The only restrication we have from that is that we only draw dragon characters when the dragon expansion is played, as they tend to be more powerful than the others (I know it's not true for all of them but we handle them as a group).

That's kind of odd, as most of the characters are weaker when not used in combination with the Dragon expansion. Abilities that are directly related to dragons or breath attacks see much less light of day when not used in combination with the Dragon expansion.

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And the only other character, we've had any real problem with is the Ogre Chieftain . Pounding your way through the dungeon , make some friends, whack LOD, go to crown and WTFPWN Dragon King. But that has many a luck factor to it, so It can be just as much fail as success.

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This is our only house-rule. LOD won't take you all the way to CoC, PoP is the max roll.

We used it more and more and pretty soon talismans we're something kinda long forgotten and the game lost a portion of it's charm.

On a side not we have a lot of characters that have never been played and probably never will be played because they are pretty lame.

Don't be that way! Each game is unique and has it own special *story*. Even so-called lame characters pull it off if they get the right spells, objects, followers, etc.

Everyone's allowed to play as they wish but I really agree with this.

Who wants to draw the Sprite ? Or the Spy? Or the Grave Robber? lol

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I'd gladly play all of those, especially Sprite 2'nd best spellcaster in the game imo (after the Warlock).

We don't remove any characters; we deal a single character randomly to each player who's stuck with what they drew.

This is exactly it. You get what you get. Adds to the challenge, sometimes creates underdogs, and makes sure all characters can be in play!

I can see how this would not be for everyone, but we enjoy it!

We don't remove any characters; we deal a single character randomly to each player who's stuck with what they drew.

+1. Single random, " you drew it, you play it ." Although characters are used in rotation, so each character that gets used is left in the box and isn't available to be drawn until all the characters have seen action. Gotta make sure Priest sees action, nobody would pick him.

@ JediKnightAmoeba: Not a huge fan of Sprite, but all three you listed, I'd rather draw them than at least half a dozen other characters, suck-list led by the Priest of course.

+1

As I wrote in the beginning this is how we play it and even though we might do a some games according to my previous post (depends on who's in, I play with we're ≈ 6-7 ppl who come together for 3-4 player games) this is the draw method I enjoy the most

There are very few characters I do not like to play: Dread Knight and Elf. I think their design forces them into static and predictable strategies. The Elf may get some more options with the Woodland though, as there MUST be some extra Woods spaces inside.

Can't say I have much against the Dread Knight but I don't really like him either.

The elf on the other hand is my absolute least favorite character and I've thought the exact same about the woodlands.. there better be a handful of Woods in there

The only restrication we have from that is that we only draw dragon characters when the dragon expansion is played, as they tend to be more powerful than the others (I know it's not true for all of them but we handle them as a group).

That's kind of odd, as most of the characters are weaker when not used in combination with the Dragon expansion. Abilities that are directly related to dragons or breath attacks see much less light of day when not used in combination with the Dragon expansion.

The Minotaur and Conjurer are standard characters and I cannot see why you cannot mix them freely with the others. They're powerful, but that has nothing to do with Dragons or scales.

The Dragon Hunter and Fire Wizard are exceedingly powerful when there are many Dragons and scales around, but are quite solid in any game of Talisman. Deathblow works in every battle and so does the pyroblast. Fire Wizard has an in-built Spellbook as well.

Dragon Rider and Dragon Priestess, as I've already said, have mostly abilities that pivot on Dragons. With less than 20 Dragons dispersed in a huge Adventure deck and in other Region decks, your chances to encounter them and put the abilities to good use are tiny. The Priestess can focus on the Temple, but without many Cultists to get as free bonuses (they're more common in the Dragon decks) she can only hope to get as many Followers as possible. The Dragon Rider, on the other hand, is a character that has a permanent Holy Lance that must look for a Dragon to get a real chance. Otherwise, she's a good-aligned Str 3 Cft 4 character with 3 fate and no abilities.

There are very few characters I do not like to play: Dread Knight and Elf. I think their design forces them into static and predictable strategies. The Elf may get some more options with the Woodland though, as there MUST be some extra Woods spaces inside.

Can't say I have much against the Dread Knight but I don't really like him either.

The elf on the other hand is my absolute least favorite character and I've thought the exact same about the woodlands.. there better be a handful of Woods in there

The Dread Knight's problem is the following: he has a Warhorse he can lose pretty easily, he has a second ability which works only if he's strong, if he kills Enemies and if he gains some Craft as well (or he won't be able to gain more Spells), and has only 1 fate.

I can't understand why the designer thought he would need only 1 fate. He should have at least 2. He needs fate not only to be safe from the occasional Talismonger, Luck Fairy or similar, but also to save himself for the not-so-powerful Craft Enemy who will make him lose the Warhorse. Usually he ends up losing the Warhorse, then spends a lot of time travelling back to the Graveyard to regain both the Warhorse and fate. This procedure consumes a lot of time and it's very predictable. In my last game with Dread Knight my opponent waited until I landed on the Graveyard to cast Mesmerism on me and steal the Warhorse again. If you give up the Warhorse and stop trying to reach the Graveyard, you'll be a Str 2 / Cft 3 character with 1 fate and the only ability to gain 1 Spell if you're so lucky to defeat an Enemy. I can't see any meaningful strategy to get out of that bad situation, you can just keep drawing and see if the game kills you or makes you survive.

The Elf was ok with the base game, where he had good chances to draw a Magic Stream or Fountain of Wisdom, but now there are so many negative/useless Strangers and Places that can clog the Woods in the Outer Region; if that happens, your Elf must get out and he's a character without abilities. The ability to Evade in the Woods keeps you safe from hostile characters, but if you draw a powerful Enemy then the Woods space becomes taboo until you're ready to face it or someone else does it for you. If you draw an Object you can't carry or take, you must leave it on the Woods and it shuts down the space as well; other characters can even do this on purpose. In the Woods you always draw 1 card only, so you're not able to push your luck like you do on a Ruins/Hidden Valley or in the Dungeon or Highland. In my opinion, this strategy is very predictable and very slow, so you will be forced to abandon it sooner or later. At least the Elf has solid stats and fate, as opposed to the Dread Knight.

If the Woodland has many Woods spaces, he can find a new place to exploit his ability. I don't think Terrain Cards could increase the opportunities for the Elf: only Verdant Growth and Seeds of Paradise place a Woods Terrain Card; Terramorph is random and thus not reliable.

While some characters appear to be stronger than others, I firmly believe you can win with any character. I think the monk is the most 'boring' character, especially if your playing with the city. We used to think the elf or the minstrel were under powered, but if you play them right, they are actually better than you might think.

Absolutely. Four hours ago I just won with the Elf (3 player game, Highlads, City and all small boxes in play). As someone wrote earlier the outcome is more about what happens later on but I just don't appreciate winning with very powerful characters. It just raises the question did I win with an op character or did I win because I played good?

Ironically enough (considering I've written here) at the beginning of this very game I asked to redraw my character (they got Warrior and Amazon) when I got the Prophetess. The very character I used to put aside but changed my mind about in the beginning of this thread and instead I got the Elf which I think is the most boring one.

A little off topic but are people really having games where the Prophetess wrecks so much of the fun?

I've played the character to the best of my ability a few times and i'm very competitive (in a good way, no poor sport.)

I just don't find the character to be so much of a game-runnier.

No comparison to the Alchemist (Near-impossible to kill) and the fire wizard who tends to blow everybody up faster than anyone else can.

I threw her out before the were any expansions. Back then she was way beyond every other character imo and I just hadn't thought about her up til now. (That's why she's back in.)

My group refuses to play the monk with the new rules. But in my home we do. Either way, its one of my favorite characters.

What? What's wrong with the monk?

I like him too

We draw one character for each player in game (eg six players playing you draw six to choose out of) I've made a special "Start of the Game" deck that makes what sets you play with at start of game random so each game you can play with all - none - or some of the sets. Mind you you need most to all of the sets to use well. Now I need to sneek in the "woodlands set" to the deck when it comes out.

Anyways you draw as many cards from that deck as players playing so it works well with character selection. Only thing I havent worked out yet is if you should know what sets are "in game" after character selection or before?

I dont see a purpose to ban any character from the deck for selection, no matter how you generate characters everyone is on a even playing field at start of game. Players (are incouraged) to gang up on characters who are a threat to winning early so picking a "powerful" character is sometimes not such a good idea when playing against experienced or clever players .

Using the 2nd Edition set we always drew two characters and combined the abilities and stats. We had a blast. Games were shorter and definitely humorous.

Long live the Zulu/Warrior of Chaos!

Sadly, my second edition stuff suffered flood damage and has been retired so I have purchased the 4th edition using a birthday discount at my local game store. All the expansions as well.

Some Saturday in June a new era will begin.

Using the 2nd Edition set we always drew two characters and combined the abilities and stats. We had a blast. Games were shorter and definitely humorous.

Long live the Zulu/Warrior of Chaos!

Sadly, my second edition stuff suffered flood damage and has been retired so I have purchased the 4th edition using a birthday discount at my local game store. All the expansions as well.

Some Saturday in June a new era will begin.

How interesting. So your saying just their special abilities are combined thus the two characters become one. there are some rule issues for sure. Also what alignment will you be, unless you draw 2 characters of the same alignment? might be worth a "home brew" revealed ending .

Challenge for all the creative souls here I bet .

Using the 2nd Edition set we always drew two characters and combined the abilities and stats. We had a blast. Games were shorter and definitely humorous.

Long live the Zulu/Warrior of Chaos!

Sadly, my second edition stuff suffered flood damage and has been retired so I have purchased the 4th edition using a birthday discount at my local game store. All the expansions as well.

Some Saturday in June a new era will begin.

How interesting. So your saying just their special abilities are combined thus the two characters become one. there are some rule issues for sure. Also what alignment will you be, unless you draw 2 characters of the same alignment? might be worth a "home brew" revealed ending .

Challenge for all the creative souls here I bet .

I play the two characters mode (in a version called "Small MiM") as well. I already described our rules there: http://www.talismanisland.com/talisman_x.htm if You're interested (uder: "Henchmen").

Why is having Strength 1 so bad for the Sprite? The Troll has a Craft 1 and you don't see anyone complaining about him...

Using the 2nd Edition set we always drew two characters and combined the abilities and stats. We had a blast. Games were shorter and definitely humorous.

Long live the Zulu/Warrior of Chaos!

...

Very creative and it sounds like great fun. Especially if you are looking for a quicker game. Possibly while under the influence of alcohol.

I'll definitely try to make this happen around here at some point

Why is having Strength 1 so bad for the Sprite? The Troll has a Craft 1 and you don't see anyone complaining about him...

Sorry to get off topic here but this is a great question.

The Sprite gets a fistful of spells and the Troll gets regeneration of 6 as well as Life 6. The characters are polar opposites but when we deal out characters, people are happy to take the Troll and the Sprite is often discarded, which I find odd.

Now the reason I like the Troll over the Sprite is a personal preference, but it does have it's utility. With a couple of Strength cones the Troll can freely move past the Sentinel on a whim, so if you're hovering around in the hidden valley section of the middle region, he can then hop back and forth over the bridge, should a nice card turn up on the bottom part of the outer region. Also I'm one of those players that draws a Spell I like and hold onto it the entire game,(For some reason this Spell always ends up being Transference) so cycling spells is of limited use for my (poor) play style.

Then again I'm one of those players that avoids the City, Tavern and Village spaces (Or I should say, the Enchantress, Mystic and Tavern tables) unless I need to heal in an emergency, or the other option to land on is a bad option.

And I dont like to use the Axe-to-Raft deal unless I'm desperate.

The only restrication we have from that is that we only draw dragon characters when the dragon expansion is played, as they tend to be more powerful than the others (I know it's not true for all of them but we handle them as a group).

That's kind of odd, as most of the characters are weaker when not used in combination with the Dragon expansion. Abilities that are directly related to dragons or breath attacks see much less light of day when not used in combination with the Dragon expansion.

The Minotaur and Conjurer are standard characters and I cannot see why you cannot mix them freely with the others. They're powerful, but that has nothing to do with Dragons or scales.

The Dragon Hunter and Fire Wizard are exceedingly powerful when there are many Dragons and scales around, but are quite solid in any game of Talisman. Deathblow works in every battle and so does the pyroblast. Fire Wizard has an in-built Spellbook as well.

Dragon Rider and Dragon Priestess, as I've already said, have mostly abilities that pivot on Dragons. With less than 20 Dragons dispersed in a huge Adventure deck and in other Region decks, your chances to encounter them and put the abilities to good use are tiny. The Priestess can focus on the Temple, but without many Cultists to get as free bonuses (they're more common in the Dragon decks) she can only hope to get as many Followers as possible. The Dragon Rider, on the other hand, is a character that has a permanent Holy Lance that must look for a Dragon to get a real chance. Otherwise, she's a good-aligned Str 3 Cft 4 character with 3 fate and no abilities.

As I said, I'm aware it's not true for all of them, but we tend to leave the whole dragon expansion out when not used. But when we play a dragon everybody can draw one dragon character and one from the rest. Lately we've become more expansion bound and use only characters from the expansions we're using, for good or bad.

First we had the minotaur and the conjurer with the other characters but not now. As for dragon rider and dragon priestess, they can be really good in a dragon game but, especially the priestess, tend to be all but useless in normal game. I hate to play all by luck, I want some skill in the gameplay and with the priestess it all comes down to which cards you draw.

That's the only explanation I have on this subject, however odd it seems. But lately we've been trying around different combinations of expansions (both small and big box) trying to see how they work together, and especially when the small boxes are alone with the base game. To really feel the theme they want to add to the game we use remove all characters, spells and adventure cards from unused expansions. It's been a really interesting expirence, that I can recommend to all of you.

My friend owned second edition and we always set aside the Prophetess and Wizard. Now I own fourth, I don't want to set aside any powerful character. It should be common sense that if a player draws a powerful character, then that character should be killed on sight.

When selecting a character in my group, each player rolls a die and we randomly draw the amount of the highest die roll which is usually 6.

My friend owned second edition and we always set aside the Prophetess and Wizard. Now I own fourth, I don't want to set aside any powerful character. It should be common sense that if a player draws a powerful character, then that character should be killed on sight.

When selecting a character in my group, each player rolls a die and we randomly draw the amount of the highest die roll which is usually 6.

Pretty much this. We always manage 6 players and we always draw three characters. We have all the expansion so this means the Alchemist has about a 1 in 4 chance of showing up at our game. None of us love him at this point but sometimes it's hard to say no to not using him, however you know you are signing up to be dogpiled when playing him. He's about the closest thing we have to a banned character right now, but we still throw him into the mix.

Also of note I play the Dragon Priestess so well now, that my table wants to ban her, because after attaining a certain amount of followers and getting the right prayer cards and dragons on the board she can be rather annoying to deal with.

But it's more than I've spent a lot of time divulging a particular strategy for that character where i've calculated the odds on a few things. I dont think she is overpowered, more like a late game Alchemist at best

Two characters, pick one.

Also of note I play the Dragon Priestess so well now, that my table wants to ban her, because after attaining a certain amount of followers and getting the right prayer cards and dragons on the board she can be rather annoying to deal with.

But it's more than I've spent a lot of time divulging a particular strategy for that character where i've calculated the odds on a few things. I dont think she is overpowered, more like a late game Alchemist at best

The Dragon Priestess is a cool character indeed. I think this goes with every chracter the challenge is to see and use each characters abilities without getting stuck on "the easy ones" to see their protental. You will notice players (once they get used to the character choices) getting wise on all of the characters abilities and of course teaming up is always a great way of causing players character choice to be different or make them think again on their character pick.

Remember no one ever said the chracters were "balanced" I think they are very close to being balanced but its not what your character does its what you do with your chracter... Oh and dumb luck too of course .

By the new rules, the Sprite can make more use out of the warhorse than most other characters. It seems odd but the crafty characters are the most dangerous when combined with a warhorse and a flail, yet strength characters are left out In the cold without any way to add Strength in Psychic Combat.

This is one of the reasons my group doesn't play with the new rules, however this may be changing as the player who resists it the most has started playing the DE version, and is starting to warm up to the rule changes, such as this one (Warhorse and Monk).

I'm sorry, I must have missed this. Can someone point me at the rules change? Does the monk's "craft ability" no longer mean that he's limited to adding his starting craft?