Calthaer's page

The core set's release was a kick in the teeth to a lot of people. The turmoil surrounding existing boxes, class decks, etc was troubling.

Don't get me wrong, I think the Core set and expansion was a fantastic product on its own, but its theme, card design, and updated rules didn't mesh well with existing content at all. Swapping cards into class decks and juggling mechanics just doesn't make for a fun and relaxing time for a lot of people. I am betting sales were just down because of this.

I was in the same boat in terms of not being too sure about the new set's card design, and I'm not sure it's as much my favorite - but the new Core set is, in general, the best this game has ever been. Lots of cards now that can help other players - in the past, it was largely only possible to help if your character was designed to help. For organized play, the idea of making "packs" from the existing content to make a pseudo "class deck" out of was brilliant, ingenious.

In many ways I think they learned a lot from the "1.0" stuff and that "PACG 2.0" was turning out to be the best version of the product ever. Cut down in its prime, for sure.

Thanks to Selinker, and thanks to Hawkmoon. When we were all figuring this game out in the beginning Hawkmoon was a huge boon to our community and continued to be.

We programmed him to be helpful, so this is good to know.

Yeah it's tough to imagine that they'd kill the society if the game itself were selling well. My guess is that this product has never really reached the heights of popularity it did when it was released in late 2013. There are lots of board games out there competing for attention, and maybe the pandemic has resulted in fewer folks playing physical board games in general. Hard to say.

We'll see how long they keep the one they have in print. Maybe some day it'll see a revival in some fashion.

Big bummer. I have grown to love the new set - it's the penultimate expression of the best co-op board game out there. Real shame we're not going to see more expansions that use Core.

When they say "remain available for purchase", does this mean that it isn't going out of print? Or is there danger of that?

Adventure packs are so awesome. They are great. They breathe new life into old characters - you can mix and match all sorts of boons and see what new combinations you can get. For characters that, say, add the Ranged or Arcane skills later as a feat, you can add ranged / arcane cards in later with a pack if you so desire (and haven't taken three packs yet).

It also feels like you have a ton of options for every tier / deck #, even though realistically we probably don't. But they're tailored to your needs so the boon-selection is so rich and fecund. I've been playing Reiko with the Alchemist, Ranged, and Finesse packs. It is rad.

Everyone should buy doubles of Core and Curse so that they can have one for their game and one for The Ultimate Class Deck.

Really hoping they release another adventure path so that the boonosity can become even more supreme.

Organized play is awesome; organized play is fun. Since the main point of the game is Getting Stuff (at least, according to Calthaer's Maxim), you have special flavors of this here. Everyone's always evaluating boons based on whether or not they have boons of the same type and deck # in their set of cards (the three "packs" nowadays, the "class deck" in the olden days) that they can upgrade with at the end of the adventure. In regular play, you just keep the actual cards rather than upgrading from your set...but it's kind of fun to pick which cards to upgrade.

Not for everyone, though - ignore all that if you just want to play with friends. If you want to get into organized play you might want to play in an organized play event online with one of the Masters of the Cardiverse (Hawkmoon, Cartmanbeck, etc.) that's run in play-by-post or something first to get the hang of it...ask questions.

That Discord link from March seems to have expired. Some of us are planning on getting together to play for "Hawkcon" (our regular group that meets in the mid-Atlantic) on May 2nd.

So...who's going? What are the chances of getting a super-duper interactive special going there? Whom do we need to bribe / beg to make that happen?

The monsters aren't anywhere near as shiny as the delicious boons you can get.

I started using Sleeve Kings for Core / Curse; used to use Ultra Pro Deck Protector, but I got annoyed at those shiny circles they always put on it. They're 60 microns thick (penny sleeves are 40; most of the premiums are 90-100) - decent protection and 2/3 the price, roughly. Been liking them so far - they shuffle fine compared to the Ultra Pro, fit snugly on the cards - height / width are no problem for the storage in the Core set.

I'm able to fit all of Core and Curse into two of the "rows" of the Core box, with room to spare; the third row is empty.

I understand, of course, Aviva is a young lass, writing about the Pathfinder Card Game. But I couldn't help myself, it's natural I suppose, with the "efficiency" hashtag - I kept reading this blog post in the voice of John Houseman, when he was wearing a grey suit and sitting in an Eames chair, like in "Rollerball".

I didn't see any promo cards in the shipping notice. Does this mean...there are no promo cards?

They'll all fit? Sleeved or unsleeved? Willing to be that sleeves won't fit.

Card count?

Where's the non-random healing abuse coming from? Just curious.

But if we told you, then you could go and abuse it...and so could everyone else.

On everything else: these changes do seem to work, having tested them. "Avenge" in particular takes some of the sting out of defeat - there are fewer instances where it's a "this roll must succeed or else" scenario, because someone else can also try. Because the only time you need to throw everything at a roll is because of "this roll must succeed or else" cases.

As long as we don't have the d20s coming back, it'll be fine.

Legit question. Who would EVER spend points that give permanent upgrades on a reroll?!?

When you're playing organized play, and you are on the last fight against a super annoying villain in one of those Petersonian scenarios where they punish you for drawing breath ("if any character card has a green border, all characters take 1d20 damage" - so much fun!), and you roll and fail by just a little...yes, I can totally foresee it.

Calthaer wrote:

But I uploaded a picture of the setup for this on my desk here

Go go Tarlin! That dude is a beast.

Mind sharing how you built his deck and power selection?

Sure...so...if Wrath is good for anything, it's good for Tarlin. He really shines in this box set, and I think I said once before that I think he's the cleric they should have included in the box rather than Kyra.

There are a ton of great two-handed weapons in this set that you get as Loot cards, and Tarlin has several: Soulshear, Fiendsplitter, and Blancher, along with the Blackaxe. He also has Holy Radiance - not 2H, but still an awesome weapon and he's the melee fighter here.

For blessings, he has one Torag to use with Fiendsplitter, a Shelyn to help with his low wisdom (d8), and four Iomedaes that he can now recharge when he plays (last power feat on his role card). Only reason he doesn't have the fifth Iomedae in there is because I haven't found it yet - gaining boons in Wrath is pretty difficult.

He has Armor of the Pious so that those Iomedaes heal someone, and he also has Stole of the Inheritor as an item to give the option of using those Iomedae blessings as a super-charged healing spell.

Imperial Army Greathelm and Black Dragonhide Breastplate round out his armor set; Banner of Valor is his other item. Kamilo Dann and Chuffy Lickwound are his allies, because they're decent and he hasn't gotten anything better. His spells are Breath of Life, Cure, and Steal Soul.

The group takes a lot of damage - with d20s being thrown around in Wrath, difficulties and success probabilities are very swingy, and even with damage reduction I find I often just need to heal. Tarlin's hand size has been upped to 6 so that he can heal and still have a turn; he also heals 1d4+2 now, and recharges armors to get weapons from the discard pile to his hand - setting up a virtuous cycle where he uses 2H weapons to heal, discards them, and then gets them back by recharging an armor. He can also recharge those weapons to heal 1 card (power feat). His last power feat, which he just got in AD5, is to recharge Iomedae when he plays it.

His skill feats are +3 wisdom (to compensate for his low D8s), +2 STR, and +1 Dex, Con, and Int (some of those due to that Army card that gave you a bunch of feats).

So there are a lot of synergies in his deck, and he's able to cycle cards while he both heals and deals damage. Tarlin is indeed a beast - he's probably my favorite cleric in the game.

The character promos might be worth it...but then again, maybe not. Some of them are...how should I put it...edge case characters, with attributes (hand size, skills / powers, deck makeup) all the way on one extreme or another. Likewise, the other promo cards, while flavorful, are not always the most useful items (with rare exceptions, like Poog of Zarongel the ally - he is really good). Typically, the goblin-themed boons have drawbacks, like damage to yourself or something at the cost of the effect.

It sounds like you have just started playing, so I would forget about these for now. They definitely should not be your first purchase. To get new characters, I would spring for the class decks, if you don't already have them - there are dozens of cool and interesting characters in there. Find a character class you like in Runelords and get the class deck for it...if Seelah, then the Paladin deck is great; if Kyra, then the Cleric class deck is great. Then augment it with one of the Ultimate decks. All of that is far more worth it, for the money, than the promo cards...and if you're a completionist, you can pick them up later. They are currently less expensive than they were at the start, so there might be advantages in waiting.

Having played the playtest, I doubt these concerns will be problematic once it comes out.

Also, I am a huge proponent of sleeving the cards. That being said, I can understand if you view that as the ravings of a fanatic...I go all in and have sleeved everything - all base sets, all class decks.

I would think of it this way: where is your team relatively weak?

Ezren has high Int, Lini Wisdom, and Merisiel Dex. What you lack is someone good Strength, Charisma, and IIRC Constitution.

Either Seelah or Amiri could fill those gaps. Sajan, unfortunately, is a Dex guy, so is redundant qith Merisiel IMO. The two of them would have to compete for ranged weapons.

Runelords is forgiving enough that you needn't worry too much with any choice, though.

OK so...I usually play three characters solo. I have finally gotten around to picking back up the Wrath run-through I abandoned long ago in favor of...well...just about any other PACG game I had going on that was better (which is all of them).

But I uploaded a picture of the setup for this on my desk here:
Wrath Three-Player Setup

Although...now that I look at this...not sure this will help you avoid confusion. My desk isn't huge, and while everything fits comfortably, the play area for each character is kind of jammed up against the play area for another. I manage to keep it straight, though - it's not too hard.

I don't think you can use objectively here when there are those of us, like me, that actually like the new designs. Just sayin'.

You might be in the minority there, Tyler. But...they have already gone to the printer, so there's not much point in commenting on it further. It will be what it will be, and the rest of the excellent improvements will surely make up for it.

I love the interactive specials; they are fun...and if organized ahead of time, people know to bring characters. Agree with a lot of this re: conventions as places to experience Epic PACG. I do wish that I could some day play that "competitive" thing they had a few years back where you and a team had to do a scenario and everybody had to play a different character from the same class deck each scenario or something. That sounded really fun.

The scaling difficulty levels of the new Core set would be great in organized play. I just think to those OP scenarios where we have just been so outmatched, or our particular selection of heroes just isn't built for a scenario and we struggle again and again to complete the scenario. It's no fun to keep beating your head against the wall...I'd happily take a smaller reward just to finish the thing (at an easier difficulty level), move on to the next one, and get back to the fun.

It's not really "knowledge", more opinions I guess. But it's what I brought.

I am also eagerly anticipating the set...and the promo cards. Played the playtest at PAX Unplugged this past year, and it was great. Love the new card powers and think that the game is super streamlined now. Would love to hear how Organized Play is going to work now in the New Regime.

Post 'em here! Specifically we want a snapshot of what your mummy-busting character looks like after he or she finished Pyramid of the Sky Pharaoh. (That is, you've completed the scenario The Sky Pharaoh's Sanctum.)...

Finally finished Mummy's Mask. Definitely the best set yet. Then the only thing I will have to do is dredge back the Wrath of the Righteous box and finish that one (I left off somewhere in AD5). For Mummy's Mask...no deaths, probably 4-5 failed scenarios but I don't recall which at this point (except for Crypt of Air - I know I failed that one 1x).

Character Name: Amhotep
Role Card: Staff Magus
Skill Feats: Strength +2, Intelligence +4, Charisma +1
Power Feats: +1 hand size, "On your check [x] or a check by...may discard ([x] or recharge) a card...", "You may recharge...Staff trait ([x] or a spell) to add 1d8 ([x]1d12) to...", "[x] At the start of your turn, you may...", "[x] When you attempt a Knowledge..."
Card Feats: Spell+2, Armor +1, Item +1, Ally +1, Blessing +2
Weapons: Mace of Ruin, Rod of the Devoured Dawn
Spells: Boneshatter, Chain Lightning, Disable Mechanism, Ice Storm, Safety Bubble, Spite Cloud
Armors: Aegis of Recovery, Elemental Brass Mail
Items: Golden Serpent Armband, Pharaoh's Key, Ring of Stony Flesh, Staff of Revelations
Allies: Clockwork Menial, Freed Soul, Pyromaniac Mage
Blessings: Abadar, Isis, Nethys, Pharasma, Ra

Character Name: Channa Ti
Role Card: Oasis Caller
Skill Feats: Dexterity +2, Constitution +1, Intelligence +1, Wisdom +3
Power Feats: "You may discard...invokes the Acid or Cold ([x] or Electricity or Poison) trait.", "You may recharge a card...Liquid or Magic ([x] or Divine) trait...Fire ([x] or Poison) damage dealt to you ([x] or a character at your location) to 0.", "[x] At the end of your turn, another...", "[x] You may discard a card that has the Liquid...character at your ([x] or any) location."
Card Feats: Weapon +1, Spell +2, Item +2, Ally +1, Blessing +1
Weapons: Flaming Spear +1, Iceblade Spelldagger
Spells: Canopic Conversion, Cure, Find Traps, Holy Light, Ice Storm, Pillar of Life, Sirocco
Armors: Falcon Crown
Items: Life Lantern, Mask of the Forgotten Pharoah, Pure Holy Water, Twitch Tonic
Allies: Hippopotamus Mud Elemental, Pakesket, Pard, Sand Elemental, Sand Elemental
Blessings: Abadar, Pharasma, Thoth

Character Name: Simoun
Role Card: Lightning Thief
Skill Feats: Dexterity +4, Intelligence +3
Power Feats: +1 Hand Size, +Light Armors, "Add your Perceptions skill...has the ([x] Obstacle or) Trap trait", "When you would discard a weapon that has the Knife trait ([x] or discard, bury, or banish...", "[x] You may automatically acquire...", "[x] During your exploration, you may...", "[x] When you move, you may..."
Card Feats: Weapon +1, Spell +1, Armor +1, Item +1, Ally +1, Blessing +2
Weapons: Chakram of Ruin, Chakram of Ruin, Fate Blade, Galvanic Kopis +2, Galvanic Kopis +2, Venomous Heavy Crossbow +2
Spells: Jolting Portent
Armors: Khepresh of Refuge, Skyplate Armor
Items: Bottled Lightning, Cartouche of Protection, Sun Falcon Pectoral, Staff of Minor Healing
Allies: Cleric of Nethys, Cloud Elemental, Khai-Utef, Shock Lizard
Blessings: Horus, Horus, Horus, Horus, Blessing of the Lady of Graves

Wow...made another attempt at this one tonight. With no reliable way to consistently reduce damage for the party (since everyone's sent to a random location - not even a random open or closed one, so you have no way to selectively "funnel" people to a particular location with a Safety Bubble), this one is not a lot of fun.

Scenarios like this, where you just have to hope you get lucky and you don't hit too many of the 6(!) Sandstorms in the deck, and that you just happen to draw your armors and damage reduction cards (and keep them in your hand)...after a few attempts, I usually put the game down for a few months and just don't come back to it.

Or even years...I never did finish my Wrath of the Righteous set. Been putting it off until absolutely every other set has been completed...then I guess I'll dig it out and give Tarlin, Adowyn, and that halfling arcanist (whatever her name is) another shot at finishing it.

So you can't throw up a protection spell to reliably counter the Sandstorm - it always damages you at the location you moved to, not from? Came here looking for exactly this...it radically alters the scenario, making it much more difficult. This is going to be as awful as that AD6 organized play scenario for Mummy's Mask with a siege deck that our collective group of three 3-person tables has failed something like 7x and had 1 success to show for it...

Early scenarios are hard. You have no feats to bring your stat rolls up to a minimum level, so if you don't have proficiencies things can be real swingy. Shifting the base adventure from 3 scenarios to 5 exacerbates this...it's a longer slog before you can make choices to affect your chances.

Your party is fine...stick with it and, with some card updates, the plunder will pile up on the deck and your crew will be whooping with glee. To one of Yewstance's points: look for those magic armors that you can recharge at turn end to cycle Oloch's deck through his small hand size.

We just finished our Skull & Shackles campaign. Six players, Hawkmoon and I being two of them. Included the Rogue class deck in the box, because Olenjack was my character (and he needed poison cards) - and a few of the Iconic Heroes promo cards, too. This one took a long time (we had a huge hiatus between the next-to-last and last scenarios)...so it feels good to finally put this one to bed.

Character Name: Seltyiel (S&S)
Role Card: Spellblade
Skill Feats: Strength+2, Intelligence+4
Power Feats: +1 hand size, "Choose a weapon...([x] or shuffle it...to add 1d6 ([x]2d6)([x]3d6)", "[x] When you play a weapon...", "[x] Add 2 to your check to acquire...", "[x] When you acquire a spell..."
Card Feats: Weapon+2, Spell+3, Item+1, Ally+1, Blessing+1
Weapons: Adamantine Trident +3, Brine's Sting, Cutlass +1, Elven Scimitar, Seaborne Trident +1, Spellsword +2
Spells: Freezing Sphere, Illuminate, Illuminate, Rage, Sphere of Fire, Sphere of Fire, Swipe
Armors: Magic Chain Shirt
Items: Belt of Physical Might, Ring of the Iron Skull
Allies: Mogmurch, Snow Leopard
Blessings: Achaekek, Cayden Cailean, Norgorber, Sivanah, Zogmugot
Party Ship: Abrogail's Fury

Character Name: Olenjack - this one was me
Role Card: Guild Leader
Skill Feats: Dexterity+3, Wisdom+1, Charisma+2
Power Feats: +2 hand size, Weapons proficiency, "When you attempt...ally displayed, add 1([x] 2) to the...", "[x]Add 2 ([x] 4) to your check to acquire an ally ([x] or a boon)"
Card Feats: Weapon+2, Spell+1, Armor+1, Item+5, Ally+2, Blessing+1
Weapons: Returning Frost Spear +2, Seeking Harpoon +1, Toxic Blunderbuss +1, Venomous Heavy Crossbow +2
Spells: Cure
Armors: Besmarin Vestments, Sniper's Studded Leather
Items: Belt of Incredible Dexterity, Bloodroot Poison, Hurricane Crown, Immortal Dreamstone, Magic Spyglass
Allies: Arronax Endymion, Crimson Cogward, Elven Sharpshooter, Old Salt, Old Salt, Old Salt, Rotgut
Blessings: Besmara, Erastil, Geryon, Milani

Character Name: Feiya (S&S)
Role Card: Guild Leader
Skill Feats: Intelligence+4, Charisma+2
Power Feats: +3 hand size, "When any character...a monster ([x] or barrier),...of that check by 1 ([x] 2) ([x] 3) plus...", "[x] When you play Blessing of Pharasma..."
Card Feats: Spell+4, Item+2, Blessing+2
Weapons: --
Spells: Blazing Servant, Dimension Leap, Dimension Leap, Freezing Sphere, Quickened Ray, Recast, Resist Energy, Telekinesis, Tsunami, World Wave
Armors: --
Items: Impossible Bottle, Letter of Marque, Skeleton Anchor, Staff of Weather
Allies: Daji, Haneilius Fitch, Lady Agasta Smythee
Blessings: Abadar, Achaekek, Pharasma, Pharasma, Pharasma, Pharasma

Character Name: Harsk (Class Deck)
Role Card: Arbalist
Skill Feats: Dexterity+3, Constitution+1, Wisdom+2
Power Feats: +2 hand size, "At the ([x] start or)...", "You may recharge a card to add 1d4 ([x]+1) ([x]+2) to...another location ([x] or your location).", "[x] Add 2 to your check to acquire a weapon."
Card Feats: Weapon+1, Armor+1, Item+2, Ally+3, Blessing+1
Weapons: Blasting Pistol+2, Crossbow of Retribution, Doubleshot Pepperbox, Flaming Musket+2, Humanbane Crossbow+2, Musket+2
Spells: --
Armors: Goblin Buckler Gun, Flaming Buckler Gun
Items: Amulet of Fortitude, Ivory Dice, Ring of Regeneration, Ring of the Sea Strider, Sniper Goggles
Allies: Biter, Fox, Heartbreak Hinson, Monkey
Blessings: Abadar, Erastil, Erastil, Hshurha, Lamashtu, Milani

Character Name: Lini (S&S)
Role Card: Aquamancer
Skill Feats: Constitution+1, Wisdom+4
Power Feats: +1 hand size, Weapons proficiency, "When you play an ally...into your deck ([x] or put it on top...", "[x]Add 2 ([x] 4) to any combat check...Aquatic trait ([x] or any check...", "[x] If you defeat a monster..."
Card Feats: Weapon+1, Spell+2, Armor+1, Item+1, Ally+1, Blessing+2
Weapons: Grayflame Mace+2, Rapier+2
Spells: Aqueous Orb, Control Weather, Divine Fortune, Holy Feast, Invoke, Tsunami
Armors: Besmarin Vestments, Bolstering Armor
Items: Pearl of Wisdom, Svingli's Eye
Allies: Droogami, Eagle, Imp, Monkey, Pteranodon
Blessings: Achaekek, Asmodeus, Erastil, Gozreh, Gozreh, Kelizandri

Character Name: Damiel (S&S) - this one is Hawkmoon
Role Card: Chirurgeon
Skill Feats: Dexterity+3, Intelligence+3
Power Feats: +2 hand size, Weapons proficiency, "You may discard...add 1d5 ([x]+1)...has the Alchemical ([x] or Healing)...", "[x] When you acquire a boon...", "[x] You may recharge an item..."
Card Feats: Weapon+1, Spell+2, Armor+1, Item+1, Ally+1, Blessing+2
Weapons: Frost Longbow+1, Skyrocket Crossbow
Spells: Cure, Find Traps, Righteousness, Speed
Armors: Reflecting Buckler
Items: Bottled Lightning, Bottled Lightning, Fuse Grenade, Potion of Flying, Potion of Flying, Potion of Healing, Potion of Heroism, Potion of Heroism, Potion of the Ocean
Allies: Joseph "Jack" Scrimshaws, Rickety Hake
Blessings: Erastil, Erastil, Kelizandri, Sivanah, Zogmugot

Curious, why do you think Valendron is great for SnS? I only see one power on a role card that looks like it was made for SnS, and its also limited to Obstacle barriers.

There are some nasty locations in S&S that have you doing something at the start of every turn - Con / Wis / Survival check, fight a Hammerhead Shark or Draugr Captain, whatever. All Valendron has to do is recharge a spell to move at the end of his turn - and, with the ships, he can take everyone else along with him.

A team of people can move to one of these evil places on their turn, explore, and then Valendron can whisk them all away before any of them has to have a "At the beginning of your turn, experience pain and agony" moment. I hate these types of locations and therefore love that Valendron can basically turn any spell into a party-wide Levitate for a recharge.

Third party organizers are nice for the bling, but it would probably be totally do-able to make a decent, functional way to organize the cards without one. I personally liked the card-sized mini box and the colorful dividers included with Thornwatch; a few of those, sized to fit the entire box, could be the "box insert" we're all looking for.

I would echo most of what Hawkmoon said (we were playing this together at PAX most of the time), with the exception that I am not yet a fan of the layout.

But, to add to the positives he mentioned...something in one of Mike's earlier posts comes to mind about our PAX adventures:

For a cooperative card game, the game is often not interactive enough. When you want to help your friend, the game generally tells you that you can't unless you have a card that does so. It's a co-op game, so it should feel more cooperative.

Although I talk animatedly about the fun I have grabbing every single boon, my other favorite part of the game is helping other players do awesome things. With Core, I found it a lot easier to do this...it was easier to cooperate. This made the game a lot more fun for me; I can't wait.

So many good combinations in Skull & Shackles, it's really hard to go wrong.

It's also kind of hilarious for me to see so many people have such strong opinions on Seltyiel these...what...four years later? He was one of my favorites. My favorite trifecta was Seltyiel, Alahazra, and Lirianne.

But you can succeed with just about any "balanced" cast of characters...which means you need one divine caster (Lini, Alahazra, and Lem might do in a pinch), one fighter (Valeros or Seltyiel), and then another support character - maybe Lem or Feiya, and Oloch has some supporting powers, too. If I recall, Damiel was considered one of the more powerful characters in the set, and he's versatile - he can become almost anything (healer, support, damage dealer).

There are also a lot of class deck characters that are great in Skull & Shackles, if you're inclined to branch out. Heggal from the cleric class deck and Valendron from the sorcerer class deck come to mind, although there are many others.

Hmm...I don't feel as tetchy about it as some others, but have to say that I'm also not a huge fan of the new layout. Lots of white text on light-colored backgrounds, and a huge dark background drawing the eye...those skills to acquire are not so easy on the eyes, and that line of text crediting the artist at the bottom is almost illegible, even blown up on my computer.

But I really like the scalable options being built in - can't wait to play at PAX Unplugged.

I will volunteer to be the touchpoint for whatever we do at PAX Unplugged. PM me; if you are uncomfortable giving me your cell #, I am happy to give you mine. I imagine we will not all be checking this post during the convention and foresee it being easy to get caught up elsewhere and fail to meet up.

I'm thinking a quick touch base on Friday earlier - meetup, coordinate, decide when to play. Saturday is usually a good day to hunker down somewhere and avoid the mob; we'll figure out with Mike when a Core game can happen. Let me touch base with Hawkmoon about which boxes we'll bring...probably can't fit them all in the car.

My Mavaro (Tier 2) just finished the Assault on Absalom thing we were running here on the forums. We likely won't be able to bring all of our boxes, so would be great to get some consensus on what scenarios we'll be playing ahead of time.

Or we could just do all Core / Curse all the time - I'm perfectly fine with that. Even more exciting if we get to game with the mighty Selinker.

Verily; it was awesome.

Do we need a character sheet or something?

Honestly...I am looking through these decks...and I'm not sure that I want any other upgrades. I can find cards I might want in addition to the cards I already have, but not cards I want instead of my existing cards.

The one I am toying with, though, is possibly replacing Spelldagger with the Quarterstaff of Vaulting (Weapon 1). And you know what...I think I'm going to do that. I don't have any other ranged weapons, and Spelldagger is useful mostly to give me the Arcane skill and to possibly add to Deathgrip - the only Attack spell in my deck. I'd need to have a deck oriented differently to keep it...right now Mavaro is geared more towards being a paladin-type (melee combat with some healing / divine mixed in). The Quarterstaff will give me Acrobatics, and higher-dice damage...so I think I will make that my second upgrade - a Weapon 1.

Blessing, Spell, Item

Boon: 1d20 ⇒ 19

I have 1 blessing available...also have Spirit Surge which might allow me to get more.

I have thr missing eye in hand which gives me big bonuses vs demon trait cards, as we have seen...but I anticipate not waiting and using that as a backup option.

So who is going to fight the villain? I might be able to do it with Deathgrip, if enough blessings are out there. The Missing Eye would be ideal, but it looks like I will not have 2 turns left to topdeck and then draw it back up, then churn through the cards to find the villain and fight.

Examining the whole location...well, we have to do something, right? There's no way we're going to get through this place with anything but luck - you have to explore twice a turn just to make any progress. We'll have to hope we hit that villain...but examining everything and taking out more than one card, that could be helpful.

Yes, the insipid location. When typing out a turn on mobile, I don't get verbose and spell it all out - it's too much hassle.

How exactly do we know that it's before resetting your hand? The turn order for the game says to reset hand and then end your turn, and the effect for this scenario says "At the end of your turn."

I am in a pretty good position to take down the villain. My weapon (The Missing Eye) will give me 1d8+2+1d8+1+2d6 with a recharge. With one blessing, I have an 80% success rate - so that's just with what I have. I can also probably make my own DEX check.

But in do doing, Amaryllis and Aric will also have to make this DEX check. I think we'd all be OK with me doing this...want to confirm? But I'm not sure we have a lot of other choices, other than burning a bunch of turns - and some of the other locations look like they have some severe penalties...meaning either that we'll need more turns, or that we'll need for Amaryllis and Aric not to take that damage so that they have the resources to counter the penalties...

I'm leaning towards "take down the villain"...if anyone else feels that other options are better, please chime in. I'll wait for about a half hour - but then I'll need to take my turn (or at least start it, and then Amaryllis and Aric will need to make their DEX checks) and then head off to bed.

If we want to make this 80% chance of defeating higher, let me know...the Binder's Tome - that will add 1d4? That would bump it up to 91%...

I will go with Spell 1 (Spirit Surge) and for the bonus upgrade, Spell 2 (Deathgrip). Starting loc = Earthworks.

No boon for me. On the upgrades...I would like a Spell 1, if I may.

And the bonus one...I can choose any Deck 2 card at all - any of them?

Despite grabbing them every round, I don't think I actually want the blessing 2 all that much...it's not until 3 that I think I get one that's better than what I have. I view Mavaro as a loot-grabbing support character in that regard.

Boon: 1d20 ⇒ 5

I choose you, Pikachu.

No...actually..I choose Spell as well.

I think I will go with number 1. Thanks.

Thank you...will take my turn here shortly...