Making the Most of Character Unlocks

Thursday, March 15, 2018

Ever since the first Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Class Decks were released, you have been able to use Adventure Path characters of the same class as your deck in the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild. This has been a great way to add more variety to PFSACG character options (in case the 88 Class Deck characters aren't already enough for you!).

The latest version of the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide extends this to work with decks that contain characters of more than one class. For example, since the Pathfinder Tales Character Deck contains a wizard, you can use Ezren with that deck. And certain PFSACG adventure rewards unlock the ability to use specific characters with specific decks.

So, I decided to make a list of all the additional characters that you can use with each deck, including those you can only unlock with Chronicle sheets or boons. Every Class and Character deck has at least one additional playable character!

• Alchemist Class Deck: Damiel (Skull & Shackles), Damiel (Mummy's Mask), Mavaro (Mummy's Mask)—unlocked by Season of Plundered Tombs Adventure 4
• Barbarian Class Deck: Amiri (Rise of the Runelords)
• Bard Class Deck: Lem (Rise of the Runelords), Lem (Skull & Shackles), Mavaro (Mummy's Mask)—unlocked by Season of Plundered Tombs Adventure 2
• Cleric Class Deck: Kyra (Rise of the Runelords), Kyra (Wrath of the Righteous), Drelm (Mummy's Mask)
• Druid Class Deck: Lini (Rise of the Runelords), Lini (Skull & Shackles), Channa Ti (Mummy's Mask)
• Fighter Class Deck: Valeros (Rise of the Runelords), Valeros (Skull & Shackles)
• Goblins Burn! Character Deck: Tup (Rise of the Runelords Promo), Reepazo (Mummy's Mask Promo)
• Goblins Fight! Character Deck: Ranzak (Skull & Shackles Promo), Ekkie (Wrath of the Righteous Promo)
• Gunslinger Class Deck: Lirianne (Skull & Shackles)
• Hell's Vengeance Character Deck 1: Kyra (Rise of the Runelords), Kyra (Wrath of the Righteous), Drelm (Mummy's Mask)
• Hell's Vengeance Character Deck 2: Ezren (Rise of the Runelords), Ezren (Mummy's Mask), Imrijka (Wrath of the Righteous)
• Hunter Class Deck: Adowyn (Wrath of the Righteous), Harsk (Rise of the Runelords)—unlocked by Season of Factions' Favor Adventure 4, Harsk (Wrath of the Righteous)—unlocked by Season of Factions' Favor Adventure 4, Harsk (Ranger Class Deck)—unlocked by Season of Factions' Favor Adventure 4, Agna (Ranger Class Deck)—unlocked by Season of Factions' Favor Adventure 4, Arabundi (Ranger Class Deck)—unlocked by Season of Factions' Favor Adventure 4, Wrathack (Ranger Class Deck)—unlocked by Season of Factions' Favor Adventure 4
• Inquisitor Class Deck: Imrijka (Wrath of the Righteous), Mavaro (Mummy's Mask)—unlocked by Season of the Runelords Adventure 6, Zadim (Mummy's Mask)—unlocked by Season of Plundered Tombs Adventure 1
• Magus Class Deck: Seltyiel (Skull & Shackles), Ahmotep (Mummy's Mask), Crowe (Wrath of the Righteous)—unlocked by Season of Factions' Favor Adventure 1, Mavaro (Mummy's Mask)—unlocked by Season of Plundered Tombs Adventure 6
• Monk Class Deck: Sajan (Rise of the Runelords)
• Occult Adventures Character Deck 1: Estra (Mummy's Mask)
• Occult Adventures Character Deck 2: Mavaro (Mummy's Mask), Yoon (Mummy's Mask)
• Oracle Class Deck: Alahazra (Skull & Shackles), Alahazra (Mummy's Mask), Shardra (Wrath of the Righteous)—unlocked by Season of the Runelords Adventure 3, Estra (Mummy's Mask)—unlocked by Season of Plundered Tombs Adventure 5
• Paladin Class Deck: Seelah (Rise of the Runelords), Seelah (Wrath of the Righteous), Alain (Wrath of the Righteous)—unlocked by Season of the Righteous Adventure 6
• Pathfinder Tales Character Deck: Ezren (Rise of the Runelords), Merisiel (Rise of the Runelords), Seoni (Rise of the Runelords), Merisiel (Skull & Shackles), Seoni (Wrath of the Righteous), Ezren (Mummy's Mask), Simoun (Mummy's Mask), Enora (Wrath of the Righteous)—unlocked by Season of Factions' Favor Adventure 3
• Ranger Class Deck: Harsk (Rise of the Runelords), Harsk (Wrath of the Righteous)
• Rogue Class Deck: Merisiel (Rise of the Runelords), Merisiel (Skull & Shackles), Simoun (Mummy's Mask), Jirelle (Skull & Shackles)—unlocked by Season of the Shackles Adventure 1, Arueshalae (Wrath of the Righteous)—unlocked by convention boon, Zadim (Mummy's Mask—unlocked by Season of Plundered Tombs Adventure 6
• Sorcerer Class Deck: Seoni (Rise of the Runelords), Seoni (Wrath of the Righteous)
• Summoner Class Deck: Balazar (Wrath of the Righteous)
• Warpriest Class Deck: Oloch (Skull & Shackles)
• Witch Class Deck: Feiya (Skull & Shackles)
• Wizard Class Deck: Ezren (Rise of the Runelords), Ezren (Mummy's Mask), Enora (Wrath of the Righteous)—unlocked by Season of the Shackles Adventure 6

Whew! That's a lot of possibilities! Some of these options are total win for the characters, such as unlocking the Hunter deck for any Ranger. But there are a few that are more strange and interesting. Let's talk about a few of these, shall we?

The Pathfinder Tales deck has the most new options. The deck contains Varian (a wizard), Radovan (a rogue), and Celeste (a sorcerer). The Wizard, Rogue and Sorcerer Class decks are among the first that were released, so they didn't include any cards from some of the more recent base sets. The Tales deck has plenty of new cards, so let's see what fun things we can do giving those cards to a character who has otherwise been left a bit behind as far as card selection goes: Seoni from Wrath of the Righteous.

Seoni's Element Master role works best with spells that have the Acid, Cold, Electricity or Fire traits, of which the Tales deck includes many. When you choose this role, she gains a free power to reduce damage of a type matching one of these traits. She can also take a feat to add a flat +4 to her checks that have one of those traits, and another feat to let her auto-recharge items with those traits, so items like Necklace of Fireballs and Wand of Flame are excellent choices for her.

You can just imagine Seoni's delight when she finds this wand in some dark dungeon.

Has your Seoni been frustrated by the Trigger trait in either of the Mummy's Mask-based seasons? Grab the Tales ally Eando Kline, who gives you the ability to ignore non-villain Trigger powers. Or pick up the duo of Acadamae Student and Acadamae Scholar, who work together to make your Arcane checks oh-so-good. Or grab Jelani or Isiem, who can add the Cold or Fire trait to your combat check with a simple recharge. And there's a Blessing of the Elements in the Tales deck, an obvious choice for fiery Seoni.

Next, let's take a look at the new Occult Adventures decks. Both include characters from the Mummy's Mask Base Set, including my best character ever. Mavaro can be played using any of four other class decks, so he has had access to plenty of excellent boons throughout his long and storied career. However, some of the boons in Occult Adventures 2 are just too perfect for him to pass up.

For example, Mavaro has his own sword, The Missing Eye. It's a fine weapon, and is especially good at taking out demons. And it gives him a bonus on Fortitude or Perception checks when he really needs it. Even better, if he displays it, he gains four useful skills equal to his Intelligence: Strength, Melee, Wisdom and Divine. If you'd like to use him as a spellcaster, there are some excellent spells that use his Knowledge or Perception for effects or recharge checks, both of which he has a bonus to, such as Mind Thrust, Object Reading, and Kinetic Blast.

There are a lot of reasons why Mavaro is my favorite character, but I think the top one is his rockin' dad bod.

Have you found yourself taking a bunch of Mental damage that can't be reduced? You should really pick up the Crystal Mail, which will let you recharge those cards instead of discarding them. Or perhaps you could hang the Shrunken Head on your belt, letting you ignore a monster's powers that happen before you act. Also check out the Mindblade, who lets you use your Perception skill for your combat check.

I hope I've convinced you already of the potential value of some of these deck unlocks, but now let's really go off the deep end with the Hell's Vengeance character decks! I'm going to start with Deck 2, which contains Zelhara the Inquisitor, thereby allowing us to use Imrijka from Wrath of the Righteous. In her quest to root out evil and corruption, Imrijka has never been afraid to use tactics that might make some people squirm, so I can imagine she would embrace some less-than-legal items if she got hold of them, and that's exactly what the Hell's Vengeance 2 deck does for her.

First, there are a ton of great Ranged weapons that she can use her unique Ranged: Strength +1 skill with, such as the Galvanic Chakram +1, the Spirit Blade, or my favorite, the Stalker's Crossbow. Of course, that crossbow has the Corrupted trait, but there are ways that Imrijka can get around the penalties that trait imposes, like the Redeemer Blacksmith or the Channel Corruption spell.

Imrijka has never been too concerned with getting her hands dirty, and using a Corrupted weapon for the sake of good intentions is still good, right? Guys? Where are you going?

Excellent spells like Blade Lash and Steal Soul are here for the taking as well. The Sniper's Studded Leather, Shackles of Compliance, and Robe of Bones are all fantastic items that Imrijka can use to streak fear into her enemies, and those animated Undead allies... well, she normally wouldn't make use of those as a Pharasmin, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Last but not least, let's look at Hell's Vengeance 1. This deck includes Lazzero, a cleric of Asmodeus. He's evil and grouchy and people just generally don't like him much, but perhaps there's another cleric that can bring some divine light into this deck? I'm talking about Kyra, my friends. No, not Drelm. Kyra. Yes, you heard me right.

Kyra is a goody-two-shoes, and everyone knows it. She's a staunch supporter of Sarenrae, hates dead things, and tries to bring light and happiness to all. But not this Kyra. Maybe this version of Kyra lost the love of her life Merisiel in a fight with a vampire, and was turned by that vampire to serve his dark bidding? However it happened, this is not the undead-hating Sarenrae-loving Kyra we all know and love... this is something else, and there are plenty of ways for her to get out her newfound aggression using Hell's Vengeance 1. Interested in using a flaming hammer to strike down some weaklings? Check out Sinderbos, and maybe boost your combat with a fun spell like Instrument of Agony or Circle of Evil. Or perhaps just burn them to death with your Hellfire Halo..

Look into her eyes and tell me there's a shred of decency left in her. Oops, you probably shouldn't have looked directly into her eyes...

There are fun allies to capture, like the devil Suurlahetas or the Asmodean High Priest. There are a dizzying array of new Corrupted blessings to choose from as well, like the Blessing of the Prince of Lies, which lets you bury it and all other cards in your hand to straight up succeed at a check against a boon or non-villain bane.

Now, I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that playing evil Kyra will be easy. Neither the Rise of the Runelords nor the Wrath of the Righteous versions of her have as many ways to deal with the penalties of Corrupted boons as the characters that come in the deck do, so she'll have to rely on things like Channel Corruption and the Redeemer Blacksmith. If you're looking for a challenge, though, bringing Kyra over to the dark side might just be up your alley.

That's it for this edition of "Tyler takes over the Paizo blog." I've recently become the Venture Captain for Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild online play, and we are currently running several games as part of the OutPost play-by-post gaming convention on the Paizo forums, so if you have any questions about this blog's content or about playing the card game online, feel free to contact me at cartmanbeck@orgplayonline.com!

Tyler "Cartmanbeck" Beck
Venture Captain, Adventure Card Guild Online Play