Threw together a character analysis on the Geek on a whim. Would be interested to know others opinons on them:
Character analysis
An interesting read. Very good for new players, who'd like an overview an some basic guidelines to strengths and weaknesses in general. I felt, though, that it was a little too basic and missed some talk on the more non-obvious strategies in each character. As a consequence, I also felt that some of your assesments were wrong (in the sense that I strongly disagree
). One example, is Brother Glyr. You seem to think he is not worth his 4 CP. I think he's one of the best tankers. He has maneuverability and armor to boot. Yesterday I used him, albiet a lucky draw, with Weapon Mastery, Alertness and Tiger Tattoo. Quite scary. Mixing between dual-wield and blade/shield. True that traps is his nemesis, but there are a few good skills that can seriously help. With the feats, keeping a ranger nearby to disarm traps will also considerably strengthen his durability. I think he is absolutely worth the 4 CP.
But as said, I think it was a very good overview of the basic considerations in each character.
Right. As I said at the start, a good skill draw will make the difference for almost any character in the game. Glyr is weird. I can see how he could really pay off for a smart player, but experience with him to date has been pretty poor. Also, I didn't really include Feats in this assessment, because we've only used them twice and, again, it's a random draw situation, so there's no telling how good or bad it will go in any given game.
You're also correct in that it was pretty basic. My experience with Descent has overwhelmingly been on the OL side, so that's the perspective I tend to carry for a lot of it. It was also getting pretty long. Maybe I'll try another one that breaks the characters down into groups and goes a bit deeper. Thanks for the feedback.
Jack
Thanks for sharing this. It was a great post. I plan to print it out and keep it in my game box, just as a casual reference.
This also had the added advantage of helping me find some other really useful articles on BGG that I want to print out.
I generally thought this was an informative and well thought out article. The only area where I think you missed the boat would be my good friend Ronan the wild. You talk about fatigue vs. movement to hand off Pico...who's handing off Pico? Why not just keep pico up on your shoulder, have 2 dice in melee, 3 in ranged, fantastic movement, and fatigue available if you need even more dice. Seriously, if not for my general love of tanks, I would say Ronan is my fave character in the game. So versatile, effectively has 2 melee, 3 ranged and 1 magic die, and CAN give this away. If he gets enduring and can then equip chain mail without losing his fantastic speed or something like knight, he can do serious damage as a ranged hero and just as much damage as say...Varikas the dead or Nanok with an axe. Regardless, I think he's always worth the cost.
Feanor said:
I generally thought this was an informative and well thought out article. The only area where I think you missed the boat would be my good friend Ronan the wild. You talk about fatigue vs. movement to hand off Pico...who's handing off Pico? Why not just keep pico up on your shoulder, have 2 dice in melee, 3 in ranged, fantastic movement, and fatigue available if you need even more dice. Seriously, if not for my general love of tanks, I would say Ronan is my fave character in the game. So versatile, effectively has 2 melee, 3 ranged and 1 magic die, and CAN give this away. If he gets enduring and can then equip chain mail without losing his fantastic speed or something like knight, he can do serious damage as a ranged hero and just as much damage as say...Varikas the dead or Nanok with an axe. Regardless, I think he's always worth the cost.
Ronan makes an excellent Runner, one of the best.
At 12/1 for 3CT he has reasonable survivability. He's fast, got decent-if-not-great fatigue, 2 Ranger skills (and there are a few combat skills that can help as a Ranger/Runner, most notably Tiger Tattoo) and has a varied weapons capability, without being crap at anything. Best of all, if being used primarily as a runner, Pico will boost the parties killing machine - while Ronan concentrates on the running.
Pico's flexibility means the party can boost the chaff-sweeper (breath/blast/cleave/Rapid Fire etc) to ensure he/she does a thorough cleaning job, the parties big gun (for taking on the really tough stuff) or stay on Ronan to keep the party well rounded. Sometimes Pico can do all three of these things at different times in the same dungeon!
Upgrading for free at level change can make a big difference early on in the levels (when things are toughest for the heroes) too. In early Silver when taking on Gold creatures with mostly Bronze weapons, an extra Silver dice for your most consistant hitter can make a big, big difference. Presumabely the same in early Gold, though I haven't played that out yet.