Chosen
Alert
Combat
Type
Power of Divine Intervention
Blessed with New Encounter Pod
As a leader, after contact, use this power to draft one pod for each enemy actor. If any of the drafted pods are encounter pods, you may accept one of those pods as a “blessing” and scrap the rest. Either replace your driver with your blessing or add its might to your fleet.
Legacy: If a leader has fewer sponsors than their opponent, they may draft one pod for each enemy.
Blessed by a higher authority due to their pious nature, the Chosen always believed themselves to be destined for greatness. With their vision of an almighty power serving their cause, they doubt that their enemies have a prayer.
Leader: Contact
Optional
Wild Flare
As a leader, after arrival, you may discharge this flare to draft one pod.
Leader: Arrival
Super Flare
When using your power, you may discharge this flare to claim any of the drafted pods that you do not choose as a blessing.
Leader: Contact
Modifications
- Added the clause that bases the number of pods drafted on the number of enemies, to reflect a “chosen one” performing better the more enemies there are to fight. The original always drafts three, which is less interesting and more busted.
- Made the power mandatory instead of pointlessly optional. In some sense, it tracks that Chosen has to choose to pray to activate their power, but if they’re the “chosen one” they’ll probably receive the assistance regardless. Plus, they don’t have to use the blessing if they don’t need/want it.
- Chosen’s legacy allows the leader with fewer sponsors to draft one pod for each enemy, allowing them to potentially offset dire situations with strong attack and support pods. Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Tips
- Chosen’s power becomes more potent the more enemies oppose it, but it is not limited by the number of allies on its own side. Chosen is guaranteed at least one draft with its power since it will at least face the opponent alone. This draft may not be an encounter pod, so Chosen does prefer having multiple enemies to oppose.
- Though Chosen’s power is mandatory, it is never forced to accept a blessing. The power basically acts as an optional power with a mandatory effect.
- Be mindful about inviting too many allies against Chosen. The average encounter pod is 06-10, which can usually surpass the number of ships sponsors provide, especially on offense.
- If the situation permits, Chosen can use its power to switch to compensation or negotiation if it drafts an N pod. It can do the same with E pods, P pods, M pods, etc. Since these pods have no might, adding them will have no effect, so replacing them is the only way to gain something from them.
Development Notes
- I considered whether Chosen should only be able to activate its power if it’s outnumbered, since it’s more thematic for the protagonist in a movie to receive that extra help when they’re in a bad situation. I also considered basing it off the sponsor differential. However, there’s nothing to plan behind these setups since sponsors aren’t revealed until contact, and it means Chosen doesn’t get anything in 1-on-1 fights. The chosen one often has allies in movies and still gets help from above in addition, so I deemed it appropriate enough.
- If everyone opposes Chosen in a standard five-alien CE, Chosen gets four pods instead of three. Since other aliens know how Chosen’s power works, this means Chosen will almost certainly be drawing one pod more often. However, gaining the perk of fighting solo enemies with a potential +1 is still quite valuable. The original Chosen with its +3 draw is considered to be superior to aliens like Deuce and Phantasm who operate on a similar premise.
- I also considered letting Chosen stack the might of multiple pods to make it more threatening. This makes the explanation of it more complicated since you can’t replace your pod with multiple pods, so I left it as-is.