Character power varying with player number

From the current FAQ...

Q: Monk - the Monkâ€™s special ability which allows him to add his Craft to his Strength whenever he is involved in Combat seems very powerful. Is this correct?
A: Yes. However, this only allows the Monk to add his own Craft counters to his Strength, not any of the Craft gained from Followers and Magic Objects as well.

The monk rocks.

theTroll

But that isn't the current FAQ.

FAQ v1.3

That makes no sense. If they really wanted it that way, they should have just said, monks add 3 to their combat rolls.

theTroll

In a six player game the Monk won't be that powerful if he adds all his Craft Counters to his Strength in Combat. There are many Characters that collect useful objects and slay the Enemies, preventing the Monk from becoming too powerful.

I apply the FAQ 1.3 Monk rule only when I play a 2-3 Character game (it happened once so far).

The deeper I get into rules speculation, the more I am convinced that the 6 player game is far more balanced than the 2-3 player game. With many Characters in play, you have to be lucky in order to gain victory. Once I won with the Druid and had a great chance with the Ghoul (not the best Characters by all means) and in another game I saw the Priest win against stronger opponents. The luck element in Talisman has always been a reason for criticism (you can't play a strategy throughout the entire game), but luck keeps the game balanced and interesting from time to time.

theTroll wrote:That makes no sense.

Welcome to the world of Talisman!

There are many rulings in the game that have been made for the sake of simplicity and balance that perhaps do not make perfect sense in the "real world" because of the chosen wording in the rule book or on a card. There are even rules applied by Games Workshop originally that are at odds with the intentions of the game's creator.

Talisman has always had a range of House Rules and interpretations over the years. This is probably because the game is so easy to pick up and play, as proven at the pre-release events in the last year where people who had never seen the game before were sitting down and, after a brief "pep talk" about the aims of the game, would just use the text marked on the board and cards to play. Now and again people would about specific cases to ask about or they would even rule amongst themselves and sort it out at the end of a game.

At the end of the day, as long as all players agree to a certain rule set you can apply any House Rule you fancy, which is one of the beauties of Talisman. The main draw for Talisman though is the amount of fun you can have if you allow yourself. Three hours of travelling through the lands of Talisman, meeting new people, finding Magical Objects, battling through the Inner Region only to be sucked into the Horrible Black Void and be lost forever.... Great Times!

Just wanted to add to this topic that after back-to-back losses as the Ghoul, I drew the Assassin in my most recent game. I sighed with dismay, figuring that I was in for another loss, because I was not too hopeful at all about the Assassin's odds in a two-player game. And up against the Dwarf, I was essentially playing against a character who started the game right off with the Gnome follower.

However, it turned out to be an overwhelming victory for me. Now, with any game of Talisman, the luck of the draw from the Adventure deck plays a HUGE role, and that was certainly the case with my Assassin, too. Within the first half dozen turns, I drew the Orb of Knowledge. So yeah, that's a hell of a perk.

But the Assassin's skill is definitely not to be underestimated. Within the first 10 turns of play there were 4 or 5 upturned monster cards around the outer region that I or my opponent had failed to beat. Landing on any one of them for me was basically an automatic win due to assassination. Racking up strength 3 and 4 monster cards was never so easy, and within a few more turns I turned some in for one strength point, then another, making it infeasible for the Dwarf to even try to steal the Orb from me in combat.

With a Strength of about 6 I even landed on an upturned dragon card. That's essentially a free point of strength right there, since the worst that could happen was a standoff (I rolled higher than a 1 and got the card).

With my strength getting that early boost, I also felt free to attack the Dwarf in regular combat (not assassination) to steal any cool items my opponent happened to pick up. Within about an hour and a half of play, I had accumulated, in addition to the Orb, the Runesword, the Wand, the Ring, the Cross, and the Magic Belt. For the first time ever, I actually went the path of strength in the Plane of Peril and won a commanding victory.

So yeah definitely a lot of luck involved, both on drawing the early Orb, and just managing to land on the various upturned monster cards. That would play out a lot better in a larger game because there would be even more upturned monster cards during the early game. I'd happily play as him again though.

Your victory is part due to luck and part due to the opponent. The Dwarf has lots of abilities but not a single one makes the Character's growth easier. He needn't increase stats too much, but this is definitely not easy. Perhaps he should have headed for the Middle Region as soon as he got a chance, there being safe from your attacks and to pray at the Temple.

The Assassin is very strong if other players can't defeat the opponents. If you had played against Monk, Troll or Warrior it wouldn't have been so easy, even with the Orb of Knowledge.

This is another interesting case of "character power varying with player number and type of opponents".

The only thing 'He should of headed to the middle region sooner'

Personally I'm *THERE* at the 1st chance I get, that being said, if you dont find or can't afford an Axe or dont get a quick teleport up, it becomes very frustrating. Early in the game the Sentinel Path is just out of the question.

Most people jump at a chance to get to the middle region, multiple spaces to draw multiple cards