Hi everyone! I'm just getting ready to tell you all about Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Demon's Heresy Adventure Deck, but I want to make sure I have everything I need.
Copy of the adventure deck to refer to as I write? Check.
Supply of snacks? Check.
Mike locked in a closet so he can't interrupt me as I tell everyone about Adventure Deck 3? CHECK!
Mike: MRRPH! BANG! BANG!
MUHUHAHAHAHAHAHA! ALL RIGHT! The biggest surprise in all of Wrath of the Righteous set for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game is right here in Adventure Deck 3. It's going to BLOW YOUR MIND! You won't BELIEVE it!
Let's Get It Started
But first, let's talk about the adventure. Demon's Heresy takes place after the players have liberated the city of Drezen. This gives them a safe haven in the middle of the Worldwound from which to strike out against the demons. There is so much to be done that the players can pick and choose the order they attempt most of the scenarios before tackling the Ivory Sanctum at the end.
What is this Heresy?
If you're smart, you'll tackle the Demon's Redoubt first. (I'll get more into why later on.) It's a cheeky little scenario where the demon Arueshalae is trapped in a ruined castle. In each deck, there's an extra monster in the form of a Grimslake. And it should be easy to find, since it's right on top. Not too much to worry about. You just have to make a check or bury some cards from your deck. And if you fail, you can bury another card for good measure.
You shall doubt it a second time!
It's not all bad, though. After you close two of the locations, you get to add another one to the mix, with no henchmen or villains in it. Why would you want to do that? KEEP READING!
In the end, you must track down the hag Jaruunicka. She's pretty nasty. She requires a check to play attack spells, she can force you to discard blessings as damage, and she has the second-highest check to defeat of any villain in this deck. Plus, she has an odd little trick if you fail your check: you have to draw as many cards as you're dealt in damage and then recharge the same number. There's a small chance this will immediately kill you, but if it doesn't, you might get a better selection of cards.
What a hag!
The Demon's Dangers
This deck has some truly impressive monsters. Take the Dominion Scientists, for example. They are masters of learning your weaknesses. They deal 2 Force damage to you, and if you take it, they get tougher. Plus they are resistant to magic, which really tends to annoy the casters in the party.
To-o-o-o-oad Science! Ooh!
My favorite, though, is the Toad Demon. Its check to defeat is 28! That's at least 5 higher than any other monster in the deck, which makes sense, as you can reduce it by 5 if you don't go after it with a melee attack. Still, a very high check, and if you fail, it will ribbit all over everyone at your location.
There are four new Temptations in this deck, each with its own risk and reward. Take a gander at the Glimmer of Hope. Every turn, you can take a chance to stall the blessing deck. All you have to do is look at a random card from your deck. You can choose to bury it and the deck will advance normally, or you can banish it, which will prevent the blessing deck from advancing. Who needs all those cohorts, anyway?
Hope springs eternal.
Good Stuff!
As frightening as these dangers are, there are equally great rewards.
For the spells, there's Steal Soul. Play this spell after a character at your location defeats a monster that isn't immune to the Attack trait, and you'll gain a d4 on ALL of your checks for the rest of the scenario. It's hard to think of a bigger advantage than that for casting a single spell.
They weren't using it anyway.
The Unfettered Imp is one of the best allies we've ever created. It lets you acquire Corrupted blessings for FREE if they are on top of the blessings discard pile during your check. A Corrupted blessing is risky, and you have to play it immediately, but you get to keep it afterward.
Much better than the fettered imp.
And let us not forget the Tome of Mental Prowess. I'm amazed this card got printed. It's an item that lets you gain a FEAT. Yes, we've done cards that give you feats before. But this is the first time we've made one that is usable more than once. It does require a Knowledge 30 check to keep it from being removed from the game, but this is the mythic set. Twenty-sided dice are the characters' bread and butter.
Reuse or recycle.
OH MY GOD!
All of that is very cool. Really! But let's get down to it. No one is going to stop me this time.
Mike: MRRRO! MRRRO! MRRROOOOO!
As I said above, after the players close two locations in The Demon's Redoubt, they get to build the Tower of the Fourth Sphere. It's sort of an optional location to explore, as there's no villain or henchmen in it. But if you put in the time and effort to close the location, and you win the scenario, there is an amazing reward.
YOU GET TO PLAY ARUESHALAE!
She's a WHAT?!
For the first time, we've added a new character to the game after the base set. Any one player can choose to switch to playing her after you win this scenario, or a new player can jump right in and join your party. You will get the same number of feats as any other character, right there on the spot. Leave no character behind, I say.
And she's a SUCCUBUS! We're letting you play a DEMON! But it's okay. She's a good demon... for a demon. She delved a little too deeply into the idea of a soul, and Desna gave her one. Well, part of one, anyway. Now she must fight to become redeemed or risk falling back into her old ways.
There are a number of advantages to choosing to switch to Arueshalae. In addition to resistance to three types of damage and the ability to evade any encounter she doesn't like, she has a special cohort called Arueshalae's Gift that she can give to another character. He gets a bonus to all checks in one skill for as long as he has it. But what a demon gives, a demon can reclaim: Arueshalae can take her gift back (or not) on her turn to give it to another character or change which skill it affects.
Arueshalae giveth… and so does Desna.
There's another subtle benefit to being Arueshalae. The loot cards the players get at the end of this scenario all have the trait "Owner: Arueshalae," which means that she can fill out her deck with them if the party comes up short of cards of the same type at the end of a scenario. (She may want to help make sure that happens if she banishes one of them.)
When the time comes for a player to pick a role for the succubus, that player can either choose to fully redeem her or have her fall again.
Two sides of the same coin.
The Redeemed role doubles down on the character's ability to help others. She can gain the ability to get her Gift back at the start of ANY turn, which lets her basically give a bonus to any one skill for each other character on their turn. She can also heal and peek at her location deck.
The Fallen role turns the corruption mechanic in this set on its head. You can use Corrupted cards to heal yourself, but more importantly, you can ignore the Corrupted trait on any card so all of those penalties that others have to deal with just don't affect you. You can also gain the full benefits of the Corrupted blessings, even if the top card of the blessing discard pile isn't also Corrupted. Oh, and she's a succubus, so if anybody doesn't acquire an ally, she will.
Whew. It feels so good to get that off of my chest. I've been trying to tell you about her for so long now. She's so amazing, and now you can finally play with her!
Hey. Wait. I just realized there's nothing stopping me from telling you about the secrets for the next adventure deck, too!
In Adventure Deck 4 we have...
CRASH!
Mike: PETERSON!!!
Ah, never mind! I'd better go.
Paul Peterson
Adventure Card Game Designer
