Brother Tyler's page

Like many of you, I lament the discontinuation of support for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game by Paizo and Lone Shark. PACG is among my top 3 favorite games (counting all APs and the Core Set as a single game) and I can see myself continuing to play it for many years to come. I had hoped to see many more adventure paths and decks (and goblin adventures). Alas, that was not to be. We have seen fans of the game continue to churn out creative products, and those are great. They’re not quite the same as the Real Thing, however. My pipe dream, of course, is that we will see official products and support renewed in the future. That’s beyond my control, however, and it looks very unlikely at this point (sad panda sounds).

So my mind has turned to ways in which PACG might receive a little support from Paizo/Lone Shark to help fans of the game, both current and (more importantly) future, enjoy the game. Money was mentioned as a key factor in the decision to suspend/terminate development of the game (link). Time, too, is a factor. So any potential future support for the game during this [probably permanent] period of non-support has to involve as little of each as possible. That severely limits the scope of what might be done, leaving new adventure paths, characters, etc. to the band of dedicated gamers that continues to create content for the game that they love. I decided that there were several options that were relatively easy (?) to accomplish and which would support both current and future fans of the game, all via Drive Thru Cards. While there may be some level of effort required to develop the cards, the other costs are transferred over to DTC and the consumer. This reduces the logistics demands upon Paizo/Lone Shark. There may even be mechanisms for granting the authority to develop the cards to fans working under the auspices of Paizo, Lone Shark, and the community, further reducing the time/effort requirement for Paizo and Lone Shark.

Errata Sets
While errata sets are available for both printings of the Rise of the Runelords adventure path, no such sets exist for any of the succeeding adventure paths, the Core Set, or the various class/character/add-on decks. Having cards instead of substitutes (e.g., printed versions slipped into card sleeves, referring to a spreadsheet/FAQ, etc.) would be appealing for many of us.

Cards for Characters
While official character sheets are available for most of the characters and those that aren’t have been created by fans and are available at the Board Game Geek (e.g., Occult Adventures Character Decks 1 & 2, Hunter Class Deck, Ultimate Equipment Add-On Deck, etc.), those only support the characters. Many of the characters also have cohorts or associated cards that differ between sources (e.g., the versions of Padrig in the Wrath of the Righteous AP and the Summoner CD are different), and many of these aren’t displayed online (preventing fans from printing those for use in their games). This especially affects players of the game that are unable to purchase the class/character/add-on deck that supports a character in which they are interested. So while a player might be able to download the character sheet, they may be unable to use other cards that are necessary for using that character to their fullest (e.g., try playing CD Mavaro without having The Missing Eye). What I would like to see is the ability to purchase all of the necessary cards for a character. For example, CD Oloch would come with the character card, token, role card, and a Greatsword; whereas CD Emil would come with the character card, token, role card, Sawtooth Sabre +2, and a Redemption Card. I could see these being available in two or three options. The first would be per character, the second would be per deck, and the third would be for all of the characters in the Hell’s Vengeance Character Decks (with only 1 Redemption Card).

Note that I’m not including the exclusive cards that were available in the various Pathfinder Battles: Iconic Heroes Sets that were available from Paizo/WizKids/NECA, largely because I don’t know if whatever agreements Paizo/Lone Shark had with WizKids/NECA would allow for the cards to be available outside of those sets. If there was a way to do that, however, that would be nice, too.

Character Tokens
The Token cards were fine for the needs of the Rise of the Runelords adventure path. However, later adventure paths had mechanisms whereby a character token might be placed into a location deck, preventing the character from leaving that location until they recovered their token card. For example, I was playing the Mummy’s Mask AP recently and had my Ahmotep Token card shuffled into the location after failing to defeat the Dry Quicksand barrier. My view is that part of the fun (?) in such instances is that you don’t know where your character’s Token card is in the location, creating suspense. However, since the Token cards are clearly different from the other cards, with images bordered in green and lacking the normal card back, it’s pretty easy to see where a character’s Token card is in the deck. I would love to see new Token cards for all of the characters, with one side featuring the image and background lore for the character and the other featuring the standard card back. The easiest (?) way to do this in my mind is to leave the AP/deck indicators off the cards, and for each of the iconic characters to have only a single card (i.e., only one Valeros card instead of cards for RotR, S&S, and the Fighter CD). This would allow for all characters from the classic APs and various decks to be included in a single set of somewhere around 112 cards, and for the Core characters (Core Set, Curse of the Crimson Throne, and We Be Heroes) to be collected into a separate set (of far fewer cards). Alternately, they could make the cards available by AP/deck using the existing artwork (i.e., with the AP/deck indicators) - this solution is easier for Paizo/Lone Shark, I suppose.

Seasons Sets
Only a few of the Seasons APs had cards released. It would be great for all of the remaining Seasons to similarly have cards released.

Personally, I would purchase each of these if they became available (except for the Cards for Characters, but only because I have all the APs and decks). I have recently turned a new group of players on to the game and their options are limited because of the limited availability of most products. I allow them to use anything that I have, but they are unable to go out on their own and find most of the products. I imagine that there are other players out there that might similarly benefit from such products becoming available.

I’d probably even be willing to do the work necessary to make this happen if Paizo/Lone Shark were willing but unable to support it due to lack of resources (assuming I had the necessary software and images, of course).

I just wanted to get this off my chest.

I'm working on character sheets for the missing decks - those legacy decks and characters for which Paizo did not create freely downloadable character sheets. I think that this this is permissible under the Community Use Policy, especially since the community was allowed to convert the same legacy characters (from all decks and APs) into Core Set wording/format and freely distribute those (via the Board Game Geek). My intent is to similarly distribute these character sheets via the Board Game Geek. If I am mistaken and Paizo does not approve of this, one of the purposes of this discussion is to allow for that communication to take place.

Assuming this is permitted, however, I don't think that much assistance will be needed. It's mostly a matter of copying the information from the cards onto the documents, updating them based on official changes in the FAQ. The format I'm using bears a very strong resemblance to the official character sheets, though I'm using different fonts (I didn't get permission from my wife to purchase the real fonts), I'm not using the deck logos (including the circular icons that each deck has), and the small print at the bottom makes it clear that these are unofficial.

Here's the small print that appears at the bottom (this is the template):

This character sheet uses trademarks and/or copyrights owned by Paizo Inc., which are used under Paizo’s Community Use Policy. We are expressly prohibited from charging you to use or access this content. This character sheet is not published, endorsed, or specifically approved by Paizo Inc. For more information about Paizo’s Community Use Policy, please visit paizo.com/community/communityuse. For more information about Paizo Inc. and Paizo products, please visit paizo.com.

Information on this character sheet is derived from the official cards as found in the [Deck name] Deck and as amended in the official errata found at [URL].
Illustration by artist (used per Paizo’s Community Use Policy).
Visit paizo.com/store/pacg to learn more about the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Please let me know if you think I need to make any changes to that template.

As of right now, these are the decks (and characters) that I think are missing:

• Hell's Vengeance 1 (Lazzero, Linxia, Urgraz)
• Hell's Vengeance 2 (Emil, Nyctessa, Zelhara)
• Hunter (Adowyn, Korundo, Ukuja)
• Magus (Seltyiel, Talitha, Zvarbel)
• Occult Adventures 1 (Estra, Meligaster, Rivani)
• Occult Adventures 2 (Erasmus, Mavaro, Yoon)
• Pathfinder Tales (Celeste, Radovan, Varian)
• Ultimate Combat (Hayato)
• Ultimate Equipment (Reiko)
• Ultimate Intrigue (Aric/The Red Raven)
• Ultimate Magic (Enora)
• Ultimate Wilderness (Zova)
• Kingmaker Promo (Nok-Nok)

As with the officially available character sheets, these will not include any cohorts or other cards that might be necessary to play the character (e.g., CD Seltyiel needs both the Magus Arcana and Gallivance cards from the Magus Class Deck).

Why am I doing this?

Essentially, it's because I use the character sheets instead of the cards when playing the game (except that I use the tokens when I need to shuffle someone into a location). I get the heebie jeebies just thinking about marking my cards. Some might suggest using card sleeves and dry erase markers or alcohol pens, but even that makes me twitch. I have all of the officially available character sheets, and each is laminated and cut down to size so that I can use them as quasi-mats during game play. You can see an example in this image (which is posted at the Board Game Geek). In this play-through of Wrath of the Righteous, I'm playing Seoni and Imrijka while my wife is playing Crowe and Kyra.

We have begun playing the game with a new group and there are a few characters that I really want to try out (anyone familiar with my antics here on the Paizo forums knows that I'm a sucker for the Magus class), but the lack of character sheets and my reluctance to use the cards limits me.

Anyhoo, I'll plug away at this little project and will keep you informed of my progress herein, including links to the finished files. In the meantime, if anyone has any advice or feedback, I'm all ears.

I’ve uploaded some files to help others in presenting their homebrew characters and cohorts. The zip file includes a character/cohort template (Microsoft Word file) and a portrait workbook (Photoshop psd).

The template is based on the character sheets in the Core Set and the Curse of the Crimson Throne AP.

I’ve used the Arial Narrow font for most of the text. If you are willing to pay the money, I recommend replacing the Arial Narrow font with the GoodOT-CondNews font (or something similar), keeping the font sizes the same. Leave the character/cohort race/name and role fonts as Impact; and leave the checkboxes in the Wingdings 2 font.

You can use the psd file to create portraits similar to those on the official sheets. I recommend that the background of the interior be either white or use a background/texture of your choice. The red layer is used to cut out all of the portrait frame and portrait that you don’t need – if you want the portrait frame to appear as it does on the official sheets (i.e., with the right side cut off). The instructions for re-sizing the image appear in the red instruction box on the sheet. The placement measurements can be wonky and really depend upon where you place the cursor when you insert the image – the easiest thing to do is to manually place the portrait so that it covers the silhouette image that appears on the template, move the portrait to the back, delete the silhouette image, then move the portrait to the front (you’ll know when you forget to do the last step because the lines from the hand size section will appear in front of the portrait). The finished portrait image is deliberately larger than you'll need, allowing the image to be shrunk down to size without (hopefully) looking too bad (not everyone has vector image editors, so I kept it rasterized).

The darker green color used for the character sheets is from the legacy PACG character cards. The lighter green color used for the cohort sheets matches (hopefully) the color used on the core cohort cards.

There is an extra blank page at the end. The finished sheet(s) should be saved as a .pdf, then the pages you don’t need can be deleted.

The zip file is available at the Board Game Geek: link

I've uploaded some files to help others in presenting their homebrew scenarios, adventures, and adventure paths. Each zip file includes a storybook template and a file with the RGB and hexadecimal codes for the various colors used on the cards. The templates and RGB files are Microsoft Word documents.

The legacy template is based on the Pathfinder Adventure Card Society organized play booklets, but where each of those only includes only one adventure, the template allows for an entire adventure path a la the Core Set storybooks. The file can be modified to include just a single adventure or even just a single scenario.

You'll need to download the TiepoloITC font. This font is available for free download online. In addition, I've used the Gill Sans Nova and Times New Roman fonts, both of which are probably already on your computer (or you can download them for free). The Gill Sans Nova font is a substitute for the Dax fonts, which you have to pay for.

The core template is based on the storybooks in both the Core Set and the Curse of the Crimson Throne AP. This file, too, covers an entire adventure path, but can be modified to include just a single adventure or single scenario.

This file uses the Arial Nova Cond Light font, which is probably already on your computer (or you can download it for free). This is a substitute for the GoodOT font family, which you have to pay for (I used the GoodOT-CondNews font).

For both storybook versions, the RBG/hexadecimal color codes are based on swatches taken from the cards shown on the Paizo blog. There is some variation in those colors so I tried to find the average values for each.

Both zipped files are available at the Board Game Geek and you are free to modify them in any way that you want:

Legacy (uploaded to the Rise of the Runelords files)
Core (uploaded to the Core Set files)

I've read through this blog post twice now and will undoubtedly read it several more times. That's not because I'm confused (debatable). Rather, it's because this post provides more insight than any other PACG blog post that I can think of in terms of the complex thought process used in crafting the rules for this game.

That and the invitation to playtest the latest version of the card, especially when coupled with the invitation to playtest Thargrap, gives me a glimmer of hope that we haven't seen the end of PACG products.

The Release information says that this product will be available for sale in August 2019, yet I haven't seen it available since before that time. Will this product ever be made available for purchase?

We’d also love to know if this kind of blog content is of interest. It’ll take time and effort to put lost boons into a usable form, and a lot of work to develop and test the lost characters from class decks, but it may be worth it if enough people would like to see them.

This kind of blog content is of a LOT of interest.

Perhaps "lost" boons (and locations, and mechanics) might be usable in mini-adventures - single deck adventures that might be played without feat rewards, but which give players/characters the opportunity to make slight adjustments from the normal AP progression without adversely affecting balance.

Thanks for another great entry in this series - very interesting and enlightening to see a description of the design process and intent.

By now, most of us have seen the Core Principles: Conversion in the Pathfinder ACG blog entry (and the resulting discussion) and the Conversion Guide.

One of the replies in the blog entry discussion prompted me to action:

So, awesome community folks, who wants to be in charge of making updated character sheets for all these characters? *Touches nose*

Many of us, myself included, create our own versions of the character sheets, or variants thereof (such as Parody’s excellent character tents). I have a template that looks almost like the official one. My legacy version character sheet used the standard character card greens instead of the blues on the official sheets; and my brand spanking new core version character sheet uses the old character card green for the decorations (the Curse of the Crimson Throne characters used a maroon instead of the green that the Core Set characters had). Suffice to say that I use my own character sheet for the custom characters that I like to (poorly) design.

Tyler Beck’s question was a V-8 moment for me. I hadn’t considered converting the legacy characters to the Core Set style sheets, but it seemed like a “duh” solution to create new sheets for the characters that are covered in the conversion guide, and perhaps for everyone else, too. I created my template so that I could make my homegrown characters look sexy, but updated sheets for legacy characters based on the conversion guide seemed much more useful. So I’ve begun working on these sheets (and I’m sure other players either are also doing this, or will be doing it soon). I’m starting with the APs, working backwards (almost done with the Mummy’s Mask characters, then Wrath of the Righteous, and so on), and then I’ll cover down on the class/character/add-on decks. However, I wanted some input from others before I get too deep into this. Note that I’m not “in charge” by any means.

First, of course, is whether or not Paizo/Lone Shark plan on providing official versions. I’m sure that there’s a lot more important stuff, going on, but it would be great if this were anywhere on the list of stuff to do. Regardless, I’m going to assume that this is so low on the official priority list that it’s something enterprising members of the community will have to take care in the interim.

My main question, though, is whether or not players think it would be wise to update the phrasing of characters’ powers to match the formats used in the Core Set. For example, we no longer see “a character at your location,” and see “a local character” instead. Also, we generally don’t see “a [card] with the X trait,” and see “an X [card]” instead. There are probably a bunch of other small changes to phrasing that need to be incorporated (I’m really going to have to study the cards in depth to get a better feel for these changes). I’m not talking about changing rules – just updating the phrasing to match the current templates.

Aside from that, I just have to be sure to comply with the Community Use Policy (e.g., no character images that either don’t appear in blogs or aren’t part of the Community Use Package, no logos/icons that either don’t appear in blogs or aren’t part of the Community Use Package).

My personal priority for this effort is to take care of the characters that are mentioned in the Conversion Guide, but I might extend the effort later to cover down on the rest of the legacy characters (and their cohorts, where applicable). Naturally, that’s a very time-intensive effort, extended by taking the time to convert phrasing to match the current templates. So I want to make sure that I'm not wasting time with unnecessary/imprudent actions.

Thoughts?

I just received an email from Paizo customer service letting me know that my Core Set and Curse of the Crimson Throne set subscription order was processing.

The 20% discount *almost* offset the shipping. Or rather, the shipping was only slightly more than the discount. Overall, it looks like I'm just about breaking even compared to buying it at my local game store. YMMV.

Shipping in 3-19 business days...tee hee!

What kind of character variation can we expect to see in the new PACG series?

Some of you are (definitely) in the know, but I am one of the unwashed masses who relies upon rumors, hearsay, and blog posts. ;)

The Core Set will include twelve characters, presumably the eleven iconic characters/classes that we saw in the Rise of the Runelords AP plus a goblin alchemist (putting a goblin into the ranks of the iconics in line with the new edition of the PFRPG). My understanding of that set is that it will be limited in terms of the adventure level, starting at B (0) and maybe (?) getting up to level 1. I'm skeptical of the last part, but that's what I get for being ignorant. Since these characters are (or should be) playable in the core set, they include core character cards and tokens. If the core set doesn't exceed level 3, though, there's no need for role cards. That doesn't mean that there aren't role cards, but it would seem wasteful to include a component that serves no purpose. That said, it might be feasible to include a role card for each of these characters, providing two alternate generic roles (i.e., roles that aren't optimized to any AP).

The Curse of the Crimson Throne AP, meanwhile, will include four different characters, filling out the iconic classes/characters that we haven't yet seen in the PACG (Kess the brawler, Hakon the skald, Quinn the investigator, and adding a new version of Varian Jeggare, the character from novels that first appeared as a cohort in WotR, then became a character in the Pathfinder Tales Character Deck). It's safe to say that each of these characters will have a role card. If the original four APs are any basis for judgment, it's also possible that we'll see role cards for the twelve core set characters. These could go one of two ways. If the core set doesn't include role cards, then we'll likely see one "generic" role (decent in any AP) and one optimized role (optimized for the AP, in this case, CofTC). Alternately, if the core set does include role cards, then any role cards in an AP might be optimized for the AP, presenting alternate versions of a character with progression themed for that AP (think of Seoni's role options in WotR). Another alternative is that role cards in the core set mean we don't need them in an AP, but I would be sorely disappointed if that outcome came to be, so I'm going to ignore it.

This touches on a concept I brought up here, where character variation might be added simply be creating additional role cards. There's only so much you can do with regard to using a single template (core character) for variation (role cards), but nuances in each AP give a little more room to maneuver. Imagine if RotRL Valeros was identical in S&S, except that he had a role card more suited to the pirate's life. Now multiply that by twelve. Also, if both the core set and APs have role cards, the characters in the core set might have more freedom in selecting their roles, with four roles to choose from (two from the core set and two from the AP). The AP characters won't have that freedom, but my guess is that they'll usually be designed with one generic role and one AP optimized role, pretty much like what we have now.

A downside to this is that we're less likely to see a lot of additional characters in each AP. We might assume that each AP will have four characters, but that's not necessarily guaranteed. We might see more characters on occasion (hopefully), but we might also see fewer on occasion (hopefully not). Regardless, we can bet/hope that these characters will be more exotic and suitable to the theme of the AP. So if we ever see a Jade Regent AP, we'll see four (or more!) Tian characters or characters like tengu, etc.

Another interesting development is that the completion of the iconic characters means that we can see more variant characters (e.g., Ahmotep in MM as the magus vice the iconic Seltyiel). This gives the developers a bit of freedom where a character doesn't have to be limited by preconceived notions, or where literary characters can be converted into PACG versions (e.g., the cleric Drelm in MM).

Someone somewhere is probably preparing a blog post about this that will appear in a few weeks, but I couldn't let it go until I posted it. What kinds of things do you think we'll see? Or what would you like to see? Or what do you think I'm wrong about?

Please pardon my yammering, but my mind has been going "Squeeeeee!!!!" since I saw that strange things are afoot at the Circle K (i.e., new product pages). I'm a bit excited and finding it difficult to contain myself.

The new Core Set and Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path product pages are up, with preorder for both expected in May 2019. Exciting!

My speculation gears are rolling (all of the designers and playtesters can give wry knowing smiles and chuckle when my speculation is ridiculous ;) )...

So the Core Set will cost $60 and the (complete!) adventure path will cost $50. Assuming that's all we have to buy (see below), the game just got a bit cheaper (to buy, not in quality).

The Core Set will include 12 characters and allow 1-4 players while the adventure path will include 4 characters and increase max players up to 6. My assumption is that the 12 characters in the Core Set will be the iconic versions of the core classes in the PFRPG, so the 11 that are in Rise of the Runelords plus 1 (and I won't speculate on what/who that 1 will be). The interesting thing here is that the characters in the Core Set will (almost certainly) be generic (i.e., not optimized to an adventure path). So we'll either be limited to 4 characters in the adventure path box being optimized to an adventure path, or there might be another product, a character deck such as we had in the original four sets, with additional characters that are optimized for the adventure path. That being the case, an addition $20 for another deck still keeps the overall cost cheaper. I could even see multiple character decks for an adventure path (probably a pipe dream, but I'll hold on to it until it's dashed against the rocks). Also, this reduces design time for adventure paths if the designers only have to give us 4 new characters (or 8 if my pipe dream becomes a reality). It would be much easier to design and playtest 4 thematic characters than it was to design and playtest 11. Also, since the core abilities are covered by the 12 characters in the Core Set, the 4 thematic characters for an adventure path don't have to so varied from each other, making it even easier to develop them. They would likely still not overlap each other too much, but keeping 4 from overlapping is much easier than keeping 11 from overlapping. Or maybe the adventure path will include additional role cards for the Core Set characters (giving us a generic Core Set role card and an AP role card that includes at least one role optimized to the AP)...?

Buying a complete adventure path at one fell swoop is also a great change. We knew it was coming, but it's nice to see it confirmed. Those of us that get to play a lot (and regularly) won't have to wait month to month for the next adventure deck. This does change the subscriptions, though. Will the shipping on the adventure path boxes continue to be so prohibitively high that the subscription becomes pointless? Is a subscription to the PACG (not the character decks) pointless anyways if there's only one product for each AP?

And since it looks like most of the iconic characters missing from the game (Hakon the skald, Kess the brawler, and Quinn the investigator, plus [a new version of] Varian Jegarre (and I'm assuming that Wolverine Radovan will be a cohort)) will see the light of day in the Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path, can we still expect to see all of the classes getting a class/character deck? The Ultimate Add-On decks gave us 5 iconic characters, and the Hell's Vengeance, Occult Adventures, and Pathfinder Adventures decks gave us more iconics, but it would still be nice to see each class get a dedicated deck with two additional (non-iconic) characters. If I recall correctly, some of the iconic villains and occult characters weren't included in those decks, so there's still room.

Yes, Zova definitely has an odd hand size. ;)

This was a fun deck to go through. There are so many interesting ways to augment wilderness-oriented characters.

I finally finished re-reading the stories about Corum Jhaelen Irsei/Corum Cremm Croich and have developed the first draft of another Eternal Champion character. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the character, Corum is another incarnation of the Champion Eternal, like Elric of Melniboné. The character appears chiefly in six novels, though he also makes some guest appearances in other stories of the Champion Eternal.

Corum is a bit different from Elric in that his tales are divided into two separate stories, each consisting of three novels. There are some distinct differences between Corum as he appears in The Knight of the Swords, The Queen of the Swords, and The King of the Swords (all three collected into The Swords Trilogy) and how he later appears in The Bull and the Spear, The Oak and the Ram, and The Sword and the Stallion (all three collected into The Chronicles of Corum).

CORUM
Male Vadhagh Paladin

SKILLS
Strength d6 □+1
Dexterity d10 □+1 □+2 □+3
-Melee: Dexterity +1
-Ranged: Dexterity +1
Constitution d4 □+1 □+2
Intelligence d6 □+1 □+2 □+3
Wisdom d10 □+1 □+2 □+3 □+4
-Knowledge: Wisdom +2
-Perception: Wisdom +1
Charisma d6 □+1 □+2

POWERS
Hand Size 4 □5
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and Weapons

You may recharge (□ reveal) a blessing to evade your encounter with a monster.

You may discard the top card of your deck to add 1d6 (□ +1) to any check by a character at your location against a bane with the Army, Skirmish, or Swarm trait. If that card is an item (□ or a blessing), you may recharge it instead of discarding it.

CARDS LIST
Favored Card Type: Weapon

Weapon 4 □5 □6
Spell -
Armor 3 □4
Item 2 □3 □4
Ally 2 □3 □4 □5
Blessing 4 □5 □6

“Vadhagh” is Corum’s race. It is an elder inhuman race, related to the Melnibonéans (the race to which Elric belongs). Physically, they have slim features, tapered ears, and almond-shaped eyes. The Vadhagh are even more physically distinctive than the Melnibonéans in that their skin is flecked with gold and their eyes are purple with yellow centers. They are comparable to the Elves of Golarion.

The choice of Paladin for Corum’s class was based on his service to a larger cause in both trilogies. In the first trilogy, Corum serves the powers of Law, mostly through Lord Arkyn. In the second trilogy, he serves the mabden (humans). In each trilogy, his service to a greater power/cause allows him to perform feats that might be considered magical/divinely inspired. He’s not an exact representation of a Pathfinder/Golarion Paladin, but it seemed like the most fitting class to me.

The choice of skills is open to discussion. Though he is primarily a combat-oriented character in the stories, he doesn’t appear to be especially strong. Since he is skilled in both melee and ranged weapons, I opted for Dexterity over Strength. I wanted to make his Constitution higher, especially after his initial encounter with Glandyth (no spoilers here), but other skills needed to be higher. Whether or not to focus on Intelligence or Wisdom came down to the choice of his class, Paladin. Also, on several occasions in the stories, Corum mentions that his race’s “magic” (as it is called by the mabden) is really nothing more than wisdom (the Vadhagh are both at one with nature and in command of science that the superstitious mabden perceive as sorcery).

Corum’s first power is based on a Vadhagh racial ability to peer into other planes of existence, and to shift into those planes at will. This takes an effort of will and energy, and it becomes more and more difficult as the stories progress.

Corum’s second power is a combination of his (Paladin) inspired abilities and his race’s extensive knowledge and wisdom. Though he is not a seasoned warrior in the first novel, he has been trained extensively in arts (he is composing a symphony when he is first introduced), crafts (he later demonstrates knowledge in sailing and boatwright skills), and war (both individual combat and mass battle). The power itself focuses on the combat aspects since those feature most prominently in the stories. My chief concern is that this power is his defining power, but the number of banes with the Army, Skirmish, and Swarm traits is low. It is, I think, fairly accurate to Corum with regard to the stories, but it doesn’t work as well in the game where the threats are a bit more varied. I’m considering expanding its scope to include Corum’s non-combat checks, or some segment thereof.

Each of the roles is a representation of Corum as he appears in one of the trilogies.

In the first trilogy, Corum is pitted against the Lords of Chaos. The defining elements of Corum’s potency in this trilogy are the gifts of Shool, a replacement for the hand and eye lost to mabden torture (I won’t give more information on their source – no spoilers). The two are magical, the eye allowing him to peer into an eerie nether cave and the hand summoning the strange denizens of that cave to Corum, helping him in combat. The creatures he summons are undead and seek to gain their freedom by killing others at Corum’s behest, at which point those others will replace them in the nether cave and be summoned forth by Corum next time in a weird cycle. The hand, too, sometimes acts as if it has a mind of its own, saving Corum from treachery and acting with its great strength.

CORUM (PRINCE IN THE SCARLET ROBE)
Flavor text.

POWERS
Hand Size 4 □5 □6
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and Weapons

You may recharge (□ reveal) a blessing to evade your encounter with a monster.

You may discard the top card of your deck to add 1d6 (□ +1)(□ +2)(□ +3) to any check by a character at your location against a bane with the Army, Skirmish, or Swarm trait. If that card is an item (□ or a blessing), you may recharge it instead of discarding it.

When building your deck, include the cohort Gifts of Shool. When setting up the scenario, draw a random monster from the box and display it. When you would banish a non-Villain bane you encounter on your check that invokes the Nether trait, display it instead.

□ For your combat check against a non-Villain bane that is not immune to the Attack trait, you may banish a displayed bane to add its highest combat check to defeat and the Undead and Nether traits to your check.

□ You may bury a blessing to search your deck or discard pile for Gifts of Shool and return it to your hand.

□ When you defeat a monster during your turn, you may draw a card.

The role focuses on the Gifts of Shool. One chief risk is if the creatures that Corum summons from the nether cave aren’t able to defeat whatever creatures Corum sends them against. This is brought up several times in the stories, with Corum worrying that the foe is too great; and it is captured in the role’s powers (though not permanently, only affecting the remainder of a scenario if it happens). The wording of the monster summoning is a bit tricky. Corum most often summons the nether creatures when he is faced with multiple opponents, including armies and warbands. So instead of saying “monster,” it focuses on combat checks against banes, which allows for barriers with the army/skirmish/swarm traits in addition to monsters. Also, since the background of the nether creature cycle is that the creatures are trying to regain their souls, the wording doesn’t allow the monster summoning to be performed against creatures that are immune to the Attack trait (e.g., golems and constructs and the like). Mechanically, it can’t work against villains. Adding the Undead and Nether traits to the check usually won’t add anything mechanically, but they are thematic (and there might be some boons somewhere that can build upon these traits, so just in case…).

I’ve created the Nether trait to facilitate the wording of the powers (as wordy as they are now, they were much worse before I adjusted them). The word itself is frequently used in the novels when describing Corum’s use of the hand and eye to summon the creatures forth from the cave.

The other powers are intended to be relatively minor since the Gifts of Shool provide a big leap forward immediately upon picking the role. They’re effective, but don’t have a huge impact.

An inherent part of this role is the Gifts of Shool, which I’ve developed as a Cohort. The card represents both the hand and the eye. The card’s powers are relatively minor, but the card is also key to one of Corum’s role powers (that of summoning forth the creatures from the nether cave).

GIFTS OF SHOOL
Cohort 3
Traits: Veteran, Magic, Mythic

Powers:

Display this card. You may put this card on top of your deck to add 1d4 plus the scenario adventure deck level to your Strength or Perception check.

When you would be affected by a power on a card you encounter before you act, you may put this card on top of your deck to ignore that power; and you may add the scenario adventure deck level to your checks against that card.

If there’s anything that is missing from this card, it is that Corum can’t give the cohort away. The hand and the eye are magically grafted to his body. Such a power/rule isn’t necessarily mechanically, but it might be necessary thematically. If such a power/rule is added, it would probably be something along the lines of “After using this power, if you do not have the Vadhagh trait, bury this card.” Or something like that.

In the second trilogy, Corum no longer has the gifts of Shool, instead wearing a mechanical prosthetic hand of his own devising and a simple eye patch. Corum is a much more straightforward character in this trilogy. In each of the novels, he (temporarily) makes use of magical creatures and artifacts; and he has powerful allies. One magical ability he exhibits is that the belief in his demigod status [by the mabden] means that certain items have magical properties when he uses them (though they are mundane in the hands of others). Overall, though, he is much more of a mounted warrior in this trilogy.

CORUM (LORD OF THE SILVER HAND)
Flavor text.

POWERS
Hand Size 4 □5 □6
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and Weapons

You may recharge (□ reveal) a blessing to evade your encounter with a monster (□ or to add the Magic trait to your check).

You may discard the top card of your deck to add 1d6 (□ +1)(□ +2)(□ +3) to any check by a character at your location against a bane with the Army, Skirmish, or Swarm (□ or Giant or Outsider) trait. If that card is an item (□ or a blessing), you may recharge it instead of discarding it.

□ You may reveal a card that has the Mount trait to add 1 (□ and the card’s adventure deck level) to your combat check.

□ When you would discard a card that has the Mount trait for its power, you may recharge it instead.

Where The Sword Trilogy pitted Corum against demons, The Chronicles of Corum pit Corum against the Fhoi Myore, giant creatures from Limbo. His chief allies, other than the mabden, are the Sidhi warriors Goffanon and Ilbrec, along with the eternal companion, Jhary-a-Conel and his black and white winged cat, both of which also fought alongside Corum in the first trilogy. Corum’s “powers” in this trilogy are much less fantastical, focusing more on his combat prowess. This role doesn’t focus on the magical artifacts that Corum uses, since each is used for only a short while and none really define him. He frequently rides into war astride warhorses and the like, so I’ve reflected that in his powers.

Next in the queue are Erekosë and then Urlik Skarsol, each after I finish their respective novels.

Again, your feedback is appreciated.

I can't wait to see who Tyler Beck's favorite character is next time around. ;)

I'm really looking forward to getting this deck.

In addition to be absolutely essential to organized play, the class/character/add-on decks (hereafter referred to simply as “decks”) enhance the game by giving players variety. Getting tired of taking Kyra up against the Runelords? Try Tarlin. What would it be like to take a magus into the Worldwound? And a great thing about the decks is that they’re optional – they’re not a pay to win product. They’re fun and they both enhance the inherent replayability of the game and allow players to choose from characters that better fit their playing styles. Once we see all of the iconic characters hit some sort of deck (once the Ultimate ~ Add-On decks are released, the only iconic characters that will be missing will be Kess, Hakon, and Quinn) Paizo/Lone Shark could conceivably call it quits on these decks.

Personally, I’m not a fan of that. I like all of the characters. And I like throwing my money at Paizo/Lone Shark (martinis aren't free, after all). So I wouldn’t mind seeing them continue to produce to quality decks. In that vein, I’m here to offer my ideas on what I’d like to see come down the line, and I’m interested in hearing others’ ideas. I’m not going to go into specifics on characters – I’m focused solely on the entire deck. Also, while I’ll provide examples below, I’m not identifying which specific decks/characters I’d like to see as that’s a highly subjective warren of rabbit holes. The focus here is overarching paths that might be taken for development of additional official decks.

The first obvious choice is to eventually see a deck for each of the classes. So even though a version of Hayato was in the Ultimate Combat Add-On Deck, it would be nice to see a Samurai Class Deck. There are still quite a few classes for which no dedicated class deck has been released, so this alone could take us well into the future (and my dotage).

Another prospect is looking to PFRPG products for themes. So where the Ultimate ~ Add-On Decks followed in the wake of the PFRPG products with the same names, perhaps the various Pathfinder Player Companion books would provide a source for additional decks. My own Harrower Character Deck project was born of this concept, but it would be cool to see an official The Harrow Handbook Class Deck. There are presently 88 books in this series, and though some of them may have less potential than others, that’s still a wealth of ideas to draw upon. This incorporates an idea I’d proposed previously, where we might see decks based on races, with some characters that represent quintessential and/or special examples of each of the races of Golarion (e.g., perhaps a Halflings of Golarion character deck might include on Opportunist character and lots of items with the Ammunition trait for slings, jinxes, etc.; whereas a Blood of the Beast character deck might give us some animal race characters based on the archetypes in that book). It also ties in other ideas that have been bandied about (e.g., a Tian themed deck could draw upon Dragon Empires Primer). Demon Hunter’s Handbook could give us some new characters that would be especially suited to the Wrath of the Righteous AP, whereas Agents of Evil might give us some additional villainous characters (for those that don’t balk at the chance to channel their inner evil twin).

Naturally, Pathfinder Setting books also provide a rich trove of character concepts, perhaps less so than the Player Companion books, but some, such as Paths of Prestige or Path of the Hellknight could yield decent characters.

Previously, I’ve suggested additional decks for each of the classes, especially the early class decks. So we might see a Cleric Class Deck 2. These would obviously provide more examples and variety in the classes, and could also be used to shore up weaknesses in decks.

Pathfinder Tales also provides rich opportunity for additional decks. The Pathfinder fiction has a wide variety of characters that players would like to see realized in PACG format. The blog entry on the Pathfinder Tales Character Deck showed us some great characters from that fiction, but there are many others that could be given the same treatment. A bit more far-fetched, perhaps, would be to license other works of fiction (such as my homebrew effort at turning Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné into a PACG character). We’ve already seen such crossover in the Pathfinder Worlscape comics. That’s probably more of a pipe dream than anything, but it might be fun.

What would you like to see?

The downloaded zip file only contains scenarios A, B, and C (i.e., it's missing the Temple of Light and Metal and the Dusk's Domain scenarios).

Unless there's something I'm doing wrong ... ?

With Tabletop Day 2018 fast approaching (28 April), will we be seeing PACG support for the event as in past years? The hitch this year is that we don't have a new AP for a promo goblin character.

A most excellent and thematic lazy Susan!

Has Cthulhu succeeded in scaring the cat away from the cards? Or is he (it?) a subtle effort to get Strange Aeons turned into a PACG set? ;)

How is it that I see them together in the same place at the same time?

With Mike Selinker’s revelation that we might see an official Harrow Deck item “in a few weeks,” I’m shifting my efforts from the (strictly theoretical in my fan brain) Harrower Character Deck over to another project that has been occupying my time: non-Gunslinger gunslingers.

“What does that mean?” you ask? Well, since the game developers “tend to assign only one class for multiclass characters,” these are basically multiclass characters that take the Gunslinger class and something else. For my purposes, I’ve focused on the other class (which is the one that will be listed for each of the characters) – each basically is just enough of a Gunslinger to handle guns competently.

Each of these characters is also inspired by one or more characters from literature and pop culture. For now, the name I’ll be providing is that of the inspiration character(s). This is intended to provide you with an idea of where I’m coming from with the character.

First, the Ranger[/Gunslinger]…

LEATHERSTOCKING

Male Human Ranger

SKILLS
Strength d6 □+1
Dexterity d8 □+1 □+2 □+3 □+4
-Ranged: Dexterity +2
Constitution d8 □+1 □+2
-Survival: Constitution +1
Intelligence d6 □+1 □+2 □+3
Wisdom d10 □+1 □+2 □+3
-Craft: Wisdom +1
-Perception: Wisdom +2
Charisma d4 □+1 □+2

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6
Proficient with Light Armors, Weapons

At the end of your turn, you may recharge a buried weapon that has the Firearm trait.

You may bury a weapon that has the Firearm trait to add 1d6 (□ +1)(□ +2)(□ +3) to another character’s combat check at another location.

Cards List
Favored Card Type: Weapon

Weapon 4 □5 □6 □7
Spell -
Armor 1 □2
Item 3 □4 □5 □6
Ally 2 □3 □4
Blessing 4 □5
You may treat 1 copy of the weapon Musket as if it says “Owner: [Leatherstocking].”

Some of you may be more familiar with his other names: Hawkeye and Natty (Nathaniel) Bumppo; and if you haven’t read the books, you may be more familiar with him from the movies, especially the 1993 version of Last of the Mohicans (with Daniel Day Lewis playing the character). It has been a long time (over 20 years) since I read the books, so my memory of the character may be a bit fuzzy, but I’m pretty sure that the movie version was slightly modified from the literary version in that his exceptional marksmanship is augmented with melee skills (he had them in the books, too, but the focus was definitely on his ability to shoot his long rifle).

The musket sort of makes up for initial imbalance, making an Elite firearm a Basic firearm for this character. Thematically, it should be a rifle, but that’s not appropriate to the setting.

This version clearly borrows from Harsk and Lirianne. This guy is intended to sit tight and shoot at monsters threatening his party members at other locations. The first power also allows the Leatherstocking to bury firearms on his own turn, maximizing his combat power. He’s a bit of a one trick pony at this point.

Note that he’s much slower than Harsk – he can only use weapons with the Firearm trait (rather than “any card” as the iconic Ranger). This is offset (hopefully sufficiently) by the fact that firearms that are buried tend to inflict more damage on enemies, making them more potent. Also, those techy firearms of Golarion take time to reload, so it wouldn’t seem appropriate for the Leatherstocking to be as fast as Harsk in this (who, theoretically, only has to get another bolt for his crossbow (though admittedly, crossbows aren’t quick/easy to reload, either)). If this isn’t considered balanced, the power might be adjusted to letting the Leatherstocking bury any card, while keeping the other power the same. In this way, the player might bury undesirable cards in addition to firearms, but he’s only going to get the firearms back.

I’m considering two things (in addition to the possible modification to the shooting power). First, his hand size might be reduced to 4. I haven’t done that so far because his powers drive towards using his cards out of turn, so I didn’t want to limit his own turn so much. Second, I might add a very minor core power, but only if the two powers he already has aren’t considered sufficiently balanced with other characters.

Now, the roles. One role sticks to the marksmanship and scouting concept, enhancing that to superlative levels. The other shifts more towards a cinematic version of the character (and one in keeping with the wilderness warfare tactics employed in the New World during the time period).

LEATHERSTOCKING (EAGLE EYE)

(I haven’t come up with a nifty filler text yet.)

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors, Weapons

At the (□ start or) end of your turn, you may recharge a buried weapon that has the Firearm trait.

You may bury a weapon that has the Firearm trait to add 1d6 (□ +1)(□ +2)(□ +3)( □ +4) to another character’s combat check at another location.

□ If you are the only character at your location, you may evade your encounter (□ and if it is your turn, you may explore your location again).

□ At the end of your turn, you may examine the top (□ or bottom) card of your location deck.

□ When you play a blessing to add to your Ranged combat check, add d12 instead of the normal die.

So this one is basically a sniper and a scout. The role name is a not-so-subtle play on the "Hawkeye" name.

In contrast:

LEATHERSTOCKING (SKIRMISHER)

(I haven’t come up with nifty filler text for this one, either)

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors, Weapons

At the end of your turn, you may recharge a buried weapon that has the Firearm trait.

You may bury a weapon that has the Firearm trait to add 1d6 (□ +1)(□ +2)(□ +3)( □ +4) to another character’s combat check at another (□ or any) location.

□ You gain the skill Melee: Dexterity +1.

□ On the first exploration of your turn, if you defeat a monster, (□ you may draw a card and then) you may immediately explore again.

□ For your Melee combat check, you may recharge a weapon that has the Firearm trait to add 1d6 (□ +2) to your check.

So this one is Hawkeye from the movie – sniping at opponents in the thick of a battle (taking care of his party-mates’ monster foes at the same location) and quickly rushing into (and through) melee after shooting at his own enemies. He retains his core marksmanship abilities and the ability to maximize his gunfire (i.e., using the “bury” powers and then recharging buried firearms), but the additional powers are going to steer him into also making use of melee weapons.

I see this character using the Gunslinger Class Deck, possibly also with the Ranger Class Deck (like the hybrid class/character deck use we’re seeing with the “Ultimate” character deck series).

And just to tease, the other characters are a Pitborn Inquisitor (inspired by a combination of Hellboy and Roland, Stephen King’s Gunslinger) and a Goblin Barbarian (inspired by Yosemite Sam, but female).

When I first saw Sarcastic Jazz Hands’ The Decks of Harrowed Heroes project, I was intrigued. However, being completely ignorant of the harrow cards (beyond being able to figure out that they were the Golarion equivalent of Tarot cards), I was unable to participate in that project in any meaningful way. I recently purchased both The Harrow Handbook and the Deluxe Harrow Deck and conducted research. My research, however, has led me in a different direction than Sarcastic Jazz Hands’ project.

The Pardon Our Dust: What We Said (and Didn’t Say) About the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game at PaizoCon blog entry brought big news with the Pathfinder Tales, Hell’s Vengeance 1, Hell’s Vengeance 2, Occult Adventures 1, and Occult Adventures 2 character decks; and the Announcing Ultimate Add-On Decks! blog entry described the upcoming add-on decks for combat, magic, intrigue, and equipment. What I’m envisioning is a character deck with harrower characters dovetailing off of these other decks conceptually.

Since I’m not one of those in the know about the special tricks that the upcoming character decks will allow or how they'll work, I’m working on what the blog entries and discussions have provided, so I’m inferring a few things. First, the “Ultimate ~ Add-On” decks aren’t usable on their own – they must be added on to existing decks. Second, the Hell’s Vengeance and Occult character decks will be like other class/character decks. What I’m envisioning for this harrow-themed deck is a hybrid – it works as a standard class/character deck, but can also be added on to (specific) other class/character decks. This deck could be added to any AP to provide some harrow-based boons. It also has three different characters based on archetypes presented in The Harrow Handbook (more on that later). The reason it could be “added-on” to other class/character decks is because each of the characters is from a different class, so playing each purely from the harrow-themed character deck would make for very harrow-centric versions of each character whereas adding the deck to the corresponding class/character deck would make for more well-rounded, but still harrow-focused versions of the characters.

First things first, though – you can’t really have harrowers without a harrow deck. So I’ve built a foundation upon a new item (and it’s going to be pretty embarrassing if someone points out that a Harrow Deck card already exists in one of the APs and I’ve completely forgotten about it). Understanding how the base Harrow Deck item works is an important starting point because the rules for each of the harrow-themed characters have to work with the deck, making them better able to use the deck than non-harrower characters (i.e., any other character that might use the Harrow Deck). Without further ado, here’s an initial draft for your critique:

HARROW DECK
Type: Item
Deck Indicator: B
Traits: Object, Magic
Check to Acquire: Intelligence, Wisdom, or Craft 4
Powers:

“Display this card next to a character at your location. While displayed, that character may add 1 to her checks. Discard this card at the end of the turn.

Recharge this card to examine the top card of the deck of a character at your location, ignoring the Trigger trait; you may place the examined card at the bottom of the deck.”

This is a very abstract representation of the Harrow Deck, ignoring more specific use of suits and cards (as in the PFRPG) and simply either giving a minor bonus or allowing a character to better know what cards are coming up in her deck. To the untrained (i.e., non-harrower), this is much less useful than, say, a spyglass or an augury spell. And something that needs to be emphasized at this point is that the rules I’m developing for the Harrow Deck are intended to be for anyone using the deck, especially lay users. (It occurs to me that the folks at Lone Shark may have already been through this whole bit as they work on the Curse of the Crimson Throne AP.) The harrow-themed characters will be able to make better use of the Harrow Deck, but we need to start with the baseline.

The intent is that the owner of the Harrow Deck can play it during anyone’s turn on any character at their location. The first power is intended to represent a combination of the beneficiary having a vague idea of what challenges they will face, whether bane or boon, as well as an abstract representation of benefits by suit (for those that are familiar with the PFRPG Harrow Deck rules). At the end of the turn that the Harrow Deck is played (i.e., displayed), it is discarded. The second power, meanwhile, only uses a recharge cost because it’s looking at something less challenging – the individual (rather than external challenges). The concept is that the subject of the harrow reading is better able to reassess their needs, so a less desirable card (at that time) can be recharged in hopes that the new top card of their deck will be better suited to what they need for upcoming challenges.

I see two or three of these cards being included in the (purely hypothetical) Harrower Character Deck.

Please let me know how you think I can improve upon the rules for the Harrow Deck. Once those are finalized, I’ll move the discussion on to other elements (so far, additional harrow-themed items and spells for the deck, as well as three harrow-themed characters).

Congrats to Doppelschwert on being featured in the first of this series - quite an auspicious honor within the community. It's clear that you've put a lot of hard work into this and I look forward to playing through the AP.

What follows is an experiment of sorts, an intellectual exercise at role (not character) creation.

One observation that I’ve seen made by various players is that the role choices available to the characters in the various PACG adventure paths usually consist of a role that is especially suitable for the challenges of the adventure path and another that is more generic in nature. The first role tends to be tuned to concepts that are peculiar to the adventure path, such as many of the characters from the Skull & Shackles adventure path have powers that capitalize on the banes and boons of that adventure path (e.g., powers effective against banes with the Aquatic trait, or powers that rely on cards that are only found in S&S, etc.). This role is often much less effective in other adventure paths. The second role, meanwhile, can often be slightly less effective than the first when used in its particular adventure path, but the role is relatively useful in any adventure path.

After perusing the ideas and discussions put forth in the recent What would *you* change? and Class Deck Suggestions topics, I began to consider the possibility of expanding the stable of available characters simply by creating additional roles for existing characters. Would it be possible, I wondered, to take an existing character from one of the adventure paths and create alternate roles that would be especially suited to the other adventure paths while leaving the core character (skills, cards, core powers) intact?

Now anyone that has followed my shenanigans in the Homebrew and House Rules forum has seen me present a variety of magus characters, whether alternate versions of Seltyiel or other characters. I admit that Seltyiel is among my favorite of characters (along with Oloch, another hybrid of warrior and [divine] spellcaster). Seltyiel is also a character that I often see described as “weak” or “one-dimensional” (okay, I’m paraphrasing). I was also a bit inspired by the Sigilus, a magus archetype that uses rune magic; and though I couldn’t turn Seltyiel into a Sigilus, the concept of Seltyiel using rune magic led to an idea for one of the roles.

So each of the roles below uses the core Seltyiel character as found in the Skull & Shackles Base Set, but tailored to the other adventure paths. In each case, I looked at the other characters for that adventure path, as well as the concepts that the adventure path used, then I developed a role that I hoped would be appropriate to, but not overpowered for, the adventure path in question.

In concept, each of these roles would [if something like this were ever implemented, which is a pipe dream] have a blurb along the lines of:

"You may choose this role after completing Adventure 3 of the [AP Name] Adventure Path."

RISE OF THE RUNELORDS

As the foundation upon which the PACG series is built, the characters in this set are actually rather generic in nature. So I developed this role based on the model of the other Rise of the Runelords characters as well as a thematic concept derived from the background of the Runelords.

SELTYIEL (WRATHKNIGHT)

A Wrathknight releases his anger as a magical onslaught against his enemies.

Powers

Hand Size 5 □6 □7

Proficient with Light Armors and Weapons

Choose a weapon that doesn’t have the 2-Handed trait and a spell that has the Attack trait. When you play one for your combat check, you may recharge the other (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d6 (□ 2d6)(□ 3d6) and that card’s traits to the check.

At the (□ start or) end of your turn, you may attempt to recharge a spell in your discard pile.

□ You may discard (□ recharge) a spell that has the Attack trait (□ or a weapon) to add 1d4 (□ 2d4)(□ 3d4) and that card’s traits to the combat check of another character at your location.

□ When you play a blessing to add to your Arcane check, add d12 instead of the normal die.

The concept of this role is that Seltyiel’s infernal patron (Asmodeus) has insinuated a basic knowledge of wrath-based rune magic into Seltyiel’s subconscious as he has progressed through the adventure path, giving him a sort of rune mastery when it comes time to choose a role. The concept was also inspired by one of my favorite pieces of Wayne Reynolds artwork, the cover to Ultimate Magic (and I’ve changed the execution of the power to be different from other Seltyiel roles I’ve created that were inspired by the same piece of art).

The power allowing Seltyiel to contribute to another character’s combat check led to the adjustment to Seltyiel’s core “recharge” power – since the character would likely be using his spells more often, he would need to recharge spells more often.

The blessing power was modeled after other characters from the Rise of the Runelords adventure path; and this seemed like a nice way to tie this character/role into the AP.

WRATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS

This role was developed as a way of focusing on Seltyiel’s darker nature and his patron, Asmodeus. It’s sort of a derivation of Seoni’s similarly “evil” role.

SELTYIEL (HELLBOUND)

Those that serve the Infernal powers know where their destiny leads them.

Powers

Hand Size 5 □6 □7

Proficient with Light Armors and Weapons

Choose a weapon that doesn’t have the 2-Handed trait and a spell that has the Attack trait. When you play one for your combat check, you may recharge the other (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d6 (□ 2d6) and that card’s traits to the check.

At the end of your turn, you may attempt to recharge a spell in your discard pile.

□ You may recharge (□ reveal) a card that has the Corrupted trait to reduce Fire or Mental damage dealt to you by 2 (□ 4)(□ to 0).

□ Add 2 to your check that invokes the Corrupted (□ or Electricity or Fire) trait.

□ When you play Blessing of Asmodeus, you may recharge it instead of discarding it.

This is a character that has embraced his dark side, and one which doesn’t want to redeem cards. This role is really only usable in the Wrath of the Righteous adventure path, the only adventure path that has cards with the Corrupted trait (for now). Where the Wrathknight role presented a version of Seltyiel that actually helps other characters, the Hellbound role promotes using Seltyiel alone

MUMMY’S MASK

This adventure path provided us with Traders, Curses, Triggers, and accuracy (i.e., not succeeding at checks by too much). Of those, I focused on Triggers, with Seltyiel’s mastery of magic giving him preternatural awareness to avoid dangers. I felt that the accuracy piece was already covered by another magus, Ahmotep, so I didn’t want to pigeonhole the magus as a accuracy expert in Mummy’s Mask. Traders didn’t seem like an appropriate area to provide powers; and curses seemed more appropriate for divine spellcasters.

SELTYIEL (SPELLRAIDER)

Eldritch awareness helps a Spellraider to evade dangers.

Powers

Hand Size 5 □6 □7

Proficient with Light Armors and Weapons

Choose a weapon that doesn’t have the 2-Handed trait and a spell that has the Attack trait. When you play one for your combat check, you may recharge the other (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d6 (□ 2d6) and that card’s traits to the check.

At the end of your turn, you may attempt to recharge a spell (□ or you may succeed at a Craft 7 check to recharge a weapon (□ or an item)) in your discard pile.

□ At the start (□ or end) of your turn, you may display any number of spells that have the Arcane trait. You may discard a displayed spell to ignore the effects of a card that has the Trigger trait (□ or the before you act powers of an encountered bane). Recharge the displayed cards (□ or shuffle them into your deck) before you reset your hand.

□ Add 2 to your non-combat check that invokes the Arcane trait.

This role turns Seltyiel into your point man, pushing him in front of the party to explore a location without fear of Triggers (as long as he has sufficient spells in his hand). He’s much less combat-oriented than his Skull & Shackles counterpart (especially the Spellblade), but becomes the party’s canary in a mummy-infested coal mine.

These roles aren’t perfect by any means, and I’m sure I’ll refine them as I wait with eager anticipation for the new Seltyiel to be released in the Magus Class Deck. I’m open to suggestions for refinement of these roles, of course.

In addition, if you have ideas for alternate role cards for other characters, allowing those characters to be used in other adventure paths (e.g., Jirelle for Rise of the Runelords, Oloch for Wrath of the Righteous) while using the core character as presented in the original adventure path in which they appeared*, I’d enjoy seeing them.

* And some characters are fortunate enough to appear in multiple adventure paths, allowing you to take any of those core versions and create a new role for an adventure path in which they don’t appear (e.g., Lirianne in Mummy’s Mask).

You had me at "Pathfinder Adventures is now available for Windows and macOS!" :D

My group has found the precision aspect of this AP to be a very refreshing addition to the system, something that creates a whole new layer of complexity and tactics for attempting checks. For me, this has been the most interesting new element in the game series.

With regard to choosing a location because of its challenges when it is a real challenge, my group will take one of two different approaches, depending upon the overall challenge of the scenario:

1. When closing a location is difficult or painful (i.e., "discard/bury/banish a card or take damage type locations), we tend to explore it first. This gives our characters enough time to recover (i.e., heal) for the endgame. Also, the locations that are easier to close are the ones that will be occupied when we are seriously attempting to corner and defeat the villain.

2. When closing a location is difficult or painful (as above) we might save it for last, trying to chase the villain to that location so that we don't have to go through the pain of closing if we are able to defeat the villain.

Both options depend upon a lot of factors, though we'll usually opt for option 1 on our first run through a scenario and move to option 2 on subsequent attempts.

The above doesn't counter the advice that Shannon provided, though.

Also, the link to the Mountain Peak image isn't working. :(

I’ve been working on a custom Magus Class Deck concept for awhile. It began as a collection of my efforts to create multiple magus class characters. For awhile, I considered making two class decks, one composed of good magi (including a “less evil” version of Seltyiel) and one composed of evil magi. With the availability of Ahmotep, a staff mage, in the Mummy’s Mask adventure path, my Valánta staff mage became irrelevant and has been dropped from the project. The release of the Witch, Warpriest, and Summoner class decks also gave me some ideas and I’ve overhauled the project. So now it’s down to three magus characters:
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• Seltyiel


• Arcaveil


• Raziya

Discussions of the thought process behind each character are provided in the linked discussions. My intent with the separate discussions is that the discussion for each of the characters is intended to cover the specifics of that character, whereas this discussion is for the overall synergy of the characters in a single class deck, as well as the potential composition of the cards in such a class deck.

Note that the following discussions are no longer relevant and can be ignored:

• Valánta – custom magus (rendered superfluous by Amhotep in Mummy’s Mask)


• Seltyiel - "good" version (well, not really "good") (the Kensai role has been reassigned to Raziya while the Eldritch Knight has been reassigned over to the “evil” (only) Seltyiel character)


• Custom Character – Amrael the Magus

My Seltyiel Bladebound Role + development isn’t part of this project, but draws upon similar concepts. That role is being developed as part of another effort.

This effort is largely academic in nature. The characters, once refined, would be usable, but the overall class deck is really notional. The process and methodologies are very interesting, though, especially as we've seen the design team refine their process in going from the earlier class decks (especially those with 4 characters) to the most recent (the "cycles" are interesting and the new powers and templates provide interesting concepts for making characters distinctive).

I actually looked at a lot of different ideas for characters, including tieflings (ahem..."pitborn") cat-folk, half-orcs, elves, etc. I figured that at least one character needed to be human, and one character (not necessarily a different character) needed to be female. For awhile I considered dropping Arcaveil from the project and was working on a female half-orc, but I couldn't get that concept to work within the limitations I see in the cards. So I made some revisions to Arcaveil so that the cards wouldn't be too watered down; and while I don't like having both a half-elf (the obligatory Seltyiel) and an elf (a drow in this instance) and a human because that looks like nothing more than a spectrum of human/near-human characters, I felt that the three I ended up with allow the cards to work across multiple characters. There are too many good ideas for magus characters from across multiple races, however.

The composition of the cards will be the next step, once the characters are refined a bit.

This character is part of my custom magus class deck project. This character takes a modified version of the bladebound role that you can see developed here and a modified version of the kensai role taken from the now-defunct ”good” version of Seltyiel.

Here’s the base character:

RAZIYA

Female Human Magus

SKILLS
Strength d6 □+1 □+2
Dexterity d10 □+1 □+2 □+3 □+4
-Acrobatics: Dexterity +2
Constitution d6 □+1
Intelligence d6 □+1 □+2
Wisdom d6 □+1 □+2 □+3
-Perception: Wisdom +1
Charisma d8 □+1 □+2 □+3
-Arcane: Charisma +2

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6
Proficient with Light Armors and Weapons

You may discard (□ recharge) a spell to add your Arcane skill and the Magic trait to your Melee combat check.

For your check that invokes the Sword trait, you gain the skill Melee: Dexterity +2.

You may recharge a weapon to add 2 (□ 4) to your check to acquire (□ or recharge) a spell.

Cards List
Favored Card Type: Weapon

Weapon 3 □4 □5
Spell 4 □5 □6 □7
Armor 2 □3
Item 2 □3
Ally 1 □2
Blessing 3 □4 □5

You may treat 1 copy of the weapon Scimitar as if it says “Owner: Raziya.”

The concept behind this character is that she is primarily a sworsdwoman, but is able to augment her combat ability with innate magical power. I’m torn between going with a dervish style of character or making her an Aldori Swordswoman (albeit, one that differs from others in that she augments her combat ability with magic).

For Raziya, I’ve changed up the magus power as seen in Skull & Shackles Seltyiel, removing some flexibility, but increasing base level potency. Where Seltyiel must use spells that have the Attack trait, Raziya can use any spell. Also, Seltyiel is limited to weapons that don’t have the 2-Handed Trait, whereas Raziya is focused on all types of Swords, including those that are 2-Handed. Her initial combat potency is slightly higher, but can’t be increased as high as Seltyiel’s.

She is much more combat-focused than Seltyiel at lower levels, though she has a power for improved acquisition/recharging of spells. Also, since she doesn’t need Attack spells, she can be a bit more flexible than Seltyiel in that area, using utility spells to help the party. Seltyiel can make better use of higher level Attack spells later in the adventure, but doesn’t want to water his deck down with too many utility spells, whereas Raziya is more likely to take a lot of utility spells with one or two Attack spells sprinkled in for when she needs that extra oomph.

RAZIYA (KENSAI)

Some may test the skill of a kensai with a sword once, but none do so twice.

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors and Weapons

You may discard (□ recharge) a spell to add your Arcane skill and the Magic trait to your Melee combat check; (□ if the spell has the Attack trait, you may add an additional 2 (□ 4) to the check).

For your check that invokes the Sword trait, you gain the skill Melee: Dexterity +2 (□ +4).

You may recharge a weapon to add 2 (□ 4) to your check to acquire (□ or recharge) a spell.

□ When you would discard a weapon that has the Sword trait for its power, you may recharge it instead.

□ If you start your turn without any weapons in your hand, you may draw 1 card (□ or 2 cards).

□ You may discard a spell to reduce damage by 1 plus the adventure deck level of the discarded card, if any.

This role draws upon powers from various roles, including Kyra and Valeros. Combined, they make her a very potent swordswoman (the point of the role, after all).

The next role is the bladebound, one of the magus archetypes found in Ultimate Magic. Much of this is derived from previous work on a similar role for a custom role for Seltyiel.

RAZIYA (BLADEBOUND)

The magus and the black blade – who wields whom?

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors and Weapons

You may discard (□ recharge) a spell to add your Arcane skill and the Magic trait to your Melee combat check; (□ if the spell has the Attack trait, you may add an additional 2 to the check).

For your check that invokes the Sword trait, you gain the skill Melee: Dexterity +2.

You may recharge a weapon to add 2 (□ 4)(□ 6) to your check to acquire (□ or recharge) a spell.

When building your deck, include a Magus Class Deck cohort as 1 of your weapons.

□ At the start of your turn (□ or after you reset your hand), you may discard a spell to search your deck or your discard pile for a cohort with the Black Blade trait and put it into your hand.

□ If your combat check invokes the Black Blade trait, you may add the Cold, Electricity, Fire, or Force trait (□ and you may recharge 1 card from your discard pile).

□ You may recharge a spell to examine the top card of your location deck.

This role is decidedly focused on the use of the cohort with the Black Blade trait, which is appropriate to represent the archetype presented in the PFRPG book. I’ll have to develop 3 such cohorts for inclusion in the deck, but I want the character/role to stand on its own before I create the cohorts.

Overall, this magus character is the most focused on melee combat (compared to the other two magi, Arcaveil and Seltyiel). However, she is also able to use utility Arcane spells, whereas the other two magi are much more focused on Attack spells.

Any feedback in making this character better is appreciated.

Working on various magus custom characters, especially Seltyiel, I was reminded of Elric of Melniboné. So I dug my old books out of storage and have been re-reading them (slowly). Naturally, I considered how the doomed albino might be translated into rules for the PACG, leading to this little side project. I’ve been working on it for a while and have hit the point where the rules are presentable, but in need of more objective eyes.

First, I took a look at Elric as he appears at the start of Elric of Melniboné , prior to taking up Stormbringer (and perhaps prior to pledging himself to Arioch). Elric doesn’t fit into the normal scheme of classes. While he is called a “sorcerer” and a “wizard,” his magic mostly appears to be the preparation of herbs and potions (which is more like an alchemist) and the summoning of creatures bound through ancient pacts (which is sort of like a summoner, but not quite). What you don’t see in the novels is Elric hurling magic fireballs or similar, though he does emulate some of those qualities by calling elementals and the like. So the functioning of his magic is quite distinctive, combining qualities of PFRPG sorcerer, wizard, and summoner.

ELRIC

Male Melnibonéan Sorcerer

SKILLS
Strength d4 □+1 □+2
-Melee: Strength +1
-Ranged: Strength +1
Dexterity d6 □+1 □+2
Constitution d4 □+1 □+2
Intelligence d12 □+1 □+2 □+3 □+4
-Craft: Intelligence +1
-Knowledge: Intelligence +2
Wisdom d8 □+1 □+2
Charisma d8 □+1 □+2 □+3
-Diplomacy: Charisma +1

POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and Weapons

You may recharge a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d6 (□ 1d8) instead of your normal Strength and Constitution dice.

You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.

You may banish any number of monsters from your hand; for each monster banished, add 1d6 (□ +1) to your combat check. You may add an additional 1d4 for each banished monster that has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait.

CARDS LIST
Favored Card Type: Spell or Item
Weapon 2 □3
Spell 4 □5 □6 □7
Armor 2 □3
Item 4 □5 □6
Ally 1 □2
Blessing 2 □3 □4
Cohort: Ring of Kings

So he doesn’t cast spells (yet – this will change when we get to his roles). Instead, he is focused on using his alchemical/healing items to sustain his strength (and constitution, they go hand in hand) and he uses his spells to summon monsters to fight. As the novels clearly state, though, he is trained in fencing and archery, hence the skills.

He is still somewhat weak, though this is adjusted a bit with the Ring of Kings:

RING OF KINGS (Cohort)

Traits: Accessory, Magic, Veteran

Display this card. While displayed, when you attempt a non-combat check against a card that has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait, you may put a card on top of your deck to add 1d6 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number to that check.

Recharge this card to recharge a spell or blessing from your discard pile.

You may discard this card to add 2d6 to your check against a bane that has the Army, Skirmish, or Swarm trait.

The Ring of Kings clearly draws upon Padrig as a model. It should be noted that the last power looks at various instances of Elric summoning aid when fighting large forces (e.g., against the Kelmain and Elenoin). It is also derived from the portrayal of the Actorios (the stone set in the Ring of Kings, from which the ring derives its power) seen in The Dragon in the Sword, which, while a tale about a different incarnation of the Eternal Champion, seems appropriate enough for Elric.

So Elric is weak, but can boost his physical prowess through herbs and potions; and he can call for aid from supernatural powers. He won’t be exploring much due to the low blessings and allies card count, but the ability to recharge blessings (via the Ring of Kings) offsets this somewhat. I went with a low weapon/armor count to keep him focused on his spells (summoning aid), with the ability to recharge spells ensuring that he can do so fairly regularly. He has some flexibility, however, in that alchemical items offer some degree of variety and his craft skill means that he might be able to recharge some of those.

He looks a wee bit on the weak side to me, but I have designer’s bias, so some external eyes should help to identify where I might improve upon him a little.

Now we get into his roles, where he gets interesting.

First is the “classic” version of Elric as represented by his bond with the black sword, Stormbringer.

ELRIC (SOULSTEALER)

’Blood and souls for my lord, Arioch!’

POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and Weapons

You may recharge a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d6 (□ 1d8) instead of your normal Strength and Constitution dice.

You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.

You may banish any number of monsters from your hand; for each monster banished, add 1d6 (□ +1)(□ +2) to your combat check. You may add an additional 1d4 for each banished monster that has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait.

Each scenario, take the cohort Stormbringer.

□ When you attempt to acquire a spell (□ or an item), you may use the skill Arcane: Intelligence +2.

□ When you succeed at your combat check that invokes the Black Blade trait and would banish a monster, you may shuffle 1d4 (□ +1)( □ +2) cards from your discard pile into your deck.

□ You may discard a spell to search your deck or discard pile for Stormbringer and return it to your hand.

The focus with this role is definitely on Stormbringer (which appears below), though there is a minor increase to his core role. The Arcane skill appears in a very limited form as an augmentation to his sorcerous skill, enabling him to summon aid more often, strengthening his combat.

To get a solid feel for the role, however, you need to see Stormbringer:

STORMBRINGER

Weapon 3
Traits: Sword, Melee, Slashing, 2-Handed, Veteran, Magic, Mythic

For your combat check, reveal this card to use your Strength or Melee skill +2d6 plus the adventure deck level; you may additionally discard this card to add your Strength die. If not proficient with weapons, the difficulty of this check is increased by 4.

When you succeed at a combat check that invokes the Black Blade trait and would banish a monster on your turn, you may reveal this card to immediately explore your location.

At the start of your turn, you may display this card to recharge a card from your discard pile. Before you reset your hand, draw this card.

So this role is decidedly about combat with Stormbringer and healing (via Stormbringer).

The next role is an exploration of Elric progressing along his original path, without pledging himself to Arioch or gaining Stormbringer:

ELRIC (PACT SORCERER)

He draws his power from a secret and terrible source.

POWERS
Hand Size 6 □7 □8
Proficient with Light Armors, Heavy Armors, and Weapons

You may recharge a card that has the Alchemical or Healing trait to use 1d6 (□ 1d8) (□ 1d10) instead of your normal Strength and Constitution dice.

You may recharge a spell (□ or a blessing) to draw a random monster from the box.

You may banish any number of monsters from your hand; for each monster banished, add 1d6 (□ +1) (□ +2) to your combat check (□ or the combat check of any character at your location). You may add an additional 1d4 for each banished monster that has the Animal or Demon or Elemental trait.

□ You gain the skill Arcane: Intelligence +2.

□ You may discard a spell to add your Charisma skill to your combat check that invokes the Animal or Demon or Elemental (□ or Dragon or Outsider) trait.

□ You may banish a monster to examine the top card of your location deck; then shuffle the card back into the location deck.

So this role is much more focused on the sorcery/magic, being more effective at summoning monsters to augment his own combat abilities. He is also slightly more proficient with his herbs and potions, augmenting his own strength and constitution to better effect. Thematically, the casting of spells (gained via the power feat to gain the Arcane skill) represents the summoning of demons, elementals, and animal powers to achieve the effects.

A more accurate representation of Elric would really require that both of these roles be combined, and perhaps augmented with rules about riding dragons, etc. That would be far too powerful for the PACG, however, so I’m looking at each of these roles (and potential others) as each codifying a subset aspect of the character. It has been a very interesting process, and the versions you see here are very clean compared to the previous working versions (especially those I started with).

For the flavor text, I’ve cobbled together several passages from Elric of Melniboné, paraphrasing slightly for more consistent effect:

It is the colour of a bleached skull, his flesh; and the long hair which flows beneath his shoulders is milk-white. From the tapering, beautiful head stare two slanting eyes, crimson and moddy, and from the loose sleeves of his gown emerge two slender hands, also the colour of bone. The eyes are troubled. By magic potions and the chanting of runes, by rare herbs his strength is sustained artificially by every art known to the Sorcerer Kings of Melniboné. And he lives thanks to sorcery alone, for his is naturally lassitudinous and, without his drugs, would barely be able to raise his hand from his side throughout most of a normal day. Four hundred and twenty-eighth in direct line of descent from the first Sorcerer Emperor of Melniboné, he is lord of a dying race.

Any help y’all can provide in refining this character would be appreciated. This is really just a side project while I work on the magus characters, but one I will probably run through an adventure path (Wrath of the Righteous seems appropriate) if/when I ever get the character finalized.

Here’s another in the “If Tyler Ran the Zoo” project to create a magus class deck. This is the “evil” Seltyiel (relative to “good” Seltyiel).

Here’s the base character:
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SELTYIEL

Male Half-Elf Magus

SKILLS
Strength d8 □+1 □+2 □+3 □+4
-Melee: Strength +1
Dexterity d6 □+1
Constitution d6 □+1 □+2
Intelligence d10 □+1 □+2 □+3 □+4
-Arcane: Intelligence +2
-Knowledge: Intelligence +1
Wisdom d4 □+1 □+2
Charisma d8 □+1 □+2
-Diplomacy: Charisma +1

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6
Proficient with Light Armors and Weapons

Choose a weapon that doesn’t have the 2-Handed trait and a spell that has the Attack trait. When you play one for your combat check, you may recharge the other (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d6 (□ 2d6) and that card’s traits to the check.

At the end of your turn, you may attempt to recharge a spell from your discard pile.

You may discard a spell to reduce damage before (□ or after) you act by 2.

Cards List
Favored Card Type: Weapon or Spell

Weapon 3 □4 □5 □6
Spell 4 □5 □6 □7
Armor 2 □3
Item 2 □3
Ally 1 □2
Blessing 3 □4

Players familiar with Seltyiel’s rules from the Skull & Shackles base set will notice two areas where there are distinct differences.

First, this character’s additional skills are capped at 5 instead of 7 (i.e., Skull & Shackles Seltyiel has Melee: Strength +3, Arcane: Intelligence +3, and Craft: Intelligence +1 whereas “evil” Seltyiel has Melee: Strength +1, Arcane: Intelligence +2, and Knowledge: Intelligence +1, and Diplomacy: Charisma +1). Compared to “good” Seltyiel, this version is more focused on using magic.

Second, this character has a third power, whereas Skull & Shackles Seltyiel only has two. I figured that removing two additional skills justified adding a minor power.

Overall, this version is intentionally similar to the Skull & Shackles version.

As far as the roles go, I built each around a different focus.

The first role is that of the manipulator, inspired by a lore box on page 373 of the core rulebook. This role focuses on using others to either distract the enemy or to aid in an effort while Seltyiel seals the deal.

SELTYIEL (MANIPULATOR)

Friends and allies serve as useful tools, allowing the manipulator to complete his goals.

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors and Weapons

Choose a weapon that doesn’t have the 2-Handed trait and a spell that has the Attack trait. When you play one for your combat check, you may recharge the other (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d6 (□ 2d6)( □ 3d6) and that card’s traits to the check.

At the end of your turn, you may attempt to recharge a spell in your discard pile.

You may discard a spell to reduce damage before (□ or after) you act by 2.

□ If another character at your location would fail to defeat monster, you may discard a spell with the Attack trait (□ or a weapon) to add 1d4 (□ 2d4) and the Magic trait to the result.

□ You may recharge a spell to add 1d4 (□ +2) to your Diplomacy check.

□ For your check to defeat a bane you may discard an ally to add 1d4 plus the adventure deck number of the ally, if any.

This version is basically a bastard, tricking people into helping him or doing the dirty work for him while he gets all of the glory. The initial role power where he can add to another character’s combat check allows him to husband his resources, only using the power if the bonus will help (and not using it if the other character’s roll was too low – better luck next time, pal). He has a low ally count in his deck, so the power to enhance his Diplomacy is intended to help out a bit, further promoted by only having to recharge a spell to get it (think of Obi Wan Kenobi waving his hand to befuddle the weak-minded into helping him). All of that goes to enhancing his ability to defeat a bane (any bane, not just in a combat check). Think of Tom Sawyer roping a bunch of neighborhood kids into whitewashing the fence for him and you can get an idea of how this Seltyiel operates.

The next role is that of the hexcrafter, one of the magus archetypes found in Ultimate Magic. I wasn’t overly creative with this role, simply taking some of Feiya’s powers and tweaking them a bit (and the flavor text is a slight re-wording of the description of that archetype in the book).

SELTYIEL (HEXCRAFTER)

The hexcrafter combines martial skill with the ability to cast magical hexes that affect friend and foe alike.

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors and Weapons

Choose a weapon that doesn’t have the 2-Handed trait and a spell that has the Attack trait. When you play one for your combat check, you may recharge the other (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d6 (□ 2d6) and that card’s traits to the check.

At the end of your turn, you may attempt to recharge a spell in your discard pile.

You may discard a spell to reduce damage before (□ or after) you act by 2 (□ 4).

□ When you play a spell that has the Arcane trait, you may examine the top card of your deck; if it’s a spell (□ or weapon), you may add it to your hand.

□ You may discard (□ recharge) a spell to reduce the difficulty of a non-combat check at your location by 1 (□ 2) plus the adventure deck number of the recharged card, if any.

□ If you acquire a spell that has the Arcane trait on your turn, you may immediately explore your location.

There’s really not much to say on this one – it starts out as Seltyiel and then brings Feiya into the mix. It was a distinctive archetype, though, and could be represented in the card game relatively easily (unlike a few of the other PFRPG magus archetypes).

These roles are distinct from each other and from the other Seltyiel roles I’ve presented. Any suggestions for improving this character would be appreciated.

Here’s another in the “If Tyler Ran the Zoo” project to create a magus class deck. This is the “good” Seltyiel (no, he’s not really good, but this one’s powers are more neutral than the “evil” Seltyiel version). The first character in this (“good” magus) series was Valánta, the staff magus. Note that I’ve also created a bladebound version of Seltyiel, but that role is based on the Skull & Shackles version of the character and is theoretically only available if a custom adventure has been successfully completed. Practically speaking, I could adapt that version to this character (as well as for the “evil” version of Seltyiel). Regardless, while there may be some similarities between that role and this character/roles, the rules are not directly related for the purpose of this “project.”

Here’s the base character:

SELTYIEL

Male Half-Elf Magus

SKILLS
Strength d10 □+1 □+2 □+3 □+4
-Melee: Strength +2
Dexterity d6 □+1
Constitution d8 □+1 □+2
-Fortitude: Constitution +1
Intelligence d8 □+1 □+2 □+3 □+4
-Arcane: Intelligence +1
-Knowledge: Intelligence +1
Wisdom d4 □+1 □+2
Charisma d6 □+1 □+2

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6
Proficient with Light Armors and Weapons

Choose a weapon that doesn’t have the 2-Handed trait and a spell that has the Attack trait. When you play one for your combat check, you may recharge the other (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d6 (□ 2d6) and that card’s traits to the check.

At the end of your turn, you may attempt to recharge a spell from your discard pile.

You may recharge a spell to add 1d4 (□ +1) to your check before you act.

Cards List
Favored Card Type: Weapon or Spell

Weapon 4 □5 □6 □7
Spell 4 □5 □6 □7
Armor 1 □2
Item 1 □2
Ally 1 □2
Blessing 4 □5

Players familiar with Seltyiel’s rules from the Skull & Shackles base set will notice two areas where there are distinct differences.

First, this character’s additional skills are capped at 5 instead of 7 (i.e., Skull & Shackles Seltyiel has Melee: Strength +3, Arcane: Intelligence +3, and Craft: Intelligence +1 whereas “good” Seltyiel has Melee: Strength +2, Fortitude: Constitution +1, and Arcane: Intelligence +1, and Knowledge: Intelligence +1).

Second, this character has a third power, whereas Skull & Shackles Seltyiel only has two. I figured that removing two additional skills justified adding a minor power. So I gave a minor power suggested by the lore I quoted from Ultimate Magic (awareness).

Overall, this version is intentionally similar to the Skull & Shackles version.

As far as the roles go, I built each around a different focus. Much like the Valánta character, one role focuses on swords while the other focuses on magic. The difference here is that both roles are based on different archetypes (whereas the base Valánta character was, itself, based on an archetype). In addition, one role is internally focused (Seltyiel helping himself) and the other is externally focused (Seltyiel helping others). So each role will lead to distinct play styles and incorporation into the party’s dynamics.

The first role is that of the kensai, found in Ultimate Magic. This role specializes in using a weapon (the sword, in this case) at the expense of magic.

SELTYIEL (KENSAI)

The kensai channels his arcane might through his blade in a dizzying and deadly dance beyond the abilities of even the greatest of mundane warriors.

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors and Weapons

Choose a weapon that doesn’t have the 2-Handed trait and a spell that has the Attack trait. When you play one for your combat check, you may recharge the other (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d6 (□ 2d6)( □ 3d6) and that card’s traits to the check.

At the end of your turn, you may attempt to recharge a spell in your discard pile.

You may recharge a spell to add 1d4 (□ +1) (□ +2) to your check before you act.

□ If your combat check has the Sword trait, add 2 (□ 4) to it.

□ When you would discard a weapon that has the Sword trait for its power, you may recharge it instead.

□ If you start your turn without any weapons in your hand, you may draw a card (□ two cards).

The next role is that of the Eldritch Knight, Seltyiel’s first incarnation. The role was presented in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. The role below was heavily inspired by the artwork for Ultimate Magic. You can see a “plain” version here.

SELTYIEL (ELDRITCH KNIGHT)

Those who must face eldritch knights in combat fear them greatly, for their versatility on the battlefield is tremendous.

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors and Weapons

Choose a weapon that doesn’t have the 2-Handed trait and a spell that has the Attack trait. When you play one for your combat check, you may recharge the other (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d6 (□ 2d6)( □ 3d6) and that card’s traits to the check.

At the end of your turn, you may attempt to recharge a spell in your discard pile.

You may recharge a spell to add 1d4 (□+1) to your check before you act.

□ When a character encounters a bane that has the Skirmish or Army trait, you may display a spell that has the Attack trait to add 1d4 (□ +2)(□ +4) and that card’s traits to checks against that bane; this counts as playing a spell and you may play no other spells on any checks against that bane during this turn. At the end of the turn, discard the spell.

□ You may discard (□ recharge) a spell to add 1d6 (□ 2d6) and the Magic trait to a combat check of another character at your location.

So these roles have distinct dynamics and limitations. The sheer specialization of the kensai role makes that role more of a frontline fighter augmented by magic. The eldritch knight, meanwhile, is more of a support character, though he is able to get in the thick of the fighting when necessary. While all of the official adventure paths have Skirmish banes, players that have gone through the Wrath of the Righteous and Seasons of the Righteous adventure paths will see where the eldritch knight might come in very handy.

Any suggestions for improving this character would be appreciated.

This is the third character in my “If Tyler Ran the Zoo” project to create a magus class deck. As mentioned in the discussion on Valánta , the development of Arcaveil led to the project expanding to include a “good” class deck and an “evil” class deck for the magus class, with different versions of Seltyiel in each (yes, I know, Seltyiel is lawful evil so the “good” class deck is a misnomer). Seltyiel, of course, is the first character in the project, but I’m not going to bring him up yet because I already have another version of Seltyiel being discussed, a bladebound magus role, and I don’t want to confuse anyone with a horde of variation on a theme discussions (not that a bunch of different magi discussions doesn’t do that already ;) ). The other “evil” magus has yet to be developed, so this character was informed by my efforts to create variations on Seltyiel and Valánta the staff magus.

This character, Arcaveil, was originally conceived as a human magus that was entirely different from what you see here. I was looking at the Monster Codex, though, and saw this picture. The similarities to Seltyiel were apparent, but I had to translate that image into a character. I’m not sure if that image represents an extant character, and I don’t really care. The image, by the way, was created by Alexandre Chaudet. Since the image hasn’t appeared in the Paizo blog to my knowledge, I won’t be able to create a card at Drive-Thru Cards :( . Regardless, that’s a wicked image and it inspired the character you see below.

Now there are some very interesting things going on in the image. First, the gender of the character isn’t immediately apparent. My initial thought was that it was a male, mostly due to the bald head and the lack of exaggerated breasts (it just seems to be a thing with Pathfinder character/monster art). However, subsequent examinations of the picture made me wonder. The earrings, dark eye outlines (eye liner?), and hips made me seriously wonder if this was a female. Ultimately, though, I’m going with my initial interpretation. If anyone knows for certain that the character is a female, let me know and I’ll change it (the gender of the character doesn’t really matter – though I like the notion of one of those rare male drow nobles that the lore mentions). The character was named “Arcavato” at first, until it sounded like “avocado” in my head and I re-named him by combining the beginning and ending of two of the common male drow names listed in the Monster Codex. During the brief time that the character was female, she was named “Tyvorhan” (another name from the Monster Codex).

Second, the character has three potion flasks that are visible, as well as two scrolls. These suggested some possibilities for differentiation from Seltyiel, and I ran with them (especially in the roles). These allowed me to look at a number of other characters for inspiration and rules wording, including Enora, Olenjack, and Damiel (not to mention Mother Myrtle and Cogsnap).

Without further ado, here’s the base character:

ARCAVEIL

Male Elf Magus

SKILLS
Strength d6 □+1 □+2
Dexterity d10 □+1 □+2 □+3 □+4
-Stealth: Dexterity +1
Constitution d6 □+1 □+2
Intelligence d10 □+1 □+2 □+3
-Arcane: Intelligence +2
-Craft: Intelligence +1
-Knowledge: Intelligence +1
Wisdom d6 □+1 □+2
Charisma d4 □+1 □+2

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors, Weapons

Choose a weapon that doesn’t have the 2-Handed trait and a spell that has the Attack trait. When you play one for your combat check, you may recharge the other (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d6 (□ 2d6) and that card’s traits to the check.

For your check that invokes the Finesse trait, you gain the skill Melee: Dexterity +1.

You may recharge an item that has the Poison trait to add the Poison trait to your combat check.

Cards List
Favored Card Type: Weapon or Spell

Weapon 3 □4 □5
Spell 3 □4 □5 □6
Armor 1 □2
Item 4 □5 □6
Ally 1 □2
Blessing 3 □4

One thing I’m unsure of is whether or not the “Drow” trait should replace the “Elf” trait. My memory is foggy on whether or not there were any drow characters in the first two base sets, and I haven’t completed the third base set yet. The lore of the Pathfinder RPG suggests that the two traits might be distinct, but I’m sticking with the mindset that “an elf is an elf is an elf” for now (I’m quite open to changing this if anyone can provide persuasive arguments, though).

The basic magus power for this character is identical to that for Skull & Shackles Seltyiel (though I think that both should add the “Ranged” trait in mentioning the traits that the weapon can’t have). Where this character gets different is in his other two powers.

First, the character gets the Melee skill only when his check invokes the Finesse trait. In practice, the character’s deck would include only weapons cards that have that trait, so this shouldn't really be a problem.

Second, the character can make his attacks poisonous by recharging items with the Poison trait. This obviously isn’t a great power, especially when you are facing the undead, but it seemed like a reasonable thing to do given the propensity the drow have for using poisons. Also, I didn’t want the character using magus sword magic and alchemist noxious bombs for combats. The addition of Poison is a minor enhancement to the base magus power without overshadowing it. Initially, I had the power adding damage. I removed the additional damage to return the focus of the character to the base magus power, but it might be appropriate to make the power add 1 or 2 points of damage (one or both as power feats). For now, though, I’m sticking with just adding the Poison trait. We can reintroduce damage if the character is underpowered and needs a little bit of kick to bring him on par with everyone else.

As for the roles, each focuses on a different area where the image I linked suggests possibilities. The first focuses on the scrolls and magic while the other focuses on potions and alchemy (and sneakiness).

The first role is envisioned as a kind of magic wielding bounty hunter that hunts on behalf of the drow (I haven’t decided if they hunt down traitors, escaped slaves, high level enemies of the drow, or what). I chose the role name as a malign version of the Eldritch Knight prestige class.

ARCAVEIL (ELDRITCH STALKER)

(no nifty flavor text as of yet)

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors, Weapons

Choose a weapon that doesn’t have the 2-Handed trait and a spell that has the Attack trait. When you play one for your combat check, you may recharge the other (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d6 (□ 2d6) (□ 3d6) and that card’s traits to the check.

For your check that invokes the Finesse trait, you gain the skill Melee: Dexterity +1.

You may recharge an item that has the Poison trait to add the Poison trait to your combat check.

□ If you would discard a weapon with the Finesse trait for its power, you may recharge it instead.

□ You may bury (□ discard)( □ recharge) an item with the Book trait to draw a random spell with the Arcane trait from the box and put it in your hand.

□ You may recharge an item with the Book trait to succeed at your check to recharge (□ acquire) a spell with the Arcane trait. □ You may discard an item with the Book trait to recharge a random spell with the Arcane trait from your discard pile.

This role has minimal progression in the basic magus powers, instead shifting focus over to using books (scrolls) and improved usage of his Finesse weapons. The focus on scrolls/books is that of learning/recharging spells.

The next role, meanwhile, shifts back into more typical drow sneakiness, poison, and what-not:

ARCAVEIL (VENOMBLADE)

(no nifty flavor text as of yet)

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6 □7
Proficient with Light Armors, Weapons

Choose a weapon that doesn’t have the 2-Handed trait and a spell that has the Attack trait. When you play one for your combat check, you may recharge the other (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d6 (□ 2d6) and that card’s traits to the check.

For your check that invokes the Finesse trait, you gain the skill Melee: Dexterity +1.

You may recharge an item that has the Poison (□ or Alchemical) trait to add the Poison trait to your combat check.

□ You may recharge a weapon that has the Finesse trait to add 1d4 (□ and the Poison trait) to another character’s combat check at your location.

□ Add 2 (□4) to your check to acquire an item with the Poison (□ or Alchemical) trait.

□ You may pass a Stealth 7 check to evade your encounter (□ and you may immediately explore your location if it is your turn).

So this role has even less progression in the base roles, only adding the Alchemical trait for the Poison power. Meanwhile, the character comes off as someone that stabs others in the back, sneaks around, and gets/makes poisons.

This character will be teamed up with [really] “evil” Seltyiel and a third, as-yet-unknown, character to round out my “evil” magus class deck.

Any suggestions for improving this character would be appreciated.

I’ve been working on some magus characters, a sort of “If Tyler Ran the Zoo” project to create a magus class deck (or decks – see later ;) ). My Bladebound Seltyiel role is not part of the class deck(s) thing, though it’s only natural that the process of creating multiple magi, and multiple versions of the iconic magus, has common points across each effort.

This character, Valánta, is part of the class deck. Actually, I’ve expanded the effort to create three characters in a “good” magus class deck (since it includes the iconic magus, Seltyiel, that’s a misnomer) and three characters in a “bad” magus class deck. Valánta was initially conceived as a halfling staff magus, but became a human after seeing this picture. Now I have no idea who or what the character in that image is. I don’t even know if she’s in the Pathfinder setting or if she’s in some other setting. I just think that she looks cool so she gets the job.

First, though, some level setting for those of us that don’t play the RPG and aren’t familiar with the staff magus archetype:

While most magi use a one-handed weapon as their melee implement of choice, one group of magi uses the quarterstaff instead. These lightly armored magi use staves for both defense and inflicting their spells upon enemies. Skilled in manipulating these weapons with one hand or two, they eventually learn how to use arcane staves as well, and are just as formidable in combat as their sword-swinging brethren.

So here’s the base character:

VALÁNTA

Female Human Magus

SKILLS
Strength d10 □+1 □+2 □+3
-Melee: Strength +2
Dexterity d8 □+1 □+2 □+3
Constitution d6 □+1 □+2
-Fortitude: Constitution +2
Intelligence d6 □+1 □+2
Wisdom d4 □+1 □+2
Charisma d10 □+1 □+2 □+3
-Arcane: Charisma +1

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6 □7
Proficient with Weapons

Choose a weapon that has the staff trait and a spell that has the Attack trait. When you play one for your combat check, you may recharge the other (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d6 (□ 2d6) and that card’s traits to the check.

You may discard a weapon to recharge a random spell from your discard pile.

You may reveal a weapon that has the Staff trait and pass a Dexterity or Acrobatics 5 check to reduce combat damage dealt to you by 2.

Cards List
Favored Card Type: Weapon or Spell

Weapon 4 □5 □6
Spell 4 □5 □6 □7
Armor - □1
Item 2 □3 □4
Ally 2 □3
Blessing 3 □4

So players familiar with Seltyiel’s rules from the Skull & Shackles base set will notice a few areas where there are distinct differences.

First, this character’s additional skills are capped at 5 instead of 7 (i.e., Seltyiel has Melee: Strength +3, Arcane: Intelligence +3, and Craft: Intelligence +1 whereas Valánta has Melee: Strength +2, Fortitude: Constitution +2, and Arcane: Charisma +1).

Second, the basic magus power has had the wording changed from “…a weapon that doesn’t have the Two-Handed trait…” to “…a weapon that has the Staff trait…” as a core shift in the character’s weapon focus.

Third, Valánta’s power to recharge a spell from her discard pile is automatically successful, but requires discarding a weapon. So there’s a trade off here. In concept, the character will use the weapon and recharge the spell when using her basic magus power, so recharging a spell from the discard pile will be when spells are used for damage (safe enough if you can recharge them later) or when they are non-Attack spells (most players optimize Seltyiel for combat, but there’s nothing prohibiting players from building a more flexible magus). Since the character can acquire most Strength/Melee weapons with relative ease, though, having to discard weapons might allow for those non-Staff weapons she acquires during game play.

This character also has a third power, whereas base Seltyiel only has two. I figured that removing two additional skills justified adding a minor power. So I gave a defensive power suggested by the lore I quoted from Ultimate Magic. The inclusion of “Acrobatics” was deliberate based on a power in one of the roles.

As far as the roles go, I built each around a different focus. Quite simply, one focuses on magic while the other focuses on using staves.

VALÁNTA (SPELLWARDEN)

The spellwarden uses her staff as a focus to amplify her magical powers.

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6 □7
Proficient with □Light Armors, Weapons

Choose a weapon that has the staff trait and a spell that has the Attack trait. When you play one for your combat check, you may recharge the other (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d6 (□ 2d6)( □ 3d6) and that card’s traits to the check.

You may discard (□ recharge) a weapon to recharge a random spell (□ or a spell of your choosing) from your discard pile (□ or put it on top of your deck).

You may reveal a weapon that has the Staff trait and pass a Dexterity or Acrobatics 5 check to reduce combat (□ any) damage dealt to you by 2.

□ You may recharge a weapon or item that has the Staff trait to add 2 to your check to acquire a spell.

□ You may reveal a weapon or item that has the Staff trait to reduce the difficulty of a check at your location against a bane with the Magic, Arcane, or Divine trait by 3.

So the spellwarden gets stronger with the base character powers while having two additional powers that focus on gaining magic and defeating magic.

VALÁNTA (STAFF MASTER)

Any staff becomes a deadly weapon in the hands of a staff master.

Powers
Hand Size 5 □6 □7
Proficient with □Light Armors, Weapons

Choose a weapon that has the staff trait and a spell that has the Attack trait. When you play one for your combat check, you may recharge the other (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d6 (□ 2d6)( □ 3d6) and that card’s traits to the check.

You may discard a weapon to recharge a random spell from your discard pile.

You may reveal a weapon that has the Staff trait and pass a Dexterity or Acrobatics 5 check to reduce combat damage dealt to you by 2 (□4).

□ You may reveal a weapon that has the Staff trait to add 1d6 to your check to defeat a barrier that has the Lock, Obstacle, or Trap trait (□ then you may immediately explore your location if it is your turn).

□ When you would discard a weapon that has the Staff trait for its power, recharge it instead.

□ You may use the above powers with an item with the Staff trait instead of a weapon.

□ You gain the skill Acrobatics: Dexterity +1.

As you can see, this version focuses on the physical use of a staff in combat and defeating banes. One change I’m considering is in the last power, limiting it to a non-combat check. Alternately, it could limit the effect to “another character,” either alone or in conjunction with the non-combat check change. The reason for these potential changes is that a character’s powers shouldn’t all stack in a single way (i.e., combat checks) and a character’s powers should allow for a variety of effects across the spectrum of the game.

Some of the issues affecting this character were the other characters I developed. One, obviously, is a variation of Seltyiel. With the expansion of the project to include a “good” class deck and an “evil” class deck, I split the roles I’d developed for Seltyiel (once seemed appropriately “good”/non-malevolent while the other seemed appropriately “evil”). Also, I’m still trying to finish the ongoing Bladebound Seltyiel discussion that I linked previously, so I don’t want to confuse things by introducing another version of Seltyiel to the mix. The other “good” character is unknown at this time because the third character I created was a drow (Arcaveil), so I shifted him over to the “evil” magus class deck. As I mentioned earlier, this character was originally conceived as a halfling. When the third character became a drow (he was originally conceived as a human, but changed for reasons I’ll describe in his discussion), I turned Valánta into a human because I can’t recall a single class deck other than the druid class deck that didn’t include at least one human. With the realignment of the drow magus into the “evil” magus class deck, I can turn Valánta back into a halfling if my third character ends up being human. My current concept for that character is a non-human character, though, so Valánta will probably remain a human. Basically, I wanted to avoid having characters/roles look too much alike, so the development process was iterative and involved comparing characters/roles to ensure that there were distinct differences.

Any suggestions for improving this character would be appreciated.

I have to admit that the magus is probably the class that I like most in the game (although I’m also very keen on Warpriests after taking Oloch through the Skull & Shackles adventure path). I’ve quite a bit of thought to the bladebound archetype and how this might be translated into a role for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. The bladebound magus is very appealing, especially for fans of Elric of Melniboné. For those not familiar with the game, the bladebound magus wields a sentient black blade. Both the magus and the black blade grow in power as they advance. This archetype is clearly based on Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné and Stormbringer (in addition, both of the iconic images of Seltyiel bear more than a passing resemblance to the albino swordsman).

What really distinguishes the bladebound from the other magus archetypes is the symbiotic relationship with the weapon, as well as the fact that the weapon, too, advances in power. The release of the Wrath of the Righteous base set brought us the Cohorts. These are additional cards that some characters have, either as a basic attribute like Alain and Shardra, or because the scenario allows temporary Cohorts. This concept might be extended to a role-based Cohort and sets up some interesting possibilities.

My previous effort at developing the bladebound role can be seen with my Amrael character (which I’ve abandoned). Discussion of that idea helped me to see some things I hadn’t considered, so I incorporated them into the application of the role for Seltyiel.

Now the lore for the black blade and the bladebound archetype allow for a variety of backgrounds behind how the magus acquires the black blade. The simple method is that the black blade appears in the magus’s belongings mysteriously, but that seems too easy. A grand quest seems much more appropriate, so I’m developing the black blade rules as a reward for a solo quest that Seltyiel undertakes at some point while going through Adventure 3 (i.e., after completing Adventure 2 but before completing Adventure 3). I’m not going to bother you with the challenges I face in creating a solo adventure as I want to focus on the bladebound role and the black blade.

For my current purposes, the black blade comes in two formats. First is a Loot card that Seltyiel gains as a reward for successfully completing the hypothesized solo adventure. If he is in possession of the black blade Loot card when the time comes to select a role, he may select the bladebound role. If he does so, the black blade Loot card is removed from the game and replaced with a black blade Cohort card (which is gained as part of the bladebound role). If Seltyiel takes a different role, he may keep the black blade Loot card in one of his Weapon slots.

Ultimately, a bladebound magus is bound to a single black blade, and a black blade won’t work to its full potential for other characters, including other magi. It’s like a parasitic marriage. So my scribblings explored different options for making this work. In the end, I decided that each black blade Cohort would have a name and each bladebound magus role would have a corresponding name. The names of the Cohort and the Role might not match, but would be thematically linked and would be specifically mentioned on each other’s cards so that the relationship would be clear.

Each black blade is unique, combining the aspects of its physical form (e.g., a black blade short sword starts with the base rules of a short sword whereas a black blade temple sword would start with the base rules of a temple sword) with the sentience and magical properties of the black blade. There are common black blade powers, but there might also be unique powers for each black blade, making each distinctive based on the “personality” and motives of the sentience within the black blade.

Since Seltyiel is lawful evil and craves power, I determined that the black blade to which he bonds is one that serves the goals of power. While the blade itself is Lawful, the good/evil component is driven by the wielder. So the full role name adds “Lictor” to be indicative of the black blade’s motives of securing power and order. The role isn’t part of the Hellknight order, but draws upon parallel naming due to parallel motivations. RPGers may wonder what a Hellknight/Magus multiclassed character might do with a black blade…

While my initial vision for Seltyiel’s black blade was that it was a khopesh-type weapon from an ancient other-worldly civilization, the khopesh’s ability to add the Bludgeoning trait didn’t really fit with Seltyiel’s concepts (see the Khopesh card in the Oracle class deck). So I shifted to the more elegant Elven Scimitar as the model for the black blade (see the Iconic Heroes card). I stripped out the particular properties of the magical Elven Scimitar and applied different magical properties (i.e., removed the +1 and special magus power and added replaced it with the adventure deck number bonus). Conceptually, this black blade was crafted by (or perhaps the sentience within the black blade is a member of) an ancient otherworldly civilization related to the Elves of Golarion.

In addition to the personality of the black blade, I had to come up with a name to distinguish the weapon from other black blades. I chose “Nightshard” as a name that is evocative of darkness and deadliness, though that is only its common name (or one of the names by which it has been called through the years). The true name of the sentience within the black blade is known only to its wielder and has been included in parenthesis in the Cohort card (but not the Loot card – the magus hasn’t bonded with the weapon at this point and the black blade has not communicated this secret).

So the base powers of the black blade in question are:

NIGHTSHARD

LOOT 3

Type: Weapon

TRAITS: Sword Melee Slashing Finesse Magic

For your combat check, reveal this card to use your Strength or Melee skill + 1d6 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number; you may additionally discard this card to add another 1d6. If you aren’t proficient with weapons, the difficulty of this check is increased by 4. You may not play another weapon on this check.

If you possess Nightshard when it is time to choose a role, you may take the Bladebound Lictor role.

As a black blade, the weapon has more potential, but that potential won’t be realized unless the magus bonds with the weapon – or in Pathfinder Adventure Card Game terms, takes the bladebound role. If Seltyiel bonds with Nightshard, he becomes a bladebound magus, and any magus that bonds with Nightshard is known as a Bladebound Lictor (conceivably, another magus character might be created that has her own Bladebound Lictor role card).

SELTYIEL (BLADEBOUND LICTOR)

The magus and the black blade – who wields whom?

POWERS

Hand size 5 □ 6 □ 7

COHORT: NIGHTSHARD

PROFICIENT WITH Light Armors Weapons

Choose a weapon that doesn’t have the 2-Handed trait and a spell that has the Attack trait. When you play one for your combat check, you may recharge the other (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d6 (□ 2d6)( □ 3d6) and that card’s traits to the check.

At the end of your turn, you may attempt to recharge a spell in your discard pile.

When Nightshard would be banished, bury it instead. When you gain a power feat, you may take a cohort feat for Nightshard instead.

□ At the start of your turn, you may discard a spell to search your deck or your discard pile for Nightshard and put it into your hand. □ If Nightshard is buried, you may banish a spell with an adventure deck number equal to or greater than the scenario’s adventure deck number to shuffle Nightshard into your deck.

□ Add 2 to your check to acquire a boon with the Arcane trait.

□ You gain the skill Perception: Intelligence +1.

Only one additional feat is available for the base character powers because I want the role’s feats to focus on the bladebound portion. Astute readers will notice that there are only nine feat boxes. This is because one of the distinct elements of the bladebound role is that the black blade also advances as the bladebound magus advances. Also, there are elements of the role that should only be available when the bladebound magus is using the black blade (i.e., when the black blade card is in the player’s hand). In addition, since the role relies so heavily upon the availability of the black blade, the powers allow for the player to regain the weapon by sacrificing other cards, either discarding or banishing a spell as appropriate (reflecting the expenditure of magical power to summon the black blade when it is lost).

The Loot card is then removed from play and, as the role card indicates, replaced with the Cohort Nightshard:

NIGHTSHARD (MORDISA’IL)

COHORT 3

Type: Weapon

OWNER: SELTYIEL (BLADEBOUND LICTOR)

TRAITS: Sword Melee Slashing Finesse Magic

POWERS:

For your combat check, reveal this card to use your Strength or Melee skill + 1d6 plus the scenario’s adventure deck number; you may additionally discard this card to add another 1d6. If you aren’t proficient with weapons, the difficulty of this check is increased by 4. You may not play another weapon on this check.

□ If you use Nightshard for your combat check and you have the Bladebound Lictor role, you may add the cold, electricity, fire, or force trait. □ When you defeat a monster and you have the Bladebound Lictor role, you may reveal Nightshard to recharge 1 random card from your discard pile.

□ If you have the Bladebound Lictor role, you may put this card on top of your deck to examine the top card of your location deck; if the card is a non-Villain bane, you may immediately encounter it.

The base information and rules remain the same as the Loot version. There are three feat boxes on the Cohort version, though, which, as the Bladebound Lictor role card indicates, may be selected instead of power feats. These reflect the black blade’s advancement in parallel with the magus. The first line is actually two powers, but they must be chosen in sequence (i.e., first adding traits to the attack and later healing). The second line is intended to reflect the Awareness that the Bladebound magus gains in the RPG (which is also reflected in the Perception: Intelligence +1 power on the role card). The use of this power brings risk as the Bladebound magus must put the black blade on top of his deck, so he doesn’t have access to the weapon if the bane requires a combat check (and he can’t continue scouting through the turn). This risk is offset by the word “may” which allows the magus to simply not encounter the card.

Of note is the inclusion of the requirement for the wielder to have the Bladebound Lictor role in order to use these powers. This verbiage was included because Cohorts can be given to other characters, but these powers shouldn’t be usable by other characters, not even other Bladebound magi. So if Seltyiel decides to give Nightshard to another character for some reason, that other character can only use Nightshard as a magical weapon and doesn’t have access to the more exotic of the black blade’s powers.

This is a creative use of the Cohort card, I’ll admit. The Cohorts available in the Wrath of the Righteous adventure path, both those specific to the AP and those that come with the characters, are beings. None of them is an object. The converse logic here is that the black blade isn’t just a weapon, it is also a sentient being. Regardless, the Cohort method has been the only method I’ve found that matches my conception of how the bladebound magus and black blade would be translated from PF RPG terms into PACG terms.

At this point, I’m working on playtesting these rules through all three of the official adventure paths. I think that the Loot version of Nightshard is a fairly simple add-on as it is comparable to other magical weapons (so it shouldn’t need much playtesting). The more important portion for me to playtest is the combination of role and Cohort rules.

While I’ll post my observations here, I’d appreciate any feedback that may be provided.

These are dividers that help keep your PACG cards organized within the box. I created them before seeing that other players had created similar divider files, but I've made mine available because they are slightly different from those that others have made.

First, they are "no frills" designs - simply having a 1/2" color bar at top with block text, matching the colors/text of the cards used in the game. The cards are otherwise all white, with the exceptions of one or more lines at the bottom (allowing you to customize the height of the card - for those of you that don't store your cards within the stock box) and the character cards having a logo or text indicating which base set/class deck the character is from (so that you know you're using Kyra from Wrath of the Righteous and not from Rise of the Runelords or the class deck ;) ).

Second, these include dividers for cards with base set numbers (1-6) as well as Basic and Elite (if you want to store those cards separately when you remove them from play). For example, there are dividers for Weapon, Weapon - Basic, Weapon - Elite, Weapon - 1, Weapon - 2, etc. I've probably created more than people will use - there are a few that I don't use, but I figured other players might want to organize their cards differently so I tried to cover a variety of options.

There are currently four files. The PACG Base Sets file has the dividers used in every base set. The files named for the actual adventure paths (e.g., Rise of the Runelords) are the dividers specific to those APs. For example, the Skull & Shackles file includes dividers for each of the characters in that base set as well as Ships, including the level dividers for the ships.

PACG Base Sets
Rise of the Runelords
Skull & Shackles
Wrath of the Righteous

You'll need to download the PACG Base Sets file and the files for each of the base sets you own in order to have a complete set of dividers for any base set.

I print these on cardstock, laminate them, and then cut them to size. You can easily use these in a number of alternate applications, however.

You can see these dividers in use in this picture, which shows them in both the stock insert as well as The Broken Token's PACG Organizer (I store my cards in front of the corresponding divider - you can store them behind if you want to, though. ;) ). Since I keep my cards in the base set box, the height of my dividers is limited to that box - I'm contemplating moving them to a deeper cabinet so that I can make dividers whose text you can actually read above the cards.

I'm working on similar cards for the class decks, though those will come in both vertical and horizontal varieties since players aren't necessarily constrained to the base set boxes for their class decks. When I get those finished, I'll post links to the file locations here.

If you see any errors or omissions, or if you have suggestions for improvements, please let me know.

The thread title speaks for itself...

...but there are some caveats.

First, assume that the base sets will be limited to the Adventure Paths that have been released for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Second, this isn't speculation about what we think the other sets are going to be. We all know what the first four base sets are (Rise of the Runelords, Skull & Shackles, Wrath of the Righteous, and soon Mummy's Mask); and some of us are lucky enough to know what the fifth base set will be (I am not in that group).

Now I know that multiple previous threads have touched on this subject. From what I can see (and I spent considerable time searching before I posted this topic - I didn't want to re-invent the wheel), however, the previous discussions have mostly revolved around what APs players thought were coming next. Occasionally someone would throw in commentary on what they wanted to see and why. This thread looks beyond the fourth/fifth sets.

This is purely about what each of us would like to see. To keep things neat and tidy, let's limit our individual wish lists to the top three base sets that we'd like to see (it would be far too easy to simply say that we'd like to see a base set for every AP, after all).

In addition, let us know the reasoning behind each of your three choices.

This is all highly subjective - there's no right or wrong answer. It would just be interesting to see what other enthusiasts would like to see and why. And maybe, just maybe, Mr. Selinker and his merry band of misfits crew will consider some of the ideas put forth (not mine, obviously, because I'm daft - but some of you are pretty keen). Think of this as providing the designers with input for their long term (3+ years) planning.

So my picks, in order...

#1 Jade Regent
Switching to an Oriental setting would definitely provide some distinctiveness, as well as a thematically appropriate way to allow for Samurai and Ninja.

#2 Hell's Vengeance
I'm normally a stick in the mud and I'm not one for roleplaying evil characters (my wife calls me a goody two-shoes boy scout with a stick up his but), but I think that the PACG provides a nice platform for playing the adventures of evil characters without having to actually think and act like them. Besides, I've often heard actors say that playing the villain is a lot of fun, so it would be interesting to give it a go here without feeling sullied.

#3 Second Darkness
I have found the Drow to be fascinating since they were first introduced, so this one comes in third place by a nose (with two or three other APs in very close contention). Besides, it would be neat if Paizo gave us non-iconic characters and one of those was a Drow. This one also hits that subterranean dungeon delve that roleplayers (whether current or, in my case, past) are so fond of.

Admittedly, I don't play the RPG so I am unfamiliar with the storylines and developments of each of the APs. My views are based solely on what I can read in product descriptions, blogs, and various wikis. So my preferences are based on thematic elements and providing (what I perceive as) variation.

So which three APs would you like to see, and why?

This magus character grew out of my attempt to create a psychic swordsman. After sitting back and looking at the first endeavor, I decided that the character was more of a magus. I wanted to ensure that he was distinct from S&S Seltyiel, however. The key difference is that this magus uses his magic to empower his sword (at first - that changes a bit with the roles). My inspiration was an old D&D bladesinger I had (and from which I stole the name) combined with a WHFB Wood Elf Wardancer/WH40K Eldar Warlock. And I'm sure there's some Jedi Knight in there, too.

AMRAEL
Male Elf Magus

SKILLS

Strength d8 □ +1 □ +2 □ +3
- Melee: Strength +3
Dexterity d8 □ +1 □ +2 □ +3
Constitution d6 □ +1 □ +2
Intelligence d10 □ +1 □ +2 □ +3
- Arcane: Intelligence +2
Wisdom d6 □ +1 □ +2
Charisma D4 □ +1 □ +2

POWERS

Hand Size 5 □ 6 □ 7
Proficient With Light Armors Weapons

You may discard a spell to add 1d4 (□ +1)(□ +2) to your combat check. This counts as playing a spell and adds the Arcane and Magic traits. If you make an Arcane 7 test, you may recharge the spell instead of discarding it.

When you would bury or discard a weapon that has the Sword trait for its power, you may recharge it instead.

When you defeat a monster that has the Veteran or Elite trait, you may immediately explore your location again.

CARDS LIST

Favored Card Type: Weapon or Spell

Weapon 3 □ 4 □ 5
Spell 3 □ 4 □ 5 □ 6
Armor 1 □ 2 □ 3
Item 2 □ 3
Ally 2 □ 3
Blessing 4 □ 5

So the basic concept is that he is a lightly armored swordsman that uses his magic to empower his blade, though he can just as easily use spells normally. I'm tempted to reduce the Melee to Strength +2 and to give him Acrobatics: Dexterity +1 because there is an image of him performing acrobatic feats in combat. I made him somewhat weaker than Seltyiel in that he has to take the Arcane test to recharge the spell and the bonus to combat is weaker, but this is offset (somewhat) by being able to use any spell (where Seltyiel can only use an Attack spell). The character's focus on swordsmanship is modeled after WotR Harsk's ability with bows and will ensure that the character's deck will max out on swords for weapon cards. The last power was based on the concept of him being a consumate warrior and benefiting from the challenge of more experienced opponents. He's a bit more flexible than Seltyiel in that Seltyiel has to have Attack spells in order to be optimized, whereas this guy can have non-Attack spells and still be good on offense. That's part of the reason I gave him a reduced bonus with the combined sword/magic powers. Also, lacking the ability to recharge spells from the discard further offsets the flexibility in spell usage (though being able to attempt recharge of the spells upon use was included for some level of durability).

The following two roles were created to be vastly different in focus. The first is optimized for Wrath of the Righteous (which I'm playing through right now) while the other is a bit more generic (as well as defensive/helpful).

AMRAEL (RIGHTEOUS BLADE)

POWERS

Hand Size 5 □ 6 □ 7
Proficient With Light Armors Weapons

You may discard a spell to add 1d4 (□ +1)(□ +2)(□ +3)(□ +4) to your combat check. This counts as playing a spell and adds the Arcane and Magic traits. If you make an Arcane 7 test, you may recharge the spell instead of discarding it.

When you would bury or discard a weapon that has the Sword trait for its power, you may recharge it instead.

When you defeat a monster that has the Veteran or Elite (□ or Demon)(□ or Outsider) trait, you may immediately explore your location again.

□ For your combat check, you may discard a spell to use your Arcane skill +1d6 (□ +1)(□ +2). This counts as playing a spell with the Attack, Ranged, Arcane, and Magic traits. You may not play a weapon on the check. □ If you make an Arcane 7 test, you may recharge the spell instead of discarding it.

AMRAEL (PROTECTOR)

POWERS

Hand Size 5 □ 6 □ 7
Proficient With Light Armors □ Heavy Armors Weapons

You may discard a spell (□ or shuffle it into your deck) to add 1d4 (□ +1)(□ +2) to your combat check. This counts as playing a spell and adds the Arcane and Magic traits. If you make an Arcane 7 test, you may recharge the spell instead of discarding it.

When you would bury or discard a weapon that has the Sword trait for its power, you may recharge it instead.

When you defeat a monster that has the Veteran or Elite (□ or Undead or Aberrant) trait, you may immediately explore your location again.

□ You may recharge a spell to add 1d4 (□ +1) to a non-combat (□ any) check by another character at your location. □ You may place the spell on top of your deck instead of recharging it.

□ When another character at your location takes damage, you may discard a spell to reduce that damage to 0.

NOTES

The first role (Righteous Blade) is much more focused on offensive power. The added feat represents him using a spell in combat, though I must admit that this is the feat of which I am most leery (he already has access to other spells, so he could just use his Attack spells). This is the thing I'm most likely to change.

The second role (Protector) is much more defensive/helpful. Helping others is a bit more iffy, though, so I went with a default of recharging spells used to help the other characters' checks.

Going back to the base character, I envision him as more of a loner, though possibly picking up a small number of allies (most likely animals, but I don't see a need to be that specific). I could see him picking up a shield, helmet, and light armor, though players would optimize however they want. Initially, I envision him having only a single piece of armor (a shield/buckler in my mind's eye). The character's focus is on weapons and spells, with spells being used more to empower a more limited number of weapons. I didn't want to reduce the blessings too much due to their general value, though, so weapons and spells were capped at 3 for the initial deck.

So the things I'm really looking at (based on what I see) are melee/acrobatics and changing the Righteous Blade role's added feat. Of course, others will see things that I'm missing, so I'm open to suggestions.

My daughter would only consent to play a game with the wife and me if she could play a character of her choosing. Looking through the blogs with me, she saw Rivani and said that she wanted to play "that gypsy chick" and wanted her to have lots of spells. So after reading the lore for Rivani and for psychics, I created an initial version for a game. Afterwards, I went back and made some tweaks (though I feel that there is still room for improvement).

Note that this doesn't have to be "Rivani." As far as I'm concerned, it could be any psychic. I used Seoni as a baseline, but made some adjustments to the skills.

SKILLS

Strength d4 □ +1
Dexterity d6 □ +1 □ +2
Constitution d6 □ +1 □ +2
Intelligence d10 □ +1 □ +2 □ +3 □ +4
Arcane: Intelligence +2
Knowledge: Intelligence +1
Wisdom d8 □ +1 □ +2 □ +3
Perception: Wisdom +2
Charisma d8 □ +1 □ +2 □ +3
Divine: Charisma +1

POWERS

Hand Size 5 □ 6 □ 7

For your combat check, you may discard a weapon or an item to use your Arcane skill and add 1d6 (□ +1) and add the Attack and Ranged traits. This counts as playing a spell. After completing the combat, you may succeed at an Arcane 8 check to recharge the weapon or item instead of discarding it.

You may automatically succeed at your check to recharge a spell or an item that has the Mental trait.

You may discard (□ or recharge) a spell to add 1d4+1 to your attempt to acquire a weapon or item. This counts as playing a spell.

CARDS LIST FAVORED CARD TYPE: SPELL
Weapon 1 □ 2
Spell 4 □ 5 □ 6 □ 7
Armor -
Item 4 □ 5 □ 6
Ally 2 □ 3 □ 4
Blessing 4 □ 5 □ 6

(PSYCHIC DUELLIST ROLE)

POWERS

Hand Size 5 □ 6 □ 7 □ 8

For your combat check, you may discard a weapon or an item to use your Arcane skill and add 1d6 (□ +1)(□ +2)(□ +3) and add the Attack and Ranged traits. This counts as playing a spell. After completing the combat, you may succeed at an Arcane 8 check to recharge the weapon or item instead of discarding it.

You may automatically succeed at your check to recharge a spell or an item that has the Mental trait.

You may discard (□ or recharge) a spell to add 1d4+1 to your attempt to acquire a weapon or item. This counts as playing a spell.

□ You may discard (□ or recharge) a weapon or item to reduce combat (□ any) damage by 2 (□ 4). This counts as playing a spell that you may play even if you already played a spell in the same encounter.

□ You may discard a spell to add 1d6 to a combat check by another character at your location.

(AMNESIAC ROLE)

POWERS

Hand Size 5 □ 6 □ 7 □ 8 □ 9

For your combat check, you may discard a weapon or an item to use your Arcane skill and add 1d6 (□ +1)(□ +2) and add the Attack and Ranged traits. This counts as playing a spell. After completing the combat, you may succeed at an Arcane 8 check to recharge the weapon or item instead of discarding it.

You may automatically succeed at your check to recharge a spell or an item that has the Mental trait.

You may discard (□ or recharge) a spell to add 1d4+1 to your (□ or any other character at your location's) attempt to acquire a weapon or item. This counts as playing a spell.

□ Before exploring your location you may recall spells. Discard all spells in your hand and shuffle them with all of the spells in your discard pile, drawing 1d4 (□ +1)(□ +2) spells from the shuffled spells.

□ You may discard a card to examine the top card of your deck; if it is a spell, you may add it to your hand.

DESIGN NOTES

You can probably see where I took most of the powers from other characters.

For the combat check power, the concept is that the psychic is using her psychic power to fling a weapon/item at a bane (much like the picture of Rivani appears to be doing). For the psychic duellist, this was extended to using psychic power to move a weapon/item into the path of incoming danger in order to reduce the damage.

I also gave both the Arcane and Divine skills in order to give the character access to a broader range of spells (via recharging them). Only a handful of spells have the Mental trait, so I'm hoping that part isn't too powerful.

The psychic duellist role is focused on combat power, mostly for the psychic, but with the added ability to aid another character at the same location. This role will be much more focused on gathering weapons and items in order to use them in combat. There is some risk that the character will get fewer spells back than were forgotten (though canny players won't let that happen if they can help it) and that you won't necessarily get the spells that you want, but that all seems to be accurate to the description of the archetype.

The amnesiac role was a bit more interesting, and I see that role being much more focused on using spells instead of flinging weapons/items (though the role doesn't lose that basic ability).

As I said, I'm sure that there's room for improvement, so I'm looking to those that are more experienced in this kind of thing than me to point out the things that I'm not seeing.

Cheers!