The New Wave of Character Decks

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Hey Paizonians, Lone Shark has just turned over the files for the sixth wave of class decks—which are sometimes called character decks now, because we're having fun experimenting with new class-agnostic formats, but we can't stop calling them class decks, and this is a really long sentence now. Anyway, the Magus Class Deck, the Pathfinder Tales Character Deck, and Hell's Vengeance Character Deck 1 are all in Vic and Sonja's hands. Suffice it to say, we went a bit nuts on the new cards in these sets. Maybe a lot nuts.

We've also started work on the wave after that. Hell's Vengeance Character Deck 2 concludes our trip to Evil Land. This November deck features the pitborn assassin Emil, the dhampir necromancer Nyctessa, and the human torturer Zelhara. There's a whole lot of bad news in store for the allies in this set. If you want more backstabbing, backbiting, and backbreaking than you can reasonably imagine, this is the deck for you.

Where my wolf at?

In December, we're going to get a deck together for someone we've wanted to feature for a long time. Adowyn, the hunter we introduced in Wrath of the Righteous, is going to get her own spotlight in the Hunter Class Deck, and of course her wolf Leryn is coming along for the chase. People have been asking us to make Adowyn available in the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild for a year or more, but we never thought we had the right deck. Now we will.

And then, this mic drop.

The brainy bunch.

The new year will kick off with Occult Adventures Character Deck 1. Between it and its sequel, we'll be releasing all six mental masters. You'll find new versions of three Mummy's Mask stalwarts—the occultist Mavaro, the spiritualist Estra, and the adorable kineticist Yoon—alongside three all-new characters: the psychic Rivani, the mesmerist Meligaster, and the medium Erasmus. Which three will be in which set? We don't know yet! We're actually engaged in a Lockhorns-level imbroglio over who gets to design what with whom here. We don't know what will happen!

If only we had a way to predict the future. Ah well.

When we get done with these, we'll have made one hundred thirty-six characters for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, with no end in sight. It's been quite the creative process. And we'll keep it up as long as you let us.

So those are some upcoming decks of characters for you to play with. We'll preview all of these when we get closer to the release dates. Thanks for playing!

Mike Selinker
Adventure Card Game Lead Designer

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Tags: Class Decks Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Excellent news!
Though I guess you meant the MM stalwarts when refering to the occult classes instead of the WotR stalwarts ;)
Especially looking forward to the Magus and HV decks!

Lone Shark Games

Yes, I have already sent Vic that correction because I am dumb.


I a especially curious as to how the Mediums will work.

Silver Crusade

My disappointment at no investigator class deck for at least 11 months is tempered by my excitement over knowing there will be an Erasmus.


Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Looking forward to them. Any idea when we can expect pawn sets that include the PACG characters since Mummy's Mask?

My group prefers using the pawns over tokens to indicate player location and we're disappointed when we couldn't find half of the Mummy's Mask characters in any of the pawn sets.

(PACG was the biggest reason we were excited to get the pathfinder society pawn set when it came out as it had all of the PACG characters to the date of it's release)


With this announcement, the only AP character who is not eventually playable in PFSACG is Crowe.

Lone Shark Games

Crowe is going to like the Magus deck a lot, I predict.


Now we just need Kess the Bull (Lady Kessilandrie Anicia Vlastos), Quinn and Hakon to be in the next Adventure Path, and my dream is complete.


We also need Hayato and Reiko ;)


The one and only Mike Selinker wrote:
When we get done with these, we'll have made one hundred thirty-six characters for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

For those like me keeping score, it's very bad news.

That means we already know all characters up to something like February 2018.
Which seems to mean no new Adventure Path box until then.
How are we gonna survive?

Lone Shark Games

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I heartily recommend checking out Organized Play scenarios if you're looking at getting a bit more mileage out of the existing sets :)


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Doppelschwert wrote:
We also need Hayato and Reiko ;)

And Aric/Red Raven and the new iconic shifter from Ultimate Wilderness.

Also Stabby Bob and whoever that drow is that's been fighting Jirelle on Heroes of the High Court and Heroes of the Darklands.

But in the meantime... <3 Adowyn


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Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Could we get most of the AP cover NPCs as ACG characters? If we have a drow deck, I'd like to see some of those from Second Darkness to get cards.


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<3 <3 <3 Adowyn <3 <3

SO MANY CHARACTERS! SO MANY LADIES! <3

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16

I hope the magus deck is good. For the longest time, it made me sad my favorite class is one of the worst characters in the game.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Frencois wrote:

For those like me keeping score, it's very bad news.

That means we already know all characters up to something like February 2018.
Which seems to mean no new Adventure Path box until then.
How are we gonna survive?

Those of you who have been around a few years know that we put a year-long gap between the end of Wrath (October 2015) and the start of MM (October 2016) because our retailers and customers were telling us that we were releasing sets too close together.

That has turned out to be a good decision, and so I've said before that the gap between MM and the next set will be at least as long as the gap between Wrath and MM.

MM 6 shipped in March 2017, so even though we don't have a firm release date for the next set right now, I *can* definitively say there will not be a new AP box before March 2018.


Vic Wertz wrote:


MM 6 shipped in March 2017, so even though we don't have a firm release date for the next set right now, I *can* definitively say there will not be a new AP box before March 2018.

I see a glimmer there that there is some planning for a "next set." Maybe, pretty please, we can keep getting some crumbs about the next AP, even if it doesn't release until maybe summer 2018.


Vic Wertz wrote:
Those of you who have been around a few years ...

Yes we do know and indeed it was a good decision.

My remark was more a joke than anything else.
My group somehow plays 1 to 2 scenarios a week, so a full AP take some 4-5 months. So altogether each of us can play no more than 3 characters each year.
With 136 characters available, we already have enough for the next 50 years :-).
So I guess we can wait until next year...

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

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Frencois wrote:
With 136 characters available, we already have enough for the next 50 years :-).

You're not going to play each character through each AP? That'd keep you going another 200 years. They you can do the same for all the PFSACG seasons, keeping you busy for the rest of the millennia. C'mon—you know you want to.


Will there be new PFSACG scenarios then even if there isn't a new AP box? A full year+ without new content may be a problem for established PFSACG playgroups even if new characters are coming out.

Season of the Runelords helped bridge the Wrath to Mummy's gap...

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

Yeah, I'm definitely hoping there is a new season of PFSACG scenarios coming sooner than that.


A delay sounds good to me; our Guild group might get through Plundered Tombs and our starts at Runelords or Wrath by then.


I'm also hoping for new PFSACG scenarios in the meantime.

It would also be cool to know what the next set will be about; even if we can't play it for another year, I would be happy to hear some kind of announcement at a convention this year - I was looking forward to PaizoCon just for that.


I not envying the people who are designing a deck that works well for Mavaro that also has to work well for two other characters.

I feel like Mavaro needs his own deck.


elcoderdude wrote:

I not envying the people who are designing a deck that works well for Mavaro that also has to work well for two other characters.

I feel like Mavaro needs his own deck.

Funny enough, I see it exactly the opposite - Mavaro has the privilege to be able to feel at home with absolutely any of the class decks. He only really wants his cards to have multiple checks to acquire - and this is something that can only benefit the other characters.


Longshot11 wrote:
elcoderdude wrote:

I not envying the people who are designing a deck that works well for Mavaro that also has to work well for two other characters.

I feel like Mavaro needs his own deck.

Funny enough, I see it exactly the opposite - Mavaro has the privilege to be able to feel at home with absolutely any of the class decks. He only really wants his cards to have multiple checks to acquire - and this is something that can only benefit the other characters.

Mavaro can make do in any deck -- but definitely some work better for him than others.

Grand Lodge

I'm interested how they'll make a deck that supports an Aristocrat, a Bodyguard, and a Pirate...

Lone Shark Games

James McKendrew wrote:
I'm interested how they'll make a deck that supports an Aristocrat, a Bodyguard, and a Pirate...

This sounds like a setup for a bar joke.

As the "Tales" deck we've also got a lot of references to other elements from Pathfinder Tales.

It was definitely an interesting process, but I think it's a pretty snazzy deck. I hope that some groups will want to shuffle them into their boxes just because of a love of the webfiction/books.


Maybe one more chapter to season of goblins ;)
That would fill the Gap between releases quite nicely!
Or Evil versions for each released boxes as a new seasons. That would allow a lot new to play and Also usage to those new evilish class decks! And Also more reasons to buy those old boxes if you missed them...
Have to start practising my Evil mad scientist laughter...


After you're done with all the boxes and PFSACG seasons, you can also look into the homebrew section for additonal adventure paths.

If there was an official 'evil' season for the HV decks, I figure SnS would make a good setting to play the antiheroes, the shackles being in constant conflict with cheliax and all that.

Grand Lodge

Keith Richmond wrote:
James McKendrew wrote:
I'm interested how they'll make a deck that supports an Aristocrat, a Bodyguard, and a Pirate...
This sounds like a setup for a bar joke.

We can recycle an existing bar joke.

An Aristocrat, his Bodyguard, and a Pirate walk into a bar. Each orders a pint. Just after they are served, by AMAZING coincidence, three flies buzz over, and one lands in each of their drinks.

The Aristocrat pushes his pint away, disgusted.

His Bodyguard, shrugs, scoops the fly out of his pint with his pinky, and enjoys his pint.

The Pirate grabs the fly in HIS pint between his thumb and forefinger, holds it over his glass and shouts, "Spit it out, ye scurvy bastard!"

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

James McKendrew wrote:
Keith Richmond wrote:
James McKendrew wrote:
I'm interested how they'll make a deck that supports an Aristocrat, a Bodyguard, and a Pirate...
This sounds like a setup for a bar joke.

We can recycle an existing bar joke.

An Aristocrat, his Bodyguard, and a Pirate walk into a bar. Each orders a pint. Just after they are served, by AMAZING coincidence, three flies buzz over, and one lands in each of their drinks.

The Aristocrat pushes his pint away, disgusted.

His Bodyguard, shrugs, scoops the fly out of his pint with his pinky, and enjoys his pint.

The Pirate grabs the fly in HIS pint between his thumb and forefinger, holds it over his glass and shouts, "Spit it out, ye scurvy bastard!"

Well-written, James! Except in this case, the Pirate is a she, and has no hands, because she's Celeste. :-D


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Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
cartmanbeck wrote:
James McKendrew wrote:
Keith Richmond wrote:
James McKendrew wrote:
I'm interested how they'll make a deck that supports an Aristocrat, a Bodyguard, and a Pirate...
This sounds like a setup for a bar joke.

We can recycle an existing bar joke.

An Aristocrat, his Bodyguard, and a Pirate walk into a bar. Each orders a pint. Just after they are served, by AMAZING coincidence, three flies buzz over, and one lands in each of their drinks.

The Aristocrat pushes his pint away, disgusted.

His Bodyguard, shrugs, scoops the fly out of his pint with his pinky, and enjoys his pint.

The Pirate grabs the fly in HIS pint between his thumb and forefinger, holds it over his glass and shouts, "Spit it out, ye scurvy bastard!"

Well-written, James! Except in this case, the Pirate is a she, and has no hands, because she's Celeste. :-D

MM rulebook, p29. Allow for Abstractions.

;)


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I'm not quite sure what's going on here but the P word shows up 13 times on this page so I'm intrigued.


I just realized I really want a character deck with Simoun, Channa Ti and Drelm. For organized play.

Sovereign Court

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Well, I'm pretty sure that Simoun can already use the Rogue deck, Channa Ti can already use the Druid deck, and Drelm can already use the Cleric deck.

(Now whether you want to or not is a whole 'nother question...)


Iammars wrote:

Well, I'm pretty sure that Simoun can already use the Rogue deck, Channa Ti can already use the Druid deck, and Drelm can already use the Cleric deck.

(Now whether you want to or not is a whole 'nother question...)

Hence my ask ;) the decks work, but poorly.

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