Does it matter to you?

Do you select your characters or deal random?

What character in your group has most wins?

darkkami said:

In Talisman I always prefer to randomly choose Characters. They' re not exactly balanced, even if FFG did a wonderful job IMO with Ability/Fate/Lives/Values restyling in revised 4th edition, and the big variety should inspire players to change Character every time. We know the Prophetess is a very good Character, but why should you always play the Character you're comfortable with?

I'm impressed by the Wizard rate of victories so far. I recall 6 games played with the Wizard; he won 5 games (2,3,5 players game) and the last was abandoned because we had to leave the place to avoid being stuck there with the snow (it was Easter Monday and on Tuesday everybody had to be back at work). We're talking about a 100% wins, some were clear, others were gained thanks to a lucky endgame. Most people don't like the Wizard because he has no distinguishing Special Abilities, but I would say that he's one of the few Characters that has no Character/Card/Board space related Abilities and the deadliest combination Starting Craft/Psychic Combat. This makes him strong in every game, no matter which or how many Characters are in play.

I like the wizard too.

You have always a spell card each turn.

If we play talisman, each player can choose 3 character cards at random(you cannot see the characters on the card)

And then you can choose one of the three. It is written also in the rule book.

I think that the troll has also a high chance of winning. because he start with a strength of 6 and he has a lot of lives and can regenerate.

I don't really have a favourite, though I did used to like "stomping" characters like the Monk and the Cyborg from the 2nd Edition Timescape.

I never had a problem playing against someone who had the old Prophetess or whatever, you just tend to adjust your game strategy to whoever you are playing against.

i have a particular fondness for the ghoul. and as for balance issues. when we play the second edition, and somone goes for the warrior of chaos, or one of the other powerful characters, that person usualy has a tougher time, cause all the other players pick on him the whole game. being under the radar character wise is an advantage in itself.

Favorate character; I like the Ghoul, Elf, and Druid. If playing with 4 or more players, then Prophet, Sorceress, thief. My wife likes the Dark Cultist and the elf. and troll

We usualy randomly draw 3 character chards, and pick one.

We have tracked the games played. Every character has played in at least 3 games. Not enough data with new characters yet.

Percent of wins
Ghul 80%
Drud 75%
Monk 75%
Thef 67%
Trol 50%
Dwrf 50%
Warr 40%
Srcs 40%
Wizd 40%
Prst 33%
Asin 25%
Prop 25%
Mnst 20%

Just some interesting data

Well, I'll drop in my stats (compiled after 16 games with Upgrade + Reaper):

Name # of Games Win Loss Mid-game Death Mid-game Char

Assassin 2 1 1
Dark Cultist 4 1 3 1 1
Druid 3 3 1
Dwarf 4 2 2
Elf 2 2 1
Ghoul 4 1 3 1 1
Knight 3 2 1
Merchant 2 1 1
Minstrel 4 1 3 1
Monk 3 1 2 1
Priest 3 3 2
Prophetess 3 2 1
Sage 2 1 1
Sorceress 4 4 2
Thief 3 1 2
Troll 3 1 2 1 1
Warrior 4 1 3 2
Wizard 2 2 2

Notes:

No board erratas relating to Fate (so no replenish at Graveyard, no 2 Fate at Temple)

Mid-game death: char died before anyone reached CoC

Mid-game char: drawn as replacement for a mid-game death

Most 3-player games, only 2-players were Warrior vs Sorceress (Warrior won) and Dwarf vs Dark Cultist (Dwarf won)

After noting the previous post, around here, no choice of char, just say a number from 1-18 that's the char you play. Only mulligan if that char was used by the player in the previous game.