Rita's hand size feats on her Runaway Bride role go directly from [ ]7 to []9, skipping 8. Is this a typo?
Search Posts
I saw this the other day and was surprised, since every other card (I've seen) that draws 2 cards does this. Like the Mastiff, shouldn't the Imp follow Restoration's example and display until the end of turn to draw 2 cards? At least one character* in the game can recharge Imps instead of discarding them, creating potential infinites. *Reta (Runaway Bride)
Alahazra (Wandering Prophet) has a power that lets you draw a card whenever you examine a character or location deck. Given the high number of cards that recharge to allow a peek at a deck and cards like the detect spells, this allows for easy cycling through Alahazra's deck multiple times in one turn to remove all of x card type from a location deck. Take, for instance, the following Alahazra deck:
The cards marked with an asterisk all recharge and allow you to examine a location deck. Most are basic. With this deck, once you can auto recharge Augury (divine 8, and you could use a cat or mythic path or something), then playing any asterisk card immediately replaces itself. Potentially, and without undo difficulty, you're deck consists of nothing but asterisk cards and blessings. You then have to play out all your non examine cards, which you will draw a full hand of immediately by playing examine cards, at once you're clear of the cards that don't examine you can infinitely loop through your deck. As you do, Detect Magic and Clockwork Butterfly allow you to encounter all Blessings, Allies, and magic trait boons at your location, and Detect Demon lets you encounter demons, if you want. Augury provides any shuffling needed. As to those who think this setup is unlikely, remember that most of the cards are basic, and a lot of them are even in the Oracle Class Deck. Furthermore, Alahazra's ability to examine extra cards encourages building this exact type of deck. I'm seeing the Radillo problem here, although slightly less powerful because you can't throw in a Teleport. I don't have any pretty solutions yet, though. Thoughts?
Zibini has a power on her The Great role that lets you shuffle a revealed card into another deck of the same type. My question: what qualifies as a deck? I'm specifically concerned with the interaction between her and closed/empty locations. Can she "shuffle" the card into:
(The third option seems pretty clear that she can, but if she can't do the other 2 then she gets a weird power boost during scenarios with locations like the General Store so I wanted to ask)
Is anyone else enthralled by this card? I initially took it as a novelty, but quickly fell in love with it. It's especially great in a two player game, as you and your friend can just hand it back and forth between each other, and you don't have to worry about the random part. And it's just perfect for WotR, since there are all those auto-damaging cards and it's basic so you can pick it up right away. I also use it like the old Merchant card, which I always liked the idea of but for which I couldn't justify the cost. And not only do I get to hand over cards to my friend, but I get to prevent a damage and don't have to recharge to do so. Although this works much better in a two player game. I don't explore often with it, but I can do that in a pinch, too. Maybe someone else who would really like this card was overlooking it, so I thought I'd share.
Happy April Fools Day, everyone! I hope that this is the worst you have to endure today.
I got asked a question here and wasn't entirely sure on the answer, so I thought I'd ask. When Closing: Choose an open location deck. Shuffle a boon from your hand in to that deck. Does the Harbor count for this? Can I shuffle a card into the harbor to close the harbor? Arguably it's open until the very last second, immediately after shuffling the selected deck. So if you have a low AP boon, the text effectively becomes "Banish a boon from your hand, or choose another open location deck. Shuffle a boon from your hand in to that deck." If this is a no go, then the wording doesn't hold up too well when the Harbor is the last open location, and you defeat a henchman before running into the villain. Expecting that you can shuffle into the Harbor, that's how I ruled, but double-checking.
Impossible Bottle separates this into two different sentences - it doesn't say "display this card to reduce..." Is the intent that you have to display this card early, and already have it displayed by the time your ship takes damage, or can you wait until the ship takes damage, then display to reduce said damage?
I thought it would be a good idea to give this its own thread, as this topic is juicy enough to warrant it. The question is how far do things go in terms of needing a players permission to do something potentially negative to them. As Vic has said here as well as other places, you cannot force a player to do something detrimental, IE, you cannot make them reroll with Meliski if they don't want to, and you cannot play Rage on them during an encounter if they aren't going to bury a card (and you can't make them). This begs the question, how far does this go? On something that only affects one player (like Rage and Meliski's reroll), the answer is obvious. But does this stop you from playing Blizzard (it does damage to other players at the end of the turn)? What about if Ranzak is near death and wants to evade the Enchanter - can another player tell him no, just because they don't want to discard two hand cards? What if he's by two characters, one close to death and one with the Ring of Protection? Sticky situations. My stance is that if the primary effect doesn't effect the other player (IE, blizzard adding d6's or Ranzak evading), it is ultimately the call of whoever it does effect, side effects be damned. Now, obviously you should try and find a group concensus first, and malicious intent can be punished by the event organizer in OP (and the rest of the group in normal play), but that's where I'd put the default. Thoughts?
Just a thread to post stuff in that may or may not be worthy of it's own thread. Somewhere to babble on the PACG, or have off-topic discussion with others who frequent this forum. Have fun! Don't forget the forum rules!
Meliski has a power on his Gambler role card that lets him recharge cards with the gambling trait instead of doing anything else with them. Now, to the best of my knowledge, no one has ever seen one of those except those who have the Bard Class Deck (I think it's a safe assumption that the Ivory Dice and Marked Cards items are Gambling traited). It makes me really curious because this power revolves entirely around a type of card I've never seen before. So I was hoping that someone with the Bard Class Deck would satiate my curiosity and tell me about those cards, or perhaps some other Gambling cards I'm unaware of? (Or, if I'm really lucky, maybe hear some about yet-to-be-released or beta cards* or something from the Devs, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. :D ) *Those who participated in the beta, don't forget that you're not supposed to spoil the actual text from beta cards without permission.
Illuminate says something close to "add 1d8 to a Ranged check" but makes no mention of altering your combat itself (that is, no "for your combat check..."). Up to now, all attack spells (that I can think of) are combat spells ("for your combat check..."). It doesn't seem any more attack related than cards like Aid. Should the attack trait indeed be there? EDIT: Of course I post this and THEN remember that the cloud spells (Toxic Cloud and co) have the attack trait and don't determine your combat skill. Still, it seems odd to me.
[If this belongs in General Discussion instead, please move it. I decided Gameplay Discussion sounded more appropriate] So, if things were still back like they were in RotR, where there were only 11 characters, I wouldn't bother posting this. But with 51 characters now, I thought people might be interested in my thoughts on these characters after a few adventures, as it's now pretty difficult to play every character oneself. ...It gives me something to do at the least, and I can chat with you guys about it if you reply. I played solo through most of AP4 in RotR with S&S Lini, Flenta, and Amaryllis this weekend. Here is what they looked like at the end of the weekend, as best as I can remember: Spoiler:
Lini, Feral Druid
☑☑☑Dexterity +3 ☑Wis +1 ☑☑7 card hand size ☑Light Armor Proficiency ☑Place animal allies on top of deck ☑Recharge to reduce combat damage by 1 Deathbane Light Crossbow +1 ☑Light Crossbow +1 Restoration Swipe Cure x2 ☑☑Aid x2 Snakeskin Tunic Masterwork Tools ☑Emerald Codex Toad x2 Badger Saber Tooth Tiger Blessing of Abadar x4 Flenta, Arcane Pretender
Amaryllis, Luck Stealer
---------- Lini: I built Lini with the Toad in mind, so I was more concerned with not failing her combat checks (hence the +3 dex) than with recharging spells (yay toads). Since I built her for dex and not str, she didn't need weapon proficiencey (light crossbows don't use it) and I took armor proficiency instead for the sake of the snakeskin tunic. Her ability to reuse animals is really good with the shuffle/top deck and the lack of need for them to be in her hand for the d4+x - I actually keep animal allies in Amaryllis' deck to hand off to Lini once in a while, since Amaryllis usually just explores with her allies. I find she is woefully inadequate at combat compered to her RotR incarnation. She lacks the quantity of spells to run a few support spells (like cure and Resto) and still be a spell slinger in combat, and using weapons to kill things is tough without the extra d4+x given her stats. Discarding (or recharging against certain boons) to turn her base die into a d12 can help, but it really slows her down even if you get to recharge (which she gets to a lot in S&S, I know). Relying on only one or two combat spells is difficult as they can be hard to draw in time given how often she'll be casting them. The end result was that I built her for support. She'll take her one free explore per turn, maybe one or two more if I'm confident, and that's it. As a supporter, she works well, IF built very well and played ver carefully. In fact, if you do it like I did, she's almost broken, but I don't think she's that good otherwise. Two top-decking toads allow you to keep cure, aid, and swipe handy at all times (I'll get to Resto in a bit). Simply don't make the recharge check unless it's your second copy so that the card stays in your discard pile for the toads. Before too long, you'll find yourself never losing any cards from your deck as you draw and re-play the allies, unless you Resto yourself. You can heal any friends who need it, aid any checks that need it (bless them too if you have a blessing handy) and Swipe for your own or others' combat checks (if you run one - I'm probably going to drop it for another Resto if I find one). I kept Cure over Major Cure or Mass Cure (if I find one) because I don't want to shuffle my Toads off the top of my deck. The Badger is very useful, as it lets you move around to heal and Restore your friends with ease - both Cure and Restoration require the same location. Now: S&S Lini + Toad + Restoration. This is probably the most broken, overpowered thing in the game that doesn't actually need an errata (well, anymore, as Resto already got one). It's just dumb, you get to let a friend draw two extra cards per turn per Restoration in your deck, allowing for crazy big turns of exploring (espicially with Incindaiary Clouds around). They don't have to worry about dying because casting Cure is so trivial. You can use Restoration on yourself to draw the toads on top of your deck and use them again. And you can use Toad to get back Restoration and cast Restoration on your friends' turns to help get around the display ability slowing you down. If you have two Restorations (I haven't found another yet in my game) you can use two toads to get back double Resto, draw them both with one Resto, and cast the other on a friend to let them draw two cards AT NO COST TO LINI, and you can do it during each turn of your friends'. This build is ludicrous, but highly amusing to play. It is kept somewhat in check by Lini herself not being that powerful, but simply providing healing and draw power to her friends. She can't really handle big baddies on her own at all in this build. Still, it makes her totally worth playing... but only once you get Restoration; she was a drag on the party through all the scenarios until I got Resto in AP4. It also doesn't work in S&S, which has no Toads (and perhaps no Restos). Orbis' Judgement: This Lini is stupidly good (perhaps OP) with a couple Toads and cure, aid, & Resto. Without Toads or Resto, however, she is steeped in mediocrity and way down on the list of characters when ranked in power level. Way, way down. ---------- Flenta: Flenta seemed fun, for a fighter at least (I like spellcasting compared to weapons, and love Divine spellcasters best of all). Early on, her ability is eh for casting spells, but really good at finding Augury's for your other spellcaster to take at the end of the scenario. Once you hit AP3, it's just fantastic for removing basic Arcane spells from the box. After doing that, however, it becomes pretty ineffective. The biggest problems are the crappy spells that aren't basic like Acid Arrow or Mirror Image that she can still find but can't banish. In the end though, you'll just never cast spells and instead slaughter things with her more-than-adequate strength/melee skills and weapons. It is for this reason that I took the Arcane Pretender role. As my other two characters, both spellcasters, acquire spells and then drop some at the end of the scenario, Flenta can get her hands on some pretty hefty spells. She can simply avoid casting them and use them to get strong bonuses to her checks (+4 or more to non-combat checks is fantastic on her). This also works well as a sort of storage for the spellcasters - If I decide that I want Scrying back for Amaryllis, Flenta can give it to her at the start of a turn or scenario. I will also add the power that lets me recharge items for the bonus; for this reason I have started to stock up on high Ap items. In particular, I have grabbed Staff of Heaven and Earth - Flenta can discard the Spell she won't be casting anyway to defeat a barrier, or she can recharge the staff for +5 to a check (when I take that power). Her usefulness to the party ebbs and flows as she acquires non-basic pre-AP spells, does nothing special, banishes basic spells, does nothing special, and finally can simply recharge the spells to get a powerful static boost to her checks. This makes her very powerful and reminescent of RotR Lini. It's not as consistant as RotR Lini's ability as it requires specific recharges, but Flenta starts out with solid stats before buffing. Still not as good, but not everyone can be overpowered. Orbis' Judgement: Overall, I like Flenta for a fighter, particularly going for the Arcane Pretender role so that her spells are useful late game. She's solid and fun, which is all I ask of any character. Well designed for standard play, if not Organized Play. ---------- Amaryllis: The first thing I want to say is the obvious: Amaryllis' ability to reroll failed checks is awesomesauce. I particularly like the "and add 1d4" particularly once you can discard instead of bury - small, piddly checks like "craft 4" or "survival 6" become much more reasonable when you get one chance to roll mas and then another chance with a d4; sometimes I'll discard something to try and acquire a card I can't roll high enough without the d4. It's nifty. But more important is just straight up re-rolling things. In RotR, for instance, you tend to eventually get to a point where the only time you're taking combat damage is when you whiff your roll. With re-rolls, that's hardly a factor at all... The second thing I want to say about Amaryllis is that her ability to recharge a spell from her discard pile is awesome. The reason for this is subtle, a three-level analysis:
Beyond that, there's not a lot to go over with Amaryllis. She's an Arcane spellcaster with those two abilities to set her aside. They're good ones, though. She plays more like a wizard than a sorcerer with the high number of spells and lack of a built in spell as a power, but that's not too big an issue; some might even prefer it. If you liked Ezren more than Seoni due to having lots of spells in your deck instead of a few and an attack spell on demand, look into Amaryllis. If you do, and you prefer the Sorcerer's Class Deck to the Wizard's Class Deck, this may be the perfect solution for you. Orbis' Judgement: Solid Arcane spellcaster, probably even ahead of the curve. Will definitely look into playing her anytime I feel like playing a non-bard Arcane spellcaster (I prefer Divine casters). ---------- Well, I hope you enjoyed that or found it helpful. I might do it again if enough people do. Feel free to discuss or even debate my conclusions, or share your own. :)
1) Jirelle can reroll any die on any check (assuming she has the swashbuckling trait - for the sake of this post let's say she always does) and Meliski can allow a character at his location to reroll a die on a failed check. However, both of these say "must take the second result;" i would initially assume that this means they can't go with what they had before they rerolled it. So, can Jirelle reroll a die twice (three rolls total) using Meliski's and her own power? Or can it not be rolled the third time "because you must keep the second result"? 2) Jirelle's Duelist role also has a power that lets her roll a d4 and add it to the result if any of her dice come up an 8 or greater. I assume this is meant to work with her reroll ability and allow her to roll a poorly rolled die to try and get an 8 so she can add the d4? 3) The Duelist ability to add a d4 on an 8 or higher - can Jirelle reroll that, or is it not part of the check (since it's added to the result)?
Specifically, the first unique power on her stargazer rule. It says that if she peeks at the top card of a location deck with her power and it is a boon and it is her turn, she can encounter it. If I'm reading this correctly, this means even boons in locations she is not at can be encountered. This raises some questions. -"While at this location"
-Aid from other characters
--- The first question is the most important to me. It offeres some interesting strategies if she can do things like encounter Blessings at the Shrine free of damage.
Damiel has a power that says "when you would banish a card that has the Alchemical trait, recharge it instead." Now, obviously, this means that if you play an alchemical card that says to banish itself you recharge it. Less obviously, if you banish an alchemical card for another effect, such as the "when closing" power on some locations, you recharge it instead. But what about cards you haven't acquired yet? Aren't you banishing a card when you fail to acquire it? Or when you close a location? What if any of those are Alchemical? While I'm sure it's not the intention, it sounds to me like if you encounter an Alchemical boon and don't evade it, you'll either acquire it and put it in your hand or fail to acquire it and recharge it. And if you recharge it this way, does it go on the bottom of your deck or the location deck you found it in? What if you encounter a bane with the Alchemical trait - do you recharge it after defeating it? Although I guess it could be argued that YOU aren't banishing the cards in these situations, the game is, but that just doesn't feel like a real solution. Suggested fix - "When you would banish your card that has the alchemical trait..." Thoughts? Particularly from Mike or Vic?
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 most non-basic / magical) armor had the following text:
Immediately after resetting your hand, you may reveal this card to draw a card. With this ability, a player with a hand size of 5 cards has five cards every turn until she draws an armor. Then, if she desires to, she may reveal the armor to have a sixth card in hand - her hand is now the typical five cards plus an armor. If she draws another armor, her hand (if she wants to only) can be her normal 5 cards, plus her two armors. And for those who are worried about drawing too many cards - the effect is optional, you can reveal as many or as few armors as you like to draw cards. So now players can still use armor exactly as intended - but they don't have to make the choice between having armor or another card in hand. Thoughts? Anyone else have any ideas?
I'm pretty sure I'm understanding this right, but I wanted to make sure others thought the same and, should I get lucky enough to get a chime in from Mike or Vic, they could confirm that things are as they intended. I'm referring to Meliski's signature ability, that he can recharge a card to re-roll dice:
Now, it doesn't say "another character," so he can use it on his own rolls. That's fine. It says "to allow her" not "to make her" or something, so even if you recharge a card, they don't HAVE to reroll a die. That's fine. What I'm wondering is this - If I take the second power feat so that two dice can be re-rolled, does the selected character HAVE to reroll two dice if they're going to re-roll any? For example, if they roll two d6 and get a 1 and a 6, do they have to reroll the 6 to reroll the one, since I took the feat? I don't think that's the intention, but that's how it reads to me as written. I wish it said "to allow her to reroll up to 1 die (□ 2 dice)." What are your thoughts on the matter?
So, some back story on how bad this game is for me. In RotR, I got every expansion. Now, most of you have done the same, I'm sure, and I don't blame you. It's needed for the full experience. The difference is, I got every expansion (and the base game)... twice. After thinking some things over, I discovered that most of my problems with the game (not that I had many) were a simple matter of card ratios. I got doubles of everything so that I could manipulate the banes to be tougher (bye bye bugbears, hello Enchanters! Some of you would have hated me), and add in more of the boons that my play group thought were too scarce (I'm looking at you, Inflict!), although I didn't add near as many boons as I did banes. Now, I doubt anyone else has done this, and I probably won't in S&S since I hear the difficulty has been upped. That's not why I started this thread. (For those who are wondering, the venture was successful; the game was a tad harder and more fun... although probably not enough to justify doubling the cost) No, I was wondering who else plans to drop the $220 MSRP just to get S&S base set with all the potential characters? I know I am. It's not enough just to get the base set, character add-on, and my favorite class deck. No, sir. Customization is one of, if not the, best parts about an RPG, and having a large choice of characters to choose from provides lots of customization. No, I have to have them all! All 40 new characers! Never mind the cost! Every last one! And I may buy extras so I can populate my RotR with guns and stuff... Yeah... I have a problem. Who else has this problem? And who else has it so bad that they've done something ridiculous, like my buying two of everything in RotR? Spill your deep, dark secrets in here, and all you wives out there: don't be surprised if you find this and see how much your husband has spent on this game. You already knew it, deep down... --- PS - Thanks to the development team for making such a great game. You should keep it up... before too long, I'll make you rich...
Happy April Fools Day, everyone! I hope that this is the worst you have to endure today.
I wanted to get a discussion going on what everyone thought were the most powerful cards in the PACG. Now to clarify, I'm talking about boons, and not cards that are simply weapons/spells that get stronger and stronger each adventure pack (so not just the latest and greatest weapon, for example). If it's got a legitimately strong ability that's one thing, but just addimg more and more to your combat check while being likely to be overpowered by the next adventure deck is not what I'm talking about. Here are some of the cards that I think are among the most powerful in the game: --- Restoration - Let's just do this one first, we all know it's going to make my list. Drawing is powerful in any card game, whether decking out can kill you or not, and the PACG is no exception. Even with the looping exploits fixed, this card is just great at helping you dig through decks for what's needed (typically a weapon), granting extra explores, or just giving you more options. And don't forget, you can play it on your friends. Most players who have played a variety of characters will see the value in a larger hand size (up to a point, of course), provided combat checks are rarely failed (good strategizing can minimize this), and Restoration temporatily increases hand size. This card's only three flaws in my opinion are: the user must have divine or it's banished (limiting it to only a few characters); the recharge check is rather difficult; and it takes the place of one of the most card types in your deck, a spell. Even so, this card is crazy good. Robe of Runes - Putting aside the reveal ability for a second, this item is fantastic for any spellcaster that doesn't make the vast majority of their recharge checks. Good for reusing Restoration, Haste, Damage spells, you get the idea. Lem in particular wants this card for this effect - not only does he tend to have a harder time recharging than most, but often he will want to waive his recharge checks and keep a couple spells in his discard for variety, with the intent to swap out one spell for another with his mending power. Robe allows him to get these back another way. In addition, Robe offers +2 to intelligence, making it a solid item all around for any spellcaster (spells can still make it to the discard even if you're Seoni). Emerald Codex - Another great loot from AP4, the codex is perhaps the most intersting card in the game, allowering any player to use 3 divine spells a game, or granting a nearly immediate reward of three random spells to go in character decks. I think that this card is best used by burying it, however, as this offers all sorts of benefits. Firstly, there's the obvious - the player using the codex can get a variety of useful spells that may fulfill several needs, such as evading, healing, or drawing (hi, Restoration!). The crazy part about this is that it doesn't take up the player's hand space, and they can't be lost to damage. It can also offer some attack spells to the user, which can even be useful to characters lacking a divine trait. Afterall, Holy Light will kill many undead banes without the caster's help, as it provides the magic trait and 2d12 to back up the player's pathetic d4 divine skill. Lastly, since the spells are banished with use, the Codex can help weed out weak divine spells from the box, such as Mending and Guidance. Blessing of Abador - It may puzzle you as to why I chose this card here, but it's very simple. While a Lamashtu may seem the more likely choice for a blessing to make this list, I find that most characters have far more trouble with barriers more often than with monsters. This is because of the wide variety of checks that a barrier can force, whereas most monsters' check to defeat is a combat check of varying difficulty. Abador makes even poor dice like d6's a force to be reckoned with when trying to defeat that pesky wisdom check, and it doesn't even bury itself like Lamashtu does. Best of all, it can be used on other players, unlike the other most powerful anti-barrier cards, the Tools variants. Poog - The first promo, and in my opinion the best ally yet released, this funny little ally offers a lot of flexibility. He has the all-important explore ability that any good ally should have. He can heal your character. And he can recharge to help any character with their combat check by a static 3. Even better, he gives the check the fire trait, an important factor to consider when looking at the banes added by AP 3 & 4. Haste - Many Arcane players' favorite card, haste is just plain good. While the change location ability is rarely used, the ability to explore again with a probable recharge just makes this card high up on the list of best spells, and cards in general. Most characters with the arcane trait are built to make combat with that trait, and in so doing, they increase their recharge skill simultaneously. When Ezren or Seoni take this, as they are wont to do, it makes their characters tremendously more powerful by offerring them recurring explore power as they both tend to recharge it. Holy Candle - The interesting thing about this card is that most players are either dying to get their hands on it (sometimes literally), or don't give two... somethings... about it. Many players think the PACG is really easy, and d6 extra turns does nothing for them. Others really appreciate this obvious use for the card and win or lose their scenarios based on the cruel, lone d6. This card has two additional, more subtle effects, however, that should not be over looked. The first one is pretty minor: you can manipulate the top card of the blessings discard pile. This can help with werewolves, copying effects with Blessing of the Gods, and even, with a great deal of luck, provide the ability to recharge non-basic blessings. The other neat thing about the Holy Candle is that it buries itself. Characters, typically spellcasters such as Seoni, that cycle through their entire deck multiple times throughout a scenario may want this card solely for the fact that, once played, it cannot be returned to your character deck until the end of the scenario, even if you get healed somehow. This allows for a better chance of drawing more useful cards, such as attack spells or explore cards, and is particularly powerful early in the adventure when there are often not many items desired by the spellcaster. I know I've played games where, if given the option, I would play with a smaller deck if it meant that I got to exclude items from my deck. Recent adventure decks have changed this (Hello, AP4 loot!) but early on items can be a pain. The fact that the Candle, while thinning your deck out, can provide the group with extra turns to search for loot is just gravy. --- This ended up looking more like a strategy guide for some of my favorite cards, but whatever. What are some of your guys' favorites? Discuss!
Specifically on monsters. Are all checks to defeat a monster combat checks, including checks like the Satyr's dexterity check? When fighting the Satyr, do you use Blessing of Calistria or Erastil? I had always thought that it was only a combat check if the check was specifically labeled "combat," which meant strength or melee unless altered by a power of some kind, like a spell. But then I saw this blurb in the FAQ today: If It Isn’t Called Something, It Isn’t That Thing. Every term described in the rules and on cards has a specific definition. The Goblin Warchanter has the Goblin trait, but the Goblin Dog doesn’t, even though it has Goblin in its name. A Potion of Healing may sound like it’s magical, but it doesn’t have the Magic trait. A Ghost deals Combat damage when it damages you, even if you failed a Divine check to defeat it. Detect Magic doesn’t use the word “explore,” so you can play it at times when you can’t explore. Don’t make assumptions—just read the card. To be clear: I'm good on any check specifically labelled "combat." I'm asking about any other type of check made to defeat a monster.
So the FAQ added this to resolve the multiple belt problem: Resolution: On page 9 of the Rulebook, under Playing Cards, add the following sentence to the definition of Reveal: "You may not reveal the same card more than once per check or step." So, I realize that this is a little obscure, and I don't even think there's a card to make matter yet, but I wanted to double check that things are working as intended, or if this was an unintentional side effect. Since I can't think of a card that is already released that will illustrate my example, allow me to invent one:
Under the current FAQ wording, you would not be able to use the mouse for its own ability and Lini's ability on the same perception check, but you could on the same combat check. Is this intentional?
Ok, let me start by saying that Restoration is hands down my favorite card in the entire game, I was hoping something like this would be made and was thrilled speechless when I saw it in the 4th adventure pack. It should probably be noted that I like Lini and Lem far and above all the other characters. For those of you who don't know what it does, it's a divine spell that lets target player draw 2 cards and has a Divine 14 recharge. It cannot be played during an encounter. Having once played several trading card games, I immediately began to try and see I could break the game with this. Let me say, it's a good thing that there aren't any cards that move you from one location to another during your turn that can recharge. If there were, I believe I have come up with a Lem build that can beat an entire scenario on its own in one turn. Of course, it would require careful setup of both the deck before the scenario and during play (setting up the turn). Assuming 4 skill feats in Charisma and 4 card feats in spells I come up with this. Lem
A cat and two Glibness with Divine/Arcane = Charisma +1 [+2] [+3] [+4] [+5] auto recharges anything with recharge 14 or less. Restorations give you anything you recharge right back. Haste grants infinte explores. Aid and the Virtuoso power let you help yourself with any check. Lightning Bolt is d10+3d6+11 and will pretty much kill anything. The Necklace or weapon help with dual combat checks. And between Lem's ability to swap a card with another of the same type from his discard at the start of the turn and to pick his card of choice, combined with the strength of Restoration's draw 2, setting this up during the scenarion is easy. All I can say is it's a good thing that every card that moves a player does it at the end of the turn or gets buried. But this build can still close a location every turn, even with just the cards released. Much as I love shenanigans, this IS an exploit, that should probably be fixed. Even if you don't do the optimal build I listed above, things can get pretty bonkers. I suggest that Restoration should say that it goes in front of the player you cast it on until the end of the turn and you can only cast it on each player once per turn. Thoughts?
I was wondering what you guys thought about failing a check on purpose. Are you allowed to fail if you want? Specifically, can you choose to fail a check instead of rolling it and potentially passing? An example of when on earth you'd want to do this? Well, here's the first one that came to mind (there are others): Seoni casts Augury for spells because she loves acquiring spells, but she also reveals some awesome cards, say, Poog and a Masterworks Thieves Tools. No spells come up, but now she knows where some great boons are! She explores and kills a random monster. Now Amiri joins her, since the party's got the blessings to ensure that even she will acquire the boons if they show up. She explores - right into the villain. It's one of the easier ones (maybe the party is re-running a scenario) and Amiri is so pumped up that even if she doesn't use a weapon, it's quite possible that she will simply punch the villain to a paste and close the location, thus banishing the awesome boons. If she fails the combat check, all she has to do is use her armor, and since the party has plenty of time, that's what they want to do, so as to get another shot at those boons. |