Managing Retire-able CharactersBy Brian Hansen
Many positions in ME-PBM circa 1650 begin with what I term "retire-able characters." A retire-able character is one that can be replaced by a more potent character, merely by hiring a new character. A clear example is Rhudaur's character Marendil with Command 30. As Rhudaur hires new commanders at Strength 40, Marendil cam immediately by retired and replaced with a stronger (Command 40) character. A more subtle example is Ejenna of the Haradwatih. Ejenna is a multi-class character that cannot be replaced by a stronger multi-class character of equal skill categories. But based on my evaluation of multi-class characters, Ejenna is retire-able! What makes Ejenna retire-able is that Emissary-Mage is one of the most useless multi-class characters. Mage is usually a full-time occupation, between Prentice Magery, casting spells, and Spell Research there is not much time to build of Emissary skills. Ejenna begins the game as a poor Emissary and a poor Mage. Yes, Ejenna can be made into a useful character - any character can be useful. The point is why go through the Herculean efforts to make a character with the uncomplimentary skills of Emissary and Mage ability, get a leg up on the situation and replace Ejenna with a more potent 30 point Mage, decent 30 point Emissary, etc.; almost anything but a 10-20 Emissary-Mage. There are three things one can do with a retire-able character: 1. Use the character to perform those necessary actions which do not build skills. Market sells, retrieve artifacts, transfer artifacts, recruit, and Name Character come to mind. The character's skills do not increase but remember this character is performing these actions to allow a character you are going to keep to do the activities which do improve skills. 2. Use the character to perform high risk actions. Investigate ruins, talk to dragons, try an untested action in an encounter, personal challenges, lead armies in high risk situations -- just don't get captured if you have no agent skill (you want to get rid of the character, not support it in jail). I have some even more creative things in mind but I'll let you do a little thinking on your own. 3. Retire the character. The (better) replacement character may even come with an additional bonus to Challenge Rank, Stealth, or the like. The optimum time for retirement will vary: A) If you want to save a little money, do it sooner. B) After the character is injured seems a natural time. C) The most expedient time is when you have run up against your character limit. You will have had the use of your character for a number of turns. So, just as you hit your character limit, the character's final useful act is to retire itself to open a new character slot. (I hope retirement in your kingdom means a gold watch; not something more sinister). Luckily, most countries have 0-2 retire-able characters. To retire many characters would be laborious. I have taken considerations such as my personal evaluation of multi-class character type into account in developing this list. By my count, these are the characters which are retire-able:
Arthedain Alquawen A 10-10-10 Agent-Emissary-Mage
is hard to build up.
Cardolan Imlach A 40 Strength Commander can
replace.
Lanaigh A 40 Strength Commander can
replace.
Eothraim Aluiric A 40 Strength Commander can
replace.
Athaulf A 40 Strength Commander can
replace.
Gisulf A 40 Strength Commander can
replace.
Woodmen Chilperic Consider just naming a 30
Emissary for 10,000 gold.
Cloud Lord Ar-Gular A 10-20 Emissary-Mage is not
worth it.
Gontran A 40 Strength Agent can
replace.
Kadida A 40 Strength Agent can
replace.
Bl Sorcerer Mardrash A 40 Strength Mage can replace.
Do use Mardrash to get
artifacts.
Rhudaur Marendil A 40 Strength Commander can
replace.
Seammu A 40 Strength Commander can
replace.
Haradwaith Ejenna A 10-20 Emissary-Mage is not
worth it.
Shamara Katub A 10-20 Emissary-Mage is not
worth it.
Yezmin If this were any other country
I would keep to use as a
Commander-Agent.
A fine distinction: You might argue a character such as the Fire
King's Rozilan is expendable. Rozilan is a lousy emissary; an Emissary-Mage
which is hard to build into something potent...and with two better mages at
hand, does the Fire King need a third mage? The key point to note here is
that Rozilan cannot be replaced by a more potent character. Rozilan is a
30-point Mage and could at best be replaced by a 30-point Mage. This does
not fit into my definition of a "retire-able" character. Yes, she may be
expendable and you may use Rozilan as you might use a retire-able
character. But my discussion here focuses on "retire-able." You are invited
to take the principles concerning "retire-able" characters and apply them
to "expendable" characters, but that is a separate exercise.
I acknowledge that a case can be made for not retiring a retire-able character. It costs gold, the character can be trained up into something useful in a reasonable number of turns, etc. But consider it from this perspective: this is the only way you can increase the useful skills ranks of your characters by spending gold. To some countries gold is not a big issue. To all countries, character skill is a big issue and might be worth the gold anyway! Game playing is an art form, this is just one more color with which to weave your handiwork into the tapestry of Middle-earth.
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