One of the experimental pieces of this AP was starting an AP at 11th level. What do you think about that? I've heard neither the resounding choruses of "This is terrible, please never do it again!" nor "I love kicking off with powerful heroes, let's see more of it!"
So I thought I ought just ask directly and gather some non-scientific public opinion: should we do more APs that start at a level higher than 1st?
This is a spoiler-filled resource thread for the third and final volume of the Abomination Vaults AP, Eyes of Empty Death, by Stephen Radney-MacFarland.
The GM Reference thread for the first volume, Ruins of Gauntlight, is here.
The GM Reference thread for the second volume, Hands of the Devil, is here.
Mike Selinker asked in another thread whether people store their dice for the game in the box. That got me wondering about a larger question: if you use the insert that comes in the game (I know some people don't), what do you keep there?
For us, it's:
* Cards that haven't yet been added (that is, higher-number cards we haven't reached yet), in their boxes. Once we add in a set of those, we through the box away. So this pile gets smaller as we play through an AP.
* Cards that have been removed from the game, which go into a deckbox to keep them from getting mixed in. This doesn't get any larger, per se, as we play through an AP, as the deck box just gets fuller. By AD 5 or sometimes 6, we need a second deck box, but by then there's room because nearly all of the higher-number cards are gone.
* Minis. I have a mini for each of the iconics, and a reasonable facsimile for those that don't exist (like Zabini). We use minis in the game, and those get thrown in the open space.
* Other tokens. For WotR only, our mythic charges are jumbled around in there, too.
We *don't* put dice there; we each have our own dice bags we use for RPGs as well as PACG.
I'd like to participate in the ACG Open, but do I need to lottery for both a qualifier and the final? What if I get into the qualifier, but not the final? Or what if I get into the final, but not the qualifier?
What do you do when you've gone through the entire Wrath of the Righteous adventure path for the PACG? Rearrange the cards, combine them with Skull and Shackles, and do it again!
The God Callers of Sarkoris adventure path is an entirely new 35-scenario adventure path with an independent story. It uses the cards from the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Wrath of the Righteous and Skull and Shackles base sets and their adventure decks--no need to print your own cards (but you will need all the adventure decks to play it). It includes two new rules: one for using the fragments of divinity as eidolons (for all characters!) and another to track your characters' nemeses!
I know, I know. I *said* I wouldn't make a variant adventure path for Wrath of the Righteous, but I'm now doing so. My bad.
I thought long and hard about what I didn't like about WotR, and it came down to (i) overly difficult early scenarios, and (ii) mythic stuff trivializing everything in the later scenarios. So in my variant WotR AP, I'm removing mythic altogether and being careful to smooth the difficulty a bit.
That doesn't change the fact that WotR is *hard*, and the characters need boosts to help them overcome challenges. I'm doing this in two ways. First, I'm being more generous with feats. Second, I'm providing powerful once-per-adventure benefits that hinge a bit on the story I'm telling.
The AP will be called "Godcallers of Sarkoris," and it takes place in Sarkoris before the Worldwound opened (or, alternatively, in a Sarkoris where the Worldwound never opened at all). There's plenty of demon cults and such running around, so there's no end of adventure there using WotR cards.
The characters all get a special cohort throughout most of the AP that is their own fragment of divinity. (Sarkorians call summoners "godcallers," and consider their eidolons to be "mini-gods" at their sides--I'm running with this awesome idea.) Everybody gets one, not just Balazar.
Here are my rules for this, as currently drafted. Comments, suggestions, etc. welcome:
Godcallers
After completing Adventure 0, the characters receive powerful fragments of a benevolent deity to help them in times of need. At the beginning of each game, each character gains a cohort to represent the godcalled eidolon bound to that character. Use the Unfettered Eidolon henchman card for this cohort (although they have no powers on that card, are cohorts instead of monsters, and have none of the powers Padraig or other eidolon cohorts do). As with all cohorts, each character receives only one of these, and they are returned to the box after each scenario and added to the character’s starting hand at the beginning of each scenario.
Unlike normal cohorts, godcalled eidolons don’t have any predetermined powers; they instead use the powers that the character has chosen for them. Print out a Godcalled Eidolon Powers Sheet for each character. When the character gains his godcalled eidolon at the end of Adventure 0, he immediately checks off two boxes to reflect his godcalled eidolon’s basic powers. These initial powers must be on two different lines; they can’t be a power and an upgrade to that power. At the end of each adventure, the characters gain a “Godcaller Feat.” This allows the character to check off another box on the Godcalled Eidolon Powers Sheet, which can be a basic power or the upgraded version of an existing power, just as with a normal power feat selection.
A godcalled eidolon provides only those powers selected by the character when it is played. For example, even if Seelah gives her Unfettered Eidolon card to Alain, when Alain uses it, it functions based on Alain’s choices, not Seelah’s.
Godcalled Eidolon Powers Sheet
[ ] Bury this card to reduce all damage dealt to you before you act or after you act to zero ([ ] or all damage dealt to you) to zero.
[ ] Bury this card to succeed at your check to defeat a non-villain, non-henchman barrier ([ ] or to banish a non-villain, non-henchmen barrier displayed next to any character or any location).
[ ] Bury this card to succeed at your check to defeat a non-villain, non-henchman monster ([ ] or a non-villain monster).
[ ] Bury this card to evade a monster ([ ] or, if you fail a check to defeat a monster, bury this card to reduce damage dealt by that monster to 0 and evade that monster).
[ ] Bury this card to choose a character at your location and shuffle 1d4+1 cards from that character’s discard pile into his deck ([ ] and shuffle 2 cards from your discard pile into your deck).
We had a question come up in our game last night that I wasn't quite sure how to solve.
A character discards Kohl of Uncanny Discernment to examine the top two cards of her location. The top card examined is a Chakram--no problem. The second examined card is a Baited Jewel Box. Yikes! The character has to shuffle a weapon into her location deck.
...but what happens to the Chakram and the Baited Jewel Box? Do they go back on top in the player's preferred order once the shuffling is done, or do they all have to get shuffled, along with the weapon?
I'm virtually certain this situation is answered in the rules somewhere, but I can't for the life of me find it.
What happens if you encounter a Sandstorm in a location deck? (They can get there if you fail to defeat a villain.)
The Sandstorm card is clear about what happens if you examine it, or if you flip it from the blessings deck, but what if you encounter it? Its check to defeat is "none."
Perhaps the broader question is: what happens when you encounter a bane with a "check to defeat" of "None"?
Hey, all. I just started Season of the Runelords with some friends, and I've decided to give Raheli a try. What's the best cohort for her? I've used the centipede for a bit of rogue-like oomph, but the extra 1d12 die on combat checks seems like overkill. I've been able to handle fights just fine with her hair and her arcane spells.
Who do you (or would you) bring with your Raheli, and why?
I'm here at Paizocon, and I picked up a copy of Wayfinder #15 releasing here. To my surprise and delight, page 30 has two ACG scenarios from James "Iammars" McTeague!
They are a pair of River Kingdoms-inspired scenarios designed for use with the Skull & Shackles base set. I'm excited to get home and give them a try!
Hey, I just unlocked the Song of Hawkmoon in a treasure chest! In case you're curious:
Spoiler Tag:
Song of Hawkmoon
Spell 6 (so it'll be hanging around in the vault until the Chapter 6 cards unlock)
Magic
Arcane
Divine
Attack
Check to Acquire: Wisdom/Divine 11 or Intelligence/Arcane 13
Discard this card to decrease the difficulty of a check against a card with the Human trait by 4. If you are attempting the check, you may use your Arcane or Divine skill + 1d8 for the check.
After playing this card, if you do not have either the Arcane or Divine skill, banish it. Otherwise, you may succeed at an Arcane 15 or Divine 13 check to recharge this card instead of discarding it.
...So first I thought, "man, what sort of misanthrope must Hawkmoon be to hate Humans so much?" But then I realized it's against *any* card with the Human trait, and that means allies as well as enemies. So, for example, a tough to acquire card like the Mountaineer (if I'm remembering right) is something that you can make *anyone* do easier, and you can even use your sweet Arcane or Divine yourself. Hawkmoon doesn't hate Humans, he gets along with them very well!
Also, a word about the art:
Spoiler Tag:
I love the nod to the "classic" Three Wolf Moon image.
This came up for me last night: I gained the ghoul hide, but already had 2 armors in my 4-card hand, so I definitely didn't want it. I thought to just recharge it, as I'm proficient with light armors, but I then thought that the Corrupted restriction would kick in--does that restriction apply even when recharging the card when you reset your hand?
I think yes, as it's a power of the armor, but I wanted to check it.
What do you do when you've gone through the entire Skull and Shackles adventure path for the PACG? Rearrange the cards and do it again!
The Bloodlust Corsairs adventure path is an entirely new 35-scenario adventure path with an independent story. It uses only the cards from the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Skull and Shackles base set and its six adventure decks--no need to print your own cards (but you will need all six adventure decks to play it). It includes two new rules: one for using your ship as a location, and another for playing any character as a wereshark!
As I mentioned in the thread about lycanthropy rules, I'm writing up an alternate adventure path for Skull and Shackles called Bloodlust Corsairs. Bloodlust Corsairs uses two rules variants: the first is Lycanthropy, and I'm reworking that a bit based on the good discussion in that other thread.
The second rule uses your ship as a location in each scenario. This really foregrounds your ship as an important part of each scenario. In full disclosure, I intend to produce two versions of Bloodlust Corsairs: one with this rule, and one without it.
Ship Location
For the Bloodlust Corsairs adventure path, you do not use the fleet card and cannot choose your ship in each scenario; your ship is specifically identified, and it serves as one of the locations for you to adventure in (although your characters need not start on your ship). The rules for “Ships and Plunder” in the Skull and Shackles rulebook are modified as follows:
The Ship As A Location
Lay out your ship card along with all the other locations you lay out; it is also a location. The deck for your ship location is always 2 random barriers and 7 random plunder cards, rolled on the Plunder Table (your ship is filled with booty!). Add a villain or henchmen to the ship location, just like you would at any location (as enemies sometimes sneak aboard your ship). You can encounter cards at your ship’s location, as it is a location.
Any character at the ship location is “on a ship” or “commanding a ship;” characters at other locations are not “on a ship.” This is true regardless of whose turn it is.
The “When Commanding This Ship” power is always available to any character; there need not even be any character at the ship location to use this power.
The check to close the ship’s location is the “Check to Defeat” listed on the ship card.
When the ship location is permanently closed, examine all the cards remaining in the location. Banish any banes, then shuffle all the boons and put them face-down under the ship card itself. Those cards cannot be encountered; they are plunder cards you earn if you win the scenario. Even if some rule makes you re-open the ship’s location, leave those cards under the ship card.
When the ship is permanently closed, characters at the ship location may, instead of their exploration on their turn, examine the top card of any location deck.
Encountering Other Ships
You can encounter a ship at any location; you do not need to be commanding your ship (that is, at your ship location) to encounter a ship.
Plunder Cards
You stash a plunder card whenever you defeat a ship or whenever else a card tells you to, just as in the basic rules. You might also sometimes have to banish a plunder card. When you would stash or banish a plunder card, it matters whether the ship location is open or closed:
If the ship location is open: When you stash a plunder card, roll on the Plunder Table and put a card of that type on the bottom of the ship location without looking at it. If you would banish a plunder card, examine the top card of the ship location; if it is a boon, banish it; if it is a bane, shuffle it back into the ship location instead (and don’t banish anything).
If the ship location is closed: When you stash a plunder card, roll on the Plunder Table and put a card of that type underneath the ship card. If you would banish a plunder card, banish a random card under your ship.
At the end of the scenario, gain all cards under your ship as loot.
Structural Damage
When you ship is dealt Structural damage, the characters must discard cards to reduce the amount of Structural damage to 0. If all characters have discarded all their cards, any remaining Structural damage is ignored. Ships are never wrecked, and the back of the ship cards is never used. Any effect that would automatically wreck your ship is ignored.
Seizing Ships
If you seize a ship, banish your current ship and replace it with the ship you seized.
Movement Restrictions
Your ship is critical to coordinate your movements around the Shackles. You can move from your ship to any other location. You can also move from any location to your ship. You cannot move from any non-ship location directly to another non-ship location unless one of the following special rules applies:
Connected Locations: If the scenario identifies any locations as “Connected,” you can move from one of these connected locations to another without first heading back to your ship (this generally means the locations are on the same stretch of land, or are connected by a bridge, ferry, or similar).
Lycanthropes: If you are in your hybrid form (see the rules on Lycanthropy), you can swim easily from location to location; you treat all locations as connected.
Although these movement restrictions can be limiting, pirates have a tendency to stick together. If you are playing with more than one character, the following additional movement rules apply:
Out to Sea: When you move to your ship on your turn, any other character that is not on your ship can immediately move to your ship as well. (They hurry onboard from wherever they are.)
Going Ashore: When you move from your ship to another location, any character that is on your ship can immediately move with you to the location you move to.
Effects that restrict movement still apply—if something prevents you from moving, you can’t move; if something is preventing another character from moving, that character cannot move.
Hey, all. I'm writing my next full adventure path, which uses the Skull and Shackles base set. It's called Bloodlust Corsairs, and it uses two new sets of rules. The first of these is presented below, and I'd like to get some feedback on it. These are rules for playing lycanthropes; they are powerful, but can be very dangerous if your lycanthropy is reckless or ill-timed. In Bloodlust Corsairs, the PCs become were-sharks--hammerhead sharks and tiger sharks initially, but dire sharks and such later on--but I want rules that work equally well if you want to be were-crocodiles or were-stirges or were-bandits or whatever.
Please give me any comments, criticisms, or edits you have!
Lycanthropy
If a scenario uses the Lycanthropy rules, assemble the lycanthropy cards indicated in the scenario instructions. These are the lycanthropy cards for the scenario. Shuffle them together. After drawing starting hands, each character chooses one of the lycanthropy cards at random without looking at it and shuffles it into his deck. Set any unused lycanthrope cards aside without looking at them.
Hybrid Form
When you draw a lycanthropy card, display it next to your deck; your character is now in animal-humanoid hybrid form. Your character remains in hybrid form as long as the lycanthrope card is displayed.
While your lycanthrope card is displayed, you may use the “Check to Defeat” number on your lycanthrope card in place of your Strength die result instead of rolling your Strength die. If the top card of the blessings deck is a Blessing of the Gods, increase this number by 3. You cannot play weapons on a check if you choose to use this number as your result. Blessings or other abilities that would add dice to your check add your normal Strength die.
Example 1: Lini is playing scenario 2-B and has her lycanthrope card—a Hammerhead Shark henchman—displayed. When she encounters a Zombie monster, she chooses to use the “Check to Defeat” number on her lycanthrope card, which is 9 + 2 (for the adventure deck number) of 11 in place of her Strength die result for the combat check, defeating the Zombie.
Example 2: Valeros is playing scenario 3-B and has his lycanthrope card—a Tiger Shark—displayed. He encounters a Giant Anaconda and chooses to use the Tiger Shark’s “Check to Defeat” of 11 in place of his Strength die result. He has the skill Melee +3 and notes that the Blessing of the Gods is atop the blessing discard pile, for another +3. He plays a Blessing of Pharasma from his hand, which adds 1d10 (his normal Strength die). His result is 11 + 3 + 3 + 1d10, for a 21, which defeats the Giant Anaconda.
The Lure of Blood
At the beginning of your move step, put a marker on your lycanthrope card. You may then attempt a Wisdom check to remove all markers from your lycanthrope card and discard it (your character returns to humanoid form). The difficulty of this Wisdom check is 5, plus the number of markers on your lycanthrope card. If the top card of the blessings deck is a Blessing of the Gods, increase the difficulty of this Wisdom check by 3.
Although your lycanthrope card is discarded, it could end up back in your deck (if you use a Potion of Healing, for example). If you draw it again, your character again assumes a hybrid form.
The Red Rage
If the game ends while your lycanthrope card is displayed, you go into a frenzied rage and come to your senses much later with equipment missing and erstwhile allies slain. Shuffle together your deck, discard pile, displayed cards (other than your lycanthrope card) and buried cards; then banish 1 random card, plus 1 additional random card per marker on your lycanthrope card. Then rebuild your deck as normal.
End of the Game
Banish your lycanthrope card at the end of a scenario.
I think I get the new "tiers" system, and the expanded example about Lem was helpful. But here's a question I had: could Example Lem be Tier 3?
The rules state that "A character advances to the next tier in one of two ways: either after completing an adventure and gaining its adventure reward, or by choosing to do so after gaining the card feat for his tier."
In the example, Lem finishes 01-1A, 01-1B, 01-1D, 01-2A (and gains a card feat but chooses not to go up a tier), then 01-1C, finishing an adventure and thus going to Tier 2.*
But couldn't Lem finish 01-1A, 01-1B, 01-1D, 01-2A (and gain a card feat and thus choose to go to Tier 2), then play 01-1C, finishing the adventure and then going to Tier 3?
Put another way, are there conditions under which you can do either "trigger" action (gain a card feat, or complete an adventure) but not go up a tier?
* Side question: Can Lem complete 01-1C as in this example but choose not to go up a tier at that time, either, remaining in Tier 1?
If our high-level Kingdom of Toads adventure was just not over-the-top enough for you, we've made it mythic! Kingdom of Toads: Mythic Edition presents our high-level adventure with mythic-level threats and challenges. Check it out!
Have you defeated Karzoug and want to keep playing?
The Mhar of Leng adventure is a five-scenario adventure scaled as a "Chapter 7" for the Rise of the Runelords PACG adventure path. It uses primarily the cards you've already got, with a handful of villains and henchmen you can print out from the .pdf, proxy, or order from DriveThruCards.com.
You can download it from WelbyBumpus.com here for free.
Hey, all! I've put together a "Chapter 7" for Rise of the Runelords, for those people (like me) who wanted to give their Karzoug-killin' characters another high-powered adventure to play through.
I've tested it with my own group, but I know all high-level characters are different, so I'd like to get others' thoughts on it, too, before releasing it to the world.
If you'd like to playtest a five-scenario "Chapter 7" over the next week or two, please Private Message me and I'll send you the latest draft so you can play it and circle back to me with your thoughts.
I anxiously eye the Season O downloads about the middle of every month, as I'm not connected to a store so have to be a month behind on them (and pay for them).
I understand there was a week off from the program about the end of the year, but I was still hoping to see adventure 0-4 available by now--any ETA on that?
What do you do when you've gone through the entire Rise of the Runelords path for the PACG? Rearrange the cards and do it again!
The Shield of Rannick adventure path is an entirely new 30-scenario adventure path with an independent story. It uses only the cards from the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords Base Set and the six adventure decks--no need to print your own cards (but you will need all six adventure decks to play it).
You can download it from WelbyBumpus.com for free.
Get it, play it, and let me know what you think (and how I can improve it!).
