Best character to grab the Emerald Codex?

[brandondash]

I ran through the new adventure and I gave the codex to Kyra. At the time I didn't think anything of it because "It's a bunch of divine spells. Why wouldn't I give it to her?" Now I'm not so sure.

 

After playing with it a few times two things have become clear to me.

1. This thing is freaking awesome
2. Kyra doesn't need it.

I'm thinking that 3 free divine spells are great no matter who the character is. That means we need to theorycraft about the metabuilds of the various characters to determine who would get the most benefit for the least drawback.

 

"What drawback?"

 

Well if you're like me you prefer to play with bigger parties (3 is the minimum). Big parties mean everybody is burning all their cards in a race against the blessing timer. That means your life total can get precarious toward the end. I've had plenty of characters die for the greater good to finish a 5 person scenario. Every single card counts, and the Codex is one less. Maybe not a big deal in a 2 person team, but definitely a big deal in some situations.

 

We need to turn this into an advantage somehow. My first thought is to give it to anyone who specializes in cycling decks, whether it be through spells (Ezren), blessings (Seelah, Kyra, Merisiel), weapons (Harsk, Valeros) or base kit (Sajan). Right now I'm thinking Sajan so that I can get to his healing staff as many times as possible.

 

I'm interested in what other people think about this!

[Nathan Davis]

Incidentally, I have a prioritization system for granting Loot cards. There are a few factors that go into this, but I try to give it to character who can best use it. That means they have an appropriate skill, card feats, or powers that take advantage. The Emerald Codex is interesting because as long as you have an item slot free, it's useful.

 

In this case, if you have Lem in your party, he gets it! Part of that is because he can take advantage of divine spells that look for the the divine skill like Swipe and Holy Light.

[Nym]

In this case, if you have Lem in your party, he gets it! Part of that is because he can take advantage of divine spells that look for the the divine skill like Swipe and Holy Light.

 

So, I know you're, like, the guy in charge of making this whole thing, but I want to disagree. For the likes of Lem, the game already contains a wealth of high-quality caster items such as Orbs, Want of Enervation, Amulet of Location, etc. On the other hand, its starved for decent non-caster items. Nearly everything without an Arcane or Divine requirement is very situational, and so often ends up dead or as discard fodder. It's bad enough that even minus the cure effect Staff of Minor Healing would remain one of the best items in the game simply for the deck thinning and card cycle.

 

I think the power to go in any character's deck without diluting it is what makes the Emerald Codex most valuable, because while a handful of its spells want the Divine skill, most don't. This makes it ideal for characters like Sajan or Valeros, who lack both access to general purpose caster items and/or the ability to convert dead cards into resources à la Merisiel or Amiri.