One of the exciting things about Talisman is the variety of characters one can play in the game- all with their own unique powers, strategies, and way of “winning” to the Crown of Command. We all have our “favorite” character- one that captures our imagination, fits our preferred play-style, the one we hope to draw from the starting deck…
For me, it’s the GLADIATOR.
From a narrative perspective, I like to imagine a back story for each character in the game, and with the Gladiator, I picture him as an escaped or recently liberated slave, trained in the fighting pits in a long lost Romanesque realm, coming to the land of Talisman to both test his skills, and gain the Crown as the ultimate prize.
Tactically he has a lot to offer the player, and I consider him one of the better long-term characters to draw/play.
Some characters start out stronger than others, and if you draw such a character you want to move FAST before the other players catch up with magic objects, followers, and traded trophies. Often such characters start losing their power mid/end game- such as the Troll and other characters with a higher than average starting strength- an advantage at the beginning of the game, but soon even the Wizard is looking at 10+ strength.
The Gladiator’s main strength is his armor bonus and follower recruitment- the starting helmet is “ok”, but quickly gets dumped for some armor.
Typically the Gladiator fights with strength and with any quipped armor he gets a +1 to the roll- so a 3+ with regular armor, which if you also have a fate point handy boosts that to a 3+ with a re-roll- more powerful than many players think at first.
Second to this the Gladiator quickly jacks his strength to insane levels as his followers add a +1 strength bonus in combat, plus any bonuses from traded in strength trophies.
Tactically, he is a mid-game run for the Crown of Command character as you will quickly gain your strength through trophies/followers, plus the armor bonus building in a sort of life cushion vs. the strength encounters- pit fiends, alternate endings, etc.