Lots of cool things happen in these adventures—get the pieces, do the thing.
Wrath of the Righteous is a nonstop thrill ride. The party goes to the Abyss and back multiple times. They fight demon lords, they meet gods, they defeat armies—how could such an Adventure Path end? By permanently changing the face of the world, of course!
Things are bad in the Worldwound. Deskari is tired of waiting and nervous about heroes interfering with his business. He's going for broke and trying to tear the Worldwound wide open. The heroes have to stop him by traveling to the heart of the tear and performing a dangerous ritual right on his doorstep. And if they have a moment afterward, maybe they'll go talk to him about what's he's done.
There are so many good parts to the City of Locusts Adventure Deck. The characters are on a classic quest: They must find some mysterious artifacts and bring them to the worst place possible, defeat the most horrible villains ever encountered, then put their lives on the line to close a portal to the Abyss. This defines mythic.
And while I love all of the scenarios in this path, what I really want to talk about is a single moment.
The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game versions of Wrath are an interesting combination. They each take the players on the same journey and tell the same story, but they do it in very different ways. One of the most challenging (and also most fun) things I get to do as a designer for this game is taking events and situations from the RPG and trying to make them work in a card game.
In the Adventure Path, there's a particular moment that is very striking to me. The players have just rescued a weird little demon called the Suture from the Soul Foundry. Given that the creature can help close the Worldwound, the Storm King instantly knows when he's been found. Khorramzadeh appears without warning and attacks the players to try to stop them from taking this key to the Worldwound. The players must defeat the mythic demon who destroyed Kenabres, starting them on this path. It's a time to realize how far they have come. They've changed from the people who ran for their lives into the underground while the Storm King slew a silver dragon above them to the mythic heroes who can now defeat that very same demon.
This story arc exists in the card game as well. As you'll recall from my blog about Adventure Deck 1, Khorramzadeh appears in the very first scenario in that deck, but not as a bane to be fought—he would be much too tough for that. He's there to trigger calamity for the players. And now, in Adventure Deck 6, the players finally get the chance to face him and make him pay. All we had to do was properly simulate the conditions of the fight.
Searching for the Suture
Death of the Storm King has one very interesting feature: The Suture is a cohort that gets shuffled into a random deck as if he were a henchman. The players must find him in order to win the scenario because it's the only way to get the villain into the game.
HERE'S JOHNNY!
At some point, just like in the roleplaying game, the players will find the Suture and succeed at capturing him. And then, just like in the roleplaying game, the Storm King will appear, and the players will have their showdown with a power they had once believed to be undefeatable. The moment is preserved.
The End?
Much like in Adventure Deck 5, there's an optional fight in this deck. Actually, it's an entire optional scenario. This is a "reward" for completing City of Locusts, and it represents the players deciding to journey into the lair of Deskari in the Abyss to end his reign once and for all.
The scenario is simple. There's only one location: The Rasping Rifts. It's composed of six random high-level henchmen for each player, and the villain Deskari is on the bottom. The players just have to keep beating the toughest banes in the game turn after turn until they finally get to the big man. Then there's just the simple matter of making three consecutive combat 66 checks. Oh, and he has this text: "If undefeated, you die."
You could have said, "No."
Apocalyptic Challenges
Adventure Deck 6 is the pinnacle of difficulty in the Pathfinder Adventure Card game, and the banes are here to prove it. The Elder Fire Demon tops the heap with an impressive 33 combat check. (Some knowledge can help you with that, though.) If he beats you, he drains your mythic charges, and even if you win, all the characters at your location might have to discard their hands.
He just keeps asking, "Aren't you glad you took all of those hand size power feats?"
A favorite of mine is the Insane Bythos. This thing is chaos incarnate. Before the players even get to act, it shuffles up all of their role cards. Alain might find himself with the ability to wrangle Padrig, but nothing to help with Donahan. And that change lasts until the monster is defeated or until the end of the scenario.
"Where am I going to get a bow at this time of night?"
The barriers are highly educational. For example, you can learn that "flensing" means "to remove the outer layer of skin and blubber." You can also learn that Death by Pleasure is a thing that can happen in this world. But my favorite barrier is Unstable Accelerant. It's not so much a barrier as a warping of the rules at a location. It looks like it will throw everything into chaos, and to an extent, it does. However, its real effect will be to make smart players very careful about what they play and when for fear of drawing too many cards out of other players' hands.
Have you got any threes?
The Bright Side of the End!
This deck introduces some of the most iconic boons in all of Pathfinder. Among the weapons, you'll find a Vorpal Blade that can succeed at any combat check if you can just roll a 20. You'll also see the Staff of the Hierophant, which lets you get your divine spells back almost immediately.
Snicker-Snack and Stick!
Those weapons don't really hold a candle to the spells, though. This set contains Miracle, which lets you get and play any other spell in the box. It has Meteor Swarm, which adds four dice and an automatic reroll. And, of course, it has Time Stop, which lets you get any and all cards in your deck and then play them without caring about the "one of each type" rule.
The dream team!
And there is an ally that will make your jaw drop.
Ummm... Thanks?
I can't believe we're at the end of Wrath of the Righteous. What an amazing journey it's been! The characters have come humble beginnings, hiding from the chaos unleashed around them, to being mythic heroes fighting demon lords for FUN.
This set also introduced so many new mechanics: mythic cards, corruption and redemption, and don't forget cohorts. They all mesh and play off of each other well while helping players fight the increased difficulty of mythic opponents, temptations, and demon lords.
It seems like just yesterday that Mike was stopping me from revealing that you could play a succubus in Adventure Deck 3. Now there's nothing left for me to spoil.
WAIT! THERE IS! I was a designer for the Alchemist Class Deck! Wait until you see what Damiel...
Mike: PETERSON!
Paul Peterson
Adventure Card Game Designer
