Am I the only one who is not a fan of Rossiel? I mostly mean in terms of theme.

I acknowledge the trend of putting FFG-invented characters into the game. I understand this achieves two things: (i) spreads the pool of canon characters so that designers do not "run out" too soon, (ii) balances the male to female ratio. Well, okay. I learned to live with that

But still, what is up with Rossiel? She just feels out of place, more like from... Warcraft perhaps? The skimpy leathery garments, magic glowy whisps dancing around her, etc. Anyway, it is a nice piece of art, a depiction of a physically beautiful character, just IMHO somehow a breach of climate.

I'm not a fan too. But I'm not a fan for other reason. And the reason is: "Ither play me exclusively with the new "add a card to the victory display" thingies or don't play me at all". I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just not a fan.

I'm not a fan too. But I'm not a fan for other reason. And the reason is: "Ither play me exclusively with the new "add a card to the victory display" thingies or don't play me at all". I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just not a fan.

yeah, that too.

These victory display shenanigans, it is just a fad

In quests like the Three Trials she's gonna be really interesting. Otherwise, I hope we get some more vistory display stuff to make her good hero in general, not just in some quests.

There is already plenty of stuff spoiled that would be good with her. Like that event that cancels a card that has a copy of it in the victory display, those two events which add locations explored and enemies defeated to the victory display. Throw in this neutral Keen As Lances event. It's just like Outlands with less blunt power, but with that "just take every card of that type and add it to your deck to make magic happen" element still intact.

But still, what is up with Rossiel? She just feels out of place, more like from... Warcraft perhaps? The skimpy leathery garments, magic glowy whisps dancing around her, etc.

By what crazy standard is Rossiel dressed in 'skimpy leather garments'?

As to the glowy wisps:

"Did you not say that you wished to see Elf-magic?"

–Galadriel, The Fellowship of the Ring

It's right there on the card. Things like that may be found in Lorien.

I'll grant that if you don't want to play around with the victory display stuff she's basically worthless to you, but the idea that her art somehow makes her unthematic makes no sense to me at all.

To be fair I can't recall any mention of wisps or supernatural lights in Middle Earth, apart form the corpse-candles in the Dead Marshes.

I think anytime a card is introduced which attempts to provide synergy you can complain that the game designers are just building decks for you, but ultimately those complaints don't pan out because deck builders always figure out something that doesn't fit the mold. Personally, I really like the victory display theme and there needed to be a hero to tie the theme together. It is better as an invented hero IMO.

As for her being off theme, basically anything original will be off theme. It is not as bad as the sand worms from Dune tunneling their way into the NM Emyn Muil quest. I do wonder about the green skin.

To be fair I can't recall any mention of wisps or supernatural lights in Middle Earth, apart form the corpse-candles in the Dead Marshes.

Welllllllll Frodo sees Arwen/Glorfindel as s/he 'really is' which is basically a glowing mechagodzilla of classiness.

I am not complaining, I'm totally fine with a hero like that being released. I'm just saying why I'm personally not a fan of that hero. But I'm going to argue here with you, because there is extent to when designers build decks for you and when they don't. And Rossiel is a good example of situaiton when they do, because she is lore, she only synergizes with victory display, and all the victory display stuff is in lore (little is neutral) and most of it comes out in the same cycle as her, and you'll want that stuff in your deck for her to be effective. Thanks goodness this stuff can be effective without her, but with her at your disposal it will literally shine.

Rossiel's bonuses kick in for enemies/locations that have victory points, as well. There are several quests like Hills of Emyn Muil, Conflict at the Carrock (especially NM), Fog on the Barrow Downs, etc.. where relevant traits end up in the Victory Display pretty regularly.

For quests like those, you don't even need the other new player cards to power her up.

You don't need, but you would like to, to maximize her capacity and speed up the process.

I can think of at least one deck that will include her without victory display shenanigans. She is a low-threat cost Lore hero with the Silvan trait and 2 willpower. For that matter, her 2 defense means that she could wield A Burning Brand. The Silvan Trackers in that archetype will ensure that any damage she takes will be healed without trouble. All of these things seem useful to me. She is by no means a marquee hero, nor should she be. As Caleb mentioned in our Gen Con interview, the FFG-created heroes *should* fall into the support role. It would not make sense for them to outshine the iconic characters from the stories. As someone who likes to experiment with different and sometimes unorthodox decks, I always like seeing low-cost heroes with useful traits. She adds to the flexibility of overall hero and deck building pools. An 8-cost hero is allowed to just slot into a deck for sphere and trait and allow the other heroes to pull most of the weight, it is the nature of the 6-8 threat cost range. The idea that every hero has to somehow be the end-all and be-all in every deck strikes me as unnecessarily narrow.

As for the art, that is completely a subjective discussion. I will say that the land of Middle-earth was filled with a bounty of magical elements so it feels appropriate for Elves to have a magical appearance. One perspective on the art could be that it represents the way that Hobbits might perceive a beautiful elf, upon first meeting one. In any case, to each their own. There is plenty of hero card art that I would re-examine before I would ever criticize this particular card.

I get what Mich the One is saying about the depiction seeming to "not fit" in some way. I think the reason is because we really don't know much of anything about the Silvan of Lorien, especially the female Silvan of Lorien, and anything new might seem strange at first glance. The big thing is that magic in Tolkien is usually not directly depicted, like we see with the "wisps" in Rossiel's art, but I like that it gives a certain feel to the character and the card. It's possible that such things could be seen in a place like Lorien. I also think the art continues to avoid the overly sexualized female art that plagues other fantasy artwork, which is a good thing.

Just to be clear, I do like Rossiel and the victory display mechanic. Once I get the respective packs I will try it in solo, what heroes do you recommend using? I think that in solo the secrecy theme might not cut it since in order to get Rossiel's bonuses you actually have to kill enemies and explore location, which in a slow-burn secrecy deck without Tactics might be problematic. I was thinking of Treebeard and Glorfindel. What do you think?

I might sound like a power gamer here (which I'm not), but if I wanted a low threat Lore defender, I would go for Denethor, who can scry if there is nothing to defend. But that's not the point, technicly, even the Spirit Pippin can be of somewhat use outside of the full hobbit deck.

I share Mich his misgivings about the art.

It's a pretty picture sure, but with that greenish skin and pollen floating around her she could pass for a ent-wife.

It just doesn't feel very middle-earthy to me too.

Not a big deal, true, but what's wrong with discussing a new hero?

Mechanic & art alike.

I like her mechanic on paper, but I will withhold judgement until I've played he a couple of times.

I think that Rossiel character, cloths, etc are ok. The flying lights around her. Ouch.

Could those lights be something natural? Like insects?

Only the green skin bothers me. Her backstory is pretty awesome I must say.

Could those lights be something natural? Like insects?

Oh that's a plausible one.

I'm seeing fireflies from now on.

I think the green skin is just the light reflecting on her skin. I don´t have the AP yet, does the background say anything about that?

https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/3d/8b/3d8bbc3c-aabf-41f4-8d17-e196e376253d/mec40-rossiel.png

I don't know... her skin seems a bit too green to simply be a reflection of the light. Her story references her red hair but nothing about her skin.

Agreed. The green is just overdone.

Is there something about a orcish grand mother or something in that back story?

I have been playing around with Rossiel along with Out of the wild, Leave no trace, None return, The door is closed, Scout ahead and Keen as lances. And I must say it's been a blast! I played mono Lore solo using Rossiel, Beravor and Aragorn, along with ally Treebeard and his ent army, A good harvest/Steward of Gondor and Henamarth for scrying.

Lately I am considering testning a solo Deck with Rossiel, Galadriel (have Lore icon with Nenya) and Spirit Merry.

I really enjoy all the different playstyles of this game! Had great fun with Caldara, and looking forward to new Erestor.

/Maz