Oroniss's page

I think Orbis' point though is that it's 3 or 5 scenarios you have to play to get a character upgrade which can take a long time for new players.

The first scenario of AP1 gives you a skill feat straight up for both RotR and S&S. (Can't remember if Wrath is the same).

Thanks Hawk. Was hoping someone would post here.

Not the one I was expecting, but should be cool all the same.

Yeah, that was my take on both poison and mental - a stronger than average ability but with the downside of not always being able to use it.

Most of the RPG adventure paths introduce a unique mechanic of some type that is incorporated into the AP. Some are more significant than others, i.e. Kingmaker had the kingdom building rules, Skull and Shackles had the naval battles, whereas others are less critical - Jade Regent has an interesting Caravan mechanic added, RotR had Sin Magic. There is usually something.

The RPG adventure paths have also been somewhat alternating between more traditional fantasy and more unusual themes, so there are a lot of less traditional APs that they could choose from.

Some examples

Iron Gods - Sci-fantasy
Reign of Winter - Travelling to other planets/Worlds
Kingmaker - More traditional fantasy, but kingdom building is a big part of the AP
Jade Regent - Oriental themed - some tie-ins to RotR
Serpent Skull - Indiana Jones style
Carrion Crown - Horror at its finest

etc.

My tip would be Iron Gods, but it would have still been in production for the RPG while this new ACG AP was in development so that might make it impossible.

If not it, then either Reign of Winter or Jade Regent.

However, I will say that the RPG APs I've read all range from very good to incredible, so whichever one they pick, it will make for a great game.

Since they have been following the RPG pretty closely for RotR and S&S, I assume that will continue (but it may not).

Party number 2:

Cards from the Fighter class deck and Sorcerer class deck added to the box.

Character Name: Flenta
Role Card: Arcane Pretender
Skill Feats: Str+3, Int+3
Power Feats: +3 hand size, heavy armour proficiency, recharge a spell (or an item with the magic trait) to add to a combat (or non-combat) check.
Card Feats: weapon +1, spell +1, armour + 1, item +2, ally +2, blessing +1
Weapons: Venomous Pike +2, Flaming Ranseur +3, Schock Glaive +1, Trident +2, Seaborne Trident +1, Keen Falcata +1
Spells: Telekinisis, Resist Energy, Teleport
Armors: Fortified Breastplate, Breastplate of the Deep.
Items: Immortal Dreamstone, Impossible Bottle, Magic Spyglass, Wand of Treasure Finding, Ring of the Seastrider.
Allies: Old Salt, Tessa Fairwind, Mase Darimar.
Blessings: Blessing of Gorum, Blessing of Achaekek, Blessing of Sivannah, Blessing of Milani.
Your Ship: Death Knell

Character Name: Ranzak
Role Card: Kleptomaniac
Skill Feats: Dex+3, Con+2, Wis+2.
Power Feats: +1 hand size, Heavy Armor Proficiency, add 1d4 +3 to checks to acquire boons, explore on 3-6, add plunder card on closing location, roll for check to acquire if another character fails.
Card Feats: Weapon+2, Armor+1, Item +3, Ally +1, Blessing +1.
Weapons: Blasting Pistol +2, Vindictive Harpoon, Toxic Blunderbuss +1, Doubleshot Pepperbox, Crossbow of Retribution, Skyrocket Crossbow.
Spells: Cure
Armors: Fortified Breastplate, Brine Dragonhide Breastplate.
Items: Conch of the Tritons, Jalhazar's Wheel, Magic Spyglass, Amulet of Fortitude, Onyx of Constitution, Masterwork Thieves Tools, Hurricane Crown.
Allies: Baby Triceratops, Pierce Jerrell.
Blessings: Blessing of Milani, Blessing of Erastil, Blessing of Abadar, Blessing of Achaekek, Blesing of Hshurha.
Your Ship: Death Knell

Character Name: Lini (S&S)
Role Card: Aquamancer
Skill Feats: Str+2, Wis+4
Power Feats: +1 hand size, light armour proficiency, weapon proficiency, put animal on top of deck, put attack spell on top of deck, add 2 to checks against aquatic (and ships).
Card Feats: Spell+2, Armor+1, Item+1, Ally+, Blessing+2.
Weapons: Old Salt's Rapier +2
Spells: Tsunami, Swipe, Geyser, Holy Feast, Find Traps *2.
Armors: Howling Skull Armor, Eel Skin Armor
Items: Pearl of Wisdom, Besmara's Tricorne
Allies: Toad, Cat, Pteranadon, Velociraptor, Rotgut, Baby Triceratops
Blessings: Blessing of Hshurha, Blessing of Abadar, Blessing of Pharasma *, Blessing of Gorum, Pirate's Favor.
Your Ship: Death Knell

Character Name: Qualzar
Role Card: Impeller
Skill Feats: Wis+2, Cha+4
Power Feats: +2 hand size, discard for 1d6 + 3 and mental (or force), reduce combat dam by 2.
Card Feats: Spell +2, Item+2, Ally+2, Blessing+2.
Weapons: Repelling Pike +1
Spells: Animate Water, Control Weather, Freezing Sphere, Resist Energy, Quickened Ray.
Armors: Buccareers Breastplate
Items: Sihedron Ring, Ruby of Charisma, Headband of Alluring Charisma, Crystal of Healing Hands.
Allies: Cat, Old Salt, Haneilius Fitch, Alise Grogblud, Pteranadon, Master of the Gales.
Blessings: Blessing of Silvanah, Blessing of Achaekek, Blessing of Abadar, Blessing of Pharasma, Blessing of Hshurha, Blessing of Lamashtu.
Your Ship: Death Knell

No deaths, not many replayed scenarios after AP 3. Toll of the Bell and Bizarre Love Triangle were pretty tough and took 3 or 4 goes at each.

I also feel as though some of the class deck cards skewed the balance a bit. Once Lini had swipe, if she got that in hand along with Besmara's Tricorne she could deal with most things without any trouble.

Was a good party mix though and a lot of fun.

Party number 1: Originally a 2 player party, prior to Lem's demise:

Character Name: Valeros (S&S)
Role Card: Corsair
Skill Feats: Str+4, Con+1, Wis+2.
Power Feats: +2 hand size, add 1d4 + 3 to another characters combat check, add 4 to your check to defeat a monster with the captain trait or a ship.
Card Feats: Weapon+1, Armor+2, Item +2, Ally +2, Blessing +1.
Weapons: Adamantine Trident +3, Keen Rapier + 3 * 2, Flaming Falcata +3, Keen Falcata +1, Skyrocket Crossbow.
Spells:
Armors: Fortified Breastplate *2, Breastplate of the Deep, Reflecting Buckler.
Items: Besmara's Tricorne, Hurricane Crown, Immortal Dreamstone, Ring of Regeneration.
Allies: Old Salt *2, Master of the Gales, Pierce Jerrell, Haneilius Fitch.
Blessings: Blessing of Hshurha *3, Pirate's Favor.

Your Ship: Abrogail's Fury

Lem died due to hitting Hypatia late in the final scenario before I knew what that entailed. Val couldn't complete it on his own, so had to restart it. As such, Valeros's deck is built from the two combined decks with a view to defeating that last scenario solo.

I imagine that as a summoner, his cohort is probably supposed to do most of the fighting so it may have abilities which help.

Vic Wertz wrote:

Jorsalheim wrote:

Nice! You really got Class. Looking forward to getting these. And if this is going to be an "ongoing thing" it would be nice with a subscription possibility somewhere down the line :)

If more people express interest, that's certainly a possibility!

I am expressing interest.

Consider me interested as well.

And I realised in the post immediately above I left out a power feat on Flenta.

She also has the recharge a spell to add 1+its scenario number to a combat check.

Sorry.

4 person party. Fighter class deck and Sorcerer class deck cards are being used in the game.

No deaths, though a fair few failed scenarios (I'm looking at you Toll of the Bell).

Ship - Kraken

Character Name: Flenta
Role Card: Arcane Pretender
Skill Feats: Strength+3, Intelligence+1
Power Feats: +2 hand size, heavy armor proficiency
Card Feats: armor+1, ally+1, blessing +1.
Weapons: Falcata +1, Keen Falcata +1, Shock Glaive +1, Warhammer +2
Spells: Magic Weapon, Speed, Black Spot
Armors: Elven Breastplate, Buccaneer's Breastplate
Items: Jolly Roger, Ring of the Iron Skull, Svingl's Eye
Allies: Old Salt, Rickety Hake
Blessings: Blessing of Hshurha, Blessing of Abadar, Blessing of Milani, Blessing of Achaekek
Current Party Ship: Kraken

Character Name: Ranzak
Role Card: Kleptomaniac
Skill Feats: Dexterity+2, Constitution+2
Power Feats: +1 hand size, +1d4+3 to acquire boons, explore again on 3-6.
Card Feats: item+2, ally+1
Weapons: Animalbane Dagger +1, Pistol +1, Seeking Harpoon +1, Vindictive Harpoon
Spells: Cure
Armors: Sniper's Studded Leather
Items: Amulet of Fortitude, Farglass, Jalhazar's Wheel, Letter of Marque, Onyx of Constitution, Worn Leather Skullcap.
Allies: Surgeon, Conchobar Turlach Shortstone
Blessings: Blessing of Milani, Blessing of Achaekek, Blessing of Abadar, Blessing of Erastil
Current Party Ship: Kraken

Character Name: Lini (S&S)
Role Card: Aquamancer
Skill Feats: Wisdom+3, Strength+1.
Power Feats: +1 hand size, Weapon proficiency, Light Armor Proficiency, Put attack spells on top of deck.
Card Feats: Spell+1, Item+1, Blessing +1.
Weapons: Brine's Sting
Spells: Aid, Cure, Find Traps, Charm Animal, Swipe.
Armors: Shark Skin Armor
Items: Pearl of Wisdom, Besmara's Tricorne
Allies: Toad, Cat, Parrot, Turtle,
Blessings: Blessing of Hshurha * 2, Blessing of Abadar, Blessing of Gorum, Pirate's Favor
Current Party Ship: Kraken

Character Name: Qualzar
Role Card: Impeller
Skill Feats: Charisma+4
Power Feats: +1 hand size, Discard for Arcane + 1d6 +2, and add Force trait
Card Feats: Spell+1, Item+1, Ally +1
Weapons: Morningstar +1
Spells: Animate Water, Frost Ray, Geyser, Hydraulic Push
Armors: Hide Armor of Fire Resistance
Items: Crystal of Healing Hands, Headband of Charisma, Ruby of Charisma
Allies: Old Salt, Apprentice, Cat, Incanter
Blessings: Blessing of Abadar, Blessing of Achaekek, Blessing of Pharasma, Blessing of Sivanah
Current Party Ship: Kraken.

My 2 player party (yes I am much slower with S&S).

Character Name: Valeros
Role Card: Corsair
Skill Feats: Strength+2, Constitution+1, Wisdom+1.
Power Feats: +2 hand size, +1d4+1 to another characters combat checks, add 2 to check to defeat captain, pirate or ship.
Card Feats: item+2, blessing+1.
Weapons: boarding axe, trident +1, cutlass +1, keen falcata +1, icy boarding pike +1.
Spells:
Armors: fortified shell armour, buccaneer's breastplate.
Items: farglass, besmara's tricorne, jalhazar's wheel, ring of the iron skull.
Allies: besmaran priest, parrot, pierce jerrell.
Blessings: blessing of abadar, blessing of achaekek, blessing of gozreh, blessing of milani
Current Party Ship: Kraken

Character Name: Lem
Role Card: Freebooter
Skill Feats: Dexterity+2, Charisma+2.
Power Feats: +1 hand size, light armour proficiency, recharge a card for +1d4+2 to check.
Card Feats: Spell+1, Item+1, Ally +1.
Weapons: vindictive harpoon, toxic blunderbuss +1.
Spells: cure, find traps, dehydrating touch, dehydrating touch.
Armors:
Items: masterwork tools, totem necklace, svingli's eye.
Allies: besmaran priest, old salt, conchobhar turlach shortstone, lady agasta smythee, rickety hake.
Blessings: blessing of savannah, blessing of hshurha, blessing of achaekek, pirate's favor.
Current Party Ship: Kraken

Edit: I realised I had one too many blessings on Lem.

Yeah, I kinda have to agree with many people here.

I love the idea behind Organised Play, but after getting through to the end of the first 6 scenarios last night, there have been quite a few issues that came up and which detracted from the experience.

Wrathack in particular felt really hamstrung by the lack of good 2h weapons early in the ranger class deck. Kyra was the same, in that it is AP 6 before she could get a third magic sword, and most of the swords that are available aren't really the ones I would like.

For a few characters, their choice of card feat was determined by what card options would be available, rather than what type of card they actually wanted, which seems a bit backwards.

All four characters still have a few cards they don't really want, but have no suitable upgrade choices for (which would be fine, except that several passed on upgrades since there was nothing useful).

Blessings have been annoying to try and upgrade, since many of the better ones in the CD are at least AP1, and AP1 and up blessings are very rare (5 out 80ish). Particularly thinking combat ones here.

Agree that the random rewards haven't been great. Only one character has taken one, in the whole of AP 1, and that was pretty marginal.

It's hard to feel good about playing Wrathack when your starting weapon for the scenario is the light crossbow or dagger you are forced to have in your deck. If this is for balance reasons, then I would much rather it be achieved through making the scenarios harder, than limiting the characters in this way.

I honestly don't have easy solutions to the above since I understand the constraints of the 110 card pack. In terms of the future though, much as I would love a barbarian or paladin CD, I would honestly prefer a second upgrade pack for each of the current 7 than new decks with the same limitations as the current ones.

Also, in case it isn't apparent, I still really love the game and have been having a great time with the S&S AP and the OP scenarios. Just wanted to add my feedback so it can become even better.

As long as you have a mix of characters and skills then you should be fine. If you don't have a mix (Amiri, Valeros, Seelah and Kyra say) then you will probably still manage, but might find it a bit harder in places.

With 4 players I didn't find time much of a problem. You can't ignore it, and you probably want to close most locations as soon as you can, but it wasn't the same as with 6 players, where early on, every ally and blessing went on extra explorations.

Having some way of healing yourself is probably a good idea, but I honestly found Seelah was sufficient in most cases, especially if you take her healing advanced role after AP3. If you include Seoni though, then early on she can be pretty fragile if she has to deal with a lot of combat, so having a bit more healing might be useful.

Lini is nice, but a 4 person party is large enough that I would rather have specialised characters than someone who is pretty good at everything.

If I had to pick a 4 person party, I would probably run with Amiri, Seoni, Sajan and Kyra.

Just my 2c.

Well, I got my wish for Wrath of the Righteous as the next AP and I'm really looking forward to it. So much righteous demon smiting to be had.

As for the one after it, Kingmaker would be cool, and so far the Iron Gods AP is proving pretty awesome, though I would understand if there needed to be a gap between the PnP and the card game for development reasons.

I also have a bit of a soft spot for Curse of the Crimson Throne. Reign of Winter was good fun too.

In fact, to be honest, they were all good enough that I am looking forward to it, whichever one it turns out to be.

Tough choices for many of these. Most of the class decks have 3 I really like and only 1 that doesn't appeal.

Bard - Have to go with CD Lem. I like that he is a full powered caster for both Divine and Arcane here. Seems very valuable in small parties.

Cleric - Hardest choice. Probably Zarlova but CD Kyra is great too.

Fighter - Vika - adventuring blacksmith, 'nuff said. SS Val is nice too though.

Ranger - Really like all the options except Wrathack. Have to go with Agna though. Animal companions are fun and dual wield looks good.

Rogue - Like the idea behind Wu Shen so probably have to go with her. The two new Merisiels are both ok as well.

Sorcerer - CD Seoni. No one else is close.

Wizard - Another really tough one. Big fan of both Melindra and Radillo. Melindra wins out though, since I find Disable to be a super useful skill (at least in RoTR). Also love the flavour on the character.

While it may change after playing with some of the new ones, my two favourite characters so far are Amiri and Seelah. I'm really waiting for their class decks to come out so I can use them in OP.

Thanks Elcoder, I have the pdfs of them all. I was just too lazy to print off the alternative roles :-).

Here is the 6 player group.

Character Name: Harsk
Role Card: Tracker
Skill Feats: Dexterity + 4
Power Feats: Recharge for 1d4 + 2 to another's combat check, Hand size 6, recharge animals
Card Feats: Item + 1, Ally + 1, Blessing + 1
Weapons: Heavy Crossbow, Longbow + 1 X 2, Returning Throwing Axe + 1, Shock Longbow + 1
Spells: -
Armors: Snakeskin Tunic
Items: Amulet of Fortitude, Belt of Incredible Dexterity, Crown of Charisma, Staff of Minor Healing
Allies: Ginat Badger, Monkey
Blessings: Blessing of Abadar, Blessing of Calistria, Blessing of Erastil, Blessing of Lamashtu, Blessing of Shelyn, Blessing of Torag

Character Name: Sajan
Role Card: Zen Archer
Skill Feats: Dexterity + 4
Power Feats: Hand size 5, Unarmed + Magic and Fire, When dealt damage reduce by 1
Card Feats: Item + 1, Ally + 1, Blessing + 1
Weapons: -
Spells: -
Items: Belt of Incredible Dexterity, Boots of Elvenkind, Holy Candle, Staff of Minor Healing, Sihedron Medallion
Allies: Black Arrow Range X 2, Jakardos Sovark, Vale Temros
Blessings: Blessing of Calistria, Blessing of Erastil, Blessing of Iomedae, Blessing of Irori X 2, Blessing of Lamashtu, Blessing of Norgorber, Blessing of Shelyn, Blessing of Torag

Character Name: Amiri
Role Card: Juggernaut
Skill Feats: Strength + 4
Power Feats: Hand Size 5, Heavy Armor Proficiency, Move another character at end of turn, d12 or blessing of gorum
Card Feats: Item + 1, Ally + 1, Blessing + 1
Weapons: Greatsword, Longsword + 1, Longsword + 2, Warhammer + 1, Impaler of Thorns
Armors: Elven Breastplate, Magic Full-Plate
Items: Belt of Giant Strength, Masterwork Tools, Ring of Protection
Allies: Merchant X 2, Sabretooth Tiger
Blessings: Blessing of Gorum X 5

Character Name: Ranzak
Role Card: Kleptomaniac
Skill Feats: Dexterity + 2, Constitution + 1, Charisma + 1
Power Feats: Hand Size 8, +1d4 + 3 Check to acquire a boon, explore again on 3-6
Card Feats: Item + 1, Ally + 1, Blessing + 1
Weapons: Deathbane Light Crossbow + 1, Heavy Crossbow, Venomous Dagger X 2
Spells: Invisibility
Armors: Elven Chain Shirt
Items: Boots of Elvenkind, Masterwork Tools, Ring of Protection, Headband of Vast Intelligence, Sihedron Medallion
Allies: Black Arrow Ranger, Shalelu Andosana
Blessings: Blessing of Abadar, Blessing of Calistria, Blessing of Erastil, Blessing of Iomedae, Blessing of Norgorber

Character Name: Kyra
Role Card: Healer
Skill Feats: Strength + 2, Wisdom + 2
Power Feats: Hand Size 6, Weapon Proficiency, 1d8 + 1 against undead, Recharge Blessings of Saranrae
Card Feats: + 1 Weapon, + 2 Spells
Weapons: Bastard Sword + 1, Flaming Mace + 1, Icy Longspear + 1
Spells: Find Traps, Holy Light, Major Cure, Scrying, Swipe
Armors: Elven Breastplate, Magic Full-Plate
Items: Belt of Giant Strength
Allies: Cat
Blessings: Blessing of Saranrae X 5, Blessing of Shelyn

Character Name: Seoni
Role Card: Celestial Sorcerer
Skill Feats: Charisma + 4
Power Feats: Discard a card for Arcane + 1d6 + 2, Recharge Items, +1d12 or Blessing of Pharasma
Card Feats: Spell + 3
Weapons: -
Spells: Frost Ray, Haste, Lightning Bolt X 2, Scrying, Swipe
Items: Headband of Alluring Charisma, Sihedron Medallion, Wand of Enervation
Allies: Brodert Quink, Father Zantus, Merchant, Yap the Pixie
Blessings: Blessing of Iomedae, Blessing of Pharasma X 4

Deaths: Had a really bad run early on in Black Fangs Dungeon and lost Amiri, Ranzak and Seoni. Replayed the starting scenarios as a result. Nothing since then.
Failures: Missed Battle at the Dam, and something in AP1, though I forget which one. I mostly go for loot so often run the blessings deck down.

A couple of role choices were dictated by available character sheets. Zen Archer and Healer.

Yeah, I sometimes replay scenarios for fun, but only of the current adventure pack. Anything less than that and I find it is too easy, so gets boring.

Besides, by the time I get to the end of adventure pack 3 say, there are very few cards left I would want from adventure pack 2 and haven't already picked up. Just seems to defeat the purpose since there is very little risk and also very little reward.

However, it's a cooperative game, so if you (and anyone else you play with) is happy, do whatever you enjoy the most. More power to you.

Party Number 2, 3 characters.

Character Name: Seelah
Role Card: Hospitaler
Skill Feats: Strength + 3, Wisdom + 1
Power Feats: Hand size 5, discard top card for 1d6 + 2, recharge it if it is a spell
Card Feats: Weapon + 2, Spell + 1
Weapons: Bastard Sword + 1, Icy Longspear + 1, Longsword + 2, Warhammer + 1, Impaler of Thorns
Spells: Aid, Find Traps
Armors: Elven Breastplate, Elven Chain Shirt, Magic Half-Plate
Allies: Father Zantus, Sabretooth Tiger
Blessings: Blessing of Abadar, Blessing of Gorum, Blessing of Pharasma, Blessing of Saranrae, Blessing of Shelyn, Blessing of Torag

Character Name: Merisiel
Role Card: Thief
Skill Feats: Dexterity + 4
Power Feats: Weapon Proficiency, Recharge a card for 1d6 +2, Add 2 to checks to acquire.
Card Feats: + 1 Weapon, + 1 Ally, + 1 Blessing
Weapons: Deathbane Light Crossbow + 1, Heavy Crossbow, Venomous Dagger + 2
Armors: Snakeskin Tunic
Items: Belt of Incredible Dexterity, Boots of Elvenkind, Crown of Charisma, Eyes of the Eagle, Masterwork Tools, Sihedron Medallion
Allies: Black Arrow Ranger X 2, Shalelu Andosana
Blessings: Blessing of Calistria X 2, Blessing of Erastil, Blessing of Norgorber, Blessing of Torag

Character Name: Ezren
Role Card: Illusionist
Skill Feats: Intelligence + 4
Power Feats: Hand Size 7, Add 2 to checks to recharge a card, Add 2 to checks to acquire a spell
Card Feats: Spell + 2, Item + 1
Weapons: Horsechopper + 1
Spells: Augury, Frost Ray X 2, Haste X 2, Incendiary Cloud, Lightning Bolt X 2, Scorching Ray X 2
Items: Masterwork Tools, Headband of Vast Intelligence, Sihedron Medallion, Wand of Enervation
Allies: Brodert Quink, Cat X 2

Deaths: none, Failures: they failed down came the flood twice due to Magga going crazy at the start each time.

I'll post the 6 character party later on.

So, since I am a chronic restarter, I decided to roll up some new parties before S&S came out.

Here are the characters at the midpoint.

Party 1, 2 characters:

Character Name: Valeros
Role Card: Weapon Master
Skill Feats: Strength +3, Constitution + 1
Power Feats: Hand size 5, Add 1d4 + 3 to another characters combat check.
Card Feats: Item + 1, Ally + 1, Blessing + 1
Weapons: Flaming Mace + 1, Greatsword, Icy Longspear + 1, Warhammer + 1, Impaler of Thorns
Armors: Elven Breastplate, Elven Chainshirt X 2
Items: Belt of Giant Strength, Crown of Charisma, Masterwork Tools
Allies: Crow, Sabretooth Tiger, Vale Temros
Blessings: Blessing of Gorum X 2, Blessing of Iomedae, Blessing of Saranrae

Character Name: Lem
Role Card: Virtuoso
Skill Feats: Dexterity + 2, Charisma + 2
Power Feats: Light Armor proficiency, Add 1d4 + 2 to a check, add to own checks.
Card Feats: Spell + 1, Armor + 1, Item + 1
Weapons: Heavy Crossbow
Spells: Augury, Cure, Find Traps, Holy Light, Lightning Bolt
Armors: Snakeskin Tunic
Items: Headband of Alluring Charisma, Masterwork Tools, Sihedron Medallion
Allies: Black Arrow Ranger, Father Zantus, Yap the Pixie
Blessings: Blessing of Abadar, Blessing of Erastil, Blessing of Pharasma X 2, Blessing of Shelyn

No deaths (though some close calls) and no failures up to this point.

Hi my August sidecart (the 7 PACG class decks) don't seem to have combined with my August subscription. I was wondering if it is still too late to have them put into the same order? I haven't received the e-mail saying the subscription has been sent yet, so hoping it might still be possible.

Not sure if this is the best place to post it, but seems a few others are raising it here.

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. My subscription has been authorised, but no indication that my class decks have been combined with them yet.

I also have an e-mail in with customer service asking them to only send me the character add-on deck which I haven't had a reply to yet.

I figure they are just super busy at the moment, but will sort it out.

Pre-ordered all 7.

I don't think there is going to be OP here, but anything that gives more variety to the character choices is good in my book. Extra boons will be nice, especially for areas where there aren't as many good options (ranged weapons, etc as others have mentioned).

Regarding the card difference, once the play-case comes out so I can actually store it, I'll sleeve them all up and it won't be noticeable. As it stands, some of my early RoTR cards are getting pretty worn, so sleeving will be good anyway.

I'm with Isiac. For an individual class deck it will definitely be all or nothing. I will probably only shuffle in the character decks for the character classes that are actually in the party though. I would also like to have a deck for all the characters involved in the game, which may limit my options for using them in S&S until some more character decks come out.

Having said that, I can see myself in a situation where I just put all available decks together and have fun.

I don't mind it on Seoni and I think I gave it to Lini once too when I had really built her as a divine caster so her combat was pretty terrible.

Its strength, as others have pointed out, is for casters when they come across an enemy where you can't play spells with the attack trait. It means you can use it rather than discarding your hand to damage, or forcing the party to play heaps of blessings/weapons etc to pass the check.

Like all situational cards though, I tend to try and give it to characters who can discard/recharge it to give them some other benefit. It also doesn't always make the cut for smaller parties because there are too many more versatile/consistent options.

Honestly, I'm not expecting a significant increase in difficulty for Skull and Shackles.

There are a wide variety of play styles, levels of optimisation, experience and desired difficulty and they can't cater to all of them in one set. Because of the progression mechanic, the variance also gets wider as the game goes on. The difficulty needs to be somewhere in the middle. If you are optimising your character, that may mean the game feels like it's getting easier. The alternative though makes the difficulty too hard for a larger and larger group of players.

My hope is that eventually they do what the Lord of the Rings living card game does which is to release an official "Nightmare" pack to increase the difficulty for players that want a serious challenge. Mike and Vic - hint hint :-).

Until then though, the house-rule option is probably the best bet if you want a greater challenge.

Personally, I loved the flavour of AP5 and I thought they did a really nice job of capturing the theme of the RPG scenario. I didn't find the scenarios to be particularly challenging for any of my groups though. If I run it again, I will likely either add in an extra location or two, or remove some more of the easier banes to increase the difficulty.

Just my 2c.

Larger parties struggle more with the clock, whereas smaller parties have a harder time passing checks (and can get hurt more a bane that no one is suited to deal with shows up).

In my experience, neither type really struggle too much with scenarios in AP 4 and 5, if you optimise them a bit. My 6 person group could throw so many blessings/spells/other bonuses that we had Seoni punch a shining child to death. The 3 person party if anything had a slightly harder time of it since no one was well equipped for things like a intelligence/knowledge 12 check and we had less blessings to play around with.

That's the one, thanks Hawk.

This has been raised before, though I can't track down the thread (it was several months ago).

Basically it's because they use the iconic characters from the PFRPG. For fans of the RPG, this means they are immediately recognisable and have their own distinct personalities, histories, etc. It also means they have a lot of existing artwork for those characters which is re-used in the card game to keep the costs down.

To the best of my knowledge there are no plans to create a second version of the iconic characters of opposite gender for the RPG, so I would be very surprised if we see them in the card game either.

As such the fixes suggested above are probably the best bet.

Regarding divine spell casters though, Lem is a divine spell caster in the card game, and Harsk can become one part way through.

Hope that helps.

I am pretty happy with the difficulty level the game is set at. I haven't had many losses with a solid party with good synergy and (hopefully) smart play, but there have been enough close calls to make it interesting.

I would also much prefer the official game to err on the side of being too easy rather than too hard. I find it much more satisfying to house-rule in changes that make the game more difficult than to do the reverse (which just feels like cheating).

Having said that, I would welcome any somewhat "official" options as to the best ways to up the difficulty level while still retaining some balance. I have read a few of the threads here and some suggestions I like, others less so. Still, more options are always good.

Just my 2cp.

I posted an Abyssal Sorcerer Seoni back on Monday since there is a Seoni in both groups so I am testing both options.

As others have said though, I don't see myself really using either of the powers that often. I also don't like the idea of banishing cards, since it usually means a step down in deck quality.

I haven't got Fortress yet so maybe they'll turn out to be fantastic in the harder scenarios, but on first impressions I'd rather take different power feats.

Yeah, while parts of the actual Adventure Path are a bit mature, the murder scenes in the Skinsaw Murders and the Ogre-kin in the Hook Mountain Massacre come to mind, the card game largely glosses over those bits.

Unless you intentionally introduce them back in yourself there isn't much in the card game that I would consider inappropriate. Provided you think they can understand enough of the mechanics it should be ok.

Harsk is really the only character I ever try this with intentionally, because he usually knows what the top card in the deck is from his look power the previous turn. Because of this I occasionally run him down to zero cards if it is a boon I don't want or a bane that is relatively safe.

Usually though, I don't like recharging his last weapon anyway since if he doesn't draw another one when he resets his hand, it can make life difficult for future turns.

Still, sometimes if the game is getting away we need to take some risks so have to explore after a hand got exploded by explosive runes. It happens.

Wouldn't recommend it as an planned strategy though.

Ok, here's my 3 character group.

Character Name: Seoni
Role Card: Celestial Sorcerer
Skill Feats: +4 Cha
Power Feats: +1 hand size, discard a card for 1d6 + 3
Card Feats: Spell + 3
Weapons: None
Spells: Glibness, Haste, Lightning Bolt, Scorching Ray, Scrying, Swipe
Armors: None
Items: Crown of Charisma, Masterwork Tools, Wand of Enervation
Allies: Acolyte, Sage, Standerd Bearer, Troubador
Blessings: Blessing of Adabar, Blessing of Irori, Blessing of Pharasma * 3

Character Name: Kyra
Role Card: Healer
Skill Feats: Str + 2, Wis + 2
Power Feats: +1 hand size, Weapon proficiency, +1 card on healing power, recharge blessing of Saranrae
Card Feats: Weapon + 1, Spell + 1, Item + 1
Weapons: Bastard Sword + 1, Greatsword, Impaler of Thorns
Spells: Aid, Augury, Cure, Find Traps
Armors: Elven Breastplate, Magic Half-Plate
Items: Masterwork Tools, Staff of Minor Healing
Allies: Vale Temros
Blessings: Blessing of Gorum * 2, Blessing of Irori, Blessing of Saranrae, Blessing of Torag * 2

Character Name: Sajan
Role Card: Zen Archer
Skill Feats: Dex + 4
Power Feats: +2 hand size, weapon proficiency, add magic trait to unarmed attack
Card Feats: Weapon + 1, Item + 2
Weapons: Light Crossbow
Spells: None
Armors: None
Items: Amulet of Mighty Fists, Belt of Incredible Dexterity * 2, Boots of Elvenkind, Holy Candle
Allies: Black Arrow Ranger, Sabretooth Tiger
Blessings: Blessing of Calistria, Blessing of Erastil * 3, Blessing of Iomedae, Blessing of Shelyn * 2, Blessing of Torag

No deaths though a few close encounters.

Now the 6 character group:
These replayed a few scenarios looking for better boons as well.

Character Name: Harsk
Role Card: Tracker
Skill Feats: Dex + 3, Wis + 1
Power Feats: +1 hand size, 1d4 + 2 to another's combat check, recharge animal allies
Card Feats: Armor + 1, Ally + 1, Blessing + 1
Weapons: Deathbane Light Crossbow + 1, Heavy Crossbow, Light Crossbow + 1, Returning Throwing Axe + 1, Shock Longbow + 1
Spells: None
Armors: Elven Chain Shirt * 2
Items: Belt of Incredible Dexterity, Holy Candle, Masterwork Tools
Allies: Black Arrow Ranger * 2
Blessings: Blessing of Calistria, Blessing of Erastil, Blessing of Lamashtu, Blessing of Saranrae, Blessing of Shelyn, Blessing of Torag

Character Name: Seelah
Role Card: Hospitaler
Skill Feats: Str + 3, Wis + 1
Power Feats: +1 hand size, discard for 1d6 + 1 to check, examine top card at end, recharge Blessing of Iomedae
Card Feats: Weapon + 1, Spell + 1, Ally + 1
Weapons: Flaming Mace + 1, Longsword + 1, Longsword + 2, Warhammer + 1
Spells: Cure, Find Traps
Armors: Elven Breastplate, Magic Half-Plate, Spiny Shield
Items: None
Allies: Cat, Father Zantus, Vale Temros
Blessings: Blessing of Iomedae * 4, Blessing of Saranrae, Blessing of Torag

Character Name: Amiri
Role Card: Juggernaut
Skill Feats: Str + 3, Wis + 1
Power Feats: +1 hand size, heavy armor, move another character at end of turn, +d12 for Blessing of Gorum
Card Feats: Item + 1, Blessing + 2
Weapons: Glaive, Greatsword, Icy Longspear + 1, Scythe + 1, Impaler of Thorns
Spells: None
Armors: Elven Breastplate, Magic Half-Plate
Items: Belt of Giant Strength * 2, Staff of Minor Healing
Allies: Jakardros Sovark, Sage
Blessings: Blessing of Abadae, Blessing of Gorum * 3, Blessing of Irori, Blessing of Lamashtu

Character Name: Merisiel
Role Card: Thief
Skill Feats: Dex + 4
Power Feats: + 1 hand size, weapon proficiency, recharge for + 1d6 + 1 to combat check, when play blessing to dex recharge it
Card Feats: Weapon + 2, Blessing + 1
Weapons: Frost Longbow + 1 * 2, Longbow + 1 * 2
Spells: None
Armors: Snakeskin Tunic
Items: Belt of Incredible Dexterity, Crown of Charisma, Headband of Alluring Charisma, Masterwork Tools, Headband of Vast Intelligence, Sihedron Medallion
Allies: (card), (card), etc. Black Arrow Ranger, Shalelu Andosana
Blessings: Blessing of Calistria, Blessing of Erastil * 2, Blessing of Nogorber, Blessing of Torag

Character Name: Lini
Role Card: Wild Warden
Skill Feats: Wis + 4.
Power Feats: +1 hand size, weapon proficiency, reveal ally for + 1d4 + 2
Card Feats: Spell + 1, Ally + 1, Blessing + 1
Weapons: None
Spells: Aid * 2, Augury, Find Traps, Holy Light * 2, Major Cure,
Armors: None
Items: Staff of Minor Healing, Sihedron Medallion
Allies: Giant Badger, Monkey, Sabretooth Tiger, Toad
Blessings: Blessing of Abadar, Blessing of Irori, Blessing of Saranrae, Blessing of Shelyn * 2

Character Name: Seoni
Role Card: Abyssal Sorcerer
Skill Feats: Cha + 4
Power Feats: + 1 hand size, Arcane + 1d6 + 2 for combat check, +d12 for Blessing of Pharasma
Card Feats: Spell + 3
Weapons: None
Spells: Augury, Haste * 2, Lightning Bolt * 2, Swipe
Armors: None
Items: Headband of Alluring Charisma, Sihedron Medallion, Wand of Enervation
Allies: Acolyte, Sage, Sheriff Hemlock, Yap the Pixie
Blessings: Blessing of Calistria, Blessing of Pharasma * 3, Blessing of the Gods

Also no deaths. Lost a few scenarios though, Thistletop Delve twice and a couple of others. Had a few near misses.

If I have time to finish the other 3 player group (Ezren, Valeros and Lem) before Fortress arrives I'll post them here too. Otherwise I might be too busy :-).

Ooh, this looks a lot of fun. Curse long shipping times to Australia….

My other favourite character (along with Amiri).

I mostly play her in six player solitaire, and her abilities really suit large games. Other characters in the current group are - Amiri, Merisiel, Seoni, Lem and Harsk.

Power feats taken were extra card, and recharge spell as well as blessing when using her extra 1d6 power. Improving that bonus is next. Card feats, spell first, then probably extra weapon to increase the chances of getting one at the start (which is her major drawback).

In terms of strategy:

Use the scouting ability every turn. If I turn over something I really want (holy candle, elven breastplate, etc) then I move somewhere else and make a call about whether to try and pick it up, when I see how much time I have towards the end. Scouting ability is also really nice for Shrine of Lamashtu, since you have a pretty good chance of avoiding 1 or 2 of the blessings.

Use the power for the extra d6 whenever an important roll comes up such as closing a location (really important in 6 player games), acquiring a good item, etc. Losing the card is not very important since each character only gets 5 turns and the most important ones (the blessings) get recharged instead anyway.

Armor is very helpful, particularly if you can get an elven breastplate. It means that anytime you have an unimportant fight, you can risk losing it and not really worry about the damage. I.e. skeleton horde, goblin invasion, etc, same with summoning a bandit at the guard tower.

Card selection is mostly fairly standard. I gave her Father Zantius though since it helps her with divine checks (and I often send her to locations with divine to close) and meant she could drop cure. Spells are find traps and augury (though aid is up there too). Traps can hurt, but with find traps and her +1d6 she still succeeds most of the time.

Her biggest weakness is if she doesn't start with a weapon. In this case I usually have Amiri give her one (if she has a spare), otherwise she can lose quite a few fights early on. Her armour means this won't hurt much, but losing the explorations can be a problem.

It took me a while to figure her out, and I really didn't like her in small games, but for the 6 character groups she is the first one I include.

One of my two favourite characters. I mostly play her in 6 character solitaire. I don't think she would be as good in smaller games.

Her end of turn movement is great, and the first power feat I took was the one allowing you to move someone else as well. This means you can trade really easily. I also use it to move both Amiri and someone else away from Merisiel.

In addition to the uses that zeroth_hour pointed out, I also use the movement power to have someone at a location in case it needs to be temporarily closed, which can be surprisingly handy in a big game.

Haven't found the need for extra armour for her, but I did try and get magic armour so I can recharge if I end up with both.

Card feats are blessings first, then allies. She needs some extra help with exploration in large games. This is probably less important in a smaller one.

I also use her rage a lot. In addition to making easier checks safe (closing strength/con based locations, acquiring weapons, etc) I also use it in combat a lot, even when she would probably win, just as a way of cycling through her deck.

The other power feat I took was hand size, just to give her more options. Third one will probably be improved rage. Don't think the heavy armour is needed too much for her, and Seelah gets first dibs on any good ones that come up anyway.

She is also my go to person if I locate the villain and I want to defeat them.

Yeah, we don't usually bring Kyra along in the 6 character games. Since each character only gets 5 turns it is rare that more than 1 or 2 need healing in a game, and in that case it seems better to do that using a spell on Lem or Seelah, than have Kyra waste an explore (and often a blessing to the discard).

Of the characters that I have tried solo, she was the easiest though and I found it a very strong ability in 2 and 3 player games.

Assuming it continues on the path it's currently on, my vote is for Wrath of the Righteous, which I am loving as an AP so far. Reign of Winter could also be pretty cool too.

Regarding classes, not too fussed whether we see new ones or repeats; as long as there is enough difference in attributes / mechanics to keep them fresh.

So much awesome.

Looks like Harsk is in trouble. With 1d4 as his dice for all 3 of those checks he needs a lot of blessings to have a chance :-).

I don't play too much solo (i.e. one character) but in my experience Kyra was the least likely to get squashed. She can always just heal herself, and since in a solo game the blessings deck doesn't really put much of a timer on you, losing the exploration to do this is not much of a problem. She also gets at least one of every type of boon in her deck so you don't automatically discard stuff. It was very disheartening with Seelah getting a really good item but having to banish it at the end of the scenario.

Harsk also worked pretty well, since he is a well rounded character, just don't expect him to acquire too many allies.

Amiri and Valeros were ok, but they often come across situations that they have no way of beating.

Regarding playing multiple characters on your own, it's pretty straightforward. I have played a couple of 6 character games on my own without too much trouble. It just takes a bit longer and you need to organise your space well. Otherwise it's fine.

I would recommend starting with 2 and working upwards though. The suggested combination of Valeros and Lem is a really good one. I also found that Sajan and Seelah complement each other pretty well. They both fight well, their decks are almost exact opposites, and if one finds a challenge they can't beat, the other should be able to deal with it.

Just my 2c.

Shalelu Andosana, yeah, she is friggin awesome too.

I'm also with Fromper and Bulldozer, it might be best to play it as written the first time.

Having said that, we usually house rule that you can withdraw / run out of time once per scenario. If it happens twice it's a TPK and we start again. It removes enough of the blind luck factor (villain is the last card you search or things went bad) but still keeps enough pressure on to make you take risks.

I did actually think through the mathematics, which is why it's 50%. You can look at all the permutations of the deck if you don't believe me. After shuffling a 10 card deck, there are 90 possible pairs of positions for the monster and the villain and in exactly 45 of them, the villain is above the monster. The number of positions is different if you have a deck smaller than 10 cards, but the 50% figure doesn't change.

In short, you go from a guarantee of having to encounter the monster to reach the villain, to a 50% chance of having to encounter the monster which saves you half an exploration.

If you do this for multiple turns and encounter multiple monsters, then you end up, on average, with the same benefit as an extra exploration. It's a little more complicated than this since you don't shuffle the monsters simultaneously, but it works out pretty much the same.

Now its true that there are a couple of drawbacks. Firstly it's only on average, so you can still get unlucky or lucky which may not be desirable. It is also useless if there is no villain / henchman left in the deck (if you failed the roll to close the location for example).

The upside of it though is extra knowledge of the location deck, and the fact that if you find the villain, you don't have to encounter it straight away. If you know where the villain is, the party can setup in such a way as to temporarily close all other locations ensuring the villain has no where to run to.

I agree that the game is a race, since I play almost exclusively in 6 character games. I wrote this guy off before due to his drawback, but on Merisiel he might just end up being useful.

I didn't think of using him with Merisiel, but that is actually really quite strong, particularly in a larger game where extra explorations are important, and you have a choice of locations.

This kind of optional reshuffle is about 50% as good as an extra exploration, since half the time the monster will get shuffled under the henchman / villain and therefore won't need to be encountered. So, if during a game you can reliably find 2 monsters and shuffle them back under, he is equivalent to a discard for an extra exploration type ally.

Combined with the scouting power (i.e. finding a villain without having to encounter it straight away, etc) makes it pretty useful if you can nullify the downside.

His power goes down the later you draw him though, since you have less opportunities to use him. I'd have to do some maths to figure out the break even point, which I don't feel like attempting right now :-).

Not sure I would use him on other characters but definitely can't just write him off as useless like I did previously.

Going back to the original topic of the thread.

The extended character sheets indicate that the Scenario 5 pack will contain a spell called "Raise Dead" which implies that there will be at least one way to avoid having to start all over again if a character gets killed. There may also be others that we don't know about yet.

6 character solitaire is awesome. One of the best ways to play imho.

I would agree with H4ppy though, it is quite a lot slower since you have to maximise the number of explorations that each character takes per turn. Makes for some really interesting strategy though. It's really enjoyable.

As a quick note on Amiri's movement power and on levitate. Another use that we came across is to avoid unpleasant start of turn effects on locations. The Mountain Peak forces you to make a check at the start of the turn or bury a card. Another location (Guard Tower iirc) forces you to fight a bandit at the start of each turn. I use Amiri to explore those locations since she can move there, explore, then move somewhere else at the end of her turn. Levitate can do the same, albeit only once each time you cast it.

Moving to trade cards or heal while still exploring where you want are the main uses we have found for them.

They are somewhat situational though and I tend to replace levitate pretty early on for this reason. I don't mind if I acquire one part way through a game though.