A lot has been said about the pros and cons of the "base 8" heroes. But I thought it would be helpful and fun to discuss some of the interesting characters in the conversion kit.

Anybody ave any insights to share?

In particular I like Okaluk and Rakash's mobility (6 moves with a single action), Karnon's raw muscle, and (surprisingly!) Aurim's overall improved usefulness in this edition:5 movement and 5 fatigue in a game that focuses heavily on mobility.

Other thoughts?

I never played D1e so I have no idea how similar the heros play out, but here are a couple of stand outs I've come across:

Ispher with his poison immunity, health regeneration and sweet Heroic Feat to recover all health.

Karnon with his 6 Might and insta-kill Heroic Feat

The Skill Swap of Arvel Worldwalker is pretty awesome

I don't think the base heroes are weak. Syndrael, Ashrian and Jain are pretty much the dream team of action advantage (A-Team, heh).

But let's look at some highlights (Working on paper from spoiled material here, which is about all the heroes)

Elder Mok is long spoiled, but still ridiculous as a Spiritspeaker. Almost everything he's likely to do would be a significant heal or near-full stamina replenish to self. Heroic provides great coverage for low-margin-of-interference stunts. Still tough to compete with Ash's stunning ALL THE THINGS, but may edge her out as my favorite healer.

Kel should make for an awesome Army of Death necro. Tough call if getting that much more monsters affected edges out Tarha's X reroll reserve. Better Heroic at any rate.

Zyla's flight is great to get some AE damage or crowd control past an initial blockade, and not even get insta-pwned for it afterwards thanks to her heroic.

Red Scorpion may be the best bet towards building a Danger Sense bot that can actually do something lategame (probably still wants the occasional rest or Vigor Spiritspeaker support though)

Silhouette's mass search heroic is great. (Her standard ability is crappy in exchange. Solid statlines though. Maybe my favorite thief.)

Tatianna's base statline is absurd good. Abilities pedestrian but helpful.

Corbin's a dream tank, only sore weakness of move 3 obsoleted hard by oath of Honor, with plenty of fat to spare for Defend.

Hugo is also serious tanking (reaching Black Black Brown with innate reroll wat) and lays the smackdown on Lts or blockaders with his heroic, but 3 sta is seriously weak for a tank. Not sure if like.

Hawthorne depends on clarification if Reach's general "reach replaces "adjacent" for melee attacks" clause also affects melee attack skills that call adjacency out as mostly superfluous reminder text (notably Whirlwind). If yes, great, if no, meh.

Lol Nanok of the Bl^h^hGrinding Axe lol.

Steelhorns is the only 14 HP guy not slow as molasses. Where 2 moves are useful, buying an entire action equivalent for 1 fat is strong. Heroic allows barging through blockades (but is a move your speed effect, not a move action. Protection from tripwire is fine, but doesn't synergize with his ability).

And finally Tahlia. How the mighty have fallen. >.< Maybe still workable as Berserker or some funky action advantage noshield Knight build exploiting Challenge and Advance.

Eliam's the only warrior with 5/5 move/stamina. However his heroic ability can't be used right off the bat since no class starts with 2 melee weapons and is dependant on finding an additional one handed melee weapon in the shop (or two if he starts as a berserker). This characters begs for a new dual-wielding warrior class. This is also where the predetermined starting equipment for each class hurts.

Laughin's Buldar's heroic ability is not quite as good as before. Lets him equip a shield or crossbow with a two-handed weapon.

In the full campaign mode, starting equipment isn't quite as bad as that, is it? The first encounter is always First Blood, and it doesn't matter if you win or lose. The goal for the heroes is to hit those search tokens and get enough gold to buy the proper weapons they need. Even if that doesn't pan out, a hero shouldn't really be without their favored equipment for more than a quest.

BeriAlpha said:

Depends on the number of players, I suppose.

In a 4 hero game, it probably is that simple. In a two hero game, where you're only getting dealt 3 shop cards between quests, probably not so much.