Just an informal poll to see if anyone thought they wouldn't like a character, tried it... and actually liked it.
Or vice versa, thought they would like a character then didn't.
I thought I wasn't going to like any wizards but surprisingly... I like Radillo. I like how she can cycle through her spells and allies and how you need to be intelligent
I thought I would like Lem, but surprisingly... I don't. Will try some more, but I'm fairly certain.
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I wasn't sure I would like Alahazra. I usually like standing up front and hitting things. I just picked her because my sister and her bf picked Merisiel and Jirelle, and I figured we needed someone with heals. Turns out I love her. I love being complete support and consider it a success when I do no combat checks in a game and can use my attack spells to scout.
I thought I would like Imrijka but ended up disappointed. I found myself having to spend everything shoring up combat that I wanted to be more effective on its own.
I thought I wouldn't like Ezren, because he has no blessings and because I thought spellcasting wouldn't be my thing. Plus he is really old :D turns out I loved playig him. He definetly is of the loveable old man kind.
On the other hand I thought I would like Crowe. But I found him pretty much useless for everything that wasn't fighting. Didn't enjoy my time with him at all...
Ditto on Ezren. I'm usually a melee person. But, I loved having spell after spell after spell. And essentially auto-recharging.
I've mentioned it before, but Amiri and Seelah. When I first looked at them I thought "Moving and burying cards? (Amiri) Giving up on boons and discarding from my deck? (Seelah) No thanks." Then, my wife showed me just how powerful both of them could be.
CD Kyra - though I still like her - didn't seem to work out as well as she originally looked. I first played her into deck 5 of S&S, but became frustrated when I couldn't encounter monsters as often as I liked. Though she has great stats she's hurt by not being able to upgrade her hand size until she gets her role card. Even then, if you go Fireflower you're going to probably want to put your first power feat of your role into her explore-after-combat power, which delays getting a bigger hand size even more.
She worked better in RotR due to being more combat checks and having access to the Restoration spell. She's still a strong character overall, just [i]quite/[i] as good as I had hoped.
Tarlin on the other hand surprised me. At first I thought he was going to be a mostly weaker version of CD Kyra: weaker in both spellcasting and combat. Starting out it's true, though being proficient in weapons off the bat does help things out. Once you get his role card, however, he really comes into his own. His Peacemaker ability to recharge a weapon to recharge a card from your discard pile is very strong. It both turns you into a self-healing machine while at the same time very efficiently cycling your deck. It also pretty much completely offsets his weak spellcasting ability because I was able to quickly get my spells back into my deck with the weapon recharge power.
...On the other hand I thought I would like Crowe. But I found him pretty much useless for everything that wasn't fighting. Didn't enjoy my time with him at all...
We like the vast majority of characters but I have to agree concerning Crowe. True he has a very nice raging ability but pretty much use it once per game in a 6p game.
The rest of the game he is not fun for lack of being able to reexplore enough.
I am in the Seelah boat as well. I couldn't figure her out for the longest time, but her powers really get through some of the location decks.
Crowe was one that I thought I would like (I really thought I would like his rage ability) but just couldn't get to work. I couldn't even get his combat to be great without burying a card.
Lesath was disappointing. He looks like a monster-lawnmower waiting to happen, but his engine just doesn't get going quickly enough to be worth the trouble, and with his low hand size he can't get very many explores off in a turn, anyway.
Feiya, on the other hand, is much better than I had initially thought. After seeing the paucity of worthwhile arcane spells in S&S playing with other characters, I was skeptical of a dedicated arcane caster in that AP. Little did I realize that with a deck full of usually marginal high-AD# cards (even divine spells---Protect did solid work), she can just play as a super-bard who can re-use her best spells (like an arcane-only Lem on steroids).
Another for Seelah. I considered her for my first run through RotRL, but decided Valeros was better with the recharging weapons. While my group was starting up, I ran the unpicked characters for a bit, including Seelah, and I don't think I grokked her. Then I read some stuff on here, and set her up for a newcomer to the group.
Gah, paladins are so OP. I've gone from one of the main villain killers to feeling like the party is putting up with me, as Seelah does everything I do, and better. Who is it that keeps punching out henchman? Not Valeros, no sir.
Feiya, on the other hand, is much better than I had initially thought. After seeing the paucity of worthwhile arcane spells in S&S playing with other characters, I was skeptical of a dedicated arcane caster in that AP. Little did I realize that with a deck full of usually marginal high-AD# cards (even divine spells---Protect did solid work), she can just play as a super-bard who can re-use her best spells (like an arcane-only Lem on steroids).
Speaking of Feiya, her Hexer role is much better than I originally thought it was going to be. I only picked it because I had found a bunch of Blessings of Pharasma and zero Huhurhas. However since her recharge power gets used all the time, getting it up to +3 is worthwhile, and her ability to draw a card after making a craft check and eventually playing a spell is fantastic; even though at first you can only draw the card if it's a spell that still consists of half your deck.
Also, the Arcane spell selection isn't as bad as it appears at 1st glance. Frozen Orb is an outstanding attack spell that does almost the same damage as Disintegrate - 3d6+3 vs. 4d6 - while being easy to recharge and having the option to use for multiple combat checks. And it comes online much sooner as well. Once you get into the last deck there's Shapechange, Tsunami, Recast, and World Wave. RotRl probably edges S&S out due to having strong arcane spells in every deck, but S&S still offers a strong selection.
Also, the Arcane spell selection isn't as bad as it appears at 1st glance. Frozen Orb is an outstanding attack spell that does almost the same damage as Disintegrate - 3d6+3 vs. 4d6 - while being easy to recharge and having the option to use for multiple combat checks. And it comes online much sooner as well. Once you get into the last deck there's Shapechange, Tsunami, Recast, and World Wave. RotRl probably edges S&S out due to having strong arcane spells in every deck, but S&S still offers a strong selection.
Oh, the arcane attack spells are fine; it's mostly the absence of augury/scrying/(swipe/haste) that's a big step down, as I'd normally take as many auguries as I can find from the start. And you're right that things look up by the end of the path: I'm looking forward (kind of) to the possibility of looping Holy Feast with Recast on a Kyra with the 'healed allies go to hand' feat, then fetching the recast back with one of the healed allies. (Are game-breaking infinite combos acceptable if they only exist for one specific party that finds a specific ad6 spell?)
I thought I was going to like Adowyn, but after three games with her in a 3 person party I think I'm going to switch out. Without a ranged weapon she can't do much. Due to bad luck my weapons (and my cure spell) kept ending up toward the bottom of my deck.
Our group is Seoni and Imrijka plus whatever I play. I think I am going to try out Shardra. We need a healer/buffer in the group.
I thought I was going to like Adowyn, but after three games with her in a 3 person party I think I'm going to switch out. Without a ranged weapon she can't do much. Due to bad luck my weapons (and my cure spell) kept ending up toward the bottom of my deck.
Our group is Seoni and Imrijka plus whatever I play. I think I am going to try out Shardra. We need a healer/buffer in the group.
I was back and forth on Adowyn, but I'm a big fan now. I think using Leryn's d8 and a shuffle can mitigate deck-bottom issue, even if you don't need the buff. As for a weaponless Adowyn, always use the examine ability before explores and use your move step to avoid banes until you get a weapon back. She's one of the best deck-cyclers I can think of, so sub-optimal hands are usually quickly fixed.
I definitely agree with regards to Crowe underwhelming . His death was the first PACG death I didn't mourn.
Shardra. She is still powerful, but hooking her reroll into her spells and the fact that she doesn't have a spell retrieval mechanism on her base card makes her really fragile. It's also relatively hard to get her scouting visions to fire off.
Adowyn is fantastic. Keeps everyone alive & stronger after role card. I wanted to take her but let my group choose first. Ended up with imrijka - no regrets!
Just played 2 scenarios with Shardra/Imrijka team. Worked great. That reroll ability saved the day against the Boss and a demon horde. I guess it's just a matter of playstyles. Shardra suits me better and I'll go forward with her.
Just played 2 scenarios with Shardra/Imrijka team. Worked great. That reroll ability saved the day against the Boss and a demon horde. I guess it's just a matter of playstyles. Shardra suits me better and I'll go forward with her.
If you get the iconic set for imrijka she gets the mysterious disc which allows reroll as well as extra die. Superb insurance policy.
Ditto Feiya.
I've recently started Qualzar in WotR because I wanted a bit of a challenge with all the Mental-resistant banes, and also our team needed Arcane and I wanted Knowledge. Turns out he's all right. Still in the base adventure, but nothing terrible yet. Keeping Create Pit in my deck just in case, though.
I've been lukewarm towards Seelah as well, but after reading the comments here, I think I will try her out next.
I was back and forth on Adowyn, but I'm a big fan now. I think using Leryn's d8 and a shuffle can mitigate deck-bottom issue, even if you don't need the buff. As for a weaponless Adowyn, always use the examine ability before explores and use your move step to avoid banes until you get a weapon back. She's one of the best deck-cyclers I can think of, so sub-optimal hands are usually quickly fixed.
I definitely agree with regards to Crowe underwhelming . His death was the first PACG death I didn't mourn.
We have 2 groups going through Wrath. Both have Adowyn. In both groups Adowyn has a Mastiff and the Fortune Teller. And Adowyn rocks.
Just finished AD3 with my Adowyn, and she's going Blight Scout. Chose to be able to search for weapons for those cases that I just can't get one, or don't have the one I want. I have the Starbow, Marksman's bow, and the Demonbane x-bow.
I assume that with Adowyn you're revealing the cards then using Fortune Teller to get a free explore since you know what card is on top? That sounds pretty neat! What's the combo with Mastiff?
At the start of every turn, andowyn can recharge a card to pull the Mastiff from the discard pile. She then immedatly uses it to draw two cards.
This combo gets even better with the Pack Leader role, since playing mastiff now heals let's you recharge a card from the discard when you play it. Combine it with Pegasus and Celestial Unicorn, and Andowyn can dash all over the board, scouting multiple locations, and healing herself every where she goes.
Andowyn is amazing in the first half of the game, but she is just ridiculous starting in AP3.
One of Adowyns powers allows you to search for any animal instead of a cohort. So, recharge a card you don't need at the moment for the mastiff. Use mastiff to draw 2 cards.
Deck 5 needs to have a groundhog. :p. Give it the same powers as the fortune teller, but as an animal.