Anyone have any opinions on whether Qualzar should head to the Ruined Amphitheater Temple? He has blessings in hand to satisfy the closing check, but I don't like the prospect of having half of my hand (3 blessings + Acid Jet) being bury on use. On the other hand, someone's going to have to go there eventually.
If not there, the only other real productive thing for Qualzar seems to be to make a run at the Hall of Blessed Rebirth, with potentially 4 explores while having Mirror Image for defense?
(Assuming no major changes during Gronk's turn, of course.)
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The issue is that "bury divine cards" hurts everyone in this team significantly except for Skizza...
...who is currently holding a hand full to the brim with blessings and empty on weapons.
Honestly, I think it's fair for Qualzar to go there. Acid Jet isn't really bury on use, per se, because you can (and probably should) just always use your sorcerous combat power instead, unless the monster is immune to the Mental trait.
Estra, with Honaire and her spear in hand, can actually fight half-well without relying on combat spells, but she's currently got no blessing in hand. in fact, she has the fewest blessings in her decklist (3) of any purely Divine caster I can think of off the top of my head. Gronk is also reasonably well suited there, but again, no blessing in hand currently.
EDIT: As an aside, I should consider finding a way to banish a spell from my deck somehow. Both Conch Shell and the loot Spear can be revealed to add 1d6 to my Perception check, which makes the Basic combat spell Mind Thrust (that can use Arcane or Perception + 2d4 to fight) way better, even as a once-per-scenario combat spell (it will be banished after use since I'm not an Arcane caster, but it'll often surpass any of my other combat checks by up to 2d6).
Hm. Also, rules question (GM?). Inflict Pain lets me add my Perception Skill to a combat check. I'm going to assume that 'adding a skill' is not the same as 'making a check', and so I can't increase the value of what I add by cards that add to my Perception check, like Conch Shell and Spear of the Watchful Guardian?
You are correct. "add your skill" isn't the same as "use your skill". When you "use your skill" your skill becomes a trait of the check. And that is what makes other cards works with that check. So, when you use your Perception, the check has the "Perception" trait. Your Conch Shell cares about checks with the Perception trait.
But when you add your Perception skill, it doesn't get the Perception trait, so it isn't a perception check.
If a power adds an additional skill or die to a check, that skill or die is not added as a trait to the check. For example, a card that adds your Strength die to your combat check does not add the Strength trait to your check.
Some cards and powers affect only specific types of checks, such as Dexterity checks, Acrobatics checks, or non-combat checks. If, on your character card, the skill you’re using refers to another skill, both skills count for the purpose of determining the type of check. For example, if you’re using the Arcane skill on a combat check, and your character card says that your Arcane skill is Intelligence +2, the check counts as both a combat Arcane check and a combat Intelligence check. Traits also determine the type of check; for example, if you’re attempting a combat check and you played a weapon that added the Ranged trait, it counts as a Ranged combat check.
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Wei Ji:
I'm afraid "Reveal" isn't the same as "Displaying". Basically just by having Wolfhide Armor in your hand, you get to reduce the damage taken, but it doesn't leave your hand. Since it's still in your hand, you don't get to redraw a new card (nor should it be in your Displayed column) so you'll need to amend your deck handler.
EDIT:
More importantly, you can't reveal the Wolfhide Armor to reduce the damage, because you didn't take combat damage. Due to the location effect, you took 1 poison damage instead. Then, due to the scenario power, that's increased to 2 poison damage, so you'll need to bury the Armor or discard 2 cards.
Outpost officially ended last night. What does that mean for this game? Not much. I just want to say thanks for being part of it. I think our first ACG PbP "convention" or "event" or whatever it is was a success. I've reported boons won to the organizers. We'll keep playing and keep having fun.
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And thank you for running it!
Is everyone here interested in continuing? Wei Ji expressed some reservations about his availability in the coming months; if that's the case should we try to finish this adventure or just this scenario before making further decisions on the group? If Wei Ji leaves, we'll be down 2 players from the original intended team size, so would we want to open up recruitment to anyone else? Is recruiting players after an adventure starts considered acceptable or expected?
Unlike in a face-to-face, a new player can certainly catch up on prior experiences, given the patience. At minimum, he can read the scenario intro/outro texts and the rewards over time.
Well, I think everyone is intending to finish this scenario at least. Then we can see about the long term plan. Even if no one drops out, seeing if others are interested might be something to consider, just since we have the space.
Nice work, Skizza! I'll be taking my turn in the next 4 hours or so.
One thing to note, and 1 question, though.
Eclipse:
You should have rolled 1d8 extra damage for your power, not 1d6, since you took a power feat to upgrade that.
GM/Hawkmoon:
So... After the check, Skizza's ability added the fire trait to the check to defeat the Warrior Dolls, which due to the Warrior Dolls should add an extra die. I assume that does make it retroactively add your original die, as Skizza rolled (+1d4 on top of the power)? It seems odd to refer to adding a die to a roll you've already made.
But on the flipside, as a comparison, if the bane said "if your check to defeat has the fire trait, add 1d10", it makes sense to me that Skizza using his emergency-bonus-die ability would add an extra 1d10 and I wouldn't question it.
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Woops you are right. Forgot.
Gonna go update the math to make sure it doesn't make me actually discard BoAlk.
Updated!
On the second matter I added the die because I interpreted as it constantly checking for the traits on the check and my power states it adds it to the original check thus invoking the extra die. That is at least my perspective.
The Catacombs actually aren’t closed- because the villain is there! Glad she wasn’t in the Hall of Blessed Rebirth.
RE: The Fire trait. I'm actually not totally sure. I'll do don't research. But I'm fine with adding the die right now.
RE: Catacombs. Since the location didn't close, the When Permanently Closed power doesn't activate. So you need to get rid of the lizard.
Estra’s looking for a Blessing 1.
Qualzar would want an Ally 1 or Blessing B, both of which we’ve already acquired.
Is there a particular boon that Gronk or Skizza would want, that we should hunt for before facing the villain?
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Quick strategy question. Before I even move, the Glass Pavilion caused me to scout the henchmen at my location.
This is kind of frustrating, because I know there are 2 blessings in the Glass Pavilion (since we've found the villain), and I really want to pick up a Blessing 1 for card upgrade purposes. As a result, I'm kind of tempted to just kill the Henchmen, choose not to close the location, then continue to explore and clean it up the hard way (and/or temp close it when the time comes for us to fight the villain).
The counterargument is that, since there's no Henchmen in the Halls of Blessed Rebirth (due to Qualzar early in the scenario), there's 2 blessings in that location and a full 3 blessings in the ruined temple. There are 7 blessings in all location decks right now, with only 2 in the Pavilion. Is that really enough of a reason to keep it open to hope to grab a Blessing 1?
If anyone chimes in with supporting or dissenting opinions on just 'going for the close' or going for my selfish card upgrade, I'll probably go with that. I'm tempted to be selfish and not close, if only because we can most likely finish this scenario on-demand already, with 4 remaining locations, 4 of us and a known villain spot.
I'll post my turn in the next couple of hours, most likely, either way.
EDIT: Wow! Ninja'd by EmpTyger by a whole 7 seconds.
2nd EDIT: In addition to what EmpTyger said; keep in mind we get a Card Feat for this scenario, in case that adjusts your card upgrade decision.
Yewstance:
What about postponing the decision? ie Leave the henchman unencountered on top for now, and move to either the Halls of Blessed Rebirth or Ruined Temple to dig there.
Outpost officially ended last night. What does that mean for this game? Not much. I just want to say thanks for being part of it. I think our first ACG PbP "convention" or "event" or whatever it is was a success. I've reported boons won to the organizers. We'll keep playing and keep having fun.
Also, thank you too Hawkmoon! This has been a very fun introduction to PbP, and I'm really glad I decided to join in.
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Yewstance:
What about postponing the decision? ie Leave the henchman unencountered on top for now, and move to either the Halls of Blessed Rebirth or Ruined Temple to dig there.
Too late, I've taken my turn. ^^' Flavor will be edited in shortly.
I did consider moving, but ultimately I feel we have time to explore every remaining location, without actually henchmen-closing them, if we so chose (there's now 22 cards, including the Villain, left in all location decks combined, and we have 19 turns left and Cure spells). If any of you decided to just go for the villain and end the game, on the other hand, then I'm now in the best location that I can be to temp-close.
I also like being certain that my first encounter is a monster, because it gives more value to my start-of-turn encounter ability (which buffs my Strength rolls) and lets me draw an extra card (potentially another bonus exploration), so I saw the opportunity to cycle more cards in my hand whilst also exploring aggressively.
I also seem to recall that Glass Pavilion actually has a beneficial effect on its closed side... but the Scenario Update doesn't mention text that's exclusively on the opposite side of the card. Can't be certain.
Either way, perhaps it would have been smarter to jump to the Halls of Blessed Rebirth (I wouldn't want to go to the Temple; the location penalty is too great) and delve deeper into there, which is already henchmen-less and carried 2 blessings itself. But my turn worked out in my favor, and I'm now good for my Card Upgrade (don't know about everyone else).
Yewstance:
Well clearly that was the right play :)
Unless there's a specific type of treasure that Wei Ji wants to search for for Gronk's next upgrade, I think we're all set for Skizza to finish off the villain on his next turn!
I can recharge the Spear for combat, THEN discard it to reroll if required, correct? I'm moderately certain that's the case, since you don't actually finish an action with a card until you know for certain where it's going (except for Reveal/Display), which can, for example, lead to spells like Remove Curse being "recharged, then Banished instead".
I don't think it works because it seems to be a separate power. But I'm not 100% sure.
[...]
When you reveal a card, it does not leave your hand. When you display a card, it leaves your hand immediately. When you play cards by performing any other actions, set them aside while you process their effects.
[...]
While set aside, a card does not count as being in your hand, your discard pile, your deck, or anywhere else.
[...]
If you play a card in such a way that it leaves your hand, that action can trigger only 1 power.
[...]
If you are instructed to play, reveal, display, discard, recharge, bury, banish, or otherwise manipulate a card, that card must come from your hand unless otherwise specified.
[...]
Yeah. I've always played it that you couldn't discard for reroll if you recharged it. Once you recharge it, it isn't in your hand (even if it is set aside while you process the effect).
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Good to know on the Spear, thanks. The wording is a little different on, say, Hell's Vengeance 2's 'Shadow Barbs' (a spell that recharges for use, then can be discarded for a reroll, then you can pass an Arcane/Divine check if it was discarded to recharge it anyway, but that's kind of made explicit in the text), but that was my point of reference. The rulebook quotes provided seem to make certain that's not how it works for the Spear.
Finish it up Agent Eclipse!
Note that Qualzar has 3 blessings in his hand- he needs 1 to tempclose his own location, but he'll use the other 2 to help ensure that Estra and Gronk make their tempclosing checks.
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I have the highly useful blessing of Thoth, in this situation. It can give Skizza 2 dice to his check against the villain (due to adding Cold) or it could give 2 dice to Gronk and I. I've got a BotG.
It makes most sense to me, based on the various chances, to do the following.
Those use of blessings lead to a 99% or higher odds on every single relevant check. Even with 1 less blessing on the villain fight check, the chances should still be around 99%, so we're almost autopassing everything, statistically speaking.
When Skizza takes his turn, I formally give him permission to bot my temp closing check (just spend one of Qualzar's Blessings of the Gods on it). I don't really feel like there's a need to wait for people to make all-but-guaranteed game-ending checks individually.
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I mean, I hardly call it math when I'm just plugging numbers into anydice.com, honestly. I just count how many blessings we have and what checks we make.
No, there's no problem, but given out different timezones it seems odd for me to wait 8+ hours, potentially, to wait for me to simply make a post saying "dice roll 2d10+3". ^^'
As mentioned earlier, I used one of my 3 blessings to close Qualzar's own location. (And posted again just now to make it "official".)
So yep, that's a win! Yay team!
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Great work team!
So given that we're about to be picking our deck upgrades, I feel I should check something, lest I unintentionally handicap my progression.
I currently own (and have registered with cartmanbeck) both the Ultimate Magic Add-On and the Ultimate Combat Add-On decks. The question for the GM is as follows.
If I choose to add one of my Add-On decks for Estra now, it is my understanding that I cannot choose to remove or replace my choice of Add-On deck down the line for her as my Organised Play character, correct? If that's the case, then I won't include either of my add-on decks now, and see what the Add-On decks down the line provide (admittedly, I'm kind of holding out for Ultimate Wilderness, and by the time that comes out Estra may be through most of her tiers anyway).
However, if I'm wrong, and I can 'switch' to a different Add-On deck later, then I'll happily include one of my existing Add-On decks now to greatly expand my upgrade options, and amend it to something better (if a better alternative comes along) down the line. I would assume, if I did switch to a new add-on deck, I'd have to remove all of my old add-on deck boons between scenarios and replace them as per the Hierarchy as if they were all banished.
I'm interested in continuing!
As far as upgrades: I'll take the Ally 1 (Incanter), unless someone else wants it, in which case I'd take a Blessing B (Blessing of Pharasma).
As far as loot: I'm definitely interested in the Tablet of Languages Lost!
The Elemental Treaty I would also be conditionally interested in, depending on the scenario. But I would defer if someone else wanted it more.
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Woo! Flying-Pyramid Hunting!
Sign
Powers
Discard this card to add 1 die to any check. If the check is against a spell, recharge this card instead.
Discard this card to explore your location. If you encounter a spell, recharge this card instead.
When you play this card, you may reveal another blessing that has the Sign trait to treat this card as if it has that card's powers.
It actually seems overwhelmingly good; basically 2 skill feats worth. The +2 to Intelligence headband loot in Rise of the Runelords (which made Ezren all the more absurd) was at least late in the game! XD
If Wei Ji doesn't have the time or interest to continue, as the indication was floated, we could consider putting the adventure path on hold (depending on how long that would be) for their return. If we're going to continue, then I'd encourage opening up recruitment for a week or so. Some players may be fine with joining an AP a little late (and the Tier progression rules even allow for a bit of catchup).
We also have one more scenario left in the Adventure, so we can complete that before deciding whether we are going to change the team or stop; so we can get the Adventure Reward boon (Opening up Zadim for OP via the Inquisitor deck, I believe?).
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I've already had one fatality and I'm getting jack-all from all that time and effort from the other game.
Might as well try to see this one to completion, and if it goes south then I can step away from ACG just like I would have from CORE if my first CORE character died in the first fight they were in.
My sympathies, Wei Ji. I don't know how character death works in guild play, but my first PACG character died during her first [non-guild] adventure. A costly learning experience.
Guild play can be more forgiving with character death, but only after you've completed a few adventures. Essentially, if a character dies the table can pool their "die bumps" and collectively spend 3 of them to raise the character at the end of the scenario (they get the reward and everything). But until the characters you are with have enough die bumps to have 3 available, there isn't anything you can do.
Sorry to hear about that. Hope it doesn't spoil the fun of the card guildfor you too much. The good news is that after you all complete the next scenario, you'll be able to raise someone should that unfortunate thing happen to one of you.
It is the reward for completing your fourth scenario at the current tier. On the back of your character card is your deck list (the number of weapons, spell, armors, items, allies, and blessings you have in your deck when you rebuild it after each scenario). There should be check boxes next to most (if not all) of the various types. That lets you expand your deck from 15 to 16 cards.
For example, here is Lini from Rise of the Runelords. She could choose Spell and go from 6 to 7 spells. Or Ally and go from 3 to 4.
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Just indicating that I've changed my profile picture... because when browsing the images by date, I found multiple actual pictures of Estra. When I check "Human", "Female" or "Iconic" (all of which are even listed on the pictures), pictures of Estra don't show up at all, however. I'm going to report that on Website Feedback.
Spell B
Ally B
Blessing B
(Although, if you'd rather take an Ally 1, you can have it and I'll take a Blessing B instead.)
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Seems fair, that means everyone's card upgrades have been chosen!
Skizza: Blessing B
Qualzar: Blessing B
Estra: Blessing 1
Gronk: Ally 1
I'm not sure Agent Eclipse/Skizza has explicitly confirmed his interest in continuing, or if so I can't find the message. Outpost is over, and we've one more scenario left of the Adventure. Nobody has to continue if they don't wish to, or are unable to find the time.
EmpTyger and I have stated that we're good to continue as long as we can, largely. Wei Ji, it sounds like, wants to complete one more scenario to finish off this Adventure and grab the reward (ability to play Zadim in OP), correct?