Nobody Expects the... Oh, Wait—You *Are* Expecting the Inquisitor Deck Preview?

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

I'm back with a peek at the May Class Deck release, the Inquisitor Class Deck. The iconic inquisitor, Imrijka, is a bad-ass half-orc with a heart of gold who debuted in the Wrath of the Righteous Base Set. She's lethal with a bow and, as a melange of ranger and cleric, Imrijka takes pleasure in smiting the unfaithful from a distance.

She really can attack the darkness.

As you can see, Wrath Imrijka was about the monster vending, while Class Deck Imrijka is all about those ranged weapons. She fuels her engine by defeating monsters, sure, but she can also use her weapons for their powerful discard/bury effects without losing them to the discard pile. The last power on her character card is an adaptation of the RPG inquisitor's judgement class feature. It's initially usable only on combat at another location. Never has a bad first impression mattered so much.

I've chosen to preview her Fate's Shepherd role because it features an unusual way to cheat death. The final power allows Imrijka to drastically mitigate danger for characters whose decks are low on cards. With feat investment, she can even make the cost to herself minimal! Then, with the last feat on the first power, she can defeat an Undead monster to heal that cost right back into her deck.

The Inquisitor Class Deck deck also has a treat for Pathfinder Tales fans: Salim Ghadafar, the protagonist of James Sutter's Death's Heretic and The Redemption Engine, makes his PACG debut in this deck.

A mysterious weapon for a mysterious man.

Salim focuses on Finesse weapons, which are a staple of this deck. He's a reluctant servant of Pharasma, but he will call upon her power when he really needs it. As you can see from his sweet sword, we enjoyed playing with mechanics for signature weapons, and this one has a potent scaling bonus. His roles, Death's Heretic and Reluctant Priest, explore facets of his connections to swordplay and the Lady of Graves.

The third and final character in the Inquisitor Class Deck is an inquisitor of Shelyn, the goddess of love and beauty. After tossing around ideas about game show hosts and hotness judges, I eventually came around to the idea of Sherlock Holmes for the lovelorn, and Varril was born.

Why, yes, Eddie Redmayne and Benedict Cumberbatch were reference art for this character. Can you tell?

He's got the limited heals. He's got the power of Shelyn backing him up when he attempts a check. He's even got that looking-for-love explore-again power. (In case you can't tell, I have a bit of a thing for our boy Varril.)

His Knight of the Rose role is all about making people feel good about themselves. He doesn't like to be lonely, and he's eager to spread Shelyn's message when it's her turn on the blessings deck. Note that this inquisitor has no Melee or Ranged skill; he's a lover, not a fighter. (I promised myself I wouldn't make that joke. Oh well.) His other role, Incorruptible, is about rewarding devotion to faith.

The new cards in this deck run the gamut. New weapons, new spells, new allies, and even a new blessing. Here's a sampling.

We tried to do a lot in this deck, as you can see from the font size. There's a fair bit of scaling on the new boons, which should be interesting in play. We certainly hope you enjoy the Inquisitor Class Deck, which you can still preorder this week!

Ooh, and the return of Recurring Art Thing:

Illustration by Mattias Fahlberg

Until next time, Pathfinders!

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer