I've been creating Talisman characters for my own use for awhile now, and I've compiled a decent number. Given John New's excellent work updating Strange Eons for Talisman, I decided it was a good time to mock them up properly and share them with the Talisman community. I haven't been able to playtest most of these as rigorously as I'd like, so feedback would be greatly appreciated.

THE ARCHIVIST

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rgww153oi1fnjdd/Archivist-Front-Face.png?dl=0

The name and the art are the same, but this isn't at all the same as Loudo's Archivist; I suspect we took inspiration from the same source, but we took it in very different directions. The Archivist's main advantage is his ability to circumvent Spell limits by "crafting" Scrolls on the fly. Before that ability is any use, of course, he has to accumulate a few Spells; fortunately he can buy them more cheaply than any other character, provided he can get to a place that sells them. He also gets a lot more out of books and tomes than any other character, so he'll definitely be gunning for you if you happen to pick one up.

If you want to use this and Loudo's version, I suggest renaming one to "Scholar" or "Loremaster."

THE AVENGER

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0fvi7xcap3bn3v6/Avenger-Front-Face.png?dl=0

A warrior driven by rage and vengeance, the avenger wins by losing, at least to a point. The closer he gets to death, the higher his attack score gets, and he can choose to forego healing and get fate instead if he wants to keep that bonus rolling. Never one to quit, after he loses to an Enemy he can stick around to try again, likely with better odds the next time around.

THE BEASTMASTER

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5yexmhshgarqx7r/Beastmaster-Front-Face.png?dl=0

THE BINDER

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qawxv72cap5qztm/Binder-Front-Face.png?dl=0

A master of truenames and soul magic, the binder is an expert at bending others to his will. Maybe too expert; he's one of my newest creations and I worry that he might be over-powerful. He can inflict reward-less Warlock Quests on other players (though he needs to win a fight and sacrifice a Spell to do it), and he can also attempt to bind and carry around Strangers to unleash on other characters who try to accost him.

THE BRAWLER

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j3kn5l0up5y4z0h/Brawler-Front-Face.png?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kzo3qzb3xyib1nx/Cataphract-Front-Face.png?dl=0

THE CHAMPION

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kl8yqxww1scotxf/Champion-Front-Face.png?dl=0

THE EMPATH

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4syz4c71lzes2bd/Empath-Front-Face.png?dl=0

THE SWORDMAGE

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nvld0gqxc9q5zs7/Swordmage-Front-Face.png?dl=0

Pretty straightforward synergy here: winning battles gives him fuel for drawing Spells, and conversely discarding Spells gives him fuel for winning battles. The latter ability also lets him churn through useless Spells, always a nice option to have.

THE MYSTIC

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5gmxn916456iuce/Mystic-Front-Face.png?dl=0

He's been helping heroes in the Quest for decades, isn't it past time he took a shot at the Crown himself? A potent spellcaster (though nowhere near the might of his cousin the Warlock) with a remarkable ability to give others a new perspective on life. In a nod to the 2nd edition Mystic from White Dwarf magazine, this Mystic also has the ability to astrally visit distant spaces and see what challenges await him there. It's a neat ability but very niche in utility.

THE RANGER

https://www.dropbox.com/s/17v3j88po0v2mvh/Ranger-Front-Face.png?dl=0

Part 2:

Hey. You have some cool concepts there, might use something

Hey. You have some cool concepts there, might use something

Thanks! If you do, let me know how it turns out.

Hello Vendark, you have some really interesting characters here. Since you asked for feedback here's mine.

As a general note, I would suggest against having too much or too small text in your character cards. Not only are some of your character cards kind of hard to read, but I think that part of designing a character is keeping things simple.

I often start with a too wordy concept and then cut and simplify things in order to make sure that the whole text fits in the character card (without resorting to smaller fonts).

ARCHIVIST

I'm going to be honest, this is my favourite character of the bunch. His ability #2 is pure genius, I love the simplicity and creativity of it! Which makes me all the more sad that we ended up creating two characters with the same name! ;-)

That said, I think this character is a bit on the weak side, but it doesn't really bother me. I think that in a game like Talisman flavour and concept can reasonably trump power balance.

AVENGER

A really interesting concept. I have only a couple of remarks.

First, I think you should change his last ability so that when he would "heal" life he only has the option to "recover" fate (instead of gaining it). Right now it seems to me that this character can gain an excessive amount of fate for no particular reason.

A second thought is that I think that coupling ability #3 with life value 5 is kind cheap. :-) This character gains +2 in both battle and psychic combat when he has 3 lives, which isn't really that low or risky. IMHO, I would either reduce his life value to 4 and keep the ability as it is, or keep his life value as it is and make the ability only apply to battles or psychic combats (instead of both).

BEASTMASTER

Like you said, Pets can be incredibly powerful and I think the Beastmaster's abilities are too easy to exploit.

First of all, I can get behind the idea of the Beastmaster gaining a Pet when he defeats an Animal, but you made the whole endevour unnecessarily easy for him IMHO. Does he really need a bonus to attacks against Animals and the ability to land in any space with an Animal with no effort?

But most importantly, I think you overlooked a loophole abuse. Nothing prevents you from discarding Pets, as they are just ordinary Followers. This means that, as soon as an Animal is drawn, the Beastmaster can ditch weaker Pets in order to be sure to collect all the most broken ones, circumventing the limitations of ability #4.

BINDER

I do like the idea of the Binder forcing Warlock Quests upon other characters. However, I think all his ability are excessively circumstantial: they almost all revolve around PvP, and even then they only apply if you give up your normal reward for defeating another character. I fear they would see little use and the character would turn out quite boring to play.

BRAWLER

I'm going to be honest, this character looks excessively complicated. I read the character card three times and I still can't remember how the wineskin exactly works. I think you should really consider making it simpler, because the character concept is otherwise interesting.

As it is, I would also suggest lowering his Strength value, because it seems a bit too much combined with the wineskin. After landing once on the Tavern, he can already reach Strength 9 in combat from the very start of the game. At least the Ogre Chieftain needs to draw the right type of Enemies and sacrifice valuable trophies to achieve something similar.

CATAPHRACT

I like the original character concept and his elegant simplicity.

CHAMPION

I like the character, although one problem I have with her is that, while it isn't immediately apparent from the card, she should only be used with certain expansions. In the base game there is exactly one card that makes you change your alignment, so her abilities would see very little usage.

EMPATH

Like I learned at my own expense with my Orc custom character, you really don't want to give a character the ability to end their movement in the same space of another character and attack them. And you especially don't want to give such an ability to a character who is already strong in PvP (the Empath can start psychic combat and has two abilities that activate even when she loses).

MAGEBLADE

Good character, nothing to say against this one. :-)

MYSTIC

I am generally against the idea of a character having both the ability to always have Spells and the ability to attack other characters in psychic combat, because that's already the Wizard's niche and it's the only thing that makes him different from other spellcasters.

Also, regarding his sending ability, you should probably specify that it can only be used on spaces where you actually need to draw cards.

RANGER

Good character, nothing to say against this one. :-)

RUNECASTER

Good character, although I would suggest to drop his last ability entirely. It's an overly long ability that applies to very rare situations.

SHADOWCASTER

Overall I like the character, but I would suggest toning down ability #3. The ability to evade everything (creatures and characters) at such a minor cost (1 fate for an Evil character with fate value 4 is basically nothing) is a bit excessive IMHO.

SHEPHERD

Good character, nothing to say against this one. :-)

SKALD

Nice flavour, it looks like a fun character. :-)

SOLDIER

Good character, nothing to say against this one. :-)

SUMMONER

Another character name we have in common, although I haven't published my own Summoner yet. ;-)

The character is fine per se, but the card is really too wordy. I'm having trouble reading the text even at full screen.

SWORDMASTER

Now, this is another character concept I think it's brilliant. Nicely done.

THEURGE

Good character, nothing to say against this one. :-)

TRICKSTER

Another really original concept, I really like this one!

WILD HUNTSMAN

Good character, nothing to say against this one. :-)

ZEALOT

Good character, nothing to say against this one. :-)

Hi Loudo, thanks for taking the time to comment. I'm a fan of your custom characters (and I try to design around them and avoid redundancies where possible) so your opinion means a lot. Are you still planning on posting more to your thread? It's been awhile!

As far as keeping the text to a minimum, it's an issue I'm aware of and something I try my best to do. I simplify where I can but some concepts have a minimum level of complexity if they're going to be faithfully rendered.

As to your specific comments, I've made some changes to the following characters; links are already updated:

The Avenger:

Made the heal/replenish change you suggested. The original way was mainly for simplicity, but I can see how it could get out of hand.

Lowered his life value to 4; keeping the bonus in both types of combat was important to me, since the bonus is meant to represent the Avenger's will to live and should therefore thematically apply to both.

The Beastmaster:

That exploit had gotten by me; the Beastmaster no longer has the option to ditch Pet Followers.

Also reduced his attack bonus against animals to 1, removed his Forest/Crags immunity, and lowered his Fate from 2 to 1. Should be generally weaker without neutering his core strengths.

The Binder:

Significant redo. Took away his psychic combat ability, but he no longer has to win an attack to lay a geas on a character, and characters under a geas are significantly disadvantaged against the Binder which should make the ability more attractive.

The Brawler:

Unfortunately I can't simplify the Brawler's wineskin much without also significantly weakening it. I did rein his power level in a bit by reducing his Craft to 1, and limiting him to using 2 pips from the wineskin at a time. Took away the heal functionality too, although I'm on the fence about that. Also took away his Helmet use, saves a little space.

The Empath:

She no longer has the option to encounter characters when using that ability.

The Mystic:

Changed his spell replacement ability to trigger at the start of his turn, like the Sage.

The Shadowcaster:

She now has to make a Craft roll to successfully invoke shadows, which reduces its power in the early game.

At the moment, no changes to the Runecaster or the Summoner. I just can't find any text that I feel I can afford to cut from the Summoner; it's all pretty important to how he works. The only easy cut would be his ability to gain Spells on certain spaces, but since he charges his ability with Spells he really needs that. As for the Runecaster, I agree it's a minor power that uses a lot of space on the card...but I kinda like it all the same!

Thanks again for the feedback. I'd love to know what you think of the changes.

Thank you very much, Vendark, I'm flattered. :-)

I'm going to update my thread pretty soon. Unfortunately I never managed to make Strange Eons work on my PC, so creating each character card can be quite time consuming for me.

AVANGER

I like it now!

BEASTMASTER

I must say, straight up forbidding him from ditching his Follower is very concept fitting! I like it.

BINDER

Excellent idea. I really love the new mechanics, you suddenly made him one of the most interesting characters of the bunch for me. :-)

BRAWLER

I still think it's little overcomplicated, but I think you did a good job at addressing his overpower-ness. :-)

EMPATH/MYSTIC/SHADOWCASTER

I approve the changes. :-)

Thanks again for the feedback, Loudo.

I was printing out some characters and found that I need 1 more to maximize the efficiency of the print job, so I gave it some thought and came up with another character. This is brand new, so feedback is especially appreciated.

THE ENCHANTRESS

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wpc3s8btb3ykus8/Enchantress-Front-Face.png?dl=0

A PVP character, but at a distance. The Enchantress in the City can remove Strength or Craft counters, but that's a bit much for a PC to replicate. Instead, this character (probably an upstart rival or out-of-favor apprentice, since she has no special pull with *the* Enchantress) weakens her enemies to a somewhat lesser effect when she casts Spells on them; the target has to take a trip to remove the effect, and it can stack. She also has a high Craft and excellent Spell draw. I envision her as a strong character, to try and summon a bit of the anxiety the original Enchantress can generate, but obviously I don't want her to be broken.

The new character is looking good. The enfeeble/befuddle effect, while annoying, is pretty balanced, since it only applies to battles and psychic combats and doesn't actually reduce your Strength and Craft for other purposes.

In fact, I think you could even upgrade it a notch, by forcing characters to accept a Warlock Quest to remove them, instead of simply visiting the Warlock's Cave. Afterall, visiting the Enchantress is pretty dangerous, while simply visiting the Warlock's Cave is risk-free.

When you create a character who uses special tokens, you need to add information (not necessarily in the card itself) about how many of these tokens are available. All resources in Talisman are limited.

A few other things that just occured to me. You need to devise a way for the Skald to keep track of his increased fate value. You should probably just say that he keeps completed Warlock Quest facedown instead of discarding them.

A doubt that occured to me while reading the Archivist card. You say that he may pay 1 less gold per Spell, to a minimum of 1. Does this minimum apply to the total or every single Spell purchase? For example, if I could to buy 3 Spells for 3 gold, would the Archivist pay 1 gold (each Spell is free, but I have to pay at least 1 gold) or 3 gold (the discount doesn't apply, because I still have to pay at least 1 gold per Spell)?

Thanks again for your input, Loudo. Taking your points in reverse order:

For the Archivist, the intent is a minimum of one gold per spell, and I've updated the card to make that clear.

For the Skald, that's a perfectly reasonable way to handle it. Personally, having freedoms that the game designers don't, I just use tokens I've got on hand for things like that; for example, I've got some purple cones from the 3rd edition of Talisman that otherwise match the red, blue and green cones and work well for fate value increases. But here's a version to use that instructs the Skald to keep the Quest, for those who prefer:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cprhk16it5qmuud/Skald-Front-Face%20%282%29.png?dl=0

As to the Enchantress, I've gotten around to mocking up a double sided befuddle/enfeeble token, using art from the closest equivalent Spells:

Enfeeble side: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ybaforvhtnwiidm/Enchantress-Token-Front-Face.png?dl=0

Befuddle side: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3wzbtb9yh5hwpr8/Enchantress-Token-Back-Face.png?dl=0

so the two tokens draw from the same pool. Since, as you note, getting rid of the tokens isn't super difficult, especially when characters can easily get to the Middle Region, I'd planned on giving her a fair number, maybe 6 to 8. (or maybe, on her character card, tying it to the number of players in the game? 2 per player?) Not having played her in a game yet, this is a basically a wild guess as to what might work well. Spells that trigger the ability are pretty common, around 2 out of every 5 Spells if all expansions are in play, but some of them are harder to cast than others and a few even help the target, so they might not be attractive vectors for the ability.

If they're harder to get rid of (like the suggestion you make regarding accepting a Quest instead of visiting the Cave), I'd probably keep it on the lower side. 5, maybe 6, but again, this is just a gut call. I'll think about it some more.

Thanks again!

Thanks for the updated cards, Veldark. :-)

Regarding the Archivist, what caused me the doubt was that the only location I could think of where Spells cost more than 1 gold is the Sorcerer's shop in the City. And I don't think having a discount in that space is very useful, since you can buy Spells (in the form of Scrolls) for 1 gold anyway down just a few blocks. :-)

Regarding the Enchantress, here's a few thoughts about how to handle her ability:

- When reading her card, I assumed that the Enchantress would have about 3 befuddle tokens and 3 (separate) enfeeble tokens at her disposal. This means that in a 4-player game she can either give a -1 penalty to everyone, or by focusing her ability on the most dangerous character, a single -3 penalty to one character.

- If you want to go for the double-sided tokens (btw, I really like the design), I suggest you to put a cap to how many of a single type can be stacked on a single character. Considering the ease with which the Enchantress can apply this penalty to other characters, I think the cap should be 2 same-type tokens per character. (A penalty of -2 in a d6 system is already pretty severe.)

- On the other hand, if you want to let her use her ability more freely, you could consider making it easier to get rid of those tokens. The main problem with the current way, I think (aside from the risk of visiting the Enchantress), is that it forces you to stay in a certain area of the board. The Enchantress makes exploring the Highlands and the Dungeon (and beating the Eagle King and the Lord of Darkness) much more difficult, especially if she can stack her tokens indiscriminately.

Another way to get rid of befuddle/enfeeble tokens could be gaining a Strength/Craft point. This way characters can potentially get rid of them anywhere on the board, although at increasing difficulty since the tokens make gaining trophies harder.

- Another way to avoid letting the Enchantress' ability get out of hand is applying the penalty to attack rolls instead of attack scores. Since the minimum your attack roll can be is 1, her ability would make rolling 1s more likely during attacks without making other characters completely helpless in fights.

I hope this can be helpful, I'm not suggesting you a specific solution, just brainstorming. :-)

Re: the Archivist: You know, I could have sworn there were more than that, but looking through I can't find any either. Rather than go with the alternate interpretation of the original ambiguous wording (I try to avoid abilities that let characters make a profit from buying and re-selling, not necessarily because of balance but rather because I think it encourages tedious game strategies), I'll expand the ability slightly, and give him another fate point besides. Link updated.

Also updated the Enchantress. Rather than think too long and hard about it and thereby discourage anyone from trying her in the meantime, I've tied discarding counters exclusively to Strength/Craft gains, and I'm setting the total number of counters at 5. But when I get some playtest feedback (either my own or another's), I'll reevaluate.

Thanks once again!

Renamed, reflavored and slightly re-engineered the Summoner. He is now the Effigist; instead of summoning creatures from beyond he's magically animating images of them, to the same effect. The reflavor is mainly to allow him to be used in games with Loudo's very mechanically different Summoner, plus I think it matches the in-game flavor of his mechanics a little better.

I also removed his spell generating ability and the spell cost associated with his summon/effigy ability. Mainly this saves a lot of space on the card, but partly I've decided that giving up a trophy and a spell slot is enough of a cost that actually discarding a spell on top of it probably isn't warranted.

Can't open the new Effigist link for some reason. :-(

But it was very nice of you to change your character's name for my character's sake!

Sorry about that, should work now.

Really like the characters (Loudo's too!), I have but a couple of small suggestions for the Swordmaster.

1) 1 Fate seems quite low for a Str 3 Craft 2 character. I would think 3 Fate would be more appropriate when comparing this character against the Monk, for example.

2) Include a clause that as long as the Ancestral Sword has at least one sword spirit token, that it is considered a Magic Object. This allows it to be used against Living Statues, Stone Golems and the like.

Thanks for the feedback.

1) You might be right about the Swordmaster's fate. I think she's in a much better place than the Monk, since she can use Armour and her Ancestral Sword is likely to grow much, much more reliably than the Monk's Craft value (she gets to choose when she duels, so if she doesn't want to risk losing a token she doesn't have to). I'll bump her up to 2 fate and see how she feels.

2) I do like small abilities that enhance the flavor of a character, and that would give her a more mystic feel that is in keeping with how I picture her...but her text is already pretty small and I don't think she really needs the ability to be complete.

But since pixels are free there's no reason I can't make you a version of the card that has the ability, if you like. Here you go:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nkgp178jqtio1gz/Swordmaster-Alt.png?dl=0

Since I had a couple days off work, and because I can't seem to help myself lately, I've been experimenting with a few more characters. These should be the last for awhile, I think; if anything I need to spend less time making them and more time using them. As always, feedback is greatly desired and appreciated.

I also found new art for the Mystic that is closer to what I originally had in mind; his card has been updated.

THE CAVALIER

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4hdpm58puhrrvv3/Cavalier-Front-Face.png?dl=0

The Knight and the Chivalric Knight are very romantic representations of knighthood, and in his own way so is Loudo's Black Knight; pure of heart or black as sin, all three are a bit larger than life. The Cavalier, on the other hand, is basically a jock who's good at swinging a sword and happens to have wealth and powerful friends. A favored champion of the King, his insider access to the Court gives him extra options at the Castle, all of which have some value added: he can buy a wide range of equipment at discounted values, and can pick up Wanted Posters to help fund those purchases. If he can gather a royal entourage it'll enhance his prestige; note that he still suffers the normal penalty from having the Jester as a Follower, so he's got some cost-benefit analysis to do if he happens to pick him up.

THE CRUSADER

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kpi246yitqsrq6w/Crusader-Front-Face.png?dl=0

First, pretend that I mocked up four Crusade cards to go with this guy. For now, two index cards or pieces of paper with the words "Dungeon," "Highlands," "Woodland," and "Dragon" written, one word for each of the four sides, will do just as well; there's no game text needed on any of the cards.

The City is an oasis of civilization in a Land surrounded by dangerous frontiers, and that's not a comfortable place to be. Every once in awhile, xenophobia boils over and the City marshals its forces to try and wipe out some of the barbarians, pagans, and monsters that plague the area, and the Crusader is a warrior at the forefront of those expeditions.

Mechanically, he's pretty simple. At game start he picks a card for one of the three non-City corner Regions, or the Dragon card if that expansion is in use, and thereafter gets a bonus to attack Enemies from that expansion at the cost of not being able to have Followers from it. If he returns to the City with proof of success in his mission he can collect blessings from the High Temple (ie, Quest Rewards), at which point he can switch targets if he wants.

THE DEMON HUNTER

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nn12fiot9hj1ngl/Demon-Hunter-Front-Face.png?dl=0

The idea for a character who can use battle Weapons in psychic combat came to me first; after that it was just a matter of coming up with a character concept for whom the ability made sense. The Demon Hunter is a mystic warrior who can bless her weapons so they easily bite the incorporeal flesh of demon and ghost alike; her third ability lets her hunt down most of the Demons from the Harbinger expansion without fear of the consequences of winning.

THE EXECUTIONER

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5cxsuli7jfk5f13/Executioner-Front-Face.png?dl=0

This is not a judicially-sanctioned headsman; this is a killer who's traded his soul to Death for dark power. His Battle Axe is a manifestation of that pact; it's part of him and can never be lost.

Loudo cautioned earlier about giving characters the ability to easily move directly to other characters and attack them; thinking about that inspired this guy. He *can* move to other characters and attack them, but in a very limited fashion. First they have to be in the same Region, and then they have to lose a life; that feel of impending death "puts him on the scent," and he can start moving in their direction. It's a slow move, though, unless he's got a lot of dark fate on hand to speed it up. If he can't get there, he's out of luck and will have to try again later.

He can be a terror in battle, but he's also got terrible base stats, the worst in the game in fact aside from the Elementalist, and he's hampered by his inability to steal anything from characters he beats. His need for dark fate to power his deathwalk also has a lot of potential consequences for him; if he doesn't keep any light fate on hand he's at the mercy of the dice when he's not engaged in PVP.

THE HEDGE MAGICIAN

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cjhu17obcmeue8g/Hedge-Magician-Front-Face.png?dl=0

Wise in folk magics, the Hedge Magician is perhaps looked down on by the likes of the Wizard and the Warlock. but he has significant if subtle power. Much of his lore is designed to keep evil and ill-fortune at bay, so those trying to meddle with his fate will find it difficult. The rest of his magic is focused on the harvest and the beasts of the Fields; he can bless them and share in the prosperity, or study them to try and glean more hedge wisdom.

THE LADY'S WARDEN

Main Version: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0meldqpobudauws/Lady%27s-Warden-Front-Face.png?dl=0

Alternate Version: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hcx6j4bzk98g2y6/Lady%27s-Warden-Front-Face-Alt.png?dl=0

There are two versions of this character. The first is for those who happen to use or want to try Jon New's The Lady expansion at Talisman Island, which adds the Lady of the Sacred Pool to the game as an NPC. The second is for those not using that expansion. I don't have any connection to Jon New or Talisman Island, I just like the expansion.

The Warden is a martial servant of the Lady of the Sacred Pool, and as such she's familiar with the secret paths to and from that elusive place. Tasked with defending the Lady's creatures, she can use those paths to defend her charges, and if she succeeds she's got a good chance of getting a reward from the Lady herself.

THE PALADIN

https://www.dropbox.com/s/og2rm9uc6kgedsy/Paladin-Front-Face.png?dl=0

Thematically, the concept of the holy warrior is already covered in Talisman, by the Knight and the official-ish Martyr, and additionally by Loudo's Temple Guardian. But none of them quite match the feel of D&D's Paladin, so here's The Paladin to scratch that itch. Most of the classic abilities are here: she "lays on hands" through the use of the Restoration Spell, which she starts with and can trade for, she can "turn" undead (though not as well as The Priest), and she's effectively immune to diseases magical and mundane.

I really like the new art for the Mystic.

I like the new characters as well. I especially like the Hedge Magician and the Executioner. :-)

DEMON HUNTER:

While I like the idea of letting her use the same weapons for both kinds of attacks, I think she might a be a bit too much. If she finds a good weapon (or buys a Flail) she basically becomes unbeatable.

I would suggest to change her first ability to something like this: she can use Weapons only usable in battle in psychic combat as well, but she only benefits from the bonus to Strength (converted into Craft) while in psychic combat, not from the Weapon's additional effects. This way, if the Demon Hunter gets her hands on a Flail or a Sword of Light, she doesn't become invincible.

Well, any problem involving the Flail is in all likelihood mostly the fault of the Flail, but I take your point. Rather than take away the more interesting interactions of the ability I elected to just give it a fate cost; as a Good character with no fate generating abilities she has to be judicious about when she uses it.

Thanks as always for the feedback!

I cleaned up some of the text on the previous cards; nothing that changes how they work, just slight edits for consistency.

I also tested the Enchantress, the Demon Hunter, and some of the other characters a bit; I'm pretty happy with where they're at, but I've made a small change to the Demon Hunter; she now uses blessed oils and incense to anoint her weapons for use against spirits (ie, gold), and receives gold when she turns in Spirit and Demon trophies. That helps her get a good weapon earlier, while still limiting how often she can use it in psychic combat.

Perhaps of greater interest, I've got a new batch of characters to post!

THE ARCANIST

https://www.dropbox.com/s/excpuxysrn2e87r/Arcanist-Front-Face.png?dl=0

A spellcaster who is at least as interested in studying and exploring the nature of magic itself as he is in availing himself of its practical applications. He can study Spells after he casts them to either try and discover new forms of magic, or if he's lucky he can even keep the Spell he just cast, if he wants. If he's unlucky, he'll either waste some of his own magic or some of his own time in the attempt. He can do something similar with Magic Objects, learning new Spells from studying them at the risk of destroying them completely. The latter ability is a good way to get rid of Cursed Objects when you're done with them.

THE BLOOD MAGE

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gclwlnrta4vn5py/Blood-Mage-Front-Face.png?dl=0

The Blood Mage harvests the blood of her enemies, and sometimes that of herself or her followers, to power Spells. She needs to engage in battle to collect blood, and starts with a Stiletto to make this easier, but improving her abilities in battle should be a priority for her.

Blood doesn't retain its magical potency forever; she's got to use it or eventually she'll lose it.

THE CHANNELER

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tzuwvtshpkai31l/Channeler-Front-Face.png?dl=0

The Channeler has the ability to contact the spirits of great heroes of legend and allow them to use his body for a time, gaining their abilities. He randomly draws a small number of unused character cards at the start of the game; those comprise the heroic spirits he can contact during the game. His biggest limitation (other than the possibility that he might draw 4 duds) is that his ability to channel is Spell hungery: he has to discard a Spell to use the ability, and then he has to discard a second Spell when he changes back, if he can (this is to make it harder for him to stay constantly in one of his alternate forms; otherwise, if he turned into the Wizard or the Prophetess, he could constantly change back). His only internal Spell generating ability triggers when some external force changes his alignment; broadening his perspective makes it easier for him to surrender himself to the spirits.

THE CURSED WANDERER

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i8770q3gt8gsr6j/Cursed-Wanderer-Front-Face.png?dl=0

In some ways this character is a twin to the Unfettered Soul, below; both of them have unique abilities as a result of having their fates twisted by fae magic. The Wanderer is cursed to never stay still and never take the same road twice. On the down side, this means he loses a life whenever he misses a turn, as the curse punishes him for not moving on. On the plus side, "never taking the same road" has given him the magical ability to walk paths that others can't see. The most interesting way this manifests his his ability to take a Path card whether he's in the Woodland or not. He can't do this at will; first, he has to have teleported somehow (either through his second ability or through some other means); second, he has to make a roll over his current amount of fate. He can guarantee he succeeds at this by discarding fate first, but that has obvious downsides of its own.

Remember he has to discard his Path if he leaves a Region; having a really good Path can, ironically, work against him psychologically by making him slow to move forward when he should.

THE DASHING ADVENTURER

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wlbqj2s4027qxyg/Dashing-Adventurer-Front-Face.png?dl=0

This so-called hero mostly just talks a good game; he wants the glory of the Quest while assuming as little of the risk and work as he can manage. Because of this, he's constantly trying to recruit Followers and hit up Strangers for assistance, but his mouth and oily charm often get him into trouble. His first ability lets him draw extra cards to try and get Followers and Strangers, but he's just as likely to get attacked by an Enemy or fall prey to an unfortunate Event. If he does encounter a Stranger he's charming enough to get better than average results on any rolls he has to make. His third ability reflects how good he is at telling people what they want to hear; it doesn't help him much while he's neutral but it's nice if he changes alignment somehow. His fast talk ability lets him potentially avoid being attacked by other characters, but if he fails he angers them enough that they can get an extra reward if they win the fight (the only thing they can't do is take 2 lives; 2 objects, or 1 object and 1 life, are acceptable).

Mechanically, he owes a large debt to the Vampire Hunter and Loudo's Treasure Hunter.

THE ICE WIZARD

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rd3jk8xf0v7e4zn/Ice-Wizard-Front-Face.png?dl=0

This character's magic duplicates the preserving and stultifying effects of cold. Her high life and low fate values reflect this; she's hard to kill but she has a hard time setting her fate on a new course.

She can end her turn early to heal and draw a Spell; if forced to miss a turn by an outside event the "freeze" lets her draw Spells up to her Craft limit. She can also expose opponents in combat to a bone-deep chill that slows them and makes them easy to avoid. She also has a few minor abilities related to cards and spaces that relate to ice, cold, and snow.

THE INCARNATE

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dfnqmeb4dhamwc9/Incarnate-Front-Face.png?dl=0

This character is magic brought to life, either an accident or experiment or perhaps just the natural evolution of magic in the Land. She is HIGHLY experimental; I think I've nailed down all the obvious ways her mechanics could go wrong but if I missed any I need to know about it.

In summary, she uses Spells instead of lives. She has no Craft limit; she can keep as many Spells as she can accumulate. Healing or gaining lives gives her Spells; losing lives makes her discard Spells.

She is expressly forbidden from having all the Objects in the game that would give her a Spell every turn. If I forgot one, please let me know. Likewise, she has a special interaction with any effect that would make her discard all her Spells; instead, she just loses 1 Spell, but she has to miss 1 turn as she tries to recover from the disruption of her essence.

The instant she runs out of Spells she dies, so any Object or other effect that would let her draw a new Spell when she runs out won't save her; she's already dead before she can draw the new Spell.

For now, I've erred on the side of making her a bit weak; she's got low stats and minimal fate, and under those circumstances starting her in the Middle Region isn't doing her many favors. If she's too weak she may need a stat boost, or an extra ability to reflect her special nature.

THE LIZARDMAN WITCH DOCTOR

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y3iaejvsv5gidl5/Lizardman-Witch-Doctor-Front-Face.png?dl=0

A healer and leader to the lizardfolk, the LWD is trying to pioneer new territory for his people, which unfortunately for everyone else means turning fruitful, arable land into Bogs. Because several of his abilities interact with Bogs he's going to want to get as many as he can on the board as quickly as he can; if he can take useful spaces away from characters like the Elf, the Druid, or the Swashbuckler, so much the better.

THE LOUP-GAROU

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4af5h9vjlhzzk51/Loup-Garou-Front-Face.png?dl=0

A strong PVP character, at least at Night. The Loup-Garou starts as a Lycanthrope and is always a Lycanthrope. During the day, he's rather weak (though even then he can still use wolves in battle, if he can gather a few), but he heals when Night falls and then gets enhanced abilities to attract and deploy wolf Followers, as well as the other benefits of being a werewolf. But he'd better make good use of them early; once other characters start contracting lycanthropy he risks falling behind the pack.

THE OATHSWORN

https://www.dropbox.com/s/c2l5b91d2oyix8o/Oathsworn-Front-Face.png?dl=0

Inspired by Sacred Pool's Oathsworn Followers, the Oathsworn is at his strongest when he has an oath (ie, Quest) he needs to fulfill. He starts with a Quest (though his first Quest gives him no reward when completed), and whenever he takes on a Warlock Quest he can draw 2 and pick the one he wants; it's possibly better not to pick one that will be fulfilled too easily, because his most powerful ability only works while he's on a Quest.

The vows of his order forbid him from interfering with the oaths of others; he can't attack or use dark fate against any other character who is on a Warlock Quest.

THE OCCULTIST

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yi4h9p9q78611l9/Occultist-Front-Face.png?dl=0

An investigator into hauntings and other supernatural phenomena, the Occultist has seen sights that would drive lesser men mad, yet keeps going back for more. Whenever he visits a Place he can try to uncover any spectral or eldritch activity there; even the most pleasant-seeming location can have a secret macabre past. His odds of uncovering something interesting improve at Night.

Most of the time he finds nothing, but sometimes he uncovers an interesting event that increases his knowledge and lets him draw a Spell. Other times he disturbs something truly horrific and has to fight for his life, but if he wins he gets a Craft point from the experience.

In psychic combat with characters, his opponent risks delving too deeply into his mind and temporarily losing theirs. He's also got a lot of experience infiltrating and disrupting secret cults, so dispatching cultist enemies is old hat for him.

THE OUTLAW

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ow135s72vkk155/Outlaw-Front-Face.png?dl=0

Down on his luck and on the run from the law, the Outlaw starts out fairly weak. His power grows a bit as Bandits and other villains start appearing and gravitating toward his leadership; he can use them to increase his odds in battle, or he can send them on missions to rob some gold or harass other characters. His little outlaw band is never going to get too large; there simply aren't that many criminals for him to gather. But they will be persistent; once they show up he can keep bringing them back.

THE PILGRIM

https://www.dropbox.com/s/id4ykv99murncuh/Pilgrim-Front-Face.png?dl=0

The Pilgrim is a warrior priest who has sworn to protect travelers to and from distant holy lands. To encourage him to make these trips, he gets to draw a Quest Reward the first time he prays at each new location (the Chapel doesn't count; that's not a pilgrimage, that's his home). Along the way he'll be trying to gather up as many like-minded souls as he can.

THE SPIRITUALIST

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wkfw8p318qpj8lr/Spiritualist-Front-Face.png?dl=0

The Spiritualist is in tune with the souls of the deceased. The thinner the barrier between this world and the world of the dead, the stronger her magic becomes.

Unlike the Necromancer, she seeks to aid the dead rather than exploit them; ghosts sense this and are attracted to her. They'll stay with her if she wants, but she can also help get their affairs in order and put them to rest, if she prefers.

THE UNFETTERED SOUL

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uqfuc4z14dbyp3o/Unfettered-Soul-Front-Face.png?dl=0

The Unfettered Soul has been blessed by fae magic to never be bound or imprisoned, literally or metaphorically. He can swear a vow and discard it at will, no object or force can compel his assistance, and if he's locked up he can walk out the next morning. Not even moral codes can restrict him.

His blessing is especially powerful in the Woodland, because his command over his own fate means the fae are always inclined to treat him in the manner he prefers.

His weakness is that while he's usually free to attempt whatever he wants, he doesn't actually start with much that can help him do what he wants. He's free from a lot of restrictions but he doesn't really start with any bonuses.

THE WARMAGE

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eelc7ok8t205s3t/Warmage-Front-Face.png?dl=0

A different take on the Mageblade. He can't accumulate as many spells as fast as the Mageblade can, but he can do it more reliably and without sacricing trophy points, and his combat magic is more efficient, though the Mageblade starts out as a much better fighter. You probably don't need both characters in your game, but I think they have enough to distinguish them that you aren't hurting either by including both.

THE WILD MAGE

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qo7psimqvul900v/Wild-Mage-Front-Face.png?dl=0

With this character, my main goal is that he lead to fun situations in play. I'm not particularly concerned if he's a bit underpowered; my preference is that he not be overpowered, but above all the players should be smiling a bit when he enters the game.

Examining the Spells he's allowed to cast (aside from the obligatory Command Spell, and one other I'll mention later) should reveal a common theme: he can't control the outcome. If there's a Spell you think should be on his list that I missed, let me know; the main thing that makes a Spell suitable is that it have a chance to backfire on him in at least some small way.

The Hydra Spell is there entirely for its chance to introduce chaos into the game on a grand scale. If he casts it on one of his own Spells things can get particularly interesting!

THE WRATHBORN

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hac6pgy09pdi2q6/Wrathborn-Front-Face.png?dl=0

Inspired by Talisman's Wrathborn enemies, the Wrathborn can choose at the start of the game whether he wants to put more focus on fighting or spellcasting. Whatever he chooses, his inhuman anger gives him a chance to improve his attacks scores in either battle or psychic combat. He benefits a lot from improving his Strength or Craft values. One way he can do that is by gathering Wrathborn followers, but that's going to take some luck; there aren't many in the decks and he has no special ability to find them.

Comments and criticism welcome and encouraged, as always.

Hello Vendark. Always a pleasure reading your custom characters. :-)

You always manage to mix creative mechanics and fitting concepts. I just think you need to work more on cutting unnecessary stuff, some of your characters feel 1-2 abilities too long or with abilities that have too many exceptions and special applications.

Here's my usual feedback.

ARCANIST:

Great character, love it.

BLOOD MAGE:

Another great character.

CHANNELER:

Excellent character, sort of reminds me of my own Master of Masks but a little more restrictive to use (which is probably for the better).

CURSED WANDERER:

Another really interesting concept, seems fun to play and gives Path cards more usage.

DASHING ADVENTURER:

Another fun character concept. I think you might want to change the wording of his last ability to make it a little clearer that taking 1 Object/gold and then 1 life as your second reward is a legal option. Personally I didn't get that, I thought that "do not force you to lose a life" applied to the reward(s) in general, not just the first one.

ICE WIZARD:

I like the concept, but I'm a little dubious about her ability #2, which effectively guarantees she can't die during the game.

Now, you could argue that this isn't all that different from the Path of Respite. However having the Path of Respite forces you: 1) to stay in one Region; 2) to stay in the Woodland, which is full of dangerous encounter even if they don't target your lives.

You could also argue that this isn't all that different from my own custom character, the Healer. However, I feel that this is not the case because: 1) the Healer isn't guaranteed to have a healing spell (she is still vulnerable to effects that force her discard or lose her Spells); 2) healing herself actually has a cost (she has to keep one of her Spell slots occupied by a healing Spell, plus she needs to have another Spell she is willing to discard).

What I'm trying to say is that your Ice Wizard's ability to heal herself is a little too much cost free IMHO. Losing a turn isn't really a cost because: 1) when you're low on lives, losing a turn isn't that much of a cost; 2) pretty much any character has to lose a turn anyway when they want to heal (i.e. visiting a space/card that heals you).

INCARNATE:

A really interesting character, I think you managed the mechanics really well. The Spells-for-lives part seems balanced.

I do think that she should probably have normal stats though: her Spells-for-lives mechanics, while fun and providing her with a wide range of Spell options (which she needs however to be careful to cast), doesn't really benefit her much.

Also, I would suggest you to word her abilities referring to specific effects instead of specific cards. For example, instead of making a list of banned Objects, I think you should just say "You can't have any card that lets you gain 1 or more Spells every turn for free."

LIZARDMAN WITCH DOCTOR

Love the character, though he could probably use a shorter name. ;-)

Also, his ability to be unaffected by the Marsh and Pestilence has no correlation with his abilities on Bog spaces, so it should be a different ability. However, considering he already has 5 abilities, you should probably just drop it.

LOUP-GAROU

Not bad, an interesting take on the werewolf concept. While his abilities do tend to revolve around a small set of specific Enemies, you managed to address that problem with ability #5.

Just a small suggestion, instead of making the Loup-garou immune to the Werewolf Event, why not treat it as a lupine creature? This way you can force lycanthropy on one of your opponent's Followers using ability #4. This also makes that ability more useful later in the game, when normal Wolves aren't much of a threat anymore.

OATHSWORN

Nice idea for a character, I only have a couple of suggestion.

First, I think that it would fit the concept more if, while you can take and keep Oathsworn Followers even when you have no Warlock Quest, you can still only use them if you have one.

Second, I would lose ability #4 and #5 (or, at the very least, ability #5), because that would make the card shorter and I don't think that this character is powerful enough to need restrictions.

OCCULTIST:

I like the character, but I think that ability #3 is a little too complex and not dangerous enough for an ability that applies so rarely. Personally, I would change it to something like this: if you lose psychic combat, roll 1 die and add the number of Spell you have. If the result is 4+, the attack is considered a stand-off.

Basically it's a Full Plate for psychic combat. I think it fits the concept more (you're driven mad, so you can't claim your reward) and it's more useful.

OUTLAW:

Not crazy about this one, to be honest. Too many abilities to remember and mechanics that rely too much on specific cards.

PILGRIM:

Love this one. I would suggest the following small change: when this character is in play, immediately place a facedown Quest Reward on any space where you can pray. Do the same to any Place card where you can pray as soon as it is drawn. The Pilgrim (and only the Pilgrim) can take that Quest Reward the first time he prays there.

This is mechanically the same as your version, but it puts less of a burden on the players' memory because they don't have to remember where the Pilgrim has already prayed once.

SPIRITUALIST:

Nice character, I really like it. I'm a little sad that she isn't a Good character, I think it would fit the concept better. But I understand why you made her Neutral instead (so she couldn't benefit from both the Chapel and the Graveyard).

UNFETTERED SOUL:

Another fine character.

WARMAGE:

Seems ok to me.

WILD MAGE:

I think this character is a bit too much. You mention that you want him to cast Spells that can backfire, but I don't think that this is really the case. Take the Random Spell for example: sure, your opponent may be lucky enough to gain 1 Strength sometimes, but when you are able to recycle that Spell as many times as you want, eventually your opponent will roll a 2, which will negate any previous lucky roll. Same with the Vindication Spell: once you are killed, any previous lucky roll doesn't really matter.

My main issue with this character is that not only it increases randomness (my Hexer does that too), but it also makes the game much much longer to finish. At least when you are turned into a toad, you keep your stat increments and someone can eventually collect all the stuff you dropped (meaning that while the winner may end up being random, at least it won't take much longer to have a winner).

WRATHBORN:

This character too I think is a bit too much. Mainly because his main "Wrathborn" ability applies to both battles and psychic combats, making him very strong in all kinds of attacks. I think you should limit his ability to only one kind of attack.

Thanks for the kind words, Loudo, and the feedback and criticism. Even when I don't take your advice, I have to at least consider it because it's always well-reasoned.

Your note on character length is understood; I always have a tendency to write long and then pare back, whether it's Talisman cards or almost anything else I write. Sometimes I don't cut as deep as i should on a pass, but if I look at it enough times I usually find the right length, eventually.

(Also, my first batch of characters were all originally created outside Strange Eons; it's a lot easier to get wordy when you're printing out character text on a full sheet of paper. I've partly been reluctant to cut them back because I've actually played many of them in their long form before and gotten a bit accustomed to them, but making characters in Strange Eons is slowly making me more efficient and more critical).

In that vein, in addition to your latest notes I've gone back and pared down my most long-winded characters. In making things simpler the Brawler, the Binder, the Trickster, the Wild Huntsman and the Zealot ended up a little weaker, the Effigist and Mystic stayed essentially the same, and the Empath and the Runecaster had alterations that are intended to be lateral, but their balance might need to be re-evaluated.

As for the latest round, I took all of your suggestions as is except:

The Incarnate: I did boost her stats, but for now I'm going to continue to call out the individual cards; there aren't enough in the game as yet to make the abilities very long, and it helps makes things as clear as possible for the player; also, I think there are some instances in which perhaps she *should* be killed by something that makes her lose all her Spells.

The Occultist: I'm hesitant to make the ability apply to all psychic combats because I don't want to trivialize the risk inherent in his second ability; but I did beef it up considerably in line with your suggestions.

The Outlaw: I streamlined him significantly, hopefully he's more appealing now. I also gave him enhanced gold generating ability so he isn't completely reliant on criminals showing up, but now he has to pay to recruit members of his band from the discard pile. For thematic reasons I'm a little sad I had to remove his limitations but I don't think he needs them for balance.

The Unfettered Soul: I took an ability away from the Trickster that I really liked, so I gave it to the Unfettered Soul to replace his final ability. I think it suits him better.

The Wild Mage: The Spell he gets back from the discard pile is now randomized, so he can't keep calling back the same Spell unless it happens to be the only one in the discard pile he can cast, which is also a bit less likely since the Spell deck now starts with a 10 card discard pile whenever he's in the game. Also, perhaps more importantly, Random and Vindication Spells he casts are nerfed.

The Wrathborn: Rather than making him choose one or the other (I think that would complicate the character too much), I added a life cost to his Wrathborn ability, and now he has to stay evil so free healing is hard for him to come by.

Thanks for your nice response, Vendark.

I like the changes you've made to your old and new characters. Keep up the good work!

P.S. In the Outlaw character card, the Outlaw is a Stranger, not an Event. ;-)

Ah, yes, thanks for the catch. Fixed now!