OK, setting out for a RTL campaign. Three characters randomly drawn four times in a row. Who would you have picked?

Corbin, Trenloe the Strong, Ronan of the Wild

Tatianna, Steelhorns, Runemaster Thorn

Sihlouette, Kirga, Aurim

Vyrah the Falconer, Lyndel, Brother Gyr

Some pretty bad sets in there, huh? I'll tell you who we picked, but first I'd like to hear you guys would have gone with.

Some pretty bad sets....?

This draw is frickin incredible. Seriously. Sooooo many options.....

You have the two dwarves, who are great for RtL, since either can be developed into a back-up ranged or magic role,

Runemaster Thorn, one of the best magic heroes– only Astarra, Jaes, and maybe Landrec are better.

You have 4 (!) characters who start with a ranged trait of 3, of which there are only 7 in the entire game. This is an incredible blessing. And you have a choice of the best–

• Silhouette, who (other than the broken Nanok, and the 5-conquest Lindel) is the highest stat character in the game, whose ability synergizes perfectly with RtL stat development.
• Kirga, who is widely considered to have the most powerful ability of any hero.
• Tatianna, whose ability makes her absolutely perfect as a runner/blitzer.

You have all the melee options you could want– 16/2 for 4 conquest, 16/1 for 3 conquest, 8/3's for 4 conquest with backup traits.

You have all the runner options you could want– 8/5/1/5 for 2 conquest, 12/5/1/5 for 3 conquest, 12/4/0/5 for 2 conquest,

As icing on the cake, you have Lindel, who– while a risk at 5C– can fill any role you leave to him– melee, tank, shooter, mage, runner. This means that you can be fun or daring with your other choices, if you want.

Plus, the heroes are split perfectly – there's no stack that has two that you'd want to use simultaneously.

You have the best tanks, the best runners, the best shooters, the best abilities, one great mage, and you don't need to compromise to get any of them. What more were you hoping for?

You're crazy. I would take this draw anytime.

The sure thing–

Corbin, Thorn, Silhouette, Glyr

For annoying the OL–

Corbin, Tatianna, Kirga, Glyr

The speed party–

Ronan, Thorn, Silhouette, Lindel/Glyr

Balanced party with low-conquest–

Ronan, Thorn/Steelhorns, Aurim, Glyr

High-damage tanking–

Trenloe, Tatianna, Kirga, Glyr

-pw

OK, that's one spin on things. I've never seen anyone too eager to take the bait of setting up those 8 wound dwarves as tanks, but then again, that's why I'm asking.

Btw, the avatar in question is the Spider Queen.

Well, traps are certainly hard for Glyr, but in my opinion, Corbin is an always-pick. His ability is one of the only ones that actually can prevent trap damage.

If you give those guys good armor, they're frighteningly difficult to kill. Plus, a wound upgrade in Copper makes them ridiculous. Only Nanok will tank better.

-pw

steveg700 said:

Nothing like a bad set in there.

Ronan (runner), Thorn (mage), Kirga (ranged shooter), Glyr (melee).

Ronan is an excellent tough runner because he can use chainmail still and pass Pico to someone else. He can use a hammer for Knockbac when necessary and a crossbow+shield when he has to stand and fight for a bit.
Thorn is the only mage, so a no-brainer.
Kirga is a no brainer due to general toughness and awesome special. Silhouette is good, but not necessary when you not only have a different designated runner, but also a Thorn/Astarra in the party.
Glyr defaults because he is a decent-ish melee hero (traps are a problem) and you already have a ranged hero (or two). Both Corbin and Trenloe would be preferable picks but Vyrah is not as useful as a runner and I can't pick Lyndel because I don't know that hero at all.

You are supposed to pick these before the OL picks Spider Queen.

Alternate: Trenloe, Thorn, Silhouette (runner), Vyrah (shooter).

So, another vote for an 8-wound front-liner. Interesting, as were the picks.

steveg700 said:

If you can stack enough Armor, total wounds becomes less relevant. As a Melee hero with a base Speed of 3, Corbin can wear literally any armor he likes without significant penalty - traditionally, heavy armor will limit Speed or deny Runes, Corbin cares about neither of those things.

Throw in an ability that can mitigate trap damage, which is the primary source of damage that typically actually deals wounds to a good tank, and you're laughing all the way to the final battle. Seems to me you're getting too hung up on the "8 wounds" thing. Try these guys out a couple times and see how well they work.

Seems to me 8 wounds is a pretty big thing to get hung up on if you're talking about someone who's lauded for being a tank. Or for someone who's worth 4 CT

When compared to a 16 Wound, 2 Armor tank, Bro Glyr has to get hit 9 ttimes before that extra point of armor pays for itself. This assumes that each of those hits dealt at least 1 damage to the other hero, and of course that Bro Glyr survived those nine hits. That does not account for damage that ignores armor.

Is my math screwed up here? Feel free to show me the error of my ways.

Even at 8 wounds, Corbin is harder to kill than just about any other hero in the game. The extra point of armor going from 4 to 5 means that many monsters-- Hellhounds, Sorcerers, Skeletons, Razorwings, and Bane Spiders, are much more likely to simply never damage you at all, meaning that in situations where those are your primary threats, you can go from being killable to unkillable. No wound increase can do the same for you. That's kinda the error of your ways: Not all stat increases are equal-- 3-speed to 4-speed is negligible, whereas 4 to 5 is huge. 2 base armor to 3 base armor is even bigger, because suddenly only one monster (beastmen) can even damage you, meaning you can operate indefinitely. 40 wounds 2 armor is much worse than 12 wounds 5 armor. because the latter will simply never be damaged, and thus will never die, whereas the former will. Also to note is that armor is pretty much "free" lifespan increase, whereas wounds will have to be restored through the expenditure of time and money. As Steve-O says– don't get hung up on wounds.

-pw

steveg700 said:

Sometimes party balance means taking the not-quite best hero for a certain role. While my Alternate party manages to avoid Glyr in favour of Trenloe, I prefer the overall party balance of the first party.
Note that Kirga is also a fairly decent semi-tank, with 16/1 for 3CT.

While Glyr's 8W is a hefty weakness, especially against the Spider Queen, it can be fairly quickly and easily remedied. A wound upgrade instead of a fatigue upgrade, the Skull Shield, Ghost Armour - these things all make a massive difference.

So, we wound up picking Trenloe, Thorn, Sihlouette, and Lindel. Lindel, being worth 5 conquest, is a real albatross. If we'd picked Tatianna or Steelhorns instead of Thorn, then Lindel could've stood in for the typically squishy mage, but Thorn is too tempting to pass on.