Card Game: Epic Effects

This week we take a look at another of the card game's mechanics: Epic Effects. All villains in the card game are epic, and even some henchman can be epic as well. These effects add to the flair of villains but also help them scale better to the number of players. Most Epic Effects are directly tied to the number of players, and the others instead cut into the advantage a party has for outnumbering the villain.

Each Epic Effect is denoted by an icon found on the villain mat. These icons let some villains share their epic effects with other villains, now and in future expansions, without having to reproduce those rules on every mat. This lets the rules on the mat focus only on what makes that villain special. It also lets some henchmen be epic as well, and space is at even more of a premium on those cards than it is on the mats!

There are six Epic Effects included in the base game, but this is an area that can be expanded upon in future expansions. Every villain has at least one Epic Effect, but one of them has two for an even greater challenge! Most henchmen aren't epic, but a few of them are strong enough to warrant one of these icons as well. Let's take a look at each of the effects, and how they impact your play experience.

Epic Clarity: This foe may not be staggered.

Some villains use their henchmen cards for different purposes, rather than assigning them to Heroes. Without a buffer against the party, these villains are much more susceptible to effects that can cause them to miss their activations. A villain with Epic Clarity can avoid this problem directly. Only one of the villains in the base game has this ability, along with one henchman. That henchman is a boat, so staggering it doesn't even make sense!

Epic Defense: Increase this foe's damage reduction to all types by the number of players -2. Treat no reduction as 0 before increasing.

Some villains are just naturally tanky. This effect lets that tankiness scale with the party size preventing them from being overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Small parties are still able to keep up with the villain, but big parties really need to pull off more powerful combos to deal damage consistently. Foes with Epic Defense keep their same longevity without simply growing more Hit Points.

Epic Divinity: Remove The Duchess, Hero, Lover, Shepherd, and Wanderer from the Deity deck during game set up.

These deities being removed are specifically the good-aligned deities, the ones which are unambiguously helpful. While other deities may be helpful or harmful based on the current state of the game, these are the ones that a party tends to hope for. Against a foe with Epic Divinity, you can't rely on a Deus ex Machina to bail you out of a tough spot. Its effect only happens once, at the start of the game, but you'll feel its effects all the way through!

Epic Hit Points: Multiply this foe's Max HP by the number of players.

This one boosts a foe's longevity without making each individual attack less powerful, as contrasted with Epic Defense. Against a foe with Epic Hit Points, you don't necessarily need to always be coming up with great combos. You'll get there eventually if you keep pecking away with them. This is the most likely epic effect to be found on henchmen. Some henchmen represent swarms, and bigger parties require bigger swarms! The Kraken uses this epic effect, since it's one of the most straight-forward options and doesn't really need to be worried about every turn. You're just taking chunks away from a bigger number!

Epic Initiative: Repeat this foe's Start of Round ability after each Upkeep phase.

This one can get pretty intense. Normally, a villain only gets to use each of its abilities once per round, relying on their henchmen to pick up the slack on player turns. Not all villains use their henchmen in the standard ways, though, and this effect can keep a villain right in the thick of things. For one of the villains, in particular, this effect repeatedly causes the environment to change, making the fight to disable and board his ship a much more dynamic experience! This Epic Effect specifically activates again after each Upkeep, so you'll at least have more cards in hand for dealing with the villain's ability on your own turn.

Epic Regeneration: This foe recovers HP equal to the number of players during each Cleanup phase, unless defeated.

this one is another way of boosting a foe's longevity. A foe with Epic Regeneration does not have more Hit Points than normal, and attacks against it are not any less effective. Instead, these foes quickly shrug off the damage they've been taking. You have to keep piling on the pressure every turn, or else you might find any progress you've been making undone. Fortunately, party members who can pull off a lot of damage in one turn can make up for those who might not have the cards to make as much of an impact this round. The regeneration specifically activates after you've had the chance to deal damage, so you need to make sure you've got what you need to start making progress before you start attacking!

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Epic Effects are a great tool from both a play and design perspective. Their scaling effects are really helpful for ensuring the game retains a similar challenge level for bigger parties with more turns at their disposal, while their ability to offload repeated game mechanics to the rulebook lets the text portions of villains and henchmen remain concise. They're also forward-thinking, being easily able to translate to expansion villains too! Next week we'll return to the Tome of Whispers to introduce another new class, so stay tuned!