Cards or starting decks that confuse me...

[Rerednaw]

I recently got back into this game (played before release, ran a few demos during RotR, then stopped) and now that I'm reading the cards in more detail I have come across some cards or cards lists that make me go huh?

examples:

Merisiel's starting list has her with a dagger (1d4) and a dart (1d4). Why not a pair of light crossbows? (1d8).

Sajan's promo card is a +1 Temple Sword. Since he's the card's owner he can start with it! Awesome! But wait, he's not allowed any weapon cards...so he gets to use it once...and then that ancient ceremonial heirloom self-vaporizes?

Kyra. Weapons: Mace (okay decent) and Quarterstaff...(?) especially since her Armor list includes: Wooden Shield...which cannot be used with a Quarterstaff.

Amiri: Same as Kyra (2H weapons with shields).

Several: No 2H weapon...and Leather Armor (1 pt cbt damage avoidance) instead of a Wooden Shield (2 pts cbt damage avoidance.)

Anyway there seem to be a lot of choices that don't match the flavor (Amiri with a shield? When? Where's her big honking oversized letter opener?) don't work with each other (2H weapons and shields or items the character cannot even use/keep) or just make it harder (d4 on your check instead of d8, banish instead of discard, etc...) was this intentional to maintain a certain level (success %/fail%) of play?

What do you folks think? What other cards/combos make you scratch your head (not looking for OP combos or OP cards, or typos.)

Cheers!

[Azten]

Starting decks are supposed to be a character that's just starting out. Light Crossbows are pretty expenisve for a lv1 rogue after all, and two of them even more so.

Basically, you gotta start out struggling before you cake walk over everything(sometimes).

[Vic Wertz]

As for Sajan and the Temple Sword, you may want to look here.

And as for other starting deck choices, I'm reposting the below from here:

"Optimal design" is not our primary concern for the starting decks. While they need to be very playable and somewhat logical, the single most important consideration is actually that you can build any 4 Base Set character's decks out of the Base Set box at the same time (and any 6 characters if you've added the Character Add-On Deck). This is a lot more difficult than it sounds; it's actually kind of a big logic puzzle.

And if you follow this logic through, you'll quickly realize that it means if we give one Divine caster a spell, we can't also give it to another unless there's another copy in the box. So a lot of horse trading has to happen.

Further, you may also notice that the total number of cards assigned to starter decks is pretty close to the total number of Basic B cards in the box (not counting Blessings of the Gods), which also means that almost all Basic B cards have to be assigned to *somebody's* starting deck.

So the question we have to answer is often not "what is the best card for this character," it's "whose deck can this card legally and most reasonably fit into?"

So when *you* build decks, at the very least, you have access to the cards that we assigned to the characters that you're not using. So one of the easiest ways to build your own starting deck that's better than the ones in the rulebook is this: Build all of the active characters' decks using the suggested deck lists, then go through the other Basic B cards from the box, one card type at a time, looking for improvements.

[Andrew L Klein]

Rerednaw wrote:

Sajan's promo card is a +1 Temple Sword. Since he's the card's owner he can start with it! Awesome! But wait, he's not allowed any weapon cards...so he gets to use it once...and then that ancient ceremonial heirloom self-vaporizes?

Keep in mind the Owner trait doesn't mean he can automatically start with it. It means he treats it as if it had the Basic trait. Since he doesn't have a weapon slot, he doesn't get to start with it either.

[Rerednaw]

Okay so the decks were done assuming that each character would be a member of a full party...that makes more sense. Does tie to difficulty. This makes it harder with a full group. Not enough inventory in Ye Olde Adventurer Shop, poor shoppers. But multi-synergy could kick in, depending on composition and random chance.

And woe to Sajan. No Temple Sword for you! :) He's pretty much just a combat machine by default in any case. Just sad he can't use his promo at start.

[Theryon Stormrune]

Why no Temple Sword? That's true for RotR Sajan but I think all the links point to weapons available for CD Sajan.

[ryric]

A lot of the Iconic Heroes promos aren't necessarily that good for their owner. Some however are fantastic (my WotR Seelah is loving hers with all the mandatory before combat damage. Reveal to prevent 2? Take that you stupid trees).

Temple Sword +1 is still Basic for Sajan so there's a good chance if you take a weapon as a card feat, you might be able to fish it out of the box.

[zeroth_hour]

Trees? Seelah enjoys being able to prevent damage from Enchantresses and Mongrel Wizards! There's no restriction on the card about combat :)

[ryric]

Trees were just the first thing I thought of, but you are indeed correct. That card is a panacea against mandatory damage in general.

[Rerednaw]

Waiting for my Seelah :) that hat of hers is pure awesomesauce.