Having just cracked open my copy of bonds of the wild and while i really like all the heroes i must admit to being smitten with Lyssa, nice sculpt, good art work, and IMO excellent stats, pretty solid attributes and useful hero abilities and a solid feat (again IMO).

Normally when i get to play it is as a warrior or scout so a switch to mage looks welcome (although the stats and abilities are warrior/scout like to me which may be part of the allure).

But i cant decide what class i would run her as or what items i would consider a 'must'.

Lyssa looks to be best used to snipe critical monsters, running in and smacking something up close before darting away as she is far from tanky, but has beautiful movement and stamina so should be ok on maneuverability and skill use.

I was thinking that a runemaster would be quite nice, it has access to blast if needed if you are hanging back, and can supply its own surge for when you want to use a red power instead of a yellow or green when getting in close.

Are there any other suggestions or must grab items players would recommend?

PS.

Looking at the hero ability and heroic feat i have a feeling that they can be legitimately combined/stacked RAW. If thats the case, that could be bonkers good.

Personnally, I think she would be really cool as a Melee Mage.

And I see two possibilites so far :

- Runemaster (not surprising), by using "inscribed runes" and changing the weapon for the first good melee one and/or a weapon with a yellow or green die, so it becomes a red one. In this logic, you need to forget exploding rune, and rushing on quick casting, the free surge, and inscribed rune. Virtually, she will be able to attack four time in a row, two attack actions, quick casting, and feat (and the feat does stack indeed). Since the class only plays with "rune" and not "magic", it's perfect.

The only trouble is about the Runeplate, since the has only 3 in book, she will not have the life bonus

- Conjurer, same idea, but playing with all the cards that do not need "magic" trait, like "many friends", summoning the image the furtherest of the monsters possible, so she will add 1 green die, and with a melee weapon in close combat, a red one, Blinding light to help her survive, Vortex, and Sleight on Mind, being a melee mage as the runemaster, but more mobile and less brute force

Thoses are my ideas, this way, she will be played as intended, and be a really threat to the OL. It could be fun to make a "strange" team like that, with for example, Lyssa as a conjurer and Jaes as Runemaster, Reynhart as a beastmaster with a bow, etc ... having heroes playing not as they were attented to.

I was two seconds from buying it today.... but I had to be a responsible adult and not spend money.

Challara as Geomancer. Deal with my Dragon, my Stones and my Magic.

For Challara, I've thought about it many times, and I think the best build is indeed hexer, since it's the only class that can help birghtblaze to stay alive longer and deal more damages.

with plague spasm, adding a black die to his defense, and accursed arms, Brightblaze can attack up to 3 times, not considering the hex tokens and with the staff of Greyhaven dealing massive damages

As a Geomancer, I don't get the point except having many figures everywhere

I search as a Necromancer, but there's nothing cool at all, alas

I need to check with FFG to make sure this is kosher, but if having an image token adjacent to the target counts for her hero ability, then I REALLY want to see a Lyssa conjurer. She could upgrade her dice by attacking adjacent while not being adjacent and in harms way. Also, "many friends" becomes essentially "if there are 3 image tokens, add a red."

I also think she would make a neat runemaster or hexer.

In terms of gear, iron claws and rage blade are made for her, in act 1 mace of aver. Anything with 3 dice in act 1 or 4 dice in act 2.

Already asks, and it's a no : she must be adjacent by herself

Already asks, and it's a no : she must be adjacent by herself

On a closer read, it does say targets a figure adjacent to you . While that's a little sad, it's good in that I won't always play her as a conjurer.

I search as a Necromancer, but there's nothing cool at all, alas

Except that controlling 2 familiars is the coolest thing of all. 3 figures to play with for the price of one, what more can a player want?

For Lyssa, I also think Necromancer is an option. Her starting weapon would gain most from her hero ability (with no surge ability to speak of, Reaper's Scythe could really need a red die instead of its yellow one, whereas you might sometimes hesitate to upgrade a Runemaster's die to red because they need the surges so much), and once you have acquired Vampiric Blood (first skill you should learn as a Necro), you would probably have the strongest-hitting hero in the party, both through herself and through her familiar - and since she would kill a lot, she would also recover lots of fatigue.

Also, the Runemaster sometimes wants to attack with blast, so adjacency can be a liability.