[...] As posted in my status, I recommend Gronk move to the Precious Mine. Qualzar or Skizza would never make that closing check (without a lot of help, at least). Gronk and I are the only characters capable of decent Strength/Melee or Constitution/Fortitude rolls, and on balance, he's much better with Melee and I'm moderately better with Constitution. [...]
Eh, I won't speak for Skizza, but don't feel like you need to change anything on my account. I don't really see Qualzar as likely to close *any* of the remaining other locations. It might not be a bad idea to finish off the half-empty Stonework Passages.
(For the record, I'm expecting Qualzar to slow down significantly in the coming turns. Ideally play a more supporting role and pay back that blessing karma, if you will.)
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Eclipse/Skizza:
Probably best to more clearly indicate what card you examined in ooc tags.
EmpTyger:
Fair point, but Qualzar (and Skizza) can totally close the Peasant Tombs. You've got blessings! Also, the difference between having mostly 1d4s available (Strength) and 1d6s (Wisdom) is big when blessings are added.
But if Skizza just examined what I think he examined, I guess that's fair enough. Gronk will be very productive whatever he does now, but he has an opportunity to close a location. That also means the villain is in one of the remaining locations, so that's one less closing check we have to fulfill.
EDIT: Awesome!
Well, I think this just became moot given what Skizza found!
Besides, Qualzar can't close *all* the locations, now can he? I have to leave some for you all :)
I had a good run :) Happy to spread the glory around.
This pace is definitely making up for last scenario!
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So tiny rules question. If I'm getting bonuses to checks "during an encounter" (such as from Estra's first ability), would that apply to checks to close triggered from defeating a Henchman?
So "I defeat the Mining Construct, as part of this encounter I'm told to attempt to close my location", then would bonuses to checks apply to closing the location? Recharging combat spells? For the sake of argument, lets say that I get to "add 1d4 to all checks during this encounter".
I feel like the answer is a certain "Yes" to recharging spells, and a maybe(?) "yes" to closing checks, unless a new card is explicitly encountered as a result of something. Such as "After you act, summon and encounter X" or "to close this location, summon and encounter Y". I'm reading the step-by-step of "Encountering a card" in the Mummy's Mask rulebook, and it seems to me like the check to close a location is under the stage Attempt the Next Check, if needed, especially since I'm certain there was a Henchmen out there that says something like "If you fail to close the location, the henchmen is undefeated" (or something like that).
Or if a card is summoned and encountered, is that still 'encapsulated' in the previous encounter, as per Attempt the Next Check, if needed phase, and you'd still get bonuses during it?
If I'm wrong, and closing occurs during or after Resolve the encounter, then the bonuses for one encounter wouldn't continue to apply to it.
Edit: To reword all of the above in a much simpler set of questions.
Assuming I discard an ally that says "Examine the top card of a location deck, then encounter that card if it is not an ally. During this encounter; 1d4 to your checks.
- If I use a combat spell to defeat a monster, do I add 1d4 to my recharge check for the spell? (I'm pretty certain the answer is yes)
- If the monster summons another monster "After you act" to fight, do I get 1d4 bonuses against that monster?
- If I defeat a henchmen and get to close a location with a check, do I add 1d4 to that check to close?
- If I defeat a henchmen and get to close a location by summoning an defeating a random monster, do I add a 1d4 to the check against that monster?
My expected answers are:
Yes
No (the wording is usually 'summon and encounter' or 'summon and defeat' a new monster, which implies a new encounter is starting. If the answer is 'no' here, then I would assume you couldn't add a 1d4 to a closing check that occurred after fighting a new monster as a result of a henchmen-after-combat-summon, unless you're 'nesting' different encounters)
Yes
No (Again, a new encounter)
Yewstance:
I’m not going to begin to guess at that rules question!
But, uh, doesn’t Honaire become too jealous when Estra spends time with Aunty?
Not that it mattered in this case. No improbable low roles for Estra this time!
Agent Eclipse:
Speaking of improbable: 3 10s on 3 d10s last turn!
If I use a combat spell to defeat a monster, do I add 1d4 to my recharge check for the spell? (I'm pretty certain the answer is yes)
Yes. You attempt the check to defeat the monster in the "Attempt the check" step and recharge the check in "Attempt the next check" step, which are both parts of the encounter.
Encountering a Card
Apply any effects that happen when you encounter a card.
Apply any evasion effects.
Apply any effects that happen before you act.
Attempt the check.
Attempt the next check, if needed. <-Recharge spells here
Apply any effects that happen after you act.
Resolve the encounter.
If the monster summons another monster "After you act" to fight, do I get 1d4 bonuses against that monster?
No.
If you’re told to summon and encounter a card, this immediately starts a new encounter. If you’re already in an encounter, complete the encounter with the summoned card before continuing the original encounter.
If I defeat a henchmen and get to close a location with a check, do I add 1d4 to that check to close?
No. See this thread.
If I defeat a henchmen and get to close a location by summoning an defeating a random monster, do I add a 1d4 to the check against that monster?
No, see questions 2 and 3.
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I didn't even notice! That bloody rat weighted the dice!
That said, my rolls for the last two turns (and for the start of the other PbP I'm now in) have been absolutely fine, so whatever curse I had must be over (*quietly ignores that I'm currently afflicted with a Curse of Daybane*). I think Gronk overall gets the best rolls of the team by quite a margin (he always passes difficulty 8 checks with a 1d10).
Edit: Thanks Hawkmoon! The thread cleared that up. "If Defeated", most notably, infers resolving the encounter is the most important and immediately memorable lesson there. My google-fu didn't turn up that forum thread, unfortunately.
Possibly silly question: when you all include the spoiler for the card you’re encountering, how are you doing it? Are you just copy/pasting the text into spoiler tags, or is there a trick I’m missing?
I’d like to start doing that for my posts also, but I often post via phone and haven’t quite found the copy/paste particularly efficient to do.
Ah, figured as much, but figured it was worth asking.
Yewstance:
Okay, you were right. Qualzar can totally close the Peasant Tombs!
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I only post on desktops/laptops, and yes I just copy+paste.
I'll say it again; I'm loving the flavor this game. I want more of Duffy, and more of Qualzar's questionable taste in literature! Also, Qualzar's closed 3 of the 5 closed locations thus far; clearly taking a page from my other game's Ezren. The villain's got to be close, so lets get into end-game positions. No immediate rush, so we can feel free to spend blessings on good (Deck 1) boons.
Anyway, Skizza's turn. I'm headed to work, so I'll have inconsistent times over the next 9 hours to write my turn and post it after he moves, but I should be able to manage something in the next 3-6 hours if it's my turn by then.
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Gronk's turn again, and I've got help to provide. I'd recommend pulling on players' blessings to acquire any decent boons if we find them, since we only have up to 3 cards left to explore and another 15(!) turns left. Anyone can just cast my Cure on themselves if they feel the need, too.
We have 1 weapon, 1 barrier and the villain left in the deck, by my count. If we come across the villain, just throw both of my spells at it (yes, both my spells can be used on the same check; in fact, due to their wording, I could even play a third legal spell if I had it).
Oh. One thing to consider, if a bit 'cheap', is that if anyone wants to pick up a new Blessing boon for card upgrade purposes (I don't remember what blessing's we've already acquired), we can just pass turns until we hit the Falcon in the blessings deck (causing us to draw a free blessing). After the blessings pile is shuffled by the GM, it's easy enough to just count through them until we hit the Falcon. If nobody cares for a Blessing card upgrade, that's not a concern though.
I might want a Blessing 1, but I've got other card upgrade choices. I'll have a closer look when I get home. We get a Card Feat after this, right?
I don't think we get a card feat until after our 4th scenario. (This being only our 3rd.)
Don't think Qualzar would need to dig for a blessing either.
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You're right about the card feat, my mistake.
I actually had a hard time thinking what card upgrades I wanted. Or at least, wanted most, especially since it was partially dependant on when I'd get Card Feats, and what I'd get them in. In turn, I wasn't completely certain what Card Feats I wanted to prioritise until I knew which Role card I was going to pursue...
...so I went all-in and mapped out, mostly, how I want to progress my character (using the aptly-named, but unused, "Character Sheet" page of my Deck Handler). Still don't have my class deck box physically with me (though I have my actual character deck), but working from memory with what boons there is.
In case we all continue on together as a party, which is the assumption I kind of made when lining up my character build, it might be worth noting that eventually (post-Role) I'll have synergies with more ally-heavy decks (as I'll be able to switch my free exploration to instead 'heal' an ally from the discard pile of each character at my location), and will probably develop the Diplomacy skill. That all might change depending on what kinds of locations, cards and traders we see as the adventures progress, but it's a baseline.
Also, my entire build, especially my card feat choices, may be hugely impacted whenever I get an Ultimate Add-On deck for her (presumably Ultimate Magic, though Ultimate Wilderness is also very feasible. Estra is a divine caster with the druid-like capacity to reach into Strength/Dexterity/Constitution checks, and I will choose her ally-centric role to boot).
More relevantly, I think my preferences for Card Upgrades, post-scenario, will look something like Weapon 1, Blessing 1, Ally B, in that order. I don't remember what we've picked up so far, though. I've just picked up an Ally C (B) and a Spell 1 this game. In short; I wouldn't mind a Blessing 1, but there's probably not a sufficient need to game out the blessings deck for a POSSIBLE Blessing 1 draw.
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They're special cards (given out in special products or events) added to the box by the GM (Hawkmoon). As far as I know, we simply treat them as Deck 1 cards, just like we treat C cards as Deck B.
So just imagine "P=1" and there's nothing else significant to gameplay. (Please someone correct me if I'm wrong that they're equivalent to "1".)
P, B, and C cards are treated like Deck 0 for upgrades. If you are using a Deck B, C, or P card for an upgrade you can choose a Deck B card from your class deck. You cannot use them to choose a Deck 1 card.
Yeah. There have been requests that P should actually be treated as the adventure deck of the scenario you play for purposes of upgrades. Adding them is supposed to be something fun to do, but they actually dilute the chances of you getting a better upgrade.
Yewstance:
Wow, ambitious! I'm not even sure yet whether I'll be taking the offensive or defensive role for Qualzar.
Although, looking ahead, it seems my feats until then will be straightforward.
- +1 CHA
- Hand Size 7
- 4 spells
- +1 INT
- +1 when transforming a card into an attack spell
- 5 spells
- +2 CHA
- +2 when transforming a card into an attack spell
- 3 items
I'm curious about this Ultimate Magic expansion, but with only 1 class deck at present- and with this tempting sale on the PACG collections- I'm likely going to hold off on Ultimate Magic until I get another class deck I could use it with (probably cleric).
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Regarding progression.
I wonder about some of Estra's end-game decisions, but they're so far away, and so many things may change before then, that I'm not too bothered. Of particular note is that whether I'll spend a power feat so I can draw cards from Charisma checks with my Spiritual Counselor role.
I foresee (heh) Spiritual Counselor as a card-cycling fiend, able to aggressively draw cards and discard card after card to explore as often as she wants. She can discard Honaire for self-cures after her start-of-turn 'bonus' encounter, then immediately shuffle him back (putting him on top of her deck with another power) in exchange for her start-of-turn ability. Furthermore, there's some excellent late game Occult Adventures allies, one of which can cure a character for 1d4+2 on discard, and another that can switch itself with a card with the Phantom trait in the discard pile (allowing me to double-up on Honaire cures).
With that in mind, I just want to have as large a hand size as possible. Drawing cards off Charisma checks is slightly better than a hand size increase if I can assure that I'm doing it every turn. What would really convince me is if I could use some boons that actually trigger Charisma checks, such as to recharge or use them. I know of a few boons in the game that do so, but none in the Occult Adventures deck... but perhaps there could be some in one or more of the Ultimate decks?
If I could use the Hell's Vengeance 2 deck, for example (which I own), then there's Shackles of Compliance which causes the user to make Charisma/Diplomacy checks to recharge it, but I could also (amusingly) use Glamour on Qualzar to 'mimic' his skillset, then use my Charisma skill to cast Arcane spells, every single one of which would let me draw a card. In fact, if I could use Glamour in Estra's deck as a Spiritual Counselor, and there's a Charisma-based caster in the party, that combo could go absurdly long with how many options I would get to draw cards in a single turn. I doubt I'll have quite that capacity, even with an Add-On deck, but there may be some synergies to exploit.
But, again, all a very long way away.
Incidentally, to demonstrate my point about how good it would be if I could use Glamour (and thus use spells with my Charisma skill), consider the linked FAQ. Estra's "when you X, you may draw a card" is not limited in number of uses in a step. So if I beat a monster with a combat spell, then successfully recharged the combat spell, I believe I could draw 3 cards. One from a successful Combat check, one from a successful Charisma check (that I used for combat) and another one from a successful Charisma check (that I used to recharge the spell). Unless there's some timing issue with "I succeeded at combat and charisma at the same time, so I can't use the same power on both", but it's certainly not an issue with how many times I've used the power, as per the FAQ.
Actually, probably only 2 cards per spell. Still good!
Mildly curious about that, and since we have the great Hawkmoon lurking, I'd like to ask that question too.
Hypothetically, say Estra had her Spiritual Counselor Role card, and the following power (as she may have):
"When you succeed at a combat ([X] or Charisma) check, you may draw a card."
I know for certain that the power can be used multiple times in the same step, but can it trigger twice off the SAME check? If Estra used her Charisma for a combat check (the example I gave in the spoilered text was that she used Glamour to acquire Qualzar's skillset, including his Charisma::Arcane Skill), could she draw 2 cards off a success?
A single check fulfils both outcomes, so I understand if you only had one 'opening' for the power to trigger. But two conditions have been fulfilled, and each of them would allow you to draw a card, and there's no limitation with how many times a single power can be triggered if relevant, as per the linked FAQ.
Sadly, I'm pretty sure the answer is "No". And actually, the more I think about it, I can think of a few powers that probably indicate that. Nevermind.
I'm curious about your next skill feat being planned for Intelligence. Just want to diversify our team's abilities a bit? Charisma makes your combat spells better, makes your primary power stronger and makes your recharge checks more reliable, and our 4 player party already has 2 players with 1d10 Intelligence (and another with 1d8).
That said, I'm used to playing in large (5-6 player) groups, so focusing all-in on one skill is usually optimal because there's a lot of location variety and a lot of individually skilled players. I'm certainly interested in seeing other playstyles, but I'd just like to hear your reasoning.
Yewstance:
Mostly because I've found multi-dimensional characters to be useful in the past. Especially from what I've seen of the MM set so far, it seems like having side skills will be useful.
In fact, just for fun I counted up the checks I've made so far this adventure: 21 Charisma (7 Arcane Combat + 14 Arcane) vs 15 Intelligence (8 Intelligence + 7 Knowledge).
Also, since I'm taking the +1/+2 feats to my discard-a-card mental attack, I'm not as concerned with immediately maxing my CHA for combat checks.
And, it's no wonder we have different playstyles: I learned to play with 3-4 player WotR and S&S! Although I've since played a variety of party sizes in the RotR phone app. That's probably why I wasn't as panicked as you last scenario- because of some of my early games, I tend to worry more about running out of life than running out of time. (RIP Enora, eaten by a Carrion Golem :( Perhaps the constructs in this scenario have allowed me to avenge her untimely death so long ago?)
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A bit of overkill. But we win!
Yay team!
Qualzar would be interested in the Spell 1 (Lightning Touch -> Frost Ray) or a Blessing B (Blessing of the Gods -> Blessing of Pharasma).
What are the stats for the loot weapon and armor?
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While we wait for a couple of things, I've managed to find the text for the two loot cards.
I found an image for the Scarab Buckler. Looks like a very potent card for anyone who digs through their deck fast enough to value self-heals, or can invoke the swarm or poison traits.
Qualzar is the most card-hungry amongst us that can't already heal himself, I'd wager. He can also trade for Viper Strike, a poison spell, with Sunburst Market if he wishes. However, Skizza can and will frequently deal himself fire damage, which this shield can be recharged to (pretty much always) completely negate that downside to Skizza's core power.
The spear, fortunately, was also just given out to my other play-by-post table, so I'll just copy their own text for it.
Spear of the Watchful Guardian
Loot Weapon 1
Traits
Spear
Melee
Piercing
2-Handed
Magic
Check
None
Powers
Reveal this card to add 1d6 to your Perception check.
For your combat check, reveal this card to roll your Strength or Melee skill + 1d6+1; you may additionally recharge this card to add 1d6.
If you fail a combat check with this weapon, you may discard this card to ignore the result and reroll the dice; take the new result.
The spear provides a powerful perception bonus, and is a decent weapon without requiring proficiency to boot. I can use Perception to recharge 2 of my spells and 2 of my items, as it's the "Core defining skill" for the Occult Adventures 1 deck, and my only weapon (Walking Stick) is pretty crap in combat despite Estra being perfectly capable fighting physically (with Honaire's) help. So I'd be compelled to take it, unless someone else seriously wants to use it.
As for my card upgrade, the Spear completely removes my interest in a Weapon 1 if I'll be using that for the rest of the adventure. No Blessing 1, sadly (though I'd still like to know if the Sun Falcon would've made a difference there), so I guess I'll pick up an Ally B/C to switch my Sage out for Onmyoji.
Onymoji
Ally B
Traits
Human
Spiritualist
Check
Wisdom
Diplomacy
8
Powers
Discard this card to add 1d10 and the Undead trait to your Strength, Constitution, or Perception check.
Discard this card to explore your location. During this exploration, if you have the Spiritualist trait, add 1d4 to your checks.
Almost a bit of a downgrade, in my opinion. I really value the Sage's ability to be recharged to support non-combat Wisdom and Intelligence checks, which is valuable for closing, recharging and barriers. But I frequently use my allies to explore with anyway, and Onmyoji is great at that due to the free 1d4 to any checks made during it.
More importantly, my first Card Feat is going into Ally, so after next scenario I'll end up one ally short, which I can automatically backfill the Sage back in for as a Basic card. I'd have preferred a new blessing for another Sign, but Onmyoji works.
QUESTION FOR THE GM: I asked this before about "Remove Curse", but I don't think I got an answer. At what point in time during setup do we get the option to switch out for 'loot' cards? Do we get to see Scenario rules first? Henchmen? Locations? The OP trader rules specifically says something like "Before locations are dealt", but is Loot before or after?
This actually seems really significant to me. If I know there's going to be locations, henchmen or special rules that will Curse us, I'm far more likely to take the Remove Curse loot, for example.
I've added a spoiler tag to the campaign header with the info for the "Replacement cards" you've unlocked.
As for when you get the replacement card in relation to when you visit a traders and build location, the guide doesn't say and I don't recall the question being asked before. Some of the replacement cards are not loot. For example, you've already earned the ability to replace a spell with Remove Curse. That leads me to believe that you must do it before building locations. Otherwise, all the copies of Remove Curse could end up in location decks.
As for how the replacements relate to visiting traders, I don't see anything about that either. In that case, you can decide. You can replace the cards before you visit or after, it is up to you.
Also note, while you visit traders before setting out the locations, nothing prohibits you from looking at the list of what the locations will be.
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I suppose... The wording of the rules made it imply the order had some additional relevance in my mind. But I imagine it's not dissimilar to Henchmen/Villains - a lot of tables play without looking at them in advance, though you hypothetically can (and usually will see them accidentally to various degrees when fetching them from the box to build the location decks).
Either way, looking forward to the next scenario. Thanks again to Hawkmoon, and Go Team!
EDIT: I'll finalize my preferences/decisions on Loot once I see the next scenario and its locations (though I do want the spear). In the meantime, my Ally B card upgrade is finalized, so we're just waiting on Skizza and Gronk.
Interesting loot! But Qualzar will defer to everyone else. While they're better than his current weapon and armor, he'll likely be making the least use of them. So only if everybody else is passing on them.
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Wow, I just noticed that Scarab Buckler is alchemical, and it's heal effect isn't the standard "Reveal, heal, then discard", because they didn't expect that to be necessary for a Bury card (much like Potion of Healing).
Which means, once Skizza gets his power feat to Discard alchemical cards that would otherwise be banished or buried, he can heal itself back into his deck as well as other cards, as well as using it to mitigate damage or sometimes buff specific checks.
I'm getting S&S Damiel flashbacks. In all honesty, I suspect Skizza will be using that shield for most of - if not the entire - Adventure Path. It's very hard to beat something that basically says "Shuffle this and 1d4 cards from your discard pile into your deck" (as long as you're not unlucky), "or mitigate the downside of your own power or add 2d8 to specific checks". It's his own little Honaire, really.
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The boon list for card upgrades is as follows:
Sands of Time (Spell 1) (Claimed by Qualzar)
Crocodile Skin Helmet (Armor B)
Antitoxin (Item B)
Compass (Item C)
Crowbar (Item C)
Djinn Favor Amulet (Item 1) (Claimed by Skizza)
Lottery Urn (Item 1)
Twitch Tonic (Item B)
Aunty (Ally C) (Claimed by Estra)
Dhabba (Ally B)
Dhabba (Ally C)
Blessing of the Ancients (Blessing B)
Blessing of the Elements (Blessing B)
The only card upgrade that's been picked that we don't have another copy of is the Spell 1, so if you desire that you'll need to discuss that with Qualzar and/or roll for it.
In other words, your choices (including Spell 1 if you discuss with Qualzar) are:
Armor B
Item B
Item 1
Ally B
Blessing B
I just want to check- my other PbP game had a confirmation of interest go out this week regarding continuing the adventure after Outpost ends at the end of the month.
Is that an option here as well? I know we've been talking about longer term plans for our characters, but I didn't want to just assume so, especially not with Hawkmoon having been a last-minute substitute GM. (But, I'm hoping we can continue!)
Wei Ji:
Qualzar would just be using the Spell 1 to upgrade attack spells. So if there's a particularly useful Spell 1 you're interested in, go for it, and I'll take a Blessing B instead.
I'm good to continue.