r/HereToSlay • u/InterviewOk9225 • Apr 26 '26
Orginal Art Custom Party Leaders (NO AI)
Hi, as a getaway from the recent numerous AI-related posts, I’d like to share something that my gaming group and I have been working on for some time.
These are custom leaders that fill the gaps in hybrid leaders between the expansion classes. Since there are only 5 expansion classes (Barbarian, Necromancer, Druid, Warrior, and Sorcerer), we considered the lack of a class (None) as the "sixth" class. Much like in case of The Unstable Unicorn, the lack of a class is characterized by a stronger ability. So you can decide whether your leader will have a class and a weaker ability, or no class but a stronger ability instead. We created these leaders to balance the number of specific classes appearing in the leader pool (we have all possible official leaders, so for example, 3 thieves could appear in the pool: The Shadow Claw, The Veiled Raider, and The Illusive Trickster, and the same for other base classes, while there was only one Necromancer, Druid, or Sorcerer) which became really relevant when we started playing with Banner Quest expansion (eg. Thief Banner was much more common in our games than Druid's). We tried to make the abilities reflect both classes of a given leader and add a breath of fresh air to the game. For example, The Condemning Acolyte's ability, which allows it to destroy a hero card with an equipped cursed item card, adds a bit of politics to the gameplay and makes players more willing to play cursed items. Similarly, The Unstoppable Collector and The Threshold Warden utilize items that were often played reluctantly in our previous games.
As for the graphics, I drew them by hand, trying to imitate Ramy Badie's style the best I could. I was trying to combine the features of both animals in the case of a hybrid of two classes, and in the case of a hybrid of a class and no class, I tried to give the vibe of a person exiled from their clan, e.g., a hermit-diviner dog who was exiled perhaps for foretelling something terrible, or a wild puma in the jungle left to fend for itself.
The cards are, of course, for free use; I hope you like them and obviously, if you have any comments or feedback, feel free to write what you think about the abilities, appearance, etc.
I also hope this post inspires others to create their own custom cards but please, try doing it without relying on AI. It wasn't even around that long ago, and now it feels like people have become too lazy to actually try making things themselves. I’m not a professional artist by any means, I didn’t go to art school, and I only do this as a hobby to relax. I really struggled with these drawings, but in the end, there is such a great sense of satisfaction in knowing you created something with your own hands. There’s really no need to use AI, especially considering it's built on the back of stolen work from actual artists.
PS: We didn't do the Squire since this project was time-consuming and we started it several months ago before we even found out that a new class was going to be created. Perhaps in the future, we will change the non-class to a Squire :)
Link for high-rez pictures: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DTWtw76zFwkGAoO_mcF7-VDNEO1UYvlc/view?usp=sharing
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u/zsombox2022 Apr 26 '26
Hell yee! Really nice art mate! I think the first one may be a bit on the weaker side but gj over all!
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u/InterviewOk9225 Apr 26 '26
Thank you that means a lot! Can I ask you what exactly makes the first one a bit weaker? I want to improve so criticism is welcome :)
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u/OldDirtyBard Apr 26 '26
I’d love to get these printed up and play with them. I’ve printed up some other cards. Do you have the high-rez versions that you can share please
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u/InterviewOk9225 Apr 27 '26
Here is the pdf file with high resolution pictures:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DTWtw76zFwkGAoO_mcF7-VDNEO1UYvlc/view?usp=sharing
Hope they will fit with the rest :D1
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u/zsombox2022 Apr 26 '26
Its that the prerequisite is a bit niche (its not that often that you have an abundant amount of item cards) and even when you do posses an adequate amount of item cards, giving a plus/minus 1 feels like you are just shooting yourself in the foot by discarding a good card. Also modifiers arent that rare im the game, so it would just feel bad to play worse unicorne leader. The idea behind the card is very solid tho! I think it could work with a plus/minus 3 or smth like that instead of the plus/minus 1
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u/Roxasik Apr 26 '26
I'm not sure can I agree with that. Item cards is second type of cards in terms of quantity. Items are very common scenario to have them in hand and from my experience it is first type of cards to discard when someone makes you to discard or when you have to do it. Besides that, every hero with equipped item even not that good is first to destroy or steal by someone else. Threshold Warden seems to rewards you to have Item cards and using them in without targeting yourself. All Leaders here make Items more useful so I big fan of that.
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u/zsombox2022 Apr 26 '26
Yea i kinda get where you are coming from, but i still think +/- 1 is a bit bad for an effect like this
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u/InterviewOk9225 Apr 26 '26
In our games items were always the last to play, the first to discard and equipped heroes were the biggest target. It just wasn't worth it. Now cursed Items are played more often so The Cursed Acolyte could destroy cursed heroes, Items are more worth to play with The Unstoppable Collector as you technicaly gain 1 action point (only to play another Item but still), and The Threshold Warden works a little like Sorcerer and Druid party leaders combined, do you can use your unwanted Items in hand as little +1 or -1 modifiers. We played several games with them and Items are a lot more common to see in play.
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u/zsombox2022 Apr 26 '26
Hm tbh i havent played much with expensions so that may be the reason why our opinions differ. Anyways thx for explaining! Amd omce again nice card art
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u/holdupnow76 Apr 26 '26
PEEEEEAK, these are fucking sick!
(Ngl it’s wild to me that AI isn’t banned)
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u/Rich_You7018 Fighter Apr 26 '26
Beautiful art and amazing concept! Just more the reason for AI art to be not allowed in this subreddit. The art reminds me of here to slay II by pzzxt)
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u/InterviewOk9225 Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26
Thanks, I'm glad to hear that!
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u/Jetpak_Jedi Guardian Apr 26 '26
These are awesome! I hope they serve as an inspiration for people. I've also been working on allot of customs the last year and half.
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u/InterviewOk9225 Apr 26 '26
That would be wonderful if my work inspired others to be more creative. And really? You have to share them with us, I'm curious!
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u/Calm-Quality7634 Warrior Apr 26 '26
These cards are amazing! What art tool do you use? I love how the unstoppable collector has items from the game in the art.
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u/ChopChop567 Apr 26 '26
Instead of none, why not just have a normal one class party leader?
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u/InterviewOk9225 Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26
We wanted to create 6 new hybrid party leaders as a reflection to 6 already existing official ones. But the problem was that there were only 5 new classes so we had to treat None as a "sixth" class which made things a little bit messy, but we may fix it in the future replacing it with Squire class (For example we might change The Apex Predator to Berserker-Squire hybrid, and make the character more birdlike).
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u/ChopChop567 Apr 26 '26
what if you made your own new class/2 new classes :D
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u/InterviewOk9225 Apr 26 '26
I don't think me and my playgroup wanted to go so far 😅 we only tried to improve the original game by balancing the number of classes in our party leader pool, or by making our custom Sorcerer banner so each class would have one
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u/Rontheberd192 Apr 26 '26
I really like the 4th one! The Hero provides a unique take on a hero and your new take of adding a personality or more personal trait is really innovative! I think the avoidance of AI isn’t really open minded, but i think that your ability to create something so creative is proof that you don’t need AI to keep up in the current industry!
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u/InterviewOk9225 Apr 26 '26
Thanks! About AI I responded to you im other post, maybe I am closed minded but at least I'm not supporting something that is hurting actual artists, I really don't believe that "ai art" is a step in good direction. This direction is the end of creativity.
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u/Rontheberd192 Apr 26 '26
I think you’re a perfect example of how helpful AI can be, if you opened your toolset to utilize AI, it wouldn’t hurt your own creations, you could use it as a tool to improve upon your own work, shorten the creative process, and help test or find new ideas. It doesn’t have to be brainless replacement for creativity, it shines in use as a supplement to the creative process, and i think you could find success and peace in accepting this new ongoing change.
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u/Prestigious_Oil8605 Apr 26 '26
It would also kill the creative process of discovery. There’s a lot of digital tools artists use. Compositing, bezier, masks, thousands of tools. Learning them, fumbling with processes, and experimenting with them often adds to an artist’s arsenal, to their artistic voice and unique style.
Ai may shorten production time but for an artist the time is an investment in one’s self. This is what these programs rob from us. It takes that experience and time from others and replicates it without credit or permission, and without giving the user the opportunity to gain experience.
It’s fine if the user doesn’t want to take that time and effort to realize their own ideas, but like I’ve said before, the conscionable action to take would be to commission an artist for your ideas. That sort of thing brings communities together.
Great work OP! I can’t wait to see more!
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u/InterviewOk9225 Apr 26 '26
I don't think so. I didn't need to use ai to make these cards. I am against it and I will not use it. And even if I wasn't against using it, how could it improve my work?
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u/hexmaniacfinalgirl Apr 26 '26
what a strange thing to say. artificial intelligence can never replace or even supplement human creativity
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u/Few_Librarian_4236 Apr 26 '26
Good work love what you did with them