It's really difficult do give the Mandos something unique, useful, and not gamebreaking with an almost complete lack of Force powers among them. Custom FPs are usually where I look for something like this, because it's quite a bit easier to balance, but here that won't work. This will probably be pretty difficult.
That's an interesting approach. I tend to go the opposite way and look for special abilities before Force powers!
Ironically, the Demagol we designed for The Next Lost Twenty, who provides Mettle as a commander effect, would work much better with the V-Set Mandos (who now have 2 Force-users) than the WotC Mandos.
Cassus Fett aside, their tactics always seemed to me to boil down two two main tenets:
1) Shoot the other guy first
2) Shoot the other guy alot
In other words, "Shoot early and often."
When we're talking about "real" Mandos, we need to sort of push Boba Fett to the side, because he's not really a Mando in most senses.
Take him out of the equation, and most Mandos are elite warriors who work in packs. They are so good in a fight that they can generally take out almost any other soldier or warrior type, but they often are not up to par when toe-to-toe with a Jedi (unless you are Karen Traviss, in which case a single Mando'aid'lemore or whatever she calls them can fight the entire pantheon of Greek gods and come out victorious with just a scuff on his boot'ade.)
To my way of thinking, WotC actually did a very good job capturing the tone of the Mandos. Question is, how do we make them better and still keep their identity intact?
That's kinda like saying "Don't need another Fringe shooter."
It all depends on what we DO with it.
That's interesting. My first thought would be to fill that role with a non-Unique commander.
The Mando Crusaders had two ranks under Mandalore: the Rally Master (which I already have stats for) and the Field Marshal. Maybe the Field Marshal?
Mandalorian Field MarshalCost:
Hit Points: 60
Defense: 18
Attack: 12
Damage 10
Bravado (+4 Attack and +20 Damage against an adjacent enemy with a higher point cost)
Rapport (Characters whose name contains Mandalore cost 10 less when in the same squad as this character. Your squad can only include one character whose name contains Mandalore.)
Commander Effect:Mandalorian followers within 6 squares of a character whose name contains Mandalore gain
Bravado +10.
Or something...
No, it's a very interesting perspective. I definitely wouldn't have thought to try to stat the Field Marshal idea.
I realize that the Mandos are the only faction I haven't yet offered my own suggestions on, so here goes:
Cassus Fett and
Demagol, of course, we created for the Next Lost Twenty. Possibly, either one could work here. Our Cassus has lost relevance (due to the V-Set's Mando Counter-Intelligence Officer) but, as noted, now that the Mandos have 2 Force-users, Demagol might be more interesting than he was before.
I was working on a little "
Death Watch mini-faction" that would probably include
Pre Vizsla and 1 or 2 non-Uniques. Right now, I have stats for a
Death Watch Assassin and
Death Watch Engineer, below:
www.bloomilk.com/Custom/6526/death-watch-assassinwww.bloomilk.com/Custom/6524/death-watch-engineerThese pieces (or at least Pre Vizsla) would have Sep Affinity. The DWA should probably fill a specific niche, but I haven't figured it out yet. The Engineer is sort of a tech piece a la the CzerkSci or Verpine Tech. It seems like a waste that the Seps and Mandos have a lot of characters who do 30 damage but don't have much support. Both of these pieces are very rough drafts, though, so they need a lot of work.
For Pre Vizsla himself, I didn't have stats yet, but was maybe thinking of something like this:
Pre VizslaCost: high 20s/low 30s?
Hit Points: 90
Defense: 20
Attack: 11
Damage: 10
Unique, Double Attack
Flight
Lightsaber
Jedi Hunter
Mandalorian Hunter
Commander Effect:Death Watch allies gain Flight and are not subject to special abilities or Force powers that would cause them to change squads.
It's a rough draft; I know it needs a lot of work. Ideas for commander effects also included Bravado, Merciless/Bloodthirsty, Death Strike, and Mando Hunter (I know a lot of people stat him with Jedi Hunter because of the darksaber, but his REAL enemies were the Mandos who weren't Death Watch). I also considered Evade or Parry for him, as well as Lightsaber Duelist or Resistance.
Balancing the Sep/Death Watch "sub-faction, we have Duchess Satine and the Mandalorian Royal Guard, who can be Mando or Rep:
www.bloomilk.com/Custom/6528/duchess-satinewww.bloomilk.com/Custom/6527/mandalorian-royal-guardAgain, I think a little work needs to be done. I actually like the Royal Guard a lot (but might add Synergy when with Satine), and I think they add something a little different to both the Rep and the Mandos. I think Satine's commander effect is where the most work needs to be done on this pair. Like the MRG, I want her to give something interesting to both the Mandos AND the Rep, but I think she might be too potent a pairing with Kenobi and she doesn't really add much to the Mandos.
As for her faction (Rep rather than Mando):
1) This helps fill the Republic spot
2) Her loyalty seems to be a bit divided, and she's definitely not a "traditional" Mando (once could easily argue that she belongs alongside Jedi and Padme far more than she does Canderous Order and Mando Gunslingers...)
3) This prevents her from being in a Sith squad.
The Mandalorian Berserker is a niche piece. If you can get him to the enemy, he can't really be stopped. Perhaps he needs something else, like Momentum.
www.bloomilk.com/Custom/6835/mandalorian-berserkerFinally, the
Mandalorian Rally Master is probably a piece you've seen before if you've looked at any of my work:
www.bloomilk.com/Custom/6514/mandalorian-rally-masterThe idea here is to remove Mando dependence on Mouse Droids (which gives them a relatively unique angle) and also increase synergy with the Fringe (without undercutting Mandalorian Conscription). Taking the yammosk into consideration, perhaps this should be a special ability rather than a commander effect...
