I may have a bit of a problem

[plotulus]

My group has a High Elf of Rivendell and a Dunedain Ranger among them are a Hobbit of The Shire, a Barding of Dale, an Elf of Mirkwood, and a player who is most likely going to play a Dwarf of the Lonely Mountain. Are there any issues I should look out for.

[Otaku-sempai]

It might depend on how influenced your group is by the Peter Jackson movies. There should not be a great deal of inherent animosity between the Dwarves of Erebor and the Elves of either Mirkwood or Rivendell. A bigger problem might be how much more powerful your Ranger and High Elf will be compared to other starting Heroes as they might tend to dominate.

[plotulus]

Is there anyway I can remedy that?

[Glorelendil]

Oh, I haven't felt that Noldor and Dunedain are really that noticeably overpowered. If you were to do a statistical analysis of a bunch of game sessions you might notice the difference, but the variation in dice rolls is greater than the variation between cultures. What your players are far more likely to notice is the disadvantages of those cultures, especially Rangers not being able to refresh Hope from the Fellowship pool. That one rule is a real killjoy. (Or killhope, as the case may be.)

[Otaku-sempai]

As Glorelendil stated, it might not really be much of a problem. You'll have to see how it works with your group.

[plotulus]

Okay good. I was worried the game would just crash and burn due to having a Noldor and a Dunedain.

[Glorelendil]

Well the other risk is that your players will be disappointed that their characters aren't as badass as Aragorn and Glorfindel.

[zedturtle]

Noldor and Dúnedain are a bit tricky to play, mostly because of their limitations and not their abilities, as Glorelendil says. Rangers especially, as you have to give everyone else Hope and keep none for yourself ( ). It takes a real Hope-miser to make it work.

That said, they do have some pretty powerful abilities... a fully operational High Elf can make magical weaponry, beguile mortal minds and defy the power of the Shadow. Rangers can make for very impressive companions, especially in small groups (in larger groups some of their abilities are of lesser use). But their increased requirements for advancement mean that while they might initially be very impressive, once the heroes have adventured for a while, the others will catch up.

I would say not to worry about it... only actual play will reveal if it is really a problem.

[Rich H]

If you have rookie players then the one playing the Ranger could really struggle with the limitation of Hope usage from the Fellowship Pool. This really isn't to be underestimated and can seriously impact on a game. I wouldn't recommend a Ranger to a starting player having seen such a situation in action - they just don't know how to balance Hope spend effectively in my experience.

[Terisonen]

In my experience, as long as each player have his character strong in his area of competence, nothing will go wrong. And then, the majority of problem is the composition of the group of players.