Casey Weston's page

I really don't like where this is headed.

Having a bunch of class decks outside of the subscription is one thing, but releasing exclusive cards in non-Adventure Card Game products is outrageous. No thank you. After Skull and Shackles, I am done here.

There have been so many mistakes with this game. Delays like you wouldn't believe. So many printing errors from text to cutting the cards. This is seriously some amateur hour. When was the last time a text error appeared on a Magic card? Years, maybe the first few printings. My Rise of the Runelords decks are all misshapen because you guys couldn't cut them all the same size. Your card guild was delayed, then the next base set is delayed. Every card I play now I have to figure our house rules simply because the game is not ready yet.

All that stuff I have lived with, defended Paizo to others about. But now you are releasing cards, exclusive cards, where I have to buy an entirely separate product to get. Come on guys. This is not the way to go.

What I am currently using for Damiel, related to the Tot Flask, is my lone weapon is the Fire Lance.

Fire Lance is both a firearm, a weapon, and alchemical.

Which means for your combat check you can "banish" it for 4d8, which recharges it to the bottom of your deck. Then use Powder Horn to get it right back into your hand.

I have 1 Cure spell and 2 Potions of Healing (Which I can also use for 2d6 combat bonuses), so it isn't long before I get the Powder Horn back in my hand. Add a Buckler Gun, Noxious Bomb, and Alchemist's Fire and Damiel is easily the best combat character in the game.

I haven't got the Tot Flask yet, but I could see where I could use it to grab Potions of Healing of Attack items in a pinch.

Oh boy! I'm going out on a limb her and saying they are intentional. And remember, someone else at your location can attempt one of the two checks.

S&S Rulebook p12 wrote:

Only the character who encounters the card may attempt the check, save for one exception: if a card requires sequential checks, the character who encountered the card must attempt at least one of the checks, but other checks may each be attempted by any one character at the same location.

In RotR that only applied to villains, but not it seems we've got it applying to boons!

Yeah, I made several mistakes because I was not ready to read the THEN. I had gotten some boons treating as an OR because I wasn't aware these existed.

So I think by now most of you have, at some point or another, read about my dislike for armors. I think they're next to worthless, no matter what the character. The trait on many magic armors that allows you to recharge it when you reset your hand isn't even enough for me, as, if you plan to not use it, there's still a turn between drawing it and recharging it in which it does nothing, and I still nearly always get rid of it anyway, making my deck worse for having it there (if I never use it all it does is slow down the turns in which I draw it).

There are a couple exceptions, for instance I think the Snakeskin Tunic is well designed as you can use it for a bonus when you don't need it as armor. Of course, since you can't discard it to prevent damage when you use it for the buff it's basically a glorified belt/headband...

But I digress. The reason I made this thread was to just chat about how to improve armor so that it still helps the game and does what it's supposed to but that even people like me will like it. This will probably accomplish nothing, but I thought it would be an amusing exercise. I had an idea myself and thought I'd share it and get people's opinions on it, so I'll start off the conversation.

---

My idea:

The crux of the matter, to me, is that, rather than hold onto armor until you take damage, many players would rather have another card in their hand that does something else. While they're waiting on the damage the armor will prevent, it's not doing anything where another card might be doing something helpful. This is further exhasperated by the fact that, the better built and stronger your character is, the less often you need to play your armor.

But what if there wasn't a choice between armor or the other card? My thought is that, if armor didn't count towards your hand size, it wouldn't take the place of other cards; having armor in your hand would be like a bonus card, rather than a card you have in place of something else.

So, what if every (or at least...

Armors for the most part only come into play when you take damage. The way we take damage most often is that we fail a combat check and have to reduce that damage with armor. Since there is already this relationship between combat and damage, why not take that one step further?

What if you can display or recharge an armor to add 1 to your combat check? This way you always have a choice to remove it from play (display, recharge) and gain a combat bonus, or hold onto it in case you take damage. Maybe it always has more damage reduction than it provides as a combat bonus, providing another trade-off.

Flavor-wise combat does not mean attack, but the overall battle. Armor helps in battle, hence it can provide a small benefit to combat.

Any movement on this? I play Damiel and have been recharging his spells, even Speed, so whether I've been doing it wrong or not will affect me.

Let's not forget that many later armors (at least in Rise of the Runelords) let you recharge them when you reset your hand. So maybe in the early game they aren't so useful, but they are more versatile late game.

In my very first play of Skull and Shackles we had the following situation occur:

Someone encountered Lookout Duty.
That person failed the check.
That person ends their turn.
On the next turn a crocodile was encountered at another location.
A check to defeat the crocodile ended in failure.
The crocodile randomly picked the location with the Lookout Duty task.

I wasn't sure what to do, so I set Lookout Duty aside. Shuffled Crocodile into the remaining location deck, set it back down and put Lookout Duty back face-up on that location.

Is that what could happen here? I don't know if the rules address this, but I didn't see it.

Oloch appears to start out very slow. He's not going to shine until you have several power feats.

Try playing a scenario where he has three power feats already - one in hand size, one to reveal for +2, and one to put his revealed cards back in hand at the start of his turn. Then play. I haven't done this yet, but he looks solid, even powerful once he's hit this point... He can give out +2's to other people all day and then still have a full hand on his turn.

If I play him, I'll probably dump most of my power feats into hand size...

Great thinking. Yeah, the first thing I thought was that he needed more cards in hand to make him work better, but at the same time bumping to +2 or getting the displayed cards back at the start of his turn might just be as powerful. Once you have all three....I can see him being pretty powerful. I knew if I stuck with him I would be rewarded, but the early game with him is rough.

While in a 4-player game he could be really strong, I would not recommend him at all for solo-play as he has almost no tools to help himself in the early game. Maybe after he picks a role, but before that....nothing except turning armor and blessings into heals.

Boy, is it just me or is this game much harder than Rise of the Runelords? I've only beaten the first two scenarios with my wife (each of us playing two characters - Jirelle, Feiya, Oloch, and Damiel). The first scenario took us 3 attempts to beat. The second scenario we beat on the first try, but only with a single turn left.

I don't mean hard like our characters were close to death, they weren't, but it feels much harder to *win* each scenario. If that is the case, and the difficulty in that regard was beefed up, I applaud the designers. It will make beating a scenario that much more rewarding.

What is the deal with Oloch?

He has no allies and yet all of his powers are designed to benefit others (Yes, I know he can heal himself).

He has the healing power that Kyra had and another power that is very situational and cannot benefit himself. I found this second power to be a challenge to find the right situation for. At first it was just when I had 2+ weapons, which seems like a good power to have when loaded with weapons. I find that it isn't worth it to pocket a blessing, though. The very best use of the power I have found is if someone is fighting the villain and that someone is not me. He can then use extra blessings and all of his weapons to help that final battle. But, beyond those situations, I don't find Oloch all that fun to play.

Kyra had a similar limitation. She had the healing power, and a very situational undead combat bonus. Is the healing power just that good? I find it to be situational as well, so the characters are shackled to two situational powers.

I play two characters and the other I play is Damiel and boy is he fun to play. He can do all sorts of crazy things for himself and for others. In comparison I just feel something is missing from Oloch. Either that or the power level attached to the healing power is overblown? I don't know, but I am trying to squeeze every once of fun out of him like squeezing blood from a stone.

Btw why is this tagged with paizocon :/?

So, were we ever going to get detailed advanced information about the class deck characters their stats and abilities? Not been happy about the ambiguity and silence on the matter. I can't be expected to choose between 28 different characters at the start of the game.

What happens to those people that signed up for 4 events at Gen Con. They were supposed to get a free pack. Is that out the window?

It was answered in the OP.

We promised a free Class Deck to any player who purchased 4 or more Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild events, and we will make those available for pickup in the PFSACG room as soon as they arrive. (And if the official decks arrive too late for someone to pick up, we will take that person's name and address and ship the chosen Class Deck as soon as copies arrive in our warehouse.).

OK, so I am signed up for a session on Friday morning with just me and my wife. There wasn't 4 tickets available. How will we be able to play? It says some things will be provided, but how am I going to be able to choose from the 28 available characters before then? For those of us who were not lucky enough to get the 4 slot minimum, how will it work for us?

Are we getting proxy cards to use? I had planned on getting all the class decks, pouring over all the options with my wife on Thursday night and making a choice for each of our character by Friday morning. Are you going to release all of that information before the show so that I can make an informed choice of character?

That Cleric is awesome looking. And the card isn't bad either. Probably going to pick that up first for me.

Yeah, I too am leaning towards the cleric deck.

shaman confirmed

So then we have:

Returning characters:
Kyra the Cleric
Seelah the Paladin

From Advanced Player's Guide:
Alain the Cavalier
Balazar the Summoner

From Advanced Class Guide:
Shardra the Shaman
Zadim the Slayer
Enora the Arcanist
Crowe the Bloodrager

Leaving 3 slots open (assuming the normal mix of characters).

My feeling is that 2 more will be returning characters. My money is on Sajan the Monk being one of those to return. Ezren the Wizard, Seoni the Sorcerer, Amiri the Barbarian and Harsk the Ranger have also not appeared as returning characters, but most of them should be updated by the time we reach this release because of the class decks. I don't think the second returning class will be any of them, but instead be one of the four returning classes from Skull and Shackles, making it the first and only character that has appeared in all 3 base sets.....or we will see one of the new classes in Skull and Shackles return like Oloch the Warpriest or Alahazra the Oracle.

The last slot I think would go to the last remaining unmade class from the Advanced Player's Guide - Imrijka the Inquistor.

For the visually-inclined (like me) and because I am bored, here are the starting mix of card types for each character. For each returning character I also made note of any changes from the original:
_
_
_

Alahazra the Oracle
- Weapon
5 Spell
- Armor
2 Item
3 Ally
5 Blessing
Favored Card Type: Blessing

Jirelle the Swashbuckler
4 Weapon
- Spell
1 Armor
2 Item
3 Ally
5 Blessing
Favored Card Type: Weapon (my guess)

Lem the Bard
2 Weapon (+1 Weapon)
3 Spell (-1 Spell)
- Armor
2 Item
4 Ally (+1 Ally)
4 Blessing (-1 Blessing)
Favored Card Type: Your Choice

Lirianne the Gunslinger
4 Weapon
- Spell
2 Armor
2 Item
3 Ally
4 Blessing
Favored Card Type: Weapon (my guess)

Merisiel the Rogue
3 Weapon (+1 Weapon)
- Spell
1 Armor
5 Item (-1 Item)
2 Ally
4 Blessing
Favored Card Type: Item (my guess)

Seltyiel the Magus
4 Weapon
4 Spell
1 Armor
1 Item
1 Ally
4 Blessing
Favored Card Type: Weapon or Spell (my guess)

Valeros the Fighter
5 Weapon
- Spell
2 Armor (-1 Armor)
2 Item
3 Ally (+1 Ally)
3 Blessing
Favored Card Type: Weapon (my guess)

Damiel the Alchemist
1 Weapon
2 Spell
1 Armor
6 Item
1 Ally
4 Blessing
Favored Card Type: Item (my guess)

Feiya the Witch
- Weapon
6 Spell
- Armor
2 Item
3 Ally
4 Blessing
Favored Card Type: Spell (my guess)

Lini the Druid
1 Weapon (+1 Weapon)
4 Spell (-2 Spell)
1 Armor (+1 Armor)
1 Item (-1 Item)
4 Ally (+1 Ally)
4 Blessing
Favored Card Type: Ally (my guess)

Oloch the Warpriest
4 Weapon
2 Spell
3 Armor
1 Item
- Ally
5 Blessing
Favored Card Type: Armor (my guess)

My analysis:

Last time we had only 1 character that could use all card types: Kyra the Cleric. This time we have Lini the Druid, Damiel the Alchemist, and Seltyiel the Magus. We also have the first character that can have no allies in Oloch the Warpriest, previously we had Seelah who had no items and Ezren who had no blessings and of course Sajan who had no spells, weapons, or armor. We have two strict (no weapons/armor) magic users in Alahazra the Oracle and Feiya the Witch, where previously it was just Seoni the Sorcerer and Lini the Druid.

Ahem....Jirelle is not in the character add-on deck. I understand you are putting up mock-ups, but a site like coolstuffinc has the actual pictures of the actual product. Wouldn't you guys have access to these images too? Why not use them instead?

http://a4.res.cloudinary.com/csicdn/image/upload/v1/Images/Products/Misc%20 Art/UltraPro/full/UPR84377.jpg

Casey Weston wrote:

You forgot about Deathbane Shield which can confer the Magic trait to any combat, weapon or otherwise.

Ah yes, I did. And there might be a few others. But still, Magic Weapon being Basic, giving you 1d4 and the Magic trait is awesome. That means that bringing along an Arcane caster has a huge benefit for "Spectre" like monsters. In RotR Kyra is the only one that, out of the box, can defeat a Spectre without using a spell to determine the skill (or not playing a weapon and using Amulet of Mighty Fists) . Now there will be a way to an Arcane caster to help anyone do it.

Yes, I agree it is awesome. On the other hand, with the pirate and ship theme, I fear we will be fighting a lot more spirits and ghosts that will require this sort of thing.

First World Bard wrote:

Casey Weston wrote:

Hawkmoon269 wrote:

Check out spell Magic Weapon on page 24 of the rulebook. Now there is a way to get the Magic trait to some combat checks. Pretty cool. And it is in some suggested deck lists so it must be basic as well.

I was under the impression Rise of the Runelords had several ways to give combat checks the Magic trait, apart from Magic weapons.

Sure. But I believe it was very rare to add the Magic trait to a check using a non-magical weapon; which is what I believe Hawkmoon is referring to. Off the top of my head, Kyra could do it against undead, and I think there may have been a late-deck ally that did that. The Magic Weapon spell is basic, though.

Other than Kyra, Seelah, Elven Archer, and technically Amulet of Mighty/Fiery Fists*, I don't think there were any other ways to add the Magic trait to the check other than the card you played to determine which skill you were using.

Fiery Weapon, for comparison with Magic Weapon, adds the Fire trait, but not the Magic trait.

*In practice, I think most people treat the Amulet of Mighty/Fiery Fists as as card that determines the skill, even though it doesn't. But obviously it can't give the Magic trait to a combat check when a weapon determines the skill.

You forgot about Deathbane Shield which can confer the Magic trait to any combat, weapon or otherwise.

Check out spell Magic Weapon on page 24 of the rulebook. Now there is a way to get the Magic trait to some combat checks. Pretty cool. And it is in some suggested deck lists so it must be basic as well.

I was under the impression Rise of the Runelords had several ways to give combat checks the Magic trait, apart from Magic weapons.

I also see that the Bard now has 2 weapons instead of 1 and the Druid begins with 1 weapon and 1 armor instead of none. Good upgrades I think.

I am totally going to play Oloch, though it will be different playing without any allies at all. I go from the Druid who revolved around allies to Oloch who has none.

The Alchemist will be an interesting option for the item-based character. Should be interesting to see the differences between him and the Rogue.

So, wait....loot is a card type now? That is confusing...

It used to be that Loot cards would be any of the various types, including special. So now we have a Support card that is of type Loot. How does that work?

So, no more Loot cards?

The way I do these calculations is:

Add up the passive bonuses (the +1s, etc.)
Add up the result on the die
Subtract based on the number of die rolled.

In the given example if we assume the passive bonuses are 0, we add up the die (4+4+1) = 9.

Then we subtract the penalty which in this case is 3 times the number of dice, which is 3 (3x3 = 9).

So 9-9 = 0. If the result would be negative, we simply stop at 0 (no reason to go into the negatives).

Is that an accurate way to do the calculation?

My wife and I have been playing a Druid/Rogue combo and we are 3 scenarios from the end of the game. We have come close to dying only a handful of times. We have completed almost every scenario the first time through, though a few on the very last turn. A few scenarios we had to play over because we ran out of time, only one in my memory that we have to play 3 times to beat it.

This is my second playthrough. My first was Barbarian/Ranger. We also had the exact same situation - beat most first time, a few we didn't, 1 or 2 that took 3 times to beat. Came close to dying a couple times.

Maybe with 1 player it is harder, but 2-player seems to have that same difficulty to it. It feels consistent.

To give you a personal anecdote, I was playing Deck 6, Scenario 2 last night with my wife and we were just getting man-handled. I got on the bad end of a bunch of damage I couldn't reduce. I had 2 cure spells (Mass and regular) in my discard pile, along with 2/3rds of my deck. My toad was also in my discard pile. I was racing toward oblivion and I was hoping my last cure spell was not at the bottom of my deck...

Then I drew my Emerald Codex. I played it and got....Scrying, Aid, and Restoration....absolutely no cure spells. I was freaking out, but at the end of my turn with a full hand, I played Restoration and snagged my final cure spell. I played it and got to heal.....2 cards. I shuffled my discard and my wife chose 2 cards. Neither of them was a cure, but one of them was the toad. I shuffled my deck and recharged my cure.

Later I found my toad, buried him to get the second cure spell back from the discard, which allowed me to heal more cards and shuffle the deck and get access to the first cure spell.

By the end of the scenario I had 2 buried cards (Emerald Codex and Toad) and zero, yes, zero cards in my discard pile. This is why I have the toad and 3 cure spells in my deck. The Druid just has so many different options. Every hand I can do something - a str-based combat if I have a weapon or a Blessing of Gorum (or Ordikon's Staff and a spell) or I can do a divine attack with Inflict and a Blessing of Pharasma. In the meantime I am just accumulating almost every boon I come across, healing it into my deck and it just becomes a mountain of options and invincibility.

Any str-based weapons I acquire I can freely nuke (my term of discarding them for full-power) for their full effect, since I will heal it back into the deck easily for future use or discard it for d10 str/dex. Any armors I snag I can freely banish when the big damage comes as I can't keep them in my deck anyway. The class is a license to go all out reckless, sure you will often get your face smashed in, but nothing that cannot be corrected.

Another cool feature of the Druid are those locations where you need to banish a card to close them. Easy enough, just find a boon 9/10 you will acquire it. Keep it around, and when you close, dump it. One of the best classes to do that and the other players will love you for it.

I am just about finished playing a Druid all the way through the game and I have to say that my wife who is playing the Rogue is really jealous. I took Lini the way of the Shapeshifter and she is a pretty nasty customer in combat. The thing that makes her awesome is she can pass almost any check to acquire anything.

The thing about early combat with Lini is that you want to go grab some weapons and use them in the scenario. Yes, she won't be able to keep them or the armor you acquire either, but you can use all that stuff throughout the scenario and it matters a lot. My nickname for Lini is the Junk Mage. She just accumulates junk and converts it into Str/Dex dice to beat stuff up.

In terms of spell selection, I have had the same spells almost through the entire game, crazy I know - 3 Cures, 2 Inflicts and an Augury. I've had that mix almost the entire game. I only added Summon Monster late.

In terms of power feats you want to get +1 to your ally dice ASAP. They help EVERYTHING. Sometimes if the monster is low, I just do d4 Str and can still beat it up. Skill feats I have at the moments are +2 Str and +3 Wis. Just enough so that I can recharge every spell automatically as long as I have an animal in my hand. That's another thing, I have 5 allies, all animals, and they all do awesome stuff.

The way you want to play is cure yourself constantly as long as you have 3+ cards in your deck and just keep recharging the cures, which will keep your deck churning and you will be able to use your blessings more frequently. If you ever get 2 animals in your deck at one time turn it into an extra explore if you can.

In terms of card feats, I took 1 weapon and got weapon proficiency power feat. That way for the big bad I'll have a weapon if I need it. With all the churn in your deck you'll have no problem getting it by the end of the scenario. Instead of armor, went with a Sihedron Medallion. With 3 cures, I can afford to take some damage sometime. The last game, was really rough, but that third cure, and a toad, were essential to survival and eventual success.

To give you an idea how my combat's go. I start with +2 to my str, discard a card to get a d10 +2 (I took the power feat there too), then show an animal for d4 + 3, then show my club (Mokmurian's club) for another d10 + 2. That gives me a +9, then I also focused on Blessing of Gorum so I can get two addition d10s when I need them. The Club also allows me to discard another card for another d10.....and that is just what I can do personally, before I get any d4s or blessings from my wife.

I have 3 scenarios to go before I beat the game, here are the cards I have at that time:

1 weapon - Mokmurian's Club (weapon and mini-heal)
7 spells - Mass Cure, Cure, Cure, Inflict, Inflict, Augury, Summon Monster
0 armor
3 items - Sihedron Medallion (recharging source of dmg reduction), Emerald Codex (extra cures), Ordikon's Staff (villain nuker)
5 allies - Saber-toothed Tiger (extra combat oomph), Toad (grab cures in my discard pile), Giant Badger (Move instantly), Monkey (acquire things), Cat (recharger) - also every one of them can free explore.
5 blessings - 3 Blessing of Gorum, 2 Blessing of Pharasma

Lini is an extremely versatile character, but takes some finesse to play well. In the first half of the game, I was support, but in some situations I could down the villain. In the second half of the game, I've become a force of nature.

Hey Casey. I am going to attempt to answer these based off what I learned to run the demos at Paizocon Hopefully I don't get anything too wrong....

2. The person who is taking his/her turn is piloting the ship. Anyone at that location is also on the ship. Anyone not at that location is anchored (hopefully I got that word right, I was calling it "land locked" -which was my own wording- all weekend.) On your turn, if you move, anyone else at your location may choose to move with you. Once your turn is over, the next person is now piloting the ship and so on.

Hopefully I didn't get these too wrong.

So let me get this straight...

Imagine there are 2 players and 4 locations, where both players begin at the same location. On the first player's turn they decide to move to another location and player 2 decides to stay. Now both players are on different locations. Player 1 ends their turn and now player 2 begins their turn......piloting the ship? That is ... weird.

So essentially the ships during movement only allow for extra movement on other players turns if you are in the same location an active player is when they move, you can move with them ... and that is it? Did I get that right?

*drools* I have been waiting ages to see more of this set. I thought looking at the Swashbuckler from the preview vids on youtube that each class would have a ship-related power. Maybe that is still the case with the role cards.

I have several thoughts about what was just revealed:

1. Is there only 1 ship per party?
2. If so, can you move between locations without a ship? If not, can a character get stranded at a location?
3. Are ships in the location decks? If they are, it makes things difficult with them being double-sided. If they are not, how else are they encountered?
4. Plunder. Is this in addition to normal exploration or is plunder the mechanism this set has for acquiring new items?
5. Ship combat. What is the rough percentage of ship combat vs. normal exploration?
6. Ship damage. It was not explained but does the amount of damage matter or is it simply any damage this time wrecks it and more damage later destroys it?

I gravitate towards divine characters. I am currently playing the Druid in RotR. That means for Organized Play Season 0 definitely the Cleric and possibly the Bard. I am wondering how many other divine characters there are hidden within the other decks. I would hate to get the Cleric and Bard Decks and find out there is a really cool divine character hidden within one of the other class decks. Is that possible?

Cover image and description updated to final!

Clicking the updated image leads to incorrect image.

Astral Frog wrote:

Is this a rough draft of the cover for the new AP?

This

Yes.

Things I love about it:
Seelah's total metalness.
Kyra with her hair down.
The big demon bashing through the wall to get at the heroes.
The look on the lower left demon's face knowing he's about to be eviscerated by Balazar's death chicken.

Sooo...

Bloodrager, Arcanist, Cleric, Paladin, and Summoner?

Is that Alain the Cavalier? That would totally be my pick to play.

Honestly, I am hoping that we will be able to hold the announcement until PaizoCon in July. I'm not yet sure if that's going to be possible, though.

It was indeed possible.

What is it about Valentine's Day that brings out the interest in horror? Usually we get horror movies at the cinema and now demon-based adventures for the ACG.

Casey Weston wrote:

I was hesitant to sign up for a Thursday morning (10 am) Guild session, because I feared that I would not be able to get a hold of a Class Deck before that time (I think the exhibition hall is open at 9 or 10 am). The events also said that materials would be provided, which seemed half-true (everything but your class deck, right?). So in that case, if the Class Decks are not available at time of play, how can the organized play go through?

Casey, I saw this and want to point something out to you - if you are not registered for 4 sessions, you may want to rethink your time slot. The exhibit hall opens at 10, and usually Paizo has a mega line, so you could be in line for quite a while. Depending on your dealer hall-fu you might be looking at anywhere from 20 minutes to a couple hours.

As pointed out, people who registered for 4+ sessions can pick up their free class deck early Thursday so they can play at 8 or 10 just fine. Everyone else basically will have to wait until noon so as to have a chance to buy the decks.

I guess people with early exhibit hall access could theoretically get in on 10 as well.

Ahh, yes. I forgot about the VIGs.

Anyway, don't worry I passed on Thursday morning for that very reason. I opted for Friday morning (the only 2 reasonable tickets left) and my mission on Thursday is to get the Class Decks I want for me and my wife, preferably all of them :). The only other available times were Sunday and that's pretty much a pack up and leave day.

Casey Weston wrote:

I apologize if this has been asked already, but I have two (complex) questions...

1. Presumably the Class Decks will be first available at GenCon. I was hesitant to sign up for a Thursday morning (10 am) Guild session, because I feared that I would not be able to get a hold of a Class Deck before that time (I think the exhibition hall is open at 9 or 10 am). The events also said that materials would be provided, which seemed half-true (everything but your class deck, right?). So in that case, if the Class Decks are not available at time of play, how can the organized play go through?

As Hawkmoon said, those who have 4+ tickets for the org play events will be able to pick up their free Class Deck in room 232 at game start. (I was quite concerned about this very issue -- when I started playing Living Greyhawk many Gen Cons ago, I ended up playing a full day of adventures before I could get a copy of the rulebook. Not ideal.)

As for the intricacies of the Paizo store, I am glad someone else has answered your question, for I am ignorant of its mysterious ways.

The problem was the remaining event times. One of them on Thursday at 10 am......with 3 tickets remaining....like you said, not ideal :).

To avoid confusion, when you say those who ordered 4+ tickets for the event get to pick up a free Class Deck, what you mean is that all 4+ players will each get a Class Deck of their choice?

Casey Weston wrote:

Hawkmoon269 wrote:

2. You can't reserve them like you can your subscription. But you can buy them at GenCon and still receive your subscriber discount.

Would it be possible to order them, add them to my sidecart for when I get my next shipment (which is GenCon) and have them shipped to GenCon for me to pick up like my subscription? That sounds doable in theory, right?

They won't reserve items to meet people's order, other than the subscriptions. It's due to limitations on the mount of stuff they are going to ship half the continent to Indianopolis. Although they'll have lots of class decks with them, they're unlikely to have that random, ten year old mini that you put in to your side cart. Defining where the line between those things is really hard, so it's easiest to define it on the subscription/non subscription line

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Paizo really needs to make a new designation of item between one-off and subscription. Something like not-subscription, but related or "Subscription optional". Because I think these decks are entirely relevant to the sub, but I can see where 7 $20 decks released at the same time is unacceptable in the sub-proper.

Now I have to rush and bee-line straight for the paizo booth rather than casually pick up my stuff when there isn't a mob.

2. You can't reserve them like you can your subscription. But you can buy them at GenCon and still receive your subscriber discount.

Would it be possible to order them, add them to my sidecart for when I get my next shipment (which is GenCon) and have them shipped to GenCon for me to pick up like my subscription? That sounds doable in theory, right?

I apologize if this has been asked already, but I have two (complex) questions...

1. Presumably the Class Decks will be first available at GenCon. I was hesitant to sign up for a Thursday morning (10 am) Guild session, because I feared that I would not be able to get a hold of a Class Deck before that time (I think the exhibition hall is open at 9 or 10 am). The events also said that materials would be provided, which seemed half-true (everything but your class deck, right?). So in that case, if the Class Decks are not available at time of play, how can the organized play go through?

2. If I was interested in these Class Decks and wanted to make sure I had a copy at GenCon (fearing a sell out of all or any), could I order them and then make sure they are sent to GenCon with the rest of my sub (S&S base set and S&S character add-on deck)? How would that work?

How rare is the "OH, NO! Goblins got into the System!" card?

I would like to see this line more closely aligned with the adventure paths. This may be happening already. I know that Town Square was released about the same time as Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition and there was synergy there. Also, there was a map pack with ships that aligned with Skull and Shackles.

Maybe I should clarify....I want all items in this line to be useful/used in the most current adventure path. Surely, they can be used for ANY adventure people want, that is always a given, but I want to feel like getting these maps are enhancing the Adventure Paths that are currently coming out much like the Pawn collections do.

We haven't had a Pawn product that wasn't attached to either an Pathfinder RPG book or Adventure Path. I would like to see the same thing done with the Maps subscription.

Im just curious is the heroes from the RotR set will be usable in this AP? I realize three of them overlap, which I assume means that at least the archetypes the heroes have to choose from will be different than the ones in RotR, but even more differences AND the ability to use the ones from RotR will help this one sell, I think.

Also, I think a new Base set for every AP will likely be a mistake in the long run, opposed to a generic base set and each AP having maybe like a 'deluxe expansion' for Ch1 that has a larger assortment of cards, and then the other 5 chapters being the regular packs.

I realize you dont always want a ton of overlap in the generic cards of the game, but what you end up doing is making is so you HAVE to buy the base to play anything else, and that alone will drive some people away. Just my 2cp though.

Edit: Basically, the idea boils down to the fact that since you are making each AP self contained and there is no NEED to buy more than what is contained in the one AP to play the one AP, you will lose customers who might buy additional stuff. Think of it like Dominion. You Can play with just one Core (or the other 2 to 3 that can be played straight from the box), but with most of them, you have to buy at least a Core to use it. While that compares just fine to Base Set plus Chapter packs, it doesnt translate well for people you want to go from one AP to another.

I totally disagree.

The problem with the base set + expansions++ philosophy is that each expansion sells less and less. I bet you the numbers for Dominion on the newer expansions are much less than earlier expansions. What Paizo and Lone Shark Games are doing here is very smart. You refresh the pool every 6 months. You don't have to urge your customer base to stick with it month after month. You get a new product to sell the whole idea every 6 months.

The same concept exists in a game like Magic: The Gathering. They release a base set of a major theme in the fall, then a couple expansions to it, but all the cards are able to be played together. If WoTC did not use that particular format, they would have not had the longevity they have had.

When she plays it for any check for anyone it will be a d12. So if she plays it to add 1 die to her dexterity check, she gets a 1d12. If she plays it to add 2 dice to Lem's combat strength check, he gets 2d12. Its awesome.

Oh......OH! Wow, that is pretty hardcore, actually. Thanks.

I am playing a Barbarian and I've gotten to the point where I have gained a Role card and am deciding on a power feat on the Role card. Reading, the last power, it states that the Barbarian can use d12s when using Blessing of Gorum. Blessing of Gorum gives a bonus die for Strength-based combat. Amiri's STR is d12 base die. She will get d12s anyway, correct? What am I missing here? Does that power only benefit others I play with, giving them a d12 on their strength-based combat checks?

Right at the end of Ross's post:

Ross Byers wrote:

(We'll also be offering a subscription pickup option for Gen Con Indy in August—look for details to be announced after PaizoCon!)

I must have missed it. THANK YOU!

Please tell me you guys are doing this for August and GenCon as well? PLEASE!?

Otherwise, I will have to have the USPS hold my mail or do some other pain in the butt thing so I don't have it laying on my door step for a week for anyone to swipe.

It's unofficial, but is rather permeable. Like very open. Just get in touch with the John Reyst, it's director.

I do sympathize though, that there are no Great Lists in the fashion that you, and to a limited extant, I would like. From a publishers angle though, such consolidation would be time-consuming and drive-down profits. With tabletop RPGs, we're just going to need to stick to lotsofbookkeeping! that's a hallmark of this type of hobby.

But the future yawns bright, and things like the MMO will alleviate a lot of this issue, in my opinion, since one game environment is easily to reference than 20 books.:)

I cannot share your enthusiasm for the MMO. I have played almost all of them and have always been left wanting. They can never replace the type of experience that the table top and a group of real life friends in the room provide.

I guess I am not fond of the d20pfsrd because it doesn't appear to either be official or open. I don't like all the ads all over the site, nor the references to other games I am not interested in. I would much prefer an official solution or one that would be more open.

Casey Weston wrote:

If somehow the PRD was organized by subject instead of by book, this would be the ideal.

It is. Check out the left sidebar under Index. It has all of the feats, spells, and magic items all in one spot. In the case of magic items and spells, it even lets you filter them very much like d20psrd's messy database.

That's nice, but I guess when they add new Race or Class options I still need to consolidate those.