. If the Soul of the World gets an EA, then it can completely undo a round of battle progress, which as nice as that sounds, would be awful to fight against.
I like the idea of not being able to shoot in the same round, which would give it more balance and prevent the Soul from going wild with her ability. My concern is still being just too annoying to play against, but I think this is probably the right direction. Great feedback, and I would love to hear your thoughts on my concerns.
In regards to what happens if it sinks, the intention is that Nath is aboard (oh, and I kinda ballparked a point value for him, but I really only wanted him to have Eternal, so let’s go ahead and cut that down to 2 points per your recommendation), but here are my thoughts: if she sinks and doesn’t have Nath or another immortal onboard, then you should have used her better. If the Soul has already used her ability and is waiting to heal/heal other ships, then the canceller can’t do much about it. The action already went through and is being processed, so the order of events is against the cancel effect.
I had a thought that if the Soul or another ship is sunk while waiting to be healed, she might come back a the HI with the masts she would have gained on the next turn. What are your thoughts on that?
That is correct, but I should have a line in there somewhere that says something to the effect of “you can’t fire on friendly ships normally, just with this ability.”
That’s already the case – “you can’t shoot at a ship in your own fleet.” (from Page 6 of the Combined Set Rules)
It’s definitely an interesting concept, just really strange to think of thematically. A kind of “mast exchange”. This could definitely see some wild uses in a campaign game, as you could repair a 10 master in the field rather quickly.
Taking it a step further, you could also copy the Soul Split ability and do a “chain exchange” where a 10 master could be fully healed from 0-10 masts in one turn (with perfect logistics of course). 10 master next to The Soul of the World next to another 5 master copying Soul Split. The signature ship “hits” 5 times to repair half the 10’s masts. The copying ship heals the Soul, which gets an EA (or AA/etc) to heal the 10 master fully. Definitely some bizarre combos that could happen with this. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it! I’ll certainly post some more once they go through my creative workshop.
@Ben
Glad you like it!
I like the idea of the chaining! Copying the ability could cause some insane shifts in battles and really give a large target, like a 10-master as you mentioned, a better chance when being teamed up on.
Glad you like it!
🙂 I don’t know yet if I like it, but it’s certainly interesting. I just realized that I think it could be used to “repair” sea creatures. O_O And if it had an ability that let it shoot at submerged ships, I suppose the replacement could happen while the creature was submerged since it’s not a repair action of any kind.
Can you only target one friendly ship at a time with the ability? (as opposed to more than one in the same shoot action)
Realized I forgot to add my final version of my Custom set “Pirates of the Dutch East Indies”. If you’re on the facebook group you might have already seen it. Below are the links to my google drive docs for the set and the custom crew portraits I made for the set.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oVwxp7aH9Jag-G-dFtPlbCbjDGDVOuSY/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q4H58dF7EDO4JVMu0uwg388PV8e1bSJK/view?usp=sharing
@Avery, nice. I did see those on the FB group and left a few thoughts there. You can also put the links in the Custom Ships Organized thread, so that they don’t “get lost” in this thread.
@Avery: Neat set! I’m happy to finally get around to looking at it in detail.
Why do you describe the set as “Uff Da”? (I looked up the meaning but don’t quite understand)
There are a few styling things I feel would make it easier to look through some of the set. You could consider italicizing the flavor text, and do a hyphen instead of a comma after a flavor text quote (I’m also noticing places where there should be commas instead of periods). Personally I also find it easier to digest game pieces if the point cost is the first thing I see.
I also recommend using the exact ability text that people are used to seeing.The Makin Island would definitely make for one of the best Cursed gold runners.
I like the idea of a cannon bonus against specific ship types! (Feng Niu)
Cool take on Rooke, I like his second ability.
I think the Reina Isabella could come down to 11 or 12 points. It would be interesting to see her carry Sunken Treasure and lose the cannon bonus en route. 🙂
For Daniela’s flavor, it should be Hernán Cortés (n instead of m).
I think La Terrible could be 9 points, though I realize that could make crew combos less optimal with her linked crew aboard. Speaking of which, Marquis De Chateaurnault has a solid limitation to prevent abuse. However, keep in mind the ability could still be copied to a 10 master. Putting great defensive abilities on crew usually opens a can of worms. I think the wording would probably be “this crew cannot be assigned to”, instead of “may not be placed on”. I know that gets nitpicky, but it’s generally best to keep things consistent with the verbiage of the existing rules.
I like the American combo!
I would probably put the Prins Willem at 16 or 17 points, but 15 might be fine.
I would put Witte de With at 8 points. He’s a good example of why following exact ability text and spelling is optimal. Shipwright (with a w), and “any ship in the fleet may be given two
actions this turn.” Which fleet? Mine or an opponent’s? I’m pretty sure I understand the intention, but if you read that ability aloud during a game it could incite debate and lead to rules arguments.I think Obligation to the Company is probably too powerful. Was it designed for standard games? (1v1 with 30 total gold in play at the start of the game) Is the treasure worth 3+ gold eliminated from the game or removed from play?
Peace Negotiations is fascinating. Kind of like a “super Parley”. I could see it used in competitive fleets against fleets that are dangerous, such as HMS Grand Temple and San Cristobal speed fleets. I might leave a 2 point crew on my HI and wait for the opportune moment to freeze hostilities in order to get the winning gold home. I’m a little worried the timing might be too powerful. If things were frozen at the beginning of your turn until the beginning of your next turn, you guarantee a maneuvering advantage for yourself since you’re the next one that can shoot. It might incentivize an opponent to flee when they normally wouldn’t, since you have an extra turn to maneuver and put them in a bad spot that they can’t do anything about on their own turn before you open fire (or bluff/etc). Have you used this one in a game yet?
I apologize if there are unfixed mistakes in my own custom sets that make me look hypocritical here. I just think it’s good to have in-depth feedback sometimes. I do like the mini-set overall.
Thanks for the info I’ll post to that topic when I get a chance.
@Ben
Uff Da is something I’ve been using as a name for my creative or business dealings. For example I have an Ebay page called UffDaVentures. My wife is native to the midwest/heartland region and they say Uff Da quite often. She recommended I use it for such things. The reason why I used it for this was to differentiate this set and my future sets.
Thanks for all the info, I’m always open to criticism it’s especially tough to work on these things when you only have your own playgroup for beta testing. My playgroup have our own meta niches that definitely influence my design decisions.
I plan to explain my reasoning behind each game piece in a video I’ll post to facebook. I’m just waiting on my custom ships to come in. I’ll talk about the events a bit here though. When I use sacrifice in my wording I mean removing the game piece from the game. So with Obligation with the company you’re sacrificing a gold on your home island from the game that can’t be used towards your victory total. Peace Negotiations my playgroup has used in various ways from using it to protect a gold runners to secure a good gold run to players setting themselves up for a devastating blow to the opponent.
I’m already working on my next custom set “Pirates of New England”. Focus factions will be Americans and British/English. I’ll post for feedback on here much earlier next time to get your guy’s opinions and criticism into the final version of the set. I will though always encourage fellow captains to change things to fit their playgroups.
Peace Negotiations my playgroup has used in various ways from using it to protect a gold runners to secure a good gold run to players setting themselves up for a devastating blow to the opponent.
That does sound quite powerful; do you think it should at least cost something rather than being free? When something like that is 0 points, every player might as well include it in their fleet. And then it could become a cat and mouse game of “peace” being played one after the other.
I’ll post for feedback on here much earlier next time to get your guy’s opinions and criticism into the final version of the set.
Nowadays I just fall behind on Pirates stuff since I’m busier. I meant to look at the draft, but didn’t get around to the set until the final version was out.
Hit the nail on the head. This was something that I have gone back and forth with quite a bit. One one hand, yes, the next turn thing puts the ships at risk. My thought was that this forces the controller to be strategic with the ability and prevents it from being too OP. If the Soul of the World gets an EA, then it can completely undo a round of battle progress, which as nice as that sounds, would be awful to fight against.
I like the idea of not being able to shoot in the same round, which would give it more balance and prevent the Soul from going wild with her ability. My concern is still being just too annoying to play against, but I think this is probably the right direction. Great feedback, and I would love to hear your thoughts on my concerns.
Having extra actions available before or after using significant abilities will always cause trouble with balance, but that’s issue that’s been part of the game since the very beginning, with ships like Harbinger.
In this case, even if this ship is able to pass off masts in one direction or the other, there’s still no net gain or loss of masts happening. While this ship (or some other preferred warship nearby) may be able to stay healthly longer, there’s not much preventing the opposing player from bypassing it entirely to go after the mast donors nearby instead.Purely from a rules standpoint, I think it’s best to try to avoid anything that can create known ambiguous situations or anything else requiring interpretation that could result in an argument between players during a game. Ideally you can address those situations directly in the ability text, but when you have to start adding more than a sentence or two in the keyword text just to cover specific edge cases, it’s good to consider ways to avoid those cases entirely.
If the Soul has already used her ability and is waiting to heal/heal other ships, then the canceller can’t do much about it. The action already went through and is being processed, so the order of events is against the cancel effect.
An ability “being processed” is a major, recurring issue with the timing of cancelers. In general, if the entire effect hasn’t already been carried out when an ability gets cancelled, any remaining parts of the effect still waiting to be applied are lost. There are exceptions, but usually it’s because something breaks if you do it the normal way.
That’s why it’s also a good idea to avoid effects that require tracking stats or data of any kind across turns. Having to remember to carry out a specific effect from a previous turn isn’t a big issue in a two-player game with relatively small fleets, but with larger setups and more players, the potential for things to get forgotten (or “forgotten”) between turns increases quickly. There are several things already in the game that do require outside tracking (The two Banner UTs from Barbary Coast, and the scuttling rules are notable examples), but it’s still best to avoid them if there’s a way to handle them without the tracking aspect.
I had a thought that if the Soul or another ship is sunk while waiting to be healed, she might come back a the HI with the masts she would have gained on the next turn. What are your thoughts on that?
That works, but would have to be specifically noted in the ability text. As written, the ship stays sunk unless some other source of Eternal is on board.
@Ben
I don’t see a reason why it shouldn’t be able to fire at sea monsters, which is weird flavor wise but it would get really bizarre in rules and remember all of it. In regards to shooting at submerged monsters/subs, it would work flavor wise to be able to do that, with the ship being this waterlogged monstrosity, but I don’t think I would give it that inherent ability and would instead rely on using crew to answer those scenarios.
I don’t even remember if the rules state that a ship can fire at multiple targets or not. That’s the way I have always played, so I guess it would depend on your ruleset.
I don’t even remember if the rules state that a ship can fire at multiple targets or not. That’s the way I have always played, so I guess it would depend on your ruleset.
They certainly can. Makes things more interesting.
@Xerecs: Concerning the Matatu UT from Spherus Magna:
Give this ship a move action but do not move her. Instead you may move any other ship within 3L of this ship.
Does this mean you can give a move action to another ship within 3L of the first ship, or does it mean you can move any ship in play from its original location to anywhere within 3L of the ship the UT is on?
“Uff da” is german and a bid of an expression if u are stunned by something amazing or shocking 😉
xD can we creat our own nation with ships here?
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