Naomi Joslyn

Naomi Joslyn is a determined, even fanatical, opponent to the demons. She is a terrific all-round hero. She is the character whose initial figure was misprinted by China, so I now own a giant action figure of her, which I love. In her backstory, her eye was possessed by demon power so she has to wear an eyepatch – otherwise her demon eye will constantly be bringing her horrible images and misconstrued ideas. If you’ve ever read The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson, the hobgoblin’s mirror has the similar effort. Later on, Naomi is able to acquire her Otherworld Vision ability – this represents her taking off the eyepatch, and using that demon eye when she’s in Hell – because only here does it operate usefully for her!

Naomi’s Abilities

Her start attack is 1d6, with a toughness of 2, starting Luck of 4, and 6 health. So far, pretty average.

However, Naomi has the Nimble ability, which lets her move 1 area during the Team phase. This is incredibly useful, though it may not initially sound like it. But consider these awesome uses:

• If she’s in the Start Area, she can recruit, then use Nimble to move a space away. Then in her hero turn, she can fight demons in that area, and return to the Start, so she can recruit again next turn.
• She can move three spaces per turn thus taking the fight to the boss when he’s otherwise too far off.
• She can move to an empty spot, so her First Aid is free.

Her earned abilities are Focus and Otherworld Vision. Focus lets her flip any attack die roll of “1” to its maximum level. This means, in effect, that her 1d6 roll possibilities become 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6. Which also means she ALWAYS kills a Limbo minion (toughness 1) when she attacks. Otherworld Vision is “only” useful in a Lord Battle – it represents her scarred demon eye, and adds 1d8 to her attack during Hell Time.

Her weakness is that she cannot use First Aid on herself, because she is so obsessed with vengeance. This tends to weaken her over time of course, but also forces her to depend on other heroes. Usually the way it’s done is she keeps fighting until her health is frighteningly low, then she shrieks for help from the other heroes.

How Naomi works

Naomi is a fun hero, because her Nimble ability makes her super-flexible, her Focus ability is plain awesome, and her Otherworld Vision helps to remind everyone that they need to peck away at the boss from time to time. Her mobility means she is good at placing ambushes in awkward spots, too.

Naomi’s tech tree starts off with a bang, immediately bumping up her attack die to a 1d8. The rest of her options add her abilities, +1 toughness, and another 1d6 attack. Her ultimate tech tree slot lets her discard a despair die from the pool, and also caps the Despair pool at 11 instead of 12. As with most “ultimate slots” it’s not necessarily that amazing, but usually is just a place to drop one final gift you lust after.

A Tale of Sandy

So, Naomi is an old family name on my wife’s side, and also the name of my sadly deceased pooch. Joslyn is an old family on my side. So maybe Naomi Joslyn is related to my family. This implies that I might be the occult warrior she had blood ties to who died when the demons come through! Hmm. Better think about that.