Seelah is far and away the best all-around character thusfar

[brandondash]

Prescript: I haven't played the tabletop version of the game, and I don't know what challenges await us in future adventure decks. What I have done is play through "Hook Mountain Massacre" on legendary with every character specialization, and although I hold a special place in my heart for Drunken Master it is obvious Seelah is the best character regardless of which kit you choose.

• Role Card: Hospitalier
  
• Skill Feats: Str+1, Wis+3
  
• Power Feats: +1 hand size (total 5), Crusade, Ceaseless Crusade, Inspired Grace, Iomedae's Benediction, Inheritor's Favor
  
• Card Feats: Weapon 3, (+2) Spells 3, Armor 3, Item 0, Ally 2, (+1) Blessing 7
  
• Weapons: Horsechopper + 1, Impaler of Thorns, Shock Glaive + 1
  
• Spells: Scrying, Major Cure, Cure
  
• Armors: Elven Breastplate, Elven Breastplate, Magic Half-Plate
  
• Items:
  
• Allies: Poog of Zarongel, Toad
  
• Blessings: 5 Bless of Iomedae, 2 Favor of Iomedae
  

So there she is. I'd rather have Father Zantus over Toad but I can't seem to get one to save my life. I've set her nickname to "Unstoppable" because that's what she is. She can solo any scenario in the game with ease. She can play support. She can carry new characters through adventures. She can't be killed. When I play her with other people they can't be killed. She has literally zero weaknesses.

 

Crusade/Ceaseless Crusade: These two powers enable her to burn through location decks faster than any other character in the game except Ezren (and even he can only outpace her under very limited circumstances). The speed alone merits her placement in the top tier. Anyone who has tried to finish a scenario with five people knows what I'm talking about. The thing is, speed is only half of the benefit of Crusade. This power makes her the first/last/best choice for any location where you have detrimental effects when exploring or disadvantages to staying:

• Mountain Peak
  
• Shrine to Lamashtu
  

Inspired Grace/Iomedae's Benediction: Dexterity Roll? No problem! Intelligence Roll? No problem! Combat? No problem! Having an extra d6 for any check in the game would be insane even it had a heavy drawback. With Seelah you get an extra die and it costs you nothing - no recharge, no bury, no discard. It might (less than half the time) thin your deck by a card, but with as many as six heals available to you (3 spells, 2 allies, healing hands power) the risk is effectively nonexistent. This power removes every potential weakness Seelah has for free and allows her to eschew bringing teammates the game is designed to require.

 

Inheritor's Favor: Another insane power only available to a few characters. Whereas most characters get powers to boost their blessings, Seelah (along with Merisiel and Kyra) gets to recharge hers. Recharging your blessings instead of discarding? Yes please! This power is what enables Seelah to maintain a strong solo presence while simultaneously freeing her up to take on more support cards (Scrying and Augury). She effectively never runs out of cards and can always help someone in desperate need of help with their check.

 

TLDR: Fastest location diver, insulated from various location-based detrimental effects, free dice for any check, and recycling of blessings, oh and she's a healer. Nobody can compete.

 

 

brandon-

 

edit: Replaced Horsechopper+1 with Bastard Sword+1. Replaced Toad with Father Zantus. Replaced Cure with Improved Aid.

Edited September 29, 2016 by brandondash

[Nym]

No question, Seelah is in a league of her own. Other characters might slightly outstrip her in one specific area or another, such as Seoni's faster exploration or Ezren's superior combat support, but her all-around high marks in every single facet of gameplay make her the one truely mandatory party member in my opinion.

Edited September 21, 2016 by Nym

[Nathan Davis]

Yep! It's just science!

 

The Lead Designer on PACG, Chad Brown, thinks so.

[Tiltowait]

Hurm. So far with Seelah this has been her record:

Drew Nuala, lost 4 cards (entire hand). Lost game.

Next 5 games encountered specters, ghosts, and other banes that require magic to defeat. Impossible to defeat, therefor could never close locations, lost game.

Game 6 stopped cold by arcane check needed in one location, magic needed in other. Lost game.

Working on game 7 now, just ran into another Spectere, so this may be 0 for 7. Hoping not.

Used her crusade ability, in 3 of the games her first pull was Cure, her only spell.

 

I did win games 8 and 9, managed to acquire a inflict spell to finally finish off a spectere. The kobld boss wiped my hand before the fight so it was extremely close. Did not pick up anything of value yet but at least she is out of her losing streak.

Edited September 22, 2016 by Tiltowait

[stevozip]

Hurm. So far with Seelah this has been her record:

Drew Nuala, lost 4 cards (entire hand). Lost game.

Next 5 games encountered specters, ghosts, and other banes that require magic to defeat. Impossible to defeat, therefor could never close locations, lost game.

Game 6 stopped cold by arcane check needed in one location, magic needed in other. Lost game.

Working on game 7 now, just ran into another Spectere, so this may be 0 for 7. Hoping not.

Used her crusade ability, in 3 of the games her first pull was Cure, her only spell.

 

I did win games 8 and 9, managed to acquire a inflict spell to finally finish off a spectere. The kobld boss wiped my hand before the fight so it was extremely close. Did not pick up anything of value yet but at least she is out of her losing streak.

 

My results are similar to yours.  Seelah is always the last character I look at when setting up a game (quest or story).  She's more of a liability than an asset in my opinion.

[ugoth]

Hurm. So far with Seelah this has been her record:

Drew Nuala, lost 4 cards (entire hand). Lost game.

Next 5 games encountered specters, ghosts, and other banes that require magic to defeat. Impossible to defeat, therefor could never close locations, lost game.

Game 6 stopped cold by arcane check needed in one location, magic needed in other. Lost game.

Working on game 7 now, just ran into another Spectere, so this may be 0 for 7. Hoping not.

Used her crusade ability, in 3 of the games her first pull was Cure, her only spell.

 

I did win games 8 and 9, managed to acquire a inflict spell to finally finish off a spectere. The kobld boss wiped my hand before the fight so it was extremely close. Did not pick up anything of value yet but at least she is out of her losing streak.

To mitigate some of the disadvantages you are describing there are somethings to do that take away they disadvantages, making her the best.  

 

First of all she shines most in a larger party where exploring speed is of primary concern since you are up against turns more than character survival. In small parties the turns matter less.

 

when you encountered nualia and lost your hand really you must have been kinda unlucky as 20% of seelah's deck is armor cards and having a defaulted 4 card hand size your odds of having 1 armor card are about 60% in your opening hand and as you explore you should be trying to hold on to one armor card that you can bury to negate all damage. there is no other character that has by default more armor cards so this could have happened to any other character just as easy.

 

for dealing with the magic is accomplished by the use of weapons, try to equip her with weapons that are +1 these all have the magic trait to them. Even if you can't defeat one and they shuffle back into the location you can still find the henchman and close out the location that way.

 

for arcane checks i think the highest check to close a location is 8 which can be difficult for her but not impossible d4 +d6 from inspired grace and without any other cards or upgraded inspired grace it is doable. use a blessing from her or another character and it is a cake walk.

 

for discarding cure you really should use your card skills to add more spells so that you have 3 and having the ally father zantus doesnt hurt either plus when you get to the role skill you can make her have more healing potential.

 

overall even without a fully formed deck and limited skill advancement there is not a character that comes close to being a all a rounder as seelah

[firestormkirby]

when you encountered nualia and lost your hand really you must have been kinda unlucky as 20% of seelah's deck is armor cards and having a defaulted 4 card hand size your odds of having 1 armor card are about 60% in your opening hand and as you explore you should be trying to hold on to one armor card that you can bury to negate all damage. there is no other character that has by default more armor cards so this could have happened to any other character just as easy.

He had to have been talking about a different character, Seelah always starts with an armor in her hand. That is her favored card.

[Ethics Gradient]

• Weapons: Horsechopper + 1, Impaler of Thorns, Shock Glaive + 1

I'm a little late to the Seelah party, but what's the reasoning behind your choice of Horsechopper +1?  

 

A base Seelah should have Weapons Proficiency, and that particular card has the notorious "If proficient with weapons, the difficulty of this check is increased by 4" text.  Seems like you'd be better off picking almost anything else.

 

Edit: Clarity

Edited September 29, 2016 by Ethics Gradient

[Hannibal_PJV]

Horsechopper is a Goblin weapon, so hard to use if you know how to use weapons... Little buggers

[brandondash]

 

• Weapons: Horsechopper + 1, Impaler of Thorns, Shock Glaive + 1

I'm a little late to the Seelah party, but what's the reasoning behind your choice of Horsechopper +1?  

 

A base Seelah should have Weapons Proficiency, and that particular card has the notorious "If proficient with weapons, the difficulty of this check is increased by 4" text.  Seems like you'd be better off picking almost anything else.

 

Edit: Clarity

 

 

I have replaced Horsechopper since posting this. At the time I had no better magical weapons and my reasoning was that it was better to have a magical weapon with worse rolls than to have a normal weapon that flat out wouldn't kill some monsters.

[Ethics Gradient]

I have replaced Horsechopper since posting this. At the time I had no better magical weapons and my reasoning was that it was better to have a magical weapon with worse rolls than to have a normal weapon that flat out wouldn't kill some monsters.

Gotcha.  Also, thanks for the post in general.  It reminded me that I should start a Seelah in quest mode, and I totally forgot how fun it was to erase location decks with Ceaseless Crusade.

[Tiltowait]

A shield is armor...Nuala does force damage which a shield doesn't stop.

 

I've managed to grind Seelah to the point where she has magic weapons and boosted her abilities that both spells and blessings recharge. Partnered her with Kyra to make up for bad RNG streaks and she's doing much better now.

[stevozip]

A shield is armor...Nuala does force damage which a shield doesn't stop.

 

I've managed to grind Seelah to the point where she has magic weapons and boosted her abilities that both spells and blessings recharge. Partnered her with Kyra to make up for bad RNG streaks and she's doing much better now.

 

Well, there's always the Shield of Force Resistance, though it's an AD3 treasure card.