|
That limit only comes into play at the end of each scenario. Then you rebuild your deck using those limits, and can replace cats you started with, with cards your party acquired. If your limit is 3 allies, you can find 10 during the scenario, and don't have to cut back to three until the scenario is over.
I just thought you were like a beatnik and were referring to the allies as "cats" as in "cool cats". Guess that isn't what you were doing, daddy-o.
I realize this is an old discussion, but I sympathize with the OP. The scenario adds almost nothing to the progression of the PCs.
I play solo with 6 characters, Lini, Amiri, Seoni, Merisiel, Kyra, and Harsk - Girls Night Out. They have a variety of uses for Allies, ranging from key (Lini) to next to none.
The group came into the scenario having played 4 previous scenarios. The PCs had encountered and traded allies to get the most out of the B and C decks.
Sure, this scenario rained allies. There was the normal allotment of allies for the locations, the use of allies as 'villains' and the reward of random allies. By the end of the scenario, the PCs had about 12 allies more than they needed or could hold on to.
How many of the new allies were from the '1' deck, and how many were kept? Very few. Perhaps one or two Grizzled Veterans. But most of the new allies used 'banish' instead of 'discard', making them much less attractive. All of the NPC allies were unattractive to Lini, who wanted animal allies.
Because any ally in a location will trigger closing the location, everything moved very quickly. The only interest was in how hard it was for some of the group's more combat-ready members to acquire an ally with Charisma or Diplomacy checks. Quick closes meant very little opportunity to see new boons.
Overall, a disappointing use of a scenario. Some NPCs that might be important to the original tabletop scenario were thrown away as useless. Will that choice be punished? I have no idea. I just feel that I've played through the scenario for the sake of being a completionist - it provided very little of value to the overall adventure path.
If every scenario gave you a huge benefit you would progress too fast. You need to spend some time at each level to appreciate the difference. It's no different to the whole of the B adventure in that regard.
Flavour wise, yes the goal is to gather lots of allies. But from a design perspective, the goal of the mission is to be challenging in a different way to other scenarios, allow characters with the diplomacy skill (and survival to a lesser extent) to have their moment in the sun, and to create an enjoyable adventure regardless of whether it's ultimately rewarding.
You absolutely could skip it in terms of your character's power progression, but you'd be missing out on a fun, unique and interesting scenario.
If every scenario gave you a huge benefit you would progress too fast. You need to spend some time at each level to appreciate the difference. It's no different to the whole of the B adventure in that regard.
Flavour wise, yes the goal is to gather lots of allies. But from a design perspective, the goal of the mission is to be challenging in a different way to other scenarios, allow characters with the diplomacy skill (and survival to a lesser extent) to have their moment in the sun, and to create an enjoyable adventure regardless of whether it's ultimately rewarding.
You absolutely could skip it in terms of your character's power progression, but you'd be missing out on a fun, unique and interesting scenario.
I agree there is a certain charm to watching Harsk make a Charisma check. But you only 'gather' allies for the duration of the scenario, then they all go back in the box. The scenario gives your party a chance to buff their allies, and that's it. For PCs that don't care much about allies, big whoop. In contrast, giving everyone a skill feat is rewarding to each in their own way.
The concern is really that the newly available allies from the Adventure 1 deck were less useful than the B and C deck allies the PCs already had.
Because any ally in a location will trigger closing the location, everything moved very quickly. The only interest was in how hard it was for some of the group's more combat-ready members to acquire an ally with Charisma or Diplomacy checks. Quick closes meant very little opportunity to see new boons.
I, for one, often have this problem:
"Oh. The second card of the Rusty Dragon was an ally. Well, I could close, but there are three more allies in here... I think I'll press my luck."
"Oh, the fifth card of the Rusty Dragon was another ally. Well, I could close, but there are two more allies in here... I think I'll press my luck."
"Oh, the eighth card of the Rusty Dragon was another ally. Well, I could close, but there is one more ally in here and only 2 more cards total... I think I'll press my luck."
"Oh, we ran out of time?"
I did the same thing as well Hawkmoon. The next run I decided to just close them as fast as I could. Missed a few good allies that run sadly.
I agree there is a certain charm to watching Harsk make a Charisma check. But you only 'gather' allies for the duration of the scenario, then they all go back in the box. The scenario gives your party a chance to buff their allies, and that's it. For PCs that don't care much about allies, big whoop. In contrast, giving everyone a skill feat is rewarding to each in their own way.
The concern is really that the newly available allies from the Adventure 1 deck were less useful than the B and C deck allies the PCs already had.
I think your expectations for progression may be too high. Pathfinder isn't just about upgrading your deck, it's also about overcoming whatever is facing you using what you have. So it's okay to end up with no deck changes after a scenario even most of the time. At least in this one you had 12 potential rewards to choose from, compared to scenarios with multiple boon-starved location decks where the reward is one loot card for only one of your six party members.
Also, although the banish allies are a poor choice with six characters when you need all the explores you can get, they are still not objectively bad. I'd pick seeing a whole deck once with the Mayor over an extra d6 that I could keep around. After you call in your favor and banish one, even if you can't get your old ally back you will probably end up with one that can at least explore. And it's worth noting that unless you have constant heals on everyone, those discard allies are effectively single-use as well.