An interesting point came to mind when my friends and I started playing the revised 4th edition by FF here. How do good characters go about regaining fate (besides the random chance of specially drawn cards from adventure decks)?

I know evil characters get a free fill up when landing in the graveyard and neutral characters can pay for it there as well. What doesn't seem "fair" to me is that good characters don't have an easy way to refill their fate, even by paying, to get more fate back. I bring up this point since even evil characters can go to the village, city, or castle to heal up lives by paying where good characters can go to the church to get free life. Anyone else notice this or have any thoughts about it?

Coldmoonrising said:

Good Characters generally have a bad luck, not only with the board but also with a weak Good-only cards. But like in life - Evil people always are stronger than heroes.

Rolling 11 at Temple . Knight, Monk and Priest can use their Pray ability to reduce the required number.

I know you shouldn't be rolling 10+ THAT often, unless your have weighted dice (and not even talking about the Dungeon card of that name), but for example today, the Leprechaun spammed Temple quite a bit, all he rolled was 10+ (10, 11, 12, 10). Other characters took care of the low numbers, so I guess it balanced itself out in the end.

@ Nemomon: What are the weak Good-only cards when compared to the Evil-only? Most of them have a counterpart on the "other" side, on a pretty even level IMO.

Hmmm.... We haven't really had issue with it. I guess the "Good" guys don't need to rely on Fate as often.

-Salute

Evil characters have a difficult time to heal.

And good characters have a difficult time to replenish fate.

Dam said:

What do You mean by that? Once I made small comparison Good vs. Evil on my Talisman board, maybe later I'll translate it

Good :

- Shield of Faith - not bad

- Holy Grail - crap

- Holy Lance - without Dragons Expansion Set that's crap as well, as for now even Axe is better

- Sword of Light - There is many weapons that gives +X to Strength, and lack weapons for Craft, so its evil counterpart is better

- Anointed Robe - the best object for Good IMO

- Holy Avenger - forcing to attack Evil Character not always is good, especially when that Evil Character is twice stronger than we, and also it is one use (whether or not it will give us that +1 to S and C is discarded). Weak card

- Celestial Bauble - as for now there is lack of Craft Enemies with abilities after it killing, so Bauble is pretty useless. Also most of them has low Craft, so we are able to kill them manually, using our own Craft

- *wizard* - I forgot its name, Stranger, who gives 1 Spell to Good Character. Eventually not so bad.

Evil:

- Staff of Mastery - weaker than in 2nd Ed but still not bad if used with LoD or against a Character with strong Object

- Skull Wand - even, if as for now Craft Enemies are weak, +2 to C is better. For the future. Also, Characters slowly are increasing Craft, so that object is good for them.

- Book of Diablerie - Evil, really evil Object. This Obcject actually should be a Treasure Card or at least Relic card.

- Soul Drinker - ok, it has great artwork, and weak effect. But if we have no Followers or we have useless ones, better is this than nothing.

- Homunculus - Stats for free

- Runic Sword - no comments

- Chalice of Shadow - Ok, not so best Object

- Mephistopheles - 1 point of Craft for free

- Vassal of Darkness - 2 points of Craft for (almost) free (two, because there is two Vassal cards in the deck)

==========

So, Evil has a lot more cards for their alignment than Good. Good have only good Robe and Shield. Rest cards are pretty crap or useless (read: useful once per one game or two games). Evil also have two cards. But while that two cards for Good alignment are good, for Evil that two cards are useless: Chalice and Soul Drinker.

Also, Good Characters basically cannot replenish Fate at all. Yes, Temple. Evil Characters also can pray in the Temple. Life? Both Good and Evil Characters can gain it in the Castle or City or Village or many other Adventure cards.

I wouldn't toss out Holy Grail, at least since we prefer Talisman as a race game, +1 Craft might be just what you need to hit the Inner Region safely, though it is cancelled out by Chalice (sorta). I think Sword of Light is currently the best weapon, +2 Str, +1 Craft is preferrable to the Skull Wand, especially since Good chars can't attack with psychic combat. For evil who can attack with psychic, SW is nice, not too bad for others, but like you say, Craft Enemies aren't that frequent. Anointed Robe can be just ridiculous, Good Gladiator with Armour saves on 2+, Knight with it gets up to +3 when Praying.

I would also disagree about the Bauble. Insta-kill against some Craft Enemy that you can't even possible beat (IIRC the card correctly), meaning +1 Craft fairly easily (is you slap a Craft 7+ with it), could even be just enough to get you to 14+ in Craft trophies. For Evil, only ones that really shine out are Homunculus and Book of Diablerie, Vassal of Darkness can be taken out with a character that is Dungeon-ready, regardless of alignment, though is easier for Evil. Since you included Mephistopheles, Angel for Good should get a nod I think (+/-1 Life). That puts the card balance at 9 Good, 10 Evil, not "a lot more cards".

Wouldn't mind seeing the Anarchists Guild back in the City for Neutral characters. Would be nice if the High Temple (also in the City) allowed Good and Neutral characters a chnace to restore fate in return for Gold.

There are also the Fairy and the Phantom which grant wishes to good and evil characters respectively. Two of the best Strangers in the base set.

... and I see no-one's mentioned Devil and Evil Darkness, events which favour evil characters. The stranger who grants spells to good characters is Mage.

The answer to my question has finally been answered by FFG with the addition of The Highlands. If you look at the new board, on the last row of spaces before Eyrie, there is one space in particular. This space is the Waterfalls, drinking there allows you to regain 1 life, 1 fate, or 1 spell (craft allowing). Finally... FINALLY a spot for good characters to regain their fate when they've run out. Sure, its a bit of a trek to get there but well worth it for the good characters that have run out.

there is also the event card that causes all characters not of evil alignment to lose a turn

with the money available in the highlands region, you can finally afford to be neutral and replenish fate and life for gold

There is also a lovely card from the highlands deck, its a fate fairy (or something to that effect), on rolls of 4-6 the fairy will replenish 1, 2, or all fate, extremely handy.