Well I figured I'd post in a comments thread for the customs contest. I'm just curious to what people think of the other customs stats that were figured out. Seeing as this is only the second character I've really thought about and tried to find a good balance for I'm wondering what people think.

I tried to design an Alek as seen just during the Mandalorian Wars. He's a very aggressive character and can close distance very quickly and really get in an enemy's face. I also thought a lot about his Commander Effect and I wanted something to reflect his recruitments as well as his aggressive battle tactics.

I really liked Alek's Commander Effect, that would be perfect for making a theme squad to represent the revanchist Jedi crusaders!

I tried to make General Grievous, Unleashed to be a representation of Grievous in four-armed lightsaber swinging mode as seen in Revenge of the Sith and the Clone Wars cartoon, though I'm not sure how successful it turned out. I tried to balance him by making him very dangerous in combat against Jedi, but very weak against everything else with his defense of 19 (going down to defense 15 if he ever manages to pull off his Lightsaber Onslaught ability). I was also hoping that the potential devastation of Lightsaber Onslaught would be somewhat balanced by the fact that it would be extremely hard to pull off successfully (getting Grievous across the board, into adjacency with multiple Force using opponents, and then waiting another round to use the ability, all with a defense of 19 and 100 hit points - and then surviving the next round in the middle of the opponents squad with a defense of 15). Not sure with hindsight if it was such a good idea or not...

Your Grevious is very interesting. He has a nice complement of SAs to make up for his pretty fragile stats. I initially thought that his attack value was a little on the low side. I would have kept it at +10 like his 'awesome' JH compatriot. but a +13 for 30 double/twin isn't anything to be sneezed at.

Hmm, in that light I'd compare him to Lord Vader.. LV has Thrawn Swap.. But GG, U has access to San + Dominate.. Run twelve and get dominated.. 4 attacks against every adjacent.

But I think its important to clarify that those are normal attacks, right? not 4 Twin attacks (as it could be interpreted) Or you could rewrite it as a 2 attacks (with Twin still applying).

Did you think about making it instead a Force Power, like a crazy Lightsaber Sweep, still costing only 1 FP and then bump him up to 3 fps?
Then it would be much easier to run him 14 [1 FP], Dominate & re-roll if necessary [2 FP], and the Lightsaber Onslaught [3 FP].
I may or may not have changed Stable Footing for Flurry. Except for starship, most maps have a decent amount of walls that he could run against. Then with Double-Twin-Deadly-Flurry I think he'd be pretty darn scary. Like a freaky Melee version of Luke HOY, but that can actually hit things

Rhuk, your character came out great. Unfortunately, this was my first stat custom ever, so I cant exactly say I did good But hey, I tried. I liked most of the customs there, and to be honest I can see why Rhuk has 4 votes (right now) compared to others with 2 or 1. Reguardless, good luck to everyone that entered. Looking forward to congratulating the winner

I won't say for certain who I voted for....but had a couple general comments. Hopefully these will help you guys create better custom stats in the future!

Syn, I actually liked your new ability 'Betrayed' quite a lot. Cool idea. I just didn't understand the Commander effects at all. The only pilots the Republic faction has access to are the Cloud Car or Shistavenen pilots, neither of which are all THAT great, even with the nice CE boosts. I also didn't understand how Lightsaber Throw was needed as a Force Power since he didn't have Melee Attack anyways.

Kast, your Grievous, at first glance, was my number 1 choice. But the wording of Onslaught.... The way it's currently worded it allows Grievous to take 8 attacks at each adjacent enemy with Onslaught. I'm pretty sure you intended it to be 4, as 8 is ridiculously unbalanaced. Against a Force User, even somebody like Vader with a 23 Defense, it will would still be almost a sure kill, especially with Deadly Attack in there as your odds of rolling at least 1 19 or 20 in 8 attacks are pretty substantial. Not sure I understand Ruhk's comments about dominating Grievous, as you could do that if he were in any faction, so the only benefit to being Separatist in that way is that you can use San to wait until the end of the round to rush out with Grievous. More dangerous though I think would be the current MTB style San squads, which allow you to unleash pieces like Tyranus LOTDS or Aurra JH at the beginning of a round. With this Grievous, you could run 14 squares at the end of a previous round, then MTB your way to winning initiative, and unleash hell. If you catch even two of your opponent's major pieces that way, it's game over, regardless of the drawback of the -4 Defense. Especially when nearby Force users are losing 4 attack anyway, so it balances out. So, like I said, I really liked the idea, but the way Onslaught is worded allows for 8 attacks, and just makes it WAY too imbalanced, IMO. Reworded to grant 2 attacks (which with Twin would make 4) and it would be pretty well balanced, IMO. I would also lose Stable Footing outright as well. Will Climber should cover things for you just fine.

TCW's Exile is a neat idea, but seemed WAY overcosted to me. Force Sight is a cool idea, but in the current meta of Never Tell Me The Odds, the ability just isn't very powerful. Make it a Force Power costing 2 or maybe 3 points, and maybe I could see it better then. Being Fringe and able to take on anyone else's Force powers that he wants is a pretty slick idea though. I could think of several instances where that would be fun.

Xanthan's Darth Traya......how would you fit all that on a card? LOL. And can you imagine the uproar if a set was released where there was a piece that was COMPLETELY unplayable without another piece? Sure, there are times that kind of happens anyways, as certain pieces have good synergy. But what happens in a sealed event when you get a Floating Lightsaber in both boosters, but no Darth Traya? And even at 79 points, she seems a little undercosted. If you're facing Jedi, the 3 Floaters (lol) would be a +17 attack for 30 damage...and with all 3 of them activating at once, it's basically like Traya having Triple Attack even after she's dead. And it gives her an effective 250 HP! Compare this to the new Darth Sion, who, while he has more HP, his damage output is substantially less. To top it off, Force Drain is exactly the same as Darth Nihilus' Sith Hunger, just different amount of damage. No point to create an all new ability, just make it like 'Sith Hunger 2'.

Darth Serge, I also liked, but the combination of Twin, Assault, Jedi Hunter, MOTF2, and Sith Fury means he would make 4 attacks, at +15, for 50 damage each. And that's AFTER moving 8 squares! Unless you're swinging at vader JH who has 23 Defense AND Block, that will kill just about anything in the game in one activation. So even for 73 points, seemed a little too powerful to me. Compare him to Lord Vader....one on one match, who would win? Hands down DV SA every time. I love the overall idea though. This embodies Anakin's rampage into the Jedi Temple in ROTS quite well.

OK, that's all I've got for now. Good luck to everybody!

LOL Lobo, I never for one instant imagined the floaters as another piece in the set. I just imagined putting tokens on the board to represent the sabers. Must be the magic player in me.

I definately thought everyone did a good job and it was fun to see all your creations.

I really liked the unique ideas on TCW's Exile character. That's who I would've voted for, if I were voting.

As far as my Senator Palpatine goes, I wanted to create a "themed" mini (like Darth Vader, Dark Jedi), but I didn't want him to be terrible (like Darth Vader, Dark Jedi).

Senator Palpatine is all about gaining power. He essentially helps his opponents kill allied commanders so that he can take their place.

His Force Powers (that help you win init) are there to make him a more useful piece in the current MTB meta. They represent his ability to be in total control of situations from behind the scenes.

He's super weak, stat-wise, but he's still really hard to kill. Cloaked represents his ability to "hide in plain sight" around all the Jedi. And then even once they find him, his Diplomacy allows him to talk himself out of difficult situations (or pull the right strings).

I'd really like to see a double-edged character like this.

I actually never thought about the Lightsaber Throw.. thanks for pointing that out to me And the Betrayed ability was pretty neat to me to. Thanks for the compliments on it. And yeah, there aren't many good pilots in Republic, but I made him great for the pilots to make them at least a little more playable, ya know? I wasn't looking to base everything off of Pilot, but I did on accident. eh, any way you look at it, I tried First stat contest ever, and no guidence isn't exactly a good combo in something like this lol. Thanks to whoever DID vote for me though LOL

Actually I never intended for the Floating Lightsabers to get jedi hunter from traya, guess should have made an ability that restricts them from benefiting from traya's ce's(guess I overlooked that her ce would benefit the floating lightsabers). I gave kreia a stronger version of sith hunger because the one nihilus had was a bit weak IMO. But it was my first custom so I wasn't sure what her point cost should be.

Just to reiterate, anything I say, don't take it too harshly guys. Honestly, I don't feel creative enough most of the time in order to come up with brand new pieces or ideas like this, so I enjoy reading everyone's contributions. My brain though is (frustratingly sometimes) good at picking out problems with stuff (probably why I'm an engineer for a living), so I very easily pick up on little weird interactions that you might not have noticed.

And Verjal asked us to judge these minis on creativity, playability, and balance. I don't know about the other judges, but I tried to look at every one of these exactly as they were written. That's why I said, like, with Kast Iron's Grievous. I look at it, and I figured that he meant Grievous should only get 4 attacks TOTAL due to Onslaught, but according to the rules, the way it is written it would give him 8 attacks per target. Since that is, IMO, WAY WAY WAY overpowered, I can assume what he meant with it, but I had to judge based on exactly what it said. If he had written it correctly to grant 2 Twin attacks (4 attacks total) then he almost certainly would've got a vote from me, as I LOVE the overall idea of that piece.

So, like I said above, I tried to judge by the 'letter of the law'. It's all about challenging you guys to step up your game next time.

Aww, no critique for me?

I would agree with your comments on Traya Lobo, even if her cost were maxed out (85, i think) that would still be a bargain. Weakening the floating lightsabers, and restricting them (ala 'Droid') from the CE would help.

I wanted to make a comment on Syn's Plo as well. Although I didn't notice his lacked of melee, his Ce was a bit odd for me. Twin and mobile would be an awesome boost, if the republic had pilots right now.

I really enjoyed your portrayal of Palps shinja. I think you're the only one who gave their character a negative CE. Very nute-y of you . Heh, using Anticipation 2.. could you're opponent's initiave check be lower than 1 now ? ANd I really like Anticipation 4. Having him with mothma and Kaz... or with SAn and nute... lotsa reserves Dark Disruption is sweet, nighty night Thrawn.. or San.. or Dod and Gain Power balences out his CE.. making it not too bad if you loose a commander.

An idea: Loose Renewal and add in to Gain Power that he gains +1[or 2] Force.. to represent his growth as a Sith while his power grows.

I to was impressed with the amount of creativity in the pieces represented in the contest. Some ups, some downs, but overall, really, really cool to see the effort people made. I would love to see some of the pieces made as well.

My take on SynGates Plo Koon idea: I looked at the pilot CE's the way I took Krayyts- what happens in the future? With a Clone Wars set coming up, and the t.v. show that is sure to inspire more pieces, it may not be long before we see Republic pilots. Interesting concept. I think that kind of "teaser", if you will, keeps speculation alive and options open.
I'm sure there is a reason Krayyt has it as well. You never know what's around the corner.

Gah, that damn Lightsaber Onslaught! You've no idea how many times I had to re-word that to try and get it even vaguely making sense - I even had to resubmit its wording to DarkLordVerjal a second time! You're right, I intended it to have Grievous making four attacks on each adjacent enemy, but I forgot that technically speaking the twin should apply for each 'attack' with its current wording. Lol, I should have provided an errata to go with the stats... Thanks for the comments LoboStele, its really encouraging to hear feedback!

And of course congrats to Rukh, Basilisk_89 and whoever ends up winning third place!

Holy Crap I won!... ummm, yay! congrats to Bas as well. I really like Ferus's Stats (and just started reading that series too!)

@ KI.. just change it to 2

Congrats man =]

I guess it'll be a while before 3rd place is decided lol.