Started my 6 handed Solitaire campaign recently and I thought I would share some thoughts. I will Discuss the characters I am using in the order they play. I chose these characters as being completely different than the characters available in RotRL, without trying to balance them or choose who's best.
Jirelle - Probably my most reliable character. Can deal with most combat checks, and is amazing at dealing with Ship challenges(that 1 less damage buffer has come in very handy). The survival and Fortitude Buffs are much more useful than you realize when coming in cold from RotRL
Seltyiel - Because of her power she is operating with 2 Strength spells and 2 magic weapon spells, this allows her to support other characters much more than a most mages can. (While still using these spells to add d6 to her own checks) Pretty sturdy character right now, although finding swords has been problematic thus far. The recharge spell power has been quite useful.
Lirianne - She has been under-performing thus far, but some of that has simply been poor dice luck. In terms of getting better cards she has excelled gaining 2x Pistol+1, a Musket, and a Blunderbuss. However her 4 card hand often means she does the one explore and that's it. Perhaps she should bury a card on every combat.
Feiya - Has been pretty effective thus far, even though her actual Powers have been used hardly at all. I swiftly learned that her spell to float the last card of a location deck was the key to defeating the very first scenario (which I failed twice!). Her high intelligence is crucial to close locations
Damiel - Overpowered if anything. His ability from the outset to be rolling d8+2 + 2d6 + d10+3 in combat if he wishes to discard a card (that may recharge!) is crazy. I literally can send him off to a location alone and feel that he can deal with each card there. Only weakness is gaining allies and I am regretting letting his potion of Glibness go. We will see if another surfaces
Alahazra - Really interesting change of pace from anything we have seen previously. I have been operating her very much as the quarterback of the team. using Blessings and other divine cards to reveal the top cards on as many decks as possible to allow other characters to make informed decisions as to where to go and explore. This means that often on her turn, Alah only has Fire Blade and an ally or two to use. Her small retained hand is sometimes an advantage if you know you will take unblockable damage. I originally had her as first player, but learned that she can use her Oracle powers before anyone acts, and if anyone is going to miss a turn due to losing blessings from the timer deck it can be her with little game effect (that small hand again)
As I mentioned I failed the first Scenario twice, and Last night failed the Black Hand rather miserably! Having fun with this level of difficulty however.
The set up and tear down time for doing this six handed is rather lengthy. I tend to just leave it set up on the dining room table and have at it when my son goes to bed (Single Dad here) Finishing a scenario an evening is about the right pace to really enjoy the experience.
Shattered it! Now on to Adventure Deck 1 :)
Damiel with a pair of Tot Flasks is the best thing ever. I agree that he may be a little OP. I'm currently running through Adventure deck 1 with Damiel and Seltyiel (who's a dude, by the way), and there's nothing they can't handle as long as Damiel has the right potion. (except ships! Hoo boy, they've got some bad Wisdom scores!)
I knew Seltyiel was a male elf, but somehow I feminized him anyway.
I'm not sure what that says ;)
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Lirianne - She has been under-performing thus far, but some of that has simply been poor dice luck. In terms of getting better cards she has excelled gaining 2x Pistol+1, a Musket, and a Blunderbuss. However her 4 card hand often means she does the one explore and that's it. Perhaps she should bury a card on every combat.
Or perhaps she could be more generous with adding 1d4 to other people's combat. That's quite useful for cycling through her cards, as it was with Harsk.
My Lirianne has been underperforming too, but I think she started to make up for it last weekend when she went full Pepperbox against the villain.
Seltyiel's power to get an extra d6 on his combat check requires a spell with the Attack trait, actually, so you can't use Strength or Magic Weapon for that effect, IIRC.
I had just noted that. I had transposed the hasn't from the first part of the sentence to the latter.
So, I have thought about it and I will keep playing the way I have been. The 'correct' way is incredibly limiting and makes him a one trick pony. Even worse is that others do that trick much better!
Lirianne - She has been under-performing thus far, but some of that has simply been poor dice luck. In terms of getting better cards she has excelled gaining 2x Pistol+1, a Musket, and a Blunderbuss. However her 4 card hand often means she does the one explore and that's it. Perhaps she should bury a card on every combat.Or perhaps she could be more generous with adding 1d4 to other people's combat. That's quite useful for cycling through her cards, as it was with Harsk.
My Lirianne has been underperforming too, but I think she started to make up for it last weekend when she went full Pepperbox against the villain.
So she just went berserk in "Cat and Mouse", closing a location every time she entered one.
She does command ships well and that can be a big deal in such scenarios.
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Damiel with a pair of Tot Flasks is the best thing ever. I agree that he may be a little OP. I'm currently running through Adventure deck 1 with Damiel and Seltyiel (who's a dude, by the way), and there's nothing they can't handle as long as Damiel has the right potion. (except ships! Hoo boy, they've got some bad Wisdom scores!)
I played a duo game with just the base set with my friend, I used Seltyiel (I really like Magus a lot) and he used Damiel, because he's always attracted to characters that use items. We obtained a Tot flask and he turned it down. Kind of mind boggling to me, I thought the tot flask would be awesome. But according to him, "There are better potions I could use". Hrm. Either way. We did really well together. Him being able to cast cure helped a lot. I can't wait to play those two again.
My Damiel isn't using Tot flask either. Just hard to imagine what to give up! (Especially when Potion of Heroism enters the mix)
My Damiel isn't using Tot flask either. Just hard to imagine what to give up! (Especially when Potion of Heroism enters the mix)
I'd say Tot Flask becomes even more appealing once Potion of Heroism shows up, because it gives you another way to draw it. Once you have an Alchemist's Fire, a Potion of Healing, and a Potion of Heroism, then Tot Flask is one of the best cards in your deck, because it is whichever of the three you most want at any given time. Certainly, if you're running doubles of something, toss them for Tot Flasks instead.
Once you have an Alchemist's Fire, a Potion of Healing, and a Potion of Heroism, then Tot Flask is one of the best cards in your deck, because it is whichever of the three you most want at any given time.
Almost any given time. If I haven't used it before I explore, it's mostly useless during an exploration, since you can't use it during an encounter. It's great if I know what's coming and can get the correct potion in my hand. Otherwise, I just pull a noxious bomb or alchemists fire into my hand and hope for the best, since I don't have a potion of heroism or flying yet.
My Damiel isn't using Tot flask either. Just hard to imagine what to give up! (Especially when Potion of Heroism enters the mix)
I think Tot flask greatly enhances Damiel. What items are you running with?
Yeah you guys are starting to make me come around, With the Oracle often providing insight into what is coming next, the ability to Swiss army knife his potions is very powerful
I'm going to add some thoughts at the mid way point for the Skulls and Shackles Saga.
Firstly, playing solitaire is rather unique as a way to do this. I daresay my characters are more selfless and have greater synergy than a 6 live player grouping. However, that advantage is mitigated by having only one set of eyes at the table. I often found I have missed a rule or exception and either reverse the mistake if possible, mitigate it in another way, or swear out loud and start the scenario again :)
My thoughts on the characters at the end of Tempest Rising
Jirelle - Still my most reliable character, almost a sure thing combat wise and incredibly capable against all but Arcane/Divine challenges. I was carrying around the Old Salt's Bandana until her elevation to Pirate Queen. With her new feat she no longer needs that nifty item to get a re-roll on every roll. Three Blessings of Besmara enable her to power up for the largest challenges, which Alahazra conveniently informs me of beforehand.
Seltyiel - This Marauder is now a very reliable character and is able to wade into the most dangerous situations. Being able to recharge/shuffle spells to help vs , Monsters, Ships, and Barriers. Lady Agasta is there not so much to help defeat a challenge, but rather to recharge most of Seltyiel's hand to get more spells and blessing back. Knowing that Sword play is preeminent has allowed him to concentrate on Blessings of Gorum, and also to allow Feiya to get the pick of the Arcane attacks. Selttyiel can make do with the lesser spells as they would rarely if ever be used for their face value.
Lirianne - What a turn around! From being an under performer, to being quite the rock star. This "Musketesse" quickly makes us forget about her lack of strength, defeating any foe with relative ease if she chooses to bury a card. The inclusion of Besmara's Tricorne has allowed Lirianne to traverse almost all banes in her path. The Hand size is still a problem, but the ability to shuffle in an extra weapon to draw a card will alleviate that. Lirianne can be trusted to clear a location by herself without intervention. Only she, Damiel, and Jirelle can do that reliably.
Feiya - I still feel I am under utilizing Feiya's innate ability to reduce the difficulty of checks. This would help cycle her deck, which has been a problem and the Monkey being from deck 3 is a prime example of a card I should use. At one stage of the campaign I was caught without an attack spell when needed too often, and I believe I over corrected with at one stage six attack spells in her deck. I have now weaned that back down to four, by including Charm Animal and Animate Water. The Sapphire of Intelligence and Jalhazar's Wheel have made her quite a boon when it comes to various challenges, And her new +2d4 Fortitude ability as a Sea Witch will only solidify that (especially with the Sapphire) Having said all that I really enjoy playing Feiya and look forward to better utility Arcane spells for her in the future.
Damiel - Damiel, Damiel, Damiel, What can one say about a character that was obviously a favourite of the design crew. I will just list his items currently to give you the awe inspiring height of his prowess. Items = Liquid Ice, Masterwork Tools, Potion of Flying, Potion of Glibness, Potion of Heroism x2, Potion of the Ocean, Powder Horn, Tot Flask. No challenge is too hard for this Mensch. The only weakness is a lack of repeatable explores, which the Potion of Flying is helping to mitigate. His Fire Lance may be reaching the end of its useful life as the 4d8 is not reliable vs top tier foes. We will see what Lirianne can hand over to him in the future. I have probably veered from most peoples design by taking a heavy armour proficiency, but the Buccaneer's Breastplate is an exquisite item that only he could use in the whole group. The extra -1 to ship damage is too good for the Chirurgeon to throw away.
Alahazra - Still the navigator of this ship of fools. The Stargazer's ability to scout ahead was well nigh priceless in the early days of the campaign. Even though it left Alahazra unable to do much on her own turn, that was more than paid off by the ability to vector the right character to the revealed challenges. This need has abated over time. As the other members of the crew have become more adept, the need to scout for them has lessened. This will allow the Oracle to preserve more cards and scout on her own time, which will synergize with her new ability to encounter boons she finds this way at her location. In a true six player game, I doubt many would wish to play this character as it is rather boring to just do one explore each round to set up every one else for glorious turns. But in solitaire play it has been amazing.
Been a great ride so far, and thank you again to Liz, Jeffrey and the Lone Shark crew I met at BGGCON. Let's do that again and bigger :)
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Feiya - I still feel I am under utilizing Feiya's innate ability to reduce the difficulty of checks. This would help cycle her deck, which has been a problem and the Monkey being from deck 3 is a prime example of a card I should use. At one stage of the campaign I was caught without an attack spell when needed too often, and I believe I over corrected with at one stage six attack spells in her deck. I have now weaned that back down to four, by including Charm Animal and Animate Water. The Sapphire of Intelligence and Jalhazar's Wheel have made her quite a boon when it comes to various challenges, And her new +2d4 Fortitude ability as a Sea Witch will only solidify that (especially with the Sapphire) Having said all that I really enjoy playing Feiya and look forward to better utility Arcane spells for her in the future.
You and I play Feiya very differently...
I use her Hex ability almost constantly. I obsess over having the newest cards (I think the only cards I have under AD 2 are the Sapphire, one blessing, and an Ally I'm actively trying to upgrade). I also just got the +3 to the power, so when I need I can take 7! off of a check. For me, she's become similar to your discussion of Alhazra, where she's often empty by the time her turn comes around (Often times one Attack spell, an ally, and a blessing from 7 cards to start with). The upshot, though, is the orb spells, which are her sole attack spells, and which mean she can explore without fear of going too deep because one spell lasts the whole time. Because of this, she cycles at absolutely absurd speeds, and therefore will see amazing cards like animate water and control weather 3 or more times per game.
I'm glad to hear everything is going well, but I just had to take some time to gush about how much I've loved Feiya these last couple adventures (she started off slow, it wasn't until her second power feat that she really came alive).