Sup everyone! I got D2E as a gift when it released. We played some but it doesn't get enough fresh air for my taste. I actually started 3 campaigns and never finished one...sad, pathetic and sad.

Now I play with my brother at least once a week and most of the time twice. Plus I play a third time with a friend where we're 2 or 3. So with my bro it'd be easier to start a campaign and actually finish it.

I own D2E, LotW, LoR and TF. I ordered Mirklace too so the OL can have a new tool to play with and make his role a bit more enjoyable.

What i'm looking for is to make the experience en bit more easy on the Hero side since my bro will play the Heroes and he can get discouraged easily if he lose too much in a row (I tend to do well as an OL). I don't want to give him chances and withhold my powers, I just want both of us to unleash what we got and have fun.

So, how many Heroes would be to the advantage of that player?

And what would be the best campaign to play that would offer the best experience for both parties?

EDIT: Looks like my brother wants to play with 4 Heroes...that is awesome.

The general consensus is (or at least used to be with the base Campaign) that 3 Heroes is the most in favor of the Hero Party. This is largely due to any use of large monsters.

Going from 2 to 3 players gives the heroes a 50% increase in power / actions, and the Overlord often just upgrades a minion to a master (in the case of large monsters) or adds a minion (for smaller ones), which isn't as big of an increase in power, and doesn't change the # of actions by much.

Going from 3 to 4 players gives the heroes a 33% increase in power / actions, and the Overlord suddenly can add a minion large monster to their master monster, which is probably closer to a 50-75% increase in power and up to doubling the number of actions.

It's also widely assumed that FFG tunes things around a 4-hero party for the best balance. This puts a 3-hero party at favoring the Heroes and a 2-hero party favoring the OL.

In my experience, I would say it's better to play to 3 heroes than 4.

Having played every campaign multiple times now, 4 heroes is definitely the more solid experience.

It also has the advantages of being able to play with fewer players if someone no shows (just have someone take over the extra hero), or if an extra player shows up, have them take the extra hero.

It's a more balanced game and everyone has more options. The heroes have less of a weakness (an entire role missing), and can be more well-rounded, and the overlord gets full use of his monsters. Heroes have more options for solving problems that face them, instead of you just being able to throw a problem they can't solve at them. An example: I played a 3 player game where they didn't have a healer (warrior, scout and mage). They could kill everything I had extremely fast, but had no good way of removing conditions, so I just hitting them with condition after condition.

There are a lot of solid numbers and percentages in this thread, and for the most part they are right, but also remember that there can be "stat holes" in a 3 party group. For instance, if you take a Warrior/Healer/Mage then your Awareness stat across the party and overall party movement (Scout types tend to zip around the map, I'm looking at YOU Jain) might be pretty low, and the overlord can exploit that.

I've personally played 1v1 games with both 3 and 4 hero setups and honestly the 3 hero campaign was much more satisfying. I'm a pretty heavy gamer who loves to combine all aspects of his characters, options, items, etc and even I was losing track of what my 4 heroes could do. You CAN play with 4 heroes in 1v1, the book recommends 2, but I recommend 3. I think its a good balance, having strong heroes but giving the overlord at least one weakness to try to exploit, without overwhelming you. The first time you go "Oh $#@$ I could have used that ability first to give that guy more dice and come out with an extra stamina" or something similar, you will see what I mean.

Also, it leads to much faster rounds when each player has not only less figures to move and act with, but less figures to think about what to do with. I find in 1v1 games you don't want anyone's turn going too long. Even if you think this isn't the kind of thing that might affect you, trust me it can.

Awesome of your brother to take on the roll of so many heroes. But...

I have played with four heroes in a campaign. I feel everything is more solid in four heroes. The OL has allot of great tools and doesn't run out so quickly. The heroes can have an even party where they aren't lacking in any one area. This is all assuming that each hero is played by their own player. Not so many played by one person.

This is where I cringe.

My boyfriend and I played often. He insisted on playing four heroes and I played the OL. First campaign was through SR. We had a nice even match till I started to predict his moves harshly (and after Quellin took Zak's Shadow Rune, he missed 50% of the time. I do not joke. It was painful to watch. Note to all you heroes. Don't take the big bad guy's toy. It's cursed). The final came around and though he won the first part, I beat him pretty badly with only humor to buffer his defeat.

The second campaign was worse. It was LoR in which I won every quest. We got to the interlude in which I put down three heroes in one turn. I then took out his heavily shielded guy with Outbreak. Anyone that stood up was then killed. He could not finish that campaign.

Moral: Heroes are designed to be played with many people thinking, not one. My group that I play with are three and one person plays two heroes. It works great. Their thinking together is awesome. They come up with some really great things and can out think me very well. And I am no saying Brigg (my boyfriend) is a poor thinker. On the contrary! But it's allot to remember for one person.

Solution: GO WITH THREE HEROES! It puts the OL at a disadvantage for sure, but when you only have one mind for three heroes, I feel it might be a little more of a level playing field. Particularly if you are playing with plot decks. Also, if you are the one that can lose without being discouraged, then in the long run it's better because then you will play more often.

If your brother feels it's too easy for him with three heroes, you guys can always "recruit" another hero to play along. Just add the XP from hero won games and keep going ^.^ I know it's not in the rules, but you can make it so. ^.~

I like this approach and we talked about it before we started. I also mentionned that 3 Heroes give the OL some disadvantage in monster numbers and overall power.

But he insisted to go with 4 Heroes to have a balanced group.

We also decided to restart the campaign after playing the Intro of LoR. We decided that mostly because I made some error in the setup and during gameplay (took 1 Threat token AND a card when I killed a Hero...).

So i'll bring the 3-hero party idea again but he seem to really like controlling a full group.

So i'll bring the 3-hero party idea again but he seem to really like controlling a full group.

That's what Brigg said as well. Something about not wanting the handicap/I need all the classes. Good luck with it! Most of all, have fun. You guys can always dump a hero later on in the same way that you can add one.