Liu Shan

Liu Shan 刘禅 Destiny's Inactive Man 无为的真命主 Pleasure 享乐 When someone attacks Liu Shan, they must immediately discard another basic card. Otherwise, the attack and does nothing. Decentralization 放权 Liu Shan can choose to skip his action phase.  At the end of his turn, he discards an additional hand card.  He can choose another character and allow them to immediately have a turn. After this turn, the person to Liu Shan's right begins their turn. Seem Foolish 若愚 King Ability: When Liu Shan has or is tied for the least amount of health at the beginning of his turn, he immediate increases his health limit by one, recovers one unit of health, and permanently gains Fierce General.

Clarification:

•      When another character Attacks Liu Shan, they cannot use an ability that converts other cards into basic cards to satisfy the additional basic card requirement of "Pleasure." For example, Guan Yu cannot discard a red-suit tool or equipment card as an Attack for this extra basic card requirement. 
•      If another character Attacks Liu Shan with discarding another basic card, the Attack has no effect on Liu Shan. For example, the Gender Swords ability cannot be activated against Liu Shan by a female character unless they discard another basic card when Attacking him.
•      When using "Decentralization," Liu Shan must discard an additional hand card after the discard phase. The end result of this will most often be that Liu Shan ends his turn with a number of hand cards equal to his health limit minus one.
•      If Liu Shan is the victim of Capture, he cannot use "Decentralization." If Liu Shan's action phase is skipped by this tool card, he does not have it to forfeit for his ability.
•      "Fierce General" is Liu Bei's king ability. When "Seem Foolish" goes into affect, Liu Shan can call upon other Shu characters to provide Attack cards for him when he needs an Attack.
  

Strengths

Weaknesses

"Pleasure" provides defense against the most common method of causing damage: Attacking. Even if it is unsuccessful in dissuading enemies from Attacking Liu Shan, it still forces them to discard a basic card. This may leave them more open to being damaged outside of their turn.      "Decentralization" can be very powerful when used with a powerful character. While it does not permanently disrupt the turn order, it can still cause problems for some players if they did not anticipate a more powerful character getting an extra turn.

"Pleasure" is not as much of a deterrent as it initially may seem. Basic cards are quite common and it is not usually a big deal to discard an additional one to make an Attack work.      "Pleasure" gives Liu Shan no defense against tool cards.      "Decentralization" does not result in a 'net gain' in terms of cards/turns for Liu Shan's team. Liu Shan has his drawing phase, but skips his action phase. He must then discard an additional card at the end of his turn. This usually results in a net loss of cards for Liu Shan. Then, Liu Shan's ally gets additional drawing, action, and discard phases. The character to which Liu Shan gives an extra turn must have a very powerful ability or else this power will not be very effective.      "Decentralization" prevents Liu Shan from equipping weapons, horses, and armor during his turn. It also prevents him from using Peaches if he is damaged. This can be problematic if Liu Shan wants to use this ability, but draws equipment cards or Peaches.

Notable Combinations:

•      Hua Tuo/Sun Shang Xiang - These characters have healing abilities. This is very useful when Liu Shan is very damaged. The extra turns essentially give Liu Shan more health.

•      Diao Chan/SP Diao Chan/Zhang Liao/Zhang He/Yuan Shu/Lu Su/Zhuge Liang/Cao Zhi - These characters have powerful abilities that make "Decentralization" very worthwhile.

•      Diao Chan/Yan Liang and Wen Chou/Xun Yu/Xun You/Dian Wei/Yuan Shao  - These characters have abilities that allow them to hurt Liu Shan without the use of Attack cards. They can pose a great threat to Liu Shan's health.

•      Lu Bu/Ma Chao/Pang De - These characters have very powerful Attack powers. They can be very damaging to Liu Shan.

King	Liu Shan can be a very good king, assuming that he has powerful loyalists. Because Liu Shan cannot do very much during his own turns, it is great that he can hand over his turn to more competent characters. The loyalists will see Liu Shan and hopefully pick characters like Yuan Shu and Diao Chan who can make very good use of the extra turns.
Loyalist	Liu Shan is a competent loyalist. "Decentralization" is great because it can allow him to give the king extra turns. Also, other rebels may be less likely to Attack him due to the effects of "Pleasure" if they are able to reach the king instead.
Rebel	Liu Shan is a serviceable rebel. Because he cannot communicate with the other rebels before they choose their characters, they may not choose characters that can greatly benefit from "Decentralization." However, it is likely that at least one other rebel will pick a powerful character that can benefit from an extra turn each round.
Spy	Liu Shan is a mediocre spy. "Pleasure" will make most other plays less likely to Attack him, but  "Decentralization" is hard to use in moderation. Giving the wrong person an extra turn at the wrong time may give one side too big of an advantage. Additionally, Liu Shan is not very good in a one-on-one battle.

Final Remarks:

     Liu Shan is a character that seems outstanding on paper, but has some problems when used. He is like the Liu Shan that you can read about in Romance of the Three Kingdoms: very inept on his own and completely reliant on allies to do well. It cannot be stressed enough that he needs very powerful allies to increase his chances of winning. With powerful allies who are controlled by players who are adept at this game, Liu Shan can be very powerful in his own right.

Alternate Appearances: