Submission: Wulfgar

Wulfgar
Gangrel
10 cap
AUS ANI FOR POT PRO pre
When Wulfgar employs a mortal or ghoul retainer he untaps. He may burn 1 blood when a mortal ally you control enters combat to give that ally +1 strength for the combat and a press to continue each round.


- Savage warriors
- Makes ghouls instead of progeny

Juggernaut1981 wrote:

Wulfgar
Gangrel
10 cap
AUS ANI FOR POT PRO pre
When Wulfgar employs a mortal or ghoul retainer he untaps. He may burn 1 blood when a mortal ally you control enters combat to give that ally +1 strength for the combat and a press to continue each round.

For a 10 cap, that seems pretty weak. Mortal allies playable by a Gangrel deck:

Arcanum Investigator - no-one uses it ever.
Caiaphas Smith - would probably rather go to range, making the strength a bit pointless. The press might be useful, kinda.
Carlton - tends to stay more away from close-range punching, in favour of dodging or doing damage from range, and typically doesn't stick around very much.
Gypsies - expensive though not entirely unplayable. But close range combat is horrible for them, since they have a mere one life, and second round isn't going to be fun as a result!
Neighbourhood Watch Commander - ditto, only one life.
Vagabond Mystic - not really one to go into combat with.
Wendell Delburton - probably the best use for him. He has options at range, but he also has his melee weapon thing and a werewolf-like regen.
Young Bloods - would you just prefer the action to succeed? But hitting for three in a block combat wouldn't be entirely terrible.


But really, the vast majority of the time this is only doing much for Wendell or Young Bloods, and neither of those are super duper must play awesome, even with his special.

So then you have a big vampire without a special, without any of the trappings of the best big vampires - titles, +bleed, +strength, +something-else. You do get a potentially nice line in bringing out, say, J.S. Simmons and Tasha for free. From the ghoul side, Robert Carter is decent but tricky, and Ghoul Retainer is usually not very Gangrel friendly - Protean claws and weapons don't mix too freely, though I guess you might be doing something screwy with Wendell too, not sure what. But basically all the good retainers he affects are unique, so you don't really want lots of them in the deck. And yes, getting +2 bleed from Tasha and JS is nice and all, but other huge vampires get that sort of thing for free - except in the Gangrel, who are pretty lacking in the inherent +bleed stakes, except their two 11 caps.

So it feels a lot like a big vampire who's basically got a bunch of disciplines, but no real clincher that makes you think "Yes, he's the right vampire for..."

This is the point where you decide that this design path isn't working out. Yes, I'm the one who suggested that the special should center around Wulfgar's warrior ghouls. Background material and special abilities in the canon are a great starting point for special abilities on crypt cards. However, sometimes what's cool in the source material isn't what's cool for V:TES. When you reach that point, it's time to start thinking about abilities and effects that you think the game needs, or even just cool ideas you have in your head.

jamesatzephyr wrote:

So dispensing with canon concerns about precise generations etc., I might go for something like:

Some Guy
Gangrel, 8 cap, group 5
ANI AUS PRO for pot
+1 intercept. If Some Guy successfully employs a ghoul or mortal retainer, untap him at the end of the turn.

The free untap provides flavour without being especially powerful. And that compares well with Anatole or Paul Cordwood . Possibly a bit good compared to Nadima . And I think it's providing a more interesting building block for a deck.

Really rather close to Mordechai Ben-Nun, don't you think?

With Protean 6, I'd consider PRO plus a Protean-related special. Aggravated hands has been done a few times already, but perhaps paying one less for Protean cards or discarding a card requiring Protean for an effect.

There is always the option of using the name for another vampire altogether

Hasani is supposed to be an older akunanse, but the names used on a small one, probably just to fill a design need. Remeber, Gangrel in vtes have had ro shoehorn disxiplines a decent amount. Xavier was printed before abimbwe was a discipline, but he does have it in canon stuff. Enkidu is not lacking in fortitude.

Karsh is the most dissappointimg canon gangrel there is. It takes Theo, Xavier, and some chump just to stakexhim and toss him into the ocean. His stats for stamina is basically his skins as dense as diamonds. His strength doesntcgive a number, he swings his sword and his enemies fall.

So he has to pay to treat agg as normal for A ROUND? And has no strength bonus? And the adv one is just freakingfluff, nothing befitting the warmaster.

Anyway, its fair to just give his name to something that fits, or veer from canon stuff for sake of helping his clan.

On that subject, though, therez like 20 gangrel that are named and die to the eye of hazimel in thexclan novels. Tanner, E. Brant, ratface, stalks-the-night, you get the idea.

And elders like the card you have, and the wondering chicago gangrel primogen, and edward blackfeather havent been touched.

Theres room for SOME gangrel to stick to canon AND bexuseful.

This dude could even discard a protean card to turnxit into a ghould with 2 life and one strength. Hey, better than playing hellhounds

Lemminkäinen wrote:

jamesatzephyr wrote:

I might go for something like:

Some Guy
Gangrel, 8 cap, group 5
ANI AUS PRO for pot
+1 intercept. If Some Guy successfully employs a ghoul or mortal retainer, untap him at the end of the turn.

Really rather close to Mordechai Ben-Nun, don't you think?

I don't see that as a super-huge issue. In terms of compatible disciplines, you get ANI/AUS/for/intercept and ANI/AUS/FOR/intercept. But you could feel free to shuffle things around a little to differentiate them a bit more.