Something suddenly struck me today - I'd never noticed it before:

Why are there no Baratheon characters with the learned crest? (aside from the banned Jaqen, but he doesn't really count)

is it to balance out the large number of holy characters?

either way, it seems a bit harsh on their Maesters. Is Cressen really less learned than Creylen?

Well, my impression is that the designers used to be a bit more reserved about their use of crests. You'd think just about any Maester would get a Learned crest, but I can see the wisdom, at least from design purposes, behind not giving EVERY Maester the crest. If they did, then both the trait and the crest would be a little less special and unique.

With that out of the way, it is a bit irritating that Baratheon only has the three in house Maesters, none with the crest. As far as Cressen, since he was printed so early, that might explain it. For Pylos, perhaps they didn't give him the crest because he's so young in the books. For Lomys, perhaps they didn't feel that his character has been developed enough to do so.

Perhaps somebody who knows more about Baratheon in general and who's been involved in this game longer could provide a more learned (see what I did there?) and historical perspective.

<waits for Staton to jump in>

Oh hai there! Yeah I'm a bit annoyed at no in house learned crests. Which is kinda dumb since they have a few cards that specifically require a learned crest. It means you have to go outside the house (either another house or neutral), or you have to use that event Litany of Light. Which in my mind is a pretty subpar event. Cressen could have easily been given a crest like older versions of cards that have been reprinted. Not to mention that Cressen is considered one of the most knowledgeable maesters still alive. Luwin, Cressen, Aemon, and a few archmaesters are the only maesters still alive with the obsidian link afterall. I can see pylos not getting one, because he was so young, that makes sense. Not giving Lomys a learned crest though just seems like a conscious decision to give Baratheon a weaker card. Its especially annoying when a lot of the other houses not only had learned crested maesters but NON-UNIQUE learned crested maesters.

I agree with this thread.

However it is likely on purpose with the abundance of neutral LEARNED characters.

I think I'd like to see more HOLY characters in some of the other houses.

I'd like to also. In days past, Lannister had a bit of a fun Septon sub-theme, which I think would be really cool to explore again.

IMO designers hate Baratheon.

In Secrets of Oldtown cicle, dedicated to maesters and learned characters, Bara recived 2 locations and one event to works with learned characters, but only one maester and no learned. Total, three cards useless.

At present cicle Bara has one good card, Fiery kiss, and the rest is very bad: worst Tourney Ground, a joke named Warhammer, worse Davos and Axel Florent than those who had...

If a player Baratheon, do not buy the last 10 chapters, he does not notice the difference, because they do not contribute anything.

I know a lot of people would probably get mad if it happened, but I would like to see a few more Maesters printed, if only to smooth out the parity of in-house Maesters. I don't think it's unreasonable to say every house should have two or three unique Maesters and at least one non-unique. Throw Bara a bone, give it a non-unique, learned Maester.

Bomb said:

Agreed, Power of Faith is a dead plot for 4 Houses. Targ and Martell have no Holy characters at all as far as I know, though there is a possibility Targ will get one when Beyond the Narrow Sea cycle gets here (no names, keeping this spoiler-free just in case). I'd love to see cards that help a Targ Asshai or Holy build.

I pretty much agree with everything mentioned here... both about more Holies in other Houses and especially the lack of Learned characters in Baratheon. Which is especially vexing, since Maester's Tower might actually be an interesting card if it had some support...

Which brings me to another question... was Learned made a bit over-conservatively, since it was only given to characters costing 3 or more, while most of the effects require kneeling a character with Learned? I think that there's only 3 cheaper Learned characters in the whole game (Ghost of High Heart, Old Nan, Targ Aemon) and all of those are unique to boot. Would love to see some more non-maester Learned characters brought into the game (The Reader, anyone?).

IMO after a lengthy and very detailed analysis of all the cards in the LCG, considering cost Vs effect and the interactions with other cards available I have concluded that House Baratheon are a bunch of dirty usurpers and deserve nothing. The Iron Throne belongs to House Targaryen, more power to Targ.

Arrdet said:

Ha ha! This is the funniest post I've read in a long time.

Haha I'd like to point out that the Seven Kingdoms were doing just fine until the douchebag targs came and conquered them. So the Targ throne itself is based on "might makes right." So if you can't hold the throne you don't have the right to keep it.

The reason the Baratheon's don't have any Learned characters is they don't like that education thing. You got a drunk, a fop and an angry religious zealot leading them. No time for book's but they sure do like cups.

I am fairly sure that when the Targaryens arrived they were voted to rule in an extremely fair and democratic way that involved no bloodshed or violence of any kind. All other versions of this are simply lies spread by usurpers to provide a thin veil of justification for their actions.

Actually I feel like Baratheon has some of the most well read characters in the series. Melisandre and Stannis have been reading any book on prophecies they can find, as well as Stannis reading various laws to see if he can get a castle at the Wall. Davos has been reading quite a bit since he learned how. Cressen read like a god **** boss! Pylos, while being young, is quite well educated, and has read quite a bit in his time at the Citadel. They are easily far more well ready than almost any of the GJ characters, and most of the Lannisters other than Tyrion. The Martells seem to get all sorts of Maesters just because they are in the same general area as the Citadel.

@Arrdet: Actually if anything, the conquest of the Seven Kingdoms was perpetuated by the Targs themselves. Visaryes and Daeny are CONSTANTLY talking about how its their throne by right because their ancestors conquered the seven kingdoms.