Some Rings V

[Thorsten the Traveller]

some ideas for aligning smaller rings with men, which I like thematically. Spirit rings are not small, okay, but Oracle's Ring just seems made for men. Spirit ring itself is far from bad of course, yet +4DI can be aquired via alot of ways, so it is rather pale, likewise the plus on prowess/body...

Lesser Ring V:
Playable only with a Gold Ring and after a test indicates a Lesser Ring. +2 influence against men and man-factions. You may play men characters during the organisation phase under direct influence at Freeholds/Border/Ruins. If bearer is your wizard, you may also play men characters under general influence with the company.

Men answering your call. Of course we have Rebuild the Town V for men, but then you have to squat. To have a permanent Chance Meeting sort of, is nice. Maybe it belongs better with a minion ring.

The Oracle's Ring V:
Spirit ring. playable only with a gold ring and after a test indicates a Spirit Ring. -2 to bearer's mind and +4 direct influence for a non orc/troll bearer against Men/Dunedain and Man/Dunadan factions. Tap bearer to make an influence attempt on a man/dunadan faction or character. You may take the corresponding faction or character to hand from sideboard or discard pile. Bearer makes a corruption check at -2.
Alternatively, tap bearer during the organisation phase to take a character to hand from sideboard or discard pile whose home site is bearer's current non haven non darkhold site. Bearer makes a cc at -2. All your man/dunadan factions and man/dunadan characters are worth one less MP (to a minimum of 1). Cannot be duplicated.

The card is meant to catch up for time lost. You need some valuable time and slots to play the ring which is relatively bad cardmanagement, hence you are behind on your opponent usually. Now the ring's influence is more powerful yet more limited: to men/dunedain. This can be good for outplaying your opponent, be it hero or minion, or influencing away, since you can play from sideboard or discard. Of course the faction is worth less points as a drawback (because they are mindless followers). Will opponent still have the guts to play Southrons, knowing you might go to the Oasis and try to influence it away easily? Or maybe you don't have it in sideboard at all
Also usefull maybe for Treason the Greatest Foe, since you can get the right character you need more easily. Combine with In the Name of Mordor V and you are in good shape!

[Nerdmeetsyou]

Yeah why don't we make the ring iteams ALSO more atractive...
which better abilities....
most of the rings you can play are quiet shitty....!!!!

there should definitly be some cool rings.... also for heroes!!!

[Bandobras Took]

I disagree; most of the rings you can play are quite good; it's only playing them that's the problem.

The Dwarven rings go without saying; even without the Dwarf-specific bonuses, 4 MPs and +2/+1/+2 are not to be sneezed at.

The Magic Ring effects are rather good; Rangers can cancel attacks, warriors get an unlimited +2 prowess, Scouts can cancel strikes, Diplomats get a very useful +3 DI. The only one I'd work with is Magic Ring of Lore/Enigma, as Palantiri carry a heavy corruption burden on their own.

The -2 mind from Spirit Rings is pretty impressive when combined with the other benefits.

I still like Virtualizing non-unique rings, but not because the originals are useless. They're simply hard to play.

On that note, has anybody got some ideas for Magic Ring of Lore/Enigma?

[Jambo]

I agree with Bandobras. The problem is not much the power of rings, more the ability to get them into play and not lose them to someone repeatedly playing Rolled Down to the Sea all the time.

[Thorsten the Traveller]

well maybe not the power, but most rings are boooooring, they don't fulfil their potential. And the lesser rings do suck mostly.

[Nerdmeetsyou]

yeah thats the point... they should make something more interesting that giving just +3 dircect influence...

[Leon]

There are not that many cards that give bonuses to DI, since it is very powerful. Playing a load of characters is very good.

[Thorsten the Traveller]

Yes, I know, my Faithless Steward Sauron deck having 3x Orc Captain with Awaiting the Call on it frees up 9 GI nicely, and won me qualifications reaching 18-20 character MPs by turn 4. Then I burned it because I had doomed my own soul playing such ueber-cheez... Or try Lieutenant of Dol Guldur sitting with Hoarmurath with By Ringwraiths Word: only 9 DI so he can control Morgul. Or ever heard of a guy named Balrog with Great Shadow?
Using DI just for character mp's is just what I dislike. No more Nonsense, Whip, Obey Him or Die, trophies, High Helm, yeah minions find it hard to get DI, so they really need Oracle's Ring, that's true.

It would be nice if the rings would strengthen skill related abilities, not just give prowess/body/DI. The magic rings of magic are nice and very useful, but the grab/deck manipulation thing has been milked by now I'd say.
maybe for
rangers: tap to negate Lost In card or Snowstorm. That would really improve the frequency of magic rings.
for diplomats: tap to cancel influence attempt against resource in company.
(like wizards laughter)
for sages: tap to look at 3 cards of opponents hand.
for warrior: tap to take another strike at -2.

If we improve the power of rings, there should be some cc connected drawback, and also I think Rolled Down is the only real hazard that works against rings, it should not be made obsolete.

[Bandobras Took]

Some random ideas:

Magic Ring of Courage/Fury: If bearer is already a warrior, tap Magic Ring to reduce the body of an attack by -2.

Magic Ring of Stealth/Cunning: If bearer is already a scout, tap the bearer and this card during the site phase at the same site as an opponent's company to return any one item (your choice) to your opponent's hand.

Magic Ring of Words/Magic Ring of Lies: If bearer is already a diplomat, +4 to influence checks against opponent's resources, and the cross-alignment penalty does not apply.

Magic Ring of Nature/Savagery: I like Thorsten's idea; but I would simply word it: If bearer is already a Ranger, tap Magic Ring cancel and discard any environment card (even during the same chain of effects).

Magic Ring of Lore/Enigma: If bearer is already a sage, he may tap to return a just-played ring test to your hand instead of discarding it.

Magic Ring of Weals: If bearer can already use Sorcery, any Sorcery card played by him also adds +2 to his prowess until the end of the turn.

Magic Ring of Delusion: If bearer can already use Spirit Magic, -2 to all influence attempts by your opponents.

Magic Ring of Shadows: If bearer can already use Shadow-Magic, he may tap and remove this card from the game in order to name a card. If the named card is in your opponent's hand, he must remove it from play.

[Jambo]

I like those ideas Ben. I think the minion magic rings (sorcery, shadow and spirit) are in particular need of help since the corruption they impart seriously impairs to ability to use the magic cards ...

[Leon]

For the magic rings of spirit- shadow magic and sorcery the problems are at the moment:
a) corruption,
b) you have to tap a guy to use the ability.
I would suggest giving a +2 to corruption checks by spells like Wizards Staff to solve a) and tapping the ring instead of the item for b). I prefer this sort of obvious improvements to more radical at the moment. Retrieving magic cards at little cost is a real improvement to strategies based on magic.

Magic Ring of Nature is the only magic ring I specifically aim for at the moment, since canceling attacks is really good and does not need altering. I think the dwarven, spirit and lesser rings are good as they are, a few of the magic rings as well and the other magic rings could do with some changes.

Magic Ring of Courage/Fury: If bearer is already a warrior, tap Magic Ring to reduce the body of an attack by -2.

Sounds usefull to me

Magic Ring of Stealth/Cunning: If bearer is already a scout, tap the bearer and this card during the site phase at the same site as an opponent's company to return any one item (your choice) to your opponent's hand.

I would not change the Stealth ring. Canceling 1 strike can be very effective vs drakes and such.

Magic Ring of Words/Magic Ring of Lies: If bearer is already a diplomat, +4 to influence checks against opponent's resources, and the cross-alignment penalty does not apply.

Impressive

Magic Ring of Nature/Savagery: I like Thorsten's idea; but I would simply word it: If bearer is already a Ranger, tap Magic Ring cancel and discard any environment card (even during the same chain of effects).

As I said the original is sufficient

Magic Ring of Lore/Enigma: If bearer is already a sage, he may tap to return a just-played ring test to your hand instead of discarding it.

I would make this tap the ring to return the test after you play it.

Magic Ring of Weals: If bearer can already use Sorcery, any Sorcery card played by him also adds +2 to his prowess until the end of the turn.

powerfull

Magic Ring of Delusion: If bearer can already use Spirit Magic, -2 to all influence attempts by your opponents.

I would prefer a more direct interaction with the magic cards, not with your opponent on the other side of the world

Magic Ring of Shadows: If bearer can already use Shadow-Magic, he may tap and remove this card from the game in order to name a card. If the named card is in your opponent's hand, he must remove it from play.

Strong but hard to use[/quote]

[Thorsten the Traveller]

Hey I like offensive resource strategies, but some of these are pretty harsh! Wouldn't want to suffer your magic ring of Shadows/Stealth!

MR of Words: kind of what I suggested for wizard ring, now available to any chap who knows his words, it basically makes influencing away a minion faction all about the roll. Maybe a bit too strong.
MR of Nature: I would say ranger can cancel the effects, not the card itself. Ranger doesn't control the Snowstorm, he guides you through it. Cancelling the card would be very strong, bye bye DoN strategy.

MR of Lore: interesting concept, but very strong, testing two rings with one card is very good. how about aligning mr of lore with Lost Knowledge? It can be very useful for mission decks to get a Memories Recalled at the exact time. (would have to invent something else for minions though)

Magic ring of Lore: tap this ring to take a Lost Knowledge card to hand from discard pile.

I agree that tapping and cp's for magic ring of magic are bit of a bummer and thematically awkward, but they are strong abilities, you don't have to tap to use magic cards or use them on the same chap., so I don't agree with the analysis that that makes them useless. I've used them loads of times to good effect. It's more the timing of the tapping that's annoying: end of turn= bleh