So, I am soon to be starting in a friend's Rise of the Runelords game and I intend to use the only class deck I have so far- Bard.
I can't seem to decide which bard to play. I don't like Bekah, so she is out.
The others though, are looking so fun. But, I am not sure which one would be best, and which strategy I want to use for them. It will be a 4 player game (sometimes 3). One of the players is a veteran of the game, two others are pretty new and I am somewhere in the middle there. Here are my thoughts on the characters, and my questions:
Lem- I feel like he is good out of the box. I know he doesn't get too many spells, but he feels like the Bard I have always wanted (magic-based). With 1 weapon and a D8 Dex, I am less scared to play him since he at least has a shot (I swear I didn't mean to be punny there) if a monster shows up, and he can buff others to cycle till that crossbow lands in his hand. My main question is: which role to take for him. I have a tendancy to favor arcane spells, but may be our sole healer. Perhaps I should wait to see what others play and then pick whichever role covers the caster type we DON'T have.
Meliski- I love, LOVE this guy. The chance to take another shot at something failed by me and my friends sounds very nice. The main issue is, of course, his lack of combat. My thought is this: you either take a weapon card feat at the end of adventure 1 to make sure he always has a weapon (due to choosing favored card) or you wait till completing adventure 3 and use a power feat to ensure he doesn't need a weapon. Which is the better choice? Other Brawler powers work with both options and there are so few gambling items that Gambler seems like a bad choice. So I don't know what I will do. Adventure 3 seems a long time to have to rely on spells to make it through, though.
Siwar- Ah Siwar, how I love your concept and hate your card list. Love LOVE the idea of having allies for all your stuff, especially with fun things like "Look! A Monster! Go, my Pyromaniac Mage retainer! BURN IT!" Also, the eventual recharged blessing if they succeed is nice. Sadly, all this stuff is a long way off and it seems like I would have to "rely on the kindness of strangers" to see me through the first adventure. I see people say they take a SPELL card feat first, but with D8 Dex, I was thinking weapon instead. The main question is how do I stay alive long enough to survive through adventure 1 with only 3 spells and no weapon?
As I am typing this, I feel like I see the pattern here where it will really depend on how much my friends are willing to help me get through the adventures as to which character I should play...
Let me preface this by saying that this is my opinion. I'm going to say things like Siwar sucks, so let me start there and hopefully not offend anyone.
Okay. So Siwar sucks in RotR. It's too combat based, which she just can't handle that well. It's doable, any character is, but you're not gonna have a good time. I'd recommend against using her.
Meliski - I haven't come to an answer yet on whether I'd take a weapon feat or wait for Brawler yet, so I don't have an answer for you there, but I do have a suggestion for how to play. Do mostly support, re-rolling lots of diece for your buddies, and have someone give you a weapon every game to make your combat with. Don't rely on spells, rely on other player's second weapon (not hard to do if there's a fighter or something with favorite card type weapon and 4 or more weapons in their deck).
Lem - There are three Lems. I will cover each.
Class Deck Lem - This is the one you specifically mentioned, and I think he's the worst of the lot. The thing really holding him back is that he's all about his spells but can only hold 4-6, which is not enough for someone focused around spells, particularly a Bard who should be taking some support-type spells and has both Arcane and Divine to choose from. Which role to take will depend (most likely) on your decklist and playstyle you've built by the time you beat AP 3 - the decision should pretty much be obvious at that point. While I do think he's the best choice of the three you listed, CD Lem has a major problem - he can never use his d4+x on himself. That really hurts. His swap ability (I call it his mending ability because it's like the spell mending) can only be used on spells, which stinks. Oh, and he can't choose his favorite card. :/
S&S Lem - I don't know that you have access to this Lem, but I'll cover him anyway. This Lem is the best for "holding your own." If you want a Bard that can support but also be a power in his own right, this Lem is for you. Most bards offer more support and less self-power, but S&S Lem flips the ratios. He can do proper weapon damage (take a crossbow until you find a good Finesse melee weapon) and can use his d4+x on himself right out of the gate. He gets two weapons which you normally don't need due to favorite card type (pick weapon), but since he is more in the thick of things, he's more likely to lose his weapon to damage, so a backup is nice. My only real problem with S&S Lem is that he caps out at 4 spells, which is a bummer for me. I love spells, especially when I get both arcane and divine.
RotR Lem - I know you wanted to use one from the class deck, but I would honestly recommend this Lem to you the most. This is, in my opinion, the best bard in the game all around. Nothing in particular jumps out at you compared to the others, but he's got several things going for him. He's got a weapon and can pick his favorite card type, so you can always start with it (take a crossbow for his solid dex). He can take 4-6 spells, the most of any bard, which is just great - spells are a powerful and flexible card type, particularly when you have access to both arcane and divine. His d4+x ability can be used on himself when he hits his role card (always take virtuoso for this reason). His mending ability is great for tailoring his hand to get the right spell, or to get his weapon back by acquiring a random weapon during play, or a few other things. He's just all around solid, and can be built however you need him due to his flexibility. If you haven't played a bard yet, I suggest RotR Lem, he's where you should start.
I just assumed he didn't want to play as Bekah. She is kinda weird.
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Are you playing with the class deck characters choosing only cards from the class deck (and "living out of the box"), or just using them in the Runelords campaign? This makes a big difference.
If you are playing Meliski and not doing the "character lives out of this box" method (maybe you're mixing the Bard class deck cards in with the Runelords box), I would suggest starting him off with the Amulet of Mighty Fists (upgrading to Fiery Fists when available) and using him as a quasi-monk. Don't bother with the weapons, and if you want more combat, just go full on Brawler and use your bare hands. Use spells as your backup when the fists aren't enough.
Another vote for RotR Lem (recursion is awesome, and 1 weapon + favored type: any is great) or Meliski (as you note, all his role upgrades are pretty mediocre, but his base package of rerolls is quite strong---I'd run him like RotR Lem, with one weapon, as I'd rather just invest power feats in handsize 8 than in having a crappy fist-weapon).
The main easy-to-overlook advantage that Meliski has over Lem is that he only has to spend the card to buff when the person fails, whereas Lem has to recharge up front, which means Meliski tends to have more cards left for his turn.
I actually rather like Siwar, but Orbis is right that she's really tuned for S&S and its plethora of task-barriers, and is a relatively poor choice on the more combat-heavy RotR path.
I don't like Bekah. I don't know why exactly I don't like her, but I don't. I think it is something about the fact that she is TOO well-rounded.
I haven't decided if I am restricting myself to my Bard deck or not. I was thinking I would since I plan on also playing in a 2-player game with another friend of mine, who is totally new to the game but brilliant and I want to give him the full run of the cards from the S&S set we will be using. There is also ANOTHER possible game at a local gaming store and it would just be easier to be able to literally carry my deck around with me. I would have to keep track of which adventures I had completed, but at least I would always have access to all my cards and not show up to find some obnoxious Druid took all my cures, hehe.
Speaking of which, so far, do the rewards line up between RotRL and S&S? Do you gain feats at the same rate? If not, then I will just have to pick a different Bard for each game I am in.
I had totally forgotten about the Amulet of Mighty/Fiery firsts for Meliski. Theoretically, this would become a D8(str)+D6(+2 maybe for the power)+D4/D8(amulet). I think that's my ultimate Bard right there- self sufficient and useful all-round, PLUS 6 spells to keep me happy (I love spellcasting in any game, even if it is a card game), AND I wouldn't have to use a card feat on a weapon so I would get to increase spell deck size earlier.
As for the 3 Lems, I agree with that analysis. I suppose I will have to decide if I will use only my class deck or not. I was mostly trying to keep things simpler for myself since two of those games are home games and I know I would be allowed to use the same character for both of them. If I do that though, I wouldn't be able to tote around the amulet of mighty fists.
I agree that Bekah is "too well rounded" as in she seems to be able to do everything, but what it really means is that she doesn't do anything well. It is possible to specialize her in a way that gives her good fighting capabilities.
I think you get a lot more boons in S&S as a result of the plunder system, but there are quite a few locations in RotR that give you boons after you close them (General Store, Apothecary, Goblin Fortress, etc) and they appear quite often.
Meliski's reroll abilities is really really good; it can be better than a static +3 bonus sometimes. But more to the point, you only spend it if you fail, so it's a cushion and you spend it on very few checks.
The problem with having someone hand you a weapon is that most of the weapon fighters with lots of weapons usually have proficiency and want to use that proficiency, so Meliski can't use most of them, him not having weapon proficiency. In my current OP group we just accept that Meliski sucks at a decent number of checks and having him tail the scout.
Actually, having a scout go right before a bad combatant is really good. As is being with somebody like RotR Valeros (an extra d4 on every combat check can really help)
I think you get a lot more boons in S&S as a result of the plunder system...
This hasn't been my experience. In fact, I theorize that the plunder system was partially implemented to counterbalance the higher ratio of banes to boons in S&S. If so, I think they did a good job, it seems to balance out to me.
I'll have to crunch some numbers at some point but sure, there definitely seems to be more banes (and more barriers) in S&S.
That's my feeling too, but I think the odds are still slightly tilted in plunder's favor. Having played both recently, but without doing the math, I'd say the average RoRL location as 6:4 boons:banes, S&S more like 5:5. There's probably a few less "easy" locations in S&S--your General Stores and Apothecaries--but S&S has ones like the Safehouse, which has no monsters at all (balanced by a dreadful 3 armors?)
A ship-based scenario would have us coming out with a lot of plunder, sometimes as many as six or eight cards, to say nothing of Goblin Keelhauling being the best/worst barrier to encounter. That might work out to things being pretty much even, but you don't have to acquire plunder, which can be helpful if you're a Damiel trying to get spells, say.
I'd also say the anticipation and mystery components of plunder make it a little more fun, but that's just personal preference and emotions clouding my judgment. :D
So I just did a basic comparison of the locations in RotR vs. S&S. The ratio of boons to banes in RotR locations is 52.55%/47.45%. For S&S locations (through deck 4) it's 51.25% boons and 48.75% banes.
I plan to do a more detailed analysis that breaks the scenarios down by the locations you actually use, since that will give a more exact answer - if you're seeing the Fog Bank three times as much as the Holy Isle, that's going to skew the ratios.