Is there any real difference in a ranged character compared to a magic character? For the most part (barring the familiar cards) magic just seems to be ranged damage with the occasional blast thrown in. Is there any major benefit of having one character over the other?

Currently don't have the weapon cards on hand, but magic typically does more damage with shorter range, while range typically has a longer range it can shoot and does less damge. Other than that they are kind of similar.

In terms of the Heroes who have dice in Ranged or Magic, there's a difference.

The ranged characters tend, but not always, to have higher wounds/fatigue/armor/speed combos than the magic users and be worth more conquest. The magic runes are typically the only ones to allow you to put status effects on monsters.

The skill sets are fairly different as well, though there is some overlap.

The treasures are fairly formulaic; you can see patterns if you look through the decks.

At each treasure level, there is a magic weapon fitting the following templates:

1. A staff with good range and damage (mage staff, staff of punishment, fire staff, staff of knowledge)
2. A rune good against high-armor targets, usually due to Pierce (immolation, crystallize, drain life, curse of rot)
3. A rune that can Stun targets (blinding light, pacify, petrify, word of vaal)
4. A rune with Blast (sunburst, bane, ice storm, flame strike)

At each treasure level, there is a ranged weapon fitting the following templates:

1. A one-handed weapon with mediocre range but good damage (crossbow, dwarven fire bombs, flying death, scarab of death)
2. A two-handed weapon with excellent range and Pierce (bow, great bow, bow of bone, elven bow)
3. (in WoD) A two-handed weapon with good range and damage, usually Sorcery (sling, magic bow, scythe of reaping, sorcerous orb)
4. (in WoD) A one-handed weapon with pathetic damage but good range and a special effect, usually Daze (throwing knives, throwing axe, skullcracker, spirit spear)

Some of these patterns are absent or incomplete without the Well of Darkness expansion; it evens out treasures a lot. Note that there are a lot more magic weapons than melee/ranged in the treasure deck without this expansion.

So, overall, magic has more special effects; also, all the magic weapons are two-handed, and 3/4 of them are runes, so they restrict what other equipment you can use. Ranged weapons are more focused on base stats (range & damage), half are one-handed, none are runes, and they tend to have a little more range and less damage, just due to using the blue die instead of the white die.

Note that from a team viewpoint, it's good to have heroes that can use different types of weapons, so that someone will be able to use whatever type of weapon you happen to draw.

Thanks for the info. Another question, is there a limit to the number of rune items you can have equipped?

No, there's no limit. You just can't equip a rune and a "you may not equip runes" item (e.g. chainmail) at the same time.

Antistone said:

Well, there are the usual limits - eg 2 hands full, 1x 'Armour', 2x 'Other' (which might be Runes if the item says both 'Other' and 'Rune', I cant remember if there are any or not...), 3 items in backpack etc.

But no special limits that specifically apply to runes other than what Antistone said.