Thought it could be funny to see which character i actually find to be the best one to play with, and want share it with the rest of you.

This is how i find the the overall score for each character. Strengthx2 points Craftx2,5 points Lifex2 points Fatex2,5 points

I rate each ability from a score of -2 to 6 on how good/useful i think an ability is . So the more abilities a character has, the more points it can tribute to the overall score. The reason craft is rated higher than strength, is because you cannot prevent the loss of life with normal armour in psychic combat, and the ability to hold/gain spells early in the game. Fate is rated higher than life, because it can be used in different situations to determine the outcome of an result which i find very important in this game.

So the warrior gets: Strength=8 P Craft=5 P Life=10 P fate=2,5 P

1st. ability= 4 P think this is good ability as it´s defently increases your chance of a good attack roll in battle.

2nd. ability=5 P really good an powerful ability as it can be used in battle as well in psychic combat. The ability of a true warrior.

So the warrior gets a total of 34,5 points in my book.

Feel free to comment.

kind regards..

You rate the second ability too highly. It only works if you have at least two weapons, so that's two inventory slots, 4 Gold and a trip to the village for a couple of Swords, presuming you don't luck out and draw one or beat a character with a weapon... and add to that that most weapons won't help in the slightest in a Psychic combat.

The warriors first ability is far better than his second.

I don't see why Craft would be more valuable than Str. Sure, you can't use Armor in psychic combat, but then, in the early going you're not going to even have Armor unless you've lucked out and drawn one. That's the main way people around here get Armor, Alchemist, Merchant and Leprechaun due to their money-edge might buy one, but even that's rare. Much rather have a blank (meaning no ability) 4/2 than 2/4, WAY rather 5/2 than 2/5.

Dam said:

Well guess i´m more a craft person

I like the opportunity to gain/hold spells early in the game, if you are lucky enough to get one of cause. And a helmet can still protect you in battle. I always buy any kind of armor when i can afford it. Also str. is easier to boost than craft i think. So thats why craft is more valuable to me than str.

But it is always nice to hear other peoples opinion

Jake yet again said:

I still think his second ability is very good, being able to benefit from two weapons at the same time.

But i´ll agree that his first ability is very nice too, so i´ll give him another 1 point on that one. bringing his overall score to 35,5.

Even though Craft Enemies have evened the gap, I believe Str Enemies still outnumber the Craft ones by quite a bit. Anybody done/got the math? Whether accurate or not, at least the perception for me is Str you need a lot more in general. Sometimes you can get into a Craft Enemy streak, but much more often you get a Str Enemy streak.

Dam said:

Yeah maybe you´re right, but still a bigger fan of craft than str. as mentioned before, i think it is much easier to boost your str. than your craft. but i´ll take a look at the Str vs craft enemies when i get home from work. So maybe it will change the whole idea on how i rate the characters

Shouldn't the fact that Str is easier to gain make Str even more highly rated? I mean, the aim is not to boost both Str and Craft to a certain level, you only need one stat on the Inner Region (minor Str test on Craft path granted). If you only need to boost one and Str is easier to boost, seems odd Craft is more valuable. 5/2 character only needs +4 Str really to start eyeing the Inner Region whereas 2/5 char needs +2 (probably +4 Str, though not all in pure stat), +4 Craft to have a viable shot.

strength is more important than craft.

The only thing that can make a difference is if a character has the psychic combat ability that allows him to attack other characters in psychic combat

This makes craft more useful if you have the crown ending etc

But craft based characters have low strength, and it takes more time to level them up with strength.

There is no doubt that you will encounter strength enemies more often than craft enemies, but due to the fact that it is easier to protect yourself and getting weapons to help you in battle, i´ll rate strength and craft equally

I have never played with the warrior, but i can see that he is a good character to play with.

I rather play with him than a craft based character

Velhart said:

No doubt that his a good character, but with only two abilities, and all battle related, his not the most flexible character (if you can use that word), and with only 1 fate he just have to accept whats coming at him. I like craft characters due to the spell holding, and i prefer high fate characters as well. But thats want makes this game so great, theres a character for every kind of taste.

From now on, i´ll rate the abilities from -2 to 8 because of the characters with few but very powerful abilities such as the warrior and thief.

@Wizard, do all the official characters.

I just bought the game and have all the 2nd edition mini's (all professional quality painted) so for me I would rather use them, and I see a program that will allow me to build my own character cards, the image I want, and since I want all these characters to fulfill the following conditions:

1) Be fun to play so you don't get one, like was the case perhaps in 2nd where you wish you could have picked another, and

2) Balanced with other characters

Your break down of the characters for this purpose is helpful. I will ultimately make some adjustment. For example, I'll make the Chaos Warrior and call it the Dread Knight but that is the mini I'll probably end up using.

I also think, after looking at a character like the Dark Cultist I will remove the option to gain a craft or strength but leave the other 4 options (gold, fate, life, spell). I also think I'll shift this to the Dark Elf character.

I also like the Wizard having the ability to start with 2 spells and always have spells, but the Sprite starts with 2 spells and then regains full spell complement when landing on a Forest space, and give her the new ability to Teleport to the Forest when rolling a 6 for movement.

The Orc will become the Orc Chieftain, and I'll the Ogre, and build the orc chief in a similar way to the ogre, as they are similarly sized minis. I could keep the title Ogre

I've played this game enough to know those aren't bad options, they are balanced, but I will make them and play test them so the end result is I will feel comfortable playing any of these characters or against any of them.

If you can keep your assessments of the characters to a single thread, and/or use a master link index at the top so we can easily link to each one in the additional pages of a thread.

Unless you want separate threads, if so consider a master link index so we can go to that and click on the entry we want. I haven't started my above mentioned project just yet (so those are just my initial thoughts) but I will soon enough and your assessment, like I said, earlier is useful so I think I'll wait a bit while you do your thing.

When I'm done with all my characters I will post them in the home-brew section. I'm sure Talisman Island would want them too (since some other people own the 2nd edition minis and would be interested, but of course due to their rarity and cost its not a common option for most), the idea is you can whole-sale replace the character cards provided by the game and use these as alternative and not miss out on anything (as all the abilities by and large will remain)

While working on the project I will post some ideas and examples to get feedback, but that is for another thread (though I thought worth mentioning)

So you just want me to post all my ratings under the same thread?

Yes it makes it easier to look them up. I enjoy reading them. Thank you for creating them.

kids today... one of the greatest things about this game, probably the greatest, are the characters. how useless are the thief and gypsy in a 1v1 game? play either of those character in a 4+ player game it is a whole different story. if you start with the main board it seems easier to gain craft than strength to me. start with the temple... with your warrior example and dam's very basic set that doesn't include the highlands or dungeon the warrior is a 2 sword weilding moron. highlands and dungeon in the works he has access to relics, gauntlet of might and the weird weapons that are+1/+2 and +2/+1. i cant remeber what they are called but dam will. a poor craftsman blames his tools. no character is useless in talisman. i won with the philosopher last night so i am riding my high horse right now. best character in a 4+ player game is probably the gypsy with spellusing opponents or the merchant or thief in a light spellcasting game. my opinion. 1v1 i dare you to try and beat me if i got the dwarf. then again the swashbuckler has never lost a game at my house and the dark cultist is regarded as a curse when picked as your character draw. most people regard the elf as a mediocre character yet i have alot of success with him and generally use him when i have the opportunity. my comments are made in reference to the current version of the game. master characters and anyone that has a ranged weapon should win more times than not and aren't in the newest version because they made it unbalanced.

punk666 said:

dwarf ftw but the thief 4 real he aint good 4 my group no matter how many people are playing and the elf aint bad if used right it just takes practice and patience