Do any of the heroes have more than "1 gray die" as their defense? Or less than that for that matter? I just find it a little weird that it's exactly the same for everyone. I know the warrior class heroes generally have more outright health but it still seems weird that a Knight and a Treasure Hunter would have the same base defense.
Hero defense
There are one or two that have a Black defense die, and 1 or two that have a brown defense die. If you want to know the specifics of those characters, let me know, and I can get all of the hero sheets out.
Many of the heroes have the same "base" defense (as any2cards said, there are several exceptions- two of those in SoN.) However, depending on class, the available gear for the class varies- most heavy armor (the stuff that grants good additional defense) either hampers speed or forbids the equipping of runes, both restrictions that make it unlikely for a scout or mage to have a large defense pool later in the game. As it turns out, a gray defense dice is quite weak by Act 2, where monsters are routinely rolling 3 dice for an attack. I guess what I'm saying is the game still scales and differentiates well as it progresses, even if that's not apparent from "base" stats.
Yep most heroes start with the same defense value but don't despair, they'll get some cool stuff that up their defense to a point that hitting a concrete wall will have better effect
Do any of the heroes have more than "1 gray die" as their defense? Or less than that for that matter? I just find it a little weird that it's exactly the same for everyone. I know the warrior class heroes generally have more outright health but it still seems weird that a Knight and a Treasure Hunter would have the same base defense.
Yes.
From an RPG/character creation aspect, think of it this way... their starting die is their "natural" defense. So for the most part, they're similar in vulnerabilities. The reason that warriors are generally harder to hit is because they walk around in full plate mail versus some cloak or leather armor. So as the characters start getting equipment, they'll start looking different.