Father Joseph -- Opinion

[mqstout]

Let's get to the bottom of this. How do you feel about Father Joe's power?

[vikinglad]

Often times, sos is a game-deciding power in our scenarios. Almost too good with Becky on his team, due to lnoe invulnerability.

[Twilight_Sonata]

I've never played a game where Father Joseph did nearly as well as people theorize that he could be. Strength of Spirit requires him to take a wound, and but it's not even guaranteed to work. Even with Holy Man granting immunity to "This Could Be Our Last Night On Earth...", teaming up with Becky still sounds way better in theory than I've ever seen it actually play out in practice. And on top of that, Holy Man prevents him from using guns, which is kind of a big deal. Granted, I've not played as much or with as many different groups as many others here probably have, but I never saw him considered anything other then bottom of the barrel until I came onto these boards.

[deadrabbit]

as a person who plays as zombies 90% of the time i can say he definitely is the most annoying hero to play against. him teamed up with becky is even worse. he cant use guns which sucks but when he plays faith it remains in play. out of the 16 heros id say hes top four.

---

i think people are focusing to much on the combat aspect of the hero. half the game is running and alot of scenarios dont even require you to kill a zombie. when you get cards played on you like bitten, desperate for flesh, or growing hunger, its extremely useful to be able to cancel them in any scenario.

[Pred]

I think I found out why everyone thinks that father Jo is a great
character. Its not a torch he carries but a stick with poo on the
end of it, and zombies would rather just die than be hit with a stick
of poo... Ok, seriously, Father Jo... bottom of the barrel. Just not
my shtick... <--pun

[mqstout]

Don't forget that Father Joe can retry canceling Remains in Play cards until he gets them.

[munkymuddface]

I can see and understand the potential of the good Father, however, in practice he has not often paid off. When I play, I am typically the Heroes, but I always draw random. I haven't played much recently, but when I was playing a lot, Joe seemed to rarely get pulled to use.
And in those rare occasions that I did pull him, SoS would often times net the ZP a free wound since my dice would not co-operate.

[Zinthos]

Just by himself he is ok at best, certainly not great.
Half of zombie cards are fight cards, which are mostly worth a chance of 1 wound to a hero. So they are rarely worth cancelling at the cost of a wound. Zombie movement cards usually aren't worth cancelling either. He is immune th TCBOLNOE, but not to Bickering (although he can cancel it).
Only the best of the zombie cards is worth 1 wound vs 50% chance of cancel. Without healing he will cancel about 1 card per game. Its a pretty crap ability without healing.

But add healing and he ROCKS.

I have rarely seen the heroes lose if Becky and FatherJo are both playing and make it to the same square. I ahve even seen the heroes win because the zombie player spent to much effort trapping and killing becky to stop this happening.

If you add Becky, he cancels 1 card 50% almost of turns. That 5-7 cards, which is a big improvement on his normal 1-2.

But the worst is when he camps in the Drug Store. (The hospital is bad enough, but the drug store gets him a crucial couple of squares further from the spawning pit.)

Father Jo with 2 cancel attempts per turn can devastate the Zombie player (and it can get worse if there is a second first aid in the pile or becky is paying). He teems up very well not only with Becky, but also with Amanda, the Prom Queen (he gets +1 dice from her without the TCBOLNOE threat), meanwhile she is almost unkillable when sharing a square with someone. He is also good with the Sheriff, since he makes camping safer and more practical.

So, in scenario's where camping is OK, he is a great character if Becky or the drug store is present, and very good from the hospital.

Both Becky and First Aid card harvesting limits movement. And in practice needs 2-3 Heroes (he cant hold a building by himself, especially if half his searches are First Aid card Pick Ups). In scenarios where the players have to go multiple places and do multiple things, it can be to costly to have his canceling engine work. So scenarios requiring movement are his major weakness.

Also, since camping is his strength, he can be kind of boring to play, as can whoever is helping him camp.

Lastly I strongly prefer the scenario's in which it turns out he is weakest, so he doesn't get much airtime anymore, but he is still very good when he is used.

[mqstout]

I'd like to clarify, it's not a 50% cancel. It's a 66% cancel (3 or higher). Don't focus solely on canceling events, either. Remember he's also holy, so Faith remains in play on him.

Also, for reference, I consider Father Joe #2 in power, after only Jake.

[Pred]

where do you guys think Victor stands? He is my first pick every time
I play.