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Actually, you can pick any card upgrade you want! When you pick a card upgrade, the Guild Guide says that you may use it to add a card from your deck box of that type of an adventure deck equal or lower to the card upgrade you picked. The rules also say that you cannot start a scenario with a card of a higher AD# than your tier in your deck.
Neither of these stop you from picking, for example, a Spell 3 and then using it to add a Spell 2 to your deck! (Hawkmoon may correct me on that, but I'm pretty confident that's the case)
Also, interesting stuff about Honaire. Even in-canon (based on her "Meet the Iconics" lore), Estra doesn't fully know what Honaire is, at least inherently, but this is really interesting and helpful to learn!
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Anyway, regarding the scenario rewards, since the text wasn't posted...
Udjebet is a Trader that will offer spells with the Arcane trait, but at a cost of 3 boons. In my opinion, she's mostly only helpful if you intentionally want to thin your deck right now. I think I've hinted earlier that non-Sunburst Market traders will get better in the future, but not quite yet. (I mean, I suppose they're getting better every AD#. Remember, in AD3 these traders will only offer AD2 and AD3 boons, which can be pretty good)
Tetisurah is... phenomenal.
Type: Ally
Traits: Sphinx Druid
To Acquire: None
At the start of your turn, reveal this card to shuffle any number of cards into your deck, then reset your hand.
Discard this card to explore your location. During this exploration, add 1d12 to your checks against banes invoke the Cold trait or that have the Maftet or Sphinx trait.
Well, conditionally phenomenal. She can help you control your hand, but most important will let you reset your hand at the start of your turn. If you tend to play cards off-turn (spells, blessings; basically any kind of support) then this is free draw power.
Estra certainly wouldn't mind Tetisurah as a loot ally for now (she won't want it in Tier 4, though, for reasons), but Estra does only carry 3 blessings and a couple of spells, and not much else that she tends to use off-turn. The ability to shuffle away cards will help her hit her Cure spell repeatedly, though.
Skizza has his (very powerful) blessings and guns that can be used off-turn, and he's the only member of the party that never really runs low on cards (especially since Scarab Buckler can now heal itself back into his own deck), but he also has the smallest hand size.
Qualzar doesn't provide off-turn support all that often, partially due to his own general fragility between his large hand size and lack of healing.
Cogsnap frequently has a sufficiently full hand... but he also undoubtedly (in my mind) gets the strongest benefit from being able to shuffle away any undesirable cards in his hand to redraw new cards from his deck, which lets him accelerate into his Canteen and Alchemist's Kit and always have the right grenades on hand for the right situation, or shuffle away sub-par alchemical cards he randomly draws.
Thoughts on who should have it? It does take up an Ally slot, of course.
Anyway, I've added both the Loot Ally and the Trader to our Loot Spreadsheet, accessible via the campaign header.
I'm too conservative. Can't bring myself to apply the reward, so just going to take my normal upgrade (Spell 3 Swipe). It is only the first scenario of the adventure.
My vote would be Skizza, assuming he wants/has an ally slot to spare. There have been a few times when I have been reluctant to use one of his guns or ask for help on a sequential check, lest I leave him without a weapon in hand for his turn. And I'd think having a smaller hand size could be just as much a reason for as against?
(Also, Qualzar would be amused by a giant cat following a giant rat around.)
Anyway, Qualzar isn't interested, and presumably Cogsnap can't immediately because of tier.
Also, in my other Hawkmoon-run MM game, Udjebet is listed as offering Magic Items?
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Anyway, Qualzar isn't interested, and presumably Cogsnap can't immediately because of tier.
I'm not certain...
A character can never begin a scenario with any card that has an adventure deck number higher than her tier.
Does the scenario 'begin' before or after you pick Loot? I'd personally rule that he can still use loot that he's literally earned, but I'm not the GM.
(Incidentally, that is the only sentence in the entire rulebook that indicates any restriction whatsoever about what cards can be in your deck based on tier.)
Also, in my other Hawkmoon-run MM game, Udjebet is listed as offering Magic Items?
Agymah was Magic Items, according to one of my other tables... Huh, I'll double check.
EDIT: You're right, Mork led me slightly astray. XD
Yep, items with the Magic trait. I'll correct the spreadsheet.
So I'm still confused. I can make use of SCENARIO rewards, but not rewards for completing 3-2A-E? I know I can't do the capstone, but that is specifically because it says that.
Also: There's nothing that I really want for card upgrades out of this set. I could choose ally 3 to get ally 1 the Stained glass elemental, but that seems REALLY stupid and a waste of the ally 3.
My only blessing 2 is blessing of pharasma (and I much prefer the ability to recharge blessings of the elements), the next combat item I get is an item 4, and I'm not going to trade out my remove curse for the world.
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So I'm still confused. I can make use of SCENARIO rewards, but not rewards for completing 3-2A-E? I know I can't do the capstone, but that is specifically because it says that.
Oh, you can make use of all scenario and adventure rewards you've earned! I was just wondering if you could trade for AD3 loot, like the Ally we've just won ("Tetisurah" is a Loot Ally 3), since you're technically not supposed to be able to start with AD3 cards in a Tier 2 character's deck.
I would personally rule that you can use an AD3 Loot Ally (I'd say you begin the scenario, then pick loot; after all, the scenario that you're in may determine the loot you have with you, because you can't take them into other seasons or anything), but the GM may not agree.
Also: There's nothing that I really want for card upgrades out of this set. I could choose ally 3 to get ally 1 the Stained glass elemental, but that seems REALLY stupid and a waste of the ally 3.
Only a waste if somebody else actually picks an Ally 3, and neither Qualzar or Estra seems like they will, so I imagine that means we'll put you down as "Ally 3, low-priority", then we're just waiting on Skizza.
(By the way, since you're using Ultimate Magic, I strongly suggest you consider adding in the Ally 2 Cleric of Nethys from Ultimate Magic. Phenomenal ally, and one that Estra plans to use for the rest of the Adventure Path, most likely.)
I have to say that, as much fun as I’ve been having with PACG OP, the only real quibble I‘ve found so far is regarding tiers. They really feel clunky, creating as many if not more issues than they would seem to solve.
Probably not the place to discuss though.
Oh yeah, forgot about cleric of nethys. (He was in my magus deck so I didn’t see him when I was going through ultimate magic)
So I guess for me, low priority ally 3 (which I’ll turn to an ally 2) then low priority blessing 2 (blessing of master of masters)
Also for my power feat (remember I am playing catch up so I got a skill feat last time and tiered up the time before that I) I’ll take the feat that lets Cogsnap Discard alchemical items for their power instead of bury.
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I'd say that the rule about cards above your tier applies to when you build and rebuild your deck. It does NOT apply to replacement cars or traders any more than it applies to a card you acquire during a scenario.
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I'd say that the rule about cards above your tier applies to when you build and rebuild your deck. It does NOT apply to replacement cars or traders any more than it applies to a card you acquire during a scenario.
That's what I would have thought too; thanks!
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Anyway, without dice rolls, it looks like the rewards are as follows, from my perspective.
Qualzar:
Spell 3
Charisma feat
Estra:
Spell 3
Charisma feat
Skizza:
Item 3
Dexterity feat
Cogsnap:
Ally 3 (-> 2)
"Discard alchemical" power feat
And either Skizza or Cogsnap with the Loot Ally. Note that I feel that Cogsnap should generally get a higher pick at loot (even if it does drop down and AD#) because he's had less chances than the rest of the team to get card upgrades for his character.
Estra will pass on her Treasure Hunter Boon.
Ah, glad that VampByDay has the option! And fair point about even loot distribution.
Was really tempted to make Skizza happy with that Detonate spell, but just made more sense to trade away Boon 1s instead of Boon 2.
Also, not taking Remove Curse nor Natron Fang this time: no undead villains/henchmen/locations; and only Acid Pool is Knowledge/WIS.
And Cogsnap is free to join Qualzar at the Hot Springs if VampByDay wants, if only for the slight bonus from Heat Metal.
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Was really tempted to make Skizza happy with that Detonate spell, but just made more sense to trade away Boon 1s instead of Boon 2.
Also, not taking Remove Curse nor Natron Fang this time: no undead villains/henchmen/locations; and only Acid Pool is Knowledge/WIS.
And Cogsnap is free to join Qualzar at the Hot Springs if VampByDay wants, if only for the slight bonus from Heat Metal.
That's okay. I think I'll make Skizza happy by blowing things up with my alchemist's fire.
Although, my starting hand has my armor, so going to the location where you take a poison damage to close doesn't sound so bad if I can recharge my armor to avoid it!
Hm. I’ll defer to Yewstance. Qualzar would certainly like the Spell 3. But, making that WIS/Divine check to acquire is tricky for him. (And as Agent Eclipse knows, I’ve not had the best luck recently with acquiring boons in kept-open locations.)
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There's a villain in this scenario and, for the time being, there's less locations than usual (making it easier to find the villain and direct him into that location to close it faster). I would be in favour of leaving it open, and I'll push Estra's exploration rate even faster than usual to make up for it, because I really do want more Spell 3s (and she will, of course, head over to pick up that spell).
I also note that the Potion of Healing there can speed up our explorations, since we can discard cards to explore then heal them back; Skizza even discards it, and so Potion of Healing can heal itself for him.
However. I'll go with the team's consideration. VampByDay is in preference of closing, and that's undoubtedly the safer option. We will always get more chances for card upgrades, it's true. Probably best that Skizza go with his gut on this one; I absolutely understand if closing and going for the scenario win faster is preferred.
Keeping the Howling Sands open shouldn't be an issue if the henchmen are this cooperatively at the tops of their decks!
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Appreciated; As I said, I'll try to push Estra a little harder anyway to make up for the loss of time. :)
Oh! I also note that Skizza has Tetsurah in hand, so - if he's willing to offer them - then using his blessings, guns or the Game of Afterlife is not as great of a cost to him as usual. (He also can consistently self-heal now that he discards the Scarab Buckler rather than bury it for its power)
Which reminds me; what do your actual guns do, and are they free to use, Skizza, since you can reset your hand at start-of-turn? I've actually ordered the Gunslinger deck, so at some point (whenever it arrives) I'll be able to check independently.
I might make some alterations to the shared Deck Handler over the weekend; see how I might be able to improve it; see if I can intelligently bring up card texts or something. Would that be helpful to anyone?
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Currently my guns do the following for others:
Dragon Pistol +1: Recharge to add 1d6 and Firearm/Ranged/Piercing/Magic/Elite to a combat check at my location.
Hand Cannon: 2d6 to a combat check at another location.
Matchlock Hackbut: 1d6 to a combat check at another location.
Wheellock Pistol (in hand currently): 1d4 to a combat check at my location.
Just so everyone is aware, I currently have TWO items I my hand that banish curses (Mumia and soul stimulant) and I don’t banish them due to my power. I should have mentioned that in my notes. Feel free to use them at any time if you feel the need to. You don’t have to burn your own resources.
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Strong, exploration-heavy turn, and excellent find and use of the Potion of Healing. It's a slight shame it didn't heal itself, but between it and Scarab Buckler you shouldn't have a problem with cards for the rest of the game.
I still find the whole situation with the Howling Sands and Burning Child awkward, though.
All in all, at this rate I think we'll just aim to permanently close it despite the Burning Child, with only one card remaining. Only Qualzar and Estra can realistically deal with it without throwing it back in our faces again; can I request that Qualzar deal with it? He has the larger Charisma skill and Mirror Image as a likely damage avoidance; he can take my blessing (and his Good Omen) for the closing check.
Otherwise, Estra will do it if Qualzar doesn't, even though it'll likely wipe her hand. I hate leaving the Burning Child to run away and waste our explorations with fighting it over and over.
Also, I'm about to make a post correcting my hand. I mistakenly buried Caustic Fog during my turn, because I fully expected to do that with my start-of-turn ability for a bonus 'exploration', since I didn't care to keep it. But since the first card was a barrier that gave me a bonus exploration for defeating it (which would have forced me to skip my free exploration anyway if I encountered it with my power, due to the rules) I didn't end up burying Caustic Fog, but forgot to change it in my Deck Handler. So I'm returning the last card I drew back to my deck and un-burying Caustic Fog to bring my hand perfectly back in line with my actual gameplay.
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By the way, there's nothing stopping you from discarding Scarab Buckler to heal before your next turn, then using Tetisurah to reset your hand anyway. Scarab buckler has a 75% chance of healing itself back into your own deck anyway, and a 100% chance of either healing itself or Potion of Healing back.
In the end, you're not spending a card from your hand (since Tetisurah will stock your hand to full no matter what), so it's literally just free healing without truly spending a card, unless you strongly want to be certain to keep it in hand for its other powers (though you have a chance to redraw it immediately anyway with Tetisurah's reset).
Sorry Yewstance. Didn't see this until just now. I can deal with the Burning Child on my next turn? Will need some blessing support for the closing check though.
And, just realized that I also missed your not having Sign of the Pack in hand any more. Hm. Honestly, I wouldn't have asked for a non-rechargeable blessing on the check, which means I missed the Blessing of Maat. So, need to redo a couple things.
EDIT: Fixed turn
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Sorry about my hand mixup; though I'd have encouraged you to use one of my blessings regardless, since BoMaat is pretty nice.
For future reference, the difference between recharge and discard is pretty low for Estra; she has both a Cure spell and Honaire, and can chain them together extremely well, so the difference is largely elementary.
Does it make sense for Skizza to finish off the Howling Sands instead of Qualzar? Skizza can make the closing DEX 7 check much more easily, as I no longer have Good Omen or Blessing of Maat in hand.
While it would push the Burning Child into the Earthworks, but maybe that might not even be that bad, with that being the only location left?
Yewstance:
Given that the Caustic Fog says "You may play another spell on your check", I would think it would have to be legal to be played during a check?
(If it matters any, I would have offered Swipe if you didn't have the Caustic Fog.)
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Does it make sense for Skizza to finish off the Howling Sands instead of Qualzar? Skizza can make the closing DEX 7 check much more easily, as I no longer have Good Omen or Blessing of Maat in hand.
While it would push the Burning Child into the Earthworks, but maybe that might not even be that bad, with that being the only location left?
Fair; I'm probably being overly conservative... partially as I'm the only character who can't easily kill the awful thing. My most powerful spells tend to be fire or mental traited.
Yewstance:
Given that the Caustic Fog says "You may play another spell on your check", I would think it would have to be legal to be played during a check?
(If it matters any, I would have offered Swipe if you didn't have the Caustic Fog.)
I'm about 90% sure that the physical card was worded a little differently overall, but I don't have my MM set handy. All other "Cloud" style spells are perfectly fine to use during combat, which is why I'd be surprised if this is different.
However, the extra "You may play another spell" makes sense either way. It likely says that because using the power on a displayed card counts as playing that card type (a good example is Sphere of Fire; using it when it's already displayed counts towards my 1 spell played per check), so even if it was displayed earlier in the turn then taking 1 damage to add 1d8 would count towards your 1-spell-per-check limitation. A normal spell like Incendiary Cloud or Toxic Cloud would not count towards your one-spell-per-check, if they'd been played earlier in the turn, because they simply say, for example, "add 1d6 and the poison trait to combat checks at this location" rather than "you may add 1d8". The latter ("you may") implies that you're choosing to use its power (and thus, playing a spell) rather than it simply affecting your check whether you want it to or not.
As an aside, Sphere of Fire actually has "This counts as playing a spell" in it's card text, but as of the MM rulebook it doesn't actually need to say that, as it's written in the rules that using a power on a displayed card counts as playing that card. It's just text that's hung around since it's inception in Skull and Shackles.
If the GM says that using Caustic Fog isn't okay, then Swipe will mean I pass, thanks. My odds were way lower than I'd have liked otherwise, so I would have asked for any help I could get. Though, if Caustic Fog can't be used once you've started an encounter, then I maintain that it is a really bizarrely bad spell... bizarre because MM tended to have strong boons, on average, and asking players to pre-empt their combat checks in a set with Triggers is an even worse ask.
Caustic Fog is fine. And yes, the wording should be:
"Display this card. While displayed, you may add 1d8 and the Acid trait to a combat check by a character at your location; you may play another spell on that check. After that check, you are dealt 1 Combat damage. At the end of your turn, if you do not have the Divine skill, banish this card; otherwise, you may succeed at a Divine 13 check to recharge it instead."
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Thanks GM. Still a little fuzzy on why display, then using an optional power on a displayed card, counts as one step for the purposes of only playing relevant cards (and I thought the templating of Phoenix Cloak "When you die, display this card"), but I'm not necessarily complaining.
Anyway, no need to worry about the closing condition for the last location, of course; we've got the first villain there.
Is it okay if I use Cogsnap's Blessing of the Elements on a Fireball Trap? As it would recharge.
If not, I'll use one of Estra's signs.
Oops. Shouldn’t have tried to do statistics that early in the morning.
Oops, I didn’t have allying dart in hand. I’ll have cast Swipe for Cogsnap instead.
Sorry for the mixup. Not one of my more accurate days.
Don't worry about it, VampByDay! I chose Swipe over the other Spell 3s for its versatility, and that was as opportune a moment to use it as any! I'd would offered its use in advance had you asked. (Especially since I'm not needing it to get a armor for the Earthworks's closing check.)
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Earthworks is closed, incidentally, so we're waiting on the GM for the final location.
As mentioned in my notes, I'd like a method of combat handed to Estra so she can adequately fight for the last (monster-heavy) location in case she gets another turn. I recommend Cogsnap, because as I mentioned he should have plenty of uses of grenades left, given how many times he can re-use them between his double Alchemist Kits and his Canteens, and he usually doesn't end up re-using them much before the scenarios end.
Though, I did just remember that the Alchemical Gas may steal his weapon away if Qualzar can't dismantle it. Hm...
Just as well Cogsnap used my Swipe when you did! In retrospect, a pity I didn't hand off Neferekhu to Estra, but who knew that d4 had it in for me.
At least the Alchemical Gas is gone.
Note that whenever someone encounters the nonevaded Rath Sandstalker, Qualzar can take the summoned Bonecrusher Ambusher and evade it.
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No worries about Neferekhu; I wouldn't use it in combat since it would take the spot of the more powerful Honaire anyway.
I'd like the assistance of Qualzar's Heat Metal during my turn, by the way; I can offer you a Cure after I reset my hand (unless something forces me to shuffle my deck, I suppose). 30% chance of dealing 2d4 damage (in two separate instances of damage) to every member of the team, inflicting the Curse of Fevered Dreams on us all in the process, otherwise seems too much to risk.
Yep, use it! (Or perhaps use Blessing of the Gods copying Blessing of the Elements? I haven’t run any math on the risk/reward of Poison Spiked Pit Trap vs Second Law, but giving you the option.)
Thanks for the cure!
And I agree that Qualzar is now less vulnerable than Cogsnap.
Almost done! Someone needs to encounter the ambusher (which won't affect Qualzar's 1st check, so I went ahead with that), and then someone needs to take the 2nd check on the villain.
Agent Eclipse:
Likely something's off in the hidden columns in the "DON'T LOOK" tab. If you give me access I'll take a look?