xericsin said:

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Here is what I feel.

If you look at the unicorn and centaur, their front legs seem longer and hence make their body look tall.

Look at the kelpie, its hind legs seem much longer than the front legs. That makes its butt look tilted up and uncomfortable.

Also, the left hind leg looks displaced.

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xericsin said:

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Here is what I feel.
If you look at the unicorn and centaur, their front legs seem longer and hence make their body look tall.
Look at the kelpie, its hind legs seem much longer than the front legs. That makes its butt look tilted up and uncomfortable.
Also, the left hind leg looks displaced.

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Warmonger said:

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Nah, Centaur doesn't have angled butt either. You simply draw the line under his hand.

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Lord_Immortal said:

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xericsin said:

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...

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That as well, I almost forgot it.

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Winston said:

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My god the kelpie looks fantastic. I think the update version is the best one of the heads so far.

Why did you choose to change its position in the town to be a level 6 unit? What is the new unit where it previously was in the lineup?

I know it might not be the right time but have you started thinking about special abilities, stats, and buildings in the town? I understand if you haven't gotten there yet, it's important to get the graphical element first and then design how it plays, because numbers are easier.

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Winston said:

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To me, ruins has the look and feel of a slower, more defensive town. These are my thoughts on the creatures:

Herald Cockatrice - Give return after attack.

Priestess - Change shield casting to ability to cast expert force field once per battle.

Peryton - Remove return after strike. Give block retaliation instead.
Grand Peryton - Change return after strike to no retaliation. New ability "Ram" that only works when the peryton moves at least 1 hex when attacking. "Ram" causes the enemy unit to become afflicted with a new status condition "dazed" that has the effect that the units next available turn is skipped when it is reached, and the dazed condition is removed.

Kelpie - new ability "Drowning" afflicted to every creature it attacks, that is a bit like dendroid roots but persist after kelpie moves away, keeping the enemy creature stuck there for 3 turns. It also does 100 (can be changed if too much) damage to the unit each turn while drowning and the unit affected only does 75% damage while attacking/retaliating. This would replace the slow effect.

Ruins Guardian - Remove the block retaliation. New ability (if possible) "Quagmire" that creates an effect where any enemy unit that moves into a hex adjacent to this unit is treated as if it is under the quicksand effect (not quicksand but a new effect that is similar), immediately ending its turn, this also affects flying and teleporting units edit flying/teleporting units would land in a square if they were moving to it to attack so they would then be affected, but if flying past the unit then they would not be affected. So basically an enemy unit moving to attack it would move next to it and lose its attack and be forced to attack the next turn when it's already right next to it. And if moving away from the guardian they move through another adjacent hex to the guardian, they would get stuck again.

edit:
Thinking about names a bit more, I'm pretty happy with most of them besides the rank 4
Witch and Priestess sound a bit bland and generic, also interchangeable with existing titles in the game already. Also, priestess sounds a bit too proper for the style of the town.
As a suggestion,what about Embalmer -> Strega
Strega is an italian term for witch, but makes it more interesting to read than just "witch", and embalmer sounds exciting enough while also coming off as a title that would logically be a downgrade from a witch.

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sirironfist said:

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I believe at some point we might want to consider adjusting existing creature and hero names. Imagine if in 20 years there will be loads of new towns and every now and then someone clmes up with a new kind of wizard/monk/sorcerer or whatever.
So as someone makes a new magi, we will rename the existing one into bracada magi. And monks will be erathia monks just to make room for new monks.
I don't see a reason why multiple factions shouldn't have a sorceress. But they all should be slightly different so the name also needs some adjustment.
Maybe this is a silver witch or a ruin sorceress or rock abbess.

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verynice said:

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I think you should focus more on having names that both flow well and resonate with existing fantasy archetypes rather than names that are historically correct.

The original Heroes III creature lineup works so well because it is pretty much an all star ensemble of classic mythology and folklore mixed with some DnD tropes.

Most of your creatures names are awkward sounding and conceptually weak.
For instance:
Pygmy
Pygmy Veteran

Pygmy is associated with primitive jungle tribes while veteran is a term often associated with professional standing armies. The two do not fit.

Cockatrice
Herald Cockatrice

Similar issue. Herald is too military sounding to apply to a beast like a Cockatrice. Something like Dire Cockatrice would be much better.

Stalker
Tracker
Witch
Priestess
Ruins Guardian

The above names suffer from being too generic. If you separate them from your graphics they don't mean anything specific. The names should provide flavour and explain the subject in an interesting way.

Compare these:
Bullman - Minotaur
Green Warrior - Goblin
Snakewoman - Medusa
Flying Lizard - Dragon

The names completely changes how the presentation feels because of all the interesting associations they carry. You basically get most of your background lore for free since most players will be familiar with these concepts and their origins.
Making the creatures interesting and understandable is ultimately all that matters in the context of Heroes. Adding historical or regional limitations will just make naming much harder with very little payoff.

The original towns already mix all kinds of mythology together with very little logic or consistency and you should not be afraid of doing the same.

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Winston said:

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The new version of the kelpi seems a bit off. I preferred it with a slight blue tint, maybe less than what it was but at least some because it seemed like a creature with ties to water with how it's presented. At least could we get a comparison of what the current level 6 both forms look like versus a slight blue tint for both?

As far as names go, I agree on veteran pygmy and herald cockatrice.
Not sure what to change veteran but I agree with Dire Cockatrice for the upgrade name.

For the level 7, how about instead of Ruins Guardian -> Living Ruins,
Living Ruin -> Colossus
It looks like it's from shadow of the colossus and the name would be a simple fit for players to visualize it and know what it is, and living ruin sounds much more basic but is still a good name IMO.

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portus said:

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Walking stones sounds kind of dull and generic. May I suggest "Moai"? If you are not particularly concerned about lore consistency, I believe it'll quickly ring a bell on everyone's heads and makes somewhat sense with the nature of the creature.


As to the kelpies: Schhhhweet! Considering it a marsh/water-related creature, color 6 looks nice to me. However number 12 looks really nice too if we don't focus that much on the water theme.

Oh! and cockatrice's upgrade should be evil chicken. Naaah, just kidding

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