The Druid and the Trickster

My wife and I are starting a fresh Frostgrave campaign using the new 2nd Edition rules. In our previous campaign, I had played a Thaumaturge and my wife was playing a Soothsayer, but we decided to use entirely new wizards and warbands this time. Here are our wizards and warbands for the start of the campaign.

The Druid

The Druid’s Spellbook

• Animal Companion
• Call Storm
• Fog
• Heal
• Mud
• Plague of Insects
• Spell Eater
• Strength

For spells, I wanted to go with the theme of a druid using nature against his enemies. The witch school was definitely the best fit for that theme. My first spell choice was Animal Companion. I liked the opportunity to have some animals alongside my soldiers to offer more variety. Then I decided to go with Fog and Mud to let me manipulate the battlefield to hinder enemy soldiers and wandering monsters. For allied schools, I went with Strength, Spell Eater, and Plague of Insects. Strength is a useful spell to boost the power of one of my animals or soldiers. Spell Eater gives me a way to deal with any annoying spell my opponent casts. Plague of Insects is a way to hinder an enemy soldier (probably focusing on one with a bow), and it was also the only summoner spell that felt like it matched the nature theme. For my last two spells, I chose Heal to help keep my warband alive and Call Storm because it felt like a thematic choice even if I’m not sure I’ll cast it often.

The Druid’s Warband

• Audric Silverbeard the Druid
• Roslin the Apprentice
• Jormund the Barbarian
• Nils the Tracker
• Dimitri the Archer
• Will the Thug
• Greta the Thug
• Leif the Thief
• Jarl the Bear
• Jaeger the Snow Leopard

For my warband, I wanted to focus on soldiers that would feel at home in the wilderness. Towards that end, I hired a barbarian, a tracker, and an archer with my starting coins. The barbarian is my main soldier to charge in and claim a contested treasure. The other two specialists will give me a pair of bows to use for taking on enemies from a safe distance. I’m aiming to have two animal companions in my warband, but if I fail those casting rolls before the first game then the animals will be replaced by an extra thief or thug.

The Trickster

The Trickster’s Spellbook

• Awareness
• Fleet Feet
• Fool’s Gold
• Glow
• Heal
• Invisibility
• Push
• Telekinesis

Telekinesis was my wife’s favorite spell from our 1st edition campaign, so when she was making her new wizard she knew it would be one of her picks. With that in mind, she initially looked at making an Enchanter, but she didn’t like enough of the other spells from that school. Instead, she opted to play an Illusionist to give herself some more spells that give her tricks like having enemies drop treasure or making her own soldiers invisible. A lot of her other choices went towards spells that will make her warband more efficient – Awareness, Fleet Feet, Glow, and Heal.

The Trickster’s Warband

• Freya the Trickster
• Ophelia the Apprentice
• Sylvia the Knight
• Leopold the Ranger
• Karl the Infantryman
• Robb the Thug
• Scarlet the Thug
• Moira the Thief
• Jess the Thief
• Annabelle the Thief

My wife decided to spend her initial coins on an apprentice, a knight, a ranger, and an infantryman. Then she picked out 3 thieves and 2 thugs to fill out her warband.

Optional Rules

For our campaign, we’re pretty much using all of the optional rules in the rulebook. We play with critical hits and wounded during battles. If a scenario doesn’t have an existing rule for monsters, we use random encounters to let creatures show up. Outside of battles, we use the black market rule to restrict what we can buy. If we get the campaign to the point where Transcendence would matter, we’ll probably go ahead and use it as a victory condition too.