Which is the best hero and best group?

[wallydubbs]

With the announce of the new Quest Packs, probably I'll play them with my version of baddest Heroes: Barbarian, Rogue, Bard (because is Orc) and Warlock seems fun!

Asides from the fact that the Barbarian is the only one among the bunch that can wear sufficiently protective armor, it does seem like a fun group.
Starting off the Warlock is the most powerful of the bunch especially with Demonform, you just got to keep her out of close combat.
The Bard makes a good supporting hero and with him I find he's very debatable to spend his action on an attack or spell. Lullaby is pretty much the same as Sleep so it's hit or miss depending on the monster's mind points. But I see Inspirational Tale being reclaimed quite often. Though I do find myself debating the parameters of reclaiming this spell, only 2 's? What if a hero has 3 or more?
However with your chosen heroes he's the only one that has any healing spells and I think that might be crucial.

The Rogue's a fun and risky one, but I found I may not have played him to his full potential. I would often use his Combat Mobility to get him next to a monster adjacent to another hero and try using Opportunistic Striker with a Shortsword to maximize attack, followed by Ambidextrous if need be, though never really realizing it might not be all that advantageous when dealing with a 3BP Dread Warrior. Maybe staying out of that fight and just assist with throwing daggers, it's still 2AD if he's adjacent to another hero... So good luck.

[Aki]

Is a "for fun" party, of course with not a great synergy between heroes, I would tryng a group completely opposite to my style

My Barbarian is a veteran warrior and a beast, if he will not dying when faces the Frozen Horror

The Rogue is a cannon glass, only 3 defense die, but with Battle Axe he goes on 5 die, probably he needs some Ring of Fortitude

I hope they'll clarify better that Bard spell, but I think you roll your defense die, better armour, better chance to regain the spell

I think to swap the Warlock with the Monk because she'll arrive with PoT, so not in time for partecipate in SQT pack, another glass cannon with desperate need body points improvement

[wallydubbs]

So now that I've had enough time to look over the Monk, I find him to be a risky hero. As a stand-alone hero he has impressive abilities but I don't think he'll last with 3 defense dice.

He'll definitely max out quickly, but he has no restrictions on potions. So he can always buy potions while all the other heroes try maxing out on armor and weapons.

He only has 3 defense dice, which really isn't all that much. I find him to be a risky hero, much like the Rogue. 3 defense dice really isn't much in the grand scheme of things. His Twisting Torrent ability allows him to negate damage from an attack, but once it's exhausted he won't get to use it again for a few turns.

Two of his techniques are only useful if he/she is unarmed, and an aspiring player would try to push for the Fire Techniques, where being unarmed gives him a 50% chance to exhaust the Air and Earth techniques, but you're not always going to find a pit trap to Ricky Steamboat over, so odds are he's going in unarmed.
Eye of the Storm is huge for quests like Keller's Keep and Return of the Witch Lord where you have a 50% chance at hitting each of your surrounding enemies, especially if they only have 1 BP each, so odds are he won't be taking out an Abomination or Mummy (unless he activates this technique while under Courage). But I can see the Wizard being a big help to him in a group quest.

If you were to bring the Monk in to the perilous quest of Frozen Horror, odds are he can exhaust all his attack techniques (including fire) 4 or 5 times during a quest, but with monsters that rival him in Body Points those 3 defence dice aren't really going far. I find this hero to be of high risk/high reward.

[Aki]

Ricky Steamboat

The Monk, like the Rogue, as just you said, aren't tough enough to face MoM and FH, in my humble opinion
I tried the Rogue in MoM and switch for the Dwarf after one Quest.
I think they're are better and fun in any other Packs, but not in these mention above and Ogre Horde.

[wallydubbs]

Ricky Steamboat

The Monk, like the Rogue, as just you said, aren't tough enough to face MoM and FH, in my humble opinion
I tried the Rogue in MoM and switch for the Dwarf after one Quest.
I think they're are better and fun in any other Packs, but not in these mention above and Ogre Horde.

Mage of the Mirror and Frozen Horror are broken quest packs. With all the mercenaries running around there's no harm in adding a 5th hero. The first time I playtested Frozen Horror I used 2 Barbarians, the Elf, Dwarf and Wizard (whom I gave 4 spell groups), it was much more fun then trying with just the 4 original heroes, which was boring and took forever and would've led to a TPK if I didn't use the Genie spell to open the Frozen Horror 's door and just skip quest 10.

Mage of the Mirror, I would also play with 5 heroes,adding the Rogue to the main heroes would be an acceptable. You're gonna need 5 heroes for these quest packs and I think it would be a nice way to tie the Rogue into the story, but I'd make an exception on the artifacts and allow them to be used by the Rogue too, not just the Elf, the Rogue is technically Elfkind and being from the Elven Kingdom it's just thematically acceptable.

[wallydubbs]

Analyzing these two heroes, both have the potential to lead the group as tank. Barbarian, of course, has one more body point and starts off with 3 Attack Dice. The Knight, however, with 1 less body point starts off with a shield and several skills that make him an asset to his compatriots. Two of these skills are helpful to the rest (one at his potential expense), but he also has Stalwart, which potentially gives him a few extra body points depending how you look at it and use it. (Suppose he has 1BP left and gets hit with 4 skulls, Stalwart can negate all those).

When it comes to the Barbarian and Knight it overall comes down to, would you rather have an extra defence dice or an extra attack dice. Here I'm going to have the two battle it out to find which hero is the better starting tank.

In my head the odds should go to hero with first attack. Deciding who attacks first goes to a roll-off. The Knight rolls , Barbarian

Round 1:
Barbarian starts off weak with a
Knight missed the opportunity with , dropping to 6 BP.
Knight fires back
But Barbarian maintains the advantage with

Round 2:
Barbarian whiffs, no s
Knight also fails to follow up with a

Round 3:
Barbarian only gets 1
But the Knight has 2 s
The Knight responds with
This roll is mimicked by the Barbarian, but does nothing for defense as he drops to 6BP

Round 4:
Barbarian rolls
Knight blocks with
His next attack results in

Round 5:
from the Barbarian leaves an opening for the Knight
Who scores with
Barbarian only manages 1 in defence, dropping to 5BP, putting the Knight in the lead.

Round 6:
Barbarian tries to tie it up with
And succeeds as the Knight yields no s
It stays tied as the Knight's attack results in

Round 7:
Barbarian attacks with
But the Knight was ready for it,
Knight fires back
Barbarian fails to counter, dropping to 4BP

Round 8:
Barbarian tries to land
But again the Knight's shield perseveres with
Knight jumps ahead, hitting
As Barbarian drops to 3BP

Round 9:
Barbarian finds some semblance of an opening,
Knights defends with maintaining the lead with 4BP
However he fails to find any s on his next attack

Round 10:
Barbarian and Knight both roll
Giving the Knight an opening in his attack, landing 1 more
As Barbarian fails to find a

Round 11:
Barbarian trying to find a hail Mary, gets on his next attack
1 lands against the Knight's defence
Knight hits back with
Barbarian gets
1BP Barbarian, 3 BP Knight

Round 12:
Barbarian finds his opening with
The Knight holds on with , dropping to 1 BP,
The Knight rolls
Which finishes off the Barbarian who countered with

The Knights stands victorious over the Barbarian!

Does this mean the Knight is the better hero?
Not necessarily. As a starting hero both show promise in different areas. Maintaining body points relies on a good defence and the Knight starts off with a better defence. But when questing the Barbarian is rarely fighting monsters with high body points and might prefer to try and eliminate the threat before they can cause too much damage... This doesn't always work out, but it seems to be his preferred strategy.

The Knight can't take out a Dread Warrior in 1 turn without potions as he relies on his defense to stay in the battle long term. His defense is what makes him an asset to his group, using Shield Block to protect his allies or Knight's Challenge to defend so the Wizard doesn't have to.
Stalwart and Shield Block require a shield, so odds are the Knight will max out with 6 Defense Dice and 3 Attack Dice, while the Barbarian might end up with 4 attack and 4 defence (should he or she choose the Battle Axe. Even if this were the case I feel the Knight would still come out on top.

However there is still one ace up the Barbarian's sleeve that the Knight can't touch: the Amulet of the North. Once acquiring this artifact, raising his Body Points by 2 and Mind by 1, the Barbarian and Knight are no longer comparable.

[Kurgan]

Yeah the Barbarian and Elf get to be UPGRADED thanks to their expansions. When will the other heroes get their due? (unless we homebrew it ourselves of course)

[wallydubbs]

I'm not saying this is the best team, but I playtested the Monk in the Trial using random hero draws, sticking Kubo (Monk) with Link (Elf), Penny (Dwarf), and Drew (Druid). None of these guys really stick out as a tank (Maybe the Dwarf) but they had a decent and complimentary showing. Link chose Time spells (Flashback, Slow and Time Stop), Drew had standard Druid spells and now we'll see what the Monk is capable of in a group quest.

The first room Link found no traps, ran out the door, to the corner glimpsing the 2 corridors.
Penny tried for treasure but got a Hazard.
Kubo ran out into the hallway and spoke to stone, finding nothing.
Drew only rolled 3 so lagged behind.

Link rolled high enough to reach the alchemist room and managed to take out one of the orcs.
Kubo, Penny and Drew and rolled too short to reach the other orc, but Kubo at least made it into the room and Drew cast Shapeshift on herself. He was attacked by the remaining orc and used Twisting Torrent to avoid 1BP of damage.

Link's attack was blocked, Penny failed to reach the Orc but Kubo took him out using Eye of the Storm and running into the weapons rack room, leaving Drew to search for traps.
Penny was standing in the doorway and attacked by the Abomination, taking 1 damage, down to 5BP. The Goblin went after Kubo, despite getting 2 s the Monk blacked it, therefore unable to use Twisting Torrent.

Link found 25 gold since he had no way of getting into the weapons rack room.
Penny rolled on her attack.
Kubo currently in the room used Strength of a Mountain to attack the Abomination, taking it out. Drew ran in after, finishing off the Goblin.

Link searched for traps.
Penny searched for Secret Doors.
Kubo found the weapons rack to have only chipped and rusted weapons.

The heroes ventured out to the room with the Dread Warriors. The Elf lagged behind so the Dwarf was the first in, attacking a Dread Warrior and managing 1 hit. Kubo followed him in using Eye of the Storm to attack both Dread Warriors, one blocked the other took 1 damage, both Dread Warriors down to 2BP. Drew ran in to attack the 2nd one but was blocked away.

The first Dread Warrior brought the Dwarf down to 3BP. The 2nd one attacked Kubo, who blocked it.

Link arrives and lands another BP of damage on the first Dread Warrior. Penny's strike was blocked. Kubo danced around the room with Tidal Surge, and was able to land a hit. Drew flopped on her attack.

Penny blacked the Dread Warrior's attack, Drew took 1 damage, losing Shapeshift.

Link rolled and took out the first Dread Warrior, leaving Penny to land a final hit on the other Dread Warrior.
Kubo followed up with Speak to Stone and Drew cast life force of Penny, bringing her back to full health.

Link discovered that the chest was empty. Penny and Kubo allowed Drew to search the room for treasure, but it was a Hazard, she lost 1 more BP.

As the heroes made their way to the middle room Drew cast Pixie on herself and brought herself back to full health, reclaiming Shapeshift.

Preparing for the battle in the middle room Link cast Time Stop on Kubo. Penny ran in against the Orc, but flopped on her attack. Kubo used Strength of Mountain to attack the Dread Warrior and managed to drop him down to 1BP. Using his 2nd turn from Time Stop Kubo followed up with Eye of the Storm rolling another , which dropped the Dread Warrior to 0BP.
Drew ran in to attack the Orc in the rear, successfully.

Instead of attacking the Dwarf the Orc charged Kubo, who blocked his attack. But Verag went after Penny, landing 1 BP of damage.
Link ran in and took out the Orc fighting Kubo.
Penny failed to hit Verag and ran away to avoid further attack.
Kubo activated Tidal Surge, charging Verag, attacking and backing away, landing 1 hit in the process.
Drew gave it a shot, but flopped on her attack, leaving Verag to attack her.

Despite rolling 2 s in his attack, Drew managed to block with .

Link ran next to the Gargoyle and rolled in his attack but Verag blocked both!
Penny couldn't get close enough to launch an attack, but Kubo has already exhausted his Earth, Air and Water techniques. He couldn't get past Drew to make an attack, so blasted right through her with Burning Spirit, destroying Verag.
Drew searched for traps.

Link searched for Secret Doors
Penny got the chest for 120 gold.
Kubo's search of the room brought in a Wandering Monster that did no damage, and Drew attacked but it was blocked.

The Orc proceeded to attack Link and landed 1 BP of damage, but Penny took it out on his next turn.

The group circled around the central chamber into a room with 2 Goblins. Kubo was the first to enter and attack, but he flopped with Eye of the Storm, only attacking one, forgetting that diagonal attacks were enabled.
Drew followed him in and took out one goblin.
The other Goblin did manage 1BP of damage but Kobu avoided damage with Twisting Torrent.

Link ran in to finish off the Goblin.
Penny was lagging and still hadn't made it to the room.
Kubo used Speak to Stone, clearing the room... But he must've missed something as Drew got a Hazard. But that would break her Shapeshift ability, so Link cast Flashback, undoing that search.

In the next room with the Sorcerer's Table Link took out the Orc, Penny flopped attacking the Goblin but Kubo finished it off.
Drew searched for traps.
Link looked for Secret Doors.
Penny found 15 Gold.

In the next room with 2 Skeletons, Link took out the first one; Penny's attack was blocked; Kubo used Tidal Surge to move in, attack the skeleton, which he failed to land a hit, and move to the door, opening it; Drew rolled short.

The Guardian Mummy rolled 2 s, but Kubo blocked the attack.
The Skeleton attacked Penny, taking her down to 5BP.

Link had to finish the skeleton off on his turn.
Penny couldn't really make it the next room as Kubo and the guardian mummy were hogging the doorway.
Kubo used Strength of Mountain getting , but the Mummy blocked 1.
Kubo moved and Drew took his place, managing to hit the guardian with a 2nd .

A Zombie then attacked Drew, dealing 1 Damage as she lost her Shapeshift.

Link and Penny still had no way of getting into that room so they satisfied themselves with Trap and Secret Door searches. Kubo, however, used Eye of the Storm to attack diagonally through the door, but he still missed the Zombie.
Drew managed to take out the Zombie with her dagger and ran in the room so the other heroes can get in. But the Zombie blocked the doorway again and attacked Drew, but it flopped on the attack.
Link ran to the doorway and failed on his attack.
Penny couldn't make it in so searched for treasure revealing a Potion of Healing.
But Kubo has exhausted the 3 styles and could now blast the last Zombie out of the doorway with burning spirit.

Link and Penny followed in with trap and secret door searches. Kubo found a Mysterious Flower on his treasure search. Drew waited by the entrance of Fellmarg's Tomb for the next round to start.

Link ran in and took out the skeleton adjacent to the Mummy. Penny followed her in and attacked the Mummy, surprisingly rolling , which took out the Mummy. Kubo attacked the other skeleton diagonally through the door with Eye of the Storm, taking out the last monster.
Drew ran in looking for traps.

Link searched the chest.
Penny searched for Secret Doors.
Kubo searched the room for Treasure, finding another Potion of Healing.

The heroes circled back around to the torture rack room where Penny killed the Goblin and Kubo took out the Orc.
Drew's treasure search resulted in a Treasure Hoard of 300 Gold!

This worked out well as some of the heroes really worked well together, like the Elf using his time spells to assist the Druid and Monk.
I guess the Dwarf was the only one that seemed out of place as the 1 thing that makes him special, trap disarm, wasn't used.

Normally I feel the Dwarf could be a great asset with that ability as he doesn't only remove a trap from his path, but from his allies' as well. It makes him a needed member of the team, so much so he might be one of the best heroes to have on a team. But in this quest she felt like the odd man out as nothing distinguished her from the rest of the heroes.

The Monk surprised me, I didn't realize how frequently he'd end being able to use Twisting Torrent. I realized with the monk sometimes you need to open doors prematurely to build up to that Fire technique. I also saw at times when you think you're regaining the techniques a Wandering Monster might appear between your turns and you can use... Interesting.

I also felt the Druid was really helpful, maintaining 6BP for Shapeshift and healing other injured heroes.

[wallydubbs]

I ran the Rescue of Sir Ragnar with Mentor (Wizard), Barbra (Barbarian), Marillion (Bard) and Kubo (Monk). When up against monsters with only 1BP the Monk is a wrecking machine. He's also a very risky character as risks need to be taken to build up to his Fire Technique by opening doors that might be better off closed.

The heroes started in the central chamber and Mentor made the search for traps, satisfied that there were none he went out into the hallway, spotted by the Goblin.
Barbra didn't have enough movement to reach the Goblin, so he checked for Secret Doors and ran out to protect Mentor, blocking the goblin.
Marillion rolled high to reach the Goblin and attack with his rapier, getting the first kill of the game.
Kubo searched for treasure in the starting room drawing Poison, but rolled , taking no mental damage.

Mentor searched the left hall for traps while Barbra checked the southern hallway. But Marillion saw the goblin at the end of the right hall and charged him, but whiffed on the attack. Kubo didn't roll high enough to help.

In passing the connected corridor a goblin spotted Marillion and attacked from behind. Marillion with his extra defence dice blocked one attack, the other Goblin whiffed as well.

Mentor, unable to physically help Marillion cast Fire of Wrath, taking out a goblin.
Barbra slipped on her movement roll, couldn't make it to Marillion, but the Bard managed to take out the other Goblin. Kubo made it to the connecting corridor and used Speak to Stone to check it for traps and secret doors.

Barbra took out the last goblin in the hall.
Marillion went into the next room with 2 orcs and tried to put one to sleep with Lullaby, which failed.
Kubo ran in with perfect position to use Eye of the Storm, where he took out both orcs.

Mentor finally entered and searched for traps.
Barbra searched for treasure but was attacked by a Wandering Monster, losing 1BP.
Marillion, expecting to get it back during the quest, told an Inspirational Tale to aid Kubo, who used Tidal Surge to move and help Barbra and then run to the door, opening it, working his was towards the fire techniques as another orc and goblin were added to the board. His attack was blocked, though.

Barbra took another BP of damage while the Orc and goblin went after Kubo taking 1BP from him.

Knowing Kubo needs more monsters on the board to achieve his Fire Technique, Mentor cast Veil of Mist so he could run through the monsters and open the next door.
Barbra finished off the Orc that attacked her.
Marillion took out the Goblin that attacked Kubo with his diagonal attack.
Kubo passed through the Orc, open the next door to the Orc and 2 goblins protecting the chest, backed up and use Strength of Mountain to take out the last orc in that room.

The orc and goblins flooded the room and surrounded Kubo... He had already used the water technique so couldn't rely on Twisting Torrent. After all their attacks Kubo dropped to 2BP but could access his fire technique, but the monsters weren't exactly lined up, but if the Monk were standing in the other room he could take two down with a diagonal attack in Burning Spirit.
Wizard cast Pass Through Rock to accomplish this, so long as Barbra or Marillion took out one goblin that has him closed in.
Barbra did roll a but the Goblin surprisingly blocked it. But Marillion was able to get the through. The Goblin was dead, Kubo took the free space to go in the other room and fire Burning Spirit through the goblin and orc, taking 2 out in one.

Mentor walked into the room with the table and searched for traps.
Barbra searched for treasure finding an Unidentified Ingredient.
Marillion found no secret doors.
Kubo in the room with the chest used Speak to Stone to check that room.

Mentor then walked up to the chest and searched it's contents taking the 60 Gold and potion of healing.
Barbra didn't roll enough movement make it to the last room of that quadrant. Marillion did and took out one orc, while Kubo took out the last one with Eye of the Storm.

Mentor searched the rest of the chest room to find a Potion of Warmth.
Barbra and Marillion searched for traps and secret doors in the last room of that quadrant so Kubo could search for treasure, finding a Potion of Air Walk.

The group then made their way out the door and down to the southern corridor. Mentor had cast Heal Body on Kubo along the way as well as Rock Skin on himself.

Marillion for to the southern door first and took out the Goblin standing guard.
In the next room Kubo took out the Orc.
Mentor searched for traps.
Barbra searched for treasure only to be attacked by a Wandering Monster.
Marillion failed to take him out and Kubo couldn't reach him so he ran into the next, attempting Eye of the Storm on the next 2 orcs, but only took one out this time.

The orc inflicted another 2BP of damage on Barbra, bringing her down to 4BP.

Mentor cast Sleep on the Orc, which took effect, allowing Barbra no resistance in taking him out.
Marillion took out the Orc in the other room with Kubo and Kubo used Speak to Stone to discover the secret door in that room. He immediately ran to check, having exhausted his Earth elemental technique.

The Abomination attacked but Kubo used Twisting Torrent to avoid damage.

Mentor cast Ball of Flame on the Abomination, but he defended with .
Barbra had no way of getting into the secret door as The Abomination and Monk blocked the way. But Marillion, with his diagonal attack did. Attacking the Abomination he brought it down to 1BP.
Kubo used Strength of Mountain to finish off the Abomination, now having access to the fire technique.

Kubo avoided damage from the Orc's attack.

Mentor and Barbra had no way of getting in. Marillion knew Kubo had this so he searched for treasure, revealing poison, and losing 1MP.

Mentor opened the prison cell and led Ragnar back to the stairwell, not before searching for treasure in that small room and revealing more poison, losing a mind point. There were only 2 goblins left to be discovered on the board, who came running, but Barbra easily cut them down.

Kubo used Speak to Stone to detect the trap on the chest, but nobody had a tool kit. So he used Twisting Torrent to avoid taking damage when looking through the empty chest.
Marillion checked the room for treasure and got 15 Gold from the treasure deck.

This quest sealed it for me that the Monk is actually a really effective character, he got 10 kills in this quest alone. The Bard got 7, Barbarian got 4 and the Wizard only got 1. I do worry about later quests because maxing out at 3 Defense Dice seems risky.

[SirRick]

Here are some thoughts from my companion app playthrough. I did the base quests with the 4 standard heroes (all the base game figures, except I used the Mentor version instead of the standard Wizard if you want to know). After the GS quests, I split my party, the Dwarf and Wizard went to Kellar’s Keep with novice Knight and Druid characters. When I get to RotWL the Barbarian and Elf will be accompanied by a novice Bard and Rogue. Even though I had enough money to buy the new characters stuff, I only gave them hand-me-down starter weapons. All four of my new heroes played through new beginnings before joining the experienced characters.

The new heroes made the beginning of KK a little more difficult then it needed to be, but I got through it. So for the 20 quests I played so far here are some thoughts:

The Dwarf seems to be the only specific required character. The Dwarf’s disarm ability is just so valuable and can help negate a ton of damage to the party, particularly from pit traps.

The other required characters are more open to interpretation, but basically anyone who can cast a healing spell and use decent equipment, meaning the Elf and the Druid. The Elf has an edge over the Druid simply because of equipment and artifacts that will be gained eventually. Also when using the Druid, I have to resist the urge to search for treasure because I don’t want her to lose her Shapechange spell from a hazard, but having two healing spells are pretty nice.

The Wizard I find to be just dead weight most of the time, and just a source of more healing spells. I found my usage of the Wizard’s spells was more creative in the GS quests, but in KK the Wizard just spends a lot of time standing around. That is on me, but I find myself really wishing the Wizard could use a Crossbow. I think in a standard group, I would consider replacing the Wizard with the Druid.

The Knight takes a lot of strategic positioning to use effectively. I found so far in KK, I have used Stalwart a number of times. It is a very good ability. Shield Block seems really good on paper, but I have only used it once so far. My Knight just never seems to be in the right place to use it. I think giving the Knight diagonal attacks with a Crossbow or Longsword is essential, to increase the chance they will be next to a hero who takes a heavy hit. I have never had to use Knight’s Challege yet because my squishy character (the Wizard) is usually safely searching for treasure in a space wandering monsters can’t reach.

From my experiences so far, the best character is probably between the Dwarf and Elf. I give the Dwarf a little more weight, since no one else can do what he can, as well as he can. The Elf, while almost as good could be subbed out with the Druid or the Bard. After I get to RotWL, my assessment may change.