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Hey everyone, I've tinkered with the card game in one-off sessions, but I've finally convinced three friends to start a campaign with me. Before we select characters and begin, I was hoping to get some tips on figuring out which characters might work best together. We have access to both campaigns right now.
There are four of us, so I'm going on the assumption that there should basically be a tank, a Divine user, an Arcane user and some type of Rogue/versatile character. Fortunately, I have all of the Class decks so we've got a lot of options. Are there any character combos that work well together, or even just characters/classes that are clearly superior to others? I want to ensure our team is mighty and successful. If it helps, I can post specific characters some of us are interested in for suggestions.
Thanks so much!
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Valeros is a good damage dealer at all levels. He really never runs out of steam unless you have a series of bad rolls.
Lem helps everyone else shine. And works great in a team with Valeros.
Merisel is almost essential in Runelords, but not so much in S7S.
Seoni's only offense is her spells, the Runelord version auto recharges them, but you will need to increase hher spells asap. She is also good at any Cha check.
The above 4 have most of the bases covered.
But the game is designed to allow any 4 characters who play smart to succeed.
Basically everything with work well (my first reaction was : let everyone pick what they want) but I agree, following a few basic ideas might help:
A) As you said a tank, a Divine user, an Arcane user and some type of Rogue/versatile character somehow ensures that any loot you get will be of some interest to someone. For the same reason it's better (thus not necessary) if between weapon users, at least one is more into melee and one into range.
B) For the same reason, having a team where everyone doesn't have the same strong characteristic will make the game easier in terms of closing locations for example (if you need a check ina given characteristic, at least someone will have a decent level in that characteristic).
C) No more than 2 supporting characters (I would say the best is 1 since it's nice to have a character that will not play like the others). Supporting characters are such as Alahazar, Siwar, Lem or Ranzak that have very little personal combat capabilities but a good way to buff others.
D) Some characters do explore a lot more than others. A simple way to estimate that is the number of blessings+allies they have in their initial 15 cards decks as well as their hand size. Low number of blessings+allies + small hand size will usually means you will play less than others. To avoid frustration later, make sure whoever picks this kind of characters is aware (they are fun to play if you know what you get into).
E) Someone with some kind of healing ability is not mandatory, but you gonna lose some interestning part of the game, so I would recommand having one just for fun (doesn't have to be the divine guy though).
But this said, we tried recently a party with 5 arcane casters and dumping every weapon found was quite fun.
It is important to have someone who has the ability to heal.
It is helpful to have someone who can easily help with checks albeit combat or not.
Someone who has the ability to scout locations is also a good asset.
Exploring is the way to win, so having someone who has the ability to explore more and/or helps get through locations faster is great.
And of course someone who is consistently good in combat.
Here are some of my suggestions for those categories:
Heal - Kyra, Heggal, Damiel, Lini, any Bard.
Check Assist - Bards, Oloch, Harsk, Valeros.
Scout - Alahazra, Harsk, Agna, or anyone who is willing to keep scouting spells or items)
Explore machines - Ranzak, Seelah, and anyone with a lot of blessings/allies who can cycle them easily like Kyra.
Combat gods- Valeros, Oloch, Damiel, Merisiel, Seoni, there's A LOT of options for this one.
I guess another category would be those characters who can go solo and handle themselves fine, like Merisiel, Lini, Damiel, Seelah. Depends on if your team would rather split or group I guess.
So keep a good balance of those and also be mindful of the skills and not have everyone major in just one skill. Spread across the skills to prevent players fighting for Dexterity weapons or Arcane spells. So maybe someone with high strength, then someone dexterous, then one divine caster, and one who is intelligent.
Be mindful that the best team composition may lead to a dull playthrough as you are not being challenged much. But it's more important to pick characters you will enjoy playing. Otherwise, hope you 4 enjoy the game and good luck on your adventures!
I have found there to be two rules.
1) Have a healer
2) Reduce fighting over boons
Rule one means to have at least one player that can heal anyone who's needed. Any divine caster with 2+ cures can do this. Rule two means to try and not pick characters who want the same stuff, primarily combat based cards - in a party of four, this typically means one character who uses divine attack spells, one for arcane, one for dex weapons, and one for strength weapons.
Beyond that, pretty much any party will work. There are some synergies that are more powerful than others, but they're not needed.
I have found there to be two rules.
1) Have a healer
2) Reduce fighting over boonsRule one means to have at least one player that can heal anyone who's needed. Any divine caster with 2+ cures can do this. Rule two means to try and not pick characters who want the same stuff, primarily combat based cards - in a party of four, this typically means one character who uses divine attack spells, one for arcane, one for dex weapons, and one for strength weapons.
Beyond that, pretty much any party will work. There are some synergies that are more powerful than others, but they're not needed.
I'd agree with that, though I'd call them "guidelines" since I think there are often times you can easily break them. You can do without a healer if you play conscious of the fact that things that go in your discard pile probably aren't coming back out for the rest of the scenario.
And as for the 4 card types, that is generally true, but there are characters that can break that guideline too. Jirelle and Lirianne probably won't be fighting over weapons much, even though they are both dexterity weapon users. Damiel, with not wanting spells with the Attack trait, won't mess too much with other spell users. And Sajan is a totally different category, since even if he ends up taking some weapon feats, you'll probably be able to spare the maximum of 3 weapons he'll want.
So there are exceptions. And honestly, 2 characters overlapping in what boons they want won't be that bad. There should still be plenty to go around.
You could also consider some of the characters that straddle those categories, like Oloch, Seelah, or Kyra.
One combo I'm really enjoying exploring with Calthaer right now is Damiel + Olenjack. They are part of a 6 character group. Damiel can give Olenjack the Poison trait on his combat checks with relative ease, letting Olenjack explore repeatedly. I know others have build Damiels that are ubermenschen, but I'm strongly considering a super support version.
But definitely choose the characters you'll each have the most fun with. Unless you do something extreme, like all choose a Wizard, you should be fine. (And even then you'd probably be fine.)
Interesting, because I'm not sure I would have ever vocalized no. 2 even though I mentally do that. It's like I want all the boons!
So it means I have to have someone take the Arcane spells, Heavy Armors, Melee Weapons, Ranged Weapons, etc
My current S&S party doesn't follow that rule, but S&S isn't really a balanced campaign in terms of weapons (it has a lot of Finesse weapons and is light on Heavy Armor).
I'd agree with that, though I'd call them "guidelines"...I have found there to be two rules.
1) Have a healer
2) Reduce fighting over boonsRule one means to have at least one player that can heal anyone who's needed. Any divine caster with 2+ cures can do this. Rule two means to try and not pick characters who want the same stuff, primarily combat based cards - in a party of four, this typically means one character who uses divine attack spells, one for arcane, one for dex weapons, and one for strength weapons.
Beyond that, pretty much any party will work. There are some synergies that are more powerful than others, but they're not needed.
Obligatory.
I would echo most of the advice here, but I would add one more piece. Think about the play style of your group and consider how much you want to emphasize team work versus the ability of everyone to take (and succeed at) independent action. When I am building a team I am very conscious of weather it is a group that will stick together whenever possible, or whether every party member will go their own way.
The core mechanics of the game reward splitting; you can temporarily close more areas and control where the villain ends up. In addition, in both RotR and S&S their are a lot banes that punish everyone at a shared location.
However, a number of characters have ways to help out allies at their location. Grouping several of those characters can be quite powerful, and the benefits of travelling en-mass can exceed the costs.
So, the first thing I would ask is whether you want a team that is going to spend the preponderance of time grouping up and succeed by using powers that cover each other's weaknesses (Valeros, Lem, Kyra come to mind. Or Ranzak, Oloch Feyia), or whether you want group of characters that, though they will toss some aid to each, function perfectly well in isolation.
We are running S&S with this team, and it's working very well. We've had a few close calls (*TOLL OF THE BELL I'M LOOKING AT YOU*), but it's a very versatile team:
SEONI (SORCERER Class Deck): Our primary damage-dealer. She's also got quite a few nice utility spells for getting us out of trouble (Good Omen, Rage, Dimensional Portal).
ZARLOVA (CLERIC Class Deck): Our Healer/Dealer who is currently running with only one Heal spell and two Swipes (along with some other Divine Attack for top-deck cycling). She keeps 2 Blessing of Abadars and one Find Traps spell for all the barrier problems.
TONTELIZI (FIGHTER Class Deck): Support/Melee fighter - Tontelizi hangs around with Seoni a lot (because he can see up her skirt, we think). He has been our Toolbox (carrying around Astrolabs and Mogmurch and other "help folks at your location" cards since it melds well with his special ability. His ability to cycle Polearms is wicked cool.
WU SHEN (ROGUE Class Deck): Scout, Traps/Barriers expert, Potion-mistress. Wu Shen excels with Finesse Swashbuckling weapons and can handle herself very well when alone at a location (except against Undead, grumble). She is typically used to scout out Barrier-heavy locations with a few Master Lockpicks, Heartbreak Hinsin (Ally) and an Onyx of Constitution. Her ability to nearly always pass CON checks has been beyond awesome.
That's our team, which is now entering "The Free Captain's Regatta" tonight.
That's our team, which is now entering "The Free Captain's Regatta" tonight.
Good luck with the Regatta! My fiancee and I just beat that one last night, on our second try.
That's our team, which is now entering "The Free Captain's Regatta" tonight.Good luck with the Regatta! My fiancee and I just beat that one last night, on our second try.
We beat it on our first try! Got all 8 to the top with 5 blessings left in the deck. It was a cool scenario and we got thrown a few curveballs (Storm). We got very lucky and never encountered a single Hurricane Winds. We did push all 4 of our characters to the brink of death on explores, though. By the end we were captaining the Wormwood with 7 loot on board! Loved it.