187.html|@/@@TEXTR*ch L~>D` Thrain II

Thrain II

Character: Warrior/Ranger/Sage Dwarf
Mind: 9
Direct Influence: 2
Marshalling Points: 3
Prowess/Body: 7/8

Unique. +3 direct influence against Dwarves and Dwarf factions. Home site: None

Thrain is at the moment the best Dwarf, IMHO, even better than Thorin and Dain. He may not have the prowess bonuses or the specific faction ones, but his influence bonus is higher and his non-modified prowess is higher so he ends up looking better to me than they do. Though it's really a matter of personal opinion. Getting on to the review, Thrain is sort of like the Aragorn or the Elrond of Dwarves. He's very expensive but very good and powerful. He's missing Scout and Diplomat skills, neither of which is that difficult to get, and he does have Sage and Ranger skill (in addition to the ultra-common Warrior). He's expensive for mind, but he gets up to 6 direct influence when used on Dwarves, so it all evens out. He has the standard big-character 3 marshalling points, and the actually quite high prowess of 7, which only a few characters have and which only one has more than. And he has no home site, forcing you to play him at a haven. There are all sorts of useful things to do with Thrain. One of them is yesterday's card, King under the Mountain. With its influence bonuses added to his own, Thrain gets a whopping 10 direct influence against Dwarves and Dwarf factions. So you can use him almost as a backup Wizard (except without any special abilities) and send him around influencing Dwarven factions (even though there are only three of them) and controlling Dwarves. With a Dwarven Ring he REALLY starts to get powerful. 9 marshalling points with it (total of FOURTEEN with the bonus from King under the Mountain), SEVENTEEN direct influence (!), ELEVEN prowess, and 9 body. Talk about souped-up. Thrain turns into a marshalling point/influence/fighting juggernaut, better than a Wizard in every stat except mind. And he finally gets a special ability from the ring. Add Emerald of the Mariner and corruption checks become a bit easier and he becomes better in pretty much every way than Pallando (which would you rather do, see your opponent's hand or untap sites? I thought so) and the equal of most other Wizards. So overall Thrain II is a great character, the best Dwarf in the game and with modifiers the equal of some Wizards.
Ratings for: THRAIN II
RaterRatingRaterRating
Gandalf9.5Farmer Maggot8.0
Gollum9.3Isildur7.0
Legolas8.0Frodo8.5
Sauron9.0Glaurung8.5
SmaugN/AAverage8.48

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