You can slap a Hobbit cloak on Bilbo for a respectable 4 defense. Or SoG + Gondorian Shield

7 hours ago, dalestephenson said:

I don't believe they've ever changed hero stats on different versions, so Bilbo's 1-1-2-2 line is unfortunately set in stone.

Not only that, they Keep the threat, too (so this Version should be 9 threat, too). But as tactics Eowyn showed you can cheat and reduce your threat as a set-up effect. I could see a Change like this:

Set-up: lower your threat by 3

Action: Raise your threat by 3 to search your deck for a song and add it to your Hand (Limit once per game)

17 minutes ago, Calvadur said:

Not only that, they Keep the threat, too (so this Version should be 9 threat, too).

Spirit Glorfindel is only 5 threat. Threat and keywords are flexible, but not stats. Hopefully they'll change this pattern soon.

Edit: I forgot about Merry, who is a weird technicality. He has different printed attack values, but they are essentially the same as long as his text box hasn't been blanked.

My last Spirit Bilbo was meant to represent Uncle Bilbo, writing his book and composing songs. Unfortunately his stats and abilities would lead him to become an inactive character. He would be more attachment than hero; a "living Unexpected Courage" as dalestephenson rightly said. I still like the basic idea of a Song themed Bilbo, but I need to find a way for him to be able to quest or otherwise mitigate threat in the staging area. Any ideas?

I didn't find a solution yet, but I combined some of my loose ideas into Burglar Baggins. This is inspired by Bilbo during or shortly after The Hobbit. His planning action is meant to represent all the scouting and burgling he does. Hero Gandalf makes sure Bilbo's ability will hit, and by exchanging cards he can seed the deck with good targets for mining.

His response is a bit iffier, but I want to make it work. I really like how many Hobbit cards revolve around quest control: Late Adventurer, Elevenses, Hobbit Pony, and Fatty. This response is meant to represent Bilbo rising to the occasion and helping his friends in their time of need. I'm still not sure how to word or balance this ability. Is +2 willpower too much? Will this ability even work? Is combining the Planning Action and the Response too much for one hero? It certainly is a wall of text.

How about this -- increase Bilbo's willpower by +1 for every song attached to him.

Or even +1 WP for each Song you control.

16 hours ago, pmdoug said:

Spirit Glorfindel is only 5 threat. Threat and keywords are flexible, but not stats. Hopefully they'll change this pattern soon.

Edit: I forgot about Merry, who is a weird technicality. He has different printed attack values, but they are essentially the same as long as his text box hasn't been blanked.

If you consider the different copies of Merry as having the same stats, then you have to consider the different copies of Theoden as having different stats.

I'd still like to see any "song" based hero to come from the Lore sphere, simply so you can put a Love of Tales on them without having to first put a Song on them.

1 hour ago, Seastan said:

If you consider the different copies of Merry as having the same stats, then you have to consider the different copies of Theoden as having different stats.

Oh yeah, you're right. Tactics Theoden slipped my mind there. So at least one stat change has occurred between two versions of the same hero. seems threat and stats are both flexible in their own way. My mistake.

I suppose giving Bilbo an inherent and immediate stat boost on his card is possible.

1 hour ago, Slothgodfather said:

I'd still like to see any "song" based hero to come from the Lore sphere, simply so you can put a Love of Tales on them without having to first put a Song on them.

Agreed. Rivendell Minstrel, Galadhrim Minstrel, Gleowine, and Love of Tales all belong to Lore. Spirit certainly has a fair share of Songs, but a Lore hero would be a better fit.

Is there any canon character, aside from Gleowine, who would be a good candidate? If not, an FFG created bard would be welcome.

Side note, isn't it odd that out of 15 song cards, only 4 are events? Events with traits are rare: out of 191 events, 15 have traits.

How about, while Bilbo Baggins has at least one song attachment he gains +2 willpower and does not exhaust to commit to the quest.

Action: Add a song attachment from Bilbo to the victory display to give Bilbo +2 defense (until the end of the phase).

He would retain the same base stats and threat of his Lore version

What about a second two sphere hero? Once you have played a song on Bilbo he gains the lore icon as well. Then of course he should not start with one song in hand.

I'd really like to have a tactics Noldor hero that uses the Noldor discard mechanic (not counting Hama with Elf-friend attached). Glorfindel would be my pick. I think he deserves a third version more than most heroes.

But what ability should he have? Should he discard cards to boost himself? Or should he interact with the discard pile? Perhaps he could mimic those Noldor allies and receive stat boosts based upon the top card in the discard. I don't really know, so I'm just throwing this out to everyone. Any ideas?

Seeing that blank text box makes me wonder about a hero with a blank text box, a 1 threat discount, and as many traits as seems reasonable. Maybe 2, 2, 2, 4 spread, with 9 threat cost, and all of Warrior, Noble, Healer, Scout, Ranger...hmm, not enough to really justify it. Nevermind.

I have toyed around with the idea of tactics Glorfindel for a couple of weeks, and never seem to be happy with the result. I want a discard ability, but also card draw (he "brings" card draw to tactics). My current idea is:

Response : After Glorfindel participates in an attack that destroys an enemy, discard all card from your hand and raise your threat by 1 to draw 2 cards.

That is most probably overpowered.

5 hours ago, monkeyrama said:

Seeing that blank text box makes me wonder about a hero with a blank text box, a 1 threat discount, and as many traits as seems reasonable. Maybe 2, 2, 2, 4 spread, with 9 threat cost, and all of Warrior, Noble, Healer, Scout, Ranger...hmm, not enough to really justify it. Nevermind.

We already have Mirlonde... who is a worse version of this proposal given her weak stats, Lore limitation, and lack of traits.

11 minutes ago, DurinVoronwe said:

I have toyed around with the idea of tactics Glorfindel for a couple of weeks, and never seem to be happy with the result. I want a discard ability, but also card draw (he "brings" card draw to tactics). My current idea is:

Response : After Glorfindel participates in an attack that destroys an enemy, discard all card from your hand and raise your threat by 1 to draw 2 cards.

That is most probably overpowered.

Too bad Elven-Light doesn't have a trait. You could say Glorfindel can pay for "Elven" events regardless of resource match if it did.

I'd rather see a Noldor hero that can manipulate the top card of the discard pile some. Such as:

After Glorfindel commits to the quest, you may rearrange the top 3 cards of your discard pile.

Glorfindel gets +1 WP if the top of card of your discard pile is an Event.

Glorfindel gets +1 ATK if the top card of your discard pile is an ally.

5 hours ago, monkeyrama said:

Seeing that blank text box makes me wonder about a hero with a blank text box, a 1 threat discount, and as many traits as seems reasonable. Maybe 2, 2, 2, 4 spread, with 9 threat cost, and all of Warrior, Noble, Healer, Scout, Ranger...hmm, not enough to really justify it. Nevermind.

Spirit Glorfindel isn't too far off from this. He gets a 7 threat discount to compensate not having an actual ability. Part of the reason that I want a new tactics Glorfindel is that I can't stand spirit Glorfy.

I'd like to see new versions of the brothers that aren't so dependent upon each other. Similar to a Legolas/Gimli interaction or something.

Thinking of having a near-blank text box in exchange for lowered starting threat and riffing off Spirfindel's limitation.

Splorfindel.

Lore Bilbo did go for 8 in the Middle Earth Hero Auction. (Which really surprised me.)

What about, for Glorfy:

Action: Discard each card in your hand. Until the end of the phase, Glorfindel does not exhaust to attack or defend and gains Response: when Glorfindel defeats an enemy, raise your threat by 1 to draw a card(limit once per game)?

It's very similar to Durin's idea, and I know what this guy can do with Galdor, but it's an idea.

1 hour ago, 987654321 said:

What about, for Glorfy:

Action: Discard each card in your hand. Until the end of the phase, Glorfindel does not exhaust to attack or defend and gains Response: when Glorfindel defeats an enemy, raise your threat by 1 to draw a card(limit once per game)?

It's very similar to Durin's idea, and I know what this guy can do with Galdor, but it's an idea.

I like it. You will need some weapons and signals, but you can kill some dozen orcs, recreating the Battle of Gondolin.

I think I had a typo in mine; I meant discard one card.