In our first play through I chose the Rogue (Merisiel) without hesitation. I’ve always loved rogues for a few reasons: Lots of Skills, High Dexterity = Hard to Hit, and the ability to do well on their own (usually via Sneak Attack)
Merisiel had 4 skills (Acrobatics, Disable, Stealth, and Perception) and a D12 for Dexterity with the option to get it to +4. She also had the ability to Backstab in the form of when she is “the only character at [her] location, you may recharge a card to add 1d6 (upgradable to +2) to your combat check, or discard it to add an additional 1d6.”
As Chubby Unicorn mentioned, we followed the Suggested Deck Lists in the rule book, so Merisiel started with:
- Weapons
- Dagger
- Dart
- Armor
- Leather Armor
- Items
- Caltrops
- Crowbar
- Potion of Glibness
- Potion of Vision
- Thieves’ Tools x2
- Allies
- Burglar
- Guard
- Blessings
- Blessing of the Gods x4
Some things I didn’t like about her:
- Favored Card: Item – with only 2 weapons to start with, I sometimes had to scramble to find a weapon.
- Starting Weapons – if I was playing her again, I would have dropped both of those weapons for a pair of Light Crossbows (1d8 > 1d4)
- Starting Items – in hindsight, I would have dropped the (single use) potions for a Codex and a Sage’s Journal
After completing Adventure 3, I chose the Thief role. This opened up some great additional powers. My favorite? When you play a blessing to add to your Dexterity check, you may recharge it instead of discarding it. I grabbed the Use Magic Item power (You may use Charisma in place of any skill on any check to recharge an armor, item, or weapon with the Magic trait.) early and never got a single successful use out of it. I didn’t realize how useful the Sabotage Location power (Add 2 to your noncombat check to close a location.) was, but once I got it, it proved a big help.
By the end of the game, my deck looked like this (Adventure Number in Parens):
- Items
- Holy Candle (B)
- Masterwork Tools (B)
- Crown of Charisma (C)
- Staff of Minor Healing (1)
- Headband of Alluring Charisma (3)
- Wand of Treasure Finding (5)
- Loot Items
- Wand of Enervation (3)
- Emerald Codex (4)
- Revelation Quill (5)
- Spell
- Restoration (4)
- Loot Armor
- Snakeskin Tunic (2)
- Blessings
- Blessing of the Gods (B)
- Blessing of Iomedae (B)
- Blessing of Erastil (C)
- Blessing of Abadar (2)
- Blessing of Gozreh (4)
- Allies
- Black Arrow Ranger (3)
- Mountaineer (6)
- Ayruzi (6)
- Weapons
- Venomous Dagger +2 (3)
- Venomous Heavy Crossbow +2 (5)
- Force Sling +3 (6)
- Returning Frost Spear +2 (6)
Favorite Cards:
- Deathbane Light Crossbow (C) – This weapon was with me most of the game, only getting put aside during Adventure 6 after I picked up a Force Sling +3 and Returning Frost Spear +2
- Mountaineer (6) – This was a major help toward the end
During our original play through, I picked up the Android version of the game. It is a free game that comes with Kyra and Merisiel as the initial characters (the rest of the characters and adventures are purchasable). Chubby Unicorn and I thought that was amusing since that was our party.
I went with Seelah this time because I wanted something different and yet still a character who could be strong on their own. Seelah seemed like the right fit with her ability: “You may discard the top card of your deck to add 1d6 to your check. If the top card was a blessing, recharge it instead of discarding it.” The power can later be expanded to also include spells and to get up to +3 bonus. I’m not as enthused about the smaller hand size or only getting a d8 in the primary stats (Strength and Wisdom), but I think the power mentioned above will help with that, and with closing locations in general.
This time I’m starting out with:
- Weapons
- Longsword x2
- Mace
- Armor
- Chain Mail x2
- Wooden Shield
- Spell
- Cure
- Allies
- Night Watch
- Standard Bearer
- Blessings
- Blessing of the Gods x6
The only change I made from the Suggested Deck Lists was to replace the Short Sword with a Longsword (1d8 > 1d6).
Unlike Chubby Unicorn, I’m not sure what role I’ll take just yet.
I’m looking forward to trying out Seelah. Let’s play!