I've been left in charge of putting together a party for my group's next RTL campaign starting in a week. I have always played Overlord, but now I am stepping into Hero shoes as another member of the group gets to try his hand at villainy. As I normally don't take interest in the hero choices until the party is assembled, so as to best counteract them with my avatar choice, I need some advice on what party to build out of the hero draws I have.

Possible tanks: Varikas the Dead, One Fist, Lord Hawthorne, Laughin Buldar

Possible rangers: Grey Ker, Vyrah the Falconer, Tetherys, Ronan of the Wild

Possible mages: Runewitch Astarra, Landrec the Wise, Battlemage Jaes

Possible runner/utility: Runewitch Astarra, One Fist, Ronan of the Wild

I discounted Red Scorpion as I think she's pretty worthless in any role. What party would you build and which opening skills would you be hoping to see?

Lord Foul said:

How did you get those draw piles anyways? You have 3 heroes in 2 different piles each, so you can't be following the RAW for hero picks in RtL. In any case, I personally would go with the following out of those groups (and this is not necessarily the strongest party you could make out of that):

Tank: Lord Hawthorne and hope for any of the following: Weapon Mastery, Able Warrior, Knight

Ranger: Vyrah the Falconer with any of the following: Crack Shot, Eagle Eye, Marksman, Rapid Fire

Mage: Toss up between RWA and Landrec. I'd probably go Landrec and hope for Divine Retribution, Spiritwalker, Quick Casting or Prodigy

Runner/Utility: This is the only spot I'll say you are crazy not to take Ronan of the Wild and look for Acrobat, Skilled, Swift, Enduring, Relentless

I think he was just listing the 12 total heroes he got, though yes, if he was using RAW then he should seperate them into the four piles of three each that he got (since you can't pick more than one per pile).

Those aren't draw piles per se, just the roles I perceive the 11 drawn characters fit into. We're pretty lax about the draw rules anyhow, so I could probably put together any 4 of those characters into one party.

Lord Foul said:

I've been really enjoying One Fist and Astarra in our current campaign. He makes a good tank and his hook attack makes for very adaptable actions: advance with two attacks, move/hook/guard, battle/hook, run/hook. Astarra's ability to activate glyphs come in quite handy for quick CT grabs or prepping a glyph further along the dungeon for a returning hero. Landric/Jaes is a toss-up unless one of the other heros in the party won't be getting chain mail... if a chain looks like it'll be free, Jaes is best imho. The rangers are also a toss up- Skye is a nice quick 2 heal/turn and Tetherys can be fun.

I'd go with: Hawthorne, OneFist, Astarra, and either Vyrah or Tetherys. I know it's not "advised" to do RTL with two tanks, but Hawthorne's got the reach (great to have in small dungeons esp. with guard). One Fist is very versitile, Astarra can activate glyphs, be a runner, or hang back and rune, and Tetherys can hang back and just change targets (overkill on the sketon? target the ferrox instead!)

As for skills... Melee: Acrobat for One Fist can be sweet.. otherwise Cleaving, Knight, BattleCry

Subterfuge: I'm a big fan of Eagle Eye.. 2 pierce is too good to pass up

Wizardy: Blessing (cause Command just rocks) or Prodigy

So far unanimous in favor of Hawthorne, which surprises me. I'd have thought Varikas was the top choice out of that pack. I guess the reach stacking is really powerful? I haven't seen it in play yet.

Oh yeah, Reach stacking gets powerful. Being able to hit people with a melee attack when they are standing 3 ( the one they are in plus two empties between) squares away is awesome. You can move him into spots where he's basically standing between two monsters who have 5 squares between them, battle and hit them both.

You mentioned you thought there was a better party there if you weren't choosing one from each imaginary stack. What did you have in mind?

Lord Foul said:

Actually, that was to mostly cover my ass

However, I could see this as a powerful party

Lord Hawthorne with Knight

Ronan of the Wild with Swift or Skilled

RWA with Prodigy

Landrec the Wise with Spiritwalker

My only worry there is that I expect it to be hard to equip two mages adequately. Each one tends to need their own copy of each blast/breath/pierce weapon. Maybe if one gets a water pact / fire pact draw and focuses on staves? That new copper staff with breath could be nasty with knockback and/or burn, and someone is inevitably going to have to be in charge of the cursed staff of anti-undying. Plus staves let you use armor...Landrec wouldn't be hindered by heavy armor.

You just give them different tasks. For example Landrec always gets the Blast or area effect weapons. He goes first, clears the minor monsters out of the room since with his two free surges he's always going to do extra damage or extend the Blast. Then RAW fatigues in, battles and kills the next level of monster.

Lord Foul said:

I would drop Tetherys. The others are simply better options.

Hawthorne and Buldar are both 'expensive' tanks. In fact, I class them as 'Warriors' rather than tanks because with only 1 armour they are too vulnerable for 4 conquest. However Hawthorne can become probably the most useful chaff-sweeping tank with Reach and probably a Reach melee weapon. Definitely aim for Cleaving and Weapon Mastery for him (all the Reach weapons rely heavily on surges, mostly at 2~ for 3 damage). Buldar is arguably the hardest hitter available in the game. Start him with an Axe and a Morning Star. He becomes the guy you rely on to take out the heavy bosses, so should probably target Mighty/Weapon Mastery, Knight, Leadership, Unmoveable.
Varikas on the other hand is a proper 'tank'. He has armour 2 and can use the heaviest armours without slowing down. Because he has reasonable fatigue (and always at least one) he is not 'too slow' like many of the true 'tanks'. If taken he should be looking primarily at toughness and support skills. Taunt, Alertness (can stand in front as protection and interrupt monsters trying to get past), Tough (maybe), Leadership (absolutely!), Wind Pact (because someone MUST have it eventually) and Blessing are the sorts of skills he should target.
One Fist I would use as the alrounder, not a tank per se. With only 12 wounds for 4 CT he is a bit vulnerable. He is also only able to use 1H weapons, which means if he is the sole melee fighter the paty has no use for 2H melee weapons and One Fist could well struggle to find a decent treasure that he can use - meaning you effectively have no melee hard hitter. OTOH his ability to hit while running makes him a very useful runner. He can get to glyphs, chop the monster standing on them and then move on and activate. IMO if you are not using Astarra then One-Fist makes a very good runner for this reason. Obviously Mighty is his favourite skill, but Tiger Tattoo, maybe even Ox tattoo, Swift, Skilled, Acrobat or Wind Pact should be his targeted skills. Able Warrior turns him into a bit of a chaff-sweeper (3 attacks when advancing) but is expensive in fatigue.

Vyrah is incredibly useful early on, or for a slow, methodical party. Skye is incredibly awesome! We have found that by late silver though, Skye is simply not able to keep up and get to where the damage is being done fast enough to still be useful.
Ronan is an excellent choice both as Runner and as shooter. It is important to note that Pico can sit on anyone's shoulders, so you often give him to either your heaviest hitter or the hero with the most (or most important) attacks. Eg the Blasting mage with QuickCasting is usually doing more total attacks on monsters than everyone else in the party together, so giving him an extra dice on every attack is by far the most useful. That's also why Ronan is such a good runner - his special still gets great use for the party on someone else, and he is fast and flexible.
For pure shooting Grey Kerr is your best bet. I don't fancy this as I usually find the shooter is more of a support character and/or a chaffsweeper, so 'pure' shootingness isn;t quite as useful as, say 'pure' magery.
For all the shooters, if operating as shooters, I would aim for Rapid Fire, Eagle Eye, Precision, Blessing or Unmoveable. Probably in that order, but with an eye for what skills are trained where - as much as possible you want to eliminate the need to travel to certain locations, or to leave locations alone so that several heroes can train there at once.

For the mages you have probably the best 3 choices available, but three very different styles. Landrec is the best mage there is for heaving hittng. As a 12/0 for 2CT he is good value expendibility. He high fatigue means he can get to where he needs to be often, has plenty of resources for QuickCasting and can usually add a dice or two with fatigue if needed to finish something off. He is pretty much an automatic choice for me. Spiritwalker, Quick Casting, Prodigy, Blessing, Inner Fire and maybe Wild Talent (note the usefulness against Dark Charm, which he will frequently be a target of) are his skill choices.
Astarra is simply the best runner in the game. A 12/0 for 2CT she is expendable if necessary, at 5F5Mv she is as fast as anyone in the game and her special is just awesome. She combines well with slower heavy hitters - running forward to open a glyph even if blocked off, while the hitters come through from town. She also suits a lighter faster party well - having more than one option for the 'run' 'play' is often very useful. Because she is focused in her traits she makes an excellent back-up mage as well, even a first choice mage if necessary. Wind Pact (because somebody has to have it, and it helps her moving over pits), Swift, Tiger Tattoo, Acrobat and maybe Water Pact (for Knockback with a staff) are her primary skills, plus the left over damage bonus' that Landrec isn't using (Inner Fire, Blessing, Wild Talent (note the usefulness against Traps)).
Jaes, for me, is another excellent backup mage, but not a primary mage in his own right. Although he can be well armoured he isn't a true Tank at 12/2 for 4CT. He is also lacking both a dice and a damage increasing ability for the power of a true combat mage. Surprisingly, he actually makes quite a good runner. He has decent speed and fatigue and flexible weapons use (melee for heavy hitting or knockback, a rune for breath/blast). The ability to have both heavish armour and use the Ghost Armour makes him actually quite difficult to hurt, especially if carrying two shields. If used I would use him as the 4rth party member, a backup mage and primary runner. Targeted skills should be Tiger Tattoo, Swift, Acrobat, Wind Pact or Cautious, and or the leftovers from Landrec (especially Wild Talent, again, usefullness vs Traps).

For overall party composition you want the party members to complement each other.
For a 'heavy, slowish' party I would go with Varikas, Vyrah, Landrec and Jaes (as runner)
For a 'light, fast' party I would go with Laughlin/Hawthorne, Ronan, Landrec and Astarra (as runner).

You don't lose much by swapping in One-Fist for Jaes, or Grey Kerr for Vyrah/Ronan though.

Usually speed is better, but with the right skills the heavy party can still be fast enough.

Oboewan said:

2. You are thinking of Sharl Brightwing, who is removed from RtL. Skye moves 5 spaces/turn and any enemy figure in the same space or adjacent to Skye gets -1 armour and cannot Aim or Dodge.

Big Remy said:

Not to mention pulling out a Sweep Feat and hitting every enemy figure within 3 spaces!

Corbon said:

1- Definitely true- I was thinking more of the early copper stages when it really can be the toughest for the heroes.

2- Yup... my bad!