Setver's page

When exactly do you roll the 1d4 and determine the outcome?

The first time each turn that a character explores this location, each character at that location rolls 1d4:

Is it

A: before you explore?
B: During the encountering the card you explored
C: After the exploration?

It doesn't say before or after, so we did it during the card we flipped, but before anything on that card. I guess the only real difference between that and A is that you can see that card, so if you take damage you can keep a relevant card to help you out.

It was dangerous, as the henchmen when we finally encountered this card were the ones that made you recharge/reset your hand before taking damage. I was lucky he wasn't next, but I could have took 5 fire damage, lost my whole hand. fought him, and then lost all my hand again, then drawn and died from a very healthy state.

i'm not quite up on the rules as I'd like to be, so what happens when you have 0 cards in your discard pile and her power triggers. Does the blessing you used get recharged or not? Basically, does the blessing go to the discard immediately? I figured if it had recharge it wouldn't since that is an additional check, but maybe we've been misordering some things.

I'm enjoying her immensely, she's such a selfless character and helping others with blessings definitely feels like that, a complete 180 from Ranzak who I just beat S&S with!

What we did, in my 3 player group, was I, Ranzak, cleared out the location. If I remember correctly, its an Enemy ship henchmen and it was on bottom for us. Either I had a potion, or I left it there for Seltyiel. Either way, after i acquired all the boons, I just waited for it to be closed and didn't explore till it was. You banish the haunts when closing, but when permanently closed you do as well, so i just sat there. I do remember we had about 3 turns left when we won, so it was close.

We have kept potions of healing before, as well as the mayor. Everything else has been tossed out unless we were short on items of course.

I feel like you are looking at items and ignoring the 'bad' weapons. Short sword vs longsword? sling vs light crossbow? In those cases i'd rather have a potion that could be useful than a weapon that I wouldn't even choose to acquire. That brings up another point, if you are just acquiring these potions and them immediately discarding them.. you know you don't even have to acquire them right? You can choose to fail to acquire and banish it back to the box. Clogging up your future draw steps, if you have any type of curing available, is a definite downside to some potions/weapons. I usually take a quick glance at the open locations and see if i'll need an acrobatics/stealth/survival/etc check to close, and if the potion matches, I'm pretty happy then. If not.. it probably goes to the box.

All that being said, my "main" character is Seelah, who can't even keep an item. Since i can't carry Masterwork Tools, i'm still using a burglar in adventure 5. Sometimes a niche card is what you want to shore up some weaknesses.

Setver wrote:

Well, Aid is Divine, so a bad example, but point still made. This is the reason I'm sure that its taking so long. They don't want corner cases. They want it streamlined.

I've had Aid cast by Ezren at least 3 times in one of my games. It's bizarre, but totally legal and does, in fact, happen. Now, not one of them was on a recharge check (what a waste!), but still.

Sure he can cast it, and I don't have his card in front of me, but i'm pretty sure it says when you cast a spell with the Arcane trait, just not cast a spell? I could be wrong though.

This doesn't seem the way to go, to me. That would mean that you couldn't draw for both Acid Arrow and Mirror Image, because they're both played during the same check. Furthermore, what if you play Aid on your recharge check? Now it's a check within a check. Do you still get to peek for both Aid and the recharging card?

Well, Aid is Divine, so a bad example, but point still made. This is the reason I'm sure that its taking so long. They don't want corner cases. They want it streamlined.

I originally thought the Soldier and Snake were bad. Melee? All the characters with melee can easy beat a monster right? Then it finally clicked 3 adventures in. Most weapons add the melee trait. So Ezren could reveal, say a quarterstaff, and recharge the soldier. I don't have the cards in front of me right now, but I "think" all the STR weapons have melee and the DEX have ranged. Could be a few outliers for RP reasons though. Does your Lem have a light crossbow? Recharge that archer.

Restoration:
Discard this card: When you reset your hand this turn, (draw 2 extra)(your hand size is increased by 2.)*You get the point*

Maybe a display since its for something later on. Idea is to still have a draw 2, but its slightly delayed. If you feel like 2 now is lots better than 2 later, could up it to 3.

Could alternatively have it like the magic armor cards. You may discard this card when you reset your hand to draw 2/3 more.

I'm not sure what the stance is on full errata'ing cards already.. but this could be future design space if nothing else. These are just some random ideas i had while perusing this thread. This still would fix the loop, and keep the card mostly the same functionally.

We printed out an extra character sheet, the one you can download from paizo. It only has boons, but that really helps. Just wrote banes on the back of it. Banes being included somewhere would really help.

Card feats seem to depend also what power feats you have taken. For example, if Seelah takes recharge spell, a 2nd spell is then super useful. If someone takes weapon proficiency, another weapon for those not favored is good.. but I'd say in smaller groups, you don't need as many explore cards, and the higher group size, more blessings. Also holy candle can change this too.

I actually really like the idea of a total random basic item start. But of course you could trade with other characters before your first adventure. Might make it so you get an extra of your favored card or two, so valeros would get 6 or 7 weapons to make his 5, and the rest get put into the group pool. I'm going to bring this up on our next start!

What about this for that specific scenario.
Villain:
Skinsaw man
Henchmen:
Aldern Foxglove
Haunt

Then a caveat where if he's in someone's deck, replace it with a haunt. If thats not enough haunts for a small party, you could even go with

Henchmen:
Haunt
Haunt
Haunt
Aldern Foxglove
Haunt

Just something I thought of on the fly

Mending might be another useful spell for her, especially if you do discard with her power a lot. You might find a random potion and discard it, as I am sure most do. Then you find an encounter you can't really beat, but that discard potion can, so you evade it and mend it back into your hand.

Since this post started as a solo Merisiel thread, remember you don't have to even roll to acquire boons, there is a may. If you find a detect magic or Guidance, anything you don't even want, you can just choose to not roll and banish it instead. This would guarantee you start with a cure each scenario.

The only thing that could happen, is that since you choose the character first, it could be a satyr, etc, that you aren't expecting. Or a werewolf with a Blessing of the gods up. If your team isn't sporting a large number of blessings to combat, the turn could end up interesting.

Correct, you will add the Adventure 1 cards(Burnt Offerings) and remove none. You don't remove any cards at the beginning of an adventure. You will eventually remove the Basics and later Elite banes, and have a choice on boons.

tl;dr Yes

Arcane die +1d6
Arcane = Charisma +2
Charisma = d12 +2
So its (D12+2) +2 +1d6

Also, its Seoni! Seelah is the paladin. Both are super fun characters. Though I do seem to like every character, for different reasons.

It seems like her having a d8 wis/str, since those two are her most used die, is a problem. Its really not considering that d6 to any check. Melee and Divine both being +2 is really all she needs to start, as long as you aren't trying to recharge some really hard spells. I actually would say she is the strongest solo, as she has a chance to close any location without a blessing with that d6.

Gemini, you seem to be playing her almost exactly the same as me. Mending is cool, but a 2nd cure is just getting back more cards to cycle through for me. I thought about more STR, but auto acquiring every blessing with 2 into wisdom pushed me towards that. If you get a location with 2-4 blessings, you can plow through that location. I went through the temple 2 nights ago and even chose to not close it, with 3 people as it is the same play group, even then it took 4 total turns to close my location.

I started playing this character by roleplaying a paladin with an attitude that she is going to smite and overkill everything she can face. I expected her to die during the perils of the lost coast. I was surprised when she was destroying everything in her path. I've tempered it somewhat. I'm more cautious and use the d6 a lot less with armor in my hand, but without it, I will add it to everycombat, and use blessings in hand when they are rechargable, unless its truly needed.

So far, we've been playing it right. I've maybe used cure incorrectly twice or so. Nothing game breaking. Do most spells have location restrictions?

Not really. I think every divination spell is only castable at your current location, like detect magic/evil/augury. Cure is limited to your location. Spells like Strength are any location. Just remember you can't actually attempt someone else's check unless that encounter has more than 1. That person still has to attempt one.

That being said, the game isn't 'too' hard, especially if you don't focus on acquiring loot.

This is bad math but bear with me. If each character had 1% of death per scenario, you are running 5 I think? 5 scenarios per adventure, and 6 adventures in the adventure path. It will sneak up on you. Just imagine an Ambush in the waterfront that makes you encounter a warlord. Or some explosive runes. Or you all stack up and someone fights a hill giant and rolls all 1's.

Hi,

I have a few questions on the timing on using the Cleric power to heal.

1) Can I do it before I move? after I move? after I play a spell?
2) If I forfeit my first exploration for the turn to use the power, may I then use a card to explore (blessing/ally)?

Thanks!

It says, "Instead of your first exploration on a turn, you may reveal a card with the Divine trait to choose a character at your location. Shuffled 1d4+1(○+2) Random cards from his discard pile into his deck, then discard the card you revealed.

You can't do it before you move, as your first exploration each turn must be your 'free' one. This wasn't stated in the rulebook persay, and its been errata'd since, not sure if its in the FAQ.

So your turn would be, assuming you had a spell like Charm person, and not levitate.

Advance Blessings deck.
(Cast a spell)
Give someone at your location a card.
(Cast a spell)
Move
(Cast a spell)
Free Explore or Cure someone with your power
(Cast a spell)
(another explore if possible, aka discard an ally/blessing)
(Cast a spell)
You may attempt to close a location if it has no cards in it.
Reset your hand
End your turn

I'm asking because I don't remember reading that on the card. Plus I asked on the forums if people had to be at the same location for spells/blessings, and was told "no." Unless it explicitly says so on the card, they may be played at any time and any place.

Cure says:

You have to really read some cards to find that you/your check, at your location, at another location..

Are there restrictions on how many times the bard/fighter/ranger can use their +1d4 ability?

You can only each power once per check. So if Sajan was fighting a monster alongside Valeros and Lem, and Harsk was at another location, he could get 3d4 total. 2 would require recharges though. Since you draw up to your handsize at the end of your turn, this does limit Lem's and Harsk's options during their own turns.

So the answer is, Valeros can add 1d4 to another character's combat check at HIS location for free. Harsk can add 1d4 to another character's combat check at a different location for a recharge, and Lem can add 1d4 to another character's check, of any kind, to someone at his location for a recharge.

So if Sajan is fighting for example, a rat swarm with Valeros and Lem, he could get 3d4 for a cost of a recharge from Lem and Harsk. If he explores again and fights a Goblin Snake, Lem could help with the before the encounter fortitude check for a recharge, then for the combat check, he could get another 3d4. That would have had Lem and Harsk recharge a card each again.

I started typing this post under the Hardest Character thread, but I wrote so much I decided it needed its own since there wasn't a Seelah thread.

I originally though Seelah was going to be weak, as most people seem to do. After bringing her upto Skinsaw though, i have to say she is anything but. Maybe I am lucky with her 'heroic action' which is what i call her "You may discard the top card of your deck to add 1d6 (○ +1) to your check. If the top card was a blessing (○ or spell), recharge it instead of discarding it." I have been burned at times with it.. but i use it when i deem it necessary. Which, when she has armor, isn't that often. This ability does let her close nearly every location, without requiring a blessing in hand. She only really has a problem with INT based ones, the rest, whether henchman or the common WIS/survival or WIS/perception, etc, are easy if you throw in that d6. If you happen to find a boon that you don't really care for, but someone else does, it will let you acquire this item. This ability plays better than it looks, so i took spells being recharged as her first power feat, and 2 cures with her card feat being spell.

You may examine the top card of your location deck at the start (○ or end) of your turn. If it’s a boon, put it on the bottom of the deck. This is an ability I use nearly every turn, unless we're really far ahead of the blessings deck. The thing is, you might miss out on some random loot, but you do get to see what it is. If its that Augury Ezren has been wanting, or the Holy Candle you can always opt to not close the location, leave it, find a way to shuffle it, etc. Seelah's one real weakness would be some barriers. Luckily, if you use this ability constantly, you know when they are coming, and if you can't defeat, you can hop on over to another location for your actual explore. When you get to examine and find the henchman in a harder location to close you can swap. When you find the villain, you get the option of that close now and shuffle, or leave him till you can temp close others.

Next up is her favored card, armor. Her having 3 armors lets her be more reckless. Against most encounters, the worst that could happen is you burying some armor. It lets you use less resources than other characters when you do have armor, because losing a skill roll is a big deal here. Not only do you take damage, you wasted that explore. She does need a weapon to start, but there are locations with them in nearly every scenario. At worst, you have to turn a card, or bury an armor. For this reason I am upping her hand size next to 5, as this allows a higher chance for a starting weapon. Once you get outfitted with magic armor that you can recharge when you reset your hand, you are able to find what you need sooner as well without permanent damage.

Lets move to blessings. She has a good starting number, and getting them to be Named blessings was always a priority. Luckily she has divine, so this wasn't too difficult. Discarding a blessing, instead of recharging, is a big deal on Seelah. I do it, but I'd much rather recharge it if possible. A bigger handsize here will help as well. You want these blessings, and your cure, in your deck, not in your hand or discard pile. When recharging cure, i always discard the top card, and pray for a blessing. Not recharging cure is the one real way she can die. So if we take a look at her deck, 3 weapons, 3 armors and 2 allies. Once you get a card feat, and are able to recharge spells off the top, that is 8/16. 50% isn't bad, when you consider you have 2 cures.

Concerning allies, she only gets 2. Not a lot, but with a d10 charisma, picking up ones you find usually isn't too difficult.. I believe I currently have a sage and a soldier. They are used for exploring nearly every time I do draw them. Sage is there for recharging cure, and soldier for if i get a hard combat on my free explore and feel i need the boost, which would probably be when i don't have armor.

All of this has been my experience from a 3 player game. I started with Lem and Ezren but Ezren died from Bruthazmus at the goblin fortress. We now have Amiri in his stead. Lem started with a cure as well, and was able to 'cover' me if i did discard mine before i was able to recharge it. I haven't needed a cure from Lem since that power feat. Being self sufficient has let them use less resources on me. This can't be overlooked. Skill/Power/Card feats have been a +1 to STR and WIS, recharging spells for 1d6, and an extra spell for cure. Next will be handsize, but I'm not sure on her skill feat. It will probably be wisdom. Acquiring new spells/blessings during an adventure is doubly beneficial to Seelah, and being able to recharge them is another reason for wisdom.