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Dryad Teams

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Dryad

Dryad Birch Form

Dryad Oak Form

Dryad Willow Form


Background
Dryads only recently started playing Bloodbowl, and one of their players even made the big leagues appearing as a mercenary of sorts in various Bloodbowl teams throughout The World. This player is Willow Rosebark – a Dryad in the Willow Aspect who for unknown reasons has lost all the abilities of a normal Willow Aspect Dryad. She can no longer trap players with her vines nor make it difficult for opponents to escape her grasp. In truth Willow is an outcast amongst Dryads, a laughing stock amongst the proud tree folk. Losing her natural abilities is akin to being a eunuch in human societies and such is her general lack of ability or skill on the Bloodbowl field that even amongst those that know little of the Dryads she is a laughing stock.

The Dryads became aware of how the wider world viewed Willow and decided the time had come to form their own teams to show off the true might of the Dryads. Dryads would once again be feared and respected, their forms of mighty Oak, Willow and Birch would be revealed in all their glory and Willow Rosebark would be forgotten.

Rationale
When designing the roster it was important firstly to completely dismiss the travesty of a player that is Willow Rosebark, not only does she make no sense at all from a fluff perspective but her skill set is just awful so there is very little reference to her in terms of player design.

The basic design principles were to make the Dryads the linemen and each of their Aspects the positionals. Oak used to gain +Strength and +1Toughness in older versions of warhammer, so it was a clear choice to make them St4 and Av10 to represent this. Due to weight strength and rigid nature of Oak it also made sense to give them the skill Stand Firm.

The Willow aspect used to stop people from escaping from pinning in warhammer, so Tentacles and Prehensile Tail were the obvious picks, their St was increased to 4 to make them somewhat effective at using tentacles with st3 they would just be too weak. Prehensile Tail isn’t a tail, it represents their whip like willow twigs for hands. The Av was lowered to 8 as the willow’s vines are fairly brittle. Foul Appearance was added because in warhammer their vines ensnarl their opponent's arms and weapons to stop them from being hit, so they don't have a foul appearance as such but this is the best way to represent this. This stat line is also in line with Willow Rosebark’s and the only nod to the star player.

The Birch aspect are described as more delicate than the standard Dryad form so their Av was lowered to 7, they also gained +1 attack in warhammer, so Frenzy was the obvious choice there. The warhammer fluff explains that the extra attack is a result of their increased speed, so their Ma was increased to 7 and A access was given as it seems to most fitting for this Aspect.

Season 2 Changes
During season 1 I immediately felt I had over described the Willow Aspect and wanted to make some changes but decided rather than upset people using the team I would leave it be for a year. Rather unsurprisingly to me the team performed a bit too well. In 450 games they had a win percentage of 57% which puts the in Tier 0 with Undead, Wood Elves and so on. So I made the changes I felt I had got wrong in the beginning, removing FA from the Willow and moving their Ag down to 2. The price was adjusted accordingly. The team is still extremely capable but the Willows were being used as ball carriers and were far too agile. Which made some games a bit of a walk over for them. The changes made mean the team require a bit more thought than before but still leave them in a tier 1 spot which is the level I wanted them to perform at.

Season 3
After another year I suspect this team is fine, though I would like to give them a little more time before locking them in. This team was designed to be tier 1 and they are certainly achieving that goal 466 games played and their win percentage is 61.37% so they continue to perform a a tier zero team. However they do not seem to be winning many of the leagues, tournaments, or major tournaments. So I do wonder whether they have an inflated win percentage because the majority of their games feature in the Open division where they are a hard counter to some races e.g. stunty teams especially. If the team start showing domination in other areas of the game I may have to look in to nerfing them a little.

Team design, fluff and rationale by Garion
Player pics drawn by Knut_Rockie and coloured by Garion
Icons by Cowhead and Fanky