I’m interested in hearing any opinions on character preference, thoughts on overall strength/weakness. I’m sorry if this has already been posted somewhere; I found a similar post from the original game, but I’d like to hear opinions about Pegasus characters too, and the changes that Pegasus has had on the existing characters. I’ve found that sometimes a single game will radically change my thoughts on the usefulness of a character or ability, but my current opinion is pretty much as follows…

Cain
Blind Jump has saved us more times than I can count; especially useful to escape from attack Super Crisis cards. It can also be useful as a cylon if you scout for a terrible destination first, but failing to blind jump when everyone else thinks you should will be a dead giveaway you are a cylon if you are trying to stay in hiding and make bad admiral choices. Inability to activate FTL and Engine Room can be a pain but isn’t devastating, we rarely bother to brig anyone with Admiral’s Quarters so that ability doesn’t matter much. Good human, average cylon.

Adama
OPG is huge as cylon or human, and no one can ever demand you use your OPG (accusing you of being a cylon b/c of failure to bounce a crisis or blind jump for example). Inability to use Admiral’s Quarters is almost completely negligible since you can just Airlock someone instead if necessary. The worst thing about Adama is ending up a cylon and watching helplessly as all the 1 point cards, even treachery, count positive in skill checks. Good human, a bit better than average cylon.

Tigh
OPG is useful but only if you know the president is not on your side. Again, we don’t use the brig much so Cylon Hatred doesn’t matter much. Weakness sucks; probably the worst military character and definitely a bottom tier character overall. Below average human and cylon.

Helo
OPG is relatively average, more useful for forcing a bad choice as a cylon player. Weakness only matters for 1 turn, though there is a huge difference between being the first player in a 5 player game and the last player in a 6-7 player game (12-14 turns off the board and unable to be XOed or anything!). Rerolling dice can be extremely useful as human or cylon, XO the pres to give inspirational speeches, greatly increase your chances of getting rid of scar/centurion, endless uses for rerolling; can also reroll good rolls when a cylon, make pres waste the speech card, etc. Can jump in a viper if necessary. Good cylon or human.

Roslin
I’m very split on Roslin. I definitely fall into the category of players who think if Roslin is chosen election should be held ASAP to get a new pres so she can spend her time XOing and playing Consolidate Power, and so new pres can sit on President’s Office waiting for XOs without worrying about hand size. Using President’s Office simply costs her too many cards, even if other people (Ellen Tigh for ex) are boosting her hand. Her OPG seems useful, but I feel like I’ve never seen it used well or seen it really turn a bad situation around. 2 crisis cards is one of the best abilities in the game for a cylon or a human player, but overall she seems a bit too weak. Maybe a little better than average for a human player, makes a better cylon b/c she can pick bad crisis cards while spending all her skill cards on President’s Office and then being handless on most skill checks.

Baltar
Can choose 1 skill card of any type after seeing the crisis, sweet. Makes it hard to avoid contributions to skill checks if you are a cylon, not so sweet. Makes a better human since OPG isn’t all that helpful as a cylon, but OPG is totally useless if cylons reveal early. At least he doesn’t go to the brig along with his second loyalty card like Boomer. Probably the best president as far as humans are concerned since he can use OPG after sleeper to find someone who is trustworthy and then pile Quorum powers on them.

Zarek
I won’t mention us not using the brig again. Seemed way more useful in the original game as kind of the ace in the hole, ready to help remove a cylon pres (or keep one in office) but his abilities, including OPG, seem to be rarely used. Expansion adds more spaces so he doesn’t end up in same location as other players as often, but I still feel like he’s sort of an emergency option like “omg, we have tons of population and morale but no fuel, execute someone so they can come back as Zarek and bump fuel up.”

Ellen Tigh
I LOVE ELLEN TIGH!! Gets 6 skill cards +1 treachery card every turn just by following people around. If you have nothing else to do in your location after using this ability, just play Consolidate Power and get MORE skill cards. Just don’t become president, no one wants to sit in your office all day to get an extra skill card while allowing you to still draw Quorum cards. Treachery cards can be dumped when moving between ships, given to Roslin to discard, some can be used on Adama’s Crisis, throw the rest away on skill checks you know you already failed. Choosing the correct time for her OPG can be very difficult, but has a huge impact when done well. Cylon Ellen can be a disaster for humans as she uses her ability to draw more treachery cards, then makes her crisis skill check reckless and dumps them all. Great for either cylon or human.

Lee Adama
Nerfed a bit by expansion. Not as close to the top of either command chain, piloting abilities overshadowed somewhat by Pegasus attack locations. Ability to get a free Alert Pilot action is still excellent, randomly discarding cards can be either a huge disadvantage or just a minor annoyance, expansion adds more discarding though. OPG isn’t nearly as powerful as many other characters. Still a great choice for cylon or human, if only based on skill set.

Starbuck
OPG is spectacular as cylon or human – only character than can completely neutralize an attack card, and humans get really pissed when a cylon uses Special Destiny on Legendary Discovery. Has a bit more control over extra actions than Lee does with Alert Viper Pilot, but you have to hope you are in a viper when turn starts and it seems to me that in a larger game there is a decent chance of a jump between your turns which leaves you sitting uselessly in hangar bay more often than you’d like (hoping to get XOed and launch back out before your turn starts). I still prefer Starbuck over a majority of the characters though. Better than average as human or cylon.

Kat
Discarding a card instead of die roll is really useful under certain circumstances, but doesn’t seem to come into play as often as we expected. Stim Junkie is kind of obnoxious but doesn’t cause a problem with good planning. OPG is pretty poor in my opinion; cylon Kat can destroy 1 civilian ship, not nearly as damaging as some other characters OPG options, human Kat’s OPG is really only useful in a dire situation given the amount of firepower Pegasus offers. Very average character overall.

Boomer
OK, we all hate her weakness. Getting tossed in the brig at sleeper along with the extra loyalty card pretty much means you’re stuck there until cylons reveal if they aren’t out yet. OPG is average, ability to look at next crisis card can be helpful but she still feels like the poor man’s Roslin to me. Boomer can be a nice check on Roslin if she is the previous player – keeps a cylon Roslin from picking a bad crisis without drawing suspicion. Another bottom tier character in my opinion.

Chief Tyrol
One of my least favorite characters. Hand limit of 8 sucks in my opinion, and neither OPG or repair ability makes up for it. I think Chief is designed to be repairing locations that require immediate use, like “I repair the FTL Control and then use the bonus action to jump us away from this huge cylon fleet” but most of our repairing seems to be done once we are in the clear, and frequently Galactica takes little damage for the first half of the game; we rarely need a “repair expert” in place of another military or political leader. OPG is relatively poor, and a cylon chief who isn’t repairing things or repairs low priority locations becomes obvious very quickly. OK for human, poor cylon.

Dee
Dee’s ability to move the whole civilian fleet at once can be extremely useful. It can also be an ability that never gets used in a game even while under heavy attack b/c she’s repairing/activating engine room/shooting centurions while others take out the cylon fleet. Emotionally Fragile is barely even a weakness – if you are an unrevealed cylon by the time morale reaches 2 then it’s probably time to go do cylon things anyway, and if you are human you probably need a better character at this point. OPG is about as average as they come. Like her abilities, as both a cylon and a human Dee seems to be very useful in some games and useless in others.

So overall if I had to rank all characters it looks something like this:
Ellen Tigh, Commander Adama, Lee Adama, Admiral Cain, Helo, Starbuck, Baltar, Roslin, Kat, Dee (I’m really not sure where to put Dee), Saul Tigh, Boomer, Zarek, Tyrol
I didn’t even get into skill card sets or military/political ranking to prevent this post from getting completely bloated. I welcome any comments anyone offers, and thank you for taking the time to read through this.

I'm not sure why you think Adama's OPG is good if he's a cylon. If you use it, and then use the cards you got to spike a bunch of checks, people will know you're a cylon and throw you in the brig. If you use it, and don't play cards to help pass checks, people will know you're a cylon and throw you in the brig. If you use it, and then reveal, all those cards are wasted (though it does let you build a strong three-card hand for when you discard down after revealing).

Overall, Adama strikes me a moderately good character if he's a human and one of the worst if he's a cylon.

Unless they brig you using Arrest Order you are basically unbrigable if you pick up a huge hand of cards using his OPG. Let the humans waste their hands trying to brig you when you can throw down two or three 4 or 5 point cards to block it and still have a decent hand to spike future skill checks.

Couldn't disagree with you more on some of those choices. Lee would be the best character in the game if not for his weakness and even with it, can still be top tier. He has the best skill set, can do everything on the board, and is high on the lien of succession for both Admiral and President. His OPg works well as both human or cylon he can use his OPG and reveal on the same turn if he launches a viepr last and "jumps in," and can move vipers away from protecting civilian ships. Definitely the best pilot.

Helo is amazing, and by far my favorite character. A decent skill set, a OPG that can make or break the game, especially if he is a cylon. If I am one of the first to pick, I will pick Helo.

If you are going to elect a new President if someone picks Roslyn, why pick her in the first place? Then you have basically wasted this character. So she has to discard two cards to use the Preisdent's Office big deal. There are plenty of crisis cards that force the president to discard cards from his/her hand. Roslyn just makes it faster for her to not have any cards to lose. When she is our preisdent, we never elect a new president. There is no need.

Chief is amazing, and has been a game saver more than once. Being able to repair FTL and jump the ship the same turn can be priceless. Same with Engine Room or Hanger Deck (repair the deck, then 2 vipers). Or how about Repair followed by EO or consolidate power. No matter how you look at it, two action in the same turn are worth it and it happens far more often than Starbuck's happens. His OPG is also solid, both as human and cylon.

Cain is good. Too good. She can make the game too easy for the humans, and her OPG is meh if she is a cylon how often are you going to get a hose-n-jammer location? As a cylon she is best used when the humans are about to jump anyway (wastes the effort of getting the jump tracks, and limits the destination choices). Her weakness would have been better if FTL and EngRm couldn't be activated on her turn since EOs cancel out her weakness. Sadly, she is an autopick in almost every game we play.

Baltar is great, his weakness is so-so, and his OPG is useless in many games. But his ranking to be President and ability to draw any skill card make him a very useful character.

Boomer's Scout ability and Auto Pass/Fail balance out her weakness. Her biggest drawback is being the only (human) character who doesn't draw Leadership cards.

Dee is alright. Her Communications ability is great, and she draws lots of purple, but...she draws lots of purple. A mixed bag, that. Her OPG generally puts the cards in her hand, since she can still throw the ones she just pulled for the check anyway. It works best when she is in the Brig and wants to affect a check.

Bill Adama is a solid character, letting all 1s count makes more cards available for the skill checks, and being able to scoop the thrown cards can get him a solid hand good no matter what his loyalty is. His weakness is just like Cain's easily gotten around, and not nearly as vital in many games.

Ellen. Another character almost too good for her own good. Just move ships to get rid of the treachery card, if you want to ditch it. Paranoid groups pass them around for discarding. Even her OPG is solid. But not an auto include like Cain, so she doesn't bother me much.

Starbuck is alright. Decent skill set, but too often she doesn't get her bonus action unless someone gives her an EO to launch before her turn. Her OPG is amazing, but you really have to make sure you are making the right choice.

Saul is pretty much the worst character unless you do alot of brig checks. Make his ability also count towards the Airlock and he gets more useful. His OPG is situational, and his weakness is the third worst (after Boomer and Lee, respectively).

Zarek is solid the only political that draws Tactics, his OPG has saved games or destroyed them. His weakness is often avoided. His per turn rarely sees play, but nobody picks him for that ability.

Kat is also a decent character. Her OPG may not be as good as Starbuck's, but I think her per turn is superior. Sure, you have to discard a 5 to "roll" a 7, but when you need to make that jump roll or destroy a cylon boarding party a sure thing is better than chance.

JerusalemJones said:

Love Roslyn as president uses her ability of crisis on her turn well togheter with the president rule.

Putting down a set up or a crisis card with jump is what must usefull you can do for humans.

Select the right crisis card with the right cylon fleet activation (or a set up saying "there were two set up only sorry!") is the best for a cylon.

That's what i think about her *_*

The problem I have with a post trying to determine who the most powerful or least powerful characters are in this game is that each game is so uniquely situational that any character at any time may prove to be both the best or the worst character for that situation / game.

Unlike Arkham Horror where there are some OBVIOUS best and worst characters, in BSG it's more along the lines of what role do you want to fulfill and hope your abilities have a chance to help or hinder as the case may be.

I've seen almost every character become the best and every character perform as the worst or most useless. In fact my favorite BSG moment ever (And I have a LOT of moments) is Saul Tigh as the Admiral and also a Cylon who's staying well hidden and only screwing the humans by choosing crap jumps and occasionally spiking checks with an overabundance of cards so that come the next check I'll be Out...or by "accidentally" going down to 1 card only to say DOH I have to discard this one now.

Anyhow about two or three jumps in and past the sleeper phase we all figure that our president is without a doubt a Cylon. The pres has no qualms about being locked in the brig and will comfortably operate from within, Pegasus airlock was busted up hard and with the only repair option coming from Starbuck who was spending most of her time in space (many times at the admirals gentle suggestion). Anyhow, My turn comes along and I decide to do the proper Saul Tigh thing, and say hey guys we don't want the Cylon to be prez, So I'll use martial law and take presidency until we can find a moment to elect someone else. Naturally everyone is all like HELL YAH. So for a precious few turns..I am president Admiral Cylon.

Two turns in the card comes up where the pres has the choice to either give up presidency or loose morale or something of the sort. OF course the table looks at me like, Great now we can pass pres without wasting the cards and I smile calmly as I agree to give up the title....right back to the cylon locked in the brig. I giggle like a maniac of course and the Cylons proceed to decimate the humans quite soundly.

I guess the sheer amount of options this game throws at you from game to game prevents me from being able to say that there are more useful or less usefull characters because every single one of them is essentially situational. Now of course I have my favorites but I don't consider them more or less powerful.

I love playing Baltar because I like to know for certain wether or not I can trust someone. Or, as a Cylon I like knowing that one person for sure isn't my buddy..and of course can sow some discontent that way.

I also love playing Saul Tigh for his martial law ability. I'm more than willing to play the ability in an unfavorable light and attempt to proove myself later (or of course if I'm a cylon I just stick my tongue out and say nyah nyah). Basically I figure I have no way of knowing if the Pres is trustworthy, but I know I am. So I have NO problem taking the title and holding onto it for as long as the game and the other players let me or until someone actually prooves to be trustworthy enough for me to not resist giving it up. Yes I know that can potentially risk skill cards by having them tied up in elections but for the most part my group takes this into account and tends to wait for me to proove myself a cylon before trying to steal pres away.

Scaresoul said:

Thank you all for your feedback. I agree that each and every character has uses that are highly circumstantial and an ability that is incredibly useful in one game may be useless in subsequent games, but I really do think that some characters are intrinsically more useful than others. Some characters just have a higher probability of using their abilities than others do... and some abilities which seem very valuable have NEVER proven useful to us (for example, the OPG for Roslin and Chief have never helped the humans much in our games, seems like drawing 4 Quorum cards should be a great thing except our Roslin always gets Consult the Oracle, Execute Prisoner, Probation and whatnot when she's hoping for Inspirational Speech, Authorization of Brutal Force etc. Granted, you cant really hold out much hope for a specific card but you should be able to hope for something helpful).
Soulscare, the fact that the other players allowed you to be both president and admiral without knowing your loyalty sounds like a poor decision on their part. We NEVER allow one person to have both titles at the same time unless they have been executed or their loyalty has been verified by another verified human player; if someone gets ahold of both titles in our games, top priority is to split power ASAP and any player who actively chooses to take both titles is highly suspect...

I'd like to chime in and say that Saul is not as bad as people say he is, namely for his card set. Compared to Adama, he has the better set. Everyone is the stock game (save Boomer) gets green and a lot of characters get two. There is no reason to have three greens except to do well on checks. Tactics are great because launch scout is useful and Strategic Planing is one of the best cards. Having a lot of them helps. Alcoholic isn't that bad and it just forces you to either put in less or play the last card. It's very situational and is better then some of the others (headstrong, Reckless to name a few). Plus, we use Admiral Quarters more.

Just my two cents.