Strongest Veteran Characters?

[Hogg]

How strong can the characters get after they've completed a lot of the quests? Is there a place where people have posted character sheets for veteran characters?

Some of the levels in the later expansions look really hard, with lots of very strong monsters. It seems like the heroes would need a lot of upgrades to be able to complete those quests. Besides the armory and 10 artifact cards that came with the main set, what else can the heroes be upgraded with?

Is there a standard build for the four main character types? It seems like Helmet, Shield, Chainmail, and Crossbow would be good for everyone except the Wizard. Besides the Staff and Cloak, what else can be used to raise the Wizard's stats?

[Stig]

Hi Hogg, and welcome to the Inn

Yes that’s basically right about levelling up, but there are two other things:

Mercenaries
Homebrews

Mercenaries are like other heroes, but not quite as good. You pay to hire then retain them between Quests

A lot of us use homebrews and have lots of options for levelling up. Have a look at Showdown35s recasting system for the spellcasters:

http://www.showdowndave.ca/heroquest/ho ... ml#casting

There are also some cool skills for heroes to get if you use XP, such as one XP for surviving a Quest/killing a named monster/recovering an artefact. I especially love this one where the barbarian gets to pick up and chuck furniture!

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=1998&p=28813&hilit=Titans+toss#p28813

There is also a good “questimator” that does a good job of working out how difficult quests are and how many mercenaries might be a good idea.

The beauty of the Inn are the treasures therin, compiled over a number of years. Why not go explore.

[wallydubbs]

The artifacts are exceptional boosts as well, which need to be considered.
It also comes down to balance as a team, how the heroes work together to make them more effective.

The Wizard should generally stay out of combat, depending on NA or EU rules he can have 3-4 defense dice. He's generally supposed to hang back and support the other heroes with spells and occasionally poke around the corner with his staff.

One hero, preferably the Barbarian should weild the Battle Axe. Losing a defence dice does seem like it could come back to haunt you and Plate Mail heavily slows a hero down, but that extra attack dice will defeat an Ogre or Yeti much quicker then a Crossbow.
A problem with giving every hero a crossbow is that you can't (or shouldn't) be allowed to fire through a fellow hero. In addition I don't think heroes should be allowed to weild shields with their crossbow at the same time, but that's just me.

I think the best set up is for 2 heroes (Barbarian and Dwarf for melee battle, 1 hero (Wizard) for spell casting support, and the Elf takes up as the sniper.

Talisman of Lore should go to the Barbarian.
Borin's Armor should be worn by the hero with the Battle Axe (either Barbarian or Dwarf).
Orc's Bane can be weilded as a secondary weapon for the Elf, if there are too many orcs in a room he can put away the crossbow and do more damage with that against orcs.
The Spell Ring is probably better off with the Wizard in later quests. In Keller's Keep and Return of the Witch Lord, 9 spells will suffice for the Wizard, so the Elf can be more versatile. But in Against the Ogre Horde and up the Wizard can run out of spells rather quickly.
Wizard's Claok, Staff and Wand of Magic obviously goes to the Wizard.
Dwarf can weild the Spirit Blade (unless he has the Battle Axe), but whoever's carrying that should have a shield.

Elixir of Life, Ring of Return, Spell Scrolls and Magical Throwing Daggers are all a 1 off use. So those can go to any of the heroes, probably the Wizard.
Anti Poison Quill? Give it to the Dwarf (or Wizard if he has a tool kit).
Armband of Healing should go to whomever does the most Melee (probably the Dwarf because he disarms traps too, which can go wrong).
Rabbit Boots could probably go to the Barbarian; it'll help him save his body points for battle instead of worrying about traps, since Dwarf is better at disarming them.

Fire Ring only works twice, so that could go to anyone but the Dwarf (he's already immune to the Dwarven Forge).

In Mage of the Mirror most of the artifacts are specifically meant for the Elf: Elven Boots, Elven Bow of Vindication, Magical Elven Bracers and Ancient Staff can only be used by the Elf (However I think the Ancient Staff would better in the hands of the Wizard).
The Bone Wand could probably go to the Wizard, just because he's the only one that should use a wand.
The Sky Orb can go to the Dwarf. Since the Barbarian will be getting Talisman of Lore and Amulet of the North, Dwarf'll have the most use for it.

Since body points can be lost very easily in the Frozen Horror and Barbarian's getting 2 additional from the Amulet of the North, the Ring of Warmth should go to the Wizard.
If you're playing with European equipment and the Wizard has the Bracers for an added defence he can't wear the Armband of Ice. The same applies to the Elf if he already has the Magical Elven Bracers. So give the Armband of Ice to the Dwarf.
While we're at it, once acquiring the Snowshoes of Speed the Dwarf can also upgrade to Plate Mail.

Then there's potions. The heroes should always have a supply of Healing potions.
The Wizard should definitely keep a cask of defense potions on hand.
Potions of Strength will come in handy for any hero (asides from the Crossbow weilding Elf), useful on Chaos Warriors, Yetis, Polar Warbers, etc. They can also be used to help open those stone doorways in Against the Ogre Horde.
If any hero has a tool kit and tries his luck on trapped chests, keep a Potion of Antivenom around just in case.

Heroic Brew and Potions of Battle are nice to have and useful to anyone.
Who needs Rabbit Boots when you have Dexterity potions. It's also commonly forgotten that Dexterity potions add +5 to movement. Very useful if you want to wear plate mail for a quest.

And then there's the additional potions only the Barbarian and Elf are respectively allowed to drink.
There's more to preferred equipment then Armor and weapons.