JaedenRuiner's page

So,

I was looking for the rules regarding adding new cards to my existing character after they'd acquired their Role card, and suddenly I've found some rather confusing other rules that seem to suggest there is a difference between Banish and Return to Box.

From the rule book it seemed to indicate:

• Discard: Put in Character Discard pile.
  
• Bury: Place under your Character Card and it is unusable for the rest of the Scenario. Can be reclaimed and kept in Character Deck for next Scenario.
  
• Banish: Gone from the Scenario and put back in the box. But can be reacquired or encountered again in subsequent Scenarios and Adventures.
  

But now i'm getting this real confusing search overload that suggests Banish could mean "completely gone for good". Like some searches indicate that after Adventure 3 all cards with the "Basic" trait are banished. And after Adventure 4(5?) all cards with the "Elite" trait are Banished.
I mean, I wouldn't mind it if I didn't have to shuffle in cards that are so weak as to be generally useless. Many monsters and barriers become pointless after a while with skill feats and powers, to the point where some encounters become "automatics".

Example:
Traitor:Combat: 11 = 11
Harsk
Dexterity Skill Feat + 3
Ranged: Dexterity + 3
Belt of Dexterity (Dexterity +1)
Snakeskin Tunic (Dexterity +1)
Shock Longbow (1d8 +1)

That is a starting default of
Ranged: 3 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 9
You add 1d8 for the Bow, and 1d10 for Dexterity, and you have a guaranteed 11 every time. That means, any combat challenge of 11 or less, and I don't even have to roll. It's fun to see the power of a character as they grow, but sometimes this gets a little boring. Even facing the Villains it can be a bit simple at times. Just beat Galenmir, and maybe call me a min-maxer, but the rules are quite clear about card usage. "Only one card of a given type can be played by a character at a time for a single check." And it seems if you plan ahead the Villain can be quite anti-climactic sometimes.
Kyra Encounters Galenmir, Seoni at same location, Harsk at Different location.
Kyra: 1 Weapon, 1 Item, 1 Spell
Strength: Skill Feat + 3
Melee: Strength + 2,
Longsword +2 (1d8, discard +1d6)
Belt of Strength + 1
Spell Strength + 3
Harsk: 1 Ally, 1 Blessing, Item for Harsk's Power, 1 Weapon
Shock Longbow (1d4)
Jakardros Sovark(2d4)
Blessing of Erastil
Recarge Card (1d4+2 Power Feat)
Seoni: 1 Item, 1 Spell, 1 Blessing
Wand of Enervation (1d4 +4)
Swipe (Reduce dificulty of a Combat check by 3)
Blessing of Lamashtu

Rolled 2 on Enervation, so that's +6, Swipe + 3, Harsk's ability +2, Strength Spell +3, Belt +1, Longsword + 2, Melee + 5 (Skill and Skill Feats)
6 + 3 + 2 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 5 = 22
Rolling: Jarkardros 2d4, Harsk 2d4, Longsword 1d8 + 1d6, Melee 1d10, Erastil 1d10, Lamashtu 2d10
thats 4d10,1d8,1d6,4d4 or 10 dice + 22: Minimum 32, Galenmir is a target 23.

Of course I often save up for these moments to leave no doubt. I'm not one to burn through the deck quickly, for if I can avoid damage, or otherwise preview what's next to plan my attacks, it typically behooves me to keep cards in hand for such situations. I mean at least some villains, henchmen, or monsters have multiple challenges, so you have to balance out your max blast at the end, where you've reduced the target to X and you're rolling X - 2 dice. It's at least possible to lose then albeit statistically unlikely. There is no rule as I've seen to mimic the Whitewolf "Botch" rule, where if there are more 1s present than successes, you royally failed - tripped and stabbed yourself (hehehe). But, since 1s don't hurt, you can see the math adding up pretty easily, that # of dice + bonuses >= to target: no roll is necessary.

Not to mention, most weapons, armors, items and spells I acquire during exploration generally hit the discard pile at reset, because my characters are so powerful already. Maybe I've gotten lucky, but I do seem to find the newer boons as I go along, so the Magic Spyglass replaces the normal Spyglass, and so on. Ya'll get it on that tactic. So, I gather that Banishing is supposed to hurt, but if you can manipulate your fate correctly when a location that has a "banish item" or "banish blessing", usually there are such things that can be acquired during the exploration to resolve that issue. I get a potion of fortitude, and that b#&$~ is gone so I can close Turtleback Ferry, rather than sacrifice something good. Same goes for Shrine to Lamashtu, I'm dropping that Blessing of the Gods I found along the way, instead of wasting my Blessing of Gorum. I move characters frequently, take advantage of "peeking" abilities, and play with complementary characters. Harsk, Kyra, & Seoni. Valeros, Ezren, and Merisiel. Seelah, Sajan, & Amiri. 1 Tank, 1 Acrobat, and 1 Support. So I guess the OP nature can be felt to a degree after a certain amonut of leveling up (so to speak), which is why it would suggest the possibility that this Banish rule might mean something else than just put it back in the box for this Scenario.

If "Basics" and "Elites" were no longer viable "selections" when building locations, etcetera, I would not complain, might even adopt that rule regardless. Last two scenarios I already removed all basic monsters on a whim because i wanted a challenge. (And damn that Troll gave me a run for my money).

However, in a different scenario, it would appear that to interpret this idea of "Banishing = Gone forever" might defeat the purpose of a card.
Example:

...reveal this card and put it on top of your deck to examine the top card of your location deck...After you play this card, roll 1d12; on a 1, summon and encounter the villain The Sandpoint Devil

After the encounter, banish The Sandpoint Devil

If Banish means "gone for the ever" that seems to indicate that upon rolling a 1 you encounter him, defeat him, and from then on Ilsoari Gandethus has no downside.

I've been playing that "Banish" and "Return to Box" were one in the same. If something was Banished, it went back to the box, but if i roll a 1 on Ilsoari Gandethus 3 times, I face that Sandpoint Devil 3 times. Even if it is in the same Scenario. If I'm at the Woods and fail to defeat a Plague Zombie, I reduce the damage with an armor, but according to the Woods Location:

Undefeated monsters other than villains or henchmen are banished

So instead of being shuffled back into the location deck, it goes back to the box. But next scenario, when I build a location, that Plague Zombie can come back again.

This has been rather confusing to suddenly see info that suggests I may have been playing wrong. Albeit, I do play on rare occasions with friends who advance as well, but typically I find the game an exceedingly enjoyable form of solitaire while watching movies or tv shows.

Either way, would like to find a clarification on the Banish rules, as such to make sure I adhere to the base rules as best as possible. I'm not one to be a rules-lawyer and have often made my own house rules for many games, but it helps to know the original ones first. :)

Thanks
Jaeden "Sifo Dyas" al'Raec Ruiner

So,
I thought I read it somewhere, but of course now I can't find out where I saw it (if indeed I had).

When building your original deck you can build your character from cards marked with the "Basic" trait. That part is simple.

But now, you progress through the game and earn many "Skill", "Power" and "Card" feats. It's that last one that matters here.

If I gain a card feat and say I'm Kyra who only has 1 Ally and 1 Item, so I decide to expand it to 2. However, there are no "decent" items in our loot from the current scenario, so I would have to pick an item with the "Basic" trait. Naturally.

My curiosity revolves having possibly read something about being able to ignore that rule once having completed scenario 3 and having selected a Role card. I thought I saw somewhere that after this point new cards added to build up to your deck list could be drawn from "Elite" cards as well as "Basic", but now I can't seem to find anything regarding this.

Please clarify this.
Thanks
Jaeden "Sifo Dyas" al'Raec Ruiner

Awesome.
Thanks for the clarification.

So,
Playing a round with some of my chars, and several curiosities occurred to me regarding the nature of the Spell cards.

First:
On spell cards depending on arcane, divine or both, it says if you don't have the skill banish it.

Interpretation:
This ruling is listed in the "Powers" section so that would appear to mean that if I "use" the card to activate it's powers, only then does it get banished if I don't have the skill. So, even if someone like Seoni or Ezren acquires a Divine spell like "holy light" I can simply discard it (or as per Seoni use it for her blast cannon) and it is simply discarded, so at the end of the game I can trade it with Kyra or another character that has the Divine skill. Is this the correct interpretation?

Second:
Ezren's special ability indicates "if you acquire a card with the magic train during an Exploration".

Encounter: Mystic Inscription
Resolution: Defeated, Add 1d4 random spells from the box to your hand.

Interpretation:
I did "acquire" several cards with the "magic" trait, so does that activate his power? Or is it only when the "explored" card has the magic trait and I acquire it via the check?

Thanks
Jaeden "Sifo Dyas" al'Raec Ruiner

so, reading the Temple location card it very clearly states:

Any player at another location may evade an encounter and move here, discarding 2 cards instead of the normal 1

this suggests the ability (other than Merisiel's native powers) to "move to evade" any encounter by discarding a card. However, I have seen no such ruling in the book. What rule/ability does this text refer to on the Temple location card, specifically the reference to the "instead of the normal 1"?

As i first played this at a relatives house i very much enjoyed it and so proceeded to buy the base set, and adventure decks 2 & 3 and character expansion as well.
as per simplification, i have shuffled all the card types together and placed in the base set box according to the manual map. i just played with two new characters the initial adventure/scenario, during which (it cost me at the time) i encountered a very powerful monster from the 3rd adventure deck.
i was curious if there was some form of stated or inferred rule, for say playing a B scenario, or Adventure 1,2,3 etc scenario, where the location decks should/should not be built with advanced cards from later adventures?
after brigandoom!, i made my own house rule that no card could be greater than +/- 1 from the scenario: e.g. scenario from B could have B and 1, scenario from 1 could have B, 1, & 2. 2 could have 1,2 & 3 etc. this would seem to balance challenge and ease better, so a newbie character is not facing a monster with a 16 check, nor would i have access to super powerful items/weapons etc, while characters making it to adventure 3 would not find it super easy by fighting monsters from the base set. However, i was wondering if there is already an existing rule regarding this situation.
thanks,
Jaeden "Sifo Dyas" al'Raec Ruiner