Last week we had a little discussion within our group about the "Self-Sufficient" card Bilbo has. (his base card) The card says:

"
When you test, if there are no nearby heroes, you may convert 2 (Leaf) to 1 (*)
Hide
"

With a literal read (and probably how one should read it), this means that you can turn two leafs into one success, if there are no nearby heroes. This meaning is fine, but to my opinion very weak, considering it is Bilbo's base card but you can only use it when there are no nearby heroes. (unless you use Hide , but let's ignore that for the sake of argument) AND there is even a copy of it in the Burglar deck! (Why???)

Bilbo does not have more cards with leafs. So that does not combine really well. Next to that, Bilbo has a lot of cards that give him inspiration, together with an inspiration limit of 6. Regarding to balance, Bilbo's base card does not make him explicitly stronger.

The "no nearby heroes" part, that is something you can implement in your play-style, but is hard to do in most adventures because you heighten the probability of losing.

Considering all the arguments above, I want to adjust the balancing and like to read the card as follows:

"
When you test, if there are no nearby heroes, you may convert up to 2 (Leaf) to 1 (*)
Hide
"

This also means that the second "Self-Sufficient" from the Burglar deck, may not be used.

What do you think?

I'm not sure I understand the difference between "convert 2 fate to 1 success" and "convert up to 2 fate to 1 success." Do you mean you could convert up to 2 fate symbols each into a success (with the provision there are no nearby heroes)? If so I think that is a bit OP, especially considering Bilbo is very good at generating inspiration and has a high inspiration limit. Limiting it to one success would be on par with the Delver skill Shadow Sight, which does the same thing, but with the condition of being in darkness instead of having no nearby heroes.

I'll agree, Self-Sufficient isn't a very strong card. It might get Bilbo out of a pinch every now and then and help conserve inspiration a little bit, but in my experience it doesn't come into play too often. I'm more interested in Self-Sufficient for the Hide keyword though, especially if I'm playing Bilbo since he has such a low damage threshold.

Also, as a clarification, Self-Sufficient does not belong to Bilbo, but to the Burglar role.

I love the Burglar role, and self-sufficient is a pretty good starting card. I tend to play in 2-3 character parties, so keeping distance is rarely a problem on most maps, except maybe battle maps (though walls help with this issue ).

Is this the strongest effect in the game? Definitely not. But it helps when things go rough - your inspiration engine didn't go off and you're starved for it, for example. Also, say you have it on Bilbo and test Wit:2. You revealed 1 success, 2 fates and one blank. You can spend the inspiration, sure, but why? This, in my experience comes out more often than not, and helps you save resources for more important tests.

Also, try it on Gandalf. Lots and lots of fate cards with this one

My main problem with the card is that the times that you will use it, is almost never. Even if you are constantly not nearby other heroes, you need two leaf icons in a test, and no inspiration. Because unless there is a set amount you need to pass the test, why would you go for a lesser result, only to save 1 inspiration? Bilbo is an inspiration machine. And next to that, the times you get two leaf icons when it matters (aka when there is a set amount and you have no inspiration), is almost zero in my experience.

Three issues here:

1. The card is not only for situations where you don't have any inspiration. It suppose to be part of inspiration engine, keeping it running smoothly, like "eco" mode in a car It is possible to have inspiration and not wanting to spend it. Also, it can be useful in attack test (in Bilbo's case most likely in Wit), when you already have enough damage (like, say you used Unseen Strike for lethal and have icons to spare; Unssen Strike in general works well with Self-Sufficient).

2. We definitely have different experiences, I've used Self Sufficient (or seen it used) on a set tests or attacks multiple times, and obviously both cases are anecdotal arguments at best It comes to each player's playstyle I guess, I rarely keep my party close on adventure maps.

3. Seeing as you're version would grant up to two free successes most of the time (you would actively seek to be alone with this), it would be broken as f***. In my opinion, even if you would change it to " you may convert 1 [Fate] to 1 [Success]" it would be one of the most powerful cards in the game.

Any card that can give you successes without needing to be discarded is a decent card. Yes, self-sufficient is situational, but it’s still better than intrepid, (delver) for example. At worst, you can always use it to hide.

To be honest, it isn’t my favourite blank role card either, and I certainly wouldn’t pay 7 xp for another copy. At the same time, I think it’s good enough, and buffing it would definitely make it overpowered.