What are some tips that would be good to know when picking out characters for WotR, having previous experience with RotR and S&S?
(For S&S, the tips would include "armor is a bit more useful", "Survival becomes a lot more important", "get ready for more barriers", etc.
It looks like Knowledge is a bigger deal... But I'd want a better idea of how big a deal it is before deciding to play someone like Shardra.
It seems that Alain is the Jirelle of this set in terms of being best all-around? Is there a worst/least favorite/most difficult like Selytiel?
thanks
Karl
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I honestly find a number of other characters better all-around - Kyra and Seelah to name two. But there are a lot of great characters here.
A wide spread of skills is important. Get someone with fortitude, with knowledge, diplomacy, survival, etc.
Healing is highly desirable. Have at least a secondary healer (paladin, hunter, inquisitor) to back up a primary (cleric, shaman).
Armor is rather nice, evasion is pretty awesome, other types of damage reduction will see a lot of use.
And one thing that can really affect your fun is the mythic paths. Look at them before you choose your characters. Note which skills your character will use most and which paths work with those skills.
I enjoyed Adowyn from start to finish (scouting, self-healing, nova-strike ability, what's not to love) but am still annoyed that no Dex-Wis path exists. In fact, Wis is only present on one base path (so Harsk and Imrika have similar issues).
Have fun!
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Scouting is crucial, if nobody in your party can reliably examine location decks, you're in for a very bad time. I personally find Adowyn to be the best character in the box due to this.
Spread skills around (as in get characters with little to no overlap in skills, not spread skill feats around; for feats it is better to specialize in what you do best), this is even more important if you're running 6 players. Which reminds me, don't run 6 players if you can avoid it; 4 is fine, but hard. 3 is probably the sweet spot. 6 is brutal.
Getting everyone 2 armor slots is advisable (doesn't have to be right away, but eventually). There's a lot of things that do damage you'll want to block.
Balazar has a splendiferous hat.
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We're almost through WotR and I am playing SnS solo recently.
So far, I found SnS (up to AD3) much harder than WotR (up to AD5) (3 players each), so I don't really know whats up with all the nostalgia people seem to have regarding SnS (I was several times very close to make a thread to rant about SnS, while we managed every scenario in WotR on the first try).
My best advice is that most skills come up in some scenario in WotR, but may not come up frequently outside of it, so it makes sense to have a party of different specialist with ways to buff for their shortcomings. It's best if you look at the mythic paths and try to build a party whose skills in the mythic paths don't overlap much.
For 3 characters, you can cover everything with (STR/CON), (DEX/INT) and (WIS/CHA).
Characters that can scout (rangers, oracles, adowyn) or that can increase your checks (warpriests, bards, salim) are helpful, as well as characters with in-built damage reduction (barbarians, monks).
The focus is more on brutal combat than barriers, so battle-machines like Sajan or Seltyiel also work well.
Also, look at the FAQ on ways to decrease the difficulty of the base scenarios. In our experience, the game got progressively easier afterwards, with some difficulty spikes mixed in.
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Kyra is a useful character because she can use her channel energy power (it's not called that, but it's how I think of it) on any check she makes to defeat a bane with the Undead or Demon trait. (For instance, she can use it on an Acrobatics check against a Demon barrier.) This gives your group useful versatility.
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These are my tips and ideas, after finishing WotR:
1) Get as wide array of secondary skills as possible. The most crucial ( from the most important): Divine/Knowledge/Arcane/Survival/Diplomacy. If able, add Ranged, Acrobatics and Fortitude. Pick as many Divine characters as possible - at least half of your party should have it. Of of 6 players in my party, four had it and it so helpful.
2) This is combat-oriented adventure path. Pick capable fighters. Most barriers just do nothing, or are helpful, or just spam monsters at you.
3) Alain seems a bit useless to me. As Iceman noted, Adowyn is probably the best character in this set, but Kyra, Seelah, Shardra are also excellent choices and your party should consider these characters first. Balazar is also great , but has some unique and difficult mechanics, so don't give it to your 9-year-old son, if you have any ;-). But there are a lot of interesting boons for Alain - powerful mounts, polearm weapons, even armors. You might consider buying Paladin Class Deck and play Raz, who is kind of paladin/cavalier combo and is much better (and cuter ) character to play.
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FIrst - DO NOT play 6-char campaign, if possible.
Alain is far from best all-around. Particularly before roles, his powers are utter crap. Post-roles he can become amazing, to the point where the blessings timer threat will become negligent (make sure to note his Lancer FAQ though), and his Donahan upgrade will save your hide more than once. As someone noted above - it's important to consider Mythic Paths in advance, and Alain perfectly meshes with the Marshal Path. There are some barriers that'll make you thank Iomedae for that Mythic-boosted Diplomacy skill on Alain.
Adowyin is kinda weak-ish in combat (compared to other characters), but the best support character hands-down. Her scouting prowess boggles the mind (especially with post-role Leyrin), but the most useful skill for me is her ability to let other characters evade summoned monsters. Once you play a couple WotR scenarios, you'll appreciate what I mean. Unfortunately, Adowyn also suffers from not having a Dexterity/Wisdom path available. I took a Trickster Path for her, but in hindsight - you'll probably be better suited with a Champion. Intelligence checks in WotR seem almost non-existent.
The hidden gem for me is Balazar - he is a combat monster in disguise in his own right, as - with a Mythic Marshall Path- his Strength boost from Padrig scales double per adventure. Furthermore, post-role you'll be able to apply Padrig to Dexterity and Fortitude checks, so you'll have around a starting flat of +17 for 4/6 of all check types (Intelligence and Wisdom being his only weak spots).
Shardra -imho- is one of the lowsiest charcters ever. Her pre-role powers are abysmal (I know it SEEMS the set will be pushing the Knowledge checks, but my experience didn't support that). Also, she also bumps into the issue of Mythic Hierophant being the only Wisdom path - and one that seemed useless to me; I gave her a Mythic Defender (+Strength/Constitution) and it served me OK. Post-role though, she has the ability to use/allow other characters to use Knowledge VS Barriers. Go down that road. It won't serve you *often*, but when it does - it will make all the difference in the world.
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He is not in the set, but I wholeheartedly encourage using Tarlin from the cleric class deck. He's a competent fighter in a set that severely punishes those who can't fight, he's a decent healer, and his powers intersect with cards that have the Iomedae trait - and there are a lot of those in the box. But I would in the end actually encourage getting Mummy's Mask and playing that instead.