Darth Bane (sneak peek from upcoming custom set)

[saber1]

Here's my take on Darth Bane during his armored days. Comments welcome. A new custom set, including Bane, will be posted soon. Until then, enjoy.

Darth Bane, Lord of the Sith
Cost: 80
Faction: Sith
Hit Points: 180
Defense: 19
Attack: 15
Damage: 20

Special Abilities
Unique, Melee, Double Attack
Cunning (+4 Attack and +10 Damage against an enemy who has not activated this round)
Djem So Style (Whenever this character is hit by a melee attack, make a save of 11. On a success, this character can make an immediate attack against that attacker.)
Orbalisk Armor (Whenever this character takes damage, reduce the damage dealt by 10 with a save of 6. Force powers whose name contains Lightning and attacks with Jolt deal +20 damage to this character)
Orbalisk Rage (If this character takes more than 10 damage in a turn, make a save of 11. On a failure, this character gains Savage, Deadly Attack and +10 Damage until the end of his next turn)
Rule of Two (Your squad may contain only 1 additional unique character with a Force Rating)

Force Powers
Force 2, Force Renewal 1, MotF 2
Lightsaber Assault (Force 1, replaces attacks: Make 2 melee attacks)
Force Repulse 3 (Force 3, replaces turn: 30 Damage to all characters within 3 squares; push back Huge or smaller characters to 4 squares from this character. Huge or smaller character are considered activated this round; save 11)
Overwhelming Force (Force 1: This character's attacks cannot be prevented or redirected this turn)
Sith Rage (Force 1: +10 Damage on all attacks this turn)

[bountyhunter9]

Well done. I'm not sure he's worth 85 points, though. The base stats are very, very low for his cost. Depending on if you want to lower his cost or make him worth 85 points, you could increase his defense and attack by a point each, 30 base damage, and/or better Force powers (a better version of Repulse, or Lightning). Also, some rewording suggestions:

Orbalisk Armor (Whenever this character takes damage, reduce the damage dealt by 10 with a save of 6. Force powers whose name contains Lightning and attacks with Jolt deal +30 damage to this character)

That way Sith Lightning also affects the armor. And:

Orbalisk Rage (If this character takes more than 10 damage in on turn, make a save of 11. On a failure, this character gains Savage and +10 damage until the end of his next turn)

That way it's specified when he takes the damage.

[saber1]

Excellent suggestions. I'll reword above. Also added Deadly Attack to OR. Arrigato!

[saber1]

Your thoughts on increasing Double Attack to Triple?

[bountyhunter9]

That could work, although the route of base 30 damage may be better, both because it fits Bane more, and because it is better on a melee character. I do think you should increase the def and atk, though, because they're just so low for 80+ points.

[saber1]

I'm dropping the cost to 80 points.

My intent on giving him only 20 Damage was to reflect Bane's struggle with the Orbalisk inducing rage. He consciously restrained himself to prevent the rage overtaking him. Hence the damage bonus when he rages. Also, 30 base damage with Djem So is seems overly strong.

[bountyhunter9]

Djem So and Twin is overtop, and we've seen that a couple of times. But if you don't want him to have 30 dmg, then I think it's fine if you leave it at 20.

Other than that, I think you should increase the base stats by a point each or maybe another Force power, such as Lightning 2/Sith Lightning 30 or Lightsaber Reflect.

[saber1]

Upped DEF to 19, ATK to 15.

[bountyhunter9]

Okay. He's starting to look like an 80 point character. I still think he needs one more thing, like a new Force power or something.

[saber1]

I just realized that a SA I created for a custom from my last set would be appropriate for Bane.

Unorthodox (Enemy characters with Parry or Lightsaber Block must instead make a save of 13 against this character’s attacks)

This was designed to reflect the unusual angles of attack that curved hilts and reverse grips offer their users. These angles pose difficulties for opponents.

[bountyhunter9]

That would fit, you could give him that instead of another Force power, if you want to.

[Darth Chaos]

What about something like Overwhelming Force (Force 1: This character's attacks cannot be prevented or redirected this turn)

[Roque Saber]

Overwhelming would fit this guy like a glove. Orbalisk Armor and Rage are a little confusing and strange. With Armor, this guy dies in 4 (3 if he fails his saves) lightning barrages. With the 20 points Disciple of Ragnos, I think he's a little too susceptible to it. Maybe remove the Lightning/Jolt part of it and incorporate the Savage part into it so there's only one new ability.

For Unorthodox, a simpler way to put it could be (Enemies attempting to prevent or redirect damage from this character gain -2 to all rolls)

Also, I don't think it would be much of a reach to bump his damage to 30, though it might involve removing the damage bonus from Orbalisk Rage.

[Darth Chaos]

I'm not sure that Djem So or Cunning really work. You've already got a ton of extra damage with the Orbalisk Rage and the Sith Rage. Did Bane use Djem So style?

Why go with 180hp instead of 200?

Orbalisk Armor (Whenever this character takes damage, reduce the damage dealt by 10 with a save of 6. Force powers whose name contains Lightning and attacks with Jolt deal +30 damage to this character)

This SA is almost too negative to be worthwhile. It reminds me of Zayne Carrick's Karmic Luck. I'd get rid of the lightning and Jolt additional damage. Instead you should add something like Regeneration 10 to it, since the Orbalisks actually healed the dude.


Orbalisk Rage (If this character takes more than 10 damage in a turn, make a save of 11. On a failure, this character gains Savage, Deadly Attack and +10 Damage until the end of his next turn)

This is kind of cool, but did the Orbalisk make him angry? It fed off his Dark Side energy, so maybe here is where you could incorporate additional damage to Bane if he's hit.

Rule of Two (Your squad may contain only 1 additional unique character with a Force Rating)

This is an awesome SA. I would make it 1 character with a Force rating and not limit it to uniques. After all, it's the rule of TWO, not two plus...

Unorthodox (Enemy characters with Parry or Lightsaber Block must instead make a save of 13 against this character’s attacks)

I'd just use Overwhelming Force here. Bane never really does anything Unorthodox, he powers through everything.

I've seen another SA called Sith Knowledge, where the character can use any ability of an enemy Force user or some such. That might work for him.

Jedi Hunter seems appropriate in any Bane configuration, imo.

Sorry, I don't mean to nit-pick. He's one of my favorite characters, so I enjoy messing with his stats.

[saber1]

Dec 9, 2009 15:15:41 GMT -5 Darth Chaos said:

I'm not sure that Djem So or Cunning really work. You've already got a ton of extra damage with the Orbalisk Rage and the Sith Rage. Did Bane use Djem So style?

Why go with 180hp instead of 200?

Orbalisk Armor (Whenever this character takes damage, reduce the damage dealt by 10 with a save of 6. Force powers whose name contains Lightning and attacks with Jolt deal +30 damage to this character)

This SA is almost too negative to be worthwhile. It reminds me of Zayne Carrick's Karmic Luck. I'd get rid of the lightning and Jolt additional damage. Instead you should add something like Regeneration 10 to it, since the Orbalisks actually healed the dude.


Orbalisk Rage (If this character takes more than 10 damage in a turn, make a save of 11. On a failure, this character gains Savage, Deadly Attack and +10 Damage until the end of his next turn)

This is kind of cool, but did the Orbalisk make him angry? It fed off his Dark Side energy, so maybe here is where you could incorporate additional damage to Bane if he's hit.

Rule of Two (Your squad may contain only 1 additional unique character with a Force Rating)

This is an awesome SA. I would make it 1 character with a Force rating and not limit it to uniques. After all, it's the rule of TWO, not two plus...

Unorthodox (Enemy characters with Parry or Lightsaber Block must instead make a save of 13 against this character’s attacks)

I'd just use Overwhelming Force here. Bane never really does anything Unorthodox, he powers through everything.

I've seen another SA called Sith Knowledge, where the character can use any ability of an enemy Force user or some such. That might work for him.

Jedi Hunter seems appropriate in any Bane configuration, imo.

Sorry, I don't mean to nit-pick. He's one of my favorite characters, so I enjoy messing with his stats.

Bane is a tough nut to crack, but after reading his novels I decided to give it a try. I opted for Cunning, as he is cunning. Also, Jedi Hunter didn't fit him during his armored days. He intentionally avoided contact with Jedi.

I opted for 180 HP, a drop from his WotC version due to the addition of armor and the fact that multiple versions of characters rarely have identical stats.

In hindsight, I may have made the penalty for Orbalisk Armor a bit too stiff and I'll likely reduce it to +20 Damage. If he makes his save it will reduce the damage by 10 anyway. While regen does make sense conceptually, it would make him too powerful. Imagine trying to kill a 180 HP character with damage reduction and regen. He'll either be absolutely broken or priced out of competitiveness. It would be further compounded by upping his HP to 200.

The Orbalisk's didn't make him angry per se, but rather jacked him up on adrenaline. This made his own anger much more difficult to control and resulted in him "losing it" on a couple of occasions.

Originally I designed Ro2 exactly as you suggested, but I decided it was too restrictive. Bane created theRo2, but wasn't above using stooges to accomplish something. They were never considered Sith, simply pawns.

Unorthodox was designed to represent the difficult to defend attack angles presented by users of curved saber hilts and reverse grips. The final fight in the second Bane novel specifically discusses his use of a curved handle and the problems it caused for the Jedi who tracked him down. It also specifically mentioned that Bane's primary style was Djem So.

Thanks for the input. BTW, where are those cookies?