I've owned Talisman Revised 4th edition for quite some time, add its easily being my favorite boardgame. Though I only managed to play it every once and a while. However recently I have started hosting a consistent weekly which has got me on a Talisman rampage, I've been getting many of my fellow players serious about the game and as such I want to create a set of house rules that best fosters our competitive spirit. But in order to do that I need a tier list for the best to worst characters in the game, and in order to get a well rounded honest evaluation I need as many opinions and educated opinions as possible. Which is where the community comes in! I have a rather rough outline of what I think the tier list will generally look like. So expect more from me in the near future!

So... you want a list ranking the 60+ characters from best to worse. Sounds simple enough.

Would it be enough to group them together about 10 and 10 in smaller groups: winners, super, good, not that good, discarded etc.

Or are you speaking about base game only..?

It will be interesting to hear more.

If you are looking for a tier list, look no further than Rauli Kettunen, or "Dam the Man," who on Board Game Geek has diligently kept track of victories for years as he acquired expansions.

The basic game of Talisman does not lend itself well to competitive play because of its randomness with a limited amount of choices, but certainly as you add more expansions then the players must make more decisions about where to go and how to spend their resources. A good option for you would be all four corners plus either The Dragon or The Harbinger (or both, if you are nuts like me.) Both The Dragon and The Harbinger will infiltrate different Regions with cards of higher difficulty, so players would have to make careful choices about where they travel.

So... you want a list ranking the 60+ characters from best to worse. Sounds simple enough.

I can do that, I keep scores of my games

So, based on 139 games I played, from worst to best.

(the number after the name is the number of games that character appeared in)

Thief 10

Merchant 8

Rogue 7

Cleric 6

Dragon Hunter 5

Totem Warrior 4

Dervish 3

Possessed 3

Jin Blooded 2

Scout 2

Spider Queen 1

Elf 8

Celestial 3

Highlander 6

Ghoul 7

Leprechaun 7

Priest 6

Tavern Maid 2

Magus 5

Nomad 5

Bounty Hunter 8

Dragon Rider 6

Grave Robber 6

Sage 6

Doomsayer 8

Conjurer 17

Monk 5

Necromancer 5

Philosopher 6

Swashbuckler 7

Knight 8

Dark Cultist 30

Valkyrie 5

Warrior 14

Ancient Oak 2

Elementalist 5

Fire Wizard 5

Gypsy 5

Leywalker 2

Sorceress 7

Tinkerer 5

Amazon 15

Assassin 19

Vampire Hunter 6

Cat Burglar 5

Druid 5

Minotaur 10

Alchemist 17

Dwarf 7

Ascendant Divine 3

Vampiress 6

Dread Knight 8

Minstrel 5

Wizard 7

Prophetess 12

Warlock 7

Gladiator 10

Troll 10

Dragon Priestess 9

Spy 3

Warlord 5

Sprite 5

Ogre Chieftain 8

Chivalric Knight 9

If you are looking for a tier list, look no further than Rauli Kettunen, or "Dam the Man," who on Board Game Geek has diligently kept track of victories for years as he acquired expansions.

The basic game of Talisman does not lend itself well to competitive play because of its randomness with a limited amount of choices, but certainly as you add more expansions then the players must make more decisions about where to go and how to spend their resources. A good option for you would be all four corners plus either The Dragon or The Harbinger (or both, if you are nuts like me.) Both The Dragon and The Harbinger will infiltrate different Regions with cards of higher difficulty, so players would have to make careful choices about where they travel.

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/402911/my-talisman-statistics/page/3

That is the thread in which you speak but has not been updated for quite a while. Still useful though.

I've looked through your tables and I must say they are irrelevant. If you wanted to do a proper ranking, it would have to be in a 1v1 situation, with specific rules same time. You're in luck though, as such a table exists and I have participated in it. Enjoy.

Talisman League of Champions

Match Settings

All matches must be played using the following settings without exception:
Server: Hosts Timezone
Players: 2
Timeout: 60 Seconds
The Reaper: On*
The Frostmarch: On*
The Dungeon: On*
The Highland: On*
The Sacred Pool: On*
Random Characters: Off (pick your assigned character!)
Revealed Ending: On (11 possible!)
Exclude Standard Ending: Off
Sudden Death: On (60 rounds week 1, 100 rounds thereafter!)
Talisman Bloodbath: On
Replacing Quests: On
Treasure Rewards: Off
Random Treasures: On
No Grim Reaper: Off (he is in the game!)
Runestones: Off
* The Reaper, Frostmarch, Dungeon, Highland, & Sacred Pool are required!
We will be using The City Expansion when it is released!
Important Match Rule
A player may only use Arnkell or the Cloak of Feathers in the Inner Region, if they have a Talisman.
The whole point of reaching the Crown of Command is with a Talisman, it's the name of the game people so we are going to try it! This point is NOT up for discussion!
Characters score 3 points for a win, nothing for a loss. In the event of a match without a result, characters score 1 point each.

General Rules
General
Timezones will be noted by each player when registering, once the league table is put up, timezones will be included for each character so people can see where their next opponent is to arrange matches.
English is the official language of the League. All screenshots and posts must be made in English.
There are no selection and approval criteria to join, first 50 enter the league. Every batch of 50 players that register thereafter will form each subsequent "division" in the league, from which promotion can be earned to join the 1st Division in time!
Disipline - Look, we should all be adults here and understand that this is just a game. A game that can get infuriating at times, a game that can push our patience to the limit and a game that can bite us in the Arse when we think we are going well....but it is still a game.
Please, all players, remember it's a game and let's try to enjoy it and have fun playing. Normal human behaviour applies, don't insult someone, even in jest, if you don't know them well enough to do so, no racisim or bigotry of any kind, if someone gets on your nerves, tell supervisors who will sort it.
League Layout
Every match will be 1 on 1, mano a mano, you against your destiny!
A league table will be published and updated every week.
Every player plays each other once, hosting can be agreed between players, some love to host, some hate to bother. If both players want to host, or if neither want to host, Alphabetical order will decide who hosts
Reserve players - Depending on batches of 50 players for each "division". There may not be very many reserve players, a discussion will be opened on this issue later.
Supervisors
There will be a Supervisor for each division who will be asked to deal with whatever issue may arrise in that division.
There will be 2-3 overall Supervisors who will liase with division supervisors in order to hopefully keep problems to a minimum.
Players
Players who quit the league are asked if possible to confirm that they have to quit and give up their character.
Please be respectful of all players.

Players must use their nicknames registered on the tournament list.

Confirmation of Victory

Players can confirm their victory by one of two ways -

Both players agree that "X" won the game and how they won it

Winning player must take a "Screenshot" of their victory, a further discussion will be opened to confirm how to do this and when you need to do it.

Wildcards

Each player is given 1 wildcard, which can be used to cancel and/or reschedule a planned match.

The wildcard can be used up until the match starts. If a player attempts to use a Wildcard after the match has already started, it will be a forfeit loss for his opponent.

When a wildcard is used, the players have to reschedule the match immediately to one of the days in the same or the following matchweek of the original match date. A supervisor must be informed. If no agreement is communicated to the supervisor within 48 hours of the original match time, he may force the match to be played as he sees fit.

Changes & Exceptions

These rules are subject to change at any time. Changes made after the start of a league will always be reported on the Cup page. All players are expected to know all the rules; not knowing them is no valid excuse for not following them. Ignorance is ––not–– bliss. Knowledge is power.

Miscellany

If the server crashes during a match, the match will be restarted (Game Resume if possible).

If one of the players loses his connection to the server and is unable to rejoin the game shortly, only the round in question will be restarted

The game can be considered as a forfeit loss if the player loses connection to the server 3 times during one round or quits the game. In this case, the opponents have to provide screenshots with the above-mentioned statement on the screen on the forum.

Two breaks are allowed per game, but no more than 10 minutes each.

Players always have to be easily identifiable to supervisors and opponents. Therefore, players must use exactly the same nickname that they applied with.

Before the Match

Please be available within 30 minutes before the match just to confirm with your opponent that you are ready and available for the match

If any player claims a no-show win, the supervisor will check whether the other players were online or not on Steam . If the players are not online, then the opponents must reschedule the match. The new date has to be approved by the supervisor.

If no supervisor is available for the match, the players are still expected to show up on time and follow the procedures above.

Once a server has been decided upon, this decision stands for the entire match, unless both players agree on a server change after a game crash.

After the Match

The results and screenshots must be submitted by the winning player on the correct Steam forum topic within 24 hours. If not, the game is considered a defloss.