Greetings everyone, new to the forums here, but I figured I'd jump on and share some of the heroes I've worked out. I've only had a chance to playtest a few of them out, but those I have seem fine, although potentially a touch on the low end of the spectrum in some cases. (The art is from my collected screensaver file, so I don't have ready info for artists credit) For the most part, these are built by judgement, with some reference to the official hero-generation guidelines.

I'll give running commentary/thoughts on each as I go.

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These first few are based on some of my old D&D characters, (where I've done what I can to hold true to the character)

Talara Duskwalker - Based on my heavily multi-classed Arcane Archer (although gender-shifted due to lack of matching art). She seems to be a stong choice for ranged. Seems to be very strong early, and a little ess so later on in a game, but very stable otherwise.

Kerri Bluemoon - Based on a Paladin/Planar Champion. No playtesting on this one, I need to find a new ability I think. The bonus damage to eldritch was to represent her 'Favored planar enemy' ability, and then I realized in non-RotL/SoB the monsters are not typified as eldtrich/humanoid/ect.... The other abilty may be alright though, tied to her ability to manipulate portals.

Remy the Brawler - Based on highly-mobile, leap attacking, streetfighting monk. This is one of the ones I really want to get to work, but the ability is throwing me off. Leap could be extrodinarily potent, but I may have over compensated a little with his other stats.

Eldak Silverkin - My personal favorite D&D character. He was a powerful air elementalist sorcerer, which gave me some trouble in concocting an appropiate abilty without making just another mage. I think it works out though. (based on a similar concept I saw on a rogue elsewhere on the boards here)

And now for the ones I built on inspiration of art or concept.

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Thygar the Grizzled - I figured if a shaman like Mokk could effect the overlord casting spells, perhaps a grizzled old warhorse could increase the cost to 'hire' monsters willing to come up against him. He's been tested, and works out pretty well, although sadly with his low speed/fatigue levels, its pretty unlikely a player will voluntarily take him.

Soulreaper Teras - An attempt to match a character to art. Not tested yet, although she could be very swingy in turn-to-turn combat.

Vux the Necromancer - One of my few non-human heroes. Again, matching a hero to art. Its tough to say if he'll work though. Extra dice vs. traps as he is a D&D-type kobold. But then there's the Necromancy, I have a tough time scaling this one, as Necromancy could be powerful, but honestly, I've never had it work for a turn or two. (I've used it on about 3 seperate characters, and I've killed a grand total of 1 monster with an undead minion.

Veilstone - This one is my attempt to build a character like Zyla, but actually approaching balanced. (imho) Although upon further reflection, I could probably tweak the talents, or maybe bring wounds up to 12.

Scarlett - Had to make a pirate, but didn't want to give her anything too SoB-oriented. Originally, all she had was the Dodge order ability, but its was fairly weak, so I gave her another minor one, which still implys agility and evasiveness.

Maya Windspeaker - This one is actually straight out of the official guidelines. And seems pretty decent actually.

Resliel - An effort to make something that wasn't human/elf. I haven't tested this one yet, but it may be nessecary to up her to 4 conquest. Although she's not terribly dissimilar to Laughin Buldar, but with fewer hp and worse talents, so we'll see.

Alua Greenwarden - Another that needs testing, but I think she may be ok. Although i might have to give the web effect some sort of extra cost (although I specified single target in order to prevent horrible situations with area attacks)

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So there you have it, my first batch of heroes. I"m trying to work out some more unusual abilities/characters, but that could take a while. So in the meantime, lets hear some opinions on these ones.

Of course, any and all criticism is welcome.

Phyrrus said:

Overall I like them. No glaring problems jump out at me, but I'm also not terribly experienced in homebrew stuff so take that with a grain of salt. I like the new artwork.

Regarding Scarlett's Dodge ability, I guess I don't really understand when that would come in handy. She always gets to choose her own orders, so unless you have a player who frequently gets Leadership and likes to go around putting orders on people without bothering to ask them what they'd like, I don't know when this would be used. Do you often find yourself changing your mind about what order you placed on yourself?

Also, the way it's worded some might argue she can switch orders on other people to Dodge, I'm guessing that's not intended.

The snake lady (Resliel?) is cool, although I think I'd straight up say she gets an extra hand (or two!) instead. I'd also probably photoshop out the bottom two arms, because it begs the question why she doesn't have six hands (because that's crazygonuts, that's why!) =P

Steve-O said:

Couple of good points. Here I was trying to be careful with wording and everything and I go and miss that on Scarlett.

Anyway, I see your concern where the actual usefulness of the ability comes in (which is I added the secondary ability). The character is generally intended to be a melee one, where, in my experience, the dodge ability can be useful. Yes, with careful planning, you may not ever use it, but in my experience, when a character has a guard or rest prepped, the overlord (whether myself or others) will try to make sure to use ranged/magic to get a hit in and spoil the order. This at least allows the option to change out for dodge.

LIke I said, not gonna truly come up often. And no, it's not intended to be used on other heroes, I'll have to tweak the wording.

As for Resliel, I want to get a chance to test her out and see how she works out before I try giving her a full two extra arms (which would most definitely bump her to 4 conquest). And if I had much 'shop ability at all, I'd see about removing two arms, but for now, because its 'crazygonuts' is enough reason for me that she doesn't get all those arms.

Thanks for the input, glad you like em.

How do you see Eldak Silverkin being used?

Other than placing up fog to create LOS issues (maybe to save a hero in certain very specific instances) how would you see the ice and fog being used? I'm not being critical - just wanted to ask.

Nice art on a lot of them - and you picked good skills to go with many of them.

I like the idea of a hero being able to use some of the items normally limited to the dungeon level setup or the OL... so that is some creative use. My other question - like for Eldak - what would be the issue or problem if the ice/fog simply stayed?

That's a fair question, and the simple answer is; that pretty much how i figured he'd be used. As for having them permanent, I think that'd be a bit much. It might cause a severe mess on the play field (and possibly even use up some of the tokens for elsewhere in the dungeon in some cases). he's another that I need to get testing in on to see how it plays.

Phyrrus said:

Yeah - there is the thought on tokens being over used... it COULD be mitigated partly by limiting the use to 3 times per area... that way he can use it multiple times - it'll stick and possibly make it more useful - and then not take too many tokens from the actual level. Additionally, once you leave an area in a dungeon - most levels you never go back... (obvious exceptions being like the Durnog level that is a plus (level 2 in base game?) but then again - MOST levels there aren't any ice or fog.

So I was thinking about a way to make the tokens stick around without getting overcomplicated and further cluttering the ability block.

I think I've come to a potential solution. Rather than have them dissapear in a turn, or place placement limits on them, I was thinkin replacing "Remove this token at the start of the heroes next turn" with;

"Remove any tokens placed by Eldak Silverkin when a new area is revealed."

I think this will acheive two things. First, that it makes it feel more like short-term aftereffects of a spell, and should prevent the over-usage of the tokens. And while there is no technical limit beyond the availible tokens, I think average gameplay should limit it to no more than 3 ice/fog tokens on the board at a time. (unless the hero goes all out on tokens, but then this will reduce damage output a fair bit, and who does that? )

Phyrrus said:

Hey - not a bad idea. I think Eldak could actually be a lot of fun. If he got a jump on the end boss for example - could fuss things up for the OL if Ice were in the way and the OL were to "slip" and have his move end. I also think strategically placed walls of fog could be interesting - this is where he might be seen as extremely powerful - if the OL was spawning and relying heavily on ranged creatures... but that could go both ways if the heroes had to deal with a wall of fog as well.

Nice idea for a character!

Phyrrus said:

FINALLY, I get the recognition I deserve!

Here's some updated to a the ones discussed before, and one for Thygar. (been playing him in a campaign, and his ability's not strong enough to warrant only 2 fatigue)

Phyrrus said:

I suppose that would be marginally useful. In the sense that you could try to dodge the attack. From an OL's perspective, though, I would still consider that a win. Usually if I'm trying to ping off a Rest order I don't much care about hurting the hero - my goal is to get rid of the Rest. This hero ability would arguably make that even easier, since now I don't even need to hit. She'll get paranoid and swap to a Dodge before I even roll. Same for Guard in cases where I don't get attacked as soon as I come in LOS.

That's really a matter of perspective though. The hero is fine the way she is.