I'm currently working on a set with a major focus on lifegain and lifeloss. One of the mechanics I'm focusing on encourages losing life before combat damage is dealt, so to fulfill that need I designed this mechanic:
Brink Healer 1W
Creature - Azra Cleric
When ~ enters the battlefield, you gain 5 false life.
1/3
It's inspired by the Psylian Life mechanic from Rezatta. Basically, your life total is equal to your regular life plus your false life. Whenever a source causes you to lose life, that source's controller chooses which life you lose first.
However, I'm not sure how I want false life to be different from regular life. Here's what I've come up with so far:
Brink Healer 1W
Creature - Azra Cleric
When ~ enters the battlefield, you gain 7 false life. (At the beginning of your upkeep, lose 2 false life.)
1/3
Brink Healer 1W
Creature - Azra Cleric
When ~ enters the battlefield, you gain 7 false life. (Whenever you cast a spell, lose 2 false life.)
1/3
Brink Healer 1W
Creature - Azra Cleric
When ~ enters the battlefield, you gain 3 false life. (Pay 2 false life: Add C.)
1/3
Which do you think are most interesting? I'm open to entirely new suggestions.
This will require a lot of playtesting, but on first blush this seems like a mechanic that will make things more complicated with little payoff. Basically, if the combination of "real" and false life is your lifetotal, why not just gain life?
The tricky part with the versions above is that the first two incentivise your opponent to never attack your false life first (since its naturally going to wain on its own) and the third means they should always prioritize it (since it is a free resource). If you could combine the two, it both wains on its own and you can spend it to generate mana, then it would be a meaningful decision whether to prioritize attacking the false or real totals.
A lot more demonstration of how this will be used will be needed to really evaluate it well.
You don't want the option to choose which life is being attacked. This significantly complicates how it works while diminishing the value of the mechanic. To keep it simple false life should always be lost first.
As for how false life isn't real life that is a lot harder.
In what colors would false life be centered? White/Black? If so, it shouldn't be something completely out of color for them such as mana production. What is the opposing mechanic; is its own thing or just a payoff for losing life? What colors is it centered it? If its a payoff for losing life in the same colors then the lose life when you cast is probably best.
Thanks for the quick feedback guys I'll respond as best I can.
The set I'm working on encourages using one's life in a bunch of ways: symmetrical life loss, paying life as a cost, etc. One of the core mechanics is Retribution, which simply says "If you lost life this turn, [effect]." I wanted an engaging way to turn on Retribution without having a bunch of "Pay X life: [effect]" permanents at common, and my solution was False Life.
The original idea was for False Life to act as an alternative life resource: you could get more of it for cheaper, but it would slowly decay afterwards. You could use the decay to turn on Retribution OR spend it all at once to make the most of it OR use it as a temporary shield against a particularly aggressive opponent.
As for how it fits into the set, I'd use it as an alternative to regular life gain in WBG. Retribution appears in all colors, but would be centered in RWU (in order of emphasis).
Some examples:
Stinger Crook R
Creature - Human Rogue
First Strike
Retribution - If you lost life this turn, ~ has +1/+0.
1/1
Hatelash R
Instant
~ deals 1 damage to any target.
Retribution — If you lost life this turn, ~ deals 3 damage to that target instead.
Fetishize the Flesh W
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't attack.
Retribution — If you lost life this turn, enchanted creature can't block.
Painwing 2U
Creature - Demon
Retribution — If you lost life this turn, ~ has flying.
3/2
And here's another false life generator:
Cruel Hemomancer 3B
Creature - Demon Cleric
Falselifelink (Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to gain that much false life. At the beginning of your upkeep, lose 2 false life.)
4/3
User_938036 makes a good point; I think false life should always be the first to go. Perhaps there should be some combination of mana conversion as well as the slow decay, something like: (At the beginning of your upkeep, lose 2 false life. If you do, add C at the beginning of your next main phase.)?
I think you're making it more complicated than you need to. In the context you're describing, just making the life cost payments will be far simpler than introducing a whole new stat for the players to track.
I just don't like the term false life. It seems overly complicated and could be confused with real life. Why not just call it something like "Damage Shield" and use counters like energy and Poison counters? Then it becomes a resource that cards can more readily effect and the such.
I think the upkeep decay version is best, combined with false life being lost first. This way it acts a bit like a temporary shield.
I would consider @megatog201's suggestion of doing it in the form of a separate resource of counters also. This would remove the life gain and life loss interaction and make any synergy with the mechanic you have more parasitic, but it might be easier to track and it would remove potential balance problems around cards that scale with life gain and loss like Sanguine Bond given that false life is going to be easier to gain and loose.
Personally I lean more toward doing it as false life for the interactivity but doing it as separate counters definitely has its advantages.
Yep, I think I'm going to stick with the upkeep decay and user_938036's suggestion. I can see the potential problems, but the lifegain and loss interactions are so integral to the central concept that it wouldn't make sense to treat it as energy.
Lots of other games call this mechanic "Armor" or "Shield". Basically adds to your life total, damage removes Armor first before getting to your life total.
It is still distinct from life in that:
1) Armor only soaks up damage, not direct life loss.
2) If you somehow have 0 life and still have armor, you still lose.
Depending on how easy it is to gain Armor, you may choose to have it expire on the next end step, or on your following upkeep.
You could then also have a "Pierce" keyword which ignores armor and deals damage to the opponents life total.
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It's inspired by the Psylian Life mechanic from Rezatta. Basically, your life total is equal to your regular life plus your false life. Whenever a source causes you to lose life, that source's controller chooses which life you lose first.
However, I'm not sure how I want false life to be different from regular life. Here's what I've come up with so far:
Which do you think are most interesting? I'm open to entirely new suggestions.
The tricky part with the versions above is that the first two incentivise your opponent to never attack your false life first (since its naturally going to wain on its own) and the third means they should always prioritize it (since it is a free resource). If you could combine the two, it both wains on its own and you can spend it to generate mana, then it would be a meaningful decision whether to prioritize attacking the false or real totals.
A lot more demonstration of how this will be used will be needed to really evaluate it well.
As for how false life isn't real life that is a lot harder.
In what colors would false life be centered? White/Black? If so, it shouldn't be something completely out of color for them such as mana production. What is the opposing mechanic; is its own thing or just a payoff for losing life? What colors is it centered it? If its a payoff for losing life in the same colors then the lose life when you cast is probably best.
The set I'm working on encourages using one's life in a bunch of ways: symmetrical life loss, paying life as a cost, etc. One of the core mechanics is Retribution, which simply says "If you lost life this turn, [effect]." I wanted an engaging way to turn on Retribution without having a bunch of "Pay X life: [effect]" permanents at common, and my solution was False Life.
The original idea was for False Life to act as an alternative life resource: you could get more of it for cheaper, but it would slowly decay afterwards. You could use the decay to turn on Retribution OR spend it all at once to make the most of it OR use it as a temporary shield against a particularly aggressive opponent.
As for how it fits into the set, I'd use it as an alternative to regular life gain in WBG. Retribution appears in all colors, but would be centered in RWU (in order of emphasis).
Some examples:
And here's another false life generator:
User_938036 makes a good point; I think false life should always be the first to go. Perhaps there should be some combination of mana conversion as well as the slow decay, something like: (At the beginning of your upkeep, lose 2 false life. If you do, add C at the beginning of your next main phase.)?
I would consider @megatog201's suggestion of doing it in the form of a separate resource of counters also. This would remove the life gain and life loss interaction and make any synergy with the mechanic you have more parasitic, but it might be easier to track and it would remove potential balance problems around cards that scale with life gain and loss like Sanguine Bond given that false life is going to be easier to gain and loose.
Personally I lean more toward doing it as false life for the interactivity but doing it as separate counters definitely has its advantages.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
It is still distinct from life in that:
1) Armor only soaks up damage, not direct life loss.
2) If you somehow have 0 life and still have armor, you still lose.
Depending on how easy it is to gain Armor, you may choose to have it expire on the next end step, or on your following upkeep.
You could then also have a "Pierce" keyword which ignores armor and deals damage to the opponents life total.