IotaPrime's page

Since this game wasn't named "Pathfinder: Adventure Card Game: Legacy" I imagine there are few players who bought the game and are comfortable with "defacing" their Character cards when they earn feats. So those handy reference cards quickly become worthless and are replaced by Character Sheets which take up way more table space than needed while playing through scenarios (the Completed Scenarios and Deck List only help between scenarios). Sure, we could print out homemade proxies to mark up, but that would add a sub-par component to an otherwise good looking game.

I know the answer to "why weren't there several duplicates of the Character cards in the base game?" ($$$), but why isn't there a set of spare/duplicate Character cards available for purchase. I would think a "booster pack" of 2-3 copies of each Character card would make players feel a lot more comfortable marking directly on the actual cards (knowing they can keep the original Character cards in reserve and in pristine condition) and I would imagine they would sell well at a reasonable price point.

Anyhow, just throwing that idea out there in case it hasn't been voiced before. Heck, I would be happy to hear that such a product exists and pointed to where I could purchase a pack or two.

A situation came up on our last session that we house-ruled to keep the game moving, but I would like some clarity on it.

Merisiel (d12 Dexterity but no Ranged Skill) uses a Shortbow in combat.

Shortbow
Traits: Bow, Ranged, Piercing, 2-Handed, Basic
Powers: For your combat check, reveal this card to roll your Dexterity or Ranged die + 1d6.
Etc.

So, for the combat check, since Merisiel has no Ranged skill (so would use a d4), she opts to roll her Dexterity (d12). In my mind this makes it a "Dexterity combat check."

Merisiel also acquired an Archer ally:
Powers: Recharge this card to add 1d4 to your Ranged combat check.
Etc.

Am I right in thinking that since Merisiel chose to roll her Dexterity die instead of her Ranged die for the combat check, that she cannot use the Archer's power (i.e. it is not a "Ranged combat check" unless the die for the Ranged skill is used)?

Or, because the Shortbow adds the Ranged trait to the attack regardless of which die is rolled, does it qualify since it's combat check with the Ranged trait?

Thematically it makes sense that regardless of what die is rolled, a ranged attack is something an Archer could help you with. I could even see an Archer helping a spellcaster who casts a spell with the Ranged trait (I'm not sure if that exists in this game, so this is just a hypothetical example). But, I know that what "makes sense" doesn't necessarily jive with the game mechanics, so I'm looking for a little guidance here.

I bought the Character Add-On Deck for more character options rather than playing with 5 or 6 players. Page 2 of the rulebook says:

If you own the Character Add-On Deck, go ahead and combine that set with the cards in the base set...

Most of the time I will be playing the game with two or maybe three players. I have some concerns about the impact of adding the Character Add-On Deck cards to the Base Set cards.

It will thin out the Adventure Deck cards. If you increase the "B" and "C" cards available in the box, you will be less likely to see the numbered cards from the Adventure Decks, so you will be less likely to face the tougher banes and less likely to find the better boons.

The downside to this is missing out on Character Add-On Deck-specific cards (ones that don't have copies in the Base Set). (Honestly I don't have the game in front of me right now, so I'm not sure if there actually are any unique cards in the Character Add-On Deck, but I wanted to bring this up in case there was.) I suppose you could swap out some duplicate boons/banes for their new counterparts in the Character Add-On Deck on a one-to-one basis if you wanted to keep your ratios the same as in the Base Set.

What are your thoughts on playing with/without the Character Add-On Deck cards when playing with small groups?

First off, is there a proper name for "sub-skills" like MELEE: STRENGTH +3" as opposed to STRENGTH?

Looking at Valeros' Skills and the Skill Feats he could select, am I right in thinking that taking the STRENGTH +1 Feat will "stack" with MELEE: STRENGTH +3 for a total of 1d10 +4 for a Combat Check, or do I ignore any STRENGTH bonuses less than the "sub-skill" bonus in combat (i.e. a STRENGTH bonus less than +4 would only help out on non-Melee Combat STRENGTH Checks)?

Bonus question: If a Power/Spell/etc. lets you roll a different base die for a check (e.g. Lini's third Power), do you still get the +# bonuses from Skill Feats, or are those ignored due to the "upgrade" in the base die?

I'm planning on introducing this game to my wife, but I have only played a few scenarios myself. I'm looking for suggestions on which two characters might work well together throughout the adventure path. I recognize that just about any combo *could* succeed, and that we could always play more than one PC each, but I don't want to overwhelm her with choices or set us up for a more difficult (or complicated) first play-through than needs be.

Any advice would be most appreciated. :)

I picked up a copy of this game at Origins and I have two questions about it as I start to delve in deeper.

1. How many Feats will be available to my character if I go through the whole Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path? There are a ton of check boxes on the character and role cards and I want to get a sense of how many of those I will be able to tick off as I "level up" my character throughout the series.

2. Do Villain fights become more complex as the series progresses? From what I have read, it seems that the general structure of all 30 scenarios is the same (find, corner, and defeat the Villain), but does the actual final fight get any more complex than just beat a number only marginally higher than the difficulty of other Banes in the scenario? (I don't want spoilers with specifics, but just a sense if the Villain fights become more interesting as the difficulty ramps up.)