So, seeing that our OP characters are going to have to survive an entire scenario at Shark Island, now seems like a good time to brainstorm about which characters seem like good bets for the OP environment (slower but customizable upgrades from the fixed class deck pool, possibly-random party members, occasional murder vats of sharks), and which characters look better suited for regular play (RotR, S&S, or even Wrath of the Righteous for the odd angel-hunter).
Thoughts on a few characters:
*Zarlova, as a Wisdom-based pure caster, is great in S&S. Not only is a high wisdom valuable for fighting ships, but Besmara's Tricorne is just amazing on her.
*Siwar, starting with a d4 strength and 0 weapons, really wants a party that can work with her to team up, hopefully pass off a spare dex weapon (in early scenarios), and be able to handle extra encounters (if you want to grab the Ranzak power post-role). Bringing her to store-based OP, where you may get a team with characters who want to work solo (Wu Shen, Merisiel) and may or may not have ways to mitigate your weaknesses seems dicey. Also, sharks.
*Casters don't have to compete with other casters for specific spells anymore. Now, anyone who has access to Divine and a few spell slots (Arabundi, Lesath/Harsk eventually) may be a bit better off than in regular play, because they have their own personal supply of Cures/whatever.
This also opens the door up to planned OP parties with super-heavy healing capabilities (do any strategies open up if everyone in the party is packing some number of Cures? How much is too much?).
*Characters who improve party loot (Transmog Ezren, Radillo) seem a little more exciting outside OP, as the upgrade rules mean that you get less upside from scenarios where you get more good loot than #characters.
*Characters who care about the adventure deck# of their cards (Arcane Pretener Flenta, Tactician Valeros, Puppet Master Radillo, Feiya though she's not OP-legal at the moment) have a much higher cap in non-OP play, where a cooperative party can quickly funnel as many upgrades as they can find to that character. OTOH, in OP, you're guaranteed that the high-deck# cards are suitable to your class to begin with.
*Characters who improve party loot (Transmog Ezren, Radillo) seem a little more exciting outside OP, as the upgrade rules mean that you get less upside from scenarios where you get more good loot than #characters.
On a similar note, Zarlova's ability to gain arcane spellcasting isn't that helpful in organized play since her class deck only has divine spells. It could, however, be extremely useful in S&S or RotRL boxes.
I feel like giving Zarlova the arcane skill would be useful in so much as she would be better at acquiring spells. She could also make use of the arcane spells she acquires during a given scenario without having to banish them. Other than that, though, I agree that having the arcane skill is more useful outside of OP.
My biggest problem with Zarlova is the fact that she can't get her Blessing of choice until adventure 6 - which makes 2 power feats essentially useless. Contrasted with the other 3 clerics who all have basic blessings.