Bart Cassidy

Each time he is hit, draws a card.

I always enjoy playing this character.

Black Jack

Shows the second card drawn: if it is of Heart or Diamonds, draws an additional card.

From an informal 2003 survey among italian players, Black Jack emerged as the strongest character in the basic set. I don't agree completely: in my opinion, Calamity Janet is even stronger.

Calamity Janet

May play BANG! cards as Missed!, and vice versa.

One of the characters I like, maybe the one I like most!

El Gringo

Each time he is hit by a player, draws randomly a card from the hand of that player.

Jesse Jones

May draw the first card from the hand of any player of his choice.

I saw several National Championships, like the 2009 Final, won by the player using this character wisely.

Jourdonnais

Each time he is hit by a BANG!, he may "draw!": on Heart, he is Missed!

Kit Carlson

Looks at the first 3 cards of the deck and chooses the 2 cards to draw.

Lucky Duke

Each time he has to "draw!", reveals 2 cards and chooses the one to use for the "draw!".

Paul Regret

All players see him at distance increased by 1.

Pedro Ramirez

May draw the first card from the top of the discard deck.

Rose Doolan

She sees all other players at distance decreased by 1.

Even if she has an interesting ability, in my opinion this is maybe the weakes character of the basic set.

Sid Ketchum

May discard 2 cards from the hand to regain 1 life point.

Originally he had 3 life points due to his strong defensive ability. However, intensive playtest showed that he needs 4 life points altogether.

Slab the Killer

Players need 2 Missed! to avoid his BANGs.

Suzy Lafayette

As soon as she remains with no cards in her hand, she draws a card from the deck.

 I really like this strong character which is never surprised with no cards in hand. The first three editions of the game had  a different picture. 

Vulture Sam

When a player is eliminated, Vulture Sam draws all the cards both in hand and in play of that character.

Willy the Kid

He may play any number of BANG! cards.

According to many, Willy the Kid is so strong that he must have 3 life points. I don't agree: 3 life points are for characters with very strong defensive abilities, while Willy the Kid is almost a disaster on the defensive side: among other things, he lends to play all the BANG!