What would really help would be more characters with Stalwart. As it is, we only have six (five, really) Stalwart characters in the card pool: Core Ned, Banned Jaqen, Royal Guard, Midnight Sentry, Ser Kyle, and Follower. Ser Kyle's really the only who see's much play. Both Follower and Midnight Sentry provide a boost to Stalwart characters, but that doesn't amount to much. Providing some synergy with the trait, getting it on to more characters that we would want to play. As it can choke our draw already, perhaps we just need more things along the lines of Ser Kyle; maybe something that works in reverse, a cheap claim soak guy that lets you draw after playing him.

What would you think of a 2 cost location that read "After a character with stalwart is killed, kneel [this card] to return it to your hand." ?

It would still be vulnerable to then getting discarding in an intrigue challenge and the character can still be discarded from play, so it wouldn't be overpowered.

Compared to vigilant and vengeful, stalwart is pretty weaksauce imho.

mason240 said:

there is only 6 total characters with stalwart, even if you were running all 6 that location would still be awful for 2g.

If Gates of Winterfell was "Any Phase" or at least useable in some way that you could trigger it before the Draw phase, then I think Stalwart could have a lot more merit. At 3 gold, it would justify its cost quickly in that way.

Too much crap is only triggerable in Marshaling where you could take advantage of Stalwart characters on the top of the deck. Jojen Reed is another ability where you could use his ability to remove some of the unwanted Stalwart weenies if it came to that point. Unfortunately, by the time you reach the Marshaling phase, you've already drawn the Stalwart characters.

I might even welcome a 0 or 1 cost location that said "Any Phase: Kneel this to reveal the top card of your deck. If it's a character with the Stalwart keyword, put it in your hand. Otherwise put the card back on top of your deck."

I had considered the idea that Stalwart's function could also be to keep your dead pile small. Therefore using cards like Nightmare's in the North could prove to be more functionally useful in some ways. I guess it's also an anti-Rhaenys' Hill type of thing. Still, not enough support!