4eX 14

Someone requested The Wolf, although we knew him by another name long ago.

The Chosen aren't the only ones that can bind creatures from other realms to their will. You can bet there will a way to summon this one.

Another rogue to help out Adela

4eX 13

Request from Bach to see some of the support characters for the Warlords, so here is a wizard to help out the new Hethrhod of the Dwarves =)

Dwarves got a pretty unique theme going with their summon characters and I rather enjoyed making them.
Inferno gargoyle is not a wizard, but he can use any fire actions.

Here is a level 4 rogue for Pavaxtag.  He is not all that unique, but has solid staying power with 15 ac, stealth and 2hp and with the proper sacrifice can deal so good damage.

4eX 12

I thought you guys might be interested in seeing this. This is a list of all the characters in the set.  You can ask to see one if you like ^_^  Khilkhameth and Kyn really helped me out a lot, so please thank them if you see them =)  (also previews at the bottom)

Brother Sterrance
Sir Oscar Ghenis
Ghed Eliss
Ana Myredeth
Ghed Marsus
Uriens the Aged
Sister Agnes
The Cerulean Knight
Ghed Xevios
Duchess Becca
Adela Ghenis
Resilient
Debris Gargoyle
Tempered Gargoyle
Grind
Mortar Gargoyle
Shatterstone Gargoyle
Berserk
Anger
Mangle Gargoyle
Inferno Gargoyle
Hethrhod Aialla
Isis Winterborn
Mummy
Disease
Alket Calix
Kerem Tansiq
Otin Dythanus
Toma Glyn
Avatar of Poison
Vermus Rowan
Cordeos Reborn
Graphiel
Yscarite Pack
The Rebellious
Tetbas Yscar
Picella
Essek the Creator
Smidgely Adams
Quaint Luffield
Threndil Yscar
Brother Westman
Aisiat
Anton the everchanging
Hardened Cut-throat
Skeleton Warrior
Phantom Warrior
Dire Bear
Fire Elemental
Press Gangers
Phantom Beast
Purifier
Mantus Heed
Shabiri
Admiral Veso
Tek'a
Pike Cart
The Big One
Fo'Nak
Ettres
Ur'lok'r
Amak
Nothrog Cavalry
Hechun Wolfheart
The Wolf
Rostukk
Leimoniads
The Emaciated
Soul Rider
Mistress Nanak-min
Tarcheti
Render of Sanctity
Redu Herm
Kre-kota
Pun-Egusse
Master Gesar
Pavaxtag

As requested by SobolevKto, some none summoning related cards.
They happen to all be fighters. Fighters don't summon much.

4eX 11

It's that time again! Rejoice.

Today I bring to you some mercenaries. First off we have some pirates. Everyone likes pirates. I was very sad that we didn't give previous pirates the bold Pirate trait. I was tempted to do it here, but decided against it. =(

While not terribly powerful on their own, the Hardened Cut-throats can become a serious threat if you let the Press Gangers recruit too many. Expect to see another way to bring extra Hardened Cut-throats into play later on as well =)

And then there is this monster tree. At first he was a Paladin in the same vein as Judge Aecus and Dacus...but then I turned him into a tree instead =3

4eX 10

Hi again
here are 3 Free Kingdoms characters that are, well, not buddies with Anton but I'm sure their paths will cross quite often ^^

One of the things I had to decide early on in developing the set was if characters designed to be summoned should even be in decks. After all summon characters are essentially tokens. Magic just made token cards that you kept beside you and put into play to replace a token. That is essentially what the summon mechanic is.  When the set was fist being worked on, PI was still producing cards and I did not want to make cards that were only tokens, so I decided that all cards should be useful in a deck even if the primary function of their theme was being summoned. Which is why you will find a number of cards with "After entering play from your hand" card effects, like the previously seen elves and the Yscarite Pack below.

 Free Kingdoms is actually not one of the factions that has a lot of summoning. They are in the middle, but one of the problems with summoning is that it primarily brings in low level characters and Free Kingdoms do very well putting out a lot of level 1's and 2's and buffing their attacks. So, while Free Kingdoms do have summoning, most of it is at a cost to the summoner and is not useable every turn.
And so we see Essek the Creator who wanders about giving the Gift of Yscar, and then disappearing to cause mischief elsewhere.

Threndil Yscar is primarily, and obviously, Anton the Everchangings helper. In case you missed it before, Anton can use the actions printed on any Lycanthrope in play, not just ones in his army.

4eX 9

A little late, but here are some elves.  As you might expect, elves get a lot out of a set based on summoning, since crowd control decks have long been a part of the elven arsenal. Due to the elves ability to recur characters far better than other factions most of the elves have clauses stipulating that they have to enter play from hand.

4eX 8

Sorry it's been all dev's recently. They are the faction I finished typesetting first ^^
Anyway, here are 2 more rogues to help out Adela.

4eX 7

Sometimes I just post 1 picture. That time is today o.o

I'm sure some people might have thought me incapable of making a level 4 with room for flavour text, but I'll show you! The Cerulean Knight...with flavour.

4eX 6

Hi

So, hopefully these are without errors >.>  (got proofreader, hopefully I can see straight enough to make use of his corrections.) It takes a bit more time than I thought it would to typeset the cards and add artwork.

Anyway, if you want to see something specific (like, level 5 elf) lemme know, otherwise I will just keep posting whatever I like.

So, when I first started working on the set, I had the notion that some factions would summon creatures and that some would be anti-summon factions. I decided I didn't like that though and every faction has at least 1 summon character. You should be able to tell which factions are pro-summon and anti-summon though =)

Enjoy!

4eX 5

So, at last years Gencon, we had a prize of "Create a character". Two people won (but one of them never contacted me). We didn't do it at this years Gencon cus the game was canceled, but if you guys are playing 4eXtended next year then I will use that as a prize again.

Anyway, last years winner was Robert Midgley and here is his character.

4eX 4

Here are some Nothrog.

One of the themes of Nothrog that I like are punishing the opponent for their choices. Here are 3 Nothrog that will do so.

On Tek'a, you will notice that her React is "React(Air): ...."   This is how I will be writing "This is an Air action." from now on, along similar traits that were formerly at the end of the action.

4eX 3

This is a pretty special update IMO.  First off, we have a trio of dwarf characters that interact in a way we've never done before (I think, I can't think of anything atm at least >.>). After 10 years it is often difficult (maybe impossible) to come up with something entirely new that is both interesting and useable.Well, I will let you decide for yourself if we succeeded or not ^^;;

More importantly, the first card has new art. Raymond Greaves (Rayzer730 on the temple of lore) donated a piece of art to the cause (and has plans to let us use some more), so please every one give him a thank you! =)

Edit: Sorry for the earlier confusion. There were 2 major mistakes that really messed up these guys. They are fixed now though 

4eX 2

Hey
So, I updated all the Alternate format pages to have all the rules.
I also added a follow thing over on the right. So you guys can follow the blog if you want. If there is any other way you prefer to follow let me know, I really don't look at blogs much.

Anyway, today's update. I went with a more characterful description...just cus I felt like it really.


First off we have Sir Oscar Ghenis, a devout warrior of the storm. Sir Oscar Ghenis finds strength in the storm, the presence of the holy Stormwraiths driving him to heroic feats as he stands firm against the unholy creatures summoned forth by Deverenias enemies.

Vermus Rowan is a skilled elven ranger, able to adapt his exquisite hunting skills against any foes ranged against him, unlike lesser rangers who are skilled at only slaying a single species. His life time of honing
skills in the forests have made him truly at home their and he is able to shape nature like the elven druids.

EDIT: Vermus is a fighter, not a rogue.[Fixed]

Every good captain needs a good first mate and with Mantus Heed, Admiral Veso may very well rule the seas as he so boldly claims. Mantus heed rules over the fleet second only to Veso himself, but he is master to the myriad creatures he has at his command.

 

4eX 1

Hello again
So here are the first non-warlord previews. I will try to do previews as often as possible. Not sure if I can get to it everyday, but I think most days will be possible.

Anyway, as a reminder from the first post, the word "Summon" means "Put into play from your collection".

Picella and Dire Bear are pretty straightforward. Picella is a Druid that can summon an animal familiar.

Dire Bear is a large bear.  I thought for awhile about adding an animal keyword, but decided to stick with monster.

Tarcheti is a bit of help for the Pavaxtag, since The Chosen don't have too many rogues.

Pavaxtag

Well, we've come to the last of the Warlords with the Chosen.  The only Warlord class the chosen haven't had is Rogue. When the were first envisioned, The Chosen only had wizard and cleric warlords. That got old pretty quick though so we came out with Galem-Reth, which left rogue as their 'weak class'.  Besides being the Chosens weak class, I also wanted a warlord that didn't completely rely upon thralls for his abilities. 

I also really wanted to use this art work for a warlord. I think it's amazing and the original character never saw much play.

Rostukk

Posts every day are probably not going to be possible, but I will post most days.

Next up is our Nothrog Warlord, combing cleric and fighter. His static text increases the range of his Siege characters, something we've seen other siege based Nothrog warlords do in the past, while his react gives him some protection, whilst simultaneously giving adjacent siege's a boost. Also he is a Troll.

Admiral Veso

Before I talk about the card, I want to clear something up because there seems to be some misunderstanding by some people. 4eXteneded is a continuation of 4e, not a reset.  


One of the things I wanted to do with a set (and so I did it with this one) was a bit more pirate stuff. I wish Pirate would have been a bold trait, but alas.  You will see a few more Pirate cards later on, but for now let me Introduce you to Admiral Veso. True ruler of the waves?

The Admiral does not follow the theme of the other warlords for 2 reasons. The first is that Mercenaries don't really have a weak class and the second is that they already have a few Warlords work with monsters, so no need for another. What they don't have is a pure fighter, and mercs rarely get a pure fighter that doesn't have some gimmick going on.

Anton the Everchanging

So with Free Kingdoms, the idea from the start was to get a rogue/wizard that worked with lycanthropes. I wanted something unique for him though. Something that hadn't really been done before. After 10 years that can get difficult to do.  After talking with story we came up with the name for this warlord and brought back a character that has already been a warlord twice. Anton.

When Anton was first revealed he was a great wizard, then he turned out to be a ranger and more importantly, a shape shifting dragon. Jin Valford had the Lycanthrope trait to represent his shape shifting, not to because he was actually a yscarite.  So, he was the perfect candidate for the Warlord I wanted to make. A character that can constantly shift shape by taking the abilities of Lycanthropes in play, but doesn't need the trait himself.

Unlike most other Free Kingdom warlords, Anton is all about using your army to buff himself, instead of the normal Free Kingdom trope of  Warlords buffing their army. Being a wizard and a rogue though, you might expect that. Anyway, I hope Antons selfish combat tactics and unique, broad ranging ability help to inspire new ways to play Free Kingdoms...him being a wizard probably helps that out too.

Enjoy

Graphiel

Well, finally, 4e elves gain a new necromancer. Following the theme of the set Graphiel is both a fighter and a wizard. His static ability deals solely with spell casting while his order allows him an extra bit of offense or staying ability if he decided to move to the front rank. Keeping it short today.

Hethrhod Aialla

So, back at the end of epic edition AEG had a big XP auction. One of the prizes was to bring back a character as a Warlord. Some people pooled their points together and won that prize and chose Aialla Truthlight as their returning Warlord. Shortly after AEG canceled Warlord, PI picked it up and Aialla never got remade. So I am remaking it now. Hopefully those who won the auction like the Warlord.

As mentioned before, we are teaming up weak classes and strong classes in this set, which is something Aialla already had going for her. Her previous ability...well, the design team long ago decided not to make multi class warlords with +1 level for things. There was a time when multi class was all the ability a character got.  So, in line with the theme of the warlords in this set, Aialla works with gargoyles.

I know some people find dwarves boring and Aialla's text is not as unique nor have the wow factor of Adela's, but it is probably more consistent and useable every turn, which is important for a support warlord. However, her second react gives her an opportunity no dwarf warlord has had before and both reacts may allow you to make a dwarf deck that is faster than normal.

Adela Ghenis

As promised, here is the first preview for the next set of 4e, henceforth called 4eXtended. I do not yet have a name for the set but will soon enough.

I also promised to talk about the design ideas behind the upcoming set. Unfortunately I do not have any cards ready to preview to show case the design concept. Every time we start designing a set we have some sort of theme in mind whether it be mechanical, like most of pre 4e  or story/region based as many of the 4e sets were. Not all cards follow those themes but a good portion will. A theme is important to give the overall set a sense of cohesion and not just a mass of random cards and it also helps focus the designers, giving them somewhere to start, even if later on some of their ideas deviate from the theme greatly.

With that being said, the theme of the upcoming set is summoned characters. I guess the rules never got updated like they should have  (Just checked) so my hint wasn't too useful. I will update the rules when or before this set is legal (we actually have a number of rules updates that we never got in print). In addition to previous definitions, any card that is put into play from your collection, is "Summoned".  On cards in this set you will see the actions such as "Order: Summon Malrog."  Which means put Malrog into play from your collection, following all normal entering play restrictions.  All Summon abilities specify a specific card by name to summon, or sometimes multiple cards, but there are no cards that say, for example "Order: Summon a Weapon."


For our first preview, allow me to introduce Adela Ghenis, the Deverenian Warlord. First off you should notice that she is a multi-class fighter-rogue. The majority of the Warlords in this set are multi-class, teaming up their factions weak and strong classes. The exceptions are Chosen and Mercenaries.  In addition, the theme for most of the warlords is a subrace ability.

One of the things I'm not sure of is how much I should go into talking about the design of warlords. On the one hand I'm sure some of you are interested but I know a lot of people would prefer to discover how the warlord plays and find combo's without any preconceptions and bias from me coloring their perceptions as the evaluate the cards.

One last thing. The full art for older cards has been much harder to find that I had anticipated, so in order to be uniform, warlords will be presented in the old non-full bleed format.