agreed on that, i dont see the duplicates as bad if done correctly….for instance take merry and pippin and the huge difference between the fellowship and the end of the return of the king. theyre  so different so i think different versions are almost called for here. same with eowyn, on the one side we have the willful maiden who is seeing a kingdom destroyed, but on the other we have a fierce warrior, so two versions would again be effective

also on a side but related note, who thinks we shall see a gandalf the white?

rich

Not sure about Gandalf. Remember the unique thing, unless they find out a way to go around it, Gandalf will only be named Gandalf. I think we are bound for yet another version - with white robe design - probably later in the game's existence. I for myself would like to keep Gandalf as a neutral ally though.

ah yes- the name would have to stay the same as you say but its ok as gandalf isnt named 'the grey' so it doesnt matter so much

i think it could work but the white, apart from obvious artwork differences, would have to seem more powerful whilst not making the grey useless

rich

Ideally, the White would only seem more powerful but really wasn't in the end, haha. It could be done along the lines of the Hobbit version, having him would pull Sauron's gaze perhaps? Maybe the White version would actually become a hero, who knows…

lleimmoen said:

A neutral hero would be overpowered IMO. I suppose we could legitimately entertain a notion that such a card could be assigned a sphere, but which one? I mean Gandalf was a Loremaster, Healer/Strongwilled, Warrior (Balrog?), and Leader.

well the gandalf the grey was indeed everything, making neutral perfect

but gandalf the white was primarily a leader from the moment he came to fangorn to the moment he left the hobbits before they go to saruman's shire, so id say leadership

rich

richsabre said:

Yeah I guess that's true, rich.

Would a Neutral hero be overpowered though? It wouldn't have any resource match, so in terms of the income, neutral is way weaker than any other. And Gandalf's threat would probably (have to) be enormous, like 16? Definitely not easy to deckbuild from there…

… I would agree that of the four spheres, Leadership is the most fit, but I still find neutral a better way around it -- if it indeed ever comes to a Gandalf hero.

lleimmoen said:

I was thinking of a neutral hero's resources as wild so I guess that's why I said overpowered.

John85 said:

Yeah. You could probably only use them for neutral cards, which would certainly be very restrictive; it leads me to believe there might never be such a hero…

 Making Gandalf the White Neutral (And neutral only being usable on neutral resources) might be better than getting another hero that can't have attachments like Beorn in bear form.

Gandalf the White could be a neutral hero whose ability would be like Elrond : can only pay for allies in any spheres.

Shiv@n said:

Yeah, that is a good idea. Very thematic too.

Rapier said:

Beorn's (dis)ability is very restrictive indeed. Overall, his is an interesting design but a bit anticlimactic.

i would prefer to see something that shows how he helped other leaders rally their forces rather than buy them himself. perhaps something that allows him to not spend any resources himself, but to give a certain amount to other heros, thus he is not using his powers per se…just helping others to

rich