I finally got word back from Mephisto about the characters!

<snip>

The problems with the Magician Apprentice are an interesting take on the
character's ability. Indeed it is not intended that the character casts
the same spell over and over again. To remove a spell directly from the
game would be also problematic as this ability could be used
aggressively to get rid of certain spells forever. Therefore there are
two solutions.
1. When the Magician Apprentice casts a spell, instead of putting it on
the discard pile it is put below the other cards.
2. The character has to alternate between between drawing from the
discard pile or the spell deck.
The second solution contradicts the card, so I would favor solution 1.
The idea of the ability was just to give this character somewhat more
freedom in learning spells.

Regarding the Black Witch: This was just an error, the starting location
should be the Deep Forest.

<snip>

Best regards
Bjoern

I'm going to go with solution one, it's more in the intended spirit of the character.

Thanks for the information! Though I am unable to post these to Talisman Island I would like to make a set of directly translated characters from these with alteration just to have them. I have plenty of character cards spare to paste over to use them... I think I will get the ball rolling soon...

They've come up in a few of our games here and they are a lot of fun
Just to clarify what Bjoern said, I interpreted this as whenever the MA casts a spell, it's put on the bottom of the Spell deck instead of back in the discard pile or removed from the game altogether. It's really a neat solution when you think about it!

I backtracked and looked at some of the discussion about the Apprentice Magician... Magician's Apprentice... whatever. Basically, the designer of that character didn't pay attention to mechanics. Few spell wielding characters with "always 1 spell" can draw from the discard pile, so essentially the Magician (if anyone remembers it) is weaker than the MA.... regardless of MA's spell failure table.

My groups take on the MA - to fix its flawed mechanics - is one of two things.

1. Nix the access to discard pile entirely, and make it like any mage character with "always 1 spell." Compared to a full Magician, it then looks like a real apprentice.
2. Attach its "always 1 spell" to becoming a full Magican. It only has that ability after it has gained Craft 7. Then keep the discard pile access as is.

Just some notions...

If I ever play her, I shall use this house rule: she can get a spell from the discard pile, only if she gets it as a gift (e.g. enchantress, wizard), or any other means, not by spell-cycling abilities, like hers or magic wand or similar

JCHendee said:

I really like that and will adopt this as well

Cruan said:

I can see that as feasible, but most players would find it fussy. Better to adjust its abilities directly, so there's nothing external to remember.

inkblob said:

Hi Inkblob,

So we finally hear the truth about the Magician apprentice last ability...

Seems that we must change the ability then

It makes her less interesting now..

so with option 1, after the spell has been cast, it must be put below the spell deck?

My take on the Apprentice Mage.

dl.dropbox.com/u/9409455/Apprentice%20Mage.pdf

Image Copyright FFG & Mephisto - Not to be sold, posted online, or distributed anywhere!

This file will have to be removed if FFG request it.

Ell.

inkblob said:

It's still a weak ability.

I think i keep the last ability(from the Philisopher) for the Aprentice Magician.

This way, she can always choose to ignore the first spell card she drew, to get the second spell card.

This gives her also more freedom to learn some good spells

Without that ability, the character itself is not so special.

Velhart, can you please email me off forum with your Facebook name and/or msn addy. Thanks. Ell.

Has somebody play already with these characters?

Just curious about it..

inkblob said:

Hi Inkblob,

Which mephisto characters have you use already in your games?

I was just thinking about a situation with the Satan Servant.

What happens if he draw a warlock quest, that says that he must visit the enchantress?

His ability prevent him from visiting the enchantress or the whole city, even if he is force to visit it..

Does the warlock quest overides his ability then? otherwise he is being stuck with this quest..

www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp

The Devil's Minion (Satan Servant) does not suffer from this type of poorly thought out ability, if you use my own version of the character!

Ell.

Velhart said:

Well... Considering that word "can't" is stronger than "visit" (this is called Golden Rule IIRC), Satan's Servant may access CoC by defeating LoD or any other card that teleports him to Inner Region. This time Satan's Servant didn't called his master - Satan - and suffered some bad luck. Happens.......

Nemomon said:

Ah bad luck for the satan servant then.

Anyway, there are only 4 from the 36 warlock cards that can cause him trouble like this, so the chances are very low that he will draw such a card

Velhart said:

So Satan's Servant has more luck than bad luck

Nemomon said:

Indeed

At least with warlock quests.

I still want to try him out someday. His spell and teleport ability on the graveyard or Cursed glade is pretty good. But he will lose a lot of turns i think to heal

I am thinking about changing one the Satan Servant abilities

Whenever you visit the Graveyard or Cursed Glade, you may choose to heal up to your life value, gain a spell, or be teleported to any space in your region.

______

I think that this makes him a more interesting character, and his healing problems will be resolved then...

I have also change the Fortune Knight, Shape Shifter, Goblin Shaman and the Black Witch, using some of elliot's ideas

Fortune Knight = Gambler

talismanisland said:

Hey Jon,

We have always call it a Fortune Knight...

But he is indeed a sort of a Gambler by gaining fate tokens..

Fortune Knight would be a direct translation. If you look at the character, he is a Gambler.

He looks indeed like a Gambler, but i like to call him a Fortune Knight