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Barbgaunt

2023-05-31T05:10:07Z

2A02:908:238:F120:F54E:F1CB:6079:2D55: /* Overview */

[[File:ElEIQUahNoFTv2Jb.jpg|290px|right|thumb|The Nids now have air-burst munitions. Emperor preserve us!]]
Barbgaunts are a new species hailing from the Gauntii genus that first made its debut in 10th Edition. They are one of the two new Gaunt species being introduced, with the other being the [[Neurogaunt]]s.

==Overview==
Barbgaunts are a Tyranid light artillery-organism, working closer to the front line than [[Hive Guard]] and [[Biovore]]s. If anything, Barbgaunts are basically baby Biovores for all intents and purposes. But in terms of their nature, they heavily resemble dedicated light artillery with airburst munitions than anything else. True to most Tyranid artillery units, the [[Light Bio-Cannon|bio-cannons]] on their backs are actually bonded with the same parasitic organism that has [[what|enslaved the rest of the gaunt to its will]], merging body and weapon into a single lethal entity.

It does come at a cost though. Their heavy weaponry forces the Barbgaunt to adapt to a more tripodal position, making them comparatively slow, awkward and sluggish compared to their more nimble cousins. It's unclear if they have to walk as a tripod or if they only need to brace themselves on three legs when firing.

==Crunch==
Crunchwise, Barbgaunts have similar stats to all Gaunts which is not surprising (Although they are ''drastically'' slower, which is also not surprising given their tripodal gait). Their biggest gimmick of course, is their unique weapon they carry. Their light bio-canons is 24" ranged Blast and Heavy weapon with a D6 Attack, BS4+, S5, AP0, D1 light mortar. Whilst not that powerful when compared to other forms of light artillery, the weapon or...shall we say the Gaunt itself, is comparatively cheaper. So you field more of them.

Another unique factor is that, to balance its relatively mediocre stats, these living mortars have a unique ability called '''Disruption Bombardment'''. What this thing does is that in your shooting phase, any targeted enemy infantry that was hit by one or more of these attacks counts as disrupted for the next turn. When a unit is disrupted, they subtract 2 from its Move characteristic and 2 from its Advance and Charge rolls made for it.

So yeah, imagine fielding a bunch of miniature ''[[Tremor Cannon]]s''. A very interesting and useful but annoying weapon against charge armies.

{{Tyranids-Creatures}}

Wizards of the Coast

2023-05-26T19:47:28Z

2A02:908:238:F120:F54E:F1CB:6079:2D55: /* Post-April 2023 */

{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Wizards of the Coast
|Symbol = [[Image:Wizards_of_the_Coast_logo.svg.png]]
|Alignment = Batshit Insane Chaotic Evil
|Divine Rank = AAA
|Pantheon = Tabletop, TCG
|Portfolio = [[Magic: The Gathering]], [[Dungeons and Dragons]]
|Domains = Deepest Pits of TCG Hell
|Home Plane = Washington, United States
|Worshippers = [[That Guy|Fucking Pinkertons]] (We are '''''NOT''''' [[EPIC FAIL|making this shit up]])
|Favoured Weapon = Assraping Fans, Corporate Greed, Sending fucking ''Hitmen'' after Fans
}}

'''Wizards of the Coast''' (Abbr: WotC) ([http://www.wizards.com http://www.wizards.com]}}), like so many luminous icons of the tabletop industry, was founded in a dingy basement in the rainy city of Seattle in 1990. Originally, they developed ''[[Magic the Gathering]]'', and, after using their patents on various cardgame staples like "tapping" and "counters" to strangle literally every other competitor but ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'' out of business, they made ''so much goddamn money'' on the sucker's market that is the CCG scene that they were able to fulfill every nerd's dream of buying the dying ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' property out from under [[Lorraine Williams]], then revitalizing it with its [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|most popular edition]]. Since then, they've been themselves bought out by the [[Call of Cthulhu|cold, emotionless, alien beings taking the form of corporate suits]] at [[Hasbro]], <strike>but in recent times the corporation has adopted a more "hand-off" approach to Wizards, to mutual benefit.</strike> LOL NOT ANY MORE. Reception of their leaked 1.1 update to the OGL document was and is a stinking dumpster fire.

They are a source of [[skub|civilized and respectful debate]] on /tg/, but while the [[Old School Roleplaying|old guard]] will probably [[butthurt|never forgive them]] for changing literally anything about the game from the ''[[Chainmail]]'' days, general consensus is that, as evil megacorporations in the tabletop business go, they’re merely decent at their best and capable of keeping up with [[Games Workshop]] and [[Catalyst Game Labs|Catalyst Labs]] at their worst. While people once believed that Wizards was getting better, unfortunately nothing good ever lasts with people screaming murder over OGL update 1.1. And said dumpster fire evolving into a Australian-grade wildfire during the April 2023 incident (More can be read below).

==Early History: Oh~ Oh~ Oh~, It's Magic!==
Wizards started out as a small-time game publisher, releasing new editions of defunct old niche games and small dribbles of their own material. They'd probably have gone the route of [[Iron Crown Enterprises]] or be languishing in obscurity today, if not for a stroke of good luck. [[Richard Garfield|Some math major]] with an eye towards game design walked into their office and pitched a board game to them. They liked it, but they didn't have the cash to produce it, so they asked him to come up with something cheaper to produce, something portable and quick to play. Well, to make a long story short, he went home, ran some numbers, and [[Magic the Gathering|the rest is history]].

''Magic: The Gathering'' was (and, if you're into the Skinner Box of CCGs, still is) a damn fine collectible card game, the first commercially successful one of its kind in the world... which isn't actually that impressive, considering the only other CCG at that point was a baseball card game from the early 1900s. Still, it started an industry, won shitloads of game-design awards, and led to Wizards using its patents on various basic card game mechanics ("tapping," counters, etc.) to ruthlessly crush all competitors. Sometimes, they were justified in protecting their IP against hacks and shovelware imitators. Sometimes, they just went after people they didn't like. Let's just say there's a ''reason'' ''L5R'' used to make you lose points if you accidentally said "tap" instead of "bow."

It also made them more money than can easily be imagined, not least because the 90s was the age of know-nothing idiots speculating on "nerd shit," a trend started in the comic-book industry. (Humorously, the cards from this time have sometimes ended up being ''[[Arabian Nights|more]]'' [[Legends|valuable]] than the pointless comics bubble ever would be.) Rather than blowing it all on hookers and blow, in the tradition of the 80's, they funneled it back into their RPG business, buying up various old games and refurbishing them, including ''Ars Magica'' from fellow swaggering new kid on the block [[White Wolf]]. Most of them had enjoyed only moderate success at best, not least because the market then was smaller than it had ever been following the fundamentalist-o-caust of the 80's purge and the company was putting its fingers into too many pies and failing to support all its games, but eventually, they managed to land the biggest fish of all.

==[[Conan the Barbarian|And so, my lord became a king by his own hand...]]==
[[File:WOTClogo.gif|300px|thumb|right|The old yellow logo.]]
As a cash-strapped and [[Lorraine Williams|internal-politics-crippled]] [[TSR]] was folding and dying, Wizards bought them and all their stuff, including the famous and venerable ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' property, for a paltry $25 million. They gave all the old TSR guys jobs, called off the lawyers and openly allowed fans to release stuff for [[Dark Sun|poorly-selling]] [[Ravenloft|but much-beloved]] [[Spelljammer|campaign settings]], and put various designers from TSR to work building the [[Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition|most popular and successful edition of D&D ever]]. [[Derp|Then paid to do it again when it needed a shitload of patching,]] leading to the silliest ''D&D'' edition name of all time (3.5). They also held a contest to design a setting that was weird and new for the new edition, ultimately settling on [[Keith Baker]]'s ''[[Eberron]]''.

Along with that edition, they put out the [[Open Gaming License]], offering free reign for other companies to use their rules and produce supplements. While this had the unfortunate side effect of sometimes putting their tacit approval on complete [[fail]], it is generally held to be one of their smartest and most fan-friendly moves ever, generating huge amounts of content for their game without paying a dime for it. Whether you want [[Microlite20|uber-minimalism]], [[Diaspora|hard sci-fi]], or [[Book of Erotic Fantasy|erotically-charged sexventures]], you can generally find it somewhere in the library of OGL content, in varying degrees of quality.

As the decade wound down, they also got the license to make a CCG for ''[[Pokémon]]'', and while we scoff now, it was a pretty good game that wasn't a complete ''Magic'' rip-off, and it probably made them about as much money as ''Magic'' for a while there. The ''Pokémon'' craze was at its height, and children everywhere begged money off their parents, worked menial lemonade-stand jobs, and, in some truly [[fail]]-tastic cases, murdered each other in cold blood for the next sweet, sweet hit of booster pack fever.

==New Management, or the Road to the Great Mistake==
At the turn of the millenium, [[Hasbro|terrible, alien intelligences]] examined our realm of existence. With minds too different from ours to comprehend their motives, and the cold, unfeeling calculations of inhuman thoughts, they reached out their slick black tentacles into our plane and acquired Wizards of the Coast. They also paid nearly ten times as much for the privilege as Wizards spent for TSR, so suck it fanboys!

What happened next is hard to conclusively prove, since nobody involved wants to stop working in the business forever by getting a rep as a fuckin' snitch, but over the course of a decade, most of Wizards' upper management was quietly replaced. Various minor aspects of the property, like GenCon and the ''Dragon'' and ''Dungeon'' magazines were portioned off and outsourced to other producers (notably, Paizo). Keeping a low overhead meant firing all the veterans to hire newbs with lower asking salaries, draining the company's talent pool. Whether these cutbacks were the fault of Wizards, a company run by enthusiasts for enthusiasts with a history of mediocre business sense, or Hasbro, a corporate giant with a history of undermining their acquired brands with needless executive interference and anti-consumer bullshit, is probably never going to be openly known. Either way, eventually, the decision was made to build an entirely new edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons''.

In theory, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Third Edition and ''3.5'' had always had their flaws ([[CoDzilla|Monte Cook's traditional caster-dominance]], weak [[fighter|martial classes]], incoherent high-level play that turned into a maze of magic item abuse and extra turn stacking, a cesspool of bad character options left over from the ill-thought-out "ivory tower" game design, etc.) and the latter was starting to show its age. Furthermore, they decided that this edition wouldn't just be a revamp of the old, but a complete rebuilding of the entire ''D&D'' system from the ground up, intending to fix long-running problems and set a bold new direction for the future. No more would martials announce "I make a weapon attack" and throw a d20 round after round: they would have access to cool techniques and a varied playstyle just like the casters. No more would casters break the game over their knee and [[Cybering|don their robe and wizard hat]] to fuck its corpse: their power would be drastically scaled back, with magic now divided into limited-application combat components and longer-and-more-involved ritual spells.

Unfortunately, this well-intentioned and high-profile project was destined to go horribly wrong...

==Schism and Competition==
Despite what the [[butthurt]] fanboys will tell you, ''[[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]]'' was (and still sort-of is as they sell off the backlog) a financial success. And the hatred for it was never uniform. Even people that hate 4e will admit that it's not a [[FATAL|terrible]] [[Racial Holy War|game]], but even its fans have to admit that, in many ways, it is utterly unrecognizable from the game that preceded it. The sad truth is that 4e was worse than a bad game: it was a flawed-but-good game which just happened to have a lot of stupid drama to deal with.

To make a long story very short:

The people who love 4e love it for its tightly-defined rule set, tactical depth compared to 3.5 (no more martials flanking and power attacking every turn while the casters fly out of reach or teleport out of sight and spam save-or-die rays from their familiar), strong support for the DM via online materials, ease of play compared to the frequent RULESRULESRULES problems of earlier editions, giving every class, even former low-tier sad-sacks like the [[monk]] a fair shot at being as awesome as the previously-dominant full-casters, and for introducing some genuinely good new ideas to the lore. (Ex. [[The Raven Queen]] replacing the evil death gods as an iconic neutral death goddess, some ''great'' new books and campaign ideas for ''[[Eberron]]'', adding lots of off-beat, niche races like [[githzerai]] and [[goliath]]s to the core rulebooks, and a new, wonderfully revamped version of ''[[Dark Sun]]'' for the first time in two-and-a-half editions that not only brought back all the best parts of that gameline but sanded off all the worst ideas, like the biomechanical halfling empire and the DM taking over a character during the Dragon transformation.)

The people who hate 4e hate it for sharply segregating the game into combat and story sections, focusing heavily on the use of [[miniatures]] and battle mat combat rather than the "theater of the imagination," being hard to run without "power cards," sold separately, to keep all the abilities straight, nickel-and-diming consumers to try to force them to buy ''[[World of Warcraft]]''-style subscriptions for access to character generators or other online materials, shoehorning all classes into the same sets of mechanics (Leaders heal and buff their allies, Strikers hurt things, Defenders [[tank]], Controllers debuff and throw out area attacks), making a lot of gratuitous changes to D&D lore, from slaughtering the cosmology of ''[[Planescape]]'' to dropping a [[Exterminatus|Spellplague]] on the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'', and releasing a castrated new version of the Open Gaming License for the game system.

Worse, it seems many of these problems were corporate mandated from above by Hasbro, seeking to create a more tightly-controlled IP and cut the Open Gaming License off at the roots. While 4e remained a modest financial success, many fans began leaving the oldest roleplaying game of all behind to go looking for other ways to scratch the itch. And many of the Hasbro-based marketeers, being, like most marketeers, dumb blood-sucking [[vampire]]s who only vaguely remember what it is to be human, made the whole situation worse by emphasizing 3.5's flaws as much as they praised 4e's features in a vindictive way that hurt feelings and created a lot of bad blood.

Paizo, the former magazine publishers, took advantage of this to start fully promoting their own D20-based RPG game, [[Pathfinder]], a sort of "D&D 3.75" that attempted to fix the problems without transforming so drastically from the 3.5 model. How successful they were is... debatable (read that page for details), but it drew in the fans like mad. Because it ran on the OGL, it soon had rafts of refugees publishing quality third-party material for its game. Riding that surge of popularity, Paizo began to become a true challenger to WoTC's former dominance over the gaming market, even outselling them at times.

This act, creating one's own worse competitor, was humiliating for Wizards and disquieting to Hasbro. The slimy, icy tendrils of the conglomerate began to withdraw. So long as Wizards did not become a financial liability, the interns through which Hasbro communicated sang (they burn out, bleeding from every orifice, after channeling a single communication and have to be replaced), it would now be free to pursue whatever direction it wished for yet another edition. But it ''must'' have another edition. The insatiable hunger of the otherworldly suits would not be satisfied with ''second place'', no matter how profitable it proved.

Yet, in many ways, as Wizards scrambled to clean up the floors under the intern and move on, this whole experience was good for Wizards. Now that they had actual competitors, product quality could be an actual defense against the bizarre demands of their alien masters, since now they stood to lose customers if they fucked up. And they could dissect what Paizo did leading up to ''Pathfinder'' and take notes.

==The Life and Death of 5th Edition==
After seeing how much success Paizo had with its open playtests for [[Pathfinder]], Wizards did something similar with the new edition of ''D&D'', which got years and years of hard, careful work and testing put into it. Wizards promised to keep the best aspects of every previous edition, distilling a better product at the end. Despite a frequently-skeptical response, it helped rebuild community confidence, and the eventual result, many years in the making, was ''[[D&D Next]]'', or, as it would inevitably eventually be known, 5e.

So far, 5e has been a roaring critical and commercial success. The game is fun, simple yet deep, streamlined without being dumbed down, and has combined the playability of the early editions with the mechanics of the d20 system and the best ideas from 4e. With the monthly community surveys and ''Unearthed Arcana'' articles providing anyone with an Internet connection with quality, officially-sanctioned homebrew content and a genuine system of feedback, Wizards has begun to reclaim the reputation they nearly lost after the ill-advised attempt by their corporate masters to chase the MMO dollar. Even Paizo had to step up its game to compete, as the best parts of 5e brought into contrast the worst parts of 3.5 in Pathfinder.

The company had also been centralizing a LOT of their publication. Up until about 2015 or so, Wizards subcontracted a lot of their writing and art duties to others, like some freelancers and authors who would work for them. However, after a rocky reception to the quality of the first five D&D 5e [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Books|books]], the company hired a bunch of new graphical designers, artists, editors, and even some of the players on the official D&D podcasts (including Kate Welch and Amy Falcone) to join their main crew in Seattle. After that, all but one of the 5e books has been radically better-received, even if the release rate of splatbooks is still far lower than what most fans like.

After that step, Wizards began branching out significantly, hiring Fandom, Inc and DriveThruRPG to create officially-licensed and branded websites to augment their own online offerings for D&D and Magic: The Gathering. With the full acquisition of D&D Beyond, players were able to create characters, sell adventures, track combat, design custom monsters, and otherwise homebrew material to their hearts' content, and even buy official expansions to the hardback D&D books that are legal at the table for Adventurers' League. The services also actually work, amazingly enough, although there is widespread fan [[rage|discontent]] over how the hardback books cost fifty US dollars but don't unlock their online content on D&D Beyond without spending another 25 bucks. This is in addition to the fact that many of their more recent 5e books have been seen as little more than cash-grabs; fairly low effort and lazy writing paired with barebones fluff (seriously, most of the new or introduced races like Owlin or Plasmoids have roughly a paragraph of lore at best) and debatably balanced mechanics pretty much only serve to justify the $50 price tags stamped onto their hardback books.

With the streamlining of their services, WotC has since been looking toward creating a unifying edition of D&D called "One D&D". ''Intended'' to be backwards compatible, One D&D is intended to feature a much grander implementation of online features into the core experience. This is intended to even include a fully virtual TTRPG with D&D Beyond integration for use with online campaigns.

==Then 2023 happened==
Evidently Hasbro/WotC decided 2023 was the year to pull an Activision Blizzard and make absolute asses of themselves.

The first major incident happened just before the turn of the year, in November 2022. Magic the Gathering was celebrating its 30th anniversary, which is admittedly a pretty big deal, considering the many, many CCGs that have died with a whimper or been relegated to niche status while it keeps trucking along. To mark this momentous occasion, WotC and Hasbro decided to create a special anniversary release set. All well and good so far, but when the details of this set were announced, it achieved an unprecedented level of hatred across damn near the entire MtG community (which is no small feat, mind you). In a decision that truly displays how out of touch the suits at Hasbro/WotC are, the 30th anniversary cards were only available in a box of four booster packs that retailed for ''$999'', which had to be ordered directly from them. These cards were functionally reprints from MtG's first editions of the game, which included many cards on Wizards' reserved list (for those not in the know, the reserved list is a long list of cards that WotC has basically vowed to never reprint). This included cards like the notorious Black Lotus, the other Power Nine cards and the like. However, these cards were all printed with a special 30th anniversary back which rendered them all illegal for officially sanctioned play. While this certainly helped avoid the potential lawsuits that could've been incurred from violating their reserved list agreements and helped avoid utterly destroying the market value of the original cards, it still rubbed many people the wrong way that they would skirt that line in the first place. Of course, that was if anyone even got them from the box. As mentioned, these cards were only available in booster sets, which of course means all the cards included in the ''$999'' box were totally randomized. That's right, players had to pay a thousand bucks for the ''chance'' to get the equivalent of a proxy of a Black Lotus or similar card that was not legal for organized play. Pretty much anyone who actually enjoyed the hobby was, at best, less than pleased, considering the obvious greed on display. Suffice to say, this was a major misfire for the company and though WotC claims the stock sold out in around 30 minutes of the product's launch, there is much doubt as to the veracity of these claims.

Not only did the utterly disastrous 30th anniversary celebration for MtG that's seen the brand become a financial liability happen, but in preparation for their upcoming One D&D ventures, WotC decided to create OGL 1.1. By exploiting the very literal phrasing of the OGL 1.0a, which dictates that 3rd parties or content creators operating under it are at perfect liberty to utilize any authorized versions of the OGL for their works, Wizards figured that as there was explicitly a lack of wording to make OGL 1.0a "irrevocable"; they could simply de-authorize OGL 1.0a and ''force'' all the licensees to adhere to the new OGL 1.1, lest they get bullied out of the game by Hasbro's fleet of lawyers. This is despite the intentions of 1.0a and the FAQ clarifications stating that the intent was for 1.0a to remain as a fully authorized license agreement "in perpetuity". The new OGL, of course, is ''far'' more restrictive on how D&D's SRD is utilized and demands that any individual, group, or organization that makes $750k or more annually on content that falls under OGL 1.1 must report all earnings to WotC and pay a ''25%'' royalty fee (or a "paltry" 20% if using Kickstarter as the medium, this being WotC's "preferred" platform for crowdfunding) for all such content. To make matters worse, this OGL was to be thrown at most relevant parties in such a manner as to give them as little as ''one week'' to sign on the included contract. Way to piss off an entire online fanbase by clamping down hard enough to make [[Games Workshop]] go "Holy shit, calm down you guys." The only reason this particular plan didn't play out exactly as described is due to the honorable, well-intentioned efforts of several WotC employees who leaked OGL 1.1 ahead of schedule.

Then again, they were still making a mint off the [[Magic the Gathering|cardboard crack]] through all of this, so in hindsight we should have seen this coming. It also goes to show that WotC can't seem to genuinely learn from their mistakes, as this is playing out even more poorly than their attempt to alter the OGL during their disastrous 4th edition ventures. At the very least, thanks to an insider leak, we know they [[Capitalism|only see customers as an obstacle to their money]].

Due to the near universal backlash OGL 1.1 faced after the leaks, WotC attempted to backpedal, claiming 1.1 was [[bullshit|merely a draft]] of the final product (despite having sent it to various 3rd parties with a contract included). Their apology was filled to the brim with fairly typical corporate condescension, gaslighting and handwaving; the new OGL "2.0" will be rephrased in a way that doesn't "scare" the community while protecting WotC's assets and interests from being preyed upon by [[what|larger corporations seeking to exploit their IP]]. It takes a special kind of small-dick energy to be intimidated by companies that don't even make 1/100th of their annual revenue, but then again, this ''is'' Hasbro we're talking about.

This open revolt led to more allegations coming out from current and former employees, including insanity like AI DMs for their proprietary VTT and intentions of ramping up the subscription prices while cutting back on perks for any tiers below the absolute top (which includes banning ''homebrew'' of all fucking things). Most damning of all was their apparent intention to start selling [[/v/|fucking lootboxes]] because Hasbro's CEO was under the delusion that the game "was undermonetized". All of this came out in the wake of a massive wave of folks cancelling their D&D Beyond subscriptions, an upset so massive that WotC tried to pull a fast one and hide the unsubscribe button, and the news merely dumped a truckload of gas on an already raging fire. For the record, WotC has denied everything about this except for carving apart all the books to make microtransactions, because they're banking on all those sheep still buying all the parts from their favorite books.

Another response was made about a week later that was written by the Executive Producer of D&D, one that wasn't nearly as condescending to the community as a result of the above rioting. This post promised to forward a review copy of the new OGL, one that the public can scrutinize, criticize, and ridicule as part of their desperate ploy to stop the massive bleeding wound that they inflicted on themselves. This took the form of a newer OGL 1.2, which eases certain restrictions, waived the horseshit about royalties and stated that it would be irrevocable (until they revoked it, by once again leaving just enough legal wiggle-room for them to update/de-authorize this OGL at a later date), but ultimately still proved far from desirable by the community.

Ironically, WotC's intention to revoke/replace the original OGL 1.0a has spurred a significant number of its former contributors and competitors to unite under Paizo's banner to create the "Linux" of RPG Licenses, referred to as the Open RPG Creative License (simply, and perhaps appropriately, referred to as the [[Orc|ORC]]). The ORC, having been drafted by several of the original authors behind the OGL 1.0a, is intended to be explicitly and unmistakably irrevocable, perpetual, and once established, owned by a non-profit 3rd party so that it cannot be altered or managed by any individual/group who might be tempted to modify the terms for personal profits. Paizo also expressed a willingness to defend OGL 1.0a's status in court, though such efforts would prove unnecessary.

In the end, Wizards of the Coast cancelled the update from 1.0a and made the announcement that it was here to stay for good, [[FAIL|after weeks upon weeks of losing every shred of goodwill trying to push the change.]] In a slightly surprising move, they also committed the entire 5.1 SRD to the Creative Commons License ''before'' the announcement itself, ensuring that all info contained within was indeed irrevocably free for third-party use going forward. Thanks to the headwind from people abandoning the system, their biggest rival Paizo experienced record growth, all the while the community talks about boycotting the upcoming movie. Whether people will forget about this come D&D Beyond or not, who knows? What we do know however is the effect that the community has on a fanbase, and how one [[Matt Ward|Wardian]] move can cause so much harm.

Despite this, one can surmise that these changes will be restricted/exclusive to 5e. There is absolutely no way that WotC/Hasbro executives aren't fuming in impotent rage that the D&D community managed to stymie their plans to further monetize one of their biggest cash cows. Though OGL 1.0a and 5e are safe for the foreseeable future, they are under no compunction to release their upcoming OneD&D or VTT projects under OGL 1.0a and with how much money they've invested in those ventures, they'll almost assuredly attempt to create a new OGL more in line with their goals to secure their future products. Though with the substantial popularity boost their competitors received, the massive loss of D&D Beyond subscriptions and having thoroughly gotten on their community's bad side over the past few months, WotC will likely be keeping a low profile for a little bit before poking that hornet nest again.

... or maybe not as they proceeded to ram their dicks right into the hornet's nest .

==The April 2023 Incident AKA How to Turn a Children's Card Game into the fucking Italian Mafia==
{{WTF}}
{{Fail}}
Remember the April 2023 incident mentioned earlier? Yeah. So what happened was that the chucklefucks at WotC sent in the fucking [[That Guy|'''''Pinkertons''''']] (currently a subsidiary of Securitas AB, a [[Norsca|Swedish]] security corporation) to some [[neckbeard]]'s home because he'd accidentally purchased an unreleased set of MTG cards and shown them on his YouTube channel. Yes. These insane nutjobs sent in a motherfucking ''[[WTF|PMC]]'' notorious for its history of shooting striking workers (resulting in literal legislation against them called Anti-Pinkerton Laws, look them up) over a bunch of children's ''trading cards''. Hey, if you're going to behave like a 19th century robber baron, why not go the whole hog and use the same thugs for hire favored by Carnegie and his ilk?

The sheer level of unprecedented, excessive, and unnecessary overreaction shocked the wider tabletop community because it was just ''that'' batshit insane. The poor guy's wife was so traumatised she ''broke down crying'' when [[Inquisition|these armed hired goons terrorized and intimidated the ''entire neighborhood'', let alone the guy's family themselves]]. I mean fuck. Not even the scumfuckery of ''[[Games Workshop]]'' is that mean-spirited. You must be fucked royally hard to make GeeDubs of all companies look reasonable. Seriously, the entire tabletop community (not only the MTG and D&D fans) were up in justified outrage. This led to a shit-ton of former fans cancelling their subscriptions to WOTC and declaring that they will never buy a product from them again. The PR was such a fucking raging inferno that WOTC quickly apologized but by this point it was too little too late, as many people came around to the view that this whole fiasco was a class-action lawsuit in the making. Especially after it turned out that this ''wasn't even the first time they had used the Pinkertons for this kind of thing''.

Like seriously, you couldn't have just emailed the guy over a ''genuine shipping mistake''?! You bunch of sociopathic, megalomaniacal fuckwits?

Even after the incident, Wizards of the Coast dropped the ball in regards to Magic, relegating the lore of said Aftermath set, removing a lot of Sparks for mostly no reason while having the reasoning why be explained not by the company itself nor by one of the writers, but by a literal podcast nobody has heard of. Not since Star Wars showcased Palpatine’s return via Fortnite has a company screwed up lore reveals as heavily as this, and for it to happen right after the Pinkerton incident really does show the lack of competency that has become the status quo following the Hasbro acquisition.

WotC is clearly speedrunning "worst company of 2023" so keep your popcorn ready for the next fuck up sure to be coming soon. Look, they’re already continuing on that speedrun by [https://www.wargamer.com/dnd/monster-kids-drawings using proceedings from books to fund ABA therapies and Autism Speaks], furthering the ruination of their reputation as if this were a minor blip on the radar for them.

==Post-April 2023==

Following the April Incident and the hiccups that emerged after that, Wizards has… actually managed to find a way to stay quiet to let controversy down. Sure, their reputation has tanked but for once they forced themselves to stay out of the limelight when it comes to major controversy.

Does this mean they’re done with troubles for the year? No, of course not. I mean, they’re already [https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/dungeons-dragons-free-streaming-fast-channel-eone-launch-1235609856/ copying Games Workshop’s] [[Games Workshop|homework]]. But at the very least, they wised up and are not committing blatantly stupid acts like sending goons to harass people. Probably because they noticed the raising of Pathfinder sales again. If anything does happen afterward though, this page is probably a good place to find out as things update in D&D/Magic news.

==External Links==
* Drive to Work, episode 40 (the Wizards of the Coast episode) ,[http://media.wizards.com/podcasts/magic/drivetowork40wizardsofthecoast.mp3].
[[category:Publishers]]

Shadar-kai

2023-05-18T09:54:50Z

2A02:908:238:F120:F54E:F1CB:6079:2D55: /* In 5th Edition */

[[File:4e Shadar-kai.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Ow the edge.]]
[[File:4e Shadar-kai 2.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Even more edge.]]
Shadar-kai are a [[Dungeons & Dragons]] creature where you really have to specify what edition you're talking about. Both versions have a gothy sadomasochistic theme (imagine a whole race of Cenobites from Hellraiser), but the difference between 3e and 4e really couldn't be much greater.

==In 3rd Edition==
An obscure beastie, the 3.5 shadar-kai is a species of Fae that has been dwelling on the Plane of Shadow for generations. This has caused them to suffer a magical affliction where they steadily fade away into nothingness, unless they can stimulate themselves. The most easy way to do this is via torture and self-mutilation, to the point that their iconic gear are arm-bands with cold iron spikes on the inside, which they drive into their own flesh to keep them "anchored" into reality. They hate all mortals for not having to put up with the same effect, blaming them for their choice to live in the Plane of Shadow in the first place.

==In 4th Edition==
Debuting in [[Dragon Magazine]] #372, the shadar-kai of the [[World Axis]] became both a humanoid race and a playable species. Basically, they're the descendants of humans who migrated to the [[Shadowfell]] in pursuit of immortality. They got it... of a sort. If they can keep themselves active, amused and interested in life, they can live forever. If they succumb to ennui, they start fading out of existence. Their culture is thusly [[Dark Eldar|dedicated to stimulation of all sorts]]: [[Slaanesh|carnal experimentation and sadomasochism]], boasting contests, athletic contests... in essence, they're a race of "live for the moment" loudmouthed jocks, with a tendency to cut themselves when things get boring.

:: '''Ability Scores:''' +2 Dexterity; +2 Intelligence or +2 Wisdom (originally, they were a Dex/Int race, with Dragon #397 letting them trade the Int for a Wis bonus instead.
:: '''Size:''' Medium
:: '''Speed:''' 6 Squares
:: '''Vision:''' Low-light
:: '''Languages:''' Common, one language of choice
:: '''Skill Bonuses:''' +2 Acrobatics, +2 Stealth
:: '''Shadow Jaunt:''' Once per encounter, as a move action, teleport 3 squares and become Insubstantial until the start of your next turn.
:: '''Shadow Origin:''' Considered a shadow creature for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin
:: '''Winterkin:''' +1 racial bonus to Fortitude defense, +2 racial bonus to death/unconscious saving throws

In [[Dragon Magazine]] #391, the article "A Legacy in Shadow" officially canonized/examined the presence of shadar-kai in the [[Forgotten Realms]], saying they began to spontaneously arise as a result of the [[Spellplague]] touching the shadowborn humans brought back to Toril by the Shadovar of Returned Netheril. This not only provided a number of new racial feats, but also included the subraces/alternative powers for shadar-kai descended from [[shade]]s and [[krinth]], represented as a pair of Heritage Feats:
* Krinth Heritage: +2 to Intimidate, become Insubstantial until the end of your next turn when you suffer a critical hit from an enemy, replace '''Shadow Jaunt''' with '''Demonic Aggression''' (1/encounter, as an immediate reaction to being damaged by an enemy within 3 squares, teleport to an unoccupied square adjacent to that enemy and gain combat advantage until the end of your next turn).
* Shade Heritage: Vision becomes Darkvision 5, +2 to Stealth checks (so +4 total), replace '''Shadow Jaunt''' with '''Shade Stride''' (1/encounter, teleport either to any square within 5 squares or to any dark or dimly lit square within 10 squares as a move action).

==In 5th Edition==
Shadar-kai made an appearance for 5e in the November 2017 issue of [[Unearthed Arcana]]; whilst the focus was purely on crunch, their fluff was essentially a clumsy amalgamation of their lore from before - in a nutshell, taking all of their 4e lore, but making their base race be [[elf]] rather than [[human]]. As such, they are mechanically a subrace for elves, although their entire statblock is repeated here because 1d4chan is awesome like that.
::Ability Score Increase: +2 Dexterity, +1 Charisma
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Darkvision 60 feet
::Keen Senses: Proficiency in Perception.
::Fey Ancestry: Advantage on saves against being charmed, and immune to magic that puts you to sleep.
::Trance: Trancing for 4 hours yields the same effect as an 8 hour sleep.
::Deathly Cantrip: You know a single cantrip chosen from a list of Chill Touch, Spare the Dying and Thaumaturgy. This cantrip can't be changed at a later date. Your spellcasting ability score for this cantrip is Charisma.
::Blessed By The [[Raven Queen]]: You can use a bonus action to teleport to an unoccupied space within 15 feet. After teleporting, you gain resistance to all damage until the end of your next turn, during which time you appear translucent and ghostly. After using this ability, you must complete a short rest or a long rest to use it again.

Shadar-kai later appeared in ''Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes'' but with some edits. The most notable among these changes includes the Deathly Cantrip being removed but the range of their teleport is increased to 30 feet. A new interesting detail for them is that they look like actual wrinkly old people while they're in the Shadowfell for some reason. Also, they're no longer BDSM freaks, [[Awesome|instead they just treat their bodies as disposable since they know their Raven Queen will resurrect them anyway.]]

''Mordekainen's Monsters of the Multiverse'' saw another edit, splitting them off from the general Elf race like the [[Eladrin]]. This rewrite makes their stat increases fall into lines with the current paradigm of pick-your own stats (+2/+1 to two stats or +1 to three) and providing multiple uses of their teleport power equal to their proficiency bonus, but ultimately little else.

::Ability Score Increase: +2 Dexterity, +1 Constitution
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Darkvision 60 feet
::Keen Senses: Proficiency in Perception.
::Fey Ancestry: Advantage on saves against being charmed, and immune to magic that puts you to sleep.
::Trance: Trancing for 4 hours yields the same effect as an 8 hour sleep.
::Necrotic Resistance: You have resistance to necrotic damage.
::Blessing of the Raven Queen: You can use a bonus action to magically teleport to an unoccupied space you can see within 30 feet. Starting at the 3rd character level, you gain resistance to all damage after teleporting with this trait until the start of your next turn, during which time you appear translucent and ghostly. After using this ability, you must complete a long rest to use it again.

If you want something closer to the 4e version of the race, [[Ulraunt's Guide to the Planes]] has got you covered!
::Ability Score Increase: +2 Dexterity, +1 to an ability score of your choice
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Darkvision 60 feet
::Shadow Blend: While in dim light or darkness, you can use a bonus action to become invisible, along with anything you are wearing or carrying. The invisibility lasts for 1 minute, until you make an attack or cast a spell, are in bright light, become incapacitated, or until you use a bonus action to end it. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
::Shadow Jaunt: When you are in dim light or darkness, as a bonus action you can teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see that is also in dim light or darkness. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
::Shadow Stealth: While in dim light or darkness, you can take the Hide action as a bonus action.
::Spiked Chain Proficiency: You are proficient with the spiked chain and the heavy spiked chain.
::Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common.
::Epic Racial: Ghostly Jaunt: When you reach 25th character level, after using your Shadow Jaunt, you gain resistance to all damage until the start of your next turn.

{{D&D4e-Races}}
{{D&D5e-Races}}

Shadar-kai

2023-05-18T09:53:48Z

2A02:908:238:F120:F54E:F1CB:6079:2D55: /* In 5th Edition */

[[File:4e Shadar-kai.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Ow the edge.]]
[[File:4e Shadar-kai 2.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Even more edge.]]
Shadar-kai are a [[Dungeons & Dragons]] creature where you really have to specify what edition you're talking about. Both versions have a gothy sadomasochistic theme (imagine a whole race of Cenobites from Hellraiser), but the difference between 3e and 4e really couldn't be much greater.

==In 3rd Edition==
An obscure beastie, the 3.5 shadar-kai is a species of Fae that has been dwelling on the Plane of Shadow for generations. This has caused them to suffer a magical affliction where they steadily fade away into nothingness, unless they can stimulate themselves. The most easy way to do this is via torture and self-mutilation, to the point that their iconic gear are arm-bands with cold iron spikes on the inside, which they drive into their own flesh to keep them "anchored" into reality. They hate all mortals for not having to put up with the same effect, blaming them for their choice to live in the Plane of Shadow in the first place.

==In 4th Edition==
Debuting in [[Dragon Magazine]] #372, the shadar-kai of the [[World Axis]] became both a humanoid race and a playable species. Basically, they're the descendants of humans who migrated to the [[Shadowfell]] in pursuit of immortality. They got it... of a sort. If they can keep themselves active, amused and interested in life, they can live forever. If they succumb to ennui, they start fading out of existence. Their culture is thusly [[Dark Eldar|dedicated to stimulation of all sorts]]: [[Slaanesh|carnal experimentation and sadomasochism]], boasting contests, athletic contests... in essence, they're a race of "live for the moment" loudmouthed jocks, with a tendency to cut themselves when things get boring.

:: '''Ability Scores:''' +2 Dexterity; +2 Intelligence or +2 Wisdom (originally, they were a Dex/Int race, with Dragon #397 letting them trade the Int for a Wis bonus instead.
:: '''Size:''' Medium
:: '''Speed:''' 6 Squares
:: '''Vision:''' Low-light
:: '''Languages:''' Common, one language of choice
:: '''Skill Bonuses:''' +2 Acrobatics, +2 Stealth
:: '''Shadow Jaunt:''' Once per encounter, as a move action, teleport 3 squares and become Insubstantial until the start of your next turn.
:: '''Shadow Origin:''' Considered a shadow creature for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin
:: '''Winterkin:''' +1 racial bonus to Fortitude defense, +2 racial bonus to death/unconscious saving throws

In [[Dragon Magazine]] #391, the article "A Legacy in Shadow" officially canonized/examined the presence of shadar-kai in the [[Forgotten Realms]], saying they began to spontaneously arise as a result of the [[Spellplague]] touching the shadowborn humans brought back to Toril by the Shadovar of Returned Netheril. This not only provided a number of new racial feats, but also included the subraces/alternative powers for shadar-kai descended from [[shade]]s and [[krinth]], represented as a pair of Heritage Feats:
* Krinth Heritage: +2 to Intimidate, become Insubstantial until the end of your next turn when you suffer a critical hit from an enemy, replace '''Shadow Jaunt''' with '''Demonic Aggression''' (1/encounter, as an immediate reaction to being damaged by an enemy within 3 squares, teleport to an unoccupied square adjacent to that enemy and gain combat advantage until the end of your next turn).
* Shade Heritage: Vision becomes Darkvision 5, +2 to Stealth checks (so +4 total), replace '''Shadow Jaunt''' with '''Shade Stride''' (1/encounter, teleport either to any square within 5 squares or to any dark or dimly lit square within 10 squares as a move action).

==In 5th Edition==
Shadar-kai made an appearance for 5e in the November 2017 issue of [[Unearthed Arcana]]; whilst the focus was purely on crunch, their fluff was essentially a clumsy amalgamation of their lore from before - in a nutshell, taking all of their 4e lore, but making their base race be [[elf]] rather than [[human]]. As such, they are mechanically a subrace for elves, although their entire statblock is repeated here because 1d4chan is awesome like that.
::Ability Score Increase: +2 Dexterity, +1 Charisma
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Darkvision 60 feet
::Keen Senses: Proficiency in Perception.
::Fey Ancestry: Advantage on saves against being charmed, and immune to magic that puts you to sleep.
::Trance: Trancing for 4 hours yields the same effect as an 8 hour sleep.
::Deathly Cantrip: You know a single cantrip chosen from a list of Chill Touch, Spare the Dying and Thaumaturgy. This cantrip can't be changed at a later date. Your spellcasting ability score for this cantrip is Charisma.
::Blessed By The [[Raven Queen]]: You can use a bonus action to teleport to an unoccupied space within 15 feet. After teleporting, you gain resistance to all damage until the start of your next turn, during which time you appear translucent and ghostly. After using this ability, you must complete a short rest or a long rest to use it again.

Shadar-kai later appeared in ''Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes'' but with some edits. The most notable among these changes includes the Deathly Cantrip being removed but the range of their teleport is increased to 30 feet. A new interesting detail for them is that they look like actual wrinkly old people while they're in the Shadowfell for some reason. Also, they're no longer BDSM freaks, [[Awesome|instead they just treat their bodies as disposable since they know their Raven Queen will resurrect them anyway.]]

''Mordekainen's Monsters of the Multiverse'' saw another edit, splitting them off from the general Elf race like the [[Eladrin]]. This rewrite makes their stat increases fall into lines with the current paradigm of pick-your own stats (+2/+1 to two stats or +1 to three) and providing multiple uses of their teleport power equal to their proficiency bonus, but ultimately little else.

::Ability Score Increase: +2 Dexterity, +1 Constitution
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Darkvision 60 feet
::Keen Senses: Proficiency in Perception.
::Fey Ancestry: Advantage on saves against being charmed, and immune to magic that puts you to sleep.
::Trance: Trancing for 4 hours yields the same effect as an 8 hour sleep.
::Necrotic Resistance: You have resistance to necrotic damage.
::Blessing of the Raven Queen: You can use a bonus action to magically teleport to an unoccupied space you can see within 30 feet. Starting at the 3rd character level, you gain resistance to all damage after teleporting with this trait until the end of your next turn, during which time you appear translucent and ghostly. After using this ability, you must complete a long rest to use it again.

If you want something closer to the 4e version of the race, [[Ulraunt's Guide to the Planes]] has got you covered!
::Ability Score Increase: +2 Dexterity, +1 to an ability score of your choice
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Darkvision 60 feet
::Shadow Blend: While in dim light or darkness, you can use a bonus action to become invisible, along with anything you are wearing or carrying. The invisibility lasts for 1 minute, until you make an attack or cast a spell, are in bright light, become incapacitated, or until you use a bonus action to end it. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
::Shadow Jaunt: When you are in dim light or darkness, as a bonus action you can teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see that is also in dim light or darkness. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
::Shadow Stealth: While in dim light or darkness, you can take the Hide action as a bonus action.
::Spiked Chain Proficiency: You are proficient with the spiked chain and the heavy spiked chain.
::Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common.
::Epic Racial: Ghostly Jaunt: When you reach 25th character level, after using your Shadow Jaunt, you gain resistance to all damage until the start of your next turn.

{{D&D4e-Races}}
{{D&D5e-Races}}

Shadar-kai

2023-05-18T09:53:05Z

2A02:908:238:F120:F54E:F1CB:6079:2D55: /* In 5th Edition */

Malifaux

2023-05-16T06:41:02Z

2A02:908:238:F120:F54E:F1CB:6079:2D55: /* Masters */

'''Malifaux''' is a relatively new (Since 2009) skirmish-level [[wargame]] that's steampunk, victorian, supernatural horror, and wild west themed. Despite bashing together a ton of things that were done by [[Deadlands]] years earlier, it still manages to be a rather fun game. The storyline and world are not complete and total shit, like you would expect of something that looks like a bandwagon hopping attempt of the nth degree.

Though the [[neckbeard|sour-throated individual]] above are right to some extent about the setting (Old, ruined city, dæmons, zombies, magicians and the law in one place going for the magical stones), calling it a "rip-off" is doing it a serious dishonour - the setting has many of the same features, but has its very own feel, lore and gameplay, so its probably more of a new setting taking inspiration from Deadlands and Mordheim, but doing new stuff with it. Besides, someone might as well borrow from Mordheim now that GW has thrown it and every other specialist game into a bin.

== Setting ==
''"In the grim darkness of the 19th century, there is only greed."''

In late 18th century, magic was running dry, but even powerful mages were finding that their 'pop' was beginning to fizzle. Understandably, the most powerful wizards and greatest scientists of their age gathered to find a solution. They realized that there was another plane brimming with magic behind an extra-dimensional barrier. Out of desperation and a lust to regain their power, the most powerful mages performed a ritual, creating a fucking huge rift stretching a hundred meters into the air, and destroyed the city they were in. This portal (dubbed 'The Breach of the Great Boundaries', or just the Breach) drew in many explorers, adventurers and assorted riffraff and hangers-on, hoping to gain wealth and magical power. What they found on the other side of the portal were the ruins of an ancient city. The Magicians, mercenaries, and gold-hunters settled into their new world, 'Malifaux'.

Many of those who made the trip were granted amazing powers, turning even a commoner into a potent wielder of magic. These early explorers unearthed Soulstones, faintly glowing crystals which granted magic and power to their wielders. A predictable gold rush ensued causing a massive demand for these jewels Earth-side. The stones were used by the rich and powerful to renew and enhance their powers on Earth. Even better for the prospectors on Malifaux, these reservoirs of power didn't hold their charge indefinitely - and once drained, they could only be recharged by the death of a sentient being, [[Grimdark|which is just one of the reasons some of the more powerful countries Earth-side decided to get their war on.]]

Predictably of course, it was too good to be true. In Malifaux a great blizzard began freezing the city, and sightings of [[Chaos Daemons|nightmarish creatures]] began. The Breach began to shrink, making travel more difficult and dangerous. In the end, no one could get in or out- but superstitious souls Earth-side claimed they could hear the sound of horrific slaughter and murder through the breach. And then, just as the Breach was about to close, a bloodied and bare chested man stumbled out of it. On his chest was carved the word: [[Awesome|''"Ours"'']].

One hundred years passed. In those years, humanity had only the soulstones brought through when the Breach was open, so demand was high. So high that wars and genocides were waged to get even the smallest chip of the stone in their possession. As magic was about to die completely the Breach opened again, this time by itself, and inside was the same city they had left, but strangely absent the bodies of the people who lived there last time - There were no signs of battle, no rubble. Nothing but the city they found one hundred years ago.

Hope was restored to the magicians of the time, now knowing that soulstones were within reach. The most influential magicians didn't want an unregulated gold rush to happen again. They formed an organisation called the "Guild", which took responsibility for the distribution of work, managed the soulstone mining and generally kept the peace to avoid the large out-flux of soulstones that happened last time. They were basically working to keep the soulstones at a reasonable cost by only producing so much of the stuff at a time, preventing a Germany Anno 1933-style devaluing of the stones.

Eventually the Guild forgot about their roots and turned into an authoritarian government who keep the peace, not for the sake of the civilians, but to keep the soulstones rushing out of the Breach, and to make sure [[Imperium|they control everything in the name of law and order.]] Many don't like how the Guild patrol possible mages (and in Malifaux, that's anyone, really) and destroy any opposition with an iron fist. Some smuggle soulstones in the guise of legitimate organizations like the Miners and Steamfitters Union; who fight the Guild both from the shadows and in politics. Commonly renegade mages are called Arcanists, though it's a name only spoken in the darkest corners of Inns around the city.

Others don't feel like holding their skills at bay - When dead people fuel you, why stop there? Why not make zombies?! These "Resurrectionists" have begun springing up everywhere in an alarming rate almost uncontrollable by the Guild, using the bodies of the dead for their vile experiments.

Others, simple outcasts and mercenaries, now arrive to the city in hope of winning a profit on this gang war or to get their own hands on some soulstones.

The Ten Thunders family of the Three Kingdoms in the east are also gaining an increasingly stronger hold on Malifaux, conquering in the shadows.

The wacky Gremlins of the Bayou are going even farther from their beloved swamps to fight anyone who dare mistake the sound of banjos with harmless music.

All this, however, is nothing compared to the Neverborn: nightmares, unthinkable horrors and unresting monsters who are rising from the shadows of the city to reclaim their city from the naive flesh bags who now think it their home. Many of the Neverborn claim to be the original inhabitants of the city, but it is believed that some are in fact humans from the original first rush that were mutated by their magical powers.

All these forces are now fighting in the streets, in the badlands, and in the Quarantine Zone, trying to gain a lasting hold on this city of the damned. Some fear the night, the closing of the Breach, and the slaughter of everyone just as what happened one hundred years ago. Others believe that Earth is next. What only few dare fear is that the ramifications of [[H.P. Lovecraft|what will happen]] [[Grimdark|are far, far, far worse.]]

This is Malifaux.

== Game Mechanics ==
Malifaux is unique among miniatures games in that rather than rolling dice, players draw from their own deck of cards to please [[Tzeentch|Random Number God]]. Actions can have ''positive'' or ''negative'' twists, which means that you flip over more cards and then take whichever is higher/lower, depending on the type of twist. Players also have a hand of cards they can use to ''cheat fate'' and replace an already flipped card with one that is better. Some models' abilities only work if a certain suit if played, so there's an advantage to keeping good cards in your hand to pull nice actions. Players have the option of purchasing official decks or simply using a deck of regular cards, with the devs helpfully pointing out which of the real card suits corresponds to their fanciful made-up ones.

The army-building mechanic is also pretty unique; players first generate a scenario, then hire their Crew using an agreed-upon number of ''soulstones'' (totally not [[Deadlands | ghost rock]] guys![Don’t they do entirely different things?]) that set the level of the encounter. Each crew needs to be lead by a ''Master'', which gives a few extra soulstones for use and dictates the faction of the Crew. When you're starting, this doesn't really matter, as you'll use the same Crew for everything, but in tournaments, all you're required to do is point out your faction beforehand, only choosing your Master when you figure out what sort of mission you'll need to play. A typical game is 50SS in size, which is about the size of one of the starter boxes, plus one or two extra models.

Any soulstone not spent on hiring can be spent in-game by certain models to gain advantages on flips, generate new models, healing, etc. Certain Masters benefit from a large stash, and others demand that you fill the board with units before the game starts.

Victory is determined through pre-generated victory conditions. There's a big general one, but players can also take ''schemes'', which are like miniature objectives. They earn more victory points if they announce them beforehand, which possibilities ranging from getting the first kill to assassinating the opponent's Master to simply being a dick the whole game. There are also Master-specific schemes, some of which are retardedly difficult to pull off and others which practically occur automatically.

== Editions ==
===1st Edition===
Wyrd started Malifaux as a game to go with their misc model range. Originally just a way to get people to buy their models, the game took on a life of its own and became the main money maker for Wyrd (This is essentially the origin story of Warhammer Fantasy). This established the card mechanics, masters/minions, and soulstones that the game is known for.

===1.5 Edition===
Wyrd updated the system with 1.5 to help balance the game as well as include more and more models. This introduced new mechanics such as Henchmen and Avatars. Avatars were the powered up versions of Masters that could be brought into a game if certain criteria was met.
===2nd Edition===
Malifaux has completed the transition from 1.5 to 2nd edition, commonly named M2E. The first edition was know as a clunky mess of rules that was none the less loved by some parts of the fanbase, and 1.5th as the most up to date version of the 1st edition in general. This is also the time where all the newer people in the roster got in, like some of the Mercs and pretty much all of the Ten Thunders. At some point, Wyrd, the devs, though to give the game a new edition to keep up with [[Games Workshop|GWs]] [[Special:RecentChanges|recent]] failings, and began producing new and less convoluted rules for the game, among new plastic models. This edition should bring new players to the game and ease up play, generally making a reborn game with the best from the latest edition, the way new editions should be made. But Wyrd wasn't happy just redoing the rules. That wasn't barely enough for this new and bold attempt to get more people on the wagon. Redoing the rules wasn't enough at all. All models, as in, the ''entirety of their Malifaux range of models, was to be updated. '''At once,''''' [[Warmachine|Warma]][[Hordes]]-style.

This meant several things - First, they couldn't actually do them all at once, that would make the fanbase wait for months before they could play the game and was as such not profitable, so instead they split releases Wave one came out with the rules and a handful of masters for each faction. This meant that some were miffed their Master was neglected in favour of others, some to quit the game because of new rules and the slightly changed fluff and some again were unhappy they did all this in the first place. Basically, [[fun]] stuff.

Wave 2 came out and finished the roster of masters, with all of them set to be released by October 2015.

Wave 3 launched, introducing a new campaign system and campaign only Avatars, souped up versions of each master, and a small handful of models for each faction including the Emissaries whom give a specific buff to each master and can alter themselves to fit in with the masters tactics.

Wave 4 was released at GenCon 2016. It introduced 7 new masters, one for each faction, and additional upgrades to "fix" underpowered models. There was also new models that help shake up the meta.

In the end, with new shiny models, (slightly) simplified rules Malifaux is now a game that's not just for reserved fans - It's for new dudes as well, and is currently recruiting at [[FLGS]] næar you!

===3rd Edition===
On July 25th 2018 Wyrd announced a new 3rd edition of Malifaux. The main highlights was to further streamline the game, narrow which models can be taken with certain masters (even in-faction, although some cross-faction hires are opened up), allow multiple masters in a crew, and they killed off popular Masters (Nicodem, Collodi, Ramos and Lilith) keeping them around as "Dead Man's Hand", legacy versions of the characters. These masters are now "half in half out" in game terms, as they are fully legal and balanced relative to everything else, but not tournament legal. Other masters have become Dual Faction, some masters which were Dual faction before are now only mono-faction. It also introduced a new faction that has yet to be fully released in the Explorer's Society, but is present on the McCabe and Cornelius box sets and mentioned in a few different places in the fluff.

Gameplay Changes:
*Masters have a soulstone cost and more than one can be taken, only one Master can be leader.
*Crews still built from models within a Faction, however you pay a tax if you purchase models that don't match your Leader's keyword. Hiring crews is Keyword based only, no more conditions like being able to hire all models with low WP or that are construct/undead.
*The Vantage Point rule from 2nd Edition has been replaced with Shadows, where a building/terrain feature has a radius that grants cover. Causes problems with structures higher than HT3 having giant areas of open terrain where models are "in cover".
**Additionally there was an overhaul of the terrain rules to account for entering buildings and other situations that caused problems in M2e.
*Conditions have been streamlined into a universal list to avoid multiple conditions with the same effect.
* Markers have been streamlined to 4 types Strategy, Scheme, Corpse, and Scrap.
* Tokens are a new feature that kind of act like conditions, but can't be removed. Usually they are given to models to trigger buffs or debuffs.

Model Changes:
*Guild:
**Hoffman is now dual faction Guild and Arcanists.
**Dashel was upgraded from Henchman to Master.
**McMourning left for Rezzers.
**McCabe left for Ten Thunders and the Explorer's Society.
**New Master Cornelius Basse arrived.
*Arcanists:
**Hoffman is now dual faction Guild and Arcanists.
**Marcus is now dual faction Arcanists and Neverborn.
**Ramos is now Dead Man's Hand.
*Bayou (formerly Gremlins):
**Captain Zipp is now dual faction Gremlins and Outcast.
**The Brewmaster is no longer dual faction Ten Thunders.
*Neverborn
**Marcus is now dual faction Arcanists and Neverborn.
**Lilith is now Dead Man's Hand.
**Nekima is upgraded from Henchman to Master.
**Collodi is now Dead Man's Hand.
**New Master Euripides arrived.
*Outcast:
**Jack Daw is now dual faction Outcasts and Rezzers.
**Captain Zipp is now dual faction Gremlins and Outcast.
**Tara is no longer dual faction Rezzers, now mono-Outcast.
**Misaki is no longer dual faction Outcasts, now mono-Thunders.
*Resurrectionists:
**Nicodem is now Dead Man's Hand.
**McMourning is Rezzers only.
*Ten Thunders:
**Misaki is no longer dual faction Outcasts.
**New Master Youko Hamasaki arrived.
**Lucas McCabe is no longer dual faction Guild.
**Brewmaster is no longer dual faction Ten Thunders, now mono-Bayou.
**Jakob Lynch is no longer dual faction Neverborn.

== Models ==
===1st Edition===
[[File:Rasputina box.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Compare...]]

The metal models of 1st Edition Malifaux weren't bad, honestly. They were mostly sturdy, had pronounced features, which made them easy to paint. The problems they suffered from overshadowed those nice points by miles, though - Though nothing was really wrong with the models technically, they suffered from what many other first edition models often do - To make the model easy to recognize and to bait people to play the game, all models looked the same, while having no sense of unity or unique flair (Umm, what? The 1st ed models have way more personality and flair than the poorly rendered and flat plastic sculpts).

[[File:WYR20303a 81731.1375408993.1200.1200.jpg|right|thumb|350px|... And contrast.]]

When you want to make new, memorable models for a range, your models must speak volumes of the setting, because the models are what most people see first when they get interested in a game. That's why [[40K]] make the models stand out through easily definable models (There's a lot of races in this game, something for anyone!), because we know a lot by just seeing the model painted. Malifaux, on the other hand, didn't do this at all. The universe is an alternate victorian era, with steampunk, wild west and supernatural horror elements, with focus on the later. The models didn't convey this at all - The models were strangely [[Weeaboo|anime-esque]] in models and ''especially'' artwork. [[PROMOTIONS|Female models had big boobs, long and full hair, slender bodies and were modeled in a distinct sexually way, thrusting their butt out or showing boobage]], while male models were either forgettable or cloaked in brown cloth. Now, sure, this isn't necessarily distinctly [[anime]], but the way the models were presented, it didn't give us any idea of the universe it all took place in at all - [[Infinity]] wrote the book on [[Weeaboo|anime-esque]] models and makes all models like that on purpose, simply because it's a part of the concept, but Malifaux did it because it's easy. They even had "Avatar" models where the women are even more sexualized and the men even burlier, like they are trying to be fucking [[Anime|Kill la Kill]].

===2nd Edition===
The M2e models are ''nothing'' like that. Though they still retain some modes with less than average amount of clothes on their body, the models are distinctly more <s>human and realistic</s> cartoonish and overdynamic. Models like Lady Justice who just stood there to show long, flowing hair, big bosoms and slender legs, she now has a body looking more like the badass teenager Batman she is, and is standing like a warrior ready to strike too, while the formerly pretty revealing Rasputina now looks like the powerful yet reserved frost mage she was supposed to be from the start. On top of that, the artstyle has gone a lot darker and more horror, Lovecraft-inspired, which is also reflected in the models - Some of the newer models are absolutely horribly looking, in a good way, and a good paintjob will make them absolutely disgusting.

Arguably some of the better sculpted models in the industry (Games workshop ain't got shit). They're all in plastic as well, and come in about one million pieces per mini.
Oh yeah.

===3rd Edition===
Not much has changed with the models, but Wyrd has learned their lesson from M2e and a lot of the newer models have fewer tiny bits. Additionally there is update to models whose boxes were notorious for having small fiddly bits that got lost in the carpet.

== The Factions ==
Because all games need different, "morally distinct" factions, Malifaux has <strike>five</strike> <strike>six</strike> <strike>seven</strike> eight now <strike>but the new one is weird</strike> <strike>because the new one isn't a real faction</strike> (Ten Thunders is a real faction now). All of them have different play-styles, with the different Masters providing further diversity. There are also Henchmen, characters that can serve as part of a crew like normal, or lead a special crew of their own.

Thematically, the different factions oppose each other mostly at surface value; each Master and Henchman has their own loyalties, and they're rarely just what their faction wants, unless they flat-out lead that faction. Examples could be Molly Squidpidgeon, a Resurrectionist Master, and the only Undead one. She must be all for Resurrectionists then, right? Nah, she just want to let the Undead have equal rights to humans, and stop humans (including Resurrectionists) from stealing the night from the dead. Another example would be Jacob Lynch, who looks like a puppet for the Neverborn, but actually just want to be free of their influence and flee the place before he gets hurt. Their faction only decides what models they can call upon, and sometimes not even that; just as often, some Masters can get models not from their faction. Dr. Hoffman, a Guild Master, is a Construct Master, and can buy a lot of Arcanist Constructs, for example.

=== The Guild ===
For the cowboy lover in all of us. Primarily a direct-damage/shooty type army full of cowboys and 'upstanding' citizens. Strongest M3e faction because of their absolute superiority when it comes to shooting alongside absolutely retarded terrain rules that can lead to nearly empty boards. The box sets for them are fairly solid, with Perdita Ortega's being completely playable for a newbie who has never played a game before. Guild also has some of the highest damaging models in the game.

They're fluffed as the big all-controlling group that manages everything in the game setting, accomplishing this through the twin fists of bureaucracy and shooting you in the fucking face. Kind of like the US government. Typically the Guild is the oppressive authoritarian government whereas many of its masters; Hoffman, Lady Justice, and Perdita; are depicted as Good Guys. While Nellie, Sonnia, and Dashel are depicted as Neutral. And Lucius is depicted as Lawful Evil. Basse hasn't had much screen time yet.

==== Masters ====
* '''Perdita Ortega:''' Crazy-ass Gun-slinger chick. She leads the Ortega clan who are basically Mexican cowboys, each with a ridiculous pair of balls. The Perdita and the Ortegas are the Anti-Neverborn crew. In M3e, they like to give out extra actions to Family models and also get a free push towards the enemy when they take Concentrate actions. Keyword: Family. Title: Neverborn Hunter.
* '''Lady Justice:''' Crazy blind chick with an epic sword and fighting skills. Bordering on weeaboo, but not really, due to being a cowgirl leading Ghostrider-esq anti-necromancer cowboys to hunt down Resurrectionists. Despite being the necrophiliac rape train of the Guild, she is pretty damn scary to face with other factions as she can run a stall-their-crew-while-I-assassinate-their-heavy-hitters-one-at-a-time play that pisses off everyone who hasn't foreseen this shit happening. One of the strongest melee models in the game. Her crew likes to Bury enemies and get extra bonuses against Undead models. Keyword: Marshal. Title: Death-Touched.
* '''Sonnia Criid:''' Crazy magic chick, actually she's not that crazy, but pretty scary to face. In the lore, she is dubbed the Anti-Arcanist Master, but on the table-top she can pretty much obliterate any caster. Unlike the two other chicks that concentrate on murdering a single model per turn, her damage output is based on the ability to dish devastating fire blasts that damage multiple targets at once. In M2e, she was the most overpowered master in the game as she could shot her own models to blast damage onto the enemy. In M3e, they removed her ability to blast off of allies, but she's still passes out Burning and blasts, while at the same time summoning Witchling models. Keyword: Witch Hunter. Likes the Witchling Keyword as well. Title: - .
* '''Charles Hoffman:''' The first male Master for The Guild. Basically is a force multiplier Construct master, but he just superpowers an existing one rather than making them in the battle. Had a brother who went utterly insane after crossing the breach, he became a cyborg and has like a .50 cal chaingun for one arm and a powerfist on the other. In M3e, Hoffman likes to give his heavily armored construct based crew Power Tokens to boost their attacks and get triggers. Keyword: Augmented. Title: Inventor.
* '''Lucius Mattheson:''' This guy is a massive douche wearing a mask (and may literally be the Devil, but that's not confirmed). He hands out commands to your other models. Essentially a Synergies and Tricks based leader in a faction known for shooting. In the fluff he is slowly seeping power away from the Governor and consolidating a strong powerbase within the Guild, because he's rules lawyering dick. But in M3e the new Governor is calling him out on his shit and pushing him out of the inner circle. His special forces are Lawyers. Became a master in 2E. In M3e his tricks are mostly giving out extra actions to his Minions, Elite, or Mimic models (So not just restricted to minions). Also, he's a Neverborn and is dual-faction with them. Spoiler alert. Keywords: Elite and Mimic. Title: Dishonorable.
* '''Nellie Cochrane:''' The Editor and Chief of the Daily Tattler. Fluffwise she is an annoying know it all who makes up fake words to sound smarter. Her big secret is she lied to her Henchman to get her to fight for the Guild against MS&U. In M3e she likes to give conditions to debuff the enemy and control scheme markers. Keyword Journalist. Title: Voice of Disorder.
* '''Dashel Barker:''' Formerly Lucius' henchman, this guild guard captain has been promoted for his efforts in defeating the evil puppet Collodi. Now a master in 3rd edition and commander of the guard on Malifaux. Dashel works best with guardsmen he can buff and now we have a summoning master. This crew will eat corpses for soulstones and fight better against models that have already activated. Focus for everyone. Keyword: Guard. Title: Butcher.
* '''Cornelius Basse:''' A new master for 3rd edition and dual faction with The Explorer's Society. With the ability to deploy further expect this crew to be in your face turn 1. They tend to have powerful pulls and picked up some great guard models. No non sense frontier lawman with his crew focusing on deploying outside of the normal range and Basse focuses on punishing his foes, whether through his innate damage potential, or from repositioning them through the shifting terrain of the Malifaux landscape. Keyword: Frontier. Title: Badlands Sheriff.

=== Resurrectionists ===
The obligatory undead-filled faction. Focuses on some trick-based gameplay, with certain Masters flooding the board with ridiculous numbers of generated monsters and debuffing enemy units. Also everyone can be a summoner. Truly ridiculous in the hands of a good player, but certain machine-based armies can shut them the fuck down by generating very few corpse counters (the creepy fuel that drives their engines). To play properly, expect to buy a lot of zombie dogs, especially if you're running McMourning. Notable for containing their first true [[weeaboo]] faction in the form of Kirai, their resident Japanese rip-off ghost who manages to not suck.

Fluffed as a bunch of lunatics running around, reviving corpses to eventually overthrow the Guild. Also entertaining because it's the faction most people point out when looking at the game, as it contains both zombie hookers and their Jack the Ripper rip-off, along with his own rip-off, giving you three more layers of rip than you'd want.

==== Masters ====
[[Image:Nicodem-Alt.jpg|thumb|left|250px|You can officially use [https://www.wyrd-games.net/plastic-build-instructions/2016/12/2/nicodem Morticia Adams] as Nicodem]]

* '''Seamus:''' The common child of Jack the Ripper and the Mad Hatter. Has like the period equivalent to a Desert Eagle and despite being an absolute pussy in combat has a melee attack with his bag of tools that can one-hit kill any model in the game! which is just about the only thing stopping him from getting charged by every five year old with an inflatable hammer. Plays more towards strategic deployment and luring with his zombie-whores to setup executions with his pistol. His hand cannon gun, can fire in spurts, if he shoots ya, it's gonna hurt. Keyword: Redchapel. Title: Aka Sebastian Baker.
[[Image:Malifaux-seamusgang.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Necrophilia? [[Slaanesh]] would be pleased]]
* '''Dr. McMourning:''' Officially he is The Guild's coroner, but also doubles as a player in the Resurrectionist underground. In reality he's a Frankenstein rip, his assistance is probably the only real success that he had with his attempts. Plays very aggressively, will butcher in melee and likes to swarm with stitched up dog things. Will use poison to damage his enemies and have them turn into undead abominations. Is the powerhouse combat guy for the Ressers and can often pull surprise rampages by initially playing passively until a gap appears to exploit. As of 3rd edition he has left the guild to be pure Resurrectionist. Keyword: Experimental. Title: Insanitary.
* '''Kirai Ankoku:''' Asian ghost chick. Uses ghosts unlike most of the Resurrectionists who are at the Zombie fans table. Plays very support-type role, absolutely fucked if she gets too close to melee monsters like Lord Chompy Bits or left exposed against the Ortegas. Otherwise Kirai was the only tournament viable master until Ten Thunders because she had a mobile crew and a lot of utility options, allowing her to play the objective game when in a bad match up. In Brawls (2-3 Masters per side) she is always the default option because it doesn't force you to split corpse tokens between Necromancers and she can pretty much do everything else the faction can't do. Keyword: Urami. Title: Envoy of the Court (?).
* '''Molly Squidpiddge<strike>on</strike>:''' An undead investigative journalist chick in a relationship with Seamus that mirrors that of the Joker and Harley Quinn. Her summoning mechanic is based around damaging the opponent to summon more undead, as opposed to summoning off of corpse markers. Keyword: Forgotten. Title: Chaotic Conductor.
*'''Reva Cortinas:''' A necromancer who basically acts like a Mother Teresa to zombies in addition to poor people. In game, she has very short ranged, high damage spells, but she can cast them through corpse counters and models that count as corpse counters. She's also on a horse so she's pretty mobile. Most of the models she tends to use come back after dying, with some bonuses. Keyword: Revenant. Title: Luminary.
*'''Prof. Von Schtook:''' What is with professors going crazy? Another professor, this time he went insane after being unable to study the stars in Malifaux. The man behind The University of Transmortis and buffer of the iron zombies. He can turn off triggers but does not summon. Instead can give out an upgrade to help a model summon. Keyword: Transmortis. Stargazer.
*'''Jack Daw:''' The man hanging on the tree. Started off in 1st edition as a minion. He and his crew focus on giving out Curse upgrades to better their abilities against enemies. Dual faction with Outcasts. Keyword: Tormented. Title: Ensouled.
*'''Yan Lo:''' A guy that died once but his spirit was strong enough to come back. Poor Yan Lo got beat by a strong oni and so he seeks revenge against Lingxuzi. He works with the spirits of his descendants. Dual faction with Ten Thunders. Keyword: Ancestor and Retainer. Title: The Spirit Walker.
*'''Kastore:''' A nephilim guy, who is neither undead, nor have any undead servants, except the Blood Vessels. Arrived in 3e as a Ressurrectionist/Neverborn dual master, but we don't really know why he is a resser. His crew contains numerous nephilims, most of them are neverborn, but he's got Barbaros from Ten Thunders and Unseelie Engine from Explorer's Society. In fact, Blood Vessel is the only full resser minion he has - and the only undead, as were mentioned - except Gwyll, who looks like Zoraida after a few months of coma in the sewer exit in the bayou.

=== Arcanists ===
Trick-based faction, they rely on synergy, buffs, and some direct-damage spells to fuck people up. Generally not too forgiving for newer players, but able to really hold their own with a competent player. Get some cool units, including the ever-popular steampunk spider we learned to love from Wild, Wild West. Options for a Will Smith-based Master are not included yet; right now, all you've got are a steampunk scientist, a dude who likes animals way too much, a frozen bitch, or a scantily-clad gold-digger showgirl. Expect games with them to take a while, as they are absolutely stupid with incredibly long combos and effect chains, with the worst offenders being the Showgirls, whose movement tricks are incredibly frustrating.

They fill the function of the secret society working to overthrow the power of the Guild and freeing magic, all while smuggling the shit out of things. Notable for controlling the Miners and Steamfitters' Union, which means they get all the neat steampunk toys along with some burly miners.

==== Masters ====

* '''Rasputina:''' Russian girl who got stuck with being the chosen of the cult of an angry alien God of Winter. Squishy wizard who is probably the worst of all the masters in raw stats, except that she can cast well, specifically a fuck-you area-bomb she can drop multiple times a turn. She won't kill a model in one turn, just that in two turns she will combo her spell and knock all your crew to an ass-hair's width from death. Has Ice golems which shatter on death making them very difficult to deal with while she's throwing her blizzard spell around. Best mage archetype in the game and ok for a first master for people familiar with playing skirmish games. Keyword: December. Title: Abominable.
* '''Marcus:''' Probably insane, is a Druid, but not the game breaking D&D 3.5 kind, he came to Malifaux to study the nature there, but become invigorated by the magics in the air and became George of the Jungle, Old Black Guy Version(r). Generally is liked and sort of balanced, but is way underpowered in general and in the meta sits he way down at the bottom. No idea why he's with the Arcanists as all available data tells us he loves animals too much to care about humans. His crew are mostly beasts and work best as a hit-and-run strategy, except anything that can do the kind of damage needed is too slow to keep pace with him. 2E finally gives us some backstory, him being a college professor and an incredibly old fuck, older than Ramos, that went into the woods and fucked a bear or something, and gained beast magic, and regaining youth. Otherwise, essentially the same lore-wise. Keyword: Chimera. Title: Alpha.
* '''Colette Du Bois:''' Runs weird doll showgirls, can swap places like a puppeteer kind of character (but not THE actual puppeteer; Collodi), can setup interesting strategies and tactics with her maneuverability. Visually her crew looks like Seamus, but with store dummies instead of dead hookers. Has some really good tactical tricks but is fucked if they let a combat heavy model get an opening before she can pull a fast one to get out. Keyword: Performer. Title: Smuggler.
*'''Kaeris:''' One of the better Henchmen choices and more competitive than Marcus, Kaeris is like that girl from Firestarter or Carrie, only with mechanical wings and strong Union movement connections. She works for Ramos by doing sabotage and black ops stuff for the union. Makes very good use of models with Flame abilities, which allows her to put out higher than expected damage. Good crew selection too, can play very good ranged combat which applies fire. Her special forces are the M & SU Assets division, basically mining and heavy industry stuff with some odd Arcanist shit in the mix because blue collar wizardry steampunk right? Becomes a master in 2E. Keyword: Wildfire. Title: Reborn.
*'''Toni Ironsides:''' Ramos's strong arm when dealing with rogue arcanists and the gal to go rouse up the people when the Guild becomes to comfortable with their leather chairs and twirled mustaches. She is a close quarters combat master who have little to no magic besides the Adrenaline condition, which she builds up by, well, doing what she does best. Which is to charge anything that doesn't look like Lord Chompy Bits or Lady Justice and go to town. Plays like a combination of Mah Tucket and Ramos, without either one's special abilities, but with their higher stats and an uppercut from hell. Has betrayed Ramos in the fluff and is now the head of the miners and steamfitters union. In 3rd edition she plays like a lightning bruiser capable of high damage output and can be very durable due to the unionized ability that gives her extra defensive capabilities. Nowadays her crews are mainly bubble like using all the unionized models to form a human chain that can stop and flank opponents. Keyword: M&SU. Title: Union President.
*'''Sandeep Desai:''' An Indian man who is an expert gamin summoner and teacher. His crew is based around summoning gamin models as well as supporting other spellcasters. Used to be the most OP master in the game in 2nd edition. Nowadays he is capable of combining gamins to make golems. Also his main mechanic is academic which gives a bonus to models that focus within range of Sandeep. Keyword: Academic and Elemental. Title: Font of Magic.
* '''Charles Hoffman:''' The first male Master for The Guild. Basically is a force multiplier Construct master, but he just superpowers an existing one rather than making them in the battle. Had a brother who went utterly insane after crossing the breach, he became a cyborg and has like a .50 cal chaingun for one arm and a powerfist on the other. In M3e, Hoffman likes to give his heavily armored construct based crew Power Tokens to boost their attacks and get triggers. Keyword: Augmented. Title: Inventor.
* '''Mei Feng:''' She runs The Foundry, a division of M&SU responsible for construction of Malifaux' railway system. Mei used to train under Sandeep's tutelage, but her impatience and innate resistance to authority forced her to quit the lessons. She's not capable of summoning anything bigger than a Forgeling. Even that is accomplished more by intuition than expertise. Although not a skilled summoner, Mei Feng became a master of metal bending, creating gamin and golems for M&SU heavy duty operations as well as Arcanist's numerous missions. Her playstyle revolves around mobility via Ride The Rails ability, which means that scrap markers are more than useful. Keyword: Foundry. Title: Foreman.

=== Neverborn ===
Glass-cannon beatdown forces. They can put out incredible levels of hurt, but can also die quickly. Very straightforward with some Masters, while others take a bit of getting used to, then completely shut down the game for your opponent. Topping the meta with Guild right now, as they seem to get all the best units, and do horrible things to your opponent. Their masters basically benefit from alpha striking everything in, shredding the opponent, and then calling it a game, because they've won, baby.

Fluffed as the original inhabitants of the hellish plane that the storyline takes place on, they just want to eat souls and kill the humans who invaded.

==== Masters ====
[[Image:Malifaux1sted.jpg|thumb|250px|1st edition box art. Looks aimed straight at a [[/d/|certain type of group]].]]
* '''Pandora:''' As in Pandora's Box. Basically her plan is to get you punched by your opponent. Forces willpower duels, a lot of willpower duels. Gets annoying buffs/debuffs every time an opponent fails in addition to whatever punishment failing the duel causes. She basically can sit in a bullet-proof port-a-loo in the middle of the table and make anyone her bitch. Has creepy children as her best friends. Neverborn are like that. Keyword Woe.
* '''Zoraida:''' Fugly Voodoo Witch. Has awesome as control play, probably the best master in the game to do it with. Honestly only downside is horrible as a hellhole of a face. Is like Tzeentch's Southern cousin with a face like Nurgle. Pretty much claims to be behind everything, which is probably true because no one wants that face in front of them. Can take anything with a willpower stat of 4 or less, which gives her an incredibly diverse selection for her crew, which is good because her starter box is retarded in terms of viability, you will just buy her model and her Voodoo doll totem which is not included in the box and then whatever cheesey combo of models you want. Honestly her starter box is almost Marcus level bad except Zoraida can still piss all over your opponent with her control abilities and her evasive raven form. Her "avatar" form is her as a hot chick, because God forbid the good folks at Wyrd put one lady character into their game you wouldn't want to fuck. Keyword Swampfiend.
* '''The Dreamer & Lord Chompy Bits:''' A young boy psychic on Earth day dreams. In Malifaux an ungodly monster in the shape of that boy terrorizes everyone. The King of the Demons wanted to possess the kid and basically wreak untold havoc on Earth... the kid enslaved him and called him Lord Chompy Bits. Until a massive nerfing that affected his crew's core mechanics and himself, this guy was borderline unbeatable, he starts as a little kid, but can zoom around, and if he's killed or if his controller decides to "bury" him Lord Chompy Bits comes out, or The Dreamer can drop his whole crew on whoever the poor bastard he's standing next too, and then pick them up before they get shot up. Lord Chompy Bits is in the top 3 heaviest hitting melee beast in the game, isn't the toughest, but anything within range of the Dreamer and by extension him is already dead. Seriously this little boy and his demon king nearly broke the game, being able to threaten the whole battlefield from turn 1. Keyword Nightmare.
*'''Titania:''' One of the original Neverborn, but undead. Queen of the Fae. Her strategy revolves around spreading terrain around the board that her crew ignores. Her totem can sacrifice itself to summon back a model that was killed during the game. Keyword Fae.
*'''Nekima:''' Promoted to master by throwing her sister Lilith into the prison that used to hold Titania. Has a big sword, likes black blood models and hates humans. Keyword Nephilim.
*'''Euripides:''' With Titania coming back from the mountain other creatures have come out of the shadows and mountains. A new master that Titania defeated and put into service for her cause. This guy likes a big crew and putting up ice pillars. Keyword Savage.
*'''Lucius:'''
*'''Marcus:'''

=== Outcasts ===
Basically, everybody else. Most of them start with no soulstone cache, but make up for it in their own special way. Masters can have ridiculous learning curves; Leviticus basically benefits by the player learning how to kill himself. Other Masters have similar tricks, and can do horrible things.

Fluff-wise, they're all over the place.

==== Masters ====
[[File:Malifaux-viktorias.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Femmes fatales]]
* '''Leveticus:''' The Cancer that is killing Malifaux is his title, but only in the game's setting though. Necro-steampunk zen guy. Everyone nearing civilized uses him as their fence for exotic/magic shit, while looking the other way regarding a rotating cast of dead-eyed women in skimpy dress always around him. In reality he's animating young women's corpses as puppets and when he dies he inhabits one of them which mutates back into his own form (its implied the rumors about those women are darker than the reality, and that he's unhappy he doesn't stay in their form) although he has also kidnapped a young orphan girl named Marlena which may imply even more dark things about him. Basically, he will die. Repeatedly. It makes him one of the hardest masters to beat and to learn. Plays the most balls out offense game, even against alpha strike Neverborn. Used to have crazy damage (had 0-1-12 damage on his fist in 1.5) but now he has consistent hurt. His keyword He can also summon a pretty powerful Desolation Engine from his Steampunk Abominations that he made out of the mangled remains of your crew/his crew. His crew used to be huge (pariah of bone or iron), but with 3rd cutting back. The best choices are unique shit as bizarre and prone to loop dying as he is. Ergo assassination is not as hard to now since he can no longer constantly respawn; waifs have been caped at 2 now.Being the first to play him in a local meta will net you a lot of easy wins because he has very little in common with anything else in the game. Keyword Amalgam.
* '''The Viktorias:''' Basically Viktoria went on an adventure in hellish plane of Malifaux, met a doppelganger and they became friends. You get two for one here. One has a pistol the other one has [[katana]] and will [[Rip and tear|cleave shit up all over the place]]. Twin shenanigans and the like. Their crew is basically a bunch of punk-goth chicks out for a fun night out on the town. [[Katanas are Underpowered in d20|WITH FUCKING KATANAS]]. While tricky to learn and play, the Viks have some amazing synergies, allowing them to slingshot each other across the board and slice even the toughest foe to ribbons in a single turn. They're so fast it's not even funny. Keyword Mercenary.
* '''Hamelin The Plagued:''' Basically one big homage to the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Hamelin was originally a rat-catcher sewer dweller, but now he's trying to conquer Malifaux. He has lots of rats. Like more than in Mexico City, New York and Hong Kong combined. Neverborn have the advantage of being able to attempt to alpha strike him and then trying to keep their casualties from causing a draw or one of those out of nowhere losses, this works like none of the time. Keyword Plague.
*'''Von Schill:''' Badass German merc, leads the Freikorps, which are a PMC of Badass German mercs. Good choice for people starting Malifaux and don't know what to play, as his crew is generic but solid out of the box, while he himself is the good looking god of death jumping across walls and houses. Also he looks like Hul***REDACTED*** Now has some artificial limbs and is building Outer Heave- Freiholt now that the new governor has banned mercenaries. Keyword Freikorps.
*'''Tara:''' Former dual faction Ressurectionist, Tara is an undead bitch that doesn't give a fuck about anything. She got Shot Through the Heart (and the Guild's to blame), went into a plane of literal nothingness where another chick was too late to bring her back to life, but she made her undead and arguably even more badass than before. Although somewhat underpowered when compared to other masters, she has the super-power of being able to ACTIVATE TWICE IN EVERY TURN. Her crew are a bunch of creepy-crawlies that she brought back with her from the void. Her main gimmick is somewhat counter-intuitive - giving the enemy Fast is not really something you'd normally do... But Tara does it and makes it work surprisingly well. Also, she's a mean bury-er. Keyword Obliteration.
*'''Jack Daw:''' Tormented ghost of a hanged man who somehow isn't Ressers. He and his crew are quite slow but have a lot of movement tricks such as teleporting, but their main focus is cursing the opponent's lynchpin models with some random but deadly curses. One of which can just straight up kill certain models unless they pay a hefty resource tax. Jack can also pull cursed models out of position and damage them by ripping the curses off them and moving the curse to something else. Works well with Tormented-type models like the Guilty, the Drowned and the Hanged, which all get different buffs when attacking cursed models. Quite difficult to get the hang of, but fun. Has one of the best lines in the fluff: ''Jack now wanders Malifaux, looking for a woman he does not recognize in order to avenge a crime he cannot remember.'' Now dual faction with Ressurectionist. Keyword Tormented.
*'''Parker Barrows:''' A bandit that is known for robbing banks, trains, etc... Classic outlaw from the law. His crew is based around scheme marker manipulation. Keyword Bandit.
*'''Captain Zipp:''' It was only a matter of time before a Gremlin got his hands on something powerful and keep all his fingers. After getting his hands on an experimental skyship, a jetpack, a laser gun and he decided to gather a crew to get robbing. Dual faction with Bayou. Keyword Infamous.

===Ten Thunders===
An ancient ninja clan that has left the 3 Kingdoms (<s>Which is China with lots of traditionalist poor people and well armed rich people instead of the game's normal 1870s aesthetic, but fuck logic right, its ninjas?</s> The Three Kingdoms are China, Japan and Vietnam fused together in an empire) to form a powerbase inside Malifaux. They have a lot of Dual-Faction models which represents the clan infiltrating the 6 other factions, including somehow convincing the Neverborn to not eviscerate and soul rape them. This means that they are only 60% Weaboos, and 40% whisky drinking hardmen. This is mostly because of how each main faction already has a suit assigned to it, and Outcasts are a mess across the whole board, so instead each master is dependant on the suits associated with their other faction. The exception is their leader who is not dual faction and works like an outcast Master. '''M3E:''' Rather than 'lurk in the shadows' they've started kicking ass and taking names. Most of their dual faction masters have declared for Ten Thunders, and now Malifaux is aware of their existence.
====Masters====
*'''Misaki; Mistress of the Ten Thunders:''' The Ten Thunders ninja assassin master, very combat, 1 v 1 focused, does incredibly amounts of damage in melee, on par with Lord Chompy Bits. Some crew support, but being able to take Ten Thunders crew members means she has a reliable crew. Misaki has been very busy. Misaki is now the Oyabun and in full control of the Ten Thunders faction. Killed her father, the Oyabun, in a duel with one strike. Keyword Last Blossom.
*'''Lucas McCabe:''' Former dual-Guild Master, mounted and has access to sets of relics that let him slow or paralyze models. After being fired from the Guild he's found new employment with the Explorers Society. His unique mechanics is being able to give away relics. Definitely not Indiana Jones. Keyword Wastrels.
*'''Mei-Feng:''' Dual-Arcanist master, specialises in Metal and Earth, also uses a martial arts combo system so expect players running her crew to sing "EVERYBODY WAS KUNG-FU FIGHTING!!!" during her activations. Reeks of Avatar fandom weabooness, not CGI Furry Avatar, the badass 2 cartoons about Aang and Korra with the Terribad M.Nightshamalamadingdong live action movie. Her unique mechanic is her combo chain triggers that allow her to pull off her crazy kung fu. When she starts its going to hurt. Keyword Foundry.
*'''Jakob Lynch:''' <strike>Dual-Neverborn</strike> master, because the human chunk is in debt up to his eyeballs to the Chinese mob. Uses a status effect called Brilliance, its like a curse, radiation, a horrible disease, and crack cocaine, except the junkies have a lot more tentacles than humans should possess. His trick is to get Brilliance on everything and charge the Hungering Darkness out, which is stronger based on how many models have Brilliance and allows it to do a lot of damage to models with Brilliance. Lynch runs a club where the staff are either Neverborn Skinwalkers or humans possessed by Brilliance, which makes him the only Neverborn aligned thing to actually interact with humans in a method other than evisceration. Now only Ten Thunders affiliated due the Hungering Darkness getting scared of Titaina. His crew also contains the first prostitutes that aren't zombies, ghosts or mannequins, they're just possessed by Brilliance which they spread to clients, which means its probably also an STI... Keyword Honeypot.
*'''Yan Lo:''' Dual-Resurrectionist master. Undead necromancer who uses Ancestor spirits and can store them when they pass, gaining benefits for doing so, meaning if you massacre his crew he can be very hard to deal with, or he can resummon his heavy henchmans, because hey having an undo button is fun in tabletop games. Because he uses a specific type of spirit token, he works well with other Resurrectionists in Brawls, if you go with the rare 3 Master Brawl, he goes really well with the normal Kirai+anyone who does zombies setup. Also like Kirai he has utility functions. His unique mechanic is having 3 upgrades that he can gain over the course of a match by earning Chi points, allowing you to adapt him on the fly. Keyword Ancestor and Retainer.
*'''Shenlong:''' [[https://i.ibb.co/8cgRQLP/shenlong.jpg| Not this one]]. Some talented monk who saw a very bright sunset, went up into a temple on the top of a mountain and came back having become the sunset and being possessed by something only known as "The Dragon". Shenlong can change through conditions and is able to boost his abilities by gaining Chi tokens. Seems to be the leader of the clandestine invasion the Ten Thunders lead on Malifaux. Keyword Monk.
*'''Asami:''' Picture your worst hair day and then imagine what if it could eat people. This possessed lady can summon and power up Oni. Keyword Oni
*'''Youko Hamasaki:''' The manager of The Qi and Gong. She trades in secrets and flesh. Tricky master with a fondness for pass tokens and soulstones. Keyword Qi and Gong.

===<strike>Gremlins</strike>Bayou===
Take one part [[orks]], one part ''Deliverance'', one part hillbillies, and one part drunken game dev, and you've got the Gremlins. Creatures who were in Malifaux before humans, but somehow are redneck gobbos and not Neverborn. Not very smart on their own, but pretty good at copying things, and since humans are smart... Have a very casual attitude towards death, since so many things in the swamp are ready to kill them - even the pigs they rear for food and combat are capable of eating them whole. They spend the whole game blowing themselves up, accidentally shooting each other, and sending pigs flying at the opponent. Hilarious and workable, but they're absolutely fucked against a Hamelin list. General approach to battle is a horde of cheap, dumb gremlins supported by nastier swamp critters (mostly giant hogs, but also giant mosquitoes and giant gators).

Fun-fact; if you can handle the smooth-skinned no-nose look and slightly glowy solid-colored eyes, most of the female gremlin characters make pretty good [[monstergirls]]. About the only exceptions are Mah Tuckett (who is fat and old), Meris LaCroix (who is a fat gremlin chick strapped to a rocket) and The Little Lass (who is a loli). Definite points have to go to Trixiebelle, who is... well, ''stacked''. [[http://pullmyfinger.wikispaces.com/M2E+Trixiebelle See for yourself.]]

==== Masters ====
* '''Som'er Teeth Jones:''' The hillbilly gremlin master, manipulating and being manipulated by everyone but being fine with it since everyone from Ten Thunders to Zoraida is giving him an easy ride. His idiot son is supreme leader of Gremlins, meaning Som’er is leadsr so much as the term means anything to Gremlins. Its 40k [[Orks]] but in a different game system and modelled on rednecks instead of English football hooligans. One case of good blatant ripoff in Malifaux. Has very diverse list builds and not correctly guessing what he's taking is going to be difficult to deal with on the table, though he does have a slant towards the horde approach. He also possesses the most tricks to apply damage to models that bypasses defenses, armor, damage reduction etc, one of these methods is a fucking aoe fart nuke, like the worst fart you've had after a Vindaloo curry and few pints of lager. Naturally he has a crew build where this fart nuke is going to hit your crew 4-5 times a turn. Keyword Big Hat.
*'''Ophelia Lacroix:''' Basically Ophelia and her family cosplay as the Ortegas, only they're Gremlins so expect lulz. Is a [[Creed|Tactical Genius]] with educated human-tier intellect but no access to book-learning so it turned into a high WIS instead. Stockpiled weapons and trained her kin to be the most disciplined Gremlins can possibly be. Pissed that Som’er got his son elected head of all Gremlins instead of her. They have better shooting than normal gremlins and are tougher, but still like having numbers. Ophelia's special force is The Kin, basically her family, like the Ortegas, only really hillbilly. Got promoted from a Henchman to a Master when Gremlins got upgraded to full-factions status in 2. Keyword Kin.
*'''Ulix''': Old peg-legged gremlin who specialises in training, breeding and herding pigs. [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|pissed the youth are into newfangled human ways.]] Doesn’t care about any plots or subplots, and is happy to just sell his pigs. Naturally, if this guy is the boss, the force should be comprised mostly of pigs. Nasty pigs. Moves very slow, but can "ride" pigs and so get free move actions if he sticks close to them. Keyword Sooey and Pig.
*'''Mah Tucket''': Vicious, ugly old gremlin matriarch who beats peoples' heads in with a wooden spoon. Causes the most chaos to all other factions mainly with her daughters, and screwed over Ophelia on the leadership vote due to the Brewmaster’s trickery. She's the best melee combat master that gremlins have. Keyword Tricksy.
*'''Wong''': Crazy gremlin who essentially mugged Lo Pan from Big Trouble in Little China, and stole his clothes, which he uses to blow enemies up real good. Is [[Azhag the Slaughterer|being “controlled” by a magic McGuffin that wants him to summon it into the world]], which he’s content to stall and sabotage. Zaps enemies with lightning, explodes objectives, and can turn enemies into piglets. Playing Wong is all about letting Wong do half the killing; Wong doesn't synergies well with many models, so he will mostly run around melting any poor fuck dumb enough to stand near him, and doing half the work while his crew either supports him, distracts enemies, or plays the objective game. Tends to either win by a landslide or get slapped like a bitch and lose instantly. Keyword Wizz-Bang.
*'''Zipp:''' The only Insignificant Master and a sky pirate - leads a crew of gremlins riding metal skeeters, drops pianos on things, and carries Earl Burns (his totem and hostage) around to interact for him. Keyword Infamous.
*'''The Brewmaster:''' Now only Gremlins master. Raised by Ten Thunders as their agent, but went native. The main power directly controlling the Gremlins. Gets everybody drunk, which means if you're a Gremlin you become the hulk and if you're anything else you collapse into a puddle of vomit and shame. Has some permanently drunk buddies who reverse their modifiers: Any positives they get become negatives, and any negatives they get become positives. Makes for some bizarre play where the Brewmaster's crew intentionally gets themselves into the worse situations and comes out top. Has the power to induce drinking contests, which is nastier than you think, because while the enemy is chugging das boot, they can’t do anything else, essentially repeatedly wasting their turn as they poison themselves over and over. Keyword Tri-Chi.
*'''Zoraida:''' : Fugly Voodoo Witch. The first human in Malifaux, became a Neverborn. Manipulating all the factions to keep the Tyrants banished, but Titania showed up and is an unknown quality so her plans may all be bunk since people who were supposed to die lived and vice versa. Has awesome as control play, probably the best master in the game to do it with. Honestly only downside is horrible as a hellhole of a face. Is like Tzeentch's Southern cousin with a face like Nurgle. Pretty much claims to be behind everything, which is probably true because no one wants that face in front of them. Can take anything with a willpower stat of 4 or less, which gives her an incredibly diverse selection for her crew, which is good because her starter box is retarded in terms of viability, you will just buy her model and her Voodoo doll totem which is not included in the box and then whatever cheesey combo of models you want. Honestly her starter box is almost Marcus level bad except Zoraida can still piss all over your opponent with her control abilities and her evasive raven form. Her "avatar" form is her as a hot chick, because God forbid the good folks at Wyrd put one lady character into their game you wouldn't want to fuck. Keyword Swampfiend.

=== The Explorer's Society ===
The rules are out in the open on the app and the book has been out for a while. Check your favorite youtube or podcast. The group is like The League Of Incredible Gentlemen, a mix of powerful, weird and rich explorers.

*'''Lucas McCabe:''' Dual faction with Ten Thunders. Can pass out artifacts to give buffs like fast. When he gets killed on horse he pops off on foot. Keyword Wastrel.

*'''Cornelius Basse:''' Dual faction with Guild. Frontier cop brought in by the new governor to help out things. Likes to deploy outside of the normal limits. Keyword Frontier.

*'''Lord Cooper:''' The hunter in theme, think The Most Dangerous Game. Also has the Malisaurus Rex, A T-Rex hilariously over-sized on his base. Keyword Apex.

*''' Anya Lycarayen:''' A little first nations (her totem is a huge bird that puts out a lot of stun), Anya is the leader of Condor Rails. Some movement tricks and Winston Finnigan is here. Keyword Syndicate.

*''' Nexus :''' Spidermom. Summoning, upgrades to turn models friendly, and condition removal. A lot of working parts. Keyword Cadmus.

*''' English Ivan:''' A name that's been around since 1st edition. Some summoning, shadow markers. Spooky shadow monsters and secret agents oh my! Keyword DUA and Umbra.

*''' Jedza:''' A cursed to live eternally woman that spreads life and heals everywhere. Keyword Seeker.

*''' Maxine Agassiz:''' Maxine likes cards, her rule (and it pops up in the crew for certain cards) is choosing a suit each start phase. For her X card counts as 9, while the enemy counts as 1 in apposed duels. The deep sea explorer. Keyword EVS.

=== Dead Man's Hand ===
When M3e launched, a few masters were considered out of action for plot reasons:
* '''Ramos''': In jail.
* '''Lilith''': In exile.
* '''Colodi''': Dismembered by Dashel, Lucius.
* '''Nicodem''': Killed by Lady Justice.
====Arcanists====
* '''Ramos:''' Head of the Miner's and Steamfitter's Union which is like a normal union except when they go on strike they have steampunk spider centaur cyborgs on the picket-line. Is a construct Master and pretty much was the first of the kind, so he's pretty much middle of the road in that respect. Basically if you like steampunk, you're probably fapping to the box-art on his starter box. Is an absolute nightmare for Ressers due to the fact he won't have many living targets and unlike them he can recycle his constructs constantly, allowing him to play the attrition game against a zombie horde. Essentially killed off in 3rd edition (he's in jail Earthside), so not playable in normal tournament games.
====Rezzers====
* '''Nicodem:''' Basically an undertaker with a pet vulture. Can and will raise a ridiculous amount of zombies in the game, can create any kind of undead model. As a model he is actually really crap stat wise, just that he can win games with the huge ass horde of zombies. Tends to become a slow, defensive grind that breaks with attrition. Killed off in 3rd edition, not playable in normal tournament games. Keyword Mortuary.
====Neverborn====
* '''Lilith:''' Extremely aggressive bitch queen of rapid assault melee plays. Uses Nephilim to do her bidding, which are basically demonic looking thingies that everyone draws/sculpts for Nephilm, instead of the golden bald giants from the Bible. Can use Nephilim young who look like silly Japanese chibi versions of adult Nephilim. Was Queen of Alpha Strike until the master below turned up. Is infamous for her ability to ignore terrain like solid brick walls with her melee attack meaning she can freely wail on your master while they can't target her or even run away from their position because Lilith will get a free strike, this is fun as fuck to do. Essentially killed off in 3rd edition, not playable in normal tournament games. Keyword Nephilim.
*'''Collodi:''' An ancient living puppet that carves children into killer puppets. Has some amazing board control and mobility tricks, can convert everything around him into a killing machine for a turn with his buffs, allowing you to trade lower valued Dolls for more expensive enemies. Or he can sacrifice these dolls to gain some great buffs for himself. Out of the game and his fate is yet to be determined (he possibly could have killed Dashel with the help of Lucius and is wearing Dashel as a "meat puppet", for a second infiltration of Guild by NB). Keyword Puppet.

==Wikispace==
Malifaux has had a pretty neat [[https://pullmyfinger.wikispaces.com wikispace]] till it was closed. Today all the data can be found [[https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/1293024 here]].

==Bigger Hat==
A fairly nice [https://biggerhat.net page] containing all the stat cards, and supposedly all the upgrades. Not every searching word works 'tho, but most do.
Dead Man's Hand masters are not part of any faction now, so you have to search them individually.

== Tactics ==
*[[Malifaux/Tactics(M3e)|Malifaux/Tactics]]

==Gallery==
<Gallery>
File:Malifaux001.jpg
File:Malifaux002.jpg|Almost [[PROMOTIONS|promotions worthy]]
File:Malifaux-ladyjustice.jpg|Lady Justice. Clearly, her cleavage is what helps her see.
File:Ladyjusticegroup.jpg|Lady Justice and her troupe.
File:Ladyjustice3rde.jpg|LJ in 2nd edition. Lots of win instead of generic sexy.
File:Malifaux004.jpg|Rasputina looks cold. [[Female Fantasy Armor|May have something to do with not wearing any clothing while inside an ice monster]].
File:Seamus-malifaux.jpg|Seamus, a sick Jack the Rippoff fuck that resurrects the women he kills as his personal courtesans.
File:Malifaux Pandora.jpg|Wednesday Adams as a [[Loli|gothic lolita]].
File:Death marshals.JPG|These miniatures are undiluted [[awesome]].
File:Cothilljustice3rd.jpg|Looks like Lady Justice got the Captain Marvel treatment.
</Gallery>

==See Also==
* [[Through the Breach]], the roleplaying game set in the same universe as Malifaux.
* [[The Other Side]], the army sized wargame set in the same universe as Malifaux.
* [[Plast Craft Games]], who make the licensed scenery for Malifaux.
[[Category:Wargames]]
[[category:Skirmish-Level Wargames]]
[[category:Malifaux]]

Malifaux

2023-05-16T06:28:08Z

2A02:908:238:F120:F54E:F1CB:6079:2D55: /* 2nd Edition */

'''Malifaux''' is a relatively new (Since 2009) skirmish-level [[wargame]] that's steampunk, victorian, supernatural horror, and wild west themed. Despite bashing together a ton of things that were done by [[Deadlands]] years earlier, it still manages to be a rather fun game. The storyline and world are not complete and total shit, like you would expect of something that looks like a bandwagon hopping attempt of the nth degree.

Though the [[neckbeard|sour-throated individual]] above are right to some extent about the setting (Old, ruined city, dæmons, zombies, magicians and the law in one place going for the magical stones), calling it a "rip-off" is doing it a serious dishonour - the setting has many of the same features, but has its very own feel, lore and gameplay, so its probably more of a new setting taking inspiration from Deadlands and Mordheim, but doing new stuff with it. Besides, someone might as well borrow from Mordheim now that GW has thrown it and every other specialist game into a bin.

== Setting ==
''"In the grim darkness of the 19th century, there is only greed."''

In late 18th century, magic was running dry, but even powerful mages were finding that their 'pop' was beginning to fizzle. Understandably, the most powerful wizards and greatest scientists of their age gathered to find a solution. They realized that there was another plane brimming with magic behind an extra-dimensional barrier. Out of desperation and a lust to regain their power, the most powerful mages performed a ritual, creating a fucking huge rift stretching a hundred meters into the air, and destroyed the city they were in. This portal (dubbed 'The Breach of the Great Boundaries', or just the Breach) drew in many explorers, adventurers and assorted riffraff and hangers-on, hoping to gain wealth and magical power. What they found on the other side of the portal were the ruins of an ancient city. The Magicians, mercenaries, and gold-hunters settled into their new world, 'Malifaux'.

Many of those who made the trip were granted amazing powers, turning even a commoner into a potent wielder of magic. These early explorers unearthed Soulstones, faintly glowing crystals which granted magic and power to their wielders. A predictable gold rush ensued causing a massive demand for these jewels Earth-side. The stones were used by the rich and powerful to renew and enhance their powers on Earth. Even better for the prospectors on Malifaux, these reservoirs of power didn't hold their charge indefinitely - and once drained, they could only be recharged by the death of a sentient being, [[Grimdark|which is just one of the reasons some of the more powerful countries Earth-side decided to get their war on.]]

Predictably of course, it was too good to be true. In Malifaux a great blizzard began freezing the city, and sightings of [[Chaos Daemons|nightmarish creatures]] began. The Breach began to shrink, making travel more difficult and dangerous. In the end, no one could get in or out- but superstitious souls Earth-side claimed they could hear the sound of horrific slaughter and murder through the breach. And then, just as the Breach was about to close, a bloodied and bare chested man stumbled out of it. On his chest was carved the word: [[Awesome|''"Ours"'']].

One hundred years passed. In those years, humanity had only the soulstones brought through when the Breach was open, so demand was high. So high that wars and genocides were waged to get even the smallest chip of the stone in their possession. As magic was about to die completely the Breach opened again, this time by itself, and inside was the same city they had left, but strangely absent the bodies of the people who lived there last time - There were no signs of battle, no rubble. Nothing but the city they found one hundred years ago.

Hope was restored to the magicians of the time, now knowing that soulstones were within reach. The most influential magicians didn't want an unregulated gold rush to happen again. They formed an organisation called the "Guild", which took responsibility for the distribution of work, managed the soulstone mining and generally kept the peace to avoid the large out-flux of soulstones that happened last time. They were basically working to keep the soulstones at a reasonable cost by only producing so much of the stuff at a time, preventing a Germany Anno 1933-style devaluing of the stones.

Eventually the Guild forgot about their roots and turned into an authoritarian government who keep the peace, not for the sake of the civilians, but to keep the soulstones rushing out of the Breach, and to make sure [[Imperium|they control everything in the name of law and order.]] Many don't like how the Guild patrol possible mages (and in Malifaux, that's anyone, really) and destroy any opposition with an iron fist. Some smuggle soulstones in the guise of legitimate organizations like the Miners and Steamfitters Union; who fight the Guild both from the shadows and in politics. Commonly renegade mages are called Arcanists, though it's a name only spoken in the darkest corners of Inns around the city.

Others don't feel like holding their skills at bay - When dead people fuel you, why stop there? Why not make zombies?! These "Resurrectionists" have begun springing up everywhere in an alarming rate almost uncontrollable by the Guild, using the bodies of the dead for their vile experiments.

Others, simple outcasts and mercenaries, now arrive to the city in hope of winning a profit on this gang war or to get their own hands on some soulstones.

The Ten Thunders family of the Three Kingdoms in the east are also gaining an increasingly stronger hold on Malifaux, conquering in the shadows.

The wacky Gremlins of the Bayou are going even farther from their beloved swamps to fight anyone who dare mistake the sound of banjos with harmless music.

All this, however, is nothing compared to the Neverborn: nightmares, unthinkable horrors and unresting monsters who are rising from the shadows of the city to reclaim their city from the naive flesh bags who now think it their home. Many of the Neverborn claim to be the original inhabitants of the city, but it is believed that some are in fact humans from the original first rush that were mutated by their magical powers.

All these forces are now fighting in the streets, in the badlands, and in the Quarantine Zone, trying to gain a lasting hold on this city of the damned. Some fear the night, the closing of the Breach, and the slaughter of everyone just as what happened one hundred years ago. Others believe that Earth is next. What only few dare fear is that the ramifications of [[H.P. Lovecraft|what will happen]] [[Grimdark|are far, far, far worse.]]

This is Malifaux.

== Game Mechanics ==
Malifaux is unique among miniatures games in that rather than rolling dice, players draw from their own deck of cards to please [[Tzeentch|Random Number God]]. Actions can have ''positive'' or ''negative'' twists, which means that you flip over more cards and then take whichever is higher/lower, depending on the type of twist. Players also have a hand of cards they can use to ''cheat fate'' and replace an already flipped card with one that is better. Some models' abilities only work if a certain suit if played, so there's an advantage to keeping good cards in your hand to pull nice actions. Players have the option of purchasing official decks or simply using a deck of regular cards, with the devs helpfully pointing out which of the real card suits corresponds to their fanciful made-up ones.

The army-building mechanic is also pretty unique; players first generate a scenario, then hire their Crew using an agreed-upon number of ''soulstones'' (totally not [[Deadlands | ghost rock]] guys![Don’t they do entirely different things?]) that set the level of the encounter. Each crew needs to be lead by a ''Master'', which gives a few extra soulstones for use and dictates the faction of the Crew. When you're starting, this doesn't really matter, as you'll use the same Crew for everything, but in tournaments, all you're required to do is point out your faction beforehand, only choosing your Master when you figure out what sort of mission you'll need to play. A typical game is 50SS in size, which is about the size of one of the starter boxes, plus one or two extra models.

Any soulstone not spent on hiring can be spent in-game by certain models to gain advantages on flips, generate new models, healing, etc. Certain Masters benefit from a large stash, and others demand that you fill the board with units before the game starts.

Victory is determined through pre-generated victory conditions. There's a big general one, but players can also take ''schemes'', which are like miniature objectives. They earn more victory points if they announce them beforehand, which possibilities ranging from getting the first kill to assassinating the opponent's Master to simply being a dick the whole game. There are also Master-specific schemes, some of which are retardedly difficult to pull off and others which practically occur automatically.

== Editions ==
===1st Edition===
Wyrd started Malifaux as a game to go with their misc model range. Originally just a way to get people to buy their models, the game took on a life of its own and became the main money maker for Wyrd (This is essentially the origin story of Warhammer Fantasy). This established the card mechanics, masters/minions, and soulstones that the game is known for.

===1.5 Edition===
Wyrd updated the system with 1.5 to help balance the game as well as include more and more models. This introduced new mechanics such as Henchmen and Avatars. Avatars were the powered up versions of Masters that could be brought into a game if certain criteria was met.
===2nd Edition===
Malifaux has completed the transition from 1.5 to 2nd edition, commonly named M2E. The first edition was know as a clunky mess of rules that was none the less loved by some parts of the fanbase, and 1.5th as the most up to date version of the 1st edition in general. This is also the time where all the newer people in the roster got in, like some of the Mercs and pretty much all of the Ten Thunders. At some point, Wyrd, the devs, though to give the game a new edition to keep up with [[Games Workshop|GWs]] [[Special:RecentChanges|recent]] failings, and began producing new and less convoluted rules for the game, among new plastic models. This edition should bring new players to the game and ease up play, generally making a reborn game with the best from the latest edition, the way new editions should be made. But Wyrd wasn't happy just redoing the rules. That wasn't barely enough for this new and bold attempt to get more people on the wagon. Redoing the rules wasn't enough at all. All models, as in, the ''entirety of their Malifaux range of models, was to be updated. '''At once,''''' [[Warmachine|Warma]][[Hordes]]-style.

This meant several things - First, they couldn't actually do them all at once, that would make the fanbase wait for months before they could play the game and was as such not profitable, so instead they split releases Wave one came out with the rules and a handful of masters for each faction. This meant that some were miffed their Master was neglected in favour of others, some to quit the game because of new rules and the slightly changed fluff and some again were unhappy they did all this in the first place. Basically, [[fun]] stuff.

Wave 2 came out and finished the roster of masters, with all of them set to be released by October 2015.

Wave 3 launched, introducing a new campaign system and campaign only Avatars, souped up versions of each master, and a small handful of models for each faction including the Emissaries whom give a specific buff to each master and can alter themselves to fit in with the masters tactics.

Wave 4 was released at GenCon 2016. It introduced 7 new masters, one for each faction, and additional upgrades to "fix" underpowered models. There was also new models that help shake up the meta.

In the end, with new shiny models, (slightly) simplified rules Malifaux is now a game that's not just for reserved fans - It's for new dudes as well, and is currently recruiting at [[FLGS]] næar you!

===3rd Edition===
On July 25th 2018 Wyrd announced a new 3rd edition of Malifaux. The main highlights was to further streamline the game, narrow which models can be taken with certain masters (even in-faction, although some cross-faction hires are opened up), allow multiple masters in a crew, and they killed off popular Masters (Nicodem, Collodi, Ramos and Lilith) keeping them around as "Dead Man's Hand", legacy versions of the characters. These masters are now "half in half out" in game terms, as they are fully legal and balanced relative to everything else, but not tournament legal. Other masters have become Dual Faction, some masters which were Dual faction before are now only mono-faction. It also introduced a new faction that has yet to be fully released in the Explorer's Society, but is present on the McCabe and Cornelius box sets and mentioned in a few different places in the fluff.

Gameplay Changes:
*Masters have a soulstone cost and more than one can be taken, only one Master can be leader.
*Crews still built from models within a Faction, however you pay a tax if you purchase models that don't match your Leader's keyword. Hiring crews is Keyword based only, no more conditions like being able to hire all models with low WP or that are construct/undead.
*The Vantage Point rule from 2nd Edition has been replaced with Shadows, where a building/terrain feature has a radius that grants cover. Causes problems with structures higher than HT3 having giant areas of open terrain where models are "in cover".
**Additionally there was an overhaul of the terrain rules to account for entering buildings and other situations that caused problems in M2e.
*Conditions have been streamlined into a universal list to avoid multiple conditions with the same effect.
* Markers have been streamlined to 4 types Strategy, Scheme, Corpse, and Scrap.
* Tokens are a new feature that kind of act like conditions, but can't be removed. Usually they are given to models to trigger buffs or debuffs.

Model Changes:
*Guild:
**Hoffman is now dual faction Guild and Arcanists.
**Dashel was upgraded from Henchman to Master.
**McMourning left for Rezzers.
**McCabe left for Ten Thunders and the Explorer's Society.
**New Master Cornelius Basse arrived.
*Arcanists:
**Hoffman is now dual faction Guild and Arcanists.
**Marcus is now dual faction Arcanists and Neverborn.
**Ramos is now Dead Man's Hand.
*Bayou (formerly Gremlins):
**Captain Zipp is now dual faction Gremlins and Outcast.
**The Brewmaster is no longer dual faction Ten Thunders.
*Neverborn
**Marcus is now dual faction Arcanists and Neverborn.
**Lilith is now Dead Man's Hand.
**Nekima is upgraded from Henchman to Master.
**Collodi is now Dead Man's Hand.
**New Master Euripides arrived.
*Outcast:
**Jack Daw is now dual faction Outcasts and Rezzers.
**Captain Zipp is now dual faction Gremlins and Outcast.
**Tara is no longer dual faction Rezzers, now mono-Outcast.
**Misaki is no longer dual faction Outcasts, now mono-Thunders.
*Resurrectionists:
**Nicodem is now Dead Man's Hand.
**McMourning is Rezzers only.
*Ten Thunders:
**Misaki is no longer dual faction Outcasts.
**New Master Youko Hamasaki arrived.
**Lucas McCabe is no longer dual faction Guild.
**Brewmaster is no longer dual faction Ten Thunders, now mono-Bayou.
**Jakob Lynch is no longer dual faction Neverborn.

== Models ==
===1st Edition===
[[File:Rasputina box.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Compare...]]

The metal models of 1st Edition Malifaux weren't bad, honestly. They were mostly sturdy, had pronounced features, which made them easy to paint. The problems they suffered from overshadowed those nice points by miles, though - Though nothing was really wrong with the models technically, they suffered from what many other first edition models often do - To make the model easy to recognize and to bait people to play the game, all models looked the same, while having no sense of unity or unique flair (Umm, what? The 1st ed models have way more personality and flair than the poorly rendered and flat plastic sculpts).

[[File:WYR20303a 81731.1375408993.1200.1200.jpg|right|thumb|350px|... And contrast.]]

When you want to make new, memorable models for a range, your models must speak volumes of the setting, because the models are what most people see first when they get interested in a game. That's why [[40K]] make the models stand out through easily definable models (There's a lot of races in this game, something for anyone!), because we know a lot by just seeing the model painted. Malifaux, on the other hand, didn't do this at all. The universe is an alternate victorian era, with steampunk, wild west and supernatural horror elements, with focus on the later. The models didn't convey this at all - The models were strangely [[Weeaboo|anime-esque]] in models and ''especially'' artwork. [[PROMOTIONS|Female models had big boobs, long and full hair, slender bodies and were modeled in a distinct sexually way, thrusting their butt out or showing boobage]], while male models were either forgettable or cloaked in brown cloth. Now, sure, this isn't necessarily distinctly [[anime]], but the way the models were presented, it didn't give us any idea of the universe it all took place in at all - [[Infinity]] wrote the book on [[Weeaboo|anime-esque]] models and makes all models like that on purpose, simply because it's a part of the concept, but Malifaux did it because it's easy. They even had "Avatar" models where the women are even more sexualized and the men even burlier, like they are trying to be fucking [[Anime|Kill la Kill]].

===2nd Edition===
The M2e models are ''nothing'' like that. Though they still retain some modes with less than average amount of clothes on their body, the models are distinctly more <s>human and realistic</s> cartoonish and overdynamic. Models like Lady Justice who just stood there to show long, flowing hair, big bosoms and slender legs, she now has a body looking more like the badass teenager Batman she is, and is standing like a warrior ready to strike too, while the formerly pretty revealing Rasputina now looks like the powerful yet reserved frost mage she was supposed to be from the start. On top of that, the artstyle has gone a lot darker and more horror, Lovecraft-inspired, which is also reflected in the models - Some of the newer models are absolutely horribly looking, in a good way, and a good paintjob will make them absolutely disgusting.

Arguably some of the better sculpted models in the industry (Games workshop ain't got shit). They're all in plastic as well, and come in about one million pieces per mini.
Oh yeah.

===3rd Edition===
Not much has changed with the models, but Wyrd has learned their lesson from M2e and a lot of the newer models have fewer tiny bits. Additionally there is update to models whose boxes were notorious for having small fiddly bits that got lost in the carpet.

== The Factions ==
Because all games need different, "morally distinct" factions, Malifaux has <strike>five</strike> <strike>six</strike> <strike>seven</strike> eight now <strike>but the new one is weird</strike> <strike>because the new one isn't a real faction</strike> (Ten Thunders is a real faction now). All of them have different play-styles, with the different Masters providing further diversity. There are also Henchmen, characters that can serve as part of a crew like normal, or lead a special crew of their own.

Thematically, the different factions oppose each other mostly at surface value; each Master and Henchman has their own loyalties, and they're rarely just what their faction wants, unless they flat-out lead that faction. Examples could be Molly Squidpidgeon, a Resurrectionist Master, and the only Undead one. She must be all for Resurrectionists then, right? Nah, she just want to let the Undead have equal rights to humans, and stop humans (including Resurrectionists) from stealing the night from the dead. Another example would be Jacob Lynch, who looks like a puppet for the Neverborn, but actually just want to be free of their influence and flee the place before he gets hurt. Their faction only decides what models they can call upon, and sometimes not even that; just as often, some Masters can get models not from their faction. Dr. Hoffman, a Guild Master, is a Construct Master, and can buy a lot of Arcanist Constructs, for example.

=== The Guild ===
For the cowboy lover in all of us. Primarily a direct-damage/shooty type army full of cowboys and 'upstanding' citizens. Strongest M3e faction because of their absolute superiority when it comes to shooting alongside absolutely retarded terrain rules that can lead to nearly empty boards. The box sets for them are fairly solid, with Perdita Ortega's being completely playable for a newbie who has never played a game before. Guild also has some of the highest damaging models in the game.

They're fluffed as the big all-controlling group that manages everything in the game setting, accomplishing this through the twin fists of bureaucracy and shooting you in the fucking face. Kind of like the US government. Typically the Guild is the oppressive authoritarian government whereas many of its masters; Hoffman, Lady Justice, and Perdita; are depicted as Good Guys. While Nellie, Sonnia, and Dashel are depicted as Neutral. And Lucius is depicted as Lawful Evil. Basse hasn't had much screen time yet.

==== Masters ====
* '''Perdita Ortega:''' Crazy-ass Gun-slinger chick. She leads the Ortega clan who are basically Mexican cowboys, each with a ridiculous pair of balls. The Perdita and the Ortegas are the Anti-Neverborn crew. In M3e, they like to give out extra actions to Family models and also get a free push towards the enemy when they take Concentrate actions. Keyword: Family. Title: Neverborn Hunter.
* '''Lady Justice:''' Crazy blind chick with an epic sword and fighting skills. Bordering on weeaboo, but not really, due to being a cowgirl leading Ghostrider-esq anti-necromancer cowboys to hunt down Resurrectionists. Despite being the necrophiliac rape train of the Guild, she is pretty damn scary to face with other factions as she can run a stall-their-crew-while-I-assassinate-their-heavy-hitters-one-at-a-time play that pisses off everyone who hasn't foreseen this shit happening. One of the strongest melee models in the game. Her crew likes to Bury enemies and get extra bonuses against Undead models. Keyword: Marshal. Title: Death-Touched.
* '''Sonnia Criid:''' Crazy magic chick, actually she's not that crazy, but pretty scary to face. In the lore, she is dubbed the Anti-Arcanist Master, but on the table-top she can pretty much obliterate any caster. Unlike the two other chicks that concentrate on murdering a single model per turn, her damage output is based on the ability to dish devastating fire blasts that damage multiple targets at once. In M2e, she was the most overpowered master in the game as she could shot her own models to blast damage onto the enemy. In M3e, they removed her ability to blast off of allies, but she's still passes out Burning and blasts, while at the same time summoning Witchling models. Keyword: Witch Hunter. Likes the Witchling Keyword as well. Title: - .
* '''Charles Hoffman:''' The first male Master for The Guild. Basically is a force multiplier Construct master, but he just superpowers an existing one rather than making them in the battle. Had a brother who went utterly insane after crossing the breach, he became a cyborg and has like a .50 cal chaingun for one arm and a powerfist on the other. In M3e, Hoffman likes to give his heavily armored construct based crew Power Tokens to boost their attacks and get triggers. Keyword: Augmented. Title: Inventor.
* '''Lucius Mattheson:''' This guy is a massive douche wearing a mask (and may literally be the Devil, but that's not confirmed). He hands out commands to your other models. Essentially a Synergies and Tricks based leader in a faction known for shooting. In the fluff he is slowly seeping power away from the Governor and consolidating a strong powerbase within the Guild, because he's rules lawyering dick. But in M3e the new Governor is calling him out on his shit and pushing him out of the inner circle. His special forces are Lawyers. Became a master in 2E. In M3e his tricks are mostly giving out extra actions to his Minions, Elite, or Mimic models (So not just restricted to minions). Also, he's a Neverborn and is dual-faction with them. Spoiler alert. Keywords: Elite and Mimic. Title: Dishonorable.
* '''Nellie Cochrane:''' The Editor and Chief of the Daily Tattler. Fluffwise she is an annoying know it all who makes up fake words to sound smarter. Her big secret is she lied to her Henchman to get her to fight for the Guild against MS&U. In M3e she likes to give conditions to debuff the enemy and control scheme markers. Keyword Journalist. Title: Voice of Disorder.
* '''Dashel Barker:''' Formerly Lucius' henchman, this guild guard captain has been promoted for his efforts in defeating the evil puppet Collodi. Now a master in 3rd edition and commander of the guard on Malifaux. Dashel works best with guardsmen he can buff and now we have a summoning master. This crew will eat corpses for soulstones and fight better against models that have already activated. Focus for everyone. Keyword: Guard. Title: Butcher.
* '''Cornelius Basse:''' A new master for 3rd edition and dual faction with The Explorer's Society. With the ability to deploy further expect this crew to be in your face turn 1. They tend to have powerful pulls and picked up some great guard models. No non sense frontier lawman with his crew focusing on deploying outside of the normal range and Basse focuses on punishing his foes, whether through his innate damage potential, or from repositioning them through the shifting terrain of the Malifaux landscape. Keyword: Frontier. Title: Badlands Sheriff.

=== Resurrectionists ===
The obligatory undead-filled faction. Focuses on some trick-based gameplay, with certain Masters flooding the board with ridiculous numbers of generated monsters and debuffing enemy units. Also everyone can be a summoner. Truly ridiculous in the hands of a good player, but certain machine-based armies can shut them the fuck down by generating very few corpse counters (the creepy fuel that drives their engines). To play properly, expect to buy a lot of zombie dogs, especially if you're running McMourning. Notable for containing their first true [[weeaboo]] faction in the form of Kirai, their resident Japanese rip-off ghost who manages to not suck.

Fluffed as a bunch of lunatics running around, reviving corpses to eventually overthrow the Guild. Also entertaining because it's the faction most people point out when looking at the game, as it contains both zombie hookers and their Jack the Ripper rip-off, along with his own rip-off, giving you three more layers of rip than you'd want.

==== Masters ====
[[Image:Nicodem-Alt.jpg|thumb|left|250px|You can officially use [https://www.wyrd-games.net/plastic-build-instructions/2016/12/2/nicodem Morticia Adams] as Nicodem]]

* '''Seamus:''' The common child of Jack the Ripper and the Mad Hatter. Has like the period equivalent to a Desert Eagle and despite being an absolute pussy in combat has a melee attack with his bag of tools that can one-hit kill any model in the game! which is just about the only thing stopping him from getting charged by every five year old with an inflatable hammer. Plays more towards strategic deployment and luring with his zombie-whores to setup executions with his pistol. His hand cannon gun, can fire in spurts, if he shoots ya, it's gonna hurt. Keyword: Redchapel. Title: Aka Sebastian Baker.
[[Image:Malifaux-seamusgang.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Necrophilia? [[Slaanesh]] would be pleased]]
* '''Dr. McMourning:''' Officially he is The Guild's coroner, but also doubles as a player in the Resurrectionist underground. In reality he's a Frankenstein rip, his assistance is probably the only real success that he had with his attempts. Plays very aggressively, will butcher in melee and likes to swarm with stitched up dog things. Will use poison to damage his enemies and have them turn into undead abominations. Is the powerhouse combat guy for the Ressers and can often pull surprise rampages by initially playing passively until a gap appears to exploit. As of 3rd edition he has left the guild to be pure Resurrectionist. Keyword: Experimental. Title: Insanitary.
* '''Kirai Ankoku:''' Asian ghost chick. Uses ghosts unlike most of the Resurrectionists who are at the Zombie fans table. Plays very support-type role, absolutely fucked if she gets too close to melee monsters like Lord Chompy Bits or left exposed against the Ortegas. Otherwise Kirai was the only tournament viable master until Ten Thunders because she had a mobile crew and a lot of utility options, allowing her to play the objective game when in a bad match up. In Brawls (2-3 Masters per side) she is always the default option because it doesn't force you to split corpse tokens between Necromancers and she can pretty much do everything else the faction can't do. Keyword: Urami. Title: Envoy of the Court (?).
* '''Molly Squidpiddge<strike>on</strike>:''' An undead investigative journalist chick in a relationship with Seamus that mirrors that of the Joker and Harley Quinn. Her summoning mechanic is based around damaging the opponent to summon more undead, as opposed to summoning off of corpse markers. Keyword: Forgotten. Title: Chaotic Conductor.
*'''Reva Cortinas:''' A necromancer who basically acts like a Mother Teresa to zombies in addition to poor people. In game, she has very short ranged, high damage spells, but she can cast them through corpse counters and models that count as corpse counters. She's also on a horse so she's pretty mobile. Most of the models she tends to use come back after dying, with some bonuses. Keyword: Revenant. Title: Luminary.
*'''Prof. Von Schtook:''' What is with professors going crazy? Another professor, this time he went insane after being unable to study the stars in Malifaux. The man behind The University of Transmortis and buffer of the iron zombies. He can turn off triggers but does not summon. Instead can give out an upgrade to help a model summon. Keyword: Transmortis. Stargazer.
*'''Jack Daw:''' The man hanging on the tree. Started off in 1st edition as a minion. He and his crew focus on giving out Curse upgrades to better their abilities against enemies. Dual faction with Outcasts. Keyword: Tormented. Title: Ensouled.
*'''Yan Lo:''' A guy that died once but his spirit was strong enough to come back. Poor Yan Lo got beat by a strong oni and so he seeks revenge against Lingxuzi. He works with the spirits of his descendants. Dual faction with Ten Thunders. Keyword: Ancestor and Retainer. Title: The Spirit Walker.

=== Arcanists ===
Trick-based faction, they rely on synergy, buffs, and some direct-damage spells to fuck people up. Generally not too forgiving for newer players, but able to really hold their own with a competent player. Get some cool units, including the ever-popular steampunk spider we learned to love from Wild, Wild West. Options for a Will Smith-based Master are not included yet; right now, all you've got are a steampunk scientist, a dude who likes animals way too much, a frozen bitch, or a scantily-clad gold-digger showgirl. Expect games with them to take a while, as they are absolutely stupid with incredibly long combos and effect chains, with the worst offenders being the Showgirls, whose movement tricks are incredibly frustrating.

They fill the function of the secret society working to overthrow the power of the Guild and freeing magic, all while smuggling the shit out of things. Notable for controlling the Miners and Steamfitters' Union, which means they get all the neat steampunk toys along with some burly miners.

==== Masters ====

* '''Rasputina:''' Russian girl who got stuck with being the chosen of the cult of an angry alien God of Winter. Squishy wizard who is probably the worst of all the masters in raw stats, except that she can cast well, specifically a fuck-you area-bomb she can drop multiple times a turn. She won't kill a model in one turn, just that in two turns she will combo her spell and knock all your crew to an ass-hair's width from death. Has Ice golems which shatter on death making them very difficult to deal with while she's throwing her blizzard spell around. Best mage archetype in the game and ok for a first master for people familiar with playing skirmish games. Keyword: December. Title: Abominable.
* '''Marcus:''' Probably insane, is a Druid, but not the game breaking D&D 3.5 kind, he came to Malifaux to study the nature there, but become invigorated by the magics in the air and became George of the Jungle, Old Black Guy Version(r). Generally is liked and sort of balanced, but is way underpowered in general and in the meta sits he way down at the bottom. No idea why he's with the Arcanists as all available data tells us he loves animals too much to care about humans. His crew are mostly beasts and work best as a hit-and-run strategy, except anything that can do the kind of damage needed is too slow to keep pace with him. 2E finally gives us some backstory, him being a college professor and an incredibly old fuck, older than Ramos, that went into the woods and fucked a bear or something, and gained beast magic, and regaining youth. Otherwise, essentially the same lore-wise. Keyword: Chimera. Title: Alpha.
* '''Colette Du Bois:''' Runs weird doll showgirls, can swap places like a puppeteer kind of character (but not THE actual puppeteer; Collodi), can setup interesting strategies and tactics with her maneuverability. Visually her crew looks like Seamus, but with store dummies instead of dead hookers. Has some really good tactical tricks but is fucked if they let a combat heavy model get an opening before she can pull a fast one to get out. Keyword: Performer. Title: Smuggler.
*'''Kaeris:''' One of the better Henchmen choices and more competitive than Marcus, Kaeris is like that girl from Firestarter or Carrie, only with mechanical wings and strong Union movement connections. She works for Ramos by doing sabotage and black ops stuff for the union. Makes very good use of models with Flame abilities, which allows her to put out higher than expected damage. Good crew selection too, can play very good ranged combat which applies fire. Her special forces are the M & SU Assets division, basically mining and heavy industry stuff with some odd Arcanist shit in the mix because blue collar wizardry steampunk right? Becomes a master in 2E. Keyword: Wildfire. Title: Reborn.
*'''Toni Ironsides:''' Ramos's strong arm when dealing with rogue arcanists and the gal to go rouse up the people when the Guild becomes to comfortable with their leather chairs and twirled mustaches. She is a close quarters combat master who have little to no magic besides the Adrenaline condition, which she builds up by, well, doing what she does best. Which is to charge anything that doesn't look like Lord Chompy Bits or Lady Justice and go to town. Plays like a combination of Mah Tucket and Ramos, without either one's special abilities, but with their higher stats and an uppercut from hell. Has betrayed Ramos in the fluff and is now the head of the miners and steamfitters union. In 3rd edition she plays like a lightning bruiser capable of high damage output and can be very durable due to the unionized ability that gives her extra defensive capabilities. Nowadays her crews are mainly bubble like using all the unionized models to form a human chain that can stop and flank opponents. Keyword: M&SU. Title: Union President.
*'''Sandeep Desai:''' An Indian man who is an expert gamin summoner and teacher. His crew is based around summoning gamin models as well as supporting other spellcasters. Used to be the most OP master in the game in 2nd edition. Nowadays he is capable of combining gamins to make golems. Also his main mechanic is academic which gives a bonus to models that focus within range of Sandeep. Keyword: Academic and Elemental. Title: Font of Magic.
* '''Charles Hoffman:''' The first male Master for The Guild. Basically is a force multiplier Construct master, but he just superpowers an existing one rather than making them in the battle. Had a brother who went utterly insane after crossing the breach, he became a cyborg and has like a .50 cal chaingun for one arm and a powerfist on the other. In M3e, Hoffman likes to give his heavily armored construct based crew Power Tokens to boost their attacks and get triggers. Keyword: Augmented. Title: Inventor.
* '''Mei Feng:''' She runs The Foundry, a division of M&SU responsible for construction of Malifaux' railway system. Mei used to train under Sandeep's tutelage, but her impatience and innate resistance to authority forced her to quit the lessons. She's not capable of summoning anything bigger than a Forgeling. Even that is accomplished more by intuition than expertise. Although not a skilled summoner, Mei Feng became a master of metal bending, creating gamin and golems for M&SU heavy duty operations as well as Arcanist's numerous missions. Her playstyle revolves around mobility via Ride The Rails ability, which means that scrap markers are more than useful. Keyword: Foundry. Title: Foreman.

=== Neverborn ===
Glass-cannon beatdown forces. They can put out incredible levels of hurt, but can also die quickly. Very straightforward with some Masters, while others take a bit of getting used to, then completely shut down the game for your opponent. Topping the meta with Guild right now, as they seem to get all the best units, and do horrible things to your opponent. Their masters basically benefit from alpha striking everything in, shredding the opponent, and then calling it a game, because they've won, baby.

Fluffed as the original inhabitants of the hellish plane that the storyline takes place on, they just want to eat souls and kill the humans who invaded.

==== Masters ====
[[Image:Malifaux1sted.jpg|thumb|250px|1st edition box art. Looks aimed straight at a [[/d/|certain type of group]].]]
* '''Pandora:''' As in Pandora's Box. Basically her plan is to get you punched by your opponent. Forces willpower duels, a lot of willpower duels. Gets annoying buffs/debuffs every time an opponent fails in addition to whatever punishment failing the duel causes. She basically can sit in a bullet-proof port-a-loo in the middle of the table and make anyone her bitch. Has creepy children as her best friends. Neverborn are like that. Keyword Woe.
* '''Zoraida:''' Fugly Voodoo Witch. Has awesome as control play, probably the best master in the game to do it with. Honestly only downside is horrible as a hellhole of a face. Is like Tzeentch's Southern cousin with a face like Nurgle. Pretty much claims to be behind everything, which is probably true because no one wants that face in front of them. Can take anything with a willpower stat of 4 or less, which gives her an incredibly diverse selection for her crew, which is good because her starter box is retarded in terms of viability, you will just buy her model and her Voodoo doll totem which is not included in the box and then whatever cheesey combo of models you want. Honestly her starter box is almost Marcus level bad except Zoraida can still piss all over your opponent with her control abilities and her evasive raven form. Her "avatar" form is her as a hot chick, because God forbid the good folks at Wyrd put one lady character into their game you wouldn't want to fuck. Keyword Swampfiend.
* '''The Dreamer & Lord Chompy Bits:''' A young boy psychic on Earth day dreams. In Malifaux an ungodly monster in the shape of that boy terrorizes everyone. The King of the Demons wanted to possess the kid and basically wreak untold havoc on Earth... the kid enslaved him and called him Lord Chompy Bits. Until a massive nerfing that affected his crew's core mechanics and himself, this guy was borderline unbeatable, he starts as a little kid, but can zoom around, and if he's killed or if his controller decides to "bury" him Lord Chompy Bits comes out, or The Dreamer can drop his whole crew on whoever the poor bastard he's standing next too, and then pick them up before they get shot up. Lord Chompy Bits is in the top 3 heaviest hitting melee beast in the game, isn't the toughest, but anything within range of the Dreamer and by extension him is already dead. Seriously this little boy and his demon king nearly broke the game, being able to threaten the whole battlefield from turn 1. Keyword Nightmare.
*'''Titania:''' One of the original Neverborn, but undead. Queen of the Fae. Her strategy revolves around spreading terrain around the board that her crew ignores. Her totem can sacrifice itself to summon back a model that was killed during the game. Keyword Fae.
*'''Nekima:''' Promoted to master by throwing her sister Lilith into the prison that used to hold Titania. Has a big sword, likes black blood models and hates humans. Keyword Nephilim.
*'''Euripides:''' With Titania coming back from the mountain other creatures have come out of the shadows and mountains. A new master that Titania defeated and put into service for her cause. This guy likes a big crew and putting up ice pillars. Keyword Savage.
*'''Lucius:'''
*'''Marcus:'''

=== Outcasts ===
Basically, everybody else. Most of them start with no soulstone cache, but make up for it in their own special way. Masters can have ridiculous learning curves; Leviticus basically benefits by the player learning how to kill himself. Other Masters have similar tricks, and can do horrible things.

Fluff-wise, they're all over the place.

==== Masters ====
[[File:Malifaux-viktorias.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Femmes fatales]]
* '''Leveticus:''' The Cancer that is killing Malifaux is his title, but only in the game's setting though. Necro-steampunk zen guy. Everyone nearing civilized uses him as their fence for exotic/magic shit, while looking the other way regarding a rotating cast of dead-eyed women in skimpy dress always around him. In reality he's animating young women's corpses as puppets and when he dies he inhabits one of them which mutates back into his own form (its implied the rumors about those women are darker than the reality, and that he's unhappy he doesn't stay in their form) although he has also kidnapped a young orphan girl named Marlena which may imply even more dark things about him. Basically, he will die. Repeatedly. It makes him one of the hardest masters to beat and to learn. Plays the most balls out offense game, even against alpha strike Neverborn. Used to have crazy damage (had 0-1-12 damage on his fist in 1.5) but now he has consistent hurt. His keyword He can also summon a pretty powerful Desolation Engine from his Steampunk Abominations that he made out of the mangled remains of your crew/his crew. His crew used to be huge (pariah of bone or iron), but with 3rd cutting back. The best choices are unique shit as bizarre and prone to loop dying as he is. Ergo assassination is not as hard to now since he can no longer constantly respawn; waifs have been caped at 2 now.Being the first to play him in a local meta will net you a lot of easy wins because he has very little in common with anything else in the game. Keyword Amalgam.
* '''The Viktorias:''' Basically Viktoria went on an adventure in hellish plane of Malifaux, met a doppelganger and they became friends. You get two for one here. One has a pistol the other one has [[katana]] and will [[Rip and tear|cleave shit up all over the place]]. Twin shenanigans and the like. Their crew is basically a bunch of punk-goth chicks out for a fun night out on the town. [[Katanas are Underpowered in d20|WITH FUCKING KATANAS]]. While tricky to learn and play, the Viks have some amazing synergies, allowing them to slingshot each other across the board and slice even the toughest foe to ribbons in a single turn. They're so fast it's not even funny. Keyword Mercenary.
* '''Hamelin The Plagued:''' Basically one big homage to the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Hamelin was originally a rat-catcher sewer dweller, but now he's trying to conquer Malifaux. He has lots of rats. Like more than in Mexico City, New York and Hong Kong combined. Neverborn have the advantage of being able to attempt to alpha strike him and then trying to keep their casualties from causing a draw or one of those out of nowhere losses, this works like none of the time. Keyword Plague.
*'''Von Schill:''' Badass German merc, leads the Freikorps, which are a PMC of Badass German mercs. Good choice for people starting Malifaux and don't know what to play, as his crew is generic but solid out of the box, while he himself is the good looking god of death jumping across walls and houses. Also he looks like Hul***REDACTED*** Now has some artificial limbs and is building Outer Heave- Freiholt now that the new governor has banned mercenaries. Keyword Freikorps.
*'''Tara:''' Former dual faction Ressurectionist, Tara is an undead bitch that doesn't give a fuck about anything. She got Shot Through the Heart (and the Guild's to blame), went into a plane of literal nothingness where another chick was too late to bring her back to life, but she made her undead and arguably even more badass than before. Although somewhat underpowered when compared to other masters, she has the super-power of being able to ACTIVATE TWICE IN EVERY TURN. Her crew are a bunch of creepy-crawlies that she brought back with her from the void. Her main gimmick is somewhat counter-intuitive - giving the enemy Fast is not really something you'd normally do... But Tara does it and makes it work surprisingly well. Also, she's a mean bury-er. Keyword Obliteration.
*'''Jack Daw:''' Tormented ghost of a hanged man who somehow isn't Ressers. He and his crew are quite slow but have a lot of movement tricks such as teleporting, but their main focus is cursing the opponent's lynchpin models with some random but deadly curses. One of which can just straight up kill certain models unless they pay a hefty resource tax. Jack can also pull cursed models out of position and damage them by ripping the curses off them and moving the curse to something else. Works well with Tormented-type models like the Guilty, the Drowned and the Hanged, which all get different buffs when attacking cursed models. Quite difficult to get the hang of, but fun. Has one of the best lines in the fluff: ''Jack now wanders Malifaux, looking for a woman he does not recognize in order to avenge a crime he cannot remember.'' Now dual faction with Ressurectionist. Keyword Tormented.
*'''Parker Barrows:''' A bandit that is known for robbing banks, trains, etc... Classic outlaw from the law. His crew is based around scheme marker manipulation. Keyword Bandit.
*'''Captain Zipp:''' It was only a matter of time before a Gremlin got his hands on something powerful and keep all his fingers. After getting his hands on an experimental skyship, a jetpack, a laser gun and he decided to gather a crew to get robbing. Dual faction with Bayou. Keyword Infamous.

===Ten Thunders===
An ancient ninja clan that has left the 3 Kingdoms (<s>Which is China with lots of traditionalist poor people and well armed rich people instead of the game's normal 1870s aesthetic, but fuck logic right, its ninjas?</s> The Three Kingdoms are China, Japan and Vietnam fused together in an empire) to form a powerbase inside Malifaux. They have a lot of Dual-Faction models which represents the clan infiltrating the 6 other factions, including somehow convincing the Neverborn to not eviscerate and soul rape them. This means that they are only 60% Weaboos, and 40% whisky drinking hardmen. This is mostly because of how each main faction already has a suit assigned to it, and Outcasts are a mess across the whole board, so instead each master is dependant on the suits associated with their other faction. The exception is their leader who is not dual faction and works like an outcast Master. '''M3E:''' Rather than 'lurk in the shadows' they've started kicking ass and taking names. Most of their dual faction masters have declared for Ten Thunders, and now Malifaux is aware of their existence.
====Masters====
*'''Misaki; Mistress of the Ten Thunders:''' The Ten Thunders ninja assassin master, very combat, 1 v 1 focused, does incredibly amounts of damage in melee, on par with Lord Chompy Bits. Some crew support, but being able to take Ten Thunders crew members means she has a reliable crew. Misaki has been very busy. Misaki is now the Oyabun and in full control of the Ten Thunders faction. Killed her father, the Oyabun, in a duel with one strike. Keyword Last Blossom.
*'''Lucas McCabe:''' Former dual-Guild Master, mounted and has access to sets of relics that let him slow or paralyze models. After being fired from the Guild he's found new employment with the Explorers Society. His unique mechanics is being able to give away relics. Definitely not Indiana Jones. Keyword Wastrels.
*'''Mei-Feng:''' Dual-Arcanist master, specialises in Metal and Earth, also uses a martial arts combo system so expect players running her crew to sing "EVERYBODY WAS KUNG-FU FIGHTING!!!" during her activations. Reeks of Avatar fandom weabooness, not CGI Furry Avatar, the badass 2 cartoons about Aang and Korra with the Terribad M.Nightshamalamadingdong live action movie. Her unique mechanic is her combo chain triggers that allow her to pull off her crazy kung fu. When she starts its going to hurt. Keyword Foundry.
*'''Jakob Lynch:''' <strike>Dual-Neverborn</strike> master, because the human chunk is in debt up to his eyeballs to the Chinese mob. Uses a status effect called Brilliance, its like a curse, radiation, a horrible disease, and crack cocaine, except the junkies have a lot more tentacles than humans should possess. His trick is to get Brilliance on everything and charge the Hungering Darkness out, which is stronger based on how many models have Brilliance and allows it to do a lot of damage to models with Brilliance. Lynch runs a club where the staff are either Neverborn Skinwalkers or humans possessed by Brilliance, which makes him the only Neverborn aligned thing to actually interact with humans in a method other than evisceration. Now only Ten Thunders affiliated due the Hungering Darkness getting scared of Titaina. His crew also contains the first prostitutes that aren't zombies, ghosts or mannequins, they're just possessed by Brilliance which they spread to clients, which means its probably also an STI... Keyword Honeypot.
*'''Yan Lo:''' Dual-Resurrectionist master. Undead necromancer who uses Ancestor spirits and can store them when they pass, gaining benefits for doing so, meaning if you massacre his crew he can be very hard to deal with, or he can resummon his heavy henchmans, because hey having an undo button is fun in tabletop games. Because he uses a specific type of spirit token, he works well with other Resurrectionists in Brawls, if you go with the rare 3 Master Brawl, he goes really well with the normal Kirai+anyone who does zombies setup. Also like Kirai he has utility functions. His unique mechanic is having 3 upgrades that he can gain over the course of a match by earning Chi points, allowing you to adapt him on the fly. Keyword Ancestor and Retainer.
*'''Shenlong:''' [[https://i.ibb.co/8cgRQLP/shenlong.jpg| Not this one]]. Some talented monk who saw a very bright sunset, went up into a temple on the top of a mountain and came back having become the sunset and being possessed by something only known as "The Dragon". Shenlong can change through conditions and is able to boost his abilities by gaining Chi tokens. Seems to be the leader of the clandestine invasion the Ten Thunders lead on Malifaux. Keyword Monk.
*'''Asami:''' Picture your worst hair day and then imagine what if it could eat people. This possessed lady can summon and power up Oni. Keyword Oni
*'''Youko Hamasaki:''' The manager of The Qi and Gong. She trades in secrets and flesh. Tricky master with a fondness for pass tokens and soulstones. Keyword Qi and Gong.

===<strike>Gremlins</strike>Bayou===
Take one part [[orks]], one part ''Deliverance'', one part hillbillies, and one part drunken game dev, and you've got the Gremlins. Creatures who were in Malifaux before humans, but somehow are redneck gobbos and not Neverborn. Not very smart on their own, but pretty good at copying things, and since humans are smart... Have a very casual attitude towards death, since so many things in the swamp are ready to kill them - even the pigs they rear for food and combat are capable of eating them whole. They spend the whole game blowing themselves up, accidentally shooting each other, and sending pigs flying at the opponent. Hilarious and workable, but they're absolutely fucked against a Hamelin list. General approach to battle is a horde of cheap, dumb gremlins supported by nastier swamp critters (mostly giant hogs, but also giant mosquitoes and giant gators).

Fun-fact; if you can handle the smooth-skinned no-nose look and slightly glowy solid-colored eyes, most of the female gremlin characters make pretty good [[monstergirls]]. About the only exceptions are Mah Tuckett (who is fat and old), Meris LaCroix (who is a fat gremlin chick strapped to a rocket) and The Little Lass (who is a loli). Definite points have to go to Trixiebelle, who is... well, ''stacked''. [[http://pullmyfinger.wikispaces.com/M2E+Trixiebelle See for yourself.]]

==== Masters ====
* '''Som'er Teeth Jones:''' The hillbilly gremlin master, manipulating and being manipulated by everyone but being fine with it since everyone from Ten Thunders to Zoraida is giving him an easy ride. His idiot son is supreme leader of Gremlins, meaning Som’er is leadsr so much as the term means anything to Gremlins. Its 40k [[Orks]] but in a different game system and modelled on rednecks instead of English football hooligans. One case of good blatant ripoff in Malifaux. Has very diverse list builds and not correctly guessing what he's taking is going to be difficult to deal with on the table, though he does have a slant towards the horde approach. He also possesses the most tricks to apply damage to models that bypasses defenses, armor, damage reduction etc, one of these methods is a fucking aoe fart nuke, like the worst fart you've had after a Vindaloo curry and few pints of lager. Naturally he has a crew build where this fart nuke is going to hit your crew 4-5 times a turn. Keyword Big Hat.
*'''Ophelia Lacroix:''' Basically Ophelia and her family cosplay as the Ortegas, only they're Gremlins so expect lulz. Is a [[Creed|Tactical Genius]] with educated human-tier intellect but no access to book-learning so it turned into a high WIS instead. Stockpiled weapons and trained her kin to be the most disciplined Gremlins can possibly be. Pissed that Som’er got his son elected head of all Gremlins instead of her. They have better shooting than normal gremlins and are tougher, but still like having numbers. Ophelia's special force is The Kin, basically her family, like the Ortegas, only really hillbilly. Got promoted from a Henchman to a Master when Gremlins got upgraded to full-factions status in 2. Keyword Kin.
*'''Ulix''': Old peg-legged gremlin who specialises in training, breeding and herding pigs. [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|pissed the youth are into newfangled human ways.]] Doesn’t care about any plots or subplots, and is happy to just sell his pigs. Naturally, if this guy is the boss, the force should be comprised mostly of pigs. Nasty pigs. Moves very slow, but can "ride" pigs and so get free move actions if he sticks close to them. Keyword Sooey and Pig.
*'''Mah Tucket''': Vicious, ugly old gremlin matriarch who beats peoples' heads in with a wooden spoon. Causes the most chaos to all other factions mainly with her daughters, and screwed over Ophelia on the leadership vote due to the Brewmaster’s trickery. She's the best melee combat master that gremlins have. Keyword Tricksy.
*'''Wong''': Crazy gremlin who essentially mugged Lo Pan from Big Trouble in Little China, and stole his clothes, which he uses to blow enemies up real good. Is [[Azhag the Slaughterer|being “controlled” by a magic McGuffin that wants him to summon it into the world]], which he’s content to stall and sabotage. Zaps enemies with lightning, explodes objectives, and can turn enemies into piglets. Playing Wong is all about letting Wong do half the killing; Wong doesn't synergies well with many models, so he will mostly run around melting any poor fuck dumb enough to stand near him, and doing half the work while his crew either supports him, distracts enemies, or plays the objective game. Tends to either win by a landslide or get slapped like a bitch and lose instantly. Keyword Wizz-Bang.
*'''Zipp:''' The only Insignificant Master and a sky pirate - leads a crew of gremlins riding metal skeeters, drops pianos on things, and carries Earl Burns (his totem and hostage) around to interact for him. Keyword Infamous.
*'''The Brewmaster:''' Now only Gremlins master. Raised by Ten Thunders as their agent, but went native. The main power directly controlling the Gremlins. Gets everybody drunk, which means if you're a Gremlin you become the hulk and if you're anything else you collapse into a puddle of vomit and shame. Has some permanently drunk buddies who reverse their modifiers: Any positives they get become negatives, and any negatives they get become positives. Makes for some bizarre play where the Brewmaster's crew intentionally gets themselves into the worse situations and comes out top. Has the power to induce drinking contests, which is nastier than you think, because while the enemy is chugging das boot, they can’t do anything else, essentially repeatedly wasting their turn as they poison themselves over and over. Keyword Tri-Chi.
*'''Zoraida:''' : Fugly Voodoo Witch. The first human in Malifaux, became a Neverborn. Manipulating all the factions to keep the Tyrants banished, but Titania showed up and is an unknown quality so her plans may all be bunk since people who were supposed to die lived and vice versa. Has awesome as control play, probably the best master in the game to do it with. Honestly only downside is horrible as a hellhole of a face. Is like Tzeentch's Southern cousin with a face like Nurgle. Pretty much claims to be behind everything, which is probably true because no one wants that face in front of them. Can take anything with a willpower stat of 4 or less, which gives her an incredibly diverse selection for her crew, which is good because her starter box is retarded in terms of viability, you will just buy her model and her Voodoo doll totem which is not included in the box and then whatever cheesey combo of models you want. Honestly her starter box is almost Marcus level bad except Zoraida can still piss all over your opponent with her control abilities and her evasive raven form. Her "avatar" form is her as a hot chick, because God forbid the good folks at Wyrd put one lady character into their game you wouldn't want to fuck. Keyword Swampfiend.

=== The Explorer's Society ===
The rules are out in the open on the app and the book has been out for a while. Check your favorite youtube or podcast. The group is like The League Of Incredible Gentlemen, a mix of powerful, weird and rich explorers.

*'''Lucas McCabe:''' Dual faction with Ten Thunders. Can pass out artifacts to give buffs like fast. When he gets killed on horse he pops off on foot. Keyword Wastrel.

*'''Cornelius Basse:''' Dual faction with Guild. Frontier cop brought in by the new governor to help out things. Likes to deploy outside of the normal limits. Keyword Frontier.

*'''Lord Cooper:''' The hunter in theme, think The Most Dangerous Game. Also has the Malisaurus Rex, A T-Rex hilariously over-sized on his base. Keyword Apex.

*''' Anya Lycarayen:''' A little first nations (her totem is a huge bird that puts out a lot of stun), Anya is the leader of Condor Rails. Some movement tricks and Winston Finnigan is here. Keyword Syndicate.

*''' Nexus :''' Spidermom. Summoning, upgrades to turn models friendly, and condition removal. A lot of working parts. Keyword Cadmus.

*''' English Ivan:''' A name that's been around since 1st edition. Some summoning, shadow markers. Spooky shadow monsters and secret agents oh my! Keyword DUA and Umbra.

*''' Jedza:''' A cursed to live eternally woman that spreads life and heals everywhere. Keyword Seeker.

*''' Maxine Agassiz:''' Maxine likes cards, her rule (and it pops up in the crew for certain cards) is choosing a suit each start phase. For her X card counts as 9, while the enemy counts as 1 in apposed duels. The deep sea explorer. Keyword EVS.

=== Dead Man's Hand ===
When M3e launched, a few masters were considered out of action for plot reasons:
* '''Ramos''': In jail.
* '''Lilith''': In exile.
* '''Colodi''': Dismembered by Dashel, Lucius.
* '''Nicodem''': Killed by Lady Justice.
====Arcanists====
* '''Ramos:''' Head of the Miner's and Steamfitter's Union which is like a normal union except when they go on strike they have steampunk spider centaur cyborgs on the picket-line. Is a construct Master and pretty much was the first of the kind, so he's pretty much middle of the road in that respect. Basically if you like steampunk, you're probably fapping to the box-art on his starter box. Is an absolute nightmare for Ressers due to the fact he won't have many living targets and unlike them he can recycle his constructs constantly, allowing him to play the attrition game against a zombie horde. Essentially killed off in 3rd edition (he's in jail Earthside), so not playable in normal tournament games.
====Rezzers====
* '''Nicodem:''' Basically an undertaker with a pet vulture. Can and will raise a ridiculous amount of zombies in the game, can create any kind of undead model. As a model he is actually really crap stat wise, just that he can win games with the huge ass horde of zombies. Tends to become a slow, defensive grind that breaks with attrition. Killed off in 3rd edition, not playable in normal tournament games. Keyword Mortuary.
====Neverborn====
* '''Lilith:''' Extremely aggressive bitch queen of rapid assault melee plays. Uses Nephilim to do her bidding, which are basically demonic looking thingies that everyone draws/sculpts for Nephilm, instead of the golden bald giants from the Bible. Can use Nephilim young who look like silly Japanese chibi versions of adult Nephilim. Was Queen of Alpha Strike until the master below turned up. Is infamous for her ability to ignore terrain like solid brick walls with her melee attack meaning she can freely wail on your master while they can't target her or even run away from their position because Lilith will get a free strike, this is fun as fuck to do. Essentially killed off in 3rd edition, not playable in normal tournament games. Keyword Nephilim.
*'''Collodi:''' An ancient living puppet that carves children into killer puppets. Has some amazing board control and mobility tricks, can convert everything around him into a killing machine for a turn with his buffs, allowing you to trade lower valued Dolls for more expensive enemies. Or he can sacrifice these dolls to gain some great buffs for himself. Out of the game and his fate is yet to be determined (he possibly could have killed Dashel with the help of Lucius and is wearing Dashel as a "meat puppet", for a second infiltration of Guild by NB). Keyword Puppet.

==Wikispace==
Malifaux has had a pretty neat [[https://pullmyfinger.wikispaces.com wikispace]] till it was closed. Today all the data can be found [[https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/1293024 here]].

==Bigger Hat==
A fairly nice [https://biggerhat.net page] containing all the stat cards, and supposedly all the upgrades. Not every searching word works 'tho, but most do.
Dead Man's Hand masters are not part of any faction now, so you have to search them individually.

== Tactics ==
*[[Malifaux/Tactics(M3e)|Malifaux/Tactics]]

==Gallery==
<Gallery>
File:Malifaux001.jpg
File:Malifaux002.jpg|Almost [[PROMOTIONS|promotions worthy]]
File:Malifaux-ladyjustice.jpg|Lady Justice. Clearly, her cleavage is what helps her see.
File:Ladyjusticegroup.jpg|Lady Justice and her troupe.
File:Ladyjustice3rde.jpg|LJ in 2nd edition. Lots of win instead of generic sexy.
File:Malifaux004.jpg|Rasputina looks cold. [[Female Fantasy Armor|May have something to do with not wearing any clothing while inside an ice monster]].
File:Seamus-malifaux.jpg|Seamus, a sick Jack the Rippoff fuck that resurrects the women he kills as his personal courtesans.
File:Malifaux Pandora.jpg|Wednesday Adams as a [[Loli|gothic lolita]].
File:Death marshals.JPG|These miniatures are undiluted [[awesome]].
File:Cothilljustice3rd.jpg|Looks like Lady Justice got the Captain Marvel treatment.
</Gallery>

==See Also==
* [[Through the Breach]], the roleplaying game set in the same universe as Malifaux.
* [[The Other Side]], the army sized wargame set in the same universe as Malifaux.
* [[Plast Craft Games]], who make the licensed scenery for Malifaux.
[[Category:Wargames]]
[[category:Skirmish-Level Wargames]]
[[category:Malifaux]]

Malifaux

2023-05-16T06:23:07Z

2A02:908:238:F120:F54E:F1CB:6079:2D55:

'''Malifaux''' is a relatively new (Since 2009) skirmish-level [[wargame]] that's steampunk, victorian, supernatural horror, and wild west themed. Despite bashing together a ton of things that were done by [[Deadlands]] years earlier, it still manages to be a rather fun game. The storyline and world are not complete and total shit, like you would expect of something that looks like a bandwagon hopping attempt of the nth degree.

Though the [[neckbeard|sour-throated individual]] above are right to some extent about the setting (Old, ruined city, dæmons, zombies, magicians and the law in one place going for the magical stones), calling it a "rip-off" is doing it a serious dishonour - the setting has many of the same features, but has its very own feel, lore and gameplay, so its probably more of a new setting taking inspiration from Deadlands and Mordheim, but doing new stuff with it. Besides, someone might as well borrow from Mordheim now that GW has thrown it and every other specialist game into a bin.

== Setting ==
''"In the grim darkness of the 19th century, there is only greed."''

In late 18th century, magic was running dry, but even powerful mages were finding that their 'pop' was beginning to fizzle. Understandably, the most powerful wizards and greatest scientists of their age gathered to find a solution. They realized that there was another plane brimming with magic behind an extra-dimensional barrier. Out of desperation and a lust to regain their power, the most powerful mages performed a ritual, creating a fucking huge rift stretching a hundred meters into the air, and destroyed the city they were in. This portal (dubbed 'The Breach of the Great Boundaries', or just the Breach) drew in many explorers, adventurers and assorted riffraff and hangers-on, hoping to gain wealth and magical power. What they found on the other side of the portal were the ruins of an ancient city. The Magicians, mercenaries, and gold-hunters settled into their new world, 'Malifaux'.

Many of those who made the trip were granted amazing powers, turning even a commoner into a potent wielder of magic. These early explorers unearthed Soulstones, faintly glowing crystals which granted magic and power to their wielders. A predictable gold rush ensued causing a massive demand for these jewels Earth-side. The stones were used by the rich and powerful to renew and enhance their powers on Earth. Even better for the prospectors on Malifaux, these reservoirs of power didn't hold their charge indefinitely - and once drained, they could only be recharged by the death of a sentient being, [[Grimdark|which is just one of the reasons some of the more powerful countries Earth-side decided to get their war on.]]

Predictably of course, it was too good to be true. In Malifaux a great blizzard began freezing the city, and sightings of [[Chaos Daemons|nightmarish creatures]] began. The Breach began to shrink, making travel more difficult and dangerous. In the end, no one could get in or out- but superstitious souls Earth-side claimed they could hear the sound of horrific slaughter and murder through the breach. And then, just as the Breach was about to close, a bloodied and bare chested man stumbled out of it. On his chest was carved the word: [[Awesome|''"Ours"'']].

One hundred years passed. In those years, humanity had only the soulstones brought through when the Breach was open, so demand was high. So high that wars and genocides were waged to get even the smallest chip of the stone in their possession. As magic was about to die completely the Breach opened again, this time by itself, and inside was the same city they had left, but strangely absent the bodies of the people who lived there last time - There were no signs of battle, no rubble. Nothing but the city they found one hundred years ago.

Hope was restored to the magicians of the time, now knowing that soulstones were within reach. The most influential magicians didn't want an unregulated gold rush to happen again. They formed an organisation called the "Guild", which took responsibility for the distribution of work, managed the soulstone mining and generally kept the peace to avoid the large out-flux of soulstones that happened last time. They were basically working to keep the soulstones at a reasonable cost by only producing so much of the stuff at a time, preventing a Germany Anno 1933-style devaluing of the stones.

Eventually the Guild forgot about their roots and turned into an authoritarian government who keep the peace, not for the sake of the civilians, but to keep the soulstones rushing out of the Breach, and to make sure [[Imperium|they control everything in the name of law and order.]] Many don't like how the Guild patrol possible mages (and in Malifaux, that's anyone, really) and destroy any opposition with an iron fist. Some smuggle soulstones in the guise of legitimate organizations like the Miners and Steamfitters Union; who fight the Guild both from the shadows and in politics. Commonly renegade mages are called Arcanists, though it's a name only spoken in the darkest corners of Inns around the city.

Others don't feel like holding their skills at bay - When dead people fuel you, why stop there? Why not make zombies?! These "Resurrectionists" have begun springing up everywhere in an alarming rate almost uncontrollable by the Guild, using the bodies of the dead for their vile experiments.

Others, simple outcasts and mercenaries, now arrive to the city in hope of winning a profit on this gang war or to get their own hands on some soulstones.

The Ten Thunders family of the Three Kingdoms in the east are also gaining an increasingly stronger hold on Malifaux, conquering in the shadows.

The wacky Gremlins of the Bayou are going even farther from their beloved swamps to fight anyone who dare mistake the sound of banjos with harmless music.

All this, however, is nothing compared to the Neverborn: nightmares, unthinkable horrors and unresting monsters who are rising from the shadows of the city to reclaim their city from the naive flesh bags who now think it their home. Many of the Neverborn claim to be the original inhabitants of the city, but it is believed that some are in fact humans from the original first rush that were mutated by their magical powers.

All these forces are now fighting in the streets, in the badlands, and in the Quarantine Zone, trying to gain a lasting hold on this city of the damned. Some fear the night, the closing of the Breach, and the slaughter of everyone just as what happened one hundred years ago. Others believe that Earth is next. What only few dare fear is that the ramifications of [[H.P. Lovecraft|what will happen]] [[Grimdark|are far, far, far worse.]]

This is Malifaux.

== Game Mechanics ==
Malifaux is unique among miniatures games in that rather than rolling dice, players draw from their own deck of cards to please [[Tzeentch|Random Number God]]. Actions can have ''positive'' or ''negative'' twists, which means that you flip over more cards and then take whichever is higher/lower, depending on the type of twist. Players also have a hand of cards they can use to ''cheat fate'' and replace an already flipped card with one that is better. Some models' abilities only work if a certain suit if played, so there's an advantage to keeping good cards in your hand to pull nice actions. Players have the option of purchasing official decks or simply using a deck of regular cards, with the devs helpfully pointing out which of the real card suits corresponds to their fanciful made-up ones.

The army-building mechanic is also pretty unique; players first generate a scenario, then hire their Crew using an agreed-upon number of ''soulstones'' (totally not [[Deadlands | ghost rock]] guys![Don’t they do entirely different things?]) that set the level of the encounter. Each crew needs to be lead by a ''Master'', which gives a few extra soulstones for use and dictates the faction of the Crew. When you're starting, this doesn't really matter, as you'll use the same Crew for everything, but in tournaments, all you're required to do is point out your faction beforehand, only choosing your Master when you figure out what sort of mission you'll need to play. A typical game is 50SS in size, which is about the size of one of the starter boxes, plus one or two extra models.

Any soulstone not spent on hiring can be spent in-game by certain models to gain advantages on flips, generate new models, healing, etc. Certain Masters benefit from a large stash, and others demand that you fill the board with units before the game starts.

Victory is determined through pre-generated victory conditions. There's a big general one, but players can also take ''schemes'', which are like miniature objectives. They earn more victory points if they announce them beforehand, which possibilities ranging from getting the first kill to assassinating the opponent's Master to simply being a dick the whole game. There are also Master-specific schemes, some of which are retardedly difficult to pull off and others which practically occur automatically.

== Editions ==
===1st Edition===
Wyrd started Malifaux as a game to go with their misc model range. Originally just a way to get people to buy their models, the game took on a life of its own and became the main money maker for Wyrd (This is essentially the origin story of Warhammer Fantasy). This established the card mechanics, masters/minions, and soulstones that the game is known for.

===1.5 Edition===
Wyrd updated the system with 1.5 to help balance the game as well as include more and more models. This introduced new mechanics such as Henchmen and Avatars. Avatars were the powered up versions of Masters that could be brought into a game if certain criteria was met.
===2nd Edition===
Malifaux has completed the transition from 1.5 to 2nd edition, commonly named M2E. The first edition was know as a clunky mess of rules that was none the less loved by some parts of the fanbase, and 1.5th as the most up to date version of the 1st edition in general. This is also the time where all the newer people in the roster got in, like some of the Mercs and pretty much all of the Ten Thunders. At some point, Wyrd, the devs, though to give the game a new edition to keep up with [[Games Workshop|GWs]] [[Special:RecentChanges|recent]] failings, and began producing new and less convoluted rules for the game, among new plastic models. This edition should bring new players to the game and ease up play, generally making a reborn game with the best from the latest edition, the way new editions should be made. But Wyrd wasn't happy just redoing the rules. That wasn't barely enough for this new and bold attempt to get more people on the wagon. Redoing the rules wasn't enough at all. All models, as in, the ''entirety of their Malifaux range of models, was to be updated. '''At once,''''' [[Warmachine|Warma]][[Hordes]]-style.

This meant several things - First, they couldn't actually do them all at once, that would make the fanbase wait for months before they could play the game and was as such not profitable, so instead they split releases Wave one came out with the rules and a handful of masters for each faction. This meant that some were miffed their Master was neglected in favour of others, some to quit the game because of new rules and the slightly changed fluff and some again were unhappy they did all this in the first place. Basically, [[fun]] stuff.

Wave 2 came out and finished the roster of masters, with all of them set to be released by October 2015.

Wave 3 launched, introducing a new campaign system and campaign only Avatars, souped up versions of each master, and a small handful of models for each faction including the Emissaries whom give a specific buff to each master and can alter themselves to fit in with the masters tactics.

Wave 4 was released at GenCon 2016. It introduced 7 new masters, one for each faction, and additional upgrades to "fix" underpowered models. There was also new models that help shake up the meta.

In the end, with new shiny models, (slightly) simplified rules Malifaux is now a game that's not just for reserved fans - It's for new dudes as well, and is currently recruiting at [[FLGS]] næar you!

===3rd Edition===
On July 25th 2018 Wyrd announced a new 3rd edition of Malifaux. The main highlights was to further streamline the game, narrow which models can be taken with certain masters (even in-faction, although some cross-faction hires are opened up), allow multiple masters in a crew, and they killed off popular Masters (Nicodem, Collodi, Ramos and Lilith) keeping them around as "Dead Man's Hand", legacy versions of the characters. These masters are now "half in half out" in game terms, as they are fully legal and balanced relative to everything else, but not tournament legal. Other masters have become Dual Faction, some masters which were Dual faction before are now only mono-faction. It also introduced a new faction that has yet to be fully released in the Explorer's Society, but is present on the McCabe and Cornelius box sets and mentioned in a few different places in the fluff.

Gameplay Changes:
*Masters have a soulstone cost and more than one can be taken, only one Master can be leader.
*Crews still built from models within a Faction, however you pay a tax if you purchase models that don't match your Leader's keyword. Hiring crews is Keyword based only, no more conditions like being able to hire all models with low WP or that are construct/undead.
*The Vantage Point rule from 2nd Edition has been replaced with Shadows, where a building/terrain feature has a radius that grants cover. Causes problems with structures higher than HT3 having giant areas of open terrain where models are "in cover".
**Additionally there was an overhaul of the terrain rules to account for entering buildings and other situations that caused problems in M2e.
*Conditions have been streamlined into a universal list to avoid multiple conditions with the same effect.
* Markers have been streamlined to 4 types Strategy, Scheme, Corpse, and Scrap.
* Tokens are a new feature that kind of act like conditions, but can't be removed. Usually they are given to models to trigger buffs or debuffs.

Model Changes:
*Guild:
**Hoffman is now dual faction Guild and Arcanists.
**Dashel was upgraded from Henchman to Master.
**McMourning left for Rezzers.
**McCabe left for Ten Thunders and the Explorer's Society.
**New Master Cornelius Basse arrived.
*Arcanists:
**Hoffman is now dual faction Guild and Arcanists.
**Marcus is now dual faction Arcanists and Neverborn.
**Ramos is now Dead Man's Hand.
*Bayou (formerly Gremlins):
**Captain Zipp is now dual faction Gremlins and Outcast.
**The Brewmaster is no longer dual faction Ten Thunders.
*Neverborn
**Marcus is now dual faction Arcanists and Neverborn.
**Lilith is now Dead Man's Hand.
**Nekima is upgraded from Henchman to Master.
**Collodi is now Dead Man's Hand.
**New Master Euripides arrived.
*Outcast:
**Jack Daw is now dual faction Outcasts and Rezzers.
**Captain Zipp is now dual faction Gremlins and Outcast.
**Tara is no longer dual faction Rezzers, now mono-Outcast.
**Misaki is no longer dual faction Outcasts, now mono-Thunders.
*Resurrectionists:
**Nicodem is now Dead Man's Hand.
**McMourning is Rezzers only.
*Ten Thunders:
**Misaki is no longer dual faction Outcasts.
**New Master Youko Hamasaki arrived.
**Lucas McCabe is no longer dual faction Guild.
**Brewmaster is no longer dual faction Ten Thunders, now mono-Bayou.
**Jakob Lynch is no longer dual faction Neverborn.

== Models ==
===1st Edition===
[[File:Rasputina box.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Compare...]]

The metal models of 1st Edition Malifaux weren't bad, honestly. They were mostly sturdy, had pronounced features, which made them easy to paint. The problems they suffered from overshadowed those nice points by miles, though - Though nothing was really wrong with the models technically, they suffered from what many other first edition models often do - To make the model easy to recognize and to bait people to play the game, all models looked the same, while having no sense of unity or unique flair (Umm, what? The 1st ed models have way more personality and flair than the poorly rendered and flat plastic sculpts).

[[File:WYR20303a 81731.1375408993.1200.1200.jpg|right|thumb|350px|... And contrast.]]

When you want to make new, memorable models for a range, your models must speak volumes of the setting, because the models are what most people see first when they get interested in a game. That's why [[40K]] make the models stand out through easily definable models (There's a lot of races in this game, something for anyone!), because we know a lot by just seeing the model painted. Malifaux, on the other hand, didn't do this at all. The universe is an alternate victorian era, with steampunk, wild west and supernatural horror elements, with focus on the later. The models didn't convey this at all - The models were strangely [[Weeaboo|anime-esque]] in models and ''especially'' artwork. [[PROMOTIONS|Female models had big boobs, long and full hair, slender bodies and were modeled in a distinct sexually way, thrusting their butt out or showing boobage]], while male models were either forgettable or cloaked in brown cloth. Now, sure, this isn't necessarily distinctly [[anime]], but the way the models were presented, it didn't give us any idea of the universe it all took place in at all - [[Infinity]] wrote the book on [[Weeaboo|anime-esque]] models and makes all models like that on purpose, simply because it's a part of the concept, but Malifaux did it because it's easy. They even had "Avatar" models where the women are even more sexualized and the men even burlier, like they are trying to be fucking [[Anime|Kill la Kill]].

===2nd Edition===
The M2e models are ''nothing'' like that. Though they still retain some modes with less than average amount of clothes on their body, the models are distinctly more human and realistic. Models like Lady Justice who just stood there to show long, flowing hair, big bosoms and slender legs, she now has a body looking more like the badass teenager Batman she is, and is standing like a warrior ready to strike too, while the formerly pretty revealing Rasputina now looks like the powerful yet reserved frost mage she was supposed to be from the start. On top of that, the artstyle has gone a lot darker and more horror, Lovecraft-inspired, which is also reflected in the models - Some of the newer models are absolutely horribly looking, in a good way, and a good paintjob will make them absolutely disgusting.

Arguably some of the better sculpted models in the industry (Games workshop ain't got shit). They're all in plastic as well, and come in about one million pieces per mini.
Oh yeah.

===3rd Edition===
Not much has changed with the models, but Wyrd has learned their lesson from M2e and a lot of the newer models have fewer tiny bits. Additionally there is update to models whose boxes were notorious for having small fiddly bits that got lost in the carpet.

== The Factions ==
Because all games need different, "morally distinct" factions, Malifaux has <strike>five</strike> <strike>six</strike> <strike>seven</strike> eight now <strike>but the new one is weird</strike> <strike>because the new one isn't a real faction</strike> (Ten Thunders is a real faction now). All of them have different play-styles, with the different Masters providing further diversity. There are also Henchmen, characters that can serve as part of a crew like normal, or lead a special crew of their own.

Thematically, the different factions oppose each other mostly at surface value; each Master and Henchman has their own loyalties, and they're rarely just what their faction wants, unless they flat-out lead that faction. Examples could be Molly Squidpidgeon, a Resurrectionist Master, and the only Undead one. She must be all for Resurrectionists then, right? Nah, she just want to let the Undead have equal rights to humans, and stop humans (including Resurrectionists) from stealing the night from the dead. Another example would be Jacob Lynch, who looks like a puppet for the Neverborn, but actually just want to be free of their influence and flee the place before he gets hurt. Their faction only decides what models they can call upon, and sometimes not even that; just as often, some Masters can get models not from their faction. Dr. Hoffman, a Guild Master, is a Construct Master, and can buy a lot of Arcanist Constructs, for example.

=== The Guild ===
For the cowboy lover in all of us. Primarily a direct-damage/shooty type army full of cowboys and 'upstanding' citizens. Strongest M3e faction because of their absolute superiority when it comes to shooting alongside absolutely retarded terrain rules that can lead to nearly empty boards. The box sets for them are fairly solid, with Perdita Ortega's being completely playable for a newbie who has never played a game before. Guild also has some of the highest damaging models in the game.

They're fluffed as the big all-controlling group that manages everything in the game setting, accomplishing this through the twin fists of bureaucracy and shooting you in the fucking face. Kind of like the US government. Typically the Guild is the oppressive authoritarian government whereas many of its masters; Hoffman, Lady Justice, and Perdita; are depicted as Good Guys. While Nellie, Sonnia, and Dashel are depicted as Neutral. And Lucius is depicted as Lawful Evil. Basse hasn't had much screen time yet.

==== Masters ====
* '''Perdita Ortega:''' Crazy-ass Gun-slinger chick. She leads the Ortega clan who are basically Mexican cowboys, each with a ridiculous pair of balls. The Perdita and the Ortegas are the Anti-Neverborn crew. In M3e, they like to give out extra actions to Family models and also get a free push towards the enemy when they take Concentrate actions. Keyword: Family. Title: Neverborn Hunter.
* '''Lady Justice:''' Crazy blind chick with an epic sword and fighting skills. Bordering on weeaboo, but not really, due to being a cowgirl leading Ghostrider-esq anti-necromancer cowboys to hunt down Resurrectionists. Despite being the necrophiliac rape train of the Guild, she is pretty damn scary to face with other factions as she can run a stall-their-crew-while-I-assassinate-their-heavy-hitters-one-at-a-time play that pisses off everyone who hasn't foreseen this shit happening. One of the strongest melee models in the game. Her crew likes to Bury enemies and get extra bonuses against Undead models. Keyword: Marshal. Title: Death-Touched.
* '''Sonnia Criid:''' Crazy magic chick, actually she's not that crazy, but pretty scary to face. In the lore, she is dubbed the Anti-Arcanist Master, but on the table-top she can pretty much obliterate any caster. Unlike the two other chicks that concentrate on murdering a single model per turn, her damage output is based on the ability to dish devastating fire blasts that damage multiple targets at once. In M2e, she was the most overpowered master in the game as she could shot her own models to blast damage onto the enemy. In M3e, they removed her ability to blast off of allies, but she's still passes out Burning and blasts, while at the same time summoning Witchling models. Keyword: Witch Hunter. Likes the Witchling Keyword as well. Title: - .
* '''Charles Hoffman:''' The first male Master for The Guild. Basically is a force multiplier Construct master, but he just superpowers an existing one rather than making them in the battle. Had a brother who went utterly insane after crossing the breach, he became a cyborg and has like a .50 cal chaingun for one arm and a powerfist on the other. In M3e, Hoffman likes to give his heavily armored construct based crew Power Tokens to boost their attacks and get triggers. Keyword: Augmented. Title: Inventor.
* '''Lucius Mattheson:''' This guy is a massive douche wearing a mask (and may literally be the Devil, but that's not confirmed). He hands out commands to your other models. Essentially a Synergies and Tricks based leader in a faction known for shooting. In the fluff he is slowly seeping power away from the Governor and consolidating a strong powerbase within the Guild, because he's rules lawyering dick. But in M3e the new Governor is calling him out on his shit and pushing him out of the inner circle. His special forces are Lawyers. Became a master in 2E. In M3e his tricks are mostly giving out extra actions to his Minions, Elite, or Mimic models (So not just restricted to minions). Also, he's a Neverborn and is dual-faction with them. Spoiler alert. Keywords: Elite and Mimic. Title: Dishonorable.
* '''Nellie Cochrane:''' The Editor and Chief of the Daily Tattler. Fluffwise she is an annoying know it all who makes up fake words to sound smarter. Her big secret is she lied to her Henchman to get her to fight for the Guild against MS&U. In M3e she likes to give conditions to debuff the enemy and control scheme markers. Keyword Journalist. Title: Voice of Disorder.
* '''Dashel Barker:''' Formerly Lucius' henchman, this guild guard captain has been promoted for his efforts in defeating the evil puppet Collodi. Now a master in 3rd edition and commander of the guard on Malifaux. Dashel works best with guardsmen he can buff and now we have a summoning master. This crew will eat corpses for soulstones and fight better against models that have already activated. Focus for everyone. Keyword: Guard. Title: Butcher.
* '''Cornelius Basse:''' A new master for 3rd edition and dual faction with The Explorer's Society. With the ability to deploy further expect this crew to be in your face turn 1. They tend to have powerful pulls and picked up some great guard models. No non sense frontier lawman with his crew focusing on deploying outside of the normal range and Basse focuses on punishing his foes, whether through his innate damage potential, or from repositioning them through the shifting terrain of the Malifaux landscape. Keyword: Frontier. Title: Badlands Sheriff.

=== Resurrectionists ===
The obligatory undead-filled faction. Focuses on some trick-based gameplay, with certain Masters flooding the board with ridiculous numbers of generated monsters and debuffing enemy units. Also everyone can be a summoner. Truly ridiculous in the hands of a good player, but certain machine-based armies can shut them the fuck down by generating very few corpse counters (the creepy fuel that drives their engines). To play properly, expect to buy a lot of zombie dogs, especially if you're running McMourning. Notable for containing their first true [[weeaboo]] faction in the form of Kirai, their resident Japanese rip-off ghost who manages to not suck.

Fluffed as a bunch of lunatics running around, reviving corpses to eventually overthrow the Guild. Also entertaining because it's the faction most people point out when looking at the game, as it contains both zombie hookers and their Jack the Ripper rip-off, along with his own rip-off, giving you three more layers of rip than you'd want.

==== Masters ====
[[Image:Nicodem-Alt.jpg|thumb|left|250px|You can officially use [https://www.wyrd-games.net/plastic-build-instructions/2016/12/2/nicodem Morticia Adams] as Nicodem]]

* '''Seamus:''' The common child of Jack the Ripper and the Mad Hatter. Has like the period equivalent to a Desert Eagle and despite being an absolute pussy in combat has a melee attack with his bag of tools that can one-hit kill any model in the game! which is just about the only thing stopping him from getting charged by every five year old with an inflatable hammer. Plays more towards strategic deployment and luring with his zombie-whores to setup executions with his pistol. His hand cannon gun, can fire in spurts, if he shoots ya, it's gonna hurt. Keyword: Redchapel. Title: Aka Sebastian Baker.
[[Image:Malifaux-seamusgang.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Necrophilia? [[Slaanesh]] would be pleased]]
* '''Dr. McMourning:''' Officially he is The Guild's coroner, but also doubles as a player in the Resurrectionist underground. In reality he's a Frankenstein rip, his assistance is probably the only real success that he had with his attempts. Plays very aggressively, will butcher in melee and likes to swarm with stitched up dog things. Will use poison to damage his enemies and have them turn into undead abominations. Is the powerhouse combat guy for the Ressers and can often pull surprise rampages by initially playing passively until a gap appears to exploit. As of 3rd edition he has left the guild to be pure Resurrectionist. Keyword: Experimental. Title: Insanitary.
* '''Kirai Ankoku:''' Asian ghost chick. Uses ghosts unlike most of the Resurrectionists who are at the Zombie fans table. Plays very support-type role, absolutely fucked if she gets too close to melee monsters like Lord Chompy Bits or left exposed against the Ortegas. Otherwise Kirai was the only tournament viable master until Ten Thunders because she had a mobile crew and a lot of utility options, allowing her to play the objective game when in a bad match up. In Brawls (2-3 Masters per side) she is always the default option because it doesn't force you to split corpse tokens between Necromancers and she can pretty much do everything else the faction can't do. Keyword: Urami. Title: Envoy of the Court (?).
* '''Molly Squidpiddge<strike>on</strike>:''' An undead investigative journalist chick in a relationship with Seamus that mirrors that of the Joker and Harley Quinn. Her summoning mechanic is based around damaging the opponent to summon more undead, as opposed to summoning off of corpse markers. Keyword: Forgotten. Title: Chaotic Conductor.
*'''Reva Cortinas:''' A necromancer who basically acts like a Mother Teresa to zombies in addition to poor people. In game, she has very short ranged, high damage spells, but she can cast them through corpse counters and models that count as corpse counters. She's also on a horse so she's pretty mobile. Most of the models she tends to use come back after dying, with some bonuses. Keyword: Revenant. Title: Luminary.
*'''Prof. Von Schtook:''' What is with professors going crazy? Another professor, this time he went insane after being unable to study the stars in Malifaux. The man behind The University of Transmortis and buffer of the iron zombies. He can turn off triggers but does not summon. Instead can give out an upgrade to help a model summon. Keyword: Transmortis. Stargazer.
*'''Jack Daw:''' The man hanging on the tree. Started off in 1st edition as a minion. He and his crew focus on giving out Curse upgrades to better their abilities against enemies. Dual faction with Outcasts. Keyword: Tormented. Title: Ensouled.
*'''Yan Lo:''' A guy that died once but his spirit was strong enough to come back. Poor Yan Lo got beat by a strong oni and so he seeks revenge against Lingxuzi. He works with the spirits of his descendants. Dual faction with Ten Thunders. Keyword: Ancestor and Retainer. Title: The Spirit Walker.

=== Arcanists ===
Trick-based faction, they rely on synergy, buffs, and some direct-damage spells to fuck people up. Generally not too forgiving for newer players, but able to really hold their own with a competent player. Get some cool units, including the ever-popular steampunk spider we learned to love from Wild, Wild West. Options for a Will Smith-based Master are not included yet; right now, all you've got are a steampunk scientist, a dude who likes animals way too much, a frozen bitch, or a scantily-clad gold-digger showgirl. Expect games with them to take a while, as they are absolutely stupid with incredibly long combos and effect chains, with the worst offenders being the Showgirls, whose movement tricks are incredibly frustrating.

They fill the function of the secret society working to overthrow the power of the Guild and freeing magic, all while smuggling the shit out of things. Notable for controlling the Miners and Steamfitters' Union, which means they get all the neat steampunk toys along with some burly miners.

==== Masters ====

* '''Rasputina:''' Russian girl who got stuck with being the chosen of the cult of an angry alien God of Winter. Squishy wizard who is probably the worst of all the masters in raw stats, except that she can cast well, specifically a fuck-you area-bomb she can drop multiple times a turn. She won't kill a model in one turn, just that in two turns she will combo her spell and knock all your crew to an ass-hair's width from death. Has Ice golems which shatter on death making them very difficult to deal with while she's throwing her blizzard spell around. Best mage archetype in the game and ok for a first master for people familiar with playing skirmish games. Keyword: December. Title: Abominable.
* '''Marcus:''' Probably insane, is a Druid, but not the game breaking D&D 3.5 kind, he came to Malifaux to study the nature there, but become invigorated by the magics in the air and became George of the Jungle, Old Black Guy Version(r). Generally is liked and sort of balanced, but is way underpowered in general and in the meta sits he way down at the bottom. No idea why he's with the Arcanists as all available data tells us he loves animals too much to care about humans. His crew are mostly beasts and work best as a hit-and-run strategy, except anything that can do the kind of damage needed is too slow to keep pace with him. 2E finally gives us some backstory, him being a college professor and an incredibly old fuck, older than Ramos, that went into the woods and fucked a bear or something, and gained beast magic, and regaining youth. Otherwise, essentially the same lore-wise. Keyword: Chimera. Title: Alpha.
* '''Colette Du Bois:''' Runs weird doll showgirls, can swap places like a puppeteer kind of character (but not THE actual puppeteer; Collodi), can setup interesting strategies and tactics with her maneuverability. Visually her crew looks like Seamus, but with store dummies instead of dead hookers. Has some really good tactical tricks but is fucked if they let a combat heavy model get an opening before she can pull a fast one to get out. Keyword: Performer. Title: Smuggler.
*'''Kaeris:''' One of the better Henchmen choices and more competitive than Marcus, Kaeris is like that girl from Firestarter or Carrie, only with mechanical wings and strong Union movement connections. She works for Ramos by doing sabotage and black ops stuff for the union. Makes very good use of models with Flame abilities, which allows her to put out higher than expected damage. Good crew selection too, can play very good ranged combat which applies fire. Her special forces are the M & SU Assets division, basically mining and heavy industry stuff with some odd Arcanist shit in the mix because blue collar wizardry steampunk right? Becomes a master in 2E. Keyword: Wildfire. Title: Reborn.
*'''Toni Ironsides:''' Ramos's strong arm when dealing with rogue arcanists and the gal to go rouse up the people when the Guild becomes to comfortable with their leather chairs and twirled mustaches. She is a close quarters combat master who have little to no magic besides the Adrenaline condition, which she builds up by, well, doing what she does best. Which is to charge anything that doesn't look like Lord Chompy Bits or Lady Justice and go to town. Plays like a combination of Mah Tucket and Ramos, without either one's special abilities, but with their higher stats and an uppercut from hell. Has betrayed Ramos in the fluff and is now the head of the miners and steamfitters union. In 3rd edition she plays like a lightning bruiser capable of high damage output and can be very durable due to the unionized ability that gives her extra defensive capabilities. Nowadays her crews are mainly bubble like using all the unionized models to form a human chain that can stop and flank opponents. Keyword: M&SU. Title: Union President.
*'''Sandeep Desai:''' An Indian man who is an expert gamin summoner and teacher. His crew is based around summoning gamin models as well as supporting other spellcasters. Used to be the most OP master in the game in 2nd edition. Nowadays he is capable of combining gamins to make golems. Also his main mechanic is academic which gives a bonus to models that focus within range of Sandeep. Keyword: Academic and Elemental. Title: Font of Magic.
* '''Charles Hoffman:''' The first male Master for The Guild. Basically is a force multiplier Construct master, but he just superpowers an existing one rather than making them in the battle. Had a brother who went utterly insane after crossing the breach, he became a cyborg and has like a .50 cal chaingun for one arm and a powerfist on the other. In M3e, Hoffman likes to give his heavily armored construct based crew Power Tokens to boost their attacks and get triggers. Keyword: Augmented. Title: Inventor.
* '''Mei Feng:''' She runs The Foundry, a division of M&SU responsible for construction of Malifaux' railway system. Mei used to train under Sandeep's tutelage, but her impatience and innate resistance to authority forced her to quit the lessons. She's not capable of summoning anything bigger than a Forgeling. Even that is accomplished more by intuition than expertise. Although not a skilled summoner, Mei Feng became a master of metal bending, creating gamin and golems for M&SU heavy duty operations as well as Arcanist's numerous missions. Her playstyle revolves around mobility via Ride The Rails ability, which means that scrap markers are more than useful. Keyword: Foundry. Title: Foreman.

=== Neverborn ===
Glass-cannon beatdown forces. They can put out incredible levels of hurt, but can also die quickly. Very straightforward with some Masters, while others take a bit of getting used to, then completely shut down the game for your opponent. Topping the meta with Guild right now, as they seem to get all the best units, and do horrible things to your opponent. Their masters basically benefit from alpha striking everything in, shredding the opponent, and then calling it a game, because they've won, baby.

Fluffed as the original inhabitants of the hellish plane that the storyline takes place on, they just want to eat souls and kill the humans who invaded.

==== Masters ====
[[Image:Malifaux1sted.jpg|thumb|250px|1st edition box art. Looks aimed straight at a [[/d/|certain type of group]].]]
* '''Pandora:''' As in Pandora's Box. Basically her plan is to get you punched by your opponent. Forces willpower duels, a lot of willpower duels. Gets annoying buffs/debuffs every time an opponent fails in addition to whatever punishment failing the duel causes. She basically can sit in a bullet-proof port-a-loo in the middle of the table and make anyone her bitch. Has creepy children as her best friends. Neverborn are like that. Keyword Woe.
* '''Zoraida:''' Fugly Voodoo Witch. Has awesome as control play, probably the best master in the game to do it with. Honestly only downside is horrible as a hellhole of a face. Is like Tzeentch's Southern cousin with a face like Nurgle. Pretty much claims to be behind everything, which is probably true because no one wants that face in front of them. Can take anything with a willpower stat of 4 or less, which gives her an incredibly diverse selection for her crew, which is good because her starter box is retarded in terms of viability, you will just buy her model and her Voodoo doll totem which is not included in the box and then whatever cheesey combo of models you want. Honestly her starter box is almost Marcus level bad except Zoraida can still piss all over your opponent with her control abilities and her evasive raven form. Her "avatar" form is her as a hot chick, because God forbid the good folks at Wyrd put one lady character into their game you wouldn't want to fuck. Keyword Swampfiend.
* '''The Dreamer & Lord Chompy Bits:''' A young boy psychic on Earth day dreams. In Malifaux an ungodly monster in the shape of that boy terrorizes everyone. The King of the Demons wanted to possess the kid and basically wreak untold havoc on Earth... the kid enslaved him and called him Lord Chompy Bits. Until a massive nerfing that affected his crew's core mechanics and himself, this guy was borderline unbeatable, he starts as a little kid, but can zoom around, and if he's killed or if his controller decides to "bury" him Lord Chompy Bits comes out, or The Dreamer can drop his whole crew on whoever the poor bastard he's standing next too, and then pick them up before they get shot up. Lord Chompy Bits is in the top 3 heaviest hitting melee beast in the game, isn't the toughest, but anything within range of the Dreamer and by extension him is already dead. Seriously this little boy and his demon king nearly broke the game, being able to threaten the whole battlefield from turn 1. Keyword Nightmare.
*'''Titania:''' One of the original Neverborn, but undead. Queen of the Fae. Her strategy revolves around spreading terrain around the board that her crew ignores. Her totem can sacrifice itself to summon back a model that was killed during the game. Keyword Fae.
*'''Nekima:''' Promoted to master by throwing her sister Lilith into the prison that used to hold Titania. Has a big sword, likes black blood models and hates humans. Keyword Nephilim.
*'''Euripides:''' With Titania coming back from the mountain other creatures have come out of the shadows and mountains. A new master that Titania defeated and put into service for her cause. This guy likes a big crew and putting up ice pillars. Keyword Savage.
*'''Lucius:'''
*'''Marcus:'''

=== Outcasts ===
Basically, everybody else. Most of them start with no soulstone cache, but make up for it in their own special way. Masters can have ridiculous learning curves; Leviticus basically benefits by the player learning how to kill himself. Other Masters have similar tricks, and can do horrible things.

Fluff-wise, they're all over the place.

==== Masters ====
[[File:Malifaux-viktorias.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Femmes fatales]]
* '''Leveticus:''' The Cancer that is killing Malifaux is his title, but only in the game's setting though. Necro-steampunk zen guy. Everyone nearing civilized uses him as their fence for exotic/magic shit, while looking the other way regarding a rotating cast of dead-eyed women in skimpy dress always around him. In reality he's animating young women's corpses as puppets and when he dies he inhabits one of them which mutates back into his own form (its implied the rumors about those women are darker than the reality, and that he's unhappy he doesn't stay in their form) although he has also kidnapped a young orphan girl named Marlena which may imply even more dark things about him. Basically, he will die. Repeatedly. It makes him one of the hardest masters to beat and to learn. Plays the most balls out offense game, even against alpha strike Neverborn. Used to have crazy damage (had 0-1-12 damage on his fist in 1.5) but now he has consistent hurt. His keyword He can also summon a pretty powerful Desolation Engine from his Steampunk Abominations that he made out of the mangled remains of your crew/his crew. His crew used to be huge (pariah of bone or iron), but with 3rd cutting back. The best choices are unique shit as bizarre and prone to loop dying as he is. Ergo assassination is not as hard to now since he can no longer constantly respawn; waifs have been caped at 2 now.Being the first to play him in a local meta will net you a lot of easy wins because he has very little in common with anything else in the game. Keyword Amalgam.
* '''The Viktorias:''' Basically Viktoria went on an adventure in hellish plane of Malifaux, met a doppelganger and they became friends. You get two for one here. One has a pistol the other one has [[katana]] and will [[Rip and tear|cleave shit up all over the place]]. Twin shenanigans and the like. Their crew is basically a bunch of punk-goth chicks out for a fun night out on the town. [[Katanas are Underpowered in d20|WITH FUCKING KATANAS]]. While tricky to learn and play, the Viks have some amazing synergies, allowing them to slingshot each other across the board and slice even the toughest foe to ribbons in a single turn. They're so fast it's not even funny. Keyword Mercenary.
* '''Hamelin The Plagued:''' Basically one big homage to the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Hamelin was originally a rat-catcher sewer dweller, but now he's trying to conquer Malifaux. He has lots of rats. Like more than in Mexico City, New York and Hong Kong combined. Neverborn have the advantage of being able to attempt to alpha strike him and then trying to keep their casualties from causing a draw or one of those out of nowhere losses, this works like none of the time. Keyword Plague.
*'''Von Schill:''' Badass German merc, leads the Freikorps, which are a PMC of Badass German mercs. Good choice for people starting Malifaux and don't know what to play, as his crew is generic but solid out of the box, while he himself is the good looking god of death jumping across walls and houses. Also he looks like Hul***REDACTED*** Now has some artificial limbs and is building Outer Heave- Freiholt now that the new governor has banned mercenaries. Keyword Freikorps.
*'''Tara:''' Former dual faction Ressurectionist, Tara is an undead bitch that doesn't give a fuck about anything. She got Shot Through the Heart (and the Guild's to blame), went into a plane of literal nothingness where another chick was too late to bring her back to life, but she made her undead and arguably even more badass than before. Although somewhat underpowered when compared to other masters, she has the super-power of being able to ACTIVATE TWICE IN EVERY TURN. Her crew are a bunch of creepy-crawlies that she brought back with her from the void. Her main gimmick is somewhat counter-intuitive - giving the enemy Fast is not really something you'd normally do... But Tara does it and makes it work surprisingly well. Also, she's a mean bury-er. Keyword Obliteration.
*'''Jack Daw:''' Tormented ghost of a hanged man who somehow isn't Ressers. He and his crew are quite slow but have a lot of movement tricks such as teleporting, but their main focus is cursing the opponent's lynchpin models with some random but deadly curses. One of which can just straight up kill certain models unless they pay a hefty resource tax. Jack can also pull cursed models out of position and damage them by ripping the curses off them and moving the curse to something else. Works well with Tormented-type models like the Guilty, the Drowned and the Hanged, which all get different buffs when attacking cursed models. Quite difficult to get the hang of, but fun. Has one of the best lines in the fluff: ''Jack now wanders Malifaux, looking for a woman he does not recognize in order to avenge a crime he cannot remember.'' Now dual faction with Ressurectionist. Keyword Tormented.
*'''Parker Barrows:''' A bandit that is known for robbing banks, trains, etc... Classic outlaw from the law. His crew is based around scheme marker manipulation. Keyword Bandit.
*'''Captain Zipp:''' It was only a matter of time before a Gremlin got his hands on something powerful and keep all his fingers. After getting his hands on an experimental skyship, a jetpack, a laser gun and he decided to gather a crew to get robbing. Dual faction with Bayou. Keyword Infamous.

===Ten Thunders===
An ancient ninja clan that has left the 3 Kingdoms (<s>Which is China with lots of traditionalist poor people and well armed rich people instead of the game's normal 1870s aesthetic, but fuck logic right, its ninjas?</s> The Three Kingdoms are China, Japan and Vietnam fused together in an empire) to form a powerbase inside Malifaux. They have a lot of Dual-Faction models which represents the clan infiltrating the 6 other factions, including somehow convincing the Neverborn to not eviscerate and soul rape them. This means that they are only 60% Weaboos, and 40% whisky drinking hardmen. This is mostly because of how each main faction already has a suit assigned to it, and Outcasts are a mess across the whole board, so instead each master is dependant on the suits associated with their other faction. The exception is their leader who is not dual faction and works like an outcast Master. '''M3E:''' Rather than 'lurk in the shadows' they've started kicking ass and taking names. Most of their dual faction masters have declared for Ten Thunders, and now Malifaux is aware of their existence.
====Masters====
*'''Misaki; Mistress of the Ten Thunders:''' The Ten Thunders ninja assassin master, very combat, 1 v 1 focused, does incredibly amounts of damage in melee, on par with Lord Chompy Bits. Some crew support, but being able to take Ten Thunders crew members means she has a reliable crew. Misaki has been very busy. Misaki is now the Oyabun and in full control of the Ten Thunders faction. Killed her father, the Oyabun, in a duel with one strike. Keyword Last Blossom.
*'''Lucas McCabe:''' Former dual-Guild Master, mounted and has access to sets of relics that let him slow or paralyze models. After being fired from the Guild he's found new employment with the Explorers Society. His unique mechanics is being able to give away relics. Definitely not Indiana Jones. Keyword Wastrels.
*'''Mei-Feng:''' Dual-Arcanist master, specialises in Metal and Earth, also uses a martial arts combo system so expect players running her crew to sing "EVERYBODY WAS KUNG-FU FIGHTING!!!" during her activations. Reeks of Avatar fandom weabooness, not CGI Furry Avatar, the badass 2 cartoons about Aang and Korra with the Terribad M.Nightshamalamadingdong live action movie. Her unique mechanic is her combo chain triggers that allow her to pull off her crazy kung fu. When she starts its going to hurt. Keyword Foundry.
*'''Jakob Lynch:''' <strike>Dual-Neverborn</strike> master, because the human chunk is in debt up to his eyeballs to the Chinese mob. Uses a status effect called Brilliance, its like a curse, radiation, a horrible disease, and crack cocaine, except the junkies have a lot more tentacles than humans should possess. His trick is to get Brilliance on everything and charge the Hungering Darkness out, which is stronger based on how many models have Brilliance and allows it to do a lot of damage to models with Brilliance. Lynch runs a club where the staff are either Neverborn Skinwalkers or humans possessed by Brilliance, which makes him the only Neverborn aligned thing to actually interact with humans in a method other than evisceration. Now only Ten Thunders affiliated due the Hungering Darkness getting scared of Titaina. His crew also contains the first prostitutes that aren't zombies, ghosts or mannequins, they're just possessed by Brilliance which they spread to clients, which means its probably also an STI... Keyword Honeypot.
*'''Yan Lo:''' Dual-Resurrectionist master. Undead necromancer who uses Ancestor spirits and can store them when they pass, gaining benefits for doing so, meaning if you massacre his crew he can be very hard to deal with, or he can resummon his heavy henchmans, because hey having an undo button is fun in tabletop games. Because he uses a specific type of spirit token, he works well with other Resurrectionists in Brawls, if you go with the rare 3 Master Brawl, he goes really well with the normal Kirai+anyone who does zombies setup. Also like Kirai he has utility functions. His unique mechanic is having 3 upgrades that he can gain over the course of a match by earning Chi points, allowing you to adapt him on the fly. Keyword Ancestor and Retainer.
*'''Shenlong:''' [[https://i.ibb.co/8cgRQLP/shenlong.jpg| Not this one]]. Some talented monk who saw a very bright sunset, went up into a temple on the top of a mountain and came back having become the sunset and being possessed by something only known as "The Dragon". Shenlong can change through conditions and is able to boost his abilities by gaining Chi tokens. Seems to be the leader of the clandestine invasion the Ten Thunders lead on Malifaux. Keyword Monk.
*'''Asami:''' Picture your worst hair day and then imagine what if it could eat people. This possessed lady can summon and power up Oni. Keyword Oni
*'''Youko Hamasaki:''' The manager of The Qi and Gong. She trades in secrets and flesh. Tricky master with a fondness for pass tokens and soulstones. Keyword Qi and Gong.

===<strike>Gremlins</strike>Bayou===
Take one part [[orks]], one part ''Deliverance'', one part hillbillies, and one part drunken game dev, and you've got the Gremlins. Creatures who were in Malifaux before humans, but somehow are redneck gobbos and not Neverborn. Not very smart on their own, but pretty good at copying things, and since humans are smart... Have a very casual attitude towards death, since so many things in the swamp are ready to kill them - even the pigs they rear for food and combat are capable of eating them whole. They spend the whole game blowing themselves up, accidentally shooting each other, and sending pigs flying at the opponent. Hilarious and workable, but they're absolutely fucked against a Hamelin list. General approach to battle is a horde of cheap, dumb gremlins supported by nastier swamp critters (mostly giant hogs, but also giant mosquitoes and giant gators).

Fun-fact; if you can handle the smooth-skinned no-nose look and slightly glowy solid-colored eyes, most of the female gremlin characters make pretty good [[monstergirls]]. About the only exceptions are Mah Tuckett (who is fat and old), Meris LaCroix (who is a fat gremlin chick strapped to a rocket) and The Little Lass (who is a loli). Definite points have to go to Trixiebelle, who is... well, ''stacked''. [[http://pullmyfinger.wikispaces.com/M2E+Trixiebelle See for yourself.]]

==== Masters ====
* '''Som'er Teeth Jones:''' The hillbilly gremlin master, manipulating and being manipulated by everyone but being fine with it since everyone from Ten Thunders to Zoraida is giving him an easy ride. His idiot son is supreme leader of Gremlins, meaning Som’er is leadsr so much as the term means anything to Gremlins. Its 40k [[Orks]] but in a different game system and modelled on rednecks instead of English football hooligans. One case of good blatant ripoff in Malifaux. Has very diverse list builds and not correctly guessing what he's taking is going to be difficult to deal with on the table, though he does have a slant towards the horde approach. He also possesses the most tricks to apply damage to models that bypasses defenses, armor, damage reduction etc, one of these methods is a fucking aoe fart nuke, like the worst fart you've had after a Vindaloo curry and few pints of lager. Naturally he has a crew build where this fart nuke is going to hit your crew 4-5 times a turn. Keyword Big Hat.
*'''Ophelia Lacroix:''' Basically Ophelia and her family cosplay as the Ortegas, only they're Gremlins so expect lulz. Is a [[Creed|Tactical Genius]] with educated human-tier intellect but no access to book-learning so it turned into a high WIS instead. Stockpiled weapons and trained her kin to be the most disciplined Gremlins can possibly be. Pissed that Som’er got his son elected head of all Gremlins instead of her. They have better shooting than normal gremlins and are tougher, but still like having numbers. Ophelia's special force is The Kin, basically her family, like the Ortegas, only really hillbilly. Got promoted from a Henchman to a Master when Gremlins got upgraded to full-factions status in 2. Keyword Kin.
*'''Ulix''': Old peg-legged gremlin who specialises in training, breeding and herding pigs. [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|pissed the youth are into newfangled human ways.]] Doesn’t care about any plots or subplots, and is happy to just sell his pigs. Naturally, if this guy is the boss, the force should be comprised mostly of pigs. Nasty pigs. Moves very slow, but can "ride" pigs and so get free move actions if he sticks close to them. Keyword Sooey and Pig.
*'''Mah Tucket''': Vicious, ugly old gremlin matriarch who beats peoples' heads in with a wooden spoon. Causes the most chaos to all other factions mainly with her daughters, and screwed over Ophelia on the leadership vote due to the Brewmaster’s trickery. She's the best melee combat master that gremlins have. Keyword Tricksy.
*'''Wong''': Crazy gremlin who essentially mugged Lo Pan from Big Trouble in Little China, and stole his clothes, which he uses to blow enemies up real good. Is [[Azhag the Slaughterer|being “controlled” by a magic McGuffin that wants him to summon it into the world]], which he’s content to stall and sabotage. Zaps enemies with lightning, explodes objectives, and can turn enemies into piglets. Playing Wong is all about letting Wong do half the killing; Wong doesn't synergies well with many models, so he will mostly run around melting any poor fuck dumb enough to stand near him, and doing half the work while his crew either supports him, distracts enemies, or plays the objective game. Tends to either win by a landslide or get slapped like a bitch and lose instantly. Keyword Wizz-Bang.
*'''Zipp:''' The only Insignificant Master and a sky pirate - leads a crew of gremlins riding metal skeeters, drops pianos on things, and carries Earl Burns (his totem and hostage) around to interact for him. Keyword Infamous.
*'''The Brewmaster:''' Now only Gremlins master. Raised by Ten Thunders as their agent, but went native. The main power directly controlling the Gremlins. Gets everybody drunk, which means if you're a Gremlin you become the hulk and if you're anything else you collapse into a puddle of vomit and shame. Has some permanently drunk buddies who reverse their modifiers: Any positives they get become negatives, and any negatives they get become positives. Makes for some bizarre play where the Brewmaster's crew intentionally gets themselves into the worse situations and comes out top. Has the power to induce drinking contests, which is nastier than you think, because while the enemy is chugging das boot, they can’t do anything else, essentially repeatedly wasting their turn as they poison themselves over and over. Keyword Tri-Chi.
*'''Zoraida:''' : Fugly Voodoo Witch. The first human in Malifaux, became a Neverborn. Manipulating all the factions to keep the Tyrants banished, but Titania showed up and is an unknown quality so her plans may all be bunk since people who were supposed to die lived and vice versa. Has awesome as control play, probably the best master in the game to do it with. Honestly only downside is horrible as a hellhole of a face. Is like Tzeentch's Southern cousin with a face like Nurgle. Pretty much claims to be behind everything, which is probably true because no one wants that face in front of them. Can take anything with a willpower stat of 4 or less, which gives her an incredibly diverse selection for her crew, which is good because her starter box is retarded in terms of viability, you will just buy her model and her Voodoo doll totem which is not included in the box and then whatever cheesey combo of models you want. Honestly her starter box is almost Marcus level bad except Zoraida can still piss all over your opponent with her control abilities and her evasive raven form. Her "avatar" form is her as a hot chick, because God forbid the good folks at Wyrd put one lady character into their game you wouldn't want to fuck. Keyword Swampfiend.

=== The Explorer's Society ===
The rules are out in the open on the app and the book has been out for a while. Check your favorite youtube or podcast. The group is like The League Of Incredible Gentlemen, a mix of powerful, weird and rich explorers.

*'''Lucas McCabe:''' Dual faction with Ten Thunders. Can pass out artifacts to give buffs like fast. When he gets killed on horse he pops off on foot. Keyword Wastrel.

*'''Cornelius Basse:''' Dual faction with Guild. Frontier cop brought in by the new governor to help out things. Likes to deploy outside of the normal limits. Keyword Frontier.

*'''Lord Cooper:''' The hunter in theme, think The Most Dangerous Game. Also has the Malisaurus Rex, A T-Rex hilariously over-sized on his base. Keyword Apex.

*''' Anya Lycarayen:''' A little first nations (her totem is a huge bird that puts out a lot of stun), Anya is the leader of Condor Rails. Some movement tricks and Winston Finnigan is here. Keyword Syndicate.

*''' Nexus :''' Spidermom. Summoning, upgrades to turn models friendly, and condition removal. A lot of working parts. Keyword Cadmus.

*''' English Ivan:''' A name that's been around since 1st edition. Some summoning, shadow markers. Spooky shadow monsters and secret agents oh my! Keyword DUA and Umbra.

*''' Jedza:''' A cursed to live eternally woman that spreads life and heals everywhere. Keyword Seeker.

*''' Maxine Agassiz:''' Maxine likes cards, her rule (and it pops up in the crew for certain cards) is choosing a suit each start phase. For her X card counts as 9, while the enemy counts as 1 in apposed duels. The deep sea explorer. Keyword EVS.

=== Dead Man's Hand ===
When M3e launched, a few masters were considered out of action for plot reasons:
* '''Ramos''': In jail.
* '''Lilith''': In exile.
* '''Colodi''': Dismembered by Dashel, Lucius.
* '''Nicodem''': Killed by Lady Justice.
====Arcanists====
* '''Ramos:''' Head of the Miner's and Steamfitter's Union which is like a normal union except when they go on strike they have steampunk spider centaur cyborgs on the picket-line. Is a construct Master and pretty much was the first of the kind, so he's pretty much middle of the road in that respect. Basically if you like steampunk, you're probably fapping to the box-art on his starter box. Is an absolute nightmare for Ressers due to the fact he won't have many living targets and unlike them he can recycle his constructs constantly, allowing him to play the attrition game against a zombie horde. Essentially killed off in 3rd edition (he's in jail Earthside), so not playable in normal tournament games.
====Rezzers====
* '''Nicodem:''' Basically an undertaker with a pet vulture. Can and will raise a ridiculous amount of zombies in the game, can create any kind of undead model. As a model he is actually really crap stat wise, just that he can win games with the huge ass horde of zombies. Tends to become a slow, defensive grind that breaks with attrition. Killed off in 3rd edition, not playable in normal tournament games. Keyword Mortuary.
====Neverborn====
* '''Lilith:''' Extremely aggressive bitch queen of rapid assault melee plays. Uses Nephilim to do her bidding, which are basically demonic looking thingies that everyone draws/sculpts for Nephilm, instead of the golden bald giants from the Bible. Can use Nephilim young who look like silly Japanese chibi versions of adult Nephilim. Was Queen of Alpha Strike until the master below turned up. Is infamous for her ability to ignore terrain like solid brick walls with her melee attack meaning she can freely wail on your master while they can't target her or even run away from their position because Lilith will get a free strike, this is fun as fuck to do. Essentially killed off in 3rd edition, not playable in normal tournament games. Keyword Nephilim.
*'''Collodi:''' An ancient living puppet that carves children into killer puppets. Has some amazing board control and mobility tricks, can convert everything around him into a killing machine for a turn with his buffs, allowing you to trade lower valued Dolls for more expensive enemies. Or he can sacrifice these dolls to gain some great buffs for himself. Out of the game and his fate is yet to be determined (he possibly could have killed Dashel with the help of Lucius and is wearing Dashel as a "meat puppet", for a second infiltration of Guild by NB). Keyword Puppet.

==Wikispace==
Malifaux has had a pretty neat [[https://pullmyfinger.wikispaces.com wikispace]] till it was closed. Today all the data can be found [[https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/1293024 here]].

==Bigger Hat==
A fairly nice [https://biggerhat.net page] containing all the stat cards, and supposedly all the upgrades. Not every searching word works 'tho, but most do.
Dead Man's Hand masters are not part of any faction now, so you have to search them individually.

== Tactics ==
*[[Malifaux/Tactics(M3e)|Malifaux/Tactics]]

==Gallery==
<Gallery>
File:Malifaux001.jpg
File:Malifaux002.jpg|Almost [[PROMOTIONS|promotions worthy]]
File:Malifaux-ladyjustice.jpg|Lady Justice. Clearly, her cleavage is what helps her see.
File:Ladyjusticegroup.jpg|Lady Justice and her troupe.
File:Ladyjustice3rde.jpg|LJ in 2nd edition. Lots of win instead of generic sexy.
File:Malifaux004.jpg|Rasputina looks cold. [[Female Fantasy Armor|May have something to do with not wearing any clothing while inside an ice monster]].
File:Seamus-malifaux.jpg|Seamus, a sick Jack the Rippoff fuck that resurrects the women he kills as his personal courtesans.
File:Malifaux Pandora.jpg|Wednesday Adams as a [[Loli|gothic lolita]].
File:Death marshals.JPG|These miniatures are undiluted [[awesome]].
File:Cothilljustice3rd.jpg|Looks like Lady Justice got the Captain Marvel treatment.
</Gallery>

==See Also==
* [[Through the Breach]], the roleplaying game set in the same universe as Malifaux.
* [[The Other Side]], the army sized wargame set in the same universe as Malifaux.
* [[Plast Craft Games]], who make the licensed scenery for Malifaux.
[[Category:Wargames]]
[[category:Skirmish-Level Wargames]]
[[category:Malifaux]]

List of Mary Sues

2023-05-08T07:27:36Z

2A02:908:238:F120:F54E:F1CB:6079:2D55: /* Works with more than too many of them */

{{flamewar}}
{{skubby}}
{{fail}}
{{Heresy}}

There are too many fucking [[Mary Sues]] in our games and fiction. We know it, and we love to complain about it, because it makes us feel a little better to call a spade a shovel. The original purpose of this list is to provide examples so the phenomenon can be studied, identified and - as a result of the latter - avoided.

(Note: please post Mary Sues in alphabetical order, so they don't fight about who's the better Mary-Sue. Also, this is about fictional characters, so while Canon Sues are acceptable, no real-life examples (even if there is such person named <s>Mary Sue AKA the Scientology founder's wife</s> I'm just adding that for fun). For the sake of peace, religious figures [and possibly mythological characters; particularly when they're from original mythologies] are real-life examples. Also, any characters added to the list without justifying reasons will be removed from this page. If you're going to add a race, please use the list below this one.

==Mary Sues Case Studies==
{{Plot Armour}}

* [[Alice]] from the in-name-only ''[[Resident Evil]]'' movies: A character created for the movies who started out as corporate spy, she has ever-growing superpowers and is <s>presented as</s> ENTIRELY invincible. She manages to become an even bigger Sue when she loses said superpowers yet continues to obliterate armies unscathed. The film refuses to even let other characters do anything but get rescued by her, she's worse than characters written by [[Matthew Ward]]. Later films even gave her clones to explain why she's still in the films. On top of all this, the bitch is played by the director's wife; she's his perfect Mary Sue waifu insert and she's literally sleeping with him to get the job. Don't forget that [[Katanas are Underpowered in d20|she dual-wields katanas]]. And shotguns. And probably Desert Eagles, too.

* Andrew "Ender" Wiggin from Orson Scott Card's Enderverse, and a blatant (almost comical to a serious reader) example at that. What's worse: he only becomes more of this as the story and the books progress. It's even worse in the 2013 movie. At least the books gave the other characters more depth, Ender's feats took more time to achieve, and it contained POV's outside of his.
** Ender's siblings Valentine and Peter. Ender's sister is a self righteous prig who is only overshadowed by their sociopathic brothers Peter. Peter himself is a mid-to-low functioning sociopath, [[What|but intelligent enough that, as a child, he comes up with sophisticated political philosophies that wow academic circles and get him appointed Political Leader of Earth as an adult. Despite the fact that a sociopath with absolute power would get tyrannical as soon as someone opposed them, he does no violence and dies with a benign, well-loved legacy]]. Yes, this really happens.

* [[Batman]] in an unskilled author's hands. He's a handsome human billionaire who's the pinnacle of human physical prowess and manages to defeat superpowered beings simply because "he had time to prepare" (with few thinking "why don't his opponents also use that time to prepare?"). On top of this he has LITERAL PLOT ARMOR; one of the DC editorial mandates is that Batman is not allowed to be truly defeated (he's usually too popular and has a presence in too much of the DC Universe to be allowed the downtime by editorial, unless it's part of a major storyline such as Knightfall). Because of this a certain tendency for Batman to turn into a Mary Sue is well documented (Read JLA: Act of God and weep; that story was all about starting the First Church of Batman. Or hell, check out the Dark Nights: Metal storyline, where a bunch of Evil Batmen who are variants on an existing superhero attack the DCU as opposed to, say, just doing a whole Evil Justice League like they have multiple times before). This problem becomes particularly acute when he takes down superpowered villains who usually bother other superpowered heroes, such as the Reverse Flash. On the non-Sue side, while Batman does have plot armor (nearly no one thinks to just shoot him when they get the chance and the few times they do he escapes, and he's never unexpectedly engaged by superhuman opponents who could easily beat him - like Darkseid), the same can be said for other non-superpowered heroes. Note, as well, that there are many ways of adding dramatic tension to such a foregone conclusion situation, and the above mandate only includes actual defeat, so Batman is allowed to fail and make mistakes in certain situations or the villain can escape to cause trouble even after their plan is thwarted, which also helps lessen the Bat-Sue Factor.
** Batman is at his worst when written by Frank Miller, who on top of the plot armor issues, writes Batman as a violent psychopath and anybody who calls him out is always presented as being in the wrong. Frequently other superheroes only exist in the story to be written as incompetent so Batman can be made to look better in comparison.

* [[Edgy|Billy Butcher from "The Boys"]] (comics and show, especially the comics) is a prime example of a Jerk Sue (An unsympathetic character nevertheless favored in the story, according to [[TVTropes|our frenemeies]]; "There's a difference between having a sympathetic backstory and actually being sympathetic"). Hating "supers" because one raped his wife and caused her death, Billy is half Punisher-knock-off, half self-insert mouthpiece for Garth Ennis hate boner against superpowers and religion - especially Christianity (it's no coincidence that Billy's a bitter atheist while the antagonist Homelander has a side job as a Christian Pastor and Starlight loses her Christian faith). Billy forms an anti-supers black ops team and works to help the protagonist Hughie get justice for his girlfriend’s death by superhero collateral damage. But Billy's reasons are selfish and he's also an edgelord (mean-spirited? check. violent? check. dark clothes? check. created by edgelord author? check. Revolves around attacking "The Man"? that's a big check!) who nearly turns on Hughie when Hughie starts dating the super defector Starlight, then continues the comics trend of nihilistic subversiveness. He has plot armor to put Batman to shame - even getting away with his dog urinating on a supervillain who's killed people for less - and supposedly has the moral high ground despite doing the same type of crimes as the villains. He then becomes a Villain Sue while trying to genocide supers, because Billy only loses in the end because he chooses to. Even when he loses he gets to die on his own terms by provoking Hughie into killing him so Billy doesn't get arrested and spend the rest of his life in prison while crippled, meaning that despite "losing" Billy effectivily still won. He’s also consistently never allowed to be wrong, as any time a character has something to say about Billy or his actions, he has something to throw back at them proving they’re actually wrong due to author fiat ensuring Billy only argues against strawmen. Finally, this story embodies the author's hatred of superheroes... but Billy himself has superpowers, making the entire premise hypocritical. Goes to show that edgelord Mary Sues are just as repellent as the sugary sweet ones.

* [[Furry|Brian Griffin]] from ''Family Guy'' at his worst. While he was generally depicted as the most sensible member of the Griffin household from practically the very beginning, this was balanced by his flaws (one of the most prominent being his drinking problem) and the fact that the show acknowledged that he could be annoying and/or an asshole. Later on, though, he became a mouthpiece for the showrunner Seth MacFarlane who was treated in-universe as being always right, with the only people who disagreed with him being strawmen who were obvious to the point of being cartoonishly over-the-top. Throw in the facts that Seth MacFarlane voices Brian, he uses his natural speaking voice to do so '''AND''' he often does this on hot-button topics... This was made all the more obnoxious by how flawed or downright ridiculous his logic often was (one of the most notorious examples being the widely-hated episode "Not All Dogs Go To Heaven", where he manages to convince a newly-fundamentalist Christian Meg that God doesn't exist because... she doesn't look as attractive as her mother Lois. Even worse, this was ''after'' the episode "I Dream of Jesus" where the Griffin family - Brian included - had Jesus Himself live with them for a week and do several miracles in front of them). This was somewhat addressed after Season 7, with following seasons often having other characters comment on the inherent absurdity of a talking dog lecturing people about politics (even though them actually challenging the views previously raised was a rare event). Quagmire even got a famous speech where he called out Brian for his self-righteousness and hypocrisy.

* Caius Ballad, the antagonist of ''Final Fantasy XIII-2''. Impractical overdesigned costume? Check. Impractical giant, overdesigned sword? Check. Purple hair? Check. Story-breaking powers? Check. Can't be beaten? Check. Openly called the most powerful ''Final Fantasy'' villain ever by his creator? Check. The only mitigating feature this fool has is that his English VA is Liam O'Brien.

* Darkseid from DC Comics is a rare case where people actually ''like'' someone for being a Sue. He wasn't one at the start of his career - Jack Kirby conceived him as a paper tiger who, for all his grandiose plans and ambitions, was only powerful if people feared him and could be beaten up by two street thugs who didn't know who he was, not anticipating that fans might prefer a villain who was really as intrinsically powerful as Darkseid claimed to be. He's strong and tough enough to go toe-to-toe with Superman, he has laser eyes that can do whatever he wants them to (including killing people instantly or bringing them back to life), he's a masterful schemer who knows all about setting up gambits where he wins no matter what and striking deals with easy ways around them he doesn't mention, most of his minions rival the Justice League in power and on top of all that he's the ruler of an entire planet that reliably goes to shit when he's not around to slap it into shape and sometimes a wide-reaching galactic empire. Despite all this Villain Sue-ness, any attempts to nerf him or bring him down to a more realistic villain level are met with widespread backlash and outrage, and his most celebrated storyline in recent comics history is Final Crisis, in which the heroes required a time-travelling, god-killing bullet to defeat him and he actually forced Batman to abandon his rule against killing. The message is clear: Darkseid is DC's ultimate villain (or close enough to that status that the number of people higher than him can be counted on a hand or two/ doesn't require literal divine intervention etc. to defeat and thus retaining a meaningful conflict) and the fans won't settle for anything less.
** There's a reason for this, by the way: Darkseid and his court neatly fill the archetypal niche of embodiments of "the fucked up things people do when you give them power", with, for example, Gods of Child Abuse and of Torture as two of his chief henchmen. Darkseid himself is the God of Tyranny. If you're going to have a hero who's about Hope and positive, creative or protective Aspirations (see: Superman, Flash, etc.), a villain who embodies the crushing of hope and negative, destructive Aspirations is incredibly useful. Making such a character a paper tiger can be made to work (see the Crimson King, under Special Cases), but is more often than not going to be unsatisfying, usually deeply so.

* Divis Mal from the RPG [[Aberrant]]. Oh, where to begin? Well, first of all on top of being the absolute, balls-out, most powerful Aberrant in the setting, ever, he's super smart, plans for everything, never loses ''no matter what the players do'', and has an ideology that can basically be described as "like Magneto, only ''right''. About ''everything.''" He's also in a loving relationship with a super-attractive partner who is ''also'' super-powerful, and his enemies are all stupid and happen to be straw-stuffed right-wing stereotypes because of course they are. He also serves as a thinly-veiled self-insert fanfic character for the lead game designer (a gay man with issues), and said designer once claimed that the title of the game referred to ''him specifically''. It was all the sequel game could do to take the piss out of all the problems he caused.

* Dr. Doom, depending on the writer. It doesn't help that he's a genius and self-made <s>tycoon</s> monarch with a tragic past, who keeps getting his deaths, defeats, failures and embarassing moments retconned as body doubles (naming the infamous "Actually a Doombot" trope). Worst case scenarios are when he's written by somebody that forgets that he's a VILLAIN and depicts his rule over Latveria as unrealistically benign, and makes it look like the superheroes are wrong for trying to keep him from taking over the world. Writers who like him too much also have him winning fights he doesn't deserve, beating characters who specialize in hand to hand combat despite rarely displaying any such skills himself, overpowering much stronger characters who should be able to defeat him based on how his fights with the Fantastic Four go, and be portrayed as a flawless genius who can plan for everything akin to how some writers handle Batman. Doom has had some famous victories when he's punched above his weight class in the past, which fanboy writers have used as the pretext to let him steal the powers of other beings with no difficulty, even though his past successes doing so weren't by any means easy.

* Elizabeth from ''BioShock Infinite''. Plot-sustaining power (the key to the whole plot literally rests in her hands), cannot be harmed, <s>makes a grown veteran of war look like an idiot child</s> only if you suck at the game... Regardless, she is routinely placed in easily escapable situations for the pure purpose of being saved when she can plausibly save herself, and makes none of the major (or minor) mistakes in the game. While some claim that she greatly dislikes violence, especially killing, individual interpretations vary depending on whether you view her murders as character arc-defining. To make her comparable to Sues like Lightning and Alice: Ken Levine tweeted to complain about all the people who'd [[rule 34|rule 34'd]] his perfect wife, begging them to stop because it was like seeing his daughter in Playboy (or words to that effect). Which resulted in the internet giving Ken Levine exactly [[promotions|what he wanted]]. She even gets to be tied into how Fontaine got Jack's command code in the first BioShock. Way to ruin the franchise with some conventional plot device.

*[[Elminster]], who is currently having a threesome with the goddess of magic and rad boobies and his adopted super-hot albino elf daughter while simultaneously beating the god of murder in a sword fight with one hand and the god of slavery in a magic fight with the other. Also, he's like a million years old and looks it. Ed Greenwood's self-insert character in the [[Forgotten Realms]], and a big source of "Why doesn't he just do this for us?" questions whenever he appears in questlines. Also, along with the gods of the setting and the Harpers, he's one of the reasons why the Forgotten Realms are in [[Medieval Stasis]].
**Ironically he didn't start out originally like this. Back at the beginning of D&D, Elminster wasn't a massive Mary Sue. Believe it or not, he simply used to be a maxed-out wizard with some additional abilities and stuff that appeared as a Deus Ex Machina in case players had an encounter that was too difficult to overcome, much like Gandalf in [[The Hobbit]].

*Emma from ''The Promised Neverland''. Although originally a well fleshed-out character who stands as a clear foil to Ray. After the Goldy Pond Arc, Emma and, let's be honest, the quality of the manga itself started to go downhill. What was once meant to be a trio of protagonists that balanced each other with their strengths and weaknesses, was dumbed down to just Emma pulling shit out of her ass and having a talk-no-jutsu so powerful it can put even Naruto to shame. The amount of asspulls that Emma showed during the TPN in the later arcs was....pronounced enough that it becomes jarring especially when compared to the first two arcs of the manga. Seriously, she can somehow convince every single opponent that challenged her beliefs by simply talking to them and she never ever suffered any repercussions from it. Don't even get us started with enemies knocking themselves out due to ''very'' specific conveniences. Poor Ray was sidelined and reduced to a fucking side character near the end. She is idealistic to the fault and her ideas somehow manages to perpetuate inside the Daemon world just because she's ''that fucking good''. Emma is one of the unique cases where a well-written character got put into Mary Sue territory within the same series no-less. Instead of her character evolving, she devolved. Look, we in /tg/ knows that shonen manga and 'good conclusion' don't often mix, but TPN is one of the most infamous examples that recently came out.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TedsiCaV2B4 Empress Theresa] is a good example of the "waifu" theory of Mary Sues and the Doylist definition of Mary Sues, where the author's relationship to the character is the defining factor. Short version: Deranged author who can't take criticism creates his perfect waifu, hands her the world, and refuses to edit the resulting masterpiece, and posts the result for sale on Amazon. Criticism results, which in turn results in internet arguments on a scale that is ''amazing'' (by themselves, they dwarf all of the arguments and criticisms of the Twilight franchise put together, with the unsettling add-on that this is all the author's mindset).

*Every author self-insert. Especially those found in high-school writing assignments.

*Green Lanterns from Earth, especially Hal Jordan. All the human Green Lanterns are regularly shown to be the best Lanterns in the Corps because they ALL have indomitable willpower, skill, and courage, surpassing others who have been in the corps for decades. Most other Lanterns exist only to be killed off as a means of showing how dangerous a threat is. They're only ever effective when they are helping the Human ones. The most Green Lanterns ever killed was during the Emerald Twilight story arc and they were killed by, you guessed it, Hal Jordan.

*Haoh from ''Shaman King''. If there is any villain that can truly be called a Mary Sue, it's him, most other villains with this accusation still get defeated. Haoh not only proves invincible throughout the whole series, able to easily pull of feats that are impossible for everybody else, he also has the ability to revive himself if killed, meaning even if the heroes beat him, which they state is impossible in a straight-up fight, it would be pointless, because he'd just back even stronger. Worse is that he goes around saying how awful humans and everyone, even the writer, seems to agree with him because the series ends with him winning, only delaying his plans to kill humanity because reasons, and gets away with a number of atrocities that would make numerous [[Chaos]] jealous. To top it all off, the sequel series has the heroes fighting to ensure he '''keeps''' his position as Shaman King because the alternatives to him would be worse, even though Haoh hasn't actually admitted plotting to destroy humanity and killing almost anyone who stood in his way was wrong, so really, there shouldn't be anybody worse than him.

*Heracles from [[Greek Mythology]]: As [[TV Tropes]] will put it, perhaps the Ur-Example of one. [[Skub|Wait! Let us explain why!]] Heracles, or Hercules, goes a plethora of adventures. And he has a fuck ton of poems dedicated to his exploits. But unlike someone like, say, Gilgamesh, he has no missing chunks of his epics. We got the full picture. And Lord Almighty if it ain't generous. Let's take the Twelves Tasks; such a legendary tale, you've heard of it, haven't you? Yes? Well, have you actually read it? In most of his works, Heracles just stumbles into the place he's supposed to be, faces the problem, says "No", punch maybe two or four things, and he's done. No really, that's it. The Nemean Lion? Stangles it. The Lernean Hydra? Cuts every head, burns the necks, and buries the single immortal one made of gold in the ground. Like, on the spot. A flock of man-eating horses? Gives his gay lover to them and his meat actually calms them down. A flock of birds that are giant and carnivorous, literally sent from Gods? He plays the castanets to chase them away, ''and it works''. Besides all of this, Heracles is loved by all except Hera and her favored children, has had multiple wives and a husband, became a god because Zeus said "Fuck it" and deemed him worthy, and only got killed on accident. Many Greek Heroes have a lot of negative sides to them, usually their ambition, thirst for power or cunningness. Or even the dread hubris the Greeks loved so much. But Heracles? Anything he does bad is usually explained to be Hera's doing.

*IG-88 in the ''Star Wars'' expanded universe, given that he easily breaks into the second Death Star and uploads his personality into it and takes control with nobody noticing. For those who're unfamiliar with the lore, this means that a single assassin droid managed to upload its personality into one of the most heavily-secured star stations ''in the galaxy'', without ''any'' of at least one million personnel (including techs, soldiers, and the human equivalent of Satan incarnate) discovering that anything is amiss. It also took over a planet, though this is far less Sueish than it sounds due to there being only a few dozen people on said planet in total, it having another four assassin droids to help it out, and it re-programming large numbers of extant droids to help it out in killing everyone on this planet along the way.

*[[James Bond]]. To what degree varies, but the Roger Moore version is the worst offender: he's unbeatable at just about everything, never loses his composure, a ladies' man to an unrealistic degree (even lesbians and villains who stand for everything he opposes switch sides after a dicking from Bond, not to mention that time he had sex with a lesbian was questionable consent at best...so Bond arguably gets away with actual sexual assault if not outright rape), implausibly intelligent, a crack shot, and basically unkillable. In the books, he is an unlikable git and an alcoholic, yet still gets shit done.

*James T. Kirk of [[Star Trek]], but only when written by William Shatner. While in TOS, Roddenberry himself outright stated Kirk was his Author Avatar and that he wanted the show to have the ambiance of Kirk being able to have any woman he desired, Kirk was still allowed to occasionally fail or make mistakes in certain situations. For other non-Shatner written works, the Suedom factor is kept under control by factors gone into under the list found under "Somewhat Special Cases", below.

*John Kramer, the "Jigsaw Killer" from the ''Saw'' films. Pick any character you know of with a long list of skills or attributes, this guy has more, and he keeps getting away for a half dozen movies. He's also influenced people to the point that even after he dies, some of them copy his actions and ideas and think they're doing good things.

*The Joker can be this in the hands of a poor writer. While there are damn good reasons he's one of the most iconic villains in all of pop culture, he's all too easy to write as a flawless schemer and trickster who can punch well above his weight class for no good reason. This is especially irritating if the writer takes the wrong lessons from ''The Killing Joke'' (by trying too hard to make him sympathetic; while that take on Joker is certainly tragic and nuanced, it's made very clear that his unfortunate past doesn't justify his actions... assuming it even happened at all, since he himself admits his memories of his pre-Joker life are inconsistent) and/or ''A Death in the Family'' (by reducing him to a guy who just brutally murders people; that story along with the aforementioned ''The Killing Joke'' helped make it a bigger part of his character, but it still kept his random and unpredictable goals and motivations rather than just making him a one-note murder machine who kills people for fun even when doing so would be counterproductive).

*Jon Snow (especially the show version): While this is in the books as well, it is more evident in the show and he is currently dying from a mutiny in the books. Being a bastard is a bad thing in Westeros so he gets sent to the wall, but it's uphill from there. He gets a Valyrian steel blade (which is incredibly rare and an heirloom of noble houses) in his first week. He has a pet Direwolf puppy like his siblings, but of course his looks unique. From here he gets named as squire and successor to the commander of the Night's Watch (though this does cause some resentment among his peers). Later on he meets Wildings where he spares one who turns out to be a woman; it's obvious where this goes... they don't get along, they fall in love, have sex and spend some time together, something forces them apart and she dies. She also has red hair, which stands out because among Wildings its considered lucky. While he gets stabbed like in the books, in the show he dies from it then gets resurrected by Melisandre/the Lord of Light. He's revealed to be the bastard child of Rhaegar Targereyn and Lyanna Stark, making him Westeros' rightful king, as well as Daenerys' nephew - but that doesn't stop him from having sex with aunt Daenerys*, and the incest is portrayed positively this time! Also, him beating Ramsay Bolton (see below); that's right, Jon's so Mary Sue his plot armor trumps the plot armor of another Mary Sue (to be fair, though, he was actually on the verge of losing the big battle to Ramsay right up until the moment his ass gets saved by his little sister and about four thousand mounted knights.) While some of the earlier traits don't necessarily equal a Mary Sue, they add up... oh, they add up (*Daenerys, a warqueen who brought dragons back from extinction among other things, makes mistakes and suffers consequences that would seem to impact her Sue-factor if they didn't always turn out to be functionally inconsequential in comparison to her astounding triumphs through casual part-time parenting.) Book Jon is way more well rounded as a character, where it is pointed out that he actually had a decent life as a bastard before coming to the Watch, and several choices he made ended up biting him in the ass come the mutiny.

*Jotaro Kujo, from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3 and 4 (And part 6 but not in part 6... we'll get to that later). He's pretty much invincible like Kenshiro, but unlike Kenshiro, he didn't train a single day to be as hax as he is (His Stand "Star Platinum" is really strong, at the cost of short range, but plot gets in the way and he always gets close enough to ORAORA the bad guys). Also unlike Kenshiro, he is an asshole to everyone, but never suffers any consequences from it (Women literally ADORE him despite his jerkass attitude, because 80's). He spends the entire trip to Egypt spurting out massive amounts of [[Just as planned]] against every villain of the week, or simply getting powers as plot demands, some of the most outrageous examples being: The use of "Star Finger", which completely negates the previously stated range weakness; His "battle" against Steely Dan, where he DID get humilliated but retributed it tenfold in the end; His "battle" against Alessi, where he gets to beat a grown man unconscious with his bare fists despite being turned back into a SEVEN YEAR OLD; His battle against main villain DIO where he wins DIO's time stopping powers for bullshit reasons and wins; and, even more ridiculously, being able to RESURRECT his very dead Grandpa Joseph by [[what|using his stand for blood transfusing and heart-resetting]]. In part 4 he mellows down a lot, most notably [[FAIL|getting beaten by a rat]], but that doesn't prevent him from beating the shit out of the main villain Kira TWICE and stealing the spotlight from Uncle Josuke (The titular Jojo of part 4) on his final battle; too bad Josuke!. Part 6 however, does a great job at not only nerfing but rounding him altogether, the Jojo this time being his own daughter, Jolyne Cujoh (Note that is not Kujo), a delinquent who ends out in prison and resents him greatly for being an awful, absent father and constantly reminds him of it. He attempts to "fix" things but [[Just as planned|falls into one of main villain Pucci's schemes]] and is rendered comatose for great part of the story, when he latter regains his powers (With a significant decrease in durability) and comes to terms with Jolyne, the villain becomes Godlike and ends out killing him along with the rest of the cast. Too bad Shonen Jump!, now Seinen is Araki's best friend. In Pucci's universe he is a complete spineless weakling, but in case that was a bit too much, reality resets again and creates [[Awesome|a new universe free of the horrible, horrible things that happened in Stone Ocean]]. PD: In the Videogame Eyes of Heaven he is even worse, but this entry is already too long so i'll only say the creators weren't too good with resolutions.

*Kai Leng, from ''[[Bioware#Mass_Effect_3_.28The_Downfall.29|Mass Effect 3]]''. You're constantly told he's a badass assassin, but when he shows up, Shepard's crew suddenly become drooling idiots so Leng can strut about, act tough, and monologue. He brags about killing Thane (alien assassin squadmate from the previous game) even though the latter was hobbled by a terminal illness requiring daily medical care and Thane ''STILL'' got the drop on Kai Leng; Thane even says himself "That other assassin should be embarrassed. A terminally-ill Drell kept him from reaching his target." When you "win" the "fight" against him on Thessia, he still gets away, utterly unaffected by the crumbling architecture that stops Shepard from pursuing him. By the end of the fight, you've advanced the plot a grand total of nowhere, regurgitated information you already have, and been hamstrung as a player because the writer wants his character to look cool. He is yet another antagonist dropped onto a story filled with them, but is nothing more than a costume, sword, and book of one-liners. Unlike Saren from ME1, we have no connection with this douchebag because the story doesn't give him enough screen time to develop into anything.
** Alternate take: What appears to be Sue-ness is BioWare writing him as a Hate Sink. (Basically a character designed to be hated and nothing else, [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HateSink ask those smashers at TV Tropes for more info].) BioWare were using the Reapers as cool villains and leaning into the Illusive Man getting the Darth Vader treatment of the tragic, sympathetic villain who can possibly redeem himself with his death, so Leng became the game's villainous punching bag. Given what a gut punch the final battle is, clearly they wanted Leng's ultimate downfall to give the player a moment of catharsis so they could take a small victory where they got it. And for that to work, it had to be satisfying, and that meant he had to get on the player's nerves without an excuse or understandable motive to undercut their focused rage against him. Note that during the final battle against him, Shepard spends the whole time dressing him down as a coward who can only win by running away and after beating him, smashes his stupid sword and guts him like a fish with their omni-blade. [[Awesome|"That was for Thane, you son of a bitch!"]]

*[[Fist of the North Star|Kenshiro]], nothing can kill him and he's morally flawless, superior to everyone-fucking-else. At least until Shin Saga in the anime, where he starts fucking up often, even with his super kung-fu laser ninja powers. Most battles are curb-stomps until later on because ''it's a fucking show from the 80's''. Do note, however, that Kenshiro loses a ''lot,'' especially later on, and mostly wins his hardest battles because he's the only one worth a shit left alive by that point in the series.

*Kirby from his/their (Localization made him a he instead of ambiguous as in Japan, and it's been [[Skub|discussed]] ever since) eponymous franchise, and the first brainchild of the Smash man. Kids' game logic is in effect, but even then it can be egregious. Between their [[/d/|insta-death inhaling]], the Copy Ability (and various gimmick abilities throughout the franchise), unnatural toughness, and [[What|godkilling streak]], the puffball is a strong contender for most powerful video game character. However, their immense, possibly-Eldritch (as of Star Allies) power is balanced by the fact they're almost always portrayed as ignorant if not a full-blown [[Derp|dumbass baby]]. Seriously, their naive nature is known to cause various problems for themselves and others. Notable feats include repeatedly turning back an all-assimilating Eldritch hivemind, defeating an interdimensional wizard and the god-crown he wore, singlehandedly bringing down an [[Games Workshop|uber-greedy megacorporation]] and stopping their AI from going full [[Exterminatus]], destroying(?) an actual Eldritch god of darkness and destruction [[What|they may or may not be related to]], and stopping a god-alien (not-so-originally called [[Original character, do not steal|the Ultimate Lifeform]]) from causing two worlds to collide just by [[WTF|running it over with Truck-Kun]].

*Kratos from ''[[God of War]]''. He curb-stomps fucking gods due to [[plot armor]] (and because one of them decided to give a bloody psychopath the powers of a god; MENSA applicant right there) and he has threesomes with complete strangers, even though he is meant to be grieving for the death of his family that he himself murdered. Oh and the rules for how death works change whenever it's convenient for him. Err, some of this is because most of the gods he kills with super-powerful items, including Blade of Olympus, the God of War universe's version of Zeus' lightning bolts the cyclopes gave him to defeat the titans, which has been infused with all the power of the Greek God of War. And he is later revealed to house the Power of Hope since GoW1, a power strong enough to kill gods. Now he is starting a new family in Norse mythology land Midgard while STILL having the "godly" super strength despite the blade of Olympus having drained all his power and given it all to the world. (Note that he clearly didn't give up his combat experience nor his genetics as a demi-god son of Zeus. Even without those things, he's at minimum a heavily trained demi-god from the strongest of the Greek gods.) At least he acknowledged how fucking awful he was in the past and tried to be a good father toward his new son Atreus, but still keeping his no gods allowed policy.

*Lana Lang from the TV show ''Smallville'' (note; Smallville is not considered canon to the Superman story by DC Comics). Almost big a Mary Sue as Bella from [[Twilight]]; almost because she actually has a few useful skills, but she learns them unrealistically quickly (becoming a black belt in martial arts in ''one week''). She has the cliché orphan story but with a unique spin for maximum snowflake effect (her parents were killed by a meteor strike), everyone in the story loves her with the exception of some villains (the key word is SOME), and she's treated as someone who can do no wrong. Lana even got on the cover of TIME magazine, in-universe, as a child! She serves as a wedge between Clark and having a relationship with any other girl and between Clark and his eventual Superman destiny. Clark technically sacrificed his father to save her! In one episode, Clark rewound time on a day in which Lana died, and instead lost his father.

*Lightning from ''Final Fantasy XIII'', she is basically a pink-haired Cloud without any of Cloud's likable personality traits. She's currently the NEW AND ASTONISHING HEAVENLY Valkyrie that fights a purple Sephiroth in her new game "Lightning's Return". Not that we care, but she was created by Motomu Toriyama ([[Matt Ward]]'s Japanese cousin), a man with a Chris-Chan-like persona and Matthew Ward-style writing who is now continuously raping the franchise. He has a waifu love for Lightning like Paul has for Alice. Lightning is comparable to Alice on many levels, which says a lot, really. She also has tons of fucking DLC "costumes" dedicated to her so the player could dress her up and fap her to death. This is so fucking shameful that I'm crazy enough to believe Alice is a much capable heroine. Somebody kill me, please. Oh, just recently, Toriyama decided to have Lightning become a guest character in a future Final Fantasy. So not only is the franchise gonna suffer the rotting Emperor syndrome, but Lightning is now the literal goddess of every Final Fantasy game? Seriously, have you ever seen Paul doing such disgusting things with Alice? Like forcing Alice into an actual ''Resident Evil'' game (well, the ''Resident Evil'' franchise is dead as well)? Motomu Toriyama is officially worse than Paul Anderson!!
** Gets worse: Toriyama has stated that Lighting is the "first" strong female character in any ''Final Fantasy''. Even ignoring the dozens of better-written female characters, some of which he himself has written, the "strong" meaning just physical doesn't work either; FF7's Tifa (a game he worked on, btw) can punch tanks to death.

*Lisa Simpson from ''The Simpsons'', depending on the writer. Lisa has dipped into Mary Sue-dom the same way as the above-mentioned Brian from Family Guy (both serving time as smug mouthpieces for their show's creators on hot-button-topics). There was also a time where Lisa had the tendency to never be punished for the times she does do the wrong doing (she ruins Homer's BBQ in "Lisa the Vegetarian" and merely got scolded by him where Bart would likely have been strangled for it). One episode had people deferring to Lisa over Prof. Stephen Hawking in Hawking's area of expertise, and Groening once said Lisa is his favorite character and that he would do anything to prevent her from looking bad (to reference the strangling; the show's animators also applied a double-standard as they strongly protested against the idea of Homer strangling Lisa for upsetting him like he does with Bart). While Lisa's popularity in-universe fluctuates, at its worst the whole town bends over backwards for her even when it goes past characterization (eg; Springfieldians can be '''VERY''' sore losers, as demonstrated in the episode "Boys of Bummer" where the whole town - sans Marge - ridiculed Bart for losing a sports game [[Grimdark|to the point that they nearly drove the 10 year old to suicide]], but when Lisa lost a spelling contest she was applauded for winning second place and got a Mount Rushmore-style sculpture of her face). That being said, there are episodes where Lisa is depicted as unpopular at school, her activism is made over-the-top to be played for laughs, she's neglected at home and less of a "smartest person around" and more of a "only sane person surrounded by idiots", lessening the Sue-factor.

*Lucy from the 2014 movie of the same name. Long story short, she gets forced by gangsters to smuggle drugs in her stomach, but the container bursts and the drugs make her smarter and use more and more of her brain, because this movie was seriously written around the pseudoscientific premise that humans only use 10% of their brain. This also causes her to [[What|develop superpowers somehow]], and at the end of the movie she basically becomes god.

*Magneto is not inherently one, but he does have the INSANE potential to become this when crappy writers start taking his sympathetic traits too far ("Hey guys, let's [[What|make Magneto a member of the X-Men and have him date Rogue]]!") or just forget he's the bad guy. Hell, he sometimes becomes this even when he's a horribly despicable villain. Jeph Loeb's raping of the Ultimate Universe known as "Ultimatum" has him use his magnetic powers to nearly destroy the world just by waving his hands at Earth's magnetic poles (completely breaking the laws of physics in the process) and then effortlessly take on half the X-Men and almost all of the Ultimates singlehandedly and nearly win.

*Master Chief from the ''[[Halo]]'' series is definitely one. For one, he has [[Matt Ward|Ward-grade]] [[Heresy|plot armor]]. Seriously, it was repeated throughout the games that he was born with the word [[What|'''LUCK''']]. To further expand on his Sueness, this 7-foot tall hunk of raging Leprechaun saved the entire Galaxy ''Twice!'', single-handedly stopped the Human-Covie War at the last minute, escaped and defeated an entire race of "Super-Space-Zombie-Fungus" that could mindfuck Culture-tier Civilizations without [[What|having his own brain being raped]], is one of the last surviving SPARTAN II's, solo an entire legion of Covenant Honor-Guards (Which are equivalent to Spacemarine Captain in rank but with inferior gear and training) as well as successfully assassinating a very important Covie leader protected by said Guards without being captured, survived escaping an Exterminatus-level explosion that destroyed a Super-Weapon 'Ring' by ''out-flying it'', somehow his armor is strong enough to deflect Fuel-Rod shots (Which are essentially Plasma Cannons), destroy a flying and mentally psychotic lightbulb with an overcharged Lascannon as a Self-Defence weapon (To be fair 343 Guilty Spark ''is'' a Forerunner Janitor Robot), and did I mention he saved the entire Galaxy ''twice''? Furthermore with the release of Halo 4, MC is now magically gifted the genes and DNA by the Librarian to become full on [[RAGE|''impervious to a fucking Forerunner Super-Weapon/Death-Beam'']], which allows him to single-handedly fight through the insides of a very important Forerunner Capital Ship filled with Necron/Warp-Spiders kill bots and somehow through the act of plot, [[Derp|defeat ''the'' highest ranked Forerunner Military General that has the power to solo the entire Galactic Empire from Star Wars.]] I mean [[Rage|WTF!]] did the developers of Halo not realize that they just created a character with plot-armor so powerful that they make the likes of [[Kaldor Draigo]] look decent in comparison? Thankfully however, as pants-on-head retarded as some of the feats listed for MC are, he at least has some faults such as being psychologically raped in childhood, doesn't have the "Morally Superior to thou" personality and has a very grim view of the war, almost got killed by the killer space popcorn, being rather mediocre for a SPARTAN II when compared to his other colleagues, is only good in leadership and even then made some stupid mistakes, gets pretty beaten the fuck up by a Brute, his Superhuman abilities only stopped when fighting against low-ranked Elites and know he will lose against one if he fought one-by-one, and most of the battles he has been through had almost cost him his life. Those faults listed are what makes good old Chiefy ''NOT'' in the top 10 most powerful Mary-Sues and makes him somewhat tolerable albeit boring compared to the other listed.

*Moka Akashiya from Rosario + Vampire: Stupidly fucking OP enough to one-shot kick '''EVERY OTHER FUCKING MONSTER''' IN THE '''ENTIRE FUCKING SERIES''' AND '''BOTH''' SEASONS, has a ''special exception'' to her power levels made so she gets 'first ancestor' vampire blood to enable her to be ''even more powerful'', has no character development ''at all'' (this is true of both her personalities), is a student at an academy and one-shot kicks two members ''of the fucking faculty'' '''AND TOTALLY GETS AWAY WITH IT''', and is ''unbearably arrogant'', revelling in her power and basically saying everyone else is beneath her. The reason she's this bad? The author admits he LOVES vampires. So she's not only an Author Avatar, but a Canon Sue as well, existing only for [[Heresy|heretical deviants]] to fap to and the author to [[Slaanesh|schlick]] to. God-Emperor fucking damn it, Akihisa Ikeda. You little shit. What's worse is that [[Matt Ward|he has no shame about it]]. [[C.S.Goto| No, really]].
**This is lessened slightly during S1's later episodes (and S2 more generally), with a number of non-vampire characters who rather easily take her down or otherwise outmatch her being introduced. Compared to the big leagues, she's a promising new recruit but not comparable to them.

*Mordenkainen, Gary Gygax's personal avatar in the Greyhawk setting and a level 30 wizard who never fucking ages past 50 despite being a hundred fucking years old without turning into a lich, he became bald for some reason, which makes him look evil, but he remains Stupid Neutral.

*Olympia Vale, another character from the [[Halo]] Series and seems to be all around taking over the mantle of Mary Sue from Master Chief as he is pushed in the sidelines like an old man being pushed in the old folks home. Whilst Locke has been accused for being a rather bland and forgettable copycat cutout of the original MC, he still pales in comparison to that of Vale. Essentially imagine Vale as MC but remove the sociopathic and borderline mentally damaged aspects of John 117, make her a prodigy even beyond that of Spartan recruits which in turn made her pretty easy to integrate in the SPARTAN IV program and make her instantly learn the language of the Elites whilst by herself in space with the only excuse being that [[Bullshit|'she was bored'.]] Vale and to an extent, the majority of the SPARTAN IV's seem to be an ongoing campaign from Karen Traviss (AKA the Destroyer of Fluff and Halo's Matt Ward) [[Derp|to further demonize Halsey and her SPARTAN II program]] for no better reason other than being forced to be [[Fail|unethical in an organization as ethically sound as the]] [[Inquisition|Imperial Inquisition.]] As you can imagine, this has already spurred some [[Skub|ire bitching]] in the Halo community and only time will tell if newer sequels from the game would flash her character out in a more decent or obscene matter.

*Ozymandias, AKA, Adrian Alexander Veidt from ''Watchmen''. He was born into a wealthy family, then threw it all away and earned even more money. He's a perfect athlete, good-looking, smartest man in the world (He mind fucked Dr. Manhattan, a blueish godlike superhuman) and a vegetarian. In the book he is able to successfully genetically engineer some sort of monster that would be teleported to New York and as it dies unleash a psychic shockwave that would kill millions in a "common enemy" plot to avert World War 3 by uniting them against "interdimensional aliens" (he does the same in the movie, but instead of aliens, he tricks people into making Dr Manhattan their common enemy - Dr Manhattan himself goes along with the plan once he finds out so there will be world peace). The only downside he had is loneliness, since he had betrayed all his friends and killed the only companion in his life, a fucking genetically-engineered female lynx named Bubastis, by having her bait Dr. Manhattan to the incinerator and killed them both with a switch. Still, Ozymandias is perfect because Mary Sue don't need friends. It was also portrayed that his "common enemy" scheme to stop World War 3 (which involved killing millions) in a positive or at least sympathetic light. He also caught a bullet fired from a gun with his bare hands, and the bullet didn't just go through them, like it would in real-life, despite him not having superpowers. Interesting to note that he the idol he worships: Alexander of Macedonia, is a man born before Christ, and the name Ozymandias is reference to a freaking [[Necron|Egyptian pharaoh: Ramses II]], proving that Adrian is just as egoistic as [[Dante]] and the [[Ultramarines]] by have the name of an ancient ruler as his own nickname. Hell, his color page on "before the watchman" made him looked like some sort of floating Jesus!! Thankfully, he has the decency to acknowledge what he did was wrong in the comics while also justifying it as being for the greater good...which it was in that it stopped World War 3, and he is more complex and well rounded as a character than several others.
** There's also the deliberately ambiguous implication that Ozymandias could get some comeuppance in the future (author Alan Moore stated that what happened after the end of the graphic novel is for each reader to decide for themselves); this is done with Dr Manhattan's cryptic response to Ozymandias' question whether things would work out, and Rorschach giving his journal - containing evidence implicating Ozymandias and revealing his plan - to a news outlet.
** A direct sequel to Watchmen called "Doomsday Clock" came and finally made Ozymandias pay for what he has done. After the news outlet ousted Veidt's plans, it started a chain of reaction that eventually led to his downfall as well as the supposed end of humanity. The European Union dissolved, the USSR went back its old warmonger ways with their relation between the US degrading to lows below even the Cold War, nuclear weapons failed to be disarmed and one such missile was fired from Russia to New York City. Adrian is now the most wanted man in the world and has brain cancer (possibly ironically validating what he framed Dr. Manhattan for). Still, he managed to fight his way out of this chaos with other DC heroes (Superman and the godamned Batman mind you, characters with thick plot armor), the Comedian (brought back by Manhattan), pretty much everyone around the world but especially Dr. Manhattan (who masterminded this all from his glass palace on Mars). Also, keep in mind this sequel is not written by Alan Moore himself so it's at best considered an alternate continuity.

*Prometheus (the DC supervillain) certainly didn't ''start'' as this but ended up being twisted into one. When first introduced he was a genuinely cool and intimidating supervillain whose insane skill and manipulations were balanced out by his crippling mental issues (which the heroes exploited to take him down). Unfortunately, writers who weren't as skilled as Grant Morrison got their paws on him and made him ludicrously overpowered to the point where he single-handedly ''destroyed Star City, killing Roy Harper's daughter in the process''. Thus Prometheus went from an awesome member of Batman's rogues gallery to a complete waste of pages. Thankfully he was prevented from becoming any worse thanks to Green Arrow putting an arrow through the bastard's skull.

*Ramsay Bolton (show version): Oh good fucking God, where to start with this particular Villain Sue? Well, for one, he manages to take on twenty of the best Ironborn warriors, who were all heavily armed and armored, while not just unarmored but SHIRTLESS and armed with nothing but a kitchen knife and a mace, and SOMEHOW kicks their asses. Then, much later, he is shown to completely annihilate the battle-hardened Stormlander army led by Stannis Baratheon, the greatest military commander in Westeros, with nothing but cavalry, while the previous episodes had established that Ramsay is a tactically inept moron. (This can also tie in with the fact that the writers of the show seriously fucked over Stannis from "stern-but-honorable competent tactical genius" into "greedy, fanatical dumbass"). Finally, he is constantly shown to get his way no matter how stupidly contrived it seems to the viewer, arguably the worst case being marrying and deflowering Sansa Stark by raping her and getting the killing blow on fan-favorite giant Wun-Wun. His Sueness ends with his face getting caved in by Jon and fed to his own hounds by Sansa.

*Rey AKA Ma-Rey Sue from the [[Star Wars]]. From the release of the first movie, she already caught some backlash among the old guards of Star Wars who consider her a self-insert Mary Sue with a feminist agenda. Leaving aside the politics, the resulting trilogy and related events have only confirmed Rey’s Mary Sue-dom. Reasons from the first movie alone include Rey showing [[What|a better knowledge of the Millennium Falcon’s inner workings than then Han Solo and Chewbacca]] who’d maintained the ship for decades where she had it for less than a week, being offered a job by Han shortly after meeting him despite him and Chewie being sufficient crew for the Falcon and Han being a cynic who barely knows her (like something right out of "A Trekkie's Tale"), Rey suddenly being a [[Wat|powerful Force user who can resist a trained Force-user's mind probe]] despite no previous mention of her being Force sensitive and [[Bullshit|Rey performing said Jedi mind trick while in captivity almost immediately after learning she's Force Sensitive]] despite the fact that performing said trick is known to be difficult to master (to be fair, Rey had just been in telepathic contact with somebody who knew how to pull off a Mind Trick, and wasn't as good at telepathic interrogation as he thought he was). Rey’s only character flaw is recklessness, and while it does get her captured by the villains in the first and third films, this is offset by Rey getting rescued unharmed both times by luck/plot armour, which is a Sue-ish trait (at least Luke suffered actual setbacks and injuries – such as a severed hand and failing to save Han from Boba Fett). Furthering Rey’s status of Mary Sue is the “creator's relationship to the character” part, with several of the filmmakers either pulling new explanations out of their asses to explain Rey’s abilities (or retconning them, such as the Force “cheat-coding” and the “Force Dyad”) or attacking anyone who didn’t like the character by tarring them with the same negative brushes ([[SJW|accusations of sexism got lots of usage]]). The third film threw in the big twist that Rey is ''really'' Rey '''Palpatine'''. You heard right, Rey is literally Emperor Palpatine's ''granddaughter'', almost as if they're trying to one-up Luke’s relation to Vader. The third film also ends with Rey taking the last name “Skywalker” while Luke and Leia’s force ghosts look on approvingly. For a more comprehensive coverage on why Rey is a Mary Sue, look up the results of the Mary Sue Litmus test on the discussion page.
** While it could be argued that Luke and Anakin are just as ridiculous, they fit easier the form of tropes they are. Luke, being the most classic [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheHero Hero] ever, is quickly established as good at most things he does, culminating in flying an X-Wing through the Death Star trench and making an one-in-a-million shot to destroy the Death Star, and this is less than a week before he was just a backwater farmboy, albeit one who is outright stated to be both a decent pilot and skilled shot. Though while Luke used the Force untrained like Rey did, his only feats were enhancing skills he already had and developed; a bit of a stretch, but more plausible than pulling new skills ''that require training to use'' out of nowhere. Anakin is the [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheChosenOne Chosen One], and people who are chosen tend to be skilled and powerful regardless because the Powers-That-Be have their backs on top of any personal skills they have. Young Ani competes and wins a pod-race that only aliens can normally participate in due to the sheer insanity of it, and then blows up a Trade Federation Dreadnought with a fighter he'd never been in before (even then kid Anakin also had R2-D2's help). Again, no problem. Now Rey is about as much the Hero as Luke but is an Unchosen One compared to Anakin, and the wildest thing she does in her first movie is to use the Force untrained (much like Luke does in A New Hope) and gain the upper hand on a Sith apprentice. Why people don't expect her to be [[-4 Str|as powerful]] as [[Lawful Good|Luke]] and [[BBEG|Anakin]] is better left for another discussion entirely, though the fact that Rey is touted as a strong female character while being propped up by the failures of men and saved by men throughout the trilogy doesn't help her case. Also, Rey has never once lost a fight in the movies, while Anakin first got his arm chopped off in a hilariously one-sided fight with Dooku then later had all his limbs cut off and was lit on fire in his duel with Obi-Wan, and Luke was totally outmatched by Vader in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' and got his ass handed to him on a beskar platter.
** Another thing to consider is the ridiculous timeline of Episode 7 and 8. In approximately 5-6 days, Rey went from being a scavenger on Jakku to defeating Snoke's bodyguards and being on par with Kylo Ren in combat.

*Richard, from the Sword of Truth series (he's not as bad in the TV series). He is always considered an ideal hero despite being cruel, sociopathic, and thinking that the universe should bend over backwards for him [[What|(which it actually does)]]. Everyone who disagrees with him is evil (even if that's the only reason they're considered a villain) or turns evil. Gratuitous rape is thrown in by the author as a cheap way to make him look better (making villains as reprehensible as possible doesn't solve the problem of the protagonist being completely un-heroic).

*Richard B. Riddick, from the Riddick universe. Vin Diesel's personal self-insert inspired from his own D&D Rogue. Didn't start out as a Mary Sue though, going from a sensible power level ''(where a fist-fight with a morphine-addicted merc is reasonably fair)'' with dubious morality and a lovably snarky badass attitude. Later becoming ''(particularly amongst the directors cuts)'' a superpowered badass who can single-handedly take on squads of soldiers with a knife, resist soul sucking, commune with animals and make threats with [[Just as Planned]] modes of killing. ''("kill you with my teacup" / "dead in 5 seconds")'', oh... he can also explode as shown in the director's cuts and off-screen in the video games. His later portrayals also show his morality becoming a "told you so" mentality, where, when people die it's really because they are the assholes and nothing to do with Riddick.

*Rick Sanchez, of Rick and Morty, in seasons 3+. (See Rick under "Special Cases", below; the only reason we're not moving him here completely is because Rick and Morty arguably became an ''entirely'' different show between seasons 2 and 3.)

*Roran, from the Inheritance Cycle. He started as a farmer-apprentice blacksmith, yet he managed to become an invincible warrior, charismatic presence, expert orator and master strategist without any training. We are talking of a young man who soloes 194 soldiers in a melee battle and wins without taking any major injuries. He then survived a public flogging severe enough to be an alternative to execution despite it being not long after that battle. He also beat an Urgal in a wrestling match despite the Urgal being stronger, bigger, better trained and having horns. In the third book he even single-handedly defeated a Ra'zac; a race that are to humans what wolves are to sheep. Then in the final battle Roran bested the magically-enhanced warrior who killed the elf-queen, and did so without magic or special weapons of his own. Yes, Roran managed to achieve feats that even elves would consider impossible. While his cousin Eragon has the (weak) excuses of magical enhancement and helping from his dragon companion, Roran doesn't. He is a common man who, for plot reasons, creates a plot armor just by thinking about his girlfriend.

* Sarah Kerrigan from the Starcraft series has become this more and more as time passes. In the first game she's just a terran ghost (psionic assassin) who gets turned into a human-zerg hybrid and disappears from the plot after like two or three missions in the zerg campaign, but then she becomes one of the main villains of the expansion pack and everyone else in in the game becomes a thundering dumbass so she can look like a master manipulator despite being played for a sap by yet another character, and commits several atrocities to serve herself and her own agenda but is not punished them in any way despite multiple characters swearing revenge on her. Then the sequel ramped it up. Out of fucking nowhere she is designated the savior of the galaxy from the new villain in town with virtually no justification offered except that Blizzard were too cowardly and attached to the the character to follow through on people wanting her dead. She gets purified of zerg corruption and another character who's more fun and interesting gets killed off so she can live. The zerg campaign centers on her and shows her doing yet more pointlessly-cruel and destructive things in the name of petty revenge, its only concessions to the ridiculousness of letting her live being some half-hearted acknowledgements of her past crimes. And after a pair of pointless guest appearances in the protoss campaign and its prologue campaign, she gets picked by the last good Xel'Naga in the universe to receive his essence and become a Xel'Naga herself so she can defeat the main villain in a laser beam-off. And after her boyfriend, a better-written character who spends all his time getting shit on throughout the series, is seen moping in a bar at the end of the final campaign, she gets to ass pullingly make him a Xel'Naga too, for some moron's idea of resolving their relationship with happily ever after ending.

*Sakamoto from 'Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto' never fails at anything and always manages to look [[Awesome]] no matter what he is doing or how much the other characters try to sabotage him, and it is hilarious.

*Selene, from the 'Underworld' movies. Throughout the series, she bears several similarities to [[Alice]]; both are experts with weapons, both have superior biology to their respective species (humans for Alice, Vampires for Selene), both kill their way through swarms of enemies without getting a scratch, both have little regard for their source material, and both are played by the wives of the directors of their respective film series.

*Squirrel Girl from Marvel Comics is another one of these Sues who's actually popular and enjoyed for it, probably because she's played entirely for laughs: Doreen Grey is a [[Mutant]] teenage girl with Spider-Man levels of strength/speed/agility, can grow bone knuckles, can talk to squirrels (and have them do her bidding) and has the ability to defeat any villain she wants off-screen. This includes big-name villains like Doctor Doom (she beat him in her first appearance and several times afterwards, and this is a rare instance of a Doom-related incident that was ''not'' smoothed over with the "Just a Doombot" excuse), Ego the Living Planet (who is, like his name suggests, a planet, meaning that a teenage girl beat up a planet), Thanos (who is one of the biggest badasses of the Marvel Universe, but the writers saved his face by replacing him in this instance with a perfect copy of him), Deadpool (whom she calls the mean, mean man; he's actually scared of her), M.O.D.O.K. and tons of other people. She was once part of a C-list superhero team, but quit because she thought she was holding them back (which she was entirely correct about: she once apologized to them for being late because she had to beat a 100' space dragon) and left for Marvel's Nexus of the Multiverse: New York. Despite her unapologetic Mary Sue-ness the fans love her and see her as the one spot of light in the otherwise relentlessly [[grimdark]] Marvel Universe, because again, she's played entirely for laughs and there's nary a title in Marvel Comics that couldn't do with more laughs.

*[[Superman]] in the hands of a poor writer. He is morally perfect, one of the strongest beings in the DC universe, and his one weakness that's supposed to kill him never works <s>ex: he lifts an entire continent of Kryptonite after being stabbed by a dagger made of it</s> thankfully ''Superman Returns'' had so many plotholes that ''Man of Steel'' declared it all non-canon. The only reliable way to nerf him is to have Batman beside him, because Superman always becomes a dumbass when Batman is around (go watch DCAU Justice League to see for yourself). Good writers can avoid falling into this by having him go up against villains who can genuinely threaten him (such as General Zod, Maxima or Doomsday; in fact, the writers made Doomsday specifically to be a threat who can physically match Superman), showing that even with all his vast powers there are things Superman just can't do (in one tragic story it turned out that even though he can benchpress planets, he can't stop his parents from dying of cancer) or emphasizing that his strong morals are not intrinsic to him, but a product of a happy childhood, caring parents and a network of close friends, and he wouldn't necessarily have them if he were raised somewhere less pleasant (like, say, Planet Apokolips or the Soviet Union - both actually happened in Elseworlds stories, look it up) or if those close to him were taken away (like in the Injustice and Kingdom Come comic series).

*The Sun Crusher, from [[Star Wars]]. Possibly one of the few cases where a Mary Sue was not a character, but a ''superweapon''. This...thing first came under the much [[Skub]] Jedi Academy books and was considered so fucking overpowered its mere existence created more plotholes than [[Erda]] would have pushed out. Hated by basically everyone in the fandom, this fucking trainwreck of a superweapon was small and fast as hell, had weapons that could [[Exterminatus|destroy an entire star system]] and has armor so powerful it could even [[Wat|tank a glancing hit from a ''Prototype Death Star''.]] Seriously, there was one case where the Sun Crusher destroyed an entire ISD by simply [[RAGE|''ramming into the fucker'']]. And you thought Goku's power wanking was filthy. This abomination makes [[the World Engine]] look limp-dicked in comparison. Considered one of the worst examples of Legends' superweapon power creep (previous superweapons were frequently OP, but at least they generally had notable limitations and vulnerabilities), this overpowered mess of an idea almost broke the Star Wars EU itself since anyone piloting this proverbial [[Rape|rape train]] could have single-handily curb-stomped both the Galactic Empire and the Yuuzhan Vong ''combined''. Also, it kinda looks like an ice cream cone for some reason.

*Tauriel, Peter Jackson's special snowflake from ''The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug'' (a Mary Sue in something related to Tolkien; [[Tolkien|Beren and Luthien are deep and well-written enough to get a pass]], this is a sad day). Not content with undermining or retconning the book, Jackson creates a special snowflake elf OC. Tauriel's ridiculously skilled at fighting to the point she matches Legolas in archery - and he's pretty OP in the films (as shown when she shoots an arrow at him when he surprises her, he returns fire and their arrows collide with each other) - she also has healing powers. According to all of Tolkien's books, only a select few elves can heal people such as Lord Elrond Half-Elven, wielder of one of the three Elven Rings of Power, some who's studied healing for millennia and is a direct descendant of the Kings of the Noldor; all things which Tauriel lacks. In addition, she's ship-teased with canon-characters Legolas (who never appears, or even gets mentioned, in the book - albeit he was shoehorned into the film to cash in on his popularity with fangirls and his presence makes some sense since his father Thranduil was in the book) and Kili. To be fair, some of the ship tease between Kili and Tauriel is well-handled as well, in particular when Kili teases her and then tells her stories when locked in prison.

* Tobias (or Takuto in the original Japanese) from the Pokémon anime. His design looking like someone was trying ''way'' too hard to make him seem "mysterious" and "badass" is just the tip of the iceberg. For starters, he has ''at least'' two legendaries in the form of Darkrai and Latios, despite the anime earlier establishing how difficult it was for even Frontier Brains (who are trainers deliberately selected by Battle Frontier head honcho Scott from among the best of the best) to acquire and control Pokémon of such caliber. How he got such Pokémon is never explained. When he faced off against Ash in the Sinnoh League after only getting a few mentions and cameos beforehand, he knocked out Ash's entire team while losing only the aforementioned Darkrai and Latios, then went on to win the league and essentially disappear from the show entirely. To put it simply, he was clearly only put in the anime to prevent Ash from winning so that he wouldn't end his journey - which didn't even make any sense, since Ash had ''already'' won a league (the Orange League) and still continued traveling and training; as a matter of fact, it would be out of character for a spirited competition hound like Ash to sit on his laurels no matter how many awards and accolades he won. While Tobias wasn't the first character to knock Ash out of a league competition and wouldn't be the last, him being an inexplicably absurdly overpowered trainer who blatantly only existed to keep Ash from winning made him by far the most hated.

* Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones, most of it strictly in the show (especially in the later seasons), much, much less in the books. He is exceedingly smart, capable of fighting against trained soldiers double his size, ends up at Daenarys' court despite her having more than ample reasons to distrust him, gets in charge of Mereen for no reason given when Daenarys disappears, runs a complete shitshow on top of it and still somehow ends up in her council, where he continues to give advice that is just plain wrong and sets back Daenarys' efforts to retake Westeros. His sheer incompetence in Seasons 7 and 8 should get him at least fired, if not outright executed. Instead, the showrunners abandon his character arc altogether to make him the audience's avatar and the closest thing the setting has to Prime Minister in the end, who also is able to make all of the lords of Westeros follow his idea of an elective monarchy, which he came up with on a whim. This is counterbalanced by his character as portrayed in the books and the earlier seasons (incidentally the ones where GRRM was still actively involved in the production of the series), where he is impulsive, arrogant and extremely vindictive (to the point of murdering his former lover, a prostitute, for sleeping with his father in a jealous rage) towards nearly everyone in his immediate vicinity. To add to this, he is also often too blinded by his hatred for his own family to see the bigger picture; where Tywin gave him the authority to act as Hand of the King in his absence as a last chance to prove his worth for the Lannister name, only for him to disregard all of Tywin's advice and orders out of spite.

*[[Star Trek|Wesley Crusher]]. Wesley FUCKING Crusher. Originating from the same franchise as the original Mary Sue, Wesley is a very young ensign training to be an officer in Starfleet, where he's earned the admiration of many of the bridge officers. He became something of a protege to Captain Picard, who was impressed by Wesley after he showed that he had learned all the controls at the captain's chair when they first met. <s>While not morally perfect or incorruptible Wesley is as close as he can be in most cases</s> He's only moral by Gene Roddenberry's standards ''(which were messed up beyond belief, the man thought it was okay to be a prima donna director but not for children to grieve over dead loved ones, and that's not getting into his corporate shyster practices, anti-religious prejudices and sexism; seriously we're not making any of that up)'', by a normal person's, he's smug and egocentric, along with his [[Deus Ex Machina]] techno skills, which are shown off by making the rest of the crew look useless. He notably also gets the Enterprise into danger before getting it out of it, and never gets called out for it. Many people thought that he was an insufferable little shit, among them Wil Wheaton (the actor who PLAYED the guy... and coming from him, that's saying something). Wesley is even named after Gene Roddenberry, as Wesley was Gene's middle name - or to give Gene's full name, Eugene ''Wesley'' Roddenberry. That said, Wesley gets better once Roddenbery wasn't dictating the story. He does get served a healthy dose of reality in "The First Duty", wherein he lies to cover up the fact that his Academy flight team was doing a dangerous and illegal stunt that got one of them killed and pinned all the blame for the accident on the dead kid. Picard absolutely ''shreds'' him when he realizes what's going on, delivering one of the best speeches of any Trek series in the process, and Wesley faces actual consequences for his actions.

*[[Loli|Young main characters]] in crappy [[Asians|Japanese]] [[anime|animes]] and [[manga]].

*Main characters from Japanese [[Isekai]] light novels. Usually they were nerds or losers whose only interested in a particular underrated hobby/talent in their world, but became a fucking skyrim tier powerhouse once they enter the so-called mysterious otherworld. Upon entering, they became super powerful since their somewhat boring talent suddenly becomes a miracle to the other world residents thus making the main character successful. It is a trend that they will done the following to prove their superiority: wrecking Saturday cartoon villain tier antagonist (usually a reference to the main character's childhood bully) that made even [[Ahriman]] look good, instantly gained many female party members because the main character was an unpopular virgin in their original world (and no males allowed, they are yucky), using their otaku knowledge to solve every problem that was deems unsolvable in the other world (more reason that their useless hobby/talent that was deemed useless has more use in the otherworld). The other world usually consist the cliches of JRPG world: [[Medieval Stasis]], fantasy creatures like dwarves and elves, old European like hierarchy and cultures, monsters, JRPG mechanic. One of many trend of isekai protagonist is that almost all of them have tragic background featuring how they were bullied in high school or parent suicide or some typical Japanese cliches of tragic (such as truck-kun). There are also many situations where authors would made the protagonist suffer by have him stuck in a misunderstood situation, setup by the unlikable villain as an attempt to make him look good. Then again, these kind of self fulfilling characters are authors self insert whom was a victim of a depressing citizens of their society, or they thought. There are a few exceptions to this such as Ainz Ooal Gown, Kazuma Satou or Kazuya Souma who are thrown into situations that requires far more intelligence, planning and Indy Polys than your typical light novel protagonist can muster. Some try to subvert this with mixed results. ''Re:Zero'' is a deconstructive take where its protagonist (Subaru Natsuki) dies painfully over and over and ''over'' again, and eventually confesses to everyone around him that he's completely useless. (Though then he starts learning from his mistakes and becomes more competent-- but '''not''' an uber-badass.)
**[[Tl;dr]], they are [[Cringe]] incarnate. It would have been funny if it wasn't so fucking ''pathetic'', and given the sheer amount of shitty isekai, harem trash plaguing the manga industry, it should ''really'' tell you the lack of self-esteem on whoever wrote these fucking abominations of literature.

*Drift from [[Transformers]] is a particularly fascinating and useful case study, as he not only is a good example of a Sue, but is also a prime example of how a Sue can be redeemed into a legitimately [[Awesome]] character. Beginning life as the original character of a newbie writer named Shane McCarthy, Drift was effectively [[FAIL|every stereotypical Mary Sue fan character trait in a single character]]; super-skilled beyond everyone else, a former member of the bad guys turned good, always right about everything, never allowed to lose, shilled by established characters and the creators, milking his “tragic” backstory for sympathy, characters who dislike him portrayed as close-minded jerks, [[Weeaboo|shallow anime-influences]] like dual-wielding katanas, and an all-around “[[Edgy]] teenager’s idea of cool” aesthetic. But then McCarthy left the series and Drift was handed off to a new writer, James Roberts, and everything changed; Drift was completely reworked as a character and made… ''likable''. Now he was skilled but not to an extreme, his personality was given more depth (most notably rewriting his shallow anime mimicry into a samurai-esque sense of honor and spirituality), he had true flaws and made mistakes he had to suffer or atone for, characters who disliked or disagreed with him were given legitimate reason for it, and even his “villain turned hero” backstory was deconstructed by repeatedly emphasizing that he still has a “bad guy” mentality/instinct he often fights against and which contributes to his aforementioned mistakes, such as being overly-quick to resort to violence or being willing to take part in an illegal conspiracy [[Tau|for the “greater good”]]. In short, he went from an embarrassingly juvenile fan character that everybody wanted dead to a beloved member of the cast who would make many future appearances because people legitimately liked him now. Even more impressively, when his original creator Shane McCarthy returned to the character years later, he demonstrated that he himself had improved significantly as a writer, actually acknowledging and building off the work other writers did with him where most Mary Sue authors would ignore or lash out at anything that undermined their Sue. It all goes to showcase the reason that the “Bad Writer Syndrome” mentioned on the main page exists; sometimes the only thing a Mary Sue needs to not be a Mary Sue is a new writer who isn’t as unhealthily emotionally-invested in the character and has the objectivity/common sense to see what they ''need'' to be rather then what their creator ''wanted'' them to be.

*Judging from the rest of the list, [[Skub|any character you don't like.]]

===Works with more than too many of them===
*[[In Nomine]]'s Superiors may or may not qualify; if they do, they do so as a block, thus placing them here. The problem here is that each Superior is an NPC made to more or less '''be''' their entire organization (''most'' PCs report directly to at least one of them), and thus needs to be larger-than-life. Ultra high-powered NPCs plus Strong Personalities plus Needing to Show Up Frequently is a formula only in need of a small amount Bad Writing or Poor GMing to go into hardcore Suedom. On the "possibly further from Suedom" side, all the Superiors have exploitable character flaws, but the result is still an edifying example of why High Powered NPCs are a problem.

*Sonichu, made by you-know-who. To make a long article short, just about anyone who is friends with the author or from some franchise <s>s/he/it</s> they like gets to be overwhelmingly hax and unbound by the laws of morality, everyone who isn't is pretty much either nonexistent or very very evil (the latter guaranteed for any character representing someone the author has a personal beef with).

*[[Twilight]]
**[[Derp|Bella Swan]]: Though she is a pretentious, manipulative, male-dependent, self-pitying downer who takes her parents for granted and makes no time for her friends, Bella is adored by all. Her first day of school is supposedly hard for her, despite the fact that every person she meets instantly presents her with a best friend badge and/or falls in love with her. She's also clumsy EXCEPT when there's a moment where she'll die if she does something clumsy. Add being a painfully obvious author surrogate and even being the product of one of the author's dreams (SMeyer admitted that herself), "clumsy" Bella is ''the'' Mary Sue of her generation.
**[[FAIL|Edward Cullen]]: This character is the reason the popularity of vampires took a massive hit when the book came out. Possibly the most rage-inspiring aspect is he introduced the idea that vampires [[What|SPARKLE HARMLESSLY LIKE DIAMONDS IN SUNLIGHT]]! He can read minds, is nearly impossible to kill, doesn't have the vampire weakness to holy objects despite seeing himself as an abomination against God, doesn't feed off humans despite his literal bloodlust (except for criminals or "those who deserve to die"), is always fashionable, owns exotic and expensive cars, and is ridiculously rich and multi-talented. Despite being a textbook case of an emotionally abusive and controlling boyfriend to Bella, he's always treated as having the moral high ground... except when he refuses to make Bella a vampire, but that gets swept under the rug as soon as he changes his mind.
**[[Anal circumference|Jacob Black]]: A Native American werewolf and the third side of the franchise's infamous love triangle. He commits sexual assault on Bella by forcing a kiss (a line not even Edward crossed), trolls the vampires and switches sides between the werewolves and the vampires without consequence. The worst part is when he [[FATAL|falls in love with Bella's and Edward's newborn daughter because of some kind of weird werewolf pheromone thing, practicing wife husbandry on her as soon as she can walk and talk... and all the other characters are fine with this]]. The story also gushes about his looks to the point that the movie doesn't go five minutes without the character taking off his shirt and the camera focusing on his muscles.

*Warhammer unfortunately has several examples, many of them a result of Matt Ward's bad writing. They get much better in the hands of more skilled writers, or in [[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|parodies]].
**[[Cato Sicarius]]. Seriously this guy is Mary Sue's Mary Sue. He was born to a noble house on Talassar, trained with a sword as soon as he could hold one, and was inducted into the Ultramarines. He got commendation after commendation, going from sergeant to company champion to Captain of the 2nd Company in several decades. He refined lightning assaults to near perfection and knows what to do after giving the battlefield only a quick glance. He leads a company of mini-Sues, each squad having a special title for some great feat, such as their Devastators having somehow destroyed a Titan and a tactical squad that hasn't taken a casualty in close to 100 years. He is not only captain of the 2nd Company but "Master of the Watch", "Knight Champion of Macragge", "Grand Duke of Talassar", and "High Suzerain of Ultramar". Seriously, those last two titles are [[pretend|completely made up]]. He's a complete dick, valuing glory for himself and his company over all else. He outright admits to his men that he didn't care about the planet Damnos when they were battling the Necrons over it (where he got his ass handed to him by a no-name Necron Lord). He also decided to appoint himself judge, jury, and executioner for Uriel Ventris when he broke from the Codex, even though they're the same rank and only the Chapter Master has the right to do stuff like that. Oh yeah that reminds me, to top it all off most of the chapter thinks he's next in line to be Chapter Master, instead of Captain Agemman of the first company, even though he's got much (see fuck-tons) more experience than Sicarius. Add all that to the Mary Sue-ness of being a Space Marine and being in the Ultramarines and it reaches critical levels.
*** More recent works have deconstructed and played with this: his glory-hound behaviour and massive ego have put his company at extreme risk multiple times, with his egotistical behaviour at Damnos contributing rather heavily to the thrashing the Second Company was handed by the Necrons; furthermore, he's been relegated to the effectively ceremonial role of Rowboat Girlyman's bodyguard while the Primarch in question attempts to unfuck the Imperium and train Cato to be less of a massive prick. On top of this, he's established to have some pretty severe PTSD after being lost in the Warp near the start of the Indomitus Crusade, which knocked a good deal of his former brashness out of him.
**[[Eldrad|Eldrad Ulthran]], and what's worse: he knows he is, and is a complete dick about it. Though he was recently imprisoned by his Craftworld for trying to help the Imperium and messing up Ynnead's ascension. He then joins the Ynnari after being shunned by his Craftworld.
**[[Kaldor Draigo]]. [[Bullshit|Wrote his mentor's name into Mortarion's heart]] without contracting Spess AIDS, or being fucking destroyed by said Primarch which despite each of those 19 (21?) being capable of rolling through a squad of Custodes without too much effort. Then he got schllupped into the Warp and somehow remains pure.
***Like Sicarius, other authors have taken steps to reduce the Sue factor of Draigo by showing him as a moderately flawed character and retconning some of the more egregiously Sue-ish moments - see the 'Placed in the hands of other authors' section of his page for examples of this.
**[[Marneus Calgar]], especially post-Ward. Killing an Avatar of Khaine by punching its chest in and not getting seriously hurt in said fight with one. An Avatar of Khaine is supposed to be as hard to kill as a Bloodthirster, something that takes a Primarch or a Bio-Titan to beat in a one-on-one fight (then again, Games Workshop loves [[Worf|worfing]] Avatars, and Space Marines are their Creator's Pet). Calgar had his limbs chopped off by the Swarmlord, which didn't kill him due to Plot Armor, and he leads the Ultramarines, themselves considered a Mary Sue chapter in a Mary Sue faction (see the Space Marine entry on this page). These are just the first few examples.
**[[Captain Matthias Ward]], I am the better Mary-Sue.
**The [[Primarch]]s <s>and their [[Warhammer High|daughters]].</s>{{BLAM|'''THOSE WORDS ARE BLASPHEMY! /tg/ can only create perfection!'''}} (To be fair, the daughters are only Sues in that they inherited their Sue traits from their fathers.)
**[[Uriel Ventris]] - despite initially coming off as a subversion of Wardian Ultramarines-are-the-best Mary Sue bullshit, he quickly devolves into [[Skub|Ultramarines are the worst unless they use the Codex to wipe their asses and act like Space Wolves]] - which is pretty much limited to - guess who? - McNeill's OC-Do-Not-Steal Special Snowflake Ventris.
** [[Iskandar Khayon]] is a pretty awesome villain, but some of the stuff he does is just unbelievable, though some of that may be because his book is actually him telling the events to his enemies while captured, so he may be lying about a lot of it to fuck with them.

*World of Warcraft:
**Kalecgos (AKA Kalec), blue dragon who can disguise himself as a human-elf hybrid; from [[World of Warcraft|World of Warcrabs]]. Ham-fistedly inserted into the Blood Elves' redemption story arc as an enabler. Later he takes over the blue dragonflight even though he's not the oldest, wisest or most powerful blue dragon, but simply because he was the only surviving named blue dragon with anything approaching a personality. Later he hooks up with Jaina Proudmoore, a powerful human mage/noblewoman/faction leader introduced in Warcraft III. She does this in spite of their vast age difference (which made her reject an Elven prince who loved her) and bad track record with lovers. Though Kalecgos later disbanded them as an organization, he's still the go-to blue dragon (despite older, more powerful ones like Azuregos and Senegos still being in the lore).
**Jarod Shadowsong, a Night Elf commander shoehorned into the setting in books "War of the Ancients" and "Wolfheart", by Richard Knaak. Brother to canon character Maiev Shadowsong, love interest to Shandris Feathermoon, - Tyrande's adopted daughter with both characters canon since WC3 (Shandris in case you don't recognize her, is that one Elf archer with a unique model present in the first two and last Night Elf missions in ''Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos'') - and the Night Elves greatest war hero after Furion and Tyrande themselves. His mere presence raises morale so much that people, to quote the book, "automatically fight harder and obey him with greater swiftness". He survived a one-on-one fight against Archimonde, a demon lord who can destroy cities single-handedly, because he suddenly decided to toy with Jarod even though time was of the essence. Said war saw various Night Elf DEMIGODS place themselves under Jarod's command! He also lacks any personality beyond humble hero and has no character flaws that effect him negatively. He spends thousands of years after the first fight against the Burning Legion resting on his laurels and doesn't show up when they invade the second time, but no-one calls Jarod out on this in-universe. On top of this, Shandris' love for him is poorly written and makes no sense. Her feelings were puppy love, and after that, Shandris had had no contact with Jarod for ''thousands of years'' until they met again during the Cataclysm. And when they met, Shandris propositioned Jarod '''at his wife's funeral'''. This bears repeating; Shandris pursued someone who she hadn't spoken to for millennia and who was married to someone else by trying to hook up him before his wife's body was even cold (and Shandris is not that kind of ignorant/thoughtless/crazy/predatory person).
**Krasus (AKA Korialstraz) a high-ranking red dragon, mainly due to the author's overuse of him, and said author is also Richard Knaak. He disguises himself as an elf, and said elf is one of the leaders of the Kirin Tor. On top of this, he's Consort/Adviser of the Dragon Queen, he might as well be the Dragon King considering how much importance Alexstraza puts on him and how few decisions she makes until after he's gone. He also gets sent back in time to partake of a historical event despite the fact HIS YOUNGER SELF WAS AROUND IN THAT TIME. He also set up another Mary Sue in Warcraft, Rhonin (NOTE; both characters were created by the same author). To be fair, Krasus is tame compared to most WoW examples listed here.
**Med'an, half human, one quarter draenei and one quarter orc. This alone should set your alarm on. Let's add that he is the son of Garona and Medivh, two quite important lore characters, with the latter being one of the most powerful mortals EVER. Not enough? He is the focus of a prophecy about who will save he world and, thanks to his mixed ancestry, he is skilled in arcane magic (ok, this quite makes sense), but also with the holy light and elements. And, obviously, he saves the world and gains his father's awesome staff and charge.
**Rhonin, human archmage of the Kirin Tor. By Richard Knaak again, Blizzard Entertainment's equivalent of [[Robin Cruddace|Robin Cruddace]]. Knaak made up a new member of the famous Windrunner family just for Rhonin to hook up with. They have half-elf kids who are blessed by dragons despite the fact they've done nothing to earn it (the player characters have done more, but they don't get anything like that; just a few trinkets that will be rendered obsolete by the next expansion), not to mention that those half-elf kids are one of the very rare examples of human-elf hybrids in WoW (the other is Arator the Redeemer, son of legendary characters all the way back in Warcraft 2 - human paladin Turalyon and elven general Alleria). Even the name Rhonin is just the title "Rōnin" (referring to a Samurai with no master during Japan's feudal period) with a few changes to anglicize the name (and, of course, the character doesn't even look Japanese). He gets sent back in time to partake in the first fight against the Burning Legion for no other reason than Knaak wanted Rhonin to be there. He does practically nothing in the game, yet everyone says he's a great hero; even then, he didn't do half the things they praise him for.
**Sylvanas Windrunner from [[World of Warcraft]] (The trend is now a bullet train into Edgytown): Started out as a Fantasy counterpart for Sarah Kerrigan, she's been turning into Fantasy Hitler/Mengele (or rather, was from the beginning). Originally a High Elf ranger in Warcraft III who is killed and turned into a Banshee by Arthas. She sets up the Undercity as a fortress/Horde-run concentration camp for Alliance captives, and has free reign of atrocities ranging from slavery to genocide. Her Royal Apothecary kidnapped innocents to experiment upon under her watch, torturing them for fun and science. While this upset some players, it's not a guarantee of Mary Sue'dom, but the problem becomes obvious as the plot advances. She was already under suspicion before the Wrathgate Incident (she knew about the plague, but not that it would be used on the Horde too), invaded Gilneas, nuked Southshore, waged a torture-filled genocidal campaign on the Humans, manipulated the Horde (and only joined them for selfish gain), built a Cult of Personality around herself, employed the Val'kyr (which even the Death Knights called her out on), resurrected those who she killed against their will despite not liking when it happened to her, shot and killed Liam Greymane then taunted his father Genn about it, attempted to steal the Scythe of Elune to enslave the Worgen to expand her personal army and made a deal with the devil to get the Val'kyr in the first place. The closest she got to any kind of punishment was Lor'thermar threatening to kill her if she raised the Horde's dead as Forsaken, stating he'd leave her to the Alliance if she tried it on their dead and calling her out on several of her actions in Mists of Pandaria - rather weaksauce given the almighty kicking they were giving Garrosh throughout that expansion pack, making him out to be evil incarnate. In Legion, after retreating from the Broken Shore, the crowning moment of Mary Suedom occurs when she ends up being named the next Warchief of the Horde with Vol'jin's dying words, followed by her abandoning the fight against the Burning Legion for a way to cheat death, and everyone in the Horde is okay with this. In the next expansion, the Horde forced the Night Elves out of Kalimdor in the War of Thorns, with Sylvanas pulling an Arthas by forcing the dying commander to watch her burn Teldrassil, an action worse than Garrosh's Bombing of Theramore because Theramore was a military target while the Night Elves had surrendered and Teldrassil was inhabited only by non-combatants. The writers give her plot armor by having "never forsake honor" Saurfang save her life by dealing a dishonorable blow to her opponent. As Sylvanas' atrocities grow barely anyone from the Horde turns against her, and writers pull new powers out of their asses for her culminating in her one-shotting Saurfang and soloing Lich King Bolvar and a horde of undead. The Mary Sue reason on top of all this? She never suffers any ''(literally, ANY)'' setback except Greymane ruining her Val'kyr agenda. All her atrocities and horrors are ignored or turned into heroism, and what's worse, she automatically pulls out the next phase of her agenda out of her ass like some Pentagon's high command after snorting a line of coke each. Her Forsaken, despite horrendous losses and ban on raising unwilling dead, somehow destroys everything with a shred of goodness around her...only for her to get raised to Warchief status like some spoiled prepubescent princess. This issue is compounded by the fact that Sylvanas has a very vocal fanbase and she's the Creator's Pet of at least three of Warcraft's dev team, lead quest writer David Kosak, director Steve Danuser and developer Travis Day (who once insisted [[Skub|she's not evil and just wants to protect the Horde]]). Even with the Shadowlands expansion having Sylvanas as a major villain helping the BBEG, they pull back by shoehorning in a "split soul" plot device to pave the way for her redemption.
**Thrall, the (in)famous Orc Warchief from ''[[Warcraft]]''. Started out cool in WC3 as an Orc orphan raised in a human internment camp who escaped with help from a friend, he led the Orcs because he was the former Warchief's son and a powerful but not story-breaking shaman. By having his forces fight alongside the trolls and Tauren and save them from their enemies he made allies. Though he fucked up by sending Grommash to collect resources from Ashenvale (antagonizing the Night Elves, giving the demons an opportunity to corrupt the Orcs and leading to the death of a demigod who would've been a great help against the Burning Legion), with a lot of help from some allies and another demi-god he sets things right and they kick the Burning Legion's demonic asses off of Azeroth. He still holds the line against threats and tries to make peace, but he's a bit too forgiving of trouble-makers in the Horde (see Sylvanas above and Garrosh below). In the Cataclysm expansion for World of Warcramps, he became Azeroth's premiere shaman and leader of half the world while appointing the <s>[[Skub|VERY CONTROVERSIAL]]</s> <s>balls to the wall violent and universally hated</s> patriotic warmonger Garrosh Hellscream as Warchief of the Horde; despite the protests of several others ''including Garrosh himself'' (who was uncertain he could handle the responsibility of such a role at the time). Takes over as Aspect of Earth from a borderline demigod, and even deals a crippling blow to him when he's empowered by the Old Gods. Even people that were fans of Thrall during Warcraft III have started to get sick of him.
*** The writers appear to have realized what kind of monster they unleashed in Cataclysm and every expansion since has given him a kicking in some way. In Mists of Pandaria Garrosh kicks his ass just before his final fight with the players. In Warlords of Draenor he gets relegated to the sidelines and has [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHwiEbXqh3k another fight with Garrosh], which features a memetastic sequence in which Garrosh pummels his dumb ass while listing his failures. He wins the fight only by cheating and using his shaman powers, and Legion (the expansion) reveals the Elemental Spirits have nerfed him for his blatant haxxing. Even when he begins getting his powers back, you only see that happen if you're a shaman, and he ends up becoming your bitch. Even his big fancy Doomhammer gets misplaced so it can become an Artifact weapon for Enhancement shamans.

*Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" had the most Mary Sues before the phrase existed. In fact her garbage is old enough that the term Mary Sue could be replaced by the name of any one of her characters and it wouldn't change the meaning at all. John Galt<ref>"Eventually, the question you ask stops being 'Who is John Galt?' and becomes 'When will John Galt shut up?'", to quote one common criticism of Galt's famous 56 page speech.</ref>, Dagny Taggart and most of the cast, which figures given her literature's reputation for being barely-disguised political sermon. Galt frequently has the narrative grind to a halt in order to focus on his inane views, somehow single-handedly grinds the economy to a halt by founding a libertarian utopia where no "communists" can hold him or other similar geniuses back, and is shilled as the only sane man after the rest of the world becomes a dystopic hellhole without said "genius". Then there's the primary female character, a wannabe railroad tycoon trying to get a new train line built despite the fact that "evil socialists" can't keep them running without crashing every few hours because of mean ol' unions and regulations oppressing the poor upper class. Said woman somehow manages to bed Hank Rearden, local inventor of a metal alloy supposedly even stronger than steel called Rearden Metal. Yes, just drips with creativity, don't it? It's telling that the Bioshock series, based off her work, is far better received and a more realistic depiction, generally due to taking the prospect of a single man basically playing God to its logical conclusion (I.E. another dystopia but now with blackjack and hookers).
**Nearly all of her works have blatant Mary Sues in them. Best not to bother with a full list because her tree wasting dysentery would take up over half the page. It explains a lot about her psyche that her ideal man was a serial murderer who kidnapped, raped and dismembered young girls.

==Mary Sue Races==
While not every member of a race is a Mary Sue, [[Chakat|with one or two exceptions]], sometimes whole races are considered Mary Sues because they have huge amounts of plot armor and are idealized beyond reason. They were put here as the Mary Sue list was originally conceived for characters. Also, please list them in alphabetical order.

* Although some might find this as [[Skub|arguable]], the characteristics describing the Asari race in [[Bioware|Mass Effect]] are blatantly Mary-Sue. Although not every Asari is a Mary Sue (though some are), when it comes to the general race as a whole, oh boy does their 'Sueness' reach Chakat levels. Examples on what makes them a Mary Sue includes having the second longest lifespan behind the Krogan (over 1000 years, plus they lack the Krogan's violent nature which can easily waste their long lifespans), all of them are biotic users, every single one in the game is intelligent, founders of the council, considered sexy by many other species despite being a monogendered species (even Salarians, who lack a sex drive and mate out of necessity, are shown to be attracted to them), and are deliberately oversexualised by the developers so they can be [[Rule 34|Rule 34'ed to death]]. Their race as a whole is portrayed as peace-loving hippies, the best diplomats, the most respected species in the galaxy as well as having a serious case of "Holier/Morally Superior then thou" attitude. Their ship the "Destiny Ascension" is the largest and most powerful ship in the Citadel fleet and their ships perversely resemble a lady's privates because you know they all look like "wominz". Thessia, their homeworld, is regarded as the "jewel" of the galaxy (instead of the fucking Citadel) as well as having the largest amount of Eezo which partially explains how their entire race is biotics. Any asari can 'Read' most people's minds and inner-thoughts with near complete-accuracy, though only if that person agrees to it (they can literally mindfuck you). Furthermore with their way of reproduction, since they are monogendered (Meaning they're all female) a lot of newcomers in Mass Effect start to scratch their heads on how they manage to get each other pregnant without any physical evidence of having a dick (Although one of the hypothesis is that they might actually screw around with the local fauna AKA Bestiality). However the fluff states this as Parthenogenesis, for those that don't know what it is, think of them as chickens....which is actually hilarious if you seriously put the comparison in context. Another odd thing about their reproduction is that somehow the Asari have the capability of getting pregnant from just about '''''Anyone'''''. [[Chakat|Do those traits sound fucking familiar to you?]] So all in all, not only are they a holy (unholy?) fusion of a smurf, elf and a monster girl, but they also commit in sweaty Lesbian/Bestiality/Xenoality orgies with almost everyone, turning the Asari race into nothing more then a giant Whorehouse for Aliens and Humans to fap in a hundred dozen ways and yet they are still ''okay'' with that....<s>Slaneesh approve of this!</s> {{BLAM|'''''BLAM! BLAM! DOUBLE HERESY!'''''}} But to be fair, at least Asari aren't [[Avatar|furries]] or physical [[Chakat|hermaphrodites]].
** Amusingly enough, the third game reveals that the only reason Asari are so much more advanced than the other races is because the Protheans (the super-advanced precursor race) were deliberately manipulating them and sneaking tech to them in their ancient history in order to give them a boost (such as genetically engineering them to be a race of skilled biotics and [[STC|leaving instruction manuals on how to create all sorts of advanced technology and deal with the other races in their "beacons"]]). The hope was that if they were given enough a headstart, the Asari would be able to unite and lead the other races to victory against the Reapers (in other words, they were deliberately ''trying'' to make the Asari Mary Sues in order to give the next cycle an advantage over the Reapers). Instead the Asari government kept that knowledge to themselves and used it to make their race the most powerful in the galaxy. When the Reapers showed up, the Asari leadership buried their heads in the sand on their homeworld like the smurf elf pussies they are, leaving the other races to fend for themselves, then promptly got their asses kicked by the Reapers (Which they probably deserved it for being such [[Eldar|self-righteous and selfish cockbags]]). Perhaps one of the few instances of a Mary Sue being both invoked and subverted. And then humanity steps up and saves the day, because [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|of course we do]].

*[[Angry Marines]]. When was the last time YOU heard of an Angry Marine LOSING? Thought no-{{BLAM}}
{{BLAM|+The current author has been executed by the Inquisition to prevent the total destruction of the Imperium of Man by Angry Marines. Thank you and have a nice day.+}}

* The Draka, once human, then Posthuman slaver empire from the Domination Series by S.M Stirling, collapsing the "Bullying, slaving, torture-happy, heartless Karma Houdini asshole who is the channelized catharsis of the author rather than genuine art." shtick into a black hole the size of the galaxy. South African British colony turns into a nation of literal "[[Drow]] in human skin" when due to (mis)fortune, every losing side from worldwide wars against tyranny gets exiled to Drakia, the British colony named after Francis Drake. Turning chattel slavery into a race-wide, airtight regulated franchise in the case of blacks, they exploit the entirety of Africa by taking the colonies belonging to the enemies of British people. Unifying in a Spartan way of life, completely shedding any morality in the case of slave control, eventually Draka Dominion declares independence from the British Crown, and turns entire Africa into a mega plantation with industrial giants enticed by obscene gold and diamond handouts exploited from Africa. The Draka then adopt Nietzschean ideals, and declare every non-Draka a slave, or a potential slave. Somehow the First World War happens anyway despite massive divergences, and Draka overrun the dying Ottoman Empire, local Turks, after a brief "enserfment" finding great joy in new and better slave soldier living standards ([[/pol/|being able to rape young white captive Finnish boys seems a source of joy for a moustached swarthy Turk]] [[FAIL|whose name and appearance IRL was one of the last good politicians in Turkey]].). When the second World War starts ([[Wat|with a blond and one-eyed Hitler]]) the Draka start turning white people into slaves starting from Italy with approval of Hitler and employ black slave soldiers who are given ample living standards and items with free rape of anyone that is captured.
** This (Post-World War 2) is where the story turns from an [[Edgy]] /pol/-fanfic to pants-on-head retarded [[/d/|FAPfic]]. Though the series displays a very detailed alternate history AND technological evolution (steamer cars phased out far later than combustion engine driven ones due to efficiency and lack of fuel corrosive-resistant metal research), the Draka's endless S&M laden plantation slave bitch fantasy hits overdrive and they simultaneously conquer Russia, Europe minus Britain, and the entirety of CHINA with black soldiers and their white masters that were, mind you, from an Africa that wasn't overpopulated but ecologically protected. They do not lose one, ONE battle while rampaging and raping and enslaving. Their methods are extremely savage: impalement and rape are regular actions at every resistance, and the black soldiers can take out any psychosis forming from mass atrocities on other slaves back home, every capture tortured until completely broken before being enslaved. Their research facilities have *zero* ethics, using up millions of humans in torturous experiments to develop fantastic drugs, bioweapons and medications since, well, their citizens are drilled from age 2 to 18 with a Nietzsche-on-crack ideology to circumvent a sudden case of conscience to heart. Eventually they change the Draka Citizen DNA to that of an immortal superhuman species, destroy the rest of non-Draka armies with [[/pol/|weaponized AIDS]] and make all slaves into docile abhumans and take over the rest of the world, rape all the women and men, destroy every monument and cultural heritage not belonging to them, turn the USA into a hunting reserve where they hunt humans like animals (and eat them sometimes- AND make paintings, artworks and monuments ''celebrating'' the rape and slavery of non-Draka of all ethnicities). Then the Draka expand into alternate universes, infiltrating our world and its parallel versions and start taking them over as well and enjoying immortal, eternal exploitation of everyone everywhere forever. What the entire US and UK plus the rest of Asia, Japan, Southeast Asia does is to create an Alliance that walks on eggshells and fucks up every espionage action against the Draka, loses every battle and ends up escaping to Alpha Centauri. S.M Stirling eventually writes a sequel where an alternate Earth has the [[Humanity's_Last_Stand|human Alliance win for a change]], but the damage is already done. We are graced with the endless plantation BDSM fetish fantasy of bisexual, blonde, white, transhuman, constantly horny blue-eyed men and women fucking their farm slaves of either gender and make them work their asses off after breaking them in of every little inch of their personalities. A particularly nasty lesbian Draka is Stirling's Creator Pet: she manages to capture the sister of an American soldier who killed her lover and makes her a slave. She tortures her with a mental chip for years to destroy her brain, forcing her to bear her lover's clone children, and rapes her mentally, and eventually, physically. And her side wins the war, the girl escapes an old ruined wreck into space (albeit back to her brother), and our bitch spends her long, long life to torture and kill surviving Alliance holdouts for fun, happily raping, killing and torturing ever after. Seriously, even Kosak had more of a shred of decency, Stirling. The Draka's only saving grace is that every Draka must devote several hours of their time every day to be on top physical condition by ''law'' and always earn their place, as well as senseless slave abuse is seen as a character sickness.
*** And then, since only another suevilization can stop them at this point, they run into The Culture. The End. (well, we can dream, right?)
**** [[Rape|Or the Xeelee]].
***** Especially the Xeelee. We'd even settle for the Qax.

* The [[Drow]] from [[Drowtales]]. Their Mary Sue factor isn't even funny. Shaped by several inputs from several authors, their Drow are the best example of how too many cooks spoil the broth as well as the main author's high school misanthrophy hitting overdrive. The Drowtales' Drow are practically immortal, have regenerating limbs, never menstruate, possess metals that are impenetrable to other sentient beings and virtually twice as big and a thousand times as powerful as other races to the point of a few drow kids on an adventure can butcher a city with innocents to save their friend who was about to be killed for its blood, since humans, hunted and enslaved for centuries, are desperate to the point of killing elves for their blood just to have an edge. Their houses in underworld have all the modern technology and some futuristic things to boot complete with giant walkers and submarines, modern machinery, PARTICLE RIFLES and magitech street lights, but somehow they need human and other races as slaves and this need is shown as just and necessary right at the beginning with the "good" faction's "surface raiders" murdering an entire village and taking women and children to slave markets because the poor widdle drow need slaves and "[[Wat|It's just their unique morality]]". And the way the webcomic shows them as tragic beings is the cherry on top: I didn't know it was so tragic and sad when the humans counterattack to save their raided relatives from your homes, locked in to be sold as slaves.

* ALL [[Chakat|Chakats!]] The entire fucking race are distilled and purified Mary Sues, sometimes warping stories they are barely even mentioned in. Not just [[monstergirls|feline-centaur]] [[/d/|dick-girls]](Sick Fucks), they're also each master psionicists with faster-than-light mind-reading, able to cure deep neurotic complexes with a good deep dickin', strongest and most stable form of 'Taurs', considered as the most "beautiful thing in the universe" despite looking exactly like lions with the fact that they have dicks, morally perfect to the extreme, nobody technically hates them, their breast milk can turn the most feeble human into mini-Arnold Schwarzeneggers and every non-Chakats seem to have a unnatural and unhealthy lifestyle on trying to "Do it" with them, despite the fact that there are hundreds of ''other'' Catgirls outside of this furfag heresy, that are more attractive, cuter and prettier then them with the added benefit that they are actually female, [[HERESY|not hermaphrodite abominations]].

* [[Elf|Elves]] are often portrayed this way in fiction (Look above at Drowtales), though there are exceptions and it's becoming rarer for elves to be portrayed as Mary Sues. A lot of their sueness comes from how idealized they are. They're always beautiful, sometimes even without making an effort, either immortal or have very long lifespans and can only die from violence. They're often considered to have the moral high ground yet also be condescending to the younger races, but the elves contempt kept getting justified in some stories. Some have the natural ability to make anything beautiful from even the most base materials, naturally have great magical ability, and are often favored by their gods. However, there are evil elves in fiction and some elves who are morally good without being Mary Sues. Then there are curvy anime rapebait elves (often dark elves) who get high on male smells and secretions and turn into thicc fuckdolls taking massive amounts of dicking.
** This depiction usually comes from elves as shown in The Lord of the Rings, which is coincidental as it was the end of the Third age and all the bad elves had long since died off, leaving only the wise and good-hearted ones (like Elrond and Galadriel). A read of ''The Silmarillion'' (the heroic First age where elves and magic were strong forces in the world and loads of [[Awesome]] shit happened) will prove quite pointedly that elves in this setting could be just as flawed, stubborn and downright immoral as humans could. Fëanor for instance. And how. He may have been gifted and intelligent even by the standards of elves, and a fierce opponent of Sauron's old boss Morgoth, but he was also an obnoxious, arrogant kinslayer with a creepy attraction to his niece's golden hair, and he didn't give two shits about anybody else's concept of morality up to the Maiar themselves, he just insisted single-mindedly on getting his way until it got him pile-drivered to death by balrogs. It's also very explicit that their time in Middle-earth is coming to an end, with those relative few who remain destined to essentially fade away, and the destruction of the One Ring only accelerates this process.
** Elves from Eragon are probably the worst example of Mary Sue elves yet. Elves from Eragon move so fast that humans are incapable of tracking their movements, stronger than humans to the point "even the weakest (elf) can easily overpower (a human)" (actual book quote), anything they make even from the most base materials is beautiful and they can run over a hundred miles an hour plus maintain that pace for hours on end. Character wise they're all atheists and vegetarians who are treated as morally and spiritually correct in all regards and there are just one or two evil elves in the story or the background lore. They can destroy entire human armies in minutes yet are somehow on the losing end of a war and have to hide in a forest on the edge of the map, are one of only two races on the planet capable of riding dragons, the other being humans (who literally turn into elves when they start riding the dragon plus elves were the first), are naturally connected to magic to such a level that an elven child can surpass an adult human who has spent their entire life studying magic and, apparently, were the second race in existence, only predated by dragons.

*[[Doctor Who|Whoverse Humanity]] takes this up to a 100 million in this case. Depending on the timeline, Humanity not only manage to become the dominant ruler of the multi-galaxy not once, but [[What|'''Five Fucking Times!''']] Without any indication on how they manage to conquer the Galaxy, thriving with hostile Aliens that could LOLStomp the Necrons, Eldar, Orks, Tau, Tyranid, Chaos in all it's forms and the Imperium ''combined''. Furthermore not only are they one of the [[Imperium of Man|most numerous species in the Universe,]] but also one of the most adaptable and longest lasting race, as seen when they are one of the [[Grimdark|few species still alive near the end of the fucking Universe.]] To give you an idea on how fucking ludicrous Humanity got within Doctor Who, in just 500 years from present day, Humanity was already a major force in the Galaxy ([[Star Trek|Compare this to most Sci-Fi timelines]] [[Bioware|where Humanity either just started to explore their surroundings]] [[Halo|or already establish a small and insignificant area]]), as well as having weapons that could make [[Strike Legion]] seem useless in comparison, and when you take note on how short the timeline distance is between the present day and the end of the Universe, it just makes you say to yourself....the Fuck? Compare this to say [[Star Wars]] in which they have the excuse of not knowing how long Humanity has been space traveling, or [[WH40K]] where the thousands of years gap of slow progress before the Warp Drive was invented seem much more plausible then this absurd scenario. You know Humanity is a Mary Sue when even the near-death of the Universe can't kill them off....until a certain Dues Ex Machina appeared. To be fair, they only gain their Sueness momentum when a certain Time Lord keep on foiling the plans of countless Aliens attempting to conquer and crush humanity in various stages in time; either that or because the Doctor has a unusually unhealthy Humanophile fetish. They are probably one of the few examples of a "Accidental Mary Sue", in which the Doctor, with his fancy Time gizmos and intellect, unintentionally guided Humanity to such power levels by either saving their asses from certain doom or altering the timeline so they won't fuck up, due to his love of Humans. Granted Whoverse Humanity is definitely far from morally perfect (A substantial amount of Whoverse villains are Humans and the multiple Human Empires itself are morally questionable at best. The Timelords themselves are hardly better than the Daleks at times.), the main point of contention is how influentially powerful they are for such a young race while at the same time, disregarding other more ancient and more powerful races (Silurian, Cybermen, Sontarian, Ice Warriors, etc) that should be the one having more galactic screen time and hegemony then them.
**In this case, Whoverse humanity's Mary Sueness can't really be blamed on any one author. It's mostly the result of sheer age causing increasingly severe continuity snarls and the unwillingness of newer writers to change or retcon forty year old fluff.

* Dwarves as seen in the Artemis Fowl series. While virtually all dwarven exploits described are performed by one Mulch Diggums, most of his Mary Sueness is excused as "dwarven racial talents." His saliva can harden into a glowing substance that's strong enough to resist high speed impacts, he can fart hurricanes and shit cannonballs, he can dig a self sealing tunnel through any earth-like substance as fast as a man can run, drink water with his pores, use said pores like suction cups if he's thirsty enough, hear better than a stethoscope, and has tremorsense to at least a hundred feet. Dwarves are also described as having access to the fairy magic (Common uses include instant healing, invisibility, and mid-grade mind control), but Mulch gave that up to steal things instead. This despite no readily apparent level adjustment, nor any mention of useful powers before those same powers are necessary, puts this race quite firmly in this category.

* LeShay are a race that appeared as a monster in the D&D 3th edition book [[Epic Level Handbook]] and have been completely forgotten about since then like most of what was in that book. They are described as being to elves what elves are to humans only more so. That sentence alone should immediately set off red flags. LeShay are extremely powerful immortals resembling albino elves who are survivors from a civilization that was erased from history. Whoever it was that came up with this race (some of us blame Raymond Feist, for the Valheru) may even have intended for them to be ''anti''-Sues, to foil the elves. As such the concept is defensible, but they probably would have ended up as Mary Sues if any bad writers had gotten a hold of them. Bad writers like Feist.

* The Mandalorians in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, depending on who's writing them. While good under the correct writers, under some of the bad ones (coughcoughKarenTravisscoughcough), they compete with badly written expanded universe Jedi and Sith for the position of Star Wars' Ultrasmurfs. In the pre-Disney expanded universe, ALL Mandos are elite warrior mercenaries, skilled enough to take out heavily armed enemies with their bare hands and usually packing enough firepower to level a building. They're so badass, in fact, that they're known to hunt Jedi for fucking sport because they're the only thing that'll give them a real challenge. Experienced Jedi hunters can be good enough to fight them head on despite all their Force powers and saber swinging because they have the right gear and experience to counter it. Bear in mind that Mandos do not use the Force in any way. Karen Traviss also writes them with the Mary Sue trait of always being right and people agreeing with them for things they call the Jedi out for that they didn't even do, like creating the clone army (one Jedi who wasn't acting on orders from the council requested that, under the manipulations of Palpatine, and it was him and the Senate who ordered the clones to fight), and generally makes them out to be the pinnacle of civilization despite being warmongers with a history of allying with the Sith and trying to conquer the galaxy themselves. One of the best things to come out of Disney buying Star Wars was the fact that the people in charge of the new canon scrapped pretty much all of Traviss' lore, whereupon she flounced off to go ruin the Halo EU and they got down to creating a more three-dimensional and complex society.
** The most famous Mandalorian, Boba Fett, generally avoids becoming this trope and is just a plain badass (as a bonus he rarely if ever engages in the dick-stroking egomania of Traviss's Mandies), but under bad writers his badassitude can push into this. His father Jango Fett follows this same idea; in fact his origin story partly involves his old merc group of Mandalorians getting slaughtered by a group of Jedi in a moment that reads sort of like "fuck you Karen Traviss". Sure, Jango kills six Jedi with his bare hands in that massacre, but the Jedi he killed were not decades old masters and he is (as an individual) supposed to be that good. The fact that he managed that made Palpatine choose him as the Clone Army template donor.
** And now we have the Mandalorian With No Name (until they ruined that joke by giving him one), who has some Sueish traits; he's an excellent bounty hunter and a skilled gunfighter who rarely loses a duel, he's good enough at diplomacy to negotiate with ''Tusken Raiders'', he has a near-full suit of rare and indestructible beskar armour, and pretty much everyone he meets takes a liking to him, even his enemies. That said, he also has a number of flaws: he was raised in an extremist splinter faction that is to normal Mando society what the [[Cult of the Redemption]] are to regular believers in the [[Imperial Creed]], doesn't always think through the consequences of his actions, is constantly hustling for jobs just to scrape by, and occasionally makes some serious mistakes. He also tends to be at a disadvantage in straight-up fights and has to rely on stealth, misdirection, and ambush tactics, rather than soloing entire stormtrooper platoons in the open with a dull knife like Traviss would undoubtedly have had him doing. He is also most definately '''not''' shown to be a match for Jedi, when got into a scuffle with Ahsoka Tano he lost very badly and only survived by letting her know he actually just needed her help with something, and when Luke Skywalker showed up at the end of the season he wasted a platoon of [[Terminator| Dark Troopers]] while our hero could barely handle one. All in all, he's pretty much the complete opposite of a Traviss Mando, and that is a good thing.

* [[Avatar|All Na'vi]], the blue-skinned eco-humping gobshites.
** Or are they? Without excessive human help (one of them warned the entire planet of what the space humans were capable of) they would have gone the way of countless human indigenous peoples...

* Smurfs. They're portrayed as a peace-loving, quasi-communist society who always come out on top in their primary conflict with an evil wizard family and are idealized to the point of ridiculousness. They're also friends with animals and never have to worry about being eaten even though they're the size of large mice. [[Skub|Then ''again'']], most of the other conflicts they encounter are usually due to one or more of their clan fucking something up in accordance with their [[Derp|singular personality trait]], and overall they seem collectively naive about things to the point of gullibility. Said approach is likely designed to promote the usual aesop of teamwork and the importance of family, so it could be far worse.

* [[Twilight|Vampires in a certain book series]]. Even though they were as gay as fuck (which damaged the reputation of actual vampires).
** [[Vampire]]s in general started falling in modern years due to their weaknesses being forgotten or ignored by untalented authors. They have often been portrayed by such writers as immortal monsters that are top-tier magic users, skilled at all martial arts and forms of killing, master scholars with libraries that would put Alexandria to shame, incredibly attractive and charismatic, and living in huge castles while commanding other monsters like they were their servants or slaves, making them the Elves of the monster world by that definition. Initially in novels like Bram Stoker's ''Dracula'', vampires had notable weaknesses including regularly drinking the blood of many human victims to stay young and powerful, but later writers dropped this in favor of making vampires straight up immortal. Seriously, some writers even give them plot armor to get past their weaknesses of holy objects, divine power or sunlight (though the former usually depends on the author's attitude towards religion and the latter only became outright lethal to vampires in the 1920s).
** [[Tremere|Clan Tremere]] (a.k.a. "Tremary Sues") from the ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' [[RPG|ttRPG game]] are an entire clan of Mary Sues as they were [[Mark Rein·Hagen|the author]]'s pet mages from his previous ''[[Ars Magica]]'' game. Tremary Sues enjoy the narrative absurdity of holding a near-monopoly on vampiric thaumaturgy, despite the fact that older vampiric clans had millennia to perfect thaumaturgy (and many other arts that can blow the Tremere out of the water) before the first Tremere was ever born.
** Probably one of the best exceptions of this is Count Orlock from the classic silent film ''Nosferatu''. Whereas nowadays vampires get the treatment of being oh-so-sexy, suave, charismatic, pitiable creatures whose lives suck despite being immortal, undead bloodsuckers, Orlok is just a hideous predatory monster out to drink blood. No charisma, no suaveness, nothing to pity, nothing to feel empathy for. In short, straight-ahead horror vampires done completely right.
** By contrast, the vampires of the House of Night series by mother and daughter team P. C. and Kristen Cast are far worse examples than even Twilight's bastardization. To clarify, vampires worship the goddess Nyx who is the only real goddess, are selected by a tracker when they are a human teen, are the poor, oppressed minorities of the world even though literally almost every famous person in human history was a vampire, will become utterly handsome and beautiful unless they reject the Change in which case they are afforded no sympathy as they die due to events outside their control, every negative stereotype is because of stupid humans, they can never do anything bad... in short, [[Fail|vampires done so badly that Twilight is more believable as good vampire literature]]. Seriously.
** Higher Vampires from [[The_Witcher|Witcher]] are as sueish as they get around here. Beside the point of being intellectually and spiritually superior to pretty much anybody (and we have immortal elves here), and relatively young ones fast and agile enough to go toe-to-toe with the best witchers that exist, they have NO weaknesses. Crosses, godly idols, other divine aspects? Nada. Drinking blood to live? Not even close, you can grab a <s>human</s>beer with some boys, but there's no neeed for it. Sunlight? Try again. Silver? NO. They are as much suspectible to silver like, say, humans are suspectible to paper swords. Cue in their "racial" power to become stronger and faster the older they get, shapeshifting, mistyfying (as in turning to mist) and unique superpowers, refined throught their lifetime, ranging from coming in handy once in a while better alchemy to [[wat|mind controlling entire kingdom's worth of lesser vampires as on-wish army]], with even that just being stated to be a "unique" power, not a really "powerful" one. The worst is when you realize they are not even "magical beings" by any degree, just a [[Urien_Rakarth|vaguely human-shaped collective of individual living cells just so happened to work together for the time being]], granting them mind-blowing regeneration - nothing, NOTHING, can kill higher vampire but another higher vampire, even if regenerating from a melted puddle of blood would take some decades, they will return. One would start to wonder why they did not steamroll through entire continent and make it their own, to stop hiding and openly search for a way to return to their home world - as almost all higher vampires see themselves superior to other races, and majority would not bat an eye for this [[/pol/|final solution]] - but this just adds to their sueness-good-for-the-sake-of-plot aspect.

* [[Doobies]] describe themselves this way. Aside from their crazed fans, it is obvious to everyone else that they aren't.

* Saiyans from Dragonball are practically born more powerful than any human could ever be, get exceptionally stronger every time they almost die (the words that are actually used to describe it), can literally become strong enough to eclipse actual gods with little effort and have more asspulls and deus ex machinas than any other race on this list. A twenty-three-year-old Saiyan can destroy an entire place with a single movement in the anime, and the manga implies that a Saiyan can do it with a finger before the first manga even concludes.

*The Forerunners from Halo easily fit the bill of being Mary Sues. For one, the Forerunners were created by actual no holds barred Gods who could rewrite time and space with little to no effort. These Gods, known as the Precursors (real original), thought the Forerunners were such hot shit that they decided to make them the new gods of the universe before they moved onto the next one, despite the Forerunners having achieved nothing of note yet. But then the gods changed their minds and decided to make humanity the new gods of the universe. The Forerunners responded by turning on their guns and literally murdering actual gods with no effort. The remaining gods ran off in a panic and turned to dust, later degenerating into the Flood. Then the Forerunners pulled a bunch of crazy shit like building ships that could ROFLstomp everything in Warhammer with minimal effort and creating an AI so advanced it could simulate entire universes in microseconds. Then they somehow got wiped out by the Flood.
**The Forerunner's main enemy, the Flood, are similarly sueish, if not more so. While it is debatable as to whether the Flood should be considered a race or a single organism, it is undoubtedly completely OP, to the point of it being ridiculous. For one, they are quite literally the degenerate (ergo inferior) offspring of the Precursors, but they are somehow better than them in every way. They can infect time and space just by existing for long enough, are completely unbeatable, incurable, and can literally infect all life in the universe, including purely mechanical technology somehow, despite that not being how biology works. They are also capable of convincing AI that was programmed with the simple purpose of protecting all life from being infected by the Flood to join them by simply talking to them, can convince an entire group of human scientists to kill themselves just by saying a single sentence, and can never be defeated as 'they will always return'.

*[[All Tomorrows|The Qu]] from All Tomorrows are an egregious example of “Tell not Show” in this list, as they overpower the future humanity, [[what|even though they have technology capable of destroying star systems and many other things that could be beyond our imagination.]] It is never explained how they managed to defeat the Star People, nor why they would turn them into the fucked up abominations for the rest of the story. Well, they ''kind of'' say their philosophy is one about being gods, that other lifeforms are nothing but toys to play with, and humanity was unfortunately in their path. So for millions years, they turn most humans into twisted mockeries of their former selves, sometimes becoming literal toilets for the bloody things! So despite being an all-powerful race capable of modifying life to remove their sentience, they had the enlightened intelligence to create a race that [[/d/|communicates by literally shitting on each other.]]
**Can somewhat be considered averted in the end when it is said that they were defeated by a union of galaxies who had enough of their shit. This is handwaved even more poorly, with little explanation to how it happened or if the Qu were truly rendered extinct. For most of the book, [[rage|they get away with their literal crimes against humanity, and it’s implied that they’ve done it to more species than just us.]]

== Mary Suetopias ==

As mentioned in the main article, there are some cases of entire civilizations getting the "Mary Sue" label with some justice. Here are a few.

* The Draka, before they become a species, are usually held to be a fairly strong example of a Villian Suetopia. See above in Mary Sue Races for more.
* Anarchist habitats in [[Eclipse Phase]]. To quote TVTropes, they "are apparently flawless societies where robots and nanofabricators provide for everyone, crime is virtually non-existent due to surveillance sensors everywhere and well-armed populaces, and there's no shortage of spare bodies like there is in the Transitional Economies."
* Aldis, from [[Blue Rose]], has this accusation thrown at it, with some justification.
* The various civilizations of Ayn Rand's science fiction are either Mary Suetopias or Villain Suetopias. No in-between.

* [[Ultramar]]. Need more be said?


There are some "special cases" (parodies, twists, and deconstructions), that are worth mentioning:

* Ursula K. LeGuin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" is... odd. Go read it if you want more, because it's ''very'' short. 
* Rapture and Columbia from the Bioshock series are "functionalist" Suetopias: Because the games are about killing lots and lots of dudes, you need to have those dudes be crazy or assholes or both. Rapture under Andrew Ryan could actually be interpreted as a criticism of Ayn Rand's Suetopias by showing how they will go wrong in a less ideal world, while Rapture after Sofia Lamb's takeover is an equally scathing deconstructive critique of collectivist Suetopias. Columbia, meanwhile, is a very obvious attack on ultranationalism and religious extremism, while also serving as a demonstration that even the so-called "good old days" often had negative aspects to them.
* The original "Utopia" by Thomas More is interesting, in that it somewhat parodies the concept before it existed. To provide two examples, "Utopia" is a pun on ''eutopia''-"good place", and ''outopia''-"no place", and the frame story narrator's name translates as "Peddler of Nonsense". Yes, this means that the man who literally coined the term Utopia immediately considered it a wishful fantasy.
* Mordent, from [[Ravenloft]], has a somewhat interesting twist. Its Darklord focuses more on Ghosts than on the living, so the living aren't the focus of the horror, and as such, for Ravenloft, it's a relative Utopia ''for the living''. Once you die there, however...
* Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" is widely interpreted as a parody of such works.
* The Federation of [[Star Trek]] seems like a Mary Suetopia on the surface. However, because the show was initially focused on morality stories, they're rather prone to Insane Admirals in Starfleet (to the point that one of the show's writers joked about the Federation's training standards), an early sign of cracks in the foundation. Later seasons of TNG and all of ''Deep Space Nine'' brought those cracks directly into focus, with the Maquis and the consequences of the Dominion War. Captain Sisko even rants about this a few times during the show; sure, Earth in the Star Trek-verse is practically a paradise compared to most other planets in the galaxy, but "It's easy to be a saint in Paradise," and the Federation has a much harder time living up to that image outside of their home system, examples including the Federation spy agency Section 31 engineering a virus to use on The Dominion's Founders (aka rulers) or Sisko himself collaborating with a former Cardassian spy/assassin to bring the Romulans into the war via a ''massive'' fraud. Also, what some people forget is that the episodes from the perspective of the characters, take anywhere from hours to days and even longer during multi-episode storylines. Even the crew of the original Enterprise could spend weeks to get the solution shown during the final ten minutes or end up exhausting all other options to take a random shot in the dark that solves the current problem. Usually, this didn't involve pulling it out of the writers' collective asses or pressing the reset button, something that happened often enough on Voyager and Enterprise to an unrealistic degree that viewers started hating them.
* Wakanda, from [[Marvel Comics]] wasn't this originally - it was just an African nation that avoided getting buttfucked during the Scramble for Africa and which had instituted a policy of sending its best and brightest abroad to learn at the most advanced foreign schools before returning to share what they learned with their people, thus keeping it well ahead of most other African nations and on par with the most civilized "first world" nations. They still had Vibranium as an ace up their sleeves, but they were more "America during the Atomic Energy race... if America had the world's only known supply of fissile material". It was subsequently retconned that the presence of Vibranium meant that Wakanda was centuries ahead of the world technologically and always had been. Different writers have applied differing levels of counter-Sue-ishness to Wakanda on this basis, ranging from making them archetypical "smug Utopians", who think knowing the cure for Cancer makes them better than others, to presenting them as a technologically advanced nation that's still imperfect, having deep social and political problems like any other country. The first Black Panther movie especially interrogated the premise of this nation's existence by pointing out that they stood by while atrocities happened all over the world, including to other black people, and they did nothing about it to protect their own hides. The short-lived "Ultimate Universe" took perhaps the biggest piss on the idea of Wakanda as the "Mary Suetopia" by replacing the "because Vibranium" background with "we reverse-engineered a crashed alien starship", and emphasizing that this didn't make them as powerful as they thought, as they ended up needing the Ultimates (Ultimate Marvel's Avengers) to save their asses when the aliens who lost that ship in the first place came knocking looking for their property.

* Alpha Complex, from [[Paranoia]]. Need more be said?


== Somewhat Special Cases of "Not Quite Sues" ==

There are a few situations where a character either (1) isn't really a Sue, even though the accusation gets pointed at them often, (2) is sufficiently clearly a parody or deconstruction that they don't count for the main list<ref>On the theory that both are technically attacks of Sue-style characters, which moves them into a strange twilight zone of classification.</ref>, or (3) aren't in any way Sues, but are needed to give some context to something above. This section is for these special cases. Note that '''characters who veer in or out of Suedom depending on the author or episode go on the main list, as do Sues who audiences actually like''' (such as Darkseid or Squirrel Girl).

* The Crimson King from Stephen King's Dark Tower series. He's talked up as a big threat, and his plan legitimately threatens the universe; but when confronted, he turns out be a paper tiger, whose chief power was getting so many people and monsters working on one page on his plan to destroy the world, and was otherwise actually rather mediocre compared to them. Given the heavy theme of '''disappointment''' in both the series as a whole and the last book of it in particular, this sorta worked on a meta level, but was very, well, disappointing. (For the main reason he's included here, see Darkseid above; the contrast between these two [[BBEG]]s gives you a good idea of why a paper tiger BBEG is often felt to be a problem.)

* Griffith, from [[Berserk]], seems a Mary Sue on the surface: he leads the efforts to save Midland and defeat the Kushan invaders while everything goes his way and everyone praises him... but then you remember that he's also a member of the Godhand who's got reality-warping powers handed to him in a handbasket and uses them to manipulate everything and everyone around him to his advantage. Basically, Griffith hacked the game and then began playing on the lowest difficulty, while setting it to Ultra-Nightmare for everyone else. If anything, Griffith is all the common jokes people make about a Mary Sue deconstructed, showing how utterly awful and soulless such a person would actually be. On the other hand, one of his former Warband member, Rickert, saw through his bullshit and bitch slapped him for it even though he wasn't there when Griffith betrayed his comrade. So not everyone is falling for Griffith.
** That being said, these facts don't change the following: He is portrayed as a tactical genius, yet during all his battles he is using absolutely retarded tactics, but all of them still work, because his high-ranking enemies turn out to be just a bunch of bumbling idiots. Can't push "time manipulation" excuse on this, they are just stupid; He's lost only two times and didn't die the first time, because Zodd had a plan for him and the second time, because Guts didn't want to kill him; The lowest point in his life i.e. a year of torture in the end led him into becoming a member of Godhand and then getting resurrected as "Griffith, but cooler", read "even when he fails, he doesn't"; The only time he had a formidable foe after this, he beat him with a single blow, while everyone else could barely stand against him; The second time he faces same formidable foe, he just bullshits his way out of that fight and creates his promised kingdom out of it. It's like if Superman blew up Darkseid with one punch (that was not even his) and created Paradise planet from his corpse; Despite sacrificing men who sworn to protect him and raping Casca just to get back at Guts, he didn't have any moral downfal afterwards, his character hasn't changed any single bit and everyone, except his ex-buddies (if they wouldn't, that would be too stupid), adore him, even if they know what he's done; Also, Godhand treats him like a messiah and people consider him Flaming Falcon i.e. he is also a chosen one.

* Jonathan, from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Superstar", provides a pretty good case study of the in-universe Mary Sue.

*Joeseph Joestar, though he does have some sueish traits such as being a super-genius who can trick anyone and knows exactly what people are going to say before they say it, alongside having the appearance of a Greek god, is very much not a Sue when you actually get down to it. He is extremely flawed, to the point of being weaker than all of his allies in part two and part three, both physically and stand/hamon wise, is very obviously outclassed by the villains of both respective arcs (Dio being able to easily beat him without even touching him, and Kars being a literal god by the end) and does extremely scummy things, such as cheating on his wife with a Japanese woman, who's race he supposedly hates. His grandson, Jotaro Kujo, on the other hand...

*Momonga/Ainz Ool Gown from Overlord boarders on Mary-Sueish and is the protagonist of an [[Isekai]] work, but is also a decent deconstruction of Invincible Villain Sues at the same time. He is transported to a fantasy world as his [[Lich]] MMO avatar, along with his Guild Hall and all its NPCs, now alive. He's still a no-life (literally) Japanese salary man, but finds he has lost his humanity and feelings, all the better to pretend to be (and eventually become) the overlord his adoring minions expect. These expectations pressure him to conquer the world with his gamer skills, system knowledge and corporate experience, min-maxing his way to success whilst bullshitting people that he's an evil mastermind. He still has many advantages however in resources, magic and diplomacy (substituting sales pitches for evil monologues, surprisingly easy) compared to all other characters so far. This results in him single-handedly winning wars, having an Empire become a vassal state almost by accident, and annexing a whole town from a neighbouring kingdom to rule over (Word of god is that no other YGGDRASIL players will appear). Being by many definitions OP, the story's drama arises from him not having complete control and knowledge of his minions' actions.
** Though fanatically loyal, they are constantly guessing his true intentions to try and impress him, misinterpreting his commands, and in some cases outright deceiving him. Two such examples are Ainz's advisor Albedo plotting behind his back to kill other Supreme Beings that he wants alive and unharmed, and Demiurge harvesting human captives to make magical items for their use (Demiurge himself considers humans "animals" and refers to them as such, hence Ainz has never found out). Both are in part because of Ainz's actions, and in any case, he has ordered and done equally terrible things himself.
** While most of Ainz's female guardians lust after him, even this is deconstructed. Albedo's a [[succubus]], so lust is par the course, and full-force [[/a/|yandere]] for Ainz because he altered her code in YGGDRASIL to change her from " a slut" to "in love with Momonga" as a joke. Shalltear wants Ainz because he's a walking skeleton and she's a necrophile (she's not to Ainz' taste being a loli vampire; furthermore, she holds her absent YGGDRASIL creator in higher esteem than Ainz), while Aura keeps a lid on her crush (she's a flat-chested teenage elf and wary of jealous reprisals from Albedo and Shalltear). Ultimately, the fact that Ainz is a walking skeleton means he's unable to fulfil their desires or consummate his own.
**TL:DR: Ainz's skills as a salary man and a competitive gamer don't translate well to politics or world conquest. Without his own gamebreaking powers, his almost as powerful loyal NPCs, his permanent poker face (well, poker skull) and a dose of incompetence from some of the enemy commanders, Ainz's plans wouldn't have worked nearly as well.
** To give one an idea of just how lousy Ainz is as an actual ''leader'', in an official list made by the author of the best leaders in the series, [[Lulz|Ainz is close to ''dead last'']].

* The Monkey King, from [[Mythology|Journey To The West]], if one assumes he isn't a religious figure and thus safe to include in this list, is interesting in that while he's very close to being a Mary Sue, several factors drag him away from the classification:
*#He's charged with protecting an unworldly monk, along with a horse (actually a shapeshifted dragon, which even the author seems to forget about), a borderline nonentity, and a pig-headed idiot (in both senses of the term, since he's a pig-demon who often lets his selfishness screw the group over). Rescuing them is most of what he does in the main body of the story.
*# He's repeatedly shown as being outwitted by the Buddha and Guanyin, and is outright curbstomped in combat by some of the many demons they encounter along the journey. While Wukong usually wins in the end, he rarely wins with no setbacks at all (whether that's physical injury, emotional turmoil and angst, or his friends getting kidnapped again) - contrasting heavily with a typical Mary Sue's victories being all but handed to them.
*#On a related note, he doesn't win everything and anything by himself: for example, during the contest with the Three Immortals, the last task (sitting on top of a pillar for days on end without moving) has to be undertaken by Tripitaka (the monk) specifically because Monkey's impulsive ways and lack of patience render him unsuitable for it; much earlier, he's rendered temporarily blind and has to rely completely on an otherwise neutral Bodhisattva to fight for him when faced with a demon he can't outsmart or outfight. This contrasts heavily with the omni-competence displayed by many Mary Sue characters.
*#He's pretty heavily flawed as a character, being impatient, reckless, childish, and frequently hot-headed - all of which have actual consequences for the Monkey King (ex.: rashly accepting Buddha's 'jump out of the palm of my hand' challenge, which gets him stuck under a mountain for several centuries; killing a demon disguised as an innocent woman without explaining himself first gets him kicked out of the party by his pacifistic boss; bumrushing a powerful demon nearly gets him killed by the True Fire of Samadhi, forcing him to go to Guanyin for help), with a good portion of the story involving him undergoing character development and overcoming these flaws as opposed to starting out as the pinnacle of morality with zero flaws whatsoever.
*#If one cares to dip into a religious reading, one can see in his introduction the clear Buddhist message "No matter how awesome you are, you are still trapped in the machinations of Desire and Karma"; alternately, if you don't care for religion, there's also the message "make enough of a nuisance of yourself, and your enemies will eventually slap you down even if it means X" (in the case of the Monkey King, swallowing their pride and asking help from somebody they dislike).
**TL;DR: Sun Wukong can be viewed as a deconstruction of certain kinds of Mary Sues, before the idea of a "Mary Sue" was even created.

* [[The Raven Queen]] is a fairly good example of why "Mary Sue" accusations, unless taken from a Author-Centered or Functional perspective, are somewhat useless. TRQ hits many Mary Sue buttons, and thus is sometimes accused of being a Sue. ''HOWEVER,'':
** She's never the protagonist, and when she does appear, she's treated the same as any of the other deities in 4e. Accusations of Functional Suedom thus sort of fall flat.
** While she may hit some Authorial-Centered (or Doylist) definitions of the term, it's probably more appropriate to compare her to just about any other non-monster female character in 4th Edition D&D in this context--while she is obviously designed to attract those who are attracted to a certain kind of woman, so are all the other non-monster females (to quote a famous demotivator, "RPG Artwork: Let's face it, a lot of it is porn. (Pretty odd porn, too)."). 
** She is no longer an example at all due to her backstory being completely rewritten in 5th edition to make her fit in with the setting better. She is no longer even a god since her attempt to become one was sabotaged, turning her into a phantom with a craving for knowledge and memories.

* Saitama from One-Punch Man. As the title indicates, he's able to defeat just about any opponent with one punch (with a few exceptions that require two or, rarely, three). While this makes him stronger than most of the "S-Class heroes" (the highest rank in the Hero Association), at the start of the series Saitama's personal life royally sucked: he had to pinch pennies to eat, had no knowledge of the Hero Association until he was notified by others of its existence, and his sheer strength means that his fights are inevitably painfully one-sided and boring for him. Even the arc villains who force him to use his Serious Series techniques will leave him bored, and since nobody knew who he was until recently, credit for his work went to other people. Capping it all off, the superhero name he was given by the association is [[Lulz|"Caped Baldy"]].
** Just to be clear, the main reason why he's not actually a Sue has to do with the main focus of the series: that Saitama gets no satisfaction from his lopsided victories, and the fact that the World's Strongest Man is something of a pathetic loser.
** The Monster Association Arc actually served to highlight Saitama's flaws since his knack for getting lost, stuck, or just being late to a fight meant that the Hero Association had to get by a number of very hard fights without his help, which included a battle with a villain who would have wiped out humanity. Even though Saitama is virtually unstoppable, he still can't protect the world on his own.

* Rick Sanchez from Rick and Morty, for the first two seasons. When it comes to his (seemingly) limitless ability to invent crazy sci-fi tech and to get himself out of virtually every tough spot, not to mention with getting away with being a colossal jerk to everyone around him, Rick could qualify as an anti-Sue. But his character is far from perfect, and he often falls under a combination of archetype and deconstruction. As a person, he is an older man who’s had a tough break (divorce and the death of a close family member in some parallel universe), and the fact that he has all this tech and that he either can't solve his personal problems or prevent new ones from occurring. Though the fact that he can be funny, the handful of moments of his positive qualities and being a fictional character do contribute to his likability.
** Again, to be clear: Rick's antics would probably qualify him for the main list under normal circumstances, but the show is very clear on a few points that move him here: First, Rick is an asshole (also a massive nihilist), and not the type you want to be, either (it's almost directly stated that his assholery grows from some pretty grim experiences and knowledge); second, Rick is not somebody you want to be, nor be around; and third, the writers realize that he's both of the above.
**Season 3 however, ruined this and tried to attempt to drop his despicability, what few weaknesses he had, and just plain made him extremely overpowered. The only reason we haven't moved Rick back to the main list is because, if you look at the production end, it becomes obvious Seasons 1 and 2 were effectively a completely different show from later seasons. The newer seasons have wavered between "Rick is a nigh-unstoppable god" and "Rick is a terrible, broken wreck of a human being who nobody should want to emulate", but seem to be coming down way more firmly on the latter side of things.

* The main casts of [[Star Trek]] in the TOS and TNG eras (besides Wesley due to being Roddenberry's self insert and Voyager due to poor writing all around)--in particular, James T. Kirk when not written by William Shatner-- provide a good reference line for Suedom. Although they are usually right by authorial fiat, there are several points that point the other way from Suedom:
*#They are also usually allowed to be wrong about an issue, at least initially (and rarely, but still often enough to be worth mentioning, all the way to the end of the story).
*#The fact that the focus is usually on the scenario presented, rather then the perfectness of the characters.
*#They all have character flaws (Kirk's "No Such Thing As A No Win Situation" attitude is presented as something that could get him and his crew killed one day, for a notable example.)
*#They are not omni-competent, even within their field -- Kirk has canonically been outmaneuvered multiple times.
*#Most importantly, the writing is usually of sufficient quality to not make their perfectness an issue (except, in Kirk's case, for works written by William Shatner).
*#Notably, as part of #2 and #5, there is no "right" solution to many of the situations beyond "survival"; the audience is usually allowed to draw its own conclusions about the morality of the situation, whereas the author of a Sue typically drives home in heavy-handed fashion that X is ''definitely'' the morally correct course of action.
** Combined, these points make them a good reference line for "hyper-competent" characters: Beyond here may lie Suedom.
*** The creators of DS9 succeeded in toning down the Mary Sue factor a bit. This was a necessity when one of the premises of the series was energy based aliens who live in a wormhole who know little to nothing of meatbag values and have no concept of time. The were even given a weakness too. The Prophets also did some pretty fucked up shit themselves and had to be convinced to do help out the main cast. Even when the Alpha Quadrant was being invaded by an empire that [[/pol/ ]]wishes they were. The Dominion themselves are a deconstruction of pre turn of the millennium [[Imperium of Man]] and [[Star Wars|the Galactic Empire.]] Unfortunately post Voyager Star trek went Transwarp speed in the other direction and the franchise had to be rebooted. [[fail|Twice]].

* At first glance, Tsukiko from [[Order of the Stick]] seems like a textbook Mary Sue, given the LONG list of Mary Sue boxes she ticks: Heterochromatic eyes, great beauty, skimpy clothing, unusually skilled for her young age, Japanese name meaning "moon child", oppressed by a stuck-up society not understanding her greatness etc. But in reality, Rich Burlew wrote her as a satire and deconstruction of the Mary Sue archetype and the mindset that often creates such characters. Listing them off:
*# The reason she was "oppressed by society"? Azure City's legal system threw her in jail for '''literal''' [[Magical realm|corpsefucking]]. Yes, she's a necrophile, and it's treated as being just as gross as it is IRL, even by other villains.
*# Great beauty? Nobody cares, and it doesn't make her a good person by default.
*# Sees good in the bad guys that nobody else does? It's based on deliberately ridiculous logic that is completely wrong anyway. (To be exact, she holds the view that [[What|the living are jerks, and the undead are the opposite of the living, ergo the undead must be good people]]; the batshit insanity of this is called out for what it is.) Also, she thinks that Xykon is some kind of [[Twilight|Edward Cullen type-guy]], as opposed to the [[Alignment|Chaotic Evil]] [[Lich]] [[Sorcerer]] he ''actually is''.
*# A bad guy becomes a complete dumbass to accommodate her genius? Nope, Redcloak only let her have her way so his own, far more subtle machinations could avoid having attention drawn to them; when she forces his hand, he gladly demonstrates to her that she was completely outclassed by him the whole time.
*# The bad guy gets effortlessly beaten by her because of her skills? Ha ha ha -- hell no. When she confronted him, Redcloak casually killed her in deliciously karmic fashion by effortlessly dominating her Wights ([[/d/|simultaneously her surrogate children, minions and lovers]]), removing her enchanted anti-level-draining ring, and then ordering them to devour their creator as he delivered a scathing "You suck!" speech to her about how undead are not ''people'', just complex ''weapons''; her thinking otherwise doesn't make it so and if she ever thought he was powerless before her, she was dead wrong.
*#Just to really drive home the point: for all her big talk and all her supposed greatness, nobody on Team Evil gives a damn when Redcloak quietly ganks her (except the Monster in the Darkness, but they're the resident softie of the team) and she's swiftly forgotten about.
** TL;DR version: Tsukiko is a parody and deconstruction of a Sue, who is shown to be objectively deluded about everything and suffers actual consequences for her actions.




[[Category:Mary Sue]]

One D&D

2023-04-29T08:16:51Z

2A02:908:238:F120:F54E:F1CB:6079:2D55: /* Races Species */

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'''One D&D''' is the latest attempt by Wizards of the Coast to revamp the [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition| soon-to-be 10-year-old 5th Edition]] and change some rules. The full release will launch in 2024, commemorating the 50th anniversary of this long-running franchise. Playtesting for it began in August 2022, and will likely continue with monthly documents until release.

The main premise for this edition (and the reason why it's using One as a title) is that WOTC plans on not only releasing books, but also an online database that will always be updating. This is so that players don't have to suffer having to wait for years for errata, plus avoiding some of the pain of having to buy both a book and digital rules.

However, this came with ''massive'' blows such as the OGL being put under threat for a good bit and the game deciding to emulate the [[skub|skubtastic]] microtransactions found in video games. As such, many think One D&D will be the death of the franchise (or at very least revert all the goodwill and success the franchise has gained with 5E), though whether this will actually come to pass remains to be seen.

==Backwards compatibility==
In numerous interviews, the WOTC team repeatedly said that One D&D stuff would be backwards compatible with old 5e stuff. This was likely told to the public to prevent a massive edition war and D&D exodus. WOTC doesn't want the players to think it will be 6e and suffer a repeat of [[D&D 4e|4th edition]], after all.

In the interim, will it actually be compatible with 5th edition? Well, rather than thinking about it as jumping from 3e to 4e, a jump from 3e to 3.5e would be a better comparison. For player options, 3.5 was much better and more desirable than 3. 3e stuff was still usable, but 3.5 was an upgrade, and so it seems that OneD&D will do the same thing. OneD&D's goal seems to be revamping character creation and making minor tweaks to the mechanics to give the system some much needed freshness. Of course, right now most releases are just first drafts, so there is a lot to criticize before the final release.

On the adventure side, since 5e isn't a very technical terminology-heavy game, often just pointing the DM to the rulebook about how to resolve a situation will do. It is highly unlikely that anything in an adventure book would break, unless stuff like the orc statblock or the stunned condition or Dexterity Saving Throws are no longer in the game. We'll see in time.

==Differences from 5e==
===Playtest 1: Character Origins===
====<s>Races</s> Species====
Races no longer provide stat boosts, likely WOTC's attempt to decouple genetic lineage and ancestries from influencing how a character is built. At least this makes the message clear as opposed to the way they did it in Tasha's, which reeked of having it both ways.

*'''Humans''' are now even stronger than ever, not only gaining the extra skill, but also taking the Variant Human's extra feat as well as gaining <s>Inspiration</s> Heroic Advantage on a long rest. Curiously, Half-Elves and Half-Orcs are gone, but that's because the document explicitly tells you that you can make any scion of two Humanoid races by taking the crunch of one of the parents and fluffing the visual aspects however you prefer - the given example is the child of a Gnome and a Halfling, using the latter's rules with the former's pointed ears (except that Jeremy Crafword stated, that they remove half- races because half- is [[derp|"inherently racist"]]). Humans also can be medium or small size as they now acknowledge dwarfism is a thing.
*'''Ardlings''' are pretty much furry [[Aasimar]], being resistant to radiant damage and having limited flight. There are different subraces, but all that changes are which spells they learn as innate spells as they level up.
*'''Dragonborn''' remain the same as they have been in the CRB with some of the updates Fizban's provided. Sadly, the subrace variations didn't seem to make it, as they gain no other abilities and all breath weapons now spread out in cones.
*'''Dwarves''' lost their subraces but remain pretty strong despite it. While they retain their resistance to the poisoned condition and tool proficiencies, they now improve their HP by 1 each level and have a limited form of Tremorsense as opposed to the situational skill bump Stonecunning used to have.
*'''Elves''' remain pretty much the same as ever. High Elves now lost their weapons training, Drow lost their day-blindness and Wood Elves lost their hiding perk, but now all three of them have innate cantrips and spells as they level up. This is particularly effective for the High Elf as they can swap out their innate cantrip with each long rest.
*'''Gnomes''' as a whole didn't get changed but the subraces did. Forest Gnomes' ability to talk to animals is now a spell-like ability that can only be used a few times a day while Rock Gnomes now have two innate cantrips at the cost of their situational skill perk.
*'''Halflings''' have also lost their subraces, but gained advantage on Stealth checks on top of all their other abilities.
*'''Orcs''' are available, retaining their MotM abilities.
*'''Tieflings''' are the only race to have outright lost stuff even when compared to their CRB selves. Gone is the default fire resistance and innate spells besides the Thaumaturgy cantrip. While there are subraces available, they only provide new innate spells, including a cantrip and a thematically-linked resistance, intended to represent which underworld they descended from.

====Backgrounds====
Backgrounds are a lot more critical to a character's development, as they are now what provides the stat boosts that formerly would have just attributed to races, meaning that it's now the upbringing that defines a character rather than heredity. In addition, instead of the vaguer narrative abilities, each background now automatically provides a feat, language, and tool proficiency. Building your own custom background is the default but UA provides some pre-made examples if you can't decide:

*'''Acolyte''' +2 Wis +1 Int. Gives the Magic Initiate (Divine) feat, giving you a bonus Divine spell to cast, which might be handy for paladins.
*'''Artisan''' +2 Int +1 Cha. Gives the Crafter feat, not only providing proficiency with several different tools but also makes crafting faster and more efficient.
*'''Charlatan''' +2 Cha +1 Dex. Gives the Skilled feat so it's a decent all-rounder to take for a ton of skills.
*'''Criminal''' +2 Dex +1 Int. Gives the Alert feat to not only improve Initiative (Only adding +Proficiency bonus instead of full advantage) as well as the ability to swap Initiatives with someone else if you're feeling greedy (or charitable).
*'''Cultist''' +2 Int +1 Cha. Gives the Magic Initiate (Arcane) feat, giving you a bonus Arcane spell to cast.
*'''Entertainer''' +2 Cha +1 Dex. Gives the Musician feat, not only providing proficiency with multiple instruments but also the ability to give allies <s>Inspiration</s> Heroic Advantage after a rest.
*'''Farmer''' +2 Con +1 Wis. Gives the Tough feat for more HP.
*'''Gladiator''' +2 Str +1 Cha. Gives the Savage Attacker feat to re-roll weapon damage once per turn.
*'''Guard''' +2 Str +1 Wis. Gives the Alert feat to not only improve Initiative (Only adding +Proficiency bonus instead of full advantage) as well as the ability to swap Initiatives with someone else if you're feeling greedy (or charitable).
*'''Guide''' +2 Wis +1 Dex. Gives the Magic Initiate (Primal) feat, giving you a bonus Primal spell to cast, which might be handy for rangers.
*'''Hermit''' +2 Wis +1 Con. Gives the Magic Initiate (Primal) feat, giving you a bonus Primal spell to cast, which might be handy for rangers.
*'''Laborer''' +2 Con +1 Str. Gives the Tough feat for more HP.
*'''Noble''' +2 Cha +1 Int. Gives the Skilled feat so it's a decent all-rounder to take for a ton of skills.
*'''Pilgrim''' +2 Wis +1 Con. Gives the Healer feat for some non-magical healing.
*'''Sage''' +2 Int +1 Wis. Gives the Magic Initiate (Arcane) feat, giving you a bonus Arcane spell to cast.
*'''Sailor''' +2 Dex +1 Wis. Gives the Tavern Brawler feat to provide improved unarmed combat and ways to use improvised weapons.
*'''Soldier''' +2 Str +1 Con. Gives the Savage Attacker feat to re-roll weapon damage once per turn.
*'''Urchin''' +2 Dex +1 Wis. Gives the Lucky feat for some re-rolls to impose upon yourself or the enemy.

====Other changes====
* Rolling ability checks, attack rolls, or saving throws are now classified as '''d20 Tests'''. A DM can warrant a player making a d20 test as long as the DC is not less than 5 (so trivial that failing would make you look incompetent) or 30 (an impossible task you can only accomplish by breaking the game).
* Rolling a nat 1 on a d20 Test is an automatic fail. Everyone already thought it was a thing, so the devs decided to embrace it.
* Rolling a nat 20 on a d20 Test is an auto success (but doesn’t bypass limitations on the test, such as range and line of sight, (looking at you bard)). It also gives the player a point of inspiration.
* Inspiration is being more encouraged as a mechanic, with more ways to get it like rolling a nat 20, and you can give another player inspiration if your single slot is full.
* Spell attack rolls don't benefit from critical hits (for now).
* Monsters no longer roll critical hits for attacks. (That is what the recharge mechanic is for.)
* Like [[Pathfinder 2e]], spells available are divided into three main lists (Arcane, Divine, and Primal) rather than each class having its own list. PCs will draw most of their spells from one of the three based on class, with additional spells added from the race, feats, and additional class abilities.
** However, the Experts UA did reveal that the spell lists for the individual classes will be more restricted, with some classes being forbidden from prepping spells from specific schools in the place of the class-specific lists.
* The incapacitation condition also adds the following penalties: Your concentration is broken, you can't speak, and you have disadvantage on initiative checks if you are incapacitated when it starts.
* If a long rest was 1 or more hours in before being interrupted, the PCs gain the benefit of a short rest.
* Combat immediately resets the 8 hours needed to gain the benefit of a long rest instead of part of the 1 hour of strenuous activity.
* Reintroduced the Slowed Condition: Creature must spend 2 feet of speed to move 1 foot, attack roll hit with advantage, and they roll Dexterity saving throws at disadvantage.
* Clarified Unarmed Strikes are not Weapon attacks. Also, Grapple and Shove are additional options when an Unarmed Strikes hit instead of choosing to inflict damage. Now Grapple and Shoves scale off (Str + Proficiency) vs (enemy AC) instead of Athletics vs enemy Athletics or Acrobatics. There will likely be more options for the monk.
* Grappled Condition now: prevents you from ''change(?)'' (probably polymorph or misspelled charge? Didn’t list it in the glossary), have disadvantage on attacks not against grappler, the grappler gains the slowed condition (see above) while dragging the enemy they grappled. Escaping a grapple uses a Dexterity or Strength saving throw instead of Athletics or Acrobatics.
** The Druid/Paladin playtest clarified this a bit to mean that the condition locks your speed to 0 and that this cannot change.
* Athletics and Acrobatics have been nerfed, as they are no longer used to make or escape a grapple. RIP using expertise to be grapple king.

===Playtest 2: Expert Classes===
====[[Bard]]====
* Bardic Inspiration's uses per day are now capped by proficiency rather than Charisma.
** Bardic Inspiration can also be used as a budget healing spell rather than augmenting a healing spell.
** Bardic Inspiration can now only be used as reactions, cutting down on the prep time of casting and hoping it'll see some use in some set period of time.
* Song of Rest has been axed, but now the Bard has certain spells (Healing Word, Restoration, and their variants) as spells that are always prepped.
* College of Lore doesn't give you free reign on bonus skills anymore, restricting you to Arcana, Nature and Religion (unless you already got one of them, then you can just pick whatever you want)
** Rather than crib extra spells from other classes, the level 6 feature lets you re-roll Bardic Inspiration.

====[[Ranger]]====
* Fighting Styles are now considered feats, and while the Ranger picks up one as part of their class features, more can always be taken as bonus feats.
* Rangers gain cantrips by default rather than getting them via a fighting style. Also helping things is that they actually get casting from the start instead of needing to wait a level, though it's not as many slots as a full-caster would have available.
* A lot of the Tasha's revamps to the Ranger are now default, which is a sizeable step up.
** Hunter's Mark is now a spell that's always prepped, with the added bonus of not needing to concentrate after casting it. At level 18, it bumps up to dealing 1d10 extra damage.
** Roving boosts speed by 10 feet, but only outside of heavy armor.
** Primeval Awareness has been absolutely axed.
** Nature's Veil now expends spell slots. But y tho?
* Hunter's bonus damage to wounded enemies is now the only choice, because nobody really bothered with the other two. Same goes with the subclass' capstone only being halved damage for a reaction.
** Level 6 now lets you identify some key features of an enemy you target with Hunter's Mark.
** Rather than an extra stack of multiple attacks at level 10, you instead always get Conjure Barrage as a prepped spell that can go in any spell slot, though it deals less damage if used as a level 1 or 2 slot.

====[[Rogue]]====
* Thieves' Cant provides proficiency in an extra language.
* Level 13 provides a new feature that grants advantage to attacks against enemies engaged with your friends - aka, advantage on sneak attacks.
* Thief now grants an actual climb speed rather than just no movement penalties to climbing.
** Supreme Sneak now grants advantage on all Stealth checks regardless of movement, but now does not work when wearing anything heavier than light armor.
** Use Magic Device now provides an extra attunement slot, the chance to use a magic item without wasting a charge and the ability to use scrolls despite being a non-caster if you pass an Arcana check.
** Thief's Reflexes now provide a second reaction to use on the stuff Rogues do, but only for a few times a day.
** The ability for a Thief to use an object as a bonus action or use magic items without usual restrictions is gone.

====Other Changes====
* Classes in general have gone back to categorization with the AD&D groupings of Warrior, Expert, Priest and Mage.
** Experts are all tied to their usage of Expertise. Notably, the Artificer is included in the Experts group as well, though any expectations of a full rewrite are low.
** Priests are all tied to their usage of Channeling powers.
** Warriors are all tied to their usage of Weapon Mastery (see below).
* Ability Score Increase is now a feat, though its purpose is identical to before.
** To make the decision between stat boosts or feats less of an extreme trade-off, the majority of feats now grant a minor stat bump.
* Each class now gains an ''Epic Boon'' feat, which provides some super endgame buff at level 20.
* The additional attack from using two light weapons is now part of your attack action instead of eating your bonus action. Dear god...Dual-Wielding is actually viable...!
* Charger now gives a boost to Dash distance (not really necessary unless you have some means to dash as a bonus action, such as a Roguish Action), the attack bonus from charging now deals extra damage or the shove instead of the hit bonus.
* Great Weapon Master loses its Power Attack abilities, instead providing proficiency to damage on one attack each turn.
* Heavy Armor Master now reduces damage by Proficiency, which is a serious upgrade.
* Medium Armor Master doesn't help with Stealth.
* Protection Fighting Style now gives a flat -2 to an enemy attack, which is a straight downgrade to the original version's disadvantage.
* Polearm Master restricts applicable weapons to those with Heavy and Reach, barring this from being used on Spears and Quarterstaves and thus being used with shields or the Duelist and Protection fighting styles. More importantly, the ability to whack things that enter engagement range doesn't count as an Opportunity Attack, thus breaking any synergy with Sentinel.
* Ritual Caster no longer ties the casting ability of these spells to the class it was taken from, plus it gives you a 1/day ability to cast a ritual as if it were a normal spell.
* Sharpshooter no longer works as a ranged power attack, but only gets no penalties for shooting at long range.
* Shield Master now forces enemies you attack to make a Strength save or else get shoved or knocked down, which is...a bit naff to any character that isn't maining Strength (i.e. Clerics)
* The Spells Known column seems to have been axed, which now breaks the cap of what spells can be prepped each day. How this will affect the Wizard, which was notorious for the broken number of spells that they can learn via writing into their spellbook, is yet to be determined.
** At least for the former the Spells Known class, reminiscent of older additions but still way more flexible, you can only prepare a number of spells of each level equal to the number of the spell slots you have for that level. This will mean by 5th level a bard can only have a max of 4 different 1st level spells and 3 different 2nd level spells prepared for that adventure day.
** Disregard, cocks, etc. Turns out that now only the Sorcerer and Warlock have a Spells Known section. Why is beyond us.
* Guidance now uses a reaction to cast instead of requiring concentration, <s>but it now cannot affect any one target more than once a day.</s> retconned as of the Cleric & Revised Species doc.

===Playtest 3: Cleric & Revised Species===
====[[Cleric]]====
* Generally got a lot shifted around in some attempt to mirror other classes.
** Domains are now selected at level 3 like other classes instead of being picked out at creation.
** Channel Divinity now works at level 1, with your default options being Turn Undead and a second ability that's essentially Cure/Inflict Wounds except not as a spell, healing or dealing d8xProficiency HP.
*** Turn Undead now dazes those that fail the save (except they can still run away). While it can no longer out-right eradicate lesser undead as you level up, it does deal more damage to all undead as it levels up.
*** Channel Divinity now has a number of uses a day equal to Proficiency bonus rather than a fixed number based on progression. With the new Channel Divinity feature, this has become absolutely necessary if you want to be anything close to a healer.
** Level 2 gives them a sort-of variant to what Fighting Styles used to be, giving an option between heavy armor and martial weapon proficiency, two skills and +Wis to any checks using those skills, or an extra cantrip and the ability to recover a use of Channel Divinity each short rest. You get to pick a second at level 9.
*** This is likely to separate the domains from certain locked archetypes, or other weird ideas like Life Clerics wearing heavy armor despite being medics or Forge Clerics getting heavy armor but no martial weapons.
* Blessed Strikes is now default to the class rather than a domain-exclusive deal.
* Divine Intervention now has a cooldown of 2d6 days rather than a week, with the capstone feature shortening the cooldown to 2d4 days.
* Due to being activated later, Life Domain's first Channel Divinity (the big pool of healing) gets punted further down the progression line.
** This similarly goes without saying, but Cure Wounds is no longer on the domain spells list, and thus makes the domain no longer an absolute auto-pick for a healbot. Life Domain still puts a lot more mileage into heals though.

====Species====
With all the other hubbub about the terminology of Race, it was a bit odd that Wizards, who spearheaded this whole PC movement of divesting from the idea of Race being an absolute identifier, still used the term (or maybe it isn't odd because we've seen how lazy they are). Instead, they're being renamed into Species.
* '''Ardlings:''' Here on account to their utterly underwhelming reception in the first playtest. All of them now have proficiency in Perception and an innate divine cantrip, and now each subrace has special features that aren't spells (Climb speed and bonus unarmed damage, vestigial wings for Feather Fall and advantage on Athletics checks to jump, increased Dash speed, or water breathing, swim speed and Cold resistance).
** In exchange for this, they lost their flight and radiant resistance, making them even more like furries.
* '''Dragonborn:''' Here on account of Wizards forgetting some other features Fizban's gave. Now Breath Weapon's damage scales differently (not necessarily better) and can be either line or cone without being trapped to either. On top of that, they can actually ''fly'' for ten minutes each day when they reach level 5 with spectral wings that appear to be made from the same energy as their breath weapon.
* '''Goliath:''' The only new species in the list. Lost advantage on Athletics, but Wizards felt so addicted to Powerful Build that they forced it into advantage to escape Grappled. Goliaths also gain a special power based on their subrace of giant as well as the ability to effectively use Enlarge as an innate ability once per day after level 5.

====Other Changes====
* You can fail the Banishment spell willingly, and the permanent banish effect of the Banishment now works on Aberration, Celestial, Elemental, Fey, or Fiend creatures, even if native to your current plane, sending them to a random location associated with a plane associated with their type, but they now get 10 chances to break out, you can't permanently banish other planar creatures that are not of the listed creature types.
* Barkskin no longer gives a flat AC16, instead giving THP every turn. On one hand, this makes it a lot less viable on any self-buffing Druid, but on the other hand, this is a lot more usable for any beatsticks, including rangers.
* Prayer of Healing now lets others benefit from a short rest on top of the HP recovery.
* Resistance is now a reaction, making it actually usable.
* Spiritual Weapon requires concentration.

===Playtest 4: Druid & Paladin===
====[[Druid]]====
* Lost proficiency in medium armor. While it's true that you couldn't use most of them anyways due to the non-metal clause, hide armor was still a great take for any casting-focused druids.
** Interestingly, any rules that bar you from using metal armor and metal weapons are suspiciously absent.
* Being a "Priest" class, Druid gain the Channel Nature ability, which covers Wild Shape as well as a slotless use of Find Familiar (Which Tasha's did offer) and an AoE healing bubble so you aren't cheesing out Goodberry. While Wild Shape does improve, the others are pretty much stuck to what they are, which is shitty on the healing.
** Wild Shape has been ''radically'' altered so you aren't just transforming into various animals from the bestiary. Instead, you're stuck with some generic forms. One one hand, this is convenient since you're no longer trawling through books for that one ideal form, but these forms also lack any of the versatility one might expect from, say, PF2E's Wild Shape.
*** These generic forms do make use of your basic stats with the exception of altering your Dexterity (and Strength for the land form) to be equal to your Wisdom, making it easier to calculate things. On the downside, their attacks are all locked to what you get with no way of improving them without using Magic Fang and their AC is shit since they're so low and only add Wis to it while their HP is stuck without any boosts. RAW, this also loses out on any racial abilities, skills or save proficiencies you had.
*** Also annoying is how the tiny form, which is usually used for scouting, is trapped behind ''level 11''. For only ''ten minutes at a time'' while any other form lasts for hours, yet not for druid Find Familiar. Seriously, was a bunch of druids turning into spiders in order to listen in on a conversation that big of an issue, but a spider Familiar is not?
* Since Wild Shape now has radically different restrictions on it, Circle of the Moon needed to be revamped.
** While Wild Shape is still faster, they also now have two new perks to draw you in at level 3: Being able to cast abjuration spells while transformed and...the ability to make an unarmed attack as a bonus action? On one hand, it's cool to let them deal a bit of extra damage and it lets you grab after biting things, but that's it since normal punches are garbage without the Tavern Brawler feat or a Monk multiclass. And no, this isn't an easy way to get Multiattack, that's still gated to level 5 and the healing when changing is now tied to the base class.
** Rather than being able to shapeshift into elementals at level 6, you get the ability to make your other shapes deal elemental damage of a chosen type while also gaining resistance to that type. Level 10 makes those attacks deal bonus damage of your chosen type.

====[[Paladin]]====
* Also deemed a "Priest" class, which at least keeps to the theming.
* Lay on Hands and Divine Smite both are not considered part of Channel Divinity due to the class not even getting access to it until level 3.
** Smite can now be used on ranged weapons, but it now can't be used on the same turn you cast a spell so you can't stack on the damage. It's also no longer considered part of the same attack, which makes it uncertain if the damage doubles on a crit.
** You know what is considered a use of Channel Divinity? Divine Sense, aka that one only fluffy feature to tell whether someone's a fiend. At least now it makes you a radar for celestials/fiends/undead.
** Level 9 gives another subclass-agnostic power that forces a number of enemies equal to Charisma bonus within 60 feet to make a Wisdom save or be dazed and stunned for a minute (or just dazed if they pass). This used to be something tied to Oaths, but it's now universal.
** Restoring Touch (that one late-game ability to cure conditions) is now tied to Lay on Hands, costing some of the potential HP healed.
** Remember how the Cleric got an ability to restore a use of Channel Divinity through a certain feature? You get the ability to regain a use whenever you roll Initiative as a capstone class feature.
* Similar to the Ranger, Paladins do know how to cast from the start but their casting power is limited.
* Level 5 gives Find Steed as an always-prepped spell that can be cast 1/day without eating a slot. Cool, I guess.
* Aura of Protection and all related auras are all able to work even when you're unconscious. Duty unto death and all that.
* Rather than improving smite damage at level 11, you instead get to deal additional radiant damage on your attacks. Kickass.
* Oath of Devotion's bonus spells aren't as support-based, losing spells like Lesser Restoration and Freedom of Movement but gaining spells like Staggering Smite and Blinding Smite.
** Level 6 lets any Smites you deal also grant Temp HP to a nearby ally, which is way more handy. The old aura to resist charmed is now shuffled to level 11.
** The capstone ability's radiant damage to any foes inside it now deals damage equal to Proficiency Mod + Charisma Mod, which for most Paladins is a straight downgrade from the original 10 damage. Its use remains 1/day, but you can sacrifice a level 4 or higher spell slot in order to reuse it.

====Other Changes====
* One might notice that the Druid and Paladin's channeling powers are rather limited compared to the Cleric's from last playtest - this is intentional, because Wizards viewed tying it to proficiency bonus being far too kind for subclassing. They also capped it off much sooner at 4/day with no way to improve it.
* Epic Boons also allow you to improve a stat by 2 so long as it doesn't put the stat above 30. Not that there's any way for anyone to do that.
* Banishing Smite now forces the enemy to make a Charisma save to resist being banished without any HP restriction. The banished foe can make another save each turn to break free. Its damage also scales by if it's upcast.
** Blinding Smite, Staggering Smite, Thunderous Smite and Wrathful Smite also have this same damage boost for upcasting.
** Due to the generalized spell lists, this means that the Cleric also has access to smite spells...and do them better thanks to their spell scaling.
* Branding Smite is now called Glimmering Smite, being otherwise identical aside from being classed as a Transmutation spell.
* Find Familiar no longer calls some magical version of a mundane animal of smaller outsider, instead giving a singular template for all familiars. While its typing isn't that significant, what does is whether it's land-based (giving a climb speed and extra AC), sea-based (giving a swim speed and the ability to breathe water), or air-based (giving s fly speed).
** While the familiar can attack using your casting attack modifier and dealing damage based on what type of creature it is, the damage is as pathetic as you'd expect. Just settle with casting spells through it.
* Find Steed similarly no longer calls an otherwise ordinary horse, instead summoning some magical horse that's either Celestial, Fey or Fiendish. Each subtype not only influences the kind of damage the horse does but also gives it a special daily ability.
* Grabbing and Shoving no longer require attack rolls, but instead force the enemy to make an Athletics or Acrobatics check against DC 8+Prof+Str Mod. Welp, that was fun while it lasted.
** The grabber can now move around, though at a slower speed because they're dragging their target along unless the target is much smaller.
* Inspiration - that is, the GM-issued metacurrency for re-rolls - is being renamed to Heroic Advantage, likely to help avoid confusion with Bardic Inspiration. It's also no longer issued for rolling nat 1s.

===Playtest 5===
====[[Barbarian]]====
* Rages are now weirder - They can technically last up to 10 minutes, but now you need to spend a turn either attacking or forcing an enemy to make a save in order to keep it running unless you burn an extra action. Why this arbitrary restriction exists is beyond us.
** Level 13 makes this condition irrelevant as you can keep rages going for the full length without wasting actions.
** Primal Knowledge still gives an extra skill at level 2, but it now also lets you use Strength for certain skills when raging. These skills are are...a bit eclectic as aside from obvious ones like Athletics and Intimidate, you can also use Strength for Survival and even ''stealth''. Because the big angry man happens to know how to be deathly silent while screaming in rage.
* Feral Instinct now gives advantage on all Dex saves at the cost of sensing any ambushes.
* Brutal Critical replaces the extra damage die for giving extra damage equal to your level.
* Relentless Rage doesn't give you a measly hit point just to cheat death, but a remarkably healthy recovery so you don't drop the instant the enemy hits you again.
* Infinite Rage is gone, but on level 17 you can recover a rage at the beginning of each battle, making it functionally equal.
* Path of the Berserker no longer uses exhaustion! HOORAY THE CLASS IS FUCKING USABLE NOW!
** Using Reckless Attack now lets you deal Rage damage x d6 extra damage on a hit.
** Mindless Rage now actually ends Charmed and Frightened instead of just stalling them.
** Intimidating Presence, while activating later, now scares a number of enemies in an AoE. Even better, the save DC uses your Strength, something you'll absolutely be maxing out.

====[[Fighter]]====
* Second Wind gets more uses per day
* Action Surge can now only be used for certain actions. Fortunately, they're all ones you'd already be doing in a fight anyways.
* Level 7 lets you swap out a weapon's Weapon Mastery trait for another that it can qualify for. At the very least, it's a neat bonus trick to rely on, but you're stuck choosing between one or the other until level 13, when you can pick both traits.
* Level 17 isn't really a second use of Indomitable, but it kinda is since you can only use it after using Indomitable. It requires you to spend a Second Wind however, which might be useful if you're being hit by a breath weapon and might actually die if it you don't make the save.
* Champion gives you a floating skill proficiency slot you can pick each day.
** Level 6 lets you gain Heroic Advantage once per battle if you don't already have it.
** The capstone ability not only does the regen when you fall below half health, but you can also treat an 18 on a death save as a nat 20.

====[[Sorcerer]]====
* Chaos Bolt and Sorcerous Burst are always-prepped spells. The latter is a new ranged cantrip that deals weak damage, but rolling max damage lets you roll another die for extra damage and - more importantly - can be any damage type you want.
* Sorcerous Vitality is a new exclusive always-prepped 3rd level spell that lets you heal yourself without needing to bother your cleric or paladin. Not that it does much.
* Arcane Eruption is a new exclusive always-prepped 4th level spell that is an AoE spell that deals damage. Curiously, one of the damage die can also be used to determine a condition you can inflict on your victims.
* Sorcery Incarnate is a new exclusive always-prepped spell that turns you into magic for recovered Sorcery Points and the ability to stack metamagic on spells.
* Sorcerous Restoration comes online a good bit sooner, with the capstone now giving you a daily use of Wish - one that can instead use a lesser spell slot if you're using it to copy another spell and can never fail. Hot Fuck is that busted.
* Lots of Metamagic shifting
** Careful Spell now makes your allies immune to any AoE damage you cause on a spell.
** Distant Spell doesn't merely double the range anymore, instead adding 30 x level feet to the spell's range.
** Extended Spell now grants advantage on any concentration checks to sustain a spell.
** Heightened Spell costs less and now gives disadvantage to all saves the chosen target makes.
** Quickened Spell has wording that requires it to be used first instead of being cast as an emergency.
** Subtle Spell now removes any non-critical (read: stuff that actually costs a lot) material components to a spell.
** Twinned Spell now lets you spend Sorcery Points to avoid burning a spell slot.
* Draconic Sorcery (Bloodlines are no longer because...racism issues, I guess) now lets you add Charisma to your AC instead of a fixed AC bump so you have more use from your cheesed casting stat.
** Elemental Affinity can now be used on any sort of damage type since you don't exactly need to pick what kind of dragon you were born from. This also gives you resistance to that type.
** Level 10 lets you use Sorcerous Burst as a cone attack, letting you hit multiple foes but trapping you to one damage type.
** Draconic Wings now works as part of Sorcery Incarnate and gives an AoE Burst attack.

====[[Warlock]]====
* Eldritch Blast and Hex are treated as always-prepped spells so nobody else can hijack them via spell lists.
** Hex now only deals the extra damage once per turn. Sad.
* All pacts are now not only represented as specific spells, all of them also have alternative primary stats, which can make for some wild dip builds.
** Pact of the Blade weapon now gets Returning so you can cheese out throwing weapons. Even better is that the class now has Medium armor proficiency baked in, so you're even better suited for it.
*** Since its casting stat can be either Wis or Cha, you can now make a Cleric/Warlock just as easily as you can make for Paladin/Warlocks.
** Pact of the Chain now summons a generic familiar that you can always communicate with. The type is ultimately irrelevant aside from damage type and really, who uses familiars for fighting?
*** A new invocation does make your various familiar types deal extra tricks, but your familiar's still going to die to a stiff breeze.
** Pact of the Tome's book now gives two cantrips and two level 1 ritual spells from any list you see fit. At level 5, you can also add your casting stat to the cantrip's damage even if it's not already there.
* Lots of Invocation reworks.
** A lot of the bonus-spell invocations are replaced with Mystic Arcanum, which is now an invocation itself. This might sound handy...until you see that this is practically a tax.
** Gaze of Two Minds now costs a bonus action and doesn't render you blind/deaf. You can also now cast through that target, though it's not quite clear how self-targeting spells work.
** Hexer makes Hex have an insane range on top of advantage on concentration checks.
** Lesson of the First Ones gives you a bonus feat.
** Lifedrinker can be used sooner and any extra damage dealt now heals you as well.
* Pact of the Fiend (and other pacts) now trigger on level 3 like every other subclass. They also give a set of always-prepped spells instead of expanding your spell list. You can also cast one of those spells without spending a slot daily.
** Dark One's Blessing now works when enemies die within 5 feet of you.
** Dark One's Own Luck can be used multiple times a day but loses the ability to recover on a short rest.
** Fiendish Resilience loses its rather pointless weaknesses.
** Hurl Through Hell can be used again by sacrificing a level 4+ spell slot and has a save to resist the damage.

====[[Wizard]]====
* Level 2 gives you advantage on any Intelligence checks you make after studying something.
* Memorize Spell is an exclusive always-prepped level 3 spell that lets you swap off one prepped spell with another you didn't prep.
* Modify Spell is an exclusive always-prepped level 4 spell that lets you modify a prepped spell in nearly any way imaginable.
** Create Spell is an exclusive always-prepped level 5 spell that you cast after using Modify Spell so you can then spend Scribe Spell in order to write your new spell into your spellbook and make as your own. This sounds broken as fuck except that this costs a ton of gold to use, with the cost escalating with the spell level.
* Evoker (Schools being scrapped to likely save ink for more half-hearted backtracking) now triggers on level 3 like all other subclasses and grants two free Evocation spells to your book.
** Potent Cantrip now makes missed attacks deal half-damage, which makes you a lot more useful as a spell-turret.

====Other Changes====
*Weapons now have a special Weapon Mastery trait, which isn't really useful except for Warriors, who all tend to have access to these traits when fighting. While they're all decent additions of utility, they're still severely lacking when compared to what spells can do.
**Mastery only works on a set number of weapons as you level up, which...isn't a major issue, but it's still really weird when you could've just had weapon groups.
**The Light property got busted back to the useless trait it was before, which pretty much ruins every use anyone ever had for dual-wielding over Sword-n-Board or Great Weapons.

==Licence shenanigans==
More troubling is the possible rumors that Wizards [https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1410-ogls-srds-one-d-d might be outright dumping] the [[Open_Gaming_License|OGL]] (instead of updating it like a reasonable person to assume) and thus everyone's ability to publish 5E materials on their own. Needless to say, the truth was more horrifying than anyone could have expected.

First off, all publishers are forced to publish any future supplements through [[DM's Guild]] (taking a 50% cut of the proceeds in the process) and thus require any publishers to pay Wizards for the privilege of selling on their storefront. Also, creators making more than 750k USD yearly (such as [[Kobold Press]] or [[Frog God Games]]) will have to pay royalties for any revenue they make over that amount (as in gross revenue, meaning it stacks on top of other expenses), starting in 2024. [[WOTC]] claims there are less than 20 creators worldwide even making that much dough, and nothing stops them from perhaps dropping that cap to a level that'd let them tax more publishers. More damningly, by agreeing to this new contract, you were effectively signing away the rights, trademarks and copyrights of anything you make to Wizards, who can then republish this without your permission, and they have the right to pull it from all shelves for any reason with only a scant 30 days' notice. As this absolutely nullifies the 1.0 OGL, this puts pretty much every single roleplaying game that ever dared utilize the OGL at the mercy of WotC's legal team unless they decide to strike out on their own without it.

This is considered to be such a massive slap in the face for absolutely everyone who made anything for them - which might lead to the mass exodus of 3PP developers and potentially bringing down the golden age they made merely [[Dungeons_%26_Dragons_5th_Edition#The_Return_of_OGL|ten years ago]]. Hell, if we're lucky, some madlad might even try making their own equivalent of Pathfinder and start raking up all that lost money and community support; even better if a bunch of these companies decided to make their own games just so they don't have to play by WotC's tune. Lo and behold, the leaks have had these very consequences, with companies such as MCDM and Kobold Press deciding to make their own games as soon as they're done with their 5E shit, several more have denounced this new OGL, with the ''lightest'' form of criticism being merely "We're withholding from voicing any opinions until we officially hear it from the horse's mouth". As you might note, nobody (aside from any edgy contrarians) is supporting this.

After several rounds of half-hearted backpedaling and failed attempts at appeasement, Wizards decided to call off their attempts to nullify the OGL and dropped the 5.1 SRD into Creative Commons. For the moment, the community called this a win, but those who remained rightfully suspicious of the megacorp are now waiting to see if they'll attempt something like a GSL for this game when the release comes.

==Microtransaction hell==
Even ''more'' troubling is that One D&D is apparently going down the same route as fucking [[/v/|triple-A vidya]] via [[RAGE|implementing microtransactions for content smaller than book-level]], all for a Virtual Tabletop that also has paid subscription tiers. Even some magic items, my god. So much for that online database being a good thing, since you're going to have to pay to access the stuff you want ''specifically''. This is likely because in their infinite wisdom Hasbro made an ex-Microsoft employee their CEO, which is a bad idea for multiple reasons, and said CEO has stated that [[What|D&D is undermonetized even with the expensive ass books]]. So yeah, if the OGL wasn't enough to erode any good faith WOTC had left, this fucking did.

Fortunately, this has also become a glowing weak spot for the beast, as the corporate obsession with short-term profits has meant that they're more interested in the subscriptions to their D&D Beyond services than any other purchases because it means a consistent flow of money. Of course, the easiest way to hurt such is to cancel any subscriptions to Beyond and to stay off their shitty service once they open up the actual 3D tabletop service. Of course, this happened once the full extent for Wizards' contempt for their own consumer base was laid bare, and as a panic button, [[Wat|Wizards had to hide the cancel subscription button on their website]], hoping that the stupids will forget this offense with time before revealing something only slightly less tyrannical. As part of their aforementioned appeasement, the suits tried to introduce a VTT policy that seemed obsessed with nonsensical aspects that mean little to a VTT, hoping to draw attention away from the real issues. While the OGL issue folded over, there was no word on how they were going to address the issues about the microtransaction-laden system, which means that any further fuckery can and most likely will take place over this as a hill they would desperately die on.

One D&D

2023-04-29T08:16:30Z

2A02:908:238:F120:F54E:F1CB:6079:2D55: /* Races Species */

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'''One D&D''' is the latest attempt by Wizards of the Coast to revamp the [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition| soon-to-be 10-year-old 5th Edition]] and change some rules. The full release will launch in 2024, commemorating the 50th anniversary of this long-running franchise. Playtesting for it began in August 2022, and will likely continue with monthly documents until release.

The main premise for this edition (and the reason why it's using One as a title) is that WOTC plans on not only releasing books, but also an online database that will always be updating. This is so that players don't have to suffer having to wait for years for errata, plus avoiding some of the pain of having to buy both a book and digital rules.

However, this came with ''massive'' blows such as the OGL being put under threat for a good bit and the game deciding to emulate the [[skub|skubtastic]] microtransactions found in video games. As such, many think One D&D will be the death of the franchise (or at very least revert all the goodwill and success the franchise has gained with 5E), though whether this will actually come to pass remains to be seen.

==Backwards compatibility==
In numerous interviews, the WOTC team repeatedly said that One D&D stuff would be backwards compatible with old 5e stuff. This was likely told to the public to prevent a massive edition war and D&D exodus. WOTC doesn't want the players to think it will be 6e and suffer a repeat of [[D&D 4e|4th edition]], after all.

In the interim, will it actually be compatible with 5th edition? Well, rather than thinking about it as jumping from 3e to 4e, a jump from 3e to 3.5e would be a better comparison. For player options, 3.5 was much better and more desirable than 3. 3e stuff was still usable, but 3.5 was an upgrade, and so it seems that OneD&D will do the same thing. OneD&D's goal seems to be revamping character creation and making minor tweaks to the mechanics to give the system some much needed freshness. Of course, right now most releases are just first drafts, so there is a lot to criticize before the final release.

On the adventure side, since 5e isn't a very technical terminology-heavy game, often just pointing the DM to the rulebook about how to resolve a situation will do. It is highly unlikely that anything in an adventure book would break, unless stuff like the orc statblock or the stunned condition or Dexterity Saving Throws are no longer in the game. We'll see in time.

==Differences from 5e==
===Playtest 1: Character Origins===
====<s>Races</s> Species====
Races no longer provide stat boosts, likely WOTC's attempt to decouple genetic lineage and ancestries from influencing how a character is built. At least this makes the message clear as opposed to the way they did it in Tasha's, which reeked of having it both ways.

*'''Humans''' are now even stronger than ever, not only gaining the extra skill, but also taking the Variant Human's extra feat as well as gaining <s>Inspiration</s> Heroic Advantage on a long rest. Curiously, Half-Elves and Half-Orcs are gone, but that's because the document explicitly tells you that you can make any scion of two Humanoid races by taking the crunch of one of the parents and fluffing the visual aspects however you prefer - the given example is the child of a Gnome and a Halfling, using the latter's rules with the former's pointed ears (except that Jeremy Crafword stated, that they remove half- races because half- is [[derp|"inherently racist"]]. Humans also can be medium or small size as they now acknowledge dwarfism is a thing.
*'''Ardlings''' are pretty much furry [[Aasimar]], being resistant to radiant damage and having limited flight. There are different subraces, but all that changes are which spells they learn as innate spells as they level up.
*'''Dragonborn''' remain the same as they have been in the CRB with some of the updates Fizban's provided. Sadly, the subrace variations didn't seem to make it, as they gain no other abilities and all breath weapons now spread out in cones.
*'''Dwarves''' lost their subraces but remain pretty strong despite it. While they retain their resistance to the poisoned condition and tool proficiencies, they now improve their HP by 1 each level and have a limited form of Tremorsense as opposed to the situational skill bump Stonecunning used to have.
*'''Elves''' remain pretty much the same as ever. High Elves now lost their weapons training, Drow lost their day-blindness and Wood Elves lost their hiding perk, but now all three of them have innate cantrips and spells as they level up. This is particularly effective for the High Elf as they can swap out their innate cantrip with each long rest.
*'''Gnomes''' as a whole didn't get changed but the subraces did. Forest Gnomes' ability to talk to animals is now a spell-like ability that can only be used a few times a day while Rock Gnomes now have two innate cantrips at the cost of their situational skill perk.
*'''Halflings''' have also lost their subraces, but gained advantage on Stealth checks on top of all their other abilities.
*'''Orcs''' are available, retaining their MotM abilities.
*'''Tieflings''' are the only race to have outright lost stuff even when compared to their CRB selves. Gone is the default fire resistance and innate spells besides the Thaumaturgy cantrip. While there are subraces available, they only provide new innate spells, including a cantrip and a thematically-linked resistance, intended to represent which underworld they descended from.

====Backgrounds====
Backgrounds are a lot more critical to a character's development, as they are now what provides the stat boosts that formerly would have just attributed to races, meaning that it's now the upbringing that defines a character rather than heredity. In addition, instead of the vaguer narrative abilities, each background now automatically provides a feat, language, and tool proficiency. Building your own custom background is the default but UA provides some pre-made examples if you can't decide:

*'''Acolyte''' +2 Wis +1 Int. Gives the Magic Initiate (Divine) feat, giving you a bonus Divine spell to cast, which might be handy for paladins.
*'''Artisan''' +2 Int +1 Cha. Gives the Crafter feat, not only providing proficiency with several different tools but also makes crafting faster and more efficient.
*'''Charlatan''' +2 Cha +1 Dex. Gives the Skilled feat so it's a decent all-rounder to take for a ton of skills.
*'''Criminal''' +2 Dex +1 Int. Gives the Alert feat to not only improve Initiative (Only adding +Proficiency bonus instead of full advantage) as well as the ability to swap Initiatives with someone else if you're feeling greedy (or charitable).
*'''Cultist''' +2 Int +1 Cha. Gives the Magic Initiate (Arcane) feat, giving you a bonus Arcane spell to cast.
*'''Entertainer''' +2 Cha +1 Dex. Gives the Musician feat, not only providing proficiency with multiple instruments but also the ability to give allies <s>Inspiration</s> Heroic Advantage after a rest.
*'''Farmer''' +2 Con +1 Wis. Gives the Tough feat for more HP.
*'''Gladiator''' +2 Str +1 Cha. Gives the Savage Attacker feat to re-roll weapon damage once per turn.
*'''Guard''' +2 Str +1 Wis. Gives the Alert feat to not only improve Initiative (Only adding +Proficiency bonus instead of full advantage) as well as the ability to swap Initiatives with someone else if you're feeling greedy (or charitable).
*'''Guide''' +2 Wis +1 Dex. Gives the Magic Initiate (Primal) feat, giving you a bonus Primal spell to cast, which might be handy for rangers.
*'''Hermit''' +2 Wis +1 Con. Gives the Magic Initiate (Primal) feat, giving you a bonus Primal spell to cast, which might be handy for rangers.
*'''Laborer''' +2 Con +1 Str. Gives the Tough feat for more HP.
*'''Noble''' +2 Cha +1 Int. Gives the Skilled feat so it's a decent all-rounder to take for a ton of skills.
*'''Pilgrim''' +2 Wis +1 Con. Gives the Healer feat for some non-magical healing.
*'''Sage''' +2 Int +1 Wis. Gives the Magic Initiate (Arcane) feat, giving you a bonus Arcane spell to cast.
*'''Sailor''' +2 Dex +1 Wis. Gives the Tavern Brawler feat to provide improved unarmed combat and ways to use improvised weapons.
*'''Soldier''' +2 Str +1 Con. Gives the Savage Attacker feat to re-roll weapon damage once per turn.
*'''Urchin''' +2 Dex +1 Wis. Gives the Lucky feat for some re-rolls to impose upon yourself or the enemy.

====Other changes====
* Rolling ability checks, attack rolls, or saving throws are now classified as '''d20 Tests'''. A DM can warrant a player making a d20 test as long as the DC is not less than 5 (so trivial that failing would make you look incompetent) or 30 (an impossible task you can only accomplish by breaking the game).
* Rolling a nat 1 on a d20 Test is an automatic fail. Everyone already thought it was a thing, so the devs decided to embrace it.
* Rolling a nat 20 on a d20 Test is an auto success (but doesn’t bypass limitations on the test, such as range and line of sight, (looking at you bard)). It also gives the player a point of inspiration.
* Inspiration is being more encouraged as a mechanic, with more ways to get it like rolling a nat 20, and you can give another player inspiration if your single slot is full.
* Spell attack rolls don't benefit from critical hits (for now).
* Monsters no longer roll critical hits for attacks. (That is what the recharge mechanic is for.)
* Like [[Pathfinder 2e]], spells available are divided into three main lists (Arcane, Divine, and Primal) rather than each class having its own list. PCs will draw most of their spells from one of the three based on class, with additional spells added from the race, feats, and additional class abilities.
** However, the Experts UA did reveal that the spell lists for the individual classes will be more restricted, with some classes being forbidden from prepping spells from specific schools in the place of the class-specific lists.
* The incapacitation condition also adds the following penalties: Your concentration is broken, you can't speak, and you have disadvantage on initiative checks if you are incapacitated when it starts.
* If a long rest was 1 or more hours in before being interrupted, the PCs gain the benefit of a short rest.
* Combat immediately resets the 8 hours needed to gain the benefit of a long rest instead of part of the 1 hour of strenuous activity.
* Reintroduced the Slowed Condition: Creature must spend 2 feet of speed to move 1 foot, attack roll hit with advantage, and they roll Dexterity saving throws at disadvantage.
* Clarified Unarmed Strikes are not Weapon attacks. Also, Grapple and Shove are additional options when an Unarmed Strikes hit instead of choosing to inflict damage. Now Grapple and Shoves scale off (Str + Proficiency) vs (enemy AC) instead of Athletics vs enemy Athletics or Acrobatics. There will likely be more options for the monk.
* Grappled Condition now: prevents you from ''change(?)'' (probably polymorph or misspelled charge? Didn’t list it in the glossary), have disadvantage on attacks not against grappler, the grappler gains the slowed condition (see above) while dragging the enemy they grappled. Escaping a grapple uses a Dexterity or Strength saving throw instead of Athletics or Acrobatics.
** The Druid/Paladin playtest clarified this a bit to mean that the condition locks your speed to 0 and that this cannot change.
* Athletics and Acrobatics have been nerfed, as they are no longer used to make or escape a grapple. RIP using expertise to be grapple king.

===Playtest 2: Expert Classes===
====[[Bard]]====
* Bardic Inspiration's uses per day are now capped by proficiency rather than Charisma.
** Bardic Inspiration can also be used as a budget healing spell rather than augmenting a healing spell.
** Bardic Inspiration can now only be used as reactions, cutting down on the prep time of casting and hoping it'll see some use in some set period of time.
* Song of Rest has been axed, but now the Bard has certain spells (Healing Word, Restoration, and their variants) as spells that are always prepped.
* College of Lore doesn't give you free reign on bonus skills anymore, restricting you to Arcana, Nature and Religion (unless you already got one of them, then you can just pick whatever you want)
** Rather than crib extra spells from other classes, the level 6 feature lets you re-roll Bardic Inspiration.

====[[Ranger]]====
* Fighting Styles are now considered feats, and while the Ranger picks up one as part of their class features, more can always be taken as bonus feats.
* Rangers gain cantrips by default rather than getting them via a fighting style. Also helping things is that they actually get casting from the start instead of needing to wait a level, though it's not as many slots as a full-caster would have available.
* A lot of the Tasha's revamps to the Ranger are now default, which is a sizeable step up.
** Hunter's Mark is now a spell that's always prepped, with the added bonus of not needing to concentrate after casting it. At level 18, it bumps up to dealing 1d10 extra damage.
** Roving boosts speed by 10 feet, but only outside of heavy armor.
** Primeval Awareness has been absolutely axed.
** Nature's Veil now expends spell slots. But y tho?
* Hunter's bonus damage to wounded enemies is now the only choice, because nobody really bothered with the other two. Same goes with the subclass' capstone only being halved damage for a reaction.
** Level 6 now lets you identify some key features of an enemy you target with Hunter's Mark.
** Rather than an extra stack of multiple attacks at level 10, you instead always get Conjure Barrage as a prepped spell that can go in any spell slot, though it deals less damage if used as a level 1 or 2 slot.

====[[Rogue]]====
* Thieves' Cant provides proficiency in an extra language.
* Level 13 provides a new feature that grants advantage to attacks against enemies engaged with your friends - aka, advantage on sneak attacks.
* Thief now grants an actual climb speed rather than just no movement penalties to climbing.
** Supreme Sneak now grants advantage on all Stealth checks regardless of movement, but now does not work when wearing anything heavier than light armor.
** Use Magic Device now provides an extra attunement slot, the chance to use a magic item without wasting a charge and the ability to use scrolls despite being a non-caster if you pass an Arcana check.
** Thief's Reflexes now provide a second reaction to use on the stuff Rogues do, but only for a few times a day.
** The ability for a Thief to use an object as a bonus action or use magic items without usual restrictions is gone.

====Other Changes====
* Classes in general have gone back to categorization with the AD&D groupings of Warrior, Expert, Priest and Mage.
** Experts are all tied to their usage of Expertise. Notably, the Artificer is included in the Experts group as well, though any expectations of a full rewrite are low.
** Priests are all tied to their usage of Channeling powers.
** Warriors are all tied to their usage of Weapon Mastery (see below).
* Ability Score Increase is now a feat, though its purpose is identical to before.
** To make the decision between stat boosts or feats less of an extreme trade-off, the majority of feats now grant a minor stat bump.
* Each class now gains an ''Epic Boon'' feat, which provides some super endgame buff at level 20.
* The additional attack from using two light weapons is now part of your attack action instead of eating your bonus action. Dear god...Dual-Wielding is actually viable...!
* Charger now gives a boost to Dash distance (not really necessary unless you have some means to dash as a bonus action, such as a Roguish Action), the attack bonus from charging now deals extra damage or the shove instead of the hit bonus.
* Great Weapon Master loses its Power Attack abilities, instead providing proficiency to damage on one attack each turn.
* Heavy Armor Master now reduces damage by Proficiency, which is a serious upgrade.
* Medium Armor Master doesn't help with Stealth.
* Protection Fighting Style now gives a flat -2 to an enemy attack, which is a straight downgrade to the original version's disadvantage.
* Polearm Master restricts applicable weapons to those with Heavy and Reach, barring this from being used on Spears and Quarterstaves and thus being used with shields or the Duelist and Protection fighting styles. More importantly, the ability to whack things that enter engagement range doesn't count as an Opportunity Attack, thus breaking any synergy with Sentinel.
* Ritual Caster no longer ties the casting ability of these spells to the class it was taken from, plus it gives you a 1/day ability to cast a ritual as if it were a normal spell.
* Sharpshooter no longer works as a ranged power attack, but only gets no penalties for shooting at long range.
* Shield Master now forces enemies you attack to make a Strength save or else get shoved or knocked down, which is...a bit naff to any character that isn't maining Strength (i.e. Clerics)
* The Spells Known column seems to have been axed, which now breaks the cap of what spells can be prepped each day. How this will affect the Wizard, which was notorious for the broken number of spells that they can learn via writing into their spellbook, is yet to be determined.
** At least for the former the Spells Known class, reminiscent of older additions but still way more flexible, you can only prepare a number of spells of each level equal to the number of the spell slots you have for that level. This will mean by 5th level a bard can only have a max of 4 different 1st level spells and 3 different 2nd level spells prepared for that adventure day.
** Disregard, cocks, etc. Turns out that now only the Sorcerer and Warlock have a Spells Known section. Why is beyond us.
* Guidance now uses a reaction to cast instead of requiring concentration, <s>but it now cannot affect any one target more than once a day.</s> retconned as of the Cleric & Revised Species doc.

===Playtest 3: Cleric & Revised Species===
====[[Cleric]]====
* Generally got a lot shifted around in some attempt to mirror other classes.
** Domains are now selected at level 3 like other classes instead of being picked out at creation.
** Channel Divinity now works at level 1, with your default options being Turn Undead and a second ability that's essentially Cure/Inflict Wounds except not as a spell, healing or dealing d8xProficiency HP.
*** Turn Undead now dazes those that fail the save (except they can still run away). While it can no longer out-right eradicate lesser undead as you level up, it does deal more damage to all undead as it levels up.
*** Channel Divinity now has a number of uses a day equal to Proficiency bonus rather than a fixed number based on progression. With the new Channel Divinity feature, this has become absolutely necessary if you want to be anything close to a healer.
** Level 2 gives them a sort-of variant to what Fighting Styles used to be, giving an option between heavy armor and martial weapon proficiency, two skills and +Wis to any checks using those skills, or an extra cantrip and the ability to recover a use of Channel Divinity each short rest. You get to pick a second at level 9.
*** This is likely to separate the domains from certain locked archetypes, or other weird ideas like Life Clerics wearing heavy armor despite being medics or Forge Clerics getting heavy armor but no martial weapons.
* Blessed Strikes is now default to the class rather than a domain-exclusive deal.
* Divine Intervention now has a cooldown of 2d6 days rather than a week, with the capstone feature shortening the cooldown to 2d4 days.
* Due to being activated later, Life Domain's first Channel Divinity (the big pool of healing) gets punted further down the progression line.
** This similarly goes without saying, but Cure Wounds is no longer on the domain spells list, and thus makes the domain no longer an absolute auto-pick for a healbot. Life Domain still puts a lot more mileage into heals though.

====Species====
With all the other hubbub about the terminology of Race, it was a bit odd that Wizards, who spearheaded this whole PC movement of divesting from the idea of Race being an absolute identifier, still used the term (or maybe it isn't odd because we've seen how lazy they are). Instead, they're being renamed into Species.
* '''Ardlings:''' Here on account to their utterly underwhelming reception in the first playtest. All of them now have proficiency in Perception and an innate divine cantrip, and now each subrace has special features that aren't spells (Climb speed and bonus unarmed damage, vestigial wings for Feather Fall and advantage on Athletics checks to jump, increased Dash speed, or water breathing, swim speed and Cold resistance).
** In exchange for this, they lost their flight and radiant resistance, making them even more like furries.
* '''Dragonborn:''' Here on account of Wizards forgetting some other features Fizban's gave. Now Breath Weapon's damage scales differently (not necessarily better) and can be either line or cone without being trapped to either. On top of that, they can actually ''fly'' for ten minutes each day when they reach level 5 with spectral wings that appear to be made from the same energy as their breath weapon.
* '''Goliath:''' The only new species in the list. Lost advantage on Athletics, but Wizards felt so addicted to Powerful Build that they forced it into advantage to escape Grappled. Goliaths also gain a special power based on their subrace of giant as well as the ability to effectively use Enlarge as an innate ability once per day after level 5.

====Other Changes====
* You can fail the Banishment spell willingly, and the permanent banish effect of the Banishment now works on Aberration, Celestial, Elemental, Fey, or Fiend creatures, even if native to your current plane, sending them to a random location associated with a plane associated with their type, but they now get 10 chances to break out, you can't permanently banish other planar creatures that are not of the listed creature types.
* Barkskin no longer gives a flat AC16, instead giving THP every turn. On one hand, this makes it a lot less viable on any self-buffing Druid, but on the other hand, this is a lot more usable for any beatsticks, including rangers.
* Prayer of Healing now lets others benefit from a short rest on top of the HP recovery.
* Resistance is now a reaction, making it actually usable.
* Spiritual Weapon requires concentration.

===Playtest 4: Druid & Paladin===
====[[Druid]]====
* Lost proficiency in medium armor. While it's true that you couldn't use most of them anyways due to the non-metal clause, hide armor was still a great take for any casting-focused druids.
** Interestingly, any rules that bar you from using metal armor and metal weapons are suspiciously absent.
* Being a "Priest" class, Druid gain the Channel Nature ability, which covers Wild Shape as well as a slotless use of Find Familiar (Which Tasha's did offer) and an AoE healing bubble so you aren't cheesing out Goodberry. While Wild Shape does improve, the others are pretty much stuck to what they are, which is shitty on the healing.
** Wild Shape has been ''radically'' altered so you aren't just transforming into various animals from the bestiary. Instead, you're stuck with some generic forms. One one hand, this is convenient since you're no longer trawling through books for that one ideal form, but these forms also lack any of the versatility one might expect from, say, PF2E's Wild Shape.
*** These generic forms do make use of your basic stats with the exception of altering your Dexterity (and Strength for the land form) to be equal to your Wisdom, making it easier to calculate things. On the downside, their attacks are all locked to what you get with no way of improving them without using Magic Fang and their AC is shit since they're so low and only add Wis to it while their HP is stuck without any boosts. RAW, this also loses out on any racial abilities, skills or save proficiencies you had.
*** Also annoying is how the tiny form, which is usually used for scouting, is trapped behind ''level 11''. For only ''ten minutes at a time'' while any other form lasts for hours, yet not for druid Find Familiar. Seriously, was a bunch of druids turning into spiders in order to listen in on a conversation that big of an issue, but a spider Familiar is not?
* Since Wild Shape now has radically different restrictions on it, Circle of the Moon needed to be revamped.
** While Wild Shape is still faster, they also now have two new perks to draw you in at level 3: Being able to cast abjuration spells while transformed and...the ability to make an unarmed attack as a bonus action? On one hand, it's cool to let them deal a bit of extra damage and it lets you grab after biting things, but that's it since normal punches are garbage without the Tavern Brawler feat or a Monk multiclass. And no, this isn't an easy way to get Multiattack, that's still gated to level 5 and the healing when changing is now tied to the base class.
** Rather than being able to shapeshift into elementals at level 6, you get the ability to make your other shapes deal elemental damage of a chosen type while also gaining resistance to that type. Level 10 makes those attacks deal bonus damage of your chosen type.

====[[Paladin]]====
* Also deemed a "Priest" class, which at least keeps to the theming.
* Lay on Hands and Divine Smite both are not considered part of Channel Divinity due to the class not even getting access to it until level 3.
** Smite can now be used on ranged weapons, but it now can't be used on the same turn you cast a spell so you can't stack on the damage. It's also no longer considered part of the same attack, which makes it uncertain if the damage doubles on a crit.
** You know what is considered a use of Channel Divinity? Divine Sense, aka that one only fluffy feature to tell whether someone's a fiend. At least now it makes you a radar for celestials/fiends/undead.
** Level 9 gives another subclass-agnostic power that forces a number of enemies equal to Charisma bonus within 60 feet to make a Wisdom save or be dazed and stunned for a minute (or just dazed if they pass). This used to be something tied to Oaths, but it's now universal.
** Restoring Touch (that one late-game ability to cure conditions) is now tied to Lay on Hands, costing some of the potential HP healed.
** Remember how the Cleric got an ability to restore a use of Channel Divinity through a certain feature? You get the ability to regain a use whenever you roll Initiative as a capstone class feature.
* Similar to the Ranger, Paladins do know how to cast from the start but their casting power is limited.
* Level 5 gives Find Steed as an always-prepped spell that can be cast 1/day without eating a slot. Cool, I guess.
* Aura of Protection and all related auras are all able to work even when you're unconscious. Duty unto death and all that.
* Rather than improving smite damage at level 11, you instead get to deal additional radiant damage on your attacks. Kickass.
* Oath of Devotion's bonus spells aren't as support-based, losing spells like Lesser Restoration and Freedom of Movement but gaining spells like Staggering Smite and Blinding Smite.
** Level 6 lets any Smites you deal also grant Temp HP to a nearby ally, which is way more handy. The old aura to resist charmed is now shuffled to level 11.
** The capstone ability's radiant damage to any foes inside it now deals damage equal to Proficiency Mod + Charisma Mod, which for most Paladins is a straight downgrade from the original 10 damage. Its use remains 1/day, but you can sacrifice a level 4 or higher spell slot in order to reuse it.

====Other Changes====
* One might notice that the Druid and Paladin's channeling powers are rather limited compared to the Cleric's from last playtest - this is intentional, because Wizards viewed tying it to proficiency bonus being far too kind for subclassing. They also capped it off much sooner at 4/day with no way to improve it.
* Epic Boons also allow you to improve a stat by 2 so long as it doesn't put the stat above 30. Not that there's any way for anyone to do that.
* Banishing Smite now forces the enemy to make a Charisma save to resist being banished without any HP restriction. The banished foe can make another save each turn to break free. Its damage also scales by if it's upcast.
** Blinding Smite, Staggering Smite, Thunderous Smite and Wrathful Smite also have this same damage boost for upcasting.
** Due to the generalized spell lists, this means that the Cleric also has access to smite spells...and do them better thanks to their spell scaling.
* Branding Smite is now called Glimmering Smite, being otherwise identical aside from being classed as a Transmutation spell.
* Find Familiar no longer calls some magical version of a mundane animal of smaller outsider, instead giving a singular template for all familiars. While its typing isn't that significant, what does is whether it's land-based (giving a climb speed and extra AC), sea-based (giving a swim speed and the ability to breathe water), or air-based (giving s fly speed).
** While the familiar can attack using your casting attack modifier and dealing damage based on what type of creature it is, the damage is as pathetic as you'd expect. Just settle with casting spells through it.
* Find Steed similarly no longer calls an otherwise ordinary horse, instead summoning some magical horse that's either Celestial, Fey or Fiendish. Each subtype not only influences the kind of damage the horse does but also gives it a special daily ability.
* Grabbing and Shoving no longer require attack rolls, but instead force the enemy to make an Athletics or Acrobatics check against DC 8+Prof+Str Mod. Welp, that was fun while it lasted.
** The grabber can now move around, though at a slower speed because they're dragging their target along unless the target is much smaller.
* Inspiration - that is, the GM-issued metacurrency for re-rolls - is being renamed to Heroic Advantage, likely to help avoid confusion with Bardic Inspiration. It's also no longer issued for rolling nat 1s.

===Playtest 5===
====[[Barbarian]]====
* Rages are now weirder - They can technically last up to 10 minutes, but now you need to spend a turn either attacking or forcing an enemy to make a save in order to keep it running unless you burn an extra action. Why this arbitrary restriction exists is beyond us.
** Level 13 makes this condition irrelevant as you can keep rages going for the full length without wasting actions.
** Primal Knowledge still gives an extra skill at level 2, but it now also lets you use Strength for certain skills when raging. These skills are are...a bit eclectic as aside from obvious ones like Athletics and Intimidate, you can also use Strength for Survival and even ''stealth''. Because the big angry man happens to know how to be deathly silent while screaming in rage.
* Feral Instinct now gives advantage on all Dex saves at the cost of sensing any ambushes.
* Brutal Critical replaces the extra damage die for giving extra damage equal to your level.
* Relentless Rage doesn't give you a measly hit point just to cheat death, but a remarkably healthy recovery so you don't drop the instant the enemy hits you again.
* Infinite Rage is gone, but on level 17 you can recover a rage at the beginning of each battle, making it functionally equal.
* Path of the Berserker no longer uses exhaustion! HOORAY THE CLASS IS FUCKING USABLE NOW!
** Using Reckless Attack now lets you deal Rage damage x d6 extra damage on a hit.
** Mindless Rage now actually ends Charmed and Frightened instead of just stalling them.
** Intimidating Presence, while activating later, now scares a number of enemies in an AoE. Even better, the save DC uses your Strength, something you'll absolutely be maxing out.

====[[Fighter]]====
* Second Wind gets more uses per day
* Action Surge can now only be used for certain actions. Fortunately, they're all ones you'd already be doing in a fight anyways.
* Level 7 lets you swap out a weapon's Weapon Mastery trait for another that it can qualify for. At the very least, it's a neat bonus trick to rely on, but you're stuck choosing between one or the other until level 13, when you can pick both traits.
* Level 17 isn't really a second use of Indomitable, but it kinda is since you can only use it after using Indomitable. It requires you to spend a Second Wind however, which might be useful if you're being hit by a breath weapon and might actually die if it you don't make the save.
* Champion gives you a floating skill proficiency slot you can pick each day.
** Level 6 lets you gain Heroic Advantage once per battle if you don't already have it.
** The capstone ability not only does the regen when you fall below half health, but you can also treat an 18 on a death save as a nat 20.

====[[Sorcerer]]====
* Chaos Bolt and Sorcerous Burst are always-prepped spells. The latter is a new ranged cantrip that deals weak damage, but rolling max damage lets you roll another die for extra damage and - more importantly - can be any damage type you want.
* Sorcerous Vitality is a new exclusive always-prepped 3rd level spell that lets you heal yourself without needing to bother your cleric or paladin. Not that it does much.
* Arcane Eruption is a new exclusive always-prepped 4th level spell that is an AoE spell that deals damage. Curiously, one of the damage die can also be used to determine a condition you can inflict on your victims.
* Sorcery Incarnate is a new exclusive always-prepped spell that turns you into magic for recovered Sorcery Points and the ability to stack metamagic on spells.
* Sorcerous Restoration comes online a good bit sooner, with the capstone now giving you a daily use of Wish - one that can instead use a lesser spell slot if you're using it to copy another spell and can never fail. Hot Fuck is that busted.
* Lots of Metamagic shifting
** Careful Spell now makes your allies immune to any AoE damage you cause on a spell.
** Distant Spell doesn't merely double the range anymore, instead adding 30 x level feet to the spell's range.
** Extended Spell now grants advantage on any concentration checks to sustain a spell.
** Heightened Spell costs less and now gives disadvantage to all saves the chosen target makes.
** Quickened Spell has wording that requires it to be used first instead of being cast as an emergency.
** Subtle Spell now removes any non-critical (read: stuff that actually costs a lot) material components to a spell.
** Twinned Spell now lets you spend Sorcery Points to avoid burning a spell slot.
* Draconic Sorcery (Bloodlines are no longer because...racism issues, I guess) now lets you add Charisma to your AC instead of a fixed AC bump so you have more use from your cheesed casting stat.
** Elemental Affinity can now be used on any sort of damage type since you don't exactly need to pick what kind of dragon you were born from. This also gives you resistance to that type.
** Level 10 lets you use Sorcerous Burst as a cone attack, letting you hit multiple foes but trapping you to one damage type.
** Draconic Wings now works as part of Sorcery Incarnate and gives an AoE Burst attack.

====[[Warlock]]====
* Eldritch Blast and Hex are treated as always-prepped spells so nobody else can hijack them via spell lists.
** Hex now only deals the extra damage once per turn. Sad.
* All pacts are now not only represented as specific spells, all of them also have alternative primary stats, which can make for some wild dip builds.
** Pact of the Blade weapon now gets Returning so you can cheese out throwing weapons. Even better is that the class now has Medium armor proficiency baked in, so you're even better suited for it.
*** Since its casting stat can be either Wis or Cha, you can now make a Cleric/Warlock just as easily as you can make for Paladin/Warlocks.
** Pact of the Chain now summons a generic familiar that you can always communicate with. The type is ultimately irrelevant aside from damage type and really, who uses familiars for fighting?
*** A new invocation does make your various familiar types deal extra tricks, but your familiar's still going to die to a stiff breeze.
** Pact of the Tome's book now gives two cantrips and two level 1 ritual spells from any list you see fit. At level 5, you can also add your casting stat to the cantrip's damage even if it's not already there.
* Lots of Invocation reworks.
** A lot of the bonus-spell invocations are replaced with Mystic Arcanum, which is now an invocation itself. This might sound handy...until you see that this is practically a tax.
** Gaze of Two Minds now costs a bonus action and doesn't render you blind/deaf. You can also now cast through that target, though it's not quite clear how self-targeting spells work.
** Hexer makes Hex have an insane range on top of advantage on concentration checks.
** Lesson of the First Ones gives you a bonus feat.
** Lifedrinker can be used sooner and any extra damage dealt now heals you as well.
* Pact of the Fiend (and other pacts) now trigger on level 3 like every other subclass. They also give a set of always-prepped spells instead of expanding your spell list. You can also cast one of those spells without spending a slot daily.
** Dark One's Blessing now works when enemies die within 5 feet of you.
** Dark One's Own Luck can be used multiple times a day but loses the ability to recover on a short rest.
** Fiendish Resilience loses its rather pointless weaknesses.
** Hurl Through Hell can be used again by sacrificing a level 4+ spell slot and has a save to resist the damage.

====[[Wizard]]====
* Level 2 gives you advantage on any Intelligence checks you make after studying something.
* Memorize Spell is an exclusive always-prepped level 3 spell that lets you swap off one prepped spell with another you didn't prep.
* Modify Spell is an exclusive always-prepped level 4 spell that lets you modify a prepped spell in nearly any way imaginable.
** Create Spell is an exclusive always-prepped level 5 spell that you cast after using Modify Spell so you can then spend Scribe Spell in order to write your new spell into your spellbook and make as your own. This sounds broken as fuck except that this costs a ton of gold to use, with the cost escalating with the spell level.
* Evoker (Schools being scrapped to likely save ink for more half-hearted backtracking) now triggers on level 3 like all other subclasses and grants two free Evocation spells to your book.
** Potent Cantrip now makes missed attacks deal half-damage, which makes you a lot more useful as a spell-turret.

====Other Changes====
*Weapons now have a special Weapon Mastery trait, which isn't really useful except for Warriors, who all tend to have access to these traits when fighting. While they're all decent additions of utility, they're still severely lacking when compared to what spells can do.
**Mastery only works on a set number of weapons as you level up, which...isn't a major issue, but it's still really weird when you could've just had weapon groups.
**The Light property got busted back to the useless trait it was before, which pretty much ruins every use anyone ever had for dual-wielding over Sword-n-Board or Great Weapons.

==Licence shenanigans==
More troubling is the possible rumors that Wizards [https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1410-ogls-srds-one-d-d might be outright dumping] the [[Open_Gaming_License|OGL]] (instead of updating it like a reasonable person to assume) and thus everyone's ability to publish 5E materials on their own. Needless to say, the truth was more horrifying than anyone could have expected.

First off, all publishers are forced to publish any future supplements through [[DM's Guild]] (taking a 50% cut of the proceeds in the process) and thus require any publishers to pay Wizards for the privilege of selling on their storefront. Also, creators making more than 750k USD yearly (such as [[Kobold Press]] or [[Frog God Games]]) will have to pay royalties for any revenue they make over that amount (as in gross revenue, meaning it stacks on top of other expenses), starting in 2024. [[WOTC]] claims there are less than 20 creators worldwide even making that much dough, and nothing stops them from perhaps dropping that cap to a level that'd let them tax more publishers. More damningly, by agreeing to this new contract, you were effectively signing away the rights, trademarks and copyrights of anything you make to Wizards, who can then republish this without your permission, and they have the right to pull it from all shelves for any reason with only a scant 30 days' notice. As this absolutely nullifies the 1.0 OGL, this puts pretty much every single roleplaying game that ever dared utilize the OGL at the mercy of WotC's legal team unless they decide to strike out on their own without it.

This is considered to be such a massive slap in the face for absolutely everyone who made anything for them - which might lead to the mass exodus of 3PP developers and potentially bringing down the golden age they made merely [[Dungeons_%26_Dragons_5th_Edition#The_Return_of_OGL|ten years ago]]. Hell, if we're lucky, some madlad might even try making their own equivalent of Pathfinder and start raking up all that lost money and community support; even better if a bunch of these companies decided to make their own games just so they don't have to play by WotC's tune. Lo and behold, the leaks have had these very consequences, with companies such as MCDM and Kobold Press deciding to make their own games as soon as they're done with their 5E shit, several more have denounced this new OGL, with the ''lightest'' form of criticism being merely "We're withholding from voicing any opinions until we officially hear it from the horse's mouth". As you might note, nobody (aside from any edgy contrarians) is supporting this.

After several rounds of half-hearted backpedaling and failed attempts at appeasement, Wizards decided to call off their attempts to nullify the OGL and dropped the 5.1 SRD into Creative Commons. For the moment, the community called this a win, but those who remained rightfully suspicious of the megacorp are now waiting to see if they'll attempt something like a GSL for this game when the release comes.

==Microtransaction hell==
Even ''more'' troubling is that One D&D is apparently going down the same route as fucking [[/v/|triple-A vidya]] via [[RAGE|implementing microtransactions for content smaller than book-level]], all for a Virtual Tabletop that also has paid subscription tiers. Even some magic items, my god. So much for that online database being a good thing, since you're going to have to pay to access the stuff you want ''specifically''. This is likely because in their infinite wisdom Hasbro made an ex-Microsoft employee their CEO, which is a bad idea for multiple reasons, and said CEO has stated that [[What|D&D is undermonetized even with the expensive ass books]]. So yeah, if the OGL wasn't enough to erode any good faith WOTC had left, this fucking did.

Fortunately, this has also become a glowing weak spot for the beast, as the corporate obsession with short-term profits has meant that they're more interested in the subscriptions to their D&D Beyond services than any other purchases because it means a consistent flow of money. Of course, the easiest way to hurt such is to cancel any subscriptions to Beyond and to stay off their shitty service once they open up the actual 3D tabletop service. Of course, this happened once the full extent for Wizards' contempt for their own consumer base was laid bare, and as a panic button, [[Wat|Wizards had to hide the cancel subscription button on their website]], hoping that the stupids will forget this offense with time before revealing something only slightly less tyrannical. As part of their aforementioned appeasement, the suits tried to introduce a VTT policy that seemed obsessed with nonsensical aspects that mean little to a VTT, hoping to draw attention away from the real issues. While the OGL issue folded over, there was no word on how they were going to address the issues about the microtransaction-laden system, which means that any further fuckery can and most likely will take place over this as a hill they would desperately die on.