[Submission] Lamian Cultist (HoSk slave)

Sorry, appears there was one minion and three equipment left in my notes. I thought that there should be a nod to the Lamians in VTES, so here is my suggestion.

Lamian Cultist v1
Clan: Harbinger of Skulls
Level: Basic
Group: 3
Capacity: 5
Disciplines: ser, FOR, NEC, POT, THN

Sabbat. Non-unique Harbingers of Skulls slave. Scarce.
Other minions cannot gain blood from Lamian Cultist.
If Lamian Cultist successfully hunts, add an epidemic counter: when there are five, burn them and this vampire becomes Red List. If Red List, when Lamian cultist enters torpor it burns if not rescued before the controllers' discard phase, and the controller loses a pool.

Art notes
There are several painting of Lamia, but basically it'd be an armed female warrior, Cappodocian pale, with snake tattoos and a snake skin belt.

World of Darkness reference
White Wolf Lamian bloodline: whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Lamia
'Historical Lamia mythology' on Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamia

How does this card address a compelling game need?
Need for more HoS; combatative element for HoSk, could enable HoSk/Setite decks.

Created by
Chris Nelson


The special is unfortunately a Wall of Text, but the Lamians were the Cappodocian bodyguards (Fortitude, Mortis, Potence) and had a lot to do with snakes... suspiciously like they might be connected to the Setites (same Antediluvian?). Anyway, they were female, had Dulled bite and spread disease, leading the last known Lamian to be killed by the Camarilla (Lamia herself was diablerised by Augustus Giovanni). For these reasons, the capacity is cheaper than the disciplines suggest (like Toy ), partly because they are so rare (scarce), and partly because as soon as the Cam realise there's another Lamian out there, they'll do their most to kill it (as followers of Lillith, the Sabbat similarly have reason to hunt them down too). Because of the diseased blood (other vampires become carriers until they empty their bodies of all Lamian blood), I thought it simpler to state that other minions simply cannot gain blood from Lamian Cultist; as far as I'm aware, this means that Theft of Vitea will still steal the blood, but the opposing minion won't gain it. As to the 'burn a pool' clause: the cost of having to cover up the Lamian having anything to do with the HoSk.

That's probably a nice thematic design but not a good card design. As you already pointed out it's a wall of text. And, what is much more painfull, it's a wall of text for a special that won't be triggered in 95% of games (how often you have a midcap that is hunting at least five times during a game?)
And scarce is clan based not minion based which is probably not what you want to achieve with this one.
And it's crazy underpriced. The Toy, you've mentioned have specials that make him very hard to use and Lamian Cultist has only Slave flaw

OK, attempt at simplifying:

Lamian Cultist v2
Clan: Harbinger of Skulls
Level: Basic
Group: 3
Capacity: 6
Disciplines: FOR, NEC, POT, thn

Sabbat. Non-unique Harbingers of Skulls slave. Red List.
For every Lamian Cultist you control, the pool cost to bring another into the ready region increases by 2.
Other minions cannot gain blood from Lamian Cultist.

'Balance' reasoning:
Disciplines = +7
Slave status = 0?
Red list = -1
Non-unique but gets expensive to bring more out = -1
Diseased blood turning into a sorta defence. = +1?

Based on that back-of-the-envelope, 6 pool seems reasonable.

Lamian Cultist v3
Harbinger
Group ANY
6 Cap
FOR NEC POT thn
Sabbat. Non-unique Harbinger of Skulls slave. Red List.
When Lamian Cultist enters the ready region, burn 2 pool for every other ready Lamian Cultist you control. Minions may not move blood from Lamian Cultist to them self.


Red list isn't a huge penalty.

Lamian Cultist v4
Harbinger
Group ANY
6 cap
FOR NEC POT thn
Sabbat. Non-unique Harbinger of Skulls slave. Red List.
Any minion at close range in combat with Lamian Cultist gains a disease counter. Minions with any disease counters burn 1 life or blood in their untap phase.

**I also thought of a kind of VD type card specifically for the Harbingers... but didn't want to recreate VD**
Pox of the Lamia
Master
Harbinger of Skulls
Unique Master. Play this on a Harbinger of Skulls you control. Vampires who move blood from this vampire or play Taste of Vitae while in combat with this vampire gain a Pox Counter. If this Vampire hunts from another vampire they gain a Pox Counter. Vampires with Pox Counters must burn 1 blood or become tapped at the start of the Master Phase. Burn all Pox Counters if this card leaves play.

Took me a second. VD = Vampiric Disease .

Does the "Any" group actually exist for minions? I think this would be an ideal case if it did.

I would agree that Pox counters should be a bit more of a present threat to vampires (currently only just Smallpox Griet I think) - one of the reasons why I suggested the crossbow as a Samedi weapon a while ago (basically poison in the dart not preventable through Fortitude with a lingering pox effect).

I would suggest that it's to do with imbibing blood rather than proximity, so a merger of V3 and v4 would be more strictly accurate:

"Any minion that gains blood from Lamian Cultist (by action or combat) gains a pox counter. Minions with a pox counter takes 1 damage during his or her untap phase [Burn after three untaps?]".

(Note this aligns with Smallpox, but three untaps is in lieu of Lamian Cultist being removed form the ready region removing the counters).

I like the master card idea, although the Cappodocians don't have diseased blood, just the Lamian bloodline (but no reason why Necromancy couldn't whip some up).

Oh if only they had THN, and Transfusion actually gave the opposing minion a blood during combat... hmm....

Blood Spurt
1 blood
Strike: opposing minion gains 1 blood (ranged) if a vampire; they cannot use additional strikes or presses to continue. Put this card on that minion (you still control this card): during their untap phase, that minion burns a blood or life to untap. Other minions may take three +1 stealth actions to remove this card.
/? As above, but 1 damage is inflicted during each of their untap phases instead, and the removal actions cost 1 blood.

Probably a few other cards that can work this angle: "Wastage", a version of Quietus's Disease etc.

There is an ANY grouping. It is currently used for Anarch Convert, The Horde and New Blood IIRC.

Oh the idea for the Pox of the Lamia card was to effectively make a HoS a "Lamia". But that may not fit Canon.

You could just make the Cultists "Pox bearers"... like Vampiric Disease.