Mr. Fixer Variant Idea(s)

When coming up with changes to a "under-powered" heroes base power I tried to keep in my the following 3 principles: 

1. The changes should be fair and balanced.

2. The changes should be in-line with the Heroes super powers / backstory.

3.  The changes should be simple and easy to understand.

Now Mr.Fixer only has one power he has access to, which is his base Power: Deal 1 target 1 melee damage.  So it is very hard to make a variant without simply making a "better" version of his standard power.  With that here are my ideas for possible variants for Mr. Fixer (fans of martial arts movies will enjoy the titles I gave them)...

 

- Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique -  Power: Discard any number of cards with the keyword "Style".  Deal 1 target X+1 melee damage where X is the number of cards discarded in this way.

- Buddhist Palm -  Power: Deal 1 target 1 melee damage and regain 1 Hp.

- Crane Kick -  Power: Deal 1 target 1 irreducsible melee damage.*

 

* Crane Kick would require at least one of Mr.Fixers cards (and any copy of it in his deck) to be changed as it become useless.  I do not have the cards infront of me but I think one of his styles changes his damage to irreducsible.  This style card of course would need to be changed as well if this variant was adopted.
 

FYI: This also makes Overdrive useless, as the power must be "Strike" for it to work.

I'm curious as to what would happen if the styles didn't destroy old ones when a new one was played. 

It would remain in play. Thus giving him access to two styles at the same time. Which isn't possible to stand in two different ways at the same exact time so it wouldn't make much sense thematically.

I was more curious in the "I wonder how this would impact gameplay" fashion, in that once all 4 were out he'd have irreducible +1 damage of any type, make other's damage irreducible, and have redirection at the same time.  It sounds offhand like it would be too much, but would also require a good amount of time to set up, the right cards, and 

As for thematically, It wouldn't be at the same time. Think Jackie Chan shifting stances in Drunken Master, or basically the entire philosophy behind Bruce Lee's style.  You use whatever works, unified within a central discipline.  Having all the stlyes out would be like being (dare I say it) A kung-fu master who can flow with the situation rather than a student relying solely on one rigid form.  

Couldn't you interpret it as a seemless flow between two styles Ronway? I always liked the idea of him being able to have two styles in play at a time instead of just one, but I also do not like houseruling Fixer as I like him as is. 

Considering when he hits he'll being doing plus one damage, irreducible, and make all damage irreducible it would him doing multiple styles at once. He would have to be able to do multiple instances of damage for it to make sense thematically to represent the seemless flow between styles.

 

Edit: Essentially what I mean is you'll want your stances to instead of enhancing Strike you want them to chain after striking. So the wording on them would be something like "Grease Monkey Fist: After you use a power deal 1 target 2 damage of your choice" "Alternating Tiger Claw: After you use a power deal 1 target 1 irreducible melee damage" "Riveting Crane: Deal 1 target 1 melee damage, after damaging a target this way all damage dealt to that target is irreducible" that however givers him a lot of damage potential.

Not at all.  In one attack, He brushes aside the defenses with Tiger claw and strikes with the monkey fist.  While the enemy staggers, Mr fixer pulls them out of position with Riveting Crane for others to attack before retreating with Driving mantis to deal with counterattacks.

 

Each "strike" doesn't necessarily have to mean a single punch or kick.  

You could just assume it lets him use his base power twice or rename any variants some form of Strike such as Spiff's Hammerfist Strike variant.

Quite right, I studied 8-Step Mantis for a couple years and know that it included, at times, changing stances with each movement of a singular attach or defense sequence.  Athough I suppose the block, grab, pull, and strike, could all be considered different actions, the point was to make then flow seamlessly into one fluid action.

Yep! Just wanted to make sure it was brought up. :slightly_smiling_face:

I personally absolutely love Fixer, so I don't play him with any, ah, fixes. But when I DO play him with fixes, I find that the simplest is the best:

Power: You may discard a card. If you do, Mr. Fixer deals one target 2 damage. If not, he deals on target 1 damage.

 

Mind you, not my fix, but the best I've found so far. I don't like changing things too much.

Yeah, I think Fixer is great as well, but I am always interested in just messing with alternate play styles at least.  And as I mentioned some where before, anything that makes him more able to play styles and weapons regularly and adapt to the situation more easily the more fun he is (for me, fun is purely oppinion).

Fixer is my favorite hero, but I understand that he's one of the heroes who crashes and burns with a starved hands. I realized how great and diverse he is with TLT, so I tried to adapt it into a base power:

Strike (Swipe): Fixer deals one target 0 damage. Draw a card.

I've only had a chance to play him once like this, but it worked out great. I was concerned that the reduced damage would ultimately hurt the team too much, but the versatility from a full hand easily made up for it.

The next time I play this way, I'm going to reduce his starting health to 26 or 27, to reduce the impact of his redirect (making him less likely to be the highest or lowest at the start), because he did feel quite strong.

Swipe actually sounds like a very interesting power. Go Belteshazzar!



I like this idea.

 

Let me also say I really like Mr.Fixer, he's probably my 3rd fav overall (Haka and Absolute Zero are 1 & 2, not sure which is which).  I just think after playing him numerously he usually seems to be somewhat behind other characters in terms of damage output, and ability to help other team members. Now I will put the amendment to that statement that of course he is the only Hero who can routinly deal irreduscilbe damage and make others also do irreduscible damage.