These Are the 19 Red Dragon Inn Best Characters, Ranked

Red Dragon Inn is one of the first games I remember playing after I left behind the days when I believed Monopoly was the only board game in the universe.

My sister and brother-in-law introduced it to me and it’s basically been a staple in my family ever since. It’s safe to say that it’s one of my favorite board games.

Part of that may be the nostalgia factor.

Red Dragon Inn best characters

There are several expansions and versions of the Red Dragon Inn board game. So, if you’re selecting one, you want to make sure you get the best characters.

Better yet, maybe you’re at one of the game events right now and you have to choose a character to play.

Each character will certainly have strengths and weaknesses.

Which character you choose may depend on your personality. Do you like to play aggressively? Do you want to be defensive? Maybe you have a tendency to lose all your money in gambling.

When reading through this list, think about what type of player you want to be. If you want to know who the Red Dragon Inn best characters are, here are my top recommendations:

19. Zakhan the Drunken Master

Zakhan is a half-elf monk. He has his own special tracker that measures his chi.

This character has some of the most powerful action cards I’ve ever seen in the game, which become even more powerful as his chi increases.

The downside? He’s quite unstable.

While he’s fun to play, he can be a confusing character for new players and you’ll likely lose the game because you can’t control his more than usual amounts of alcohol content.

18. The Wench

This bar wench is a human waitress. She has a special deck of reserve drinks that will sometimes help or hurt other players.

Her strength is her ability to avoid the effects of drinks.

She’s basically the complete opposite of Zakhan.

17. Brother Bastian

This cleric plays with a special deck of prayer cards.

Brother Bastian’s prayer cards can be powerful, but they come at a cost. This character gains prayer tokens throughout the game, which allow him to play the prayer cards later.

He’s fairly simple to play compared to other complex characters and he comes with great abilities.

16. Serena the Pious

Serena is an orc who struggles to stay on the righteous path.

Her character comes with a piety tracker that will either move up or down. The lower it goes, the more powerful she becomes.

Serena was my sister’s favorite character for a period of time. The character consistently performs well.

15. Gog the Half-Ogre

Gog used to be my favorite character.

I didn’t always win, but I had a lot of fun with Gog.

He’s a pretty good defensive player and he usually packs a punch. The title of the cards usually have a lot of flavor.

It’s fun to say things like, “Gog not know own strength” when hitting someone or, “This tastes yucky” when avoiding drinks.

Still, his main weakness is that he’s bad at gambling. This will be the most likely thing that knocks Gog out of the game.

14. Kaylin the Renegade

Kaylin is a tiny pixie enchanter with a large companion, Wulfric the wolf.

I don’t see Kaylin win a lot of games. However, if you’re playing your first game, she is beginner-friendly and I’d classify her as one of the simple characters that still holds her own.

Her companion Wulfric also makes her a lot of fun to play.

Sometimes Wulfric is helpful, but not all the time. For example, he rotates moods throughout the game. If he’s feeling destructive, you might find yourself owing more money to the inn.

13. Evil Pooky (and Pooky the Vicious)

This character is a fan favorite, probably because he’s so adorable when he’s not being crazy.

Pooky is the familiar for Zot the Wizard, and the rabbit packs a good punch.

Pooky the Vicious is a fun character deck to play and is pretty straightforward for new players.

Evil Pooky is a bit more complex and comes with a doppelganger deck. Both are fun characters to play and hold their own on a competitive level.

12. Warthorn Redbeard

Warthorn is a talkative dwarf and is generally ranked pretty highly among Red Dragon Inn players.

He comes with a special Stories Deck that can have special effects throughout the game.

His cards have a lot of heavy text on them, which can be fun but tedious at times.

11. Lizwick the Collector

Lizwick is a hoarder gnome that always has something up her sleeve.

She has items that can come in handy throughout the game.

This actually makes her a pretty powerful character to play. It’s one of my sister’s absolute favorite characters.

10. Wizgille the Tinkerer

This character is an artificer who is constantly tinkering with gadgets. She comes with a Gear Deck that can either help or hurt her.

There is a lot of variability with this character but she consistently plays pretty well.

Sometimes, these projects can backfire which will make her character a little unpredictable.

9. Piper, Eagle-Eyed Sniper

Piper is a marksman who plays with special Arrow Cards. This gives her additional cards that can deal extra damage to the other players.

She’s fairly simple to play yet is definitely powerful enough. I guess you could say she consistently hits the mark.

8. Jasper the Bouncer

Jasper is a human mage. His character is consistently underrated, in my opinion.

In fact, I love playing with Jasper. He’s very good at being defensive and therefore, hard to beat.

Plus, it’s fun when he loses his teeth in someone else’s drink.

7. Eve the Illusionist

Eve has a lot of defense cards that can avoid negative effects. Take a drink? What drink?

Playing defensively is the best way to play the game if you have a large number of players.

Her deck is simple and doesn’t have many extra bells or whistles. Still, she can use her powers to conjure illusions of coins or deceive other players which make her very powerful.

Being an illusionist has its upsides.

6. Wrench

Wrench is an artificer, similar to Wigzille, with an interest in gadgets and engineering.

He plays with gizmos which usually help him play defensively.

I recently played in an at-home tournament with about 20 people and made it to the top 3 while playing Wrench.

5. Molly the Stablehand

Molly is a halfling with a lot of animal friends who both help and sometimes hurt throughout the game.

This character is consistently top-rated as some of the companions can be quite powerful.

4. Baron von Vlazlo

Baron is a human-vampire who has mastered the art of shapeshifting. His character plays with blood tokens, which he can spend to gain extra abilities and moves.

He also plays with a bat deck and a wolf deck, which avoid effects and deal damage, respectively.

It’s a somewhat complicated deck for newer players but he’s quite powerful.

This character deck made it to second place in my previously mentioned at-home tournament.

3. Brewmaster Phrenk

Speaking of favorites among my family, Phrenk is my husband’s favorite character.

Phrenk is a troll alchemist with a skill for making potions.

Best of all, he has the option to sell his potions to other characters. The potions help him in a variety of ways, and this makes him to be a well-rounded, competitive player.

2. Ripsnarl, Bad Dog

Ripsnarl is a shapeshifting fighter that will either turn human or turn wolf throughout the game.

Effects may vary depending on the character’s current form. In its human form, Ripsnarl gains fury, which eventually become damage to deal to other players.

It’s no surprise that this werewolf can pack a punch.

This character may be confusing to play for newer players compared to other decks.

1. Lich King

The Lich King is an ancient skeletal mage that has transferred his power into his severed hand.

It means he has strong defense and he knows how to fight.

One of my friends who owns the complete set of Red Dragon Inn consistently plays with the Lich King. And, he usually does pretty well when playing against large groups.

If this is his pick for best character, that speaks volumes to me.

Who are the worst characters in Red Dragon Inn?

My personal least favorite characters in Red Dragon Inn include Fleck the Bard, Joran the Trickster, Chronos the Time Mage, Dimli the Drawf and the Magnificent Adonis, Bard of the Ages.

Flower and Spyke, which are sold in a standalone version of the game, as also consistently low-rated.

I have the standalone with Flower and Spyke, a new expansion in my collection, and I think they play fine by themselves. You may enjoy having this version of the game if you like Munchkin.

However, I have never tried to play outside of the standalone game. While I think it’s a good game on its own, I could see how they may not hold up well with other players.

What is Red Dragon Inn?

Red Dragon Inn is a “drinking card game” that does not involve any drinking at all.

It’s a great competitive game that is based in the world of Dungeons and Dragons.

In the game, our adventuring companions are returning to the tavern after a long day. At the tavern, they will have a night of drinking, getting in fights and gambling.

The object of Red Dragon Inn is to be the last conscious adventurer remaining.

To win as the last person standing, our characters must stay sober, maintain their health and manage to not lose all of their money.

How many people can play Red Dragon Inn?

The game typically plays 2-4 players. However, if you buy new characters and expansions you can essentially play with as many people as you want.

I’ve played games with about 20 people, but it does get obnoxious if you play with more than about 5-7 players.

With a game of 20 people, most players will just lose their money before having a chance to play.

Read Also: What are the best 3 player board games? My top 5, ranked

How to play Red Dragon Inn

The game rules are quite simple. Each character will have a special character deck, a player mat and ten gold coins.

Each round, a player will discard and draw to refine their deck, take an action, draw a drink card and finally, give a drink to another player.

Character cards will either be an action, a sometimes card or an anytime card. Some cards may also be specified for gambling.

Action cards will have different effects. For example, some action cards deal fortitude damage to other players.

Sometimes cards are usually reactive. Notably, they can be defensive or affect a player’s alcohol content by adding effects to a drink.

Players may also start a round of gambling, which essentially acts like a game within the game.

The Red Dragon Inn series is made by Slugfest Games.

Who are your favorite Red Dragon Inn characters? Do you agree with the list? Let me know in the comments.