Just a few weeks ago, I actually finished a party going through the Dragon's Demand into Curse using the Curse method of adding 3 to #, adding 3 wildcards, etc.
It was definitely tough for our party, since we had Valeros, Fumbus, and Harsk, so checks like Knowledge or Divine were nigh-impossible when # was getting an extra +3 or +6.
For ease of setup and bookkeeping, we tended to use the 6-monster and 6-barrier wildcards, and then the appropriate Harrow wildcard.
There were a few times in the late-game we just got walled by either the Harrow wildcard (Stars, where you recharge a card after your non-blessed check) or a scenario effect (specifically just the late-game one where you had to essentially close the location twice because it had an Evidence in it). In each case, we played it 2-3 times as it was, and if we still got walled, we adjusted something.
When it was the harrow wildcard stopping us, we changed it out for some other wildcard.
In the late-game scenario with the Evidence keeping a location open the first time it was going to close, we ended up just skipping that effect and closing the location anyway after our third time losing by running out of blessings in the hourglass. We still just barely managed to scrape through the scenario after that, because dice would just roll low numbers seemingly fairly often.
The Valeros build went the shield route, and had a pile of shields, with just a single sword in the deck, to ensure it was always available. Wyrmsmite's damage reduction got plenty of use before Serithtial came along. The other weapons were usually just recharged for local combat checks, unless it was Quarterstaff of Vaulting. Being able to reveal shields for powers was pretty useful for the "Klar" shields for Melee combats, Tower Shield to reroll a die on any local combat check, and the Brute Force Shield to deal with Disable checks.
The Fumbus deck went for "big boom" items, and Harsk went down the route to carry a few divine spells, specifically the Cure-types. Each deck generally kept itself able to recharge at least one used card every turn, so we didn't ever die.
Treating # as 3 higher was really useful starting in the mid-game, when some bigger alchemical items were added to the vault, like Bottled Lightning, because when you pull from the vault to rebuild, you can grab whatever you want to fill the last slots in a deck. For example, completing an adventure with a printed # of 4, plus 3 for having completed DD, minus 2 per the rebuilding rules gets a result of "level 5 or less".
With a more balanced party, it might have been easier where we struggled, but it was fun getting to fill out nearly every feat on the characters.
Character Name: Valeros
Role Card: Compatriot
Skill Feats: Strength+4, Constitution+1, Charisma+1
Power Feats: +2 hand size, On a local combat check, you may reload or recharge a weapon or an armor ([X] or an ally) to add 1d4 ([X] 1d6), At the end of your turn,you may recharge a weapon or an armor ([X] or an ally), [X] When you would recharge or discard a Shield armor for its power
Card Feats: Armor+2, Item+1, Ally+2, Blessing+1
Unspent Hero Points: 2
Weapons: Serithtial, Guardian Bow, Quarterstaff of Vaulting, Verminbane Warhammer
Spells:
Armors: Stone-Shard Breastplate, Totem Klar, Dread Helm, Kazavon's Shield, Voidglass Armor
Items: Wayfinder, Thieves' Tools, Crowbar
Allies: Priest of Pharasma, Ruan Mirukova, Korvosan Dandy, Naval Hero, Darb Tuttle
Blessings: Achaekek's Claws, Grandmother Nightmare, The Worldbreaker, The Savored Sting
Character Name: Kess
Role Card: Bruiser
Skill Feats: Strength+4, Constitution+2
Power Feats: +2 hand size, For your combat check, you may use Melee + 1d8 ([X] or Melee + 1d12 and add the Magic trait), On your check ([X] or another local character's combat check)...recharge an ally ([X] or an armor or an item), [X] When you would fail a combat check...
Card Feats: Armor+1, Item+1, Ally+4
Unspent Hero Points: 1
Weapons:
Spells:
Armors: Magic Spiked Full Plate, Impervious Chain Shirt, Angelic Armor, Mantle of Life
Items: Red Mantis Mask, Banner of the Ancient Kings, Belt of Physical Prowess, Belt of Physical Might, Silver War Paint
Allies: Sklar-Quah Thundercaller, Salvator Scream, Venster Arabasti, Risibeth, Ausio Carowyn, Formian Myrmidon, Lyrune-Quah Moon Maiden, Skoan-Quah Boneslayer, Toff Ornelos
Blessings: The First, The Publican, Master of Masters
Character Name: Kyra
Role Card: Dawnseeker
Skill Feats: Strength+2, Wisdom+4
Power Feats: +2 hand size, Weapon, At the end of your turn,...([X] or 1d4 cards),[X] Gain the skills..., [X] On your check to recharge
Card Feats: Weapon+1, Spell+2, Item+1, Belssing+2
Unspent Hero Points: 6
Weapons: Shocking Sawtooth Saber, Thundering Earthbreaker, Ashbringer
Spells: Restoration, Breath of Life, Restorative Touch, Aid, Divine Fortune, Steal Soul
Armors: Mantle of Faith
Items: Staff of Greater Healing, Ring of Splendid Security, Wand of Restorative Touch
Allies: Lyrune-Quah Truthspeaker
Blessings: The Lady of Mysteries, The Prince of Pain, The All-Seeing Eye, The Dance, The Healing Light, Lady of Valor, The Wind and the Waves
Character Name: Seoni
Role Card: Celestial Runecaster
Skill Feats: Intelligence+2, Charisma+4
Power Feats: For your combat check,...([X] or recharge a spell) to use Arcane + 2d4 ([X] 2d6),On your check to recharge an Arcane spell ([X] or an Arcane item), [X] On your blessed check..., [X] When you suffer Acid or Cold ([X] or Electricity or Fire)
Card Feats: Spell+3, Ally+2, Blessing+4
Unspent Hero Points: 2
Weapons:
Spells: Meteor Swarm, Icy Prison, Ice Strike, Corrosive Storm, Death's Touch, Quickened Ray, Chain Lightning, Disintegrate
Armors:
Items: Whisper of the First Lie, Brooch of Protection
Allies: Jasan Adriel, Bound Imp, Magistrate, Acadamae Scholar, Fortune-Teller, Nightspear
Blessings: Desna's Freedom, The Tangled Briar, The Paladin, The Foreign Trader
I'll admit I didn't really look at any of the CT characters, and just picked Valeros 'cause he's the fighter, but this guy looks real cool, with the deck manipulation.
I'm going to have to play through everything again using this guy, and take an actual pass through on the other characters.
My playgroup just finished 4A in our last session, and before we meet up for the next, I'd like to confirm how Honor-Tested is handled/gained during 4B.
Based on the wording of the "During This Scenario" text, you must actually fail the check to defeat Cindermaw, resulting in some amount of Combat damage, in order to gain Honor-Tested.
Simply overpowering Cindermaw without the scourge causing him to be undefeated is not a valid way to gain the scourge.
Is this correct?
During This Scenario wrote:
When you fail a check to defeat Cindermaw, gain the scourge Honor-Tested. While marked with this scourge, at the start of your turn, suffer 1d4-1 Fire damage.
If you would defeat Cindermaw and are not marked with the scourge Honor-Tested, Cindermaw is undefeated instead.
The avenge mechanic sounds great, and this was a pretty good article, up until the very end that described the box. Then it was the best article I've read for this game.
Now I can sleeve everything and fit it all in one box, without buying an extra insert or printing a new set of dividers. And it came out right after I was trying to figure out what to do about the storage.
With the Core and Curse of the Crimson Throne sets right around the corner, will those boxes be the same size as the previous ones, or will they be different, considering they're not expected to contain some 1200 cards when all is said and done?
While product images don't reflect/guarantee any differences or being the same, the current images on the store pages appear to be wider in one dimension than the other, instead of the square all the previous boxes are.
I'm just trying to plan ahead as to how I want to figure out the storage for everything once I pick it up next month.
I've read through this thread, and I've seen some really nice ideas. I especially like the phrasing of "Block" instead of "Temporarily Close", and the usage of a generic base set which then gets expanded with AP-specific content.
I prefer the idea of using generic henchmen as proxies or placeholders, so that we don't need to fill up our boxes with a bunch of henchman that might never see use, depending on the size of a table.
I also hope to see "heal" as an action word, where it could replace all the "shuffle random cards from discard pile into deck", shortening a lot of text that's seen often.
Also on the subject of shortening text, I also prefer "Cost: Effect" formatting when possible, like what's used in most TCGs. I feel it makes things cleaner to read, especially for some of the common effects, although some of the more-invovled effects for spells, items, and whatnot might not be changed too much.
Here's a few samples of how I might shorten things.
Adjusting Longsword:
Longsword wrote:
For your combat check, reveal this card to use your Strength or Melee skill + 1d8; you may additionally discard this card to add another 1d6. If not proficent with weapons, the difficulty of this check is increased by 4.
Adjusted Longsword wrote:
[Combat] Reveal: Strength or Melee skill + 1d8.
[Combat] Discard: Strength or Melee skill + 1d8 + 1d6.
[Non-Proficient (Weapons)] +4 difficulty.
This type of change makes it more obvious how many ways the card can be used for a combat check, and separates out the single block of text into more manageable chunks.
Adjusting Lightning Touch:
Lightning Touch wrote:
For your combat check, discard this card to use your Arcane skill + 2d4.
After playing this card, if you do not have the Arcane skill, banish this card; otherwise, you may succeed at an Arcane 6 check to recharge this card instead of discarding it.
Adjusted Lightning Touch wrote:
[Combat] Discard: Arcane skill + 2d4.
[Recharge] Arcane 6 instead of discarding.
[Non-Proficient (Arcane)] After playing, banish this card.
This cleans up both the combat check and the second half of the card that deals with banishing and recharging the card. This could also expand the "Proficient" tag from the sample Longsword to also reference whether a character has or doesn't have a certain skill.
Blessing of the Gods:
I know we're several sets past them at this point, but this might also help the wording on Blessing of the Gods or any new cards that have a similar effect, since the powers of a blessing now include the "on match" effect in the "Powers" box of the card.
When I first read the errata for Blessing of the Gods, that it only copied the powers, and I saw the lack of the Recharge box in Skull and Shackles, the "read-as-written" part of me thought "This didn't fix anything. If it's in the Powers box, it's a power, and should be copied", even though I knew the intent was to not copy the recharge clause.
Assuming each boon has no "free" abilities, and each one has a cost, even just "Reveal" or "Display", any effect on a boon with a "Cost: Effect" format could be considered a power, and other effects starting with tags like [Recharge] or [Proficient] from my above examples or simply no tag would be considered "not a power", and, as such, not copied by effects like Blessing of the Gods.
For example:
Adjusted Blessing of Shelyn wrote:
Discard: Add 1 die to any check. This would be a power.
Discard: Add 2 dice to any noncombat Wisdom check. This would be a power.
Discard: Explore your location. This would be a power.
Recharge after playing if the top card of the blessings discard pile matches this card. This would not be a power.
Not sure if everyone else is getting the emails, but you should all check your emails and/or the Season of the Shackles downloads directly on here.
I've been getting emails for each of the adventures being updated, and the changes noted refer to the scenario and adventure rewards. It looks like they're changing out the feat rewards for card-draws, so that the feats can be earned via tier-system instead of the actual adventures/scenarios themselves.
I hope WoodManZX is still around so that when they release new card templates he can add them in. I personally consider the MSE template to be perhaps the best thing any one in the community has ever contributed. It is that good. And the time it saves is unbelievable. He doesn't get enough praise for it, probably because it works so well you can just take it and use it. But it is the best.
Why yes, I am still around. I'm usually more of a lurker than a poster.
Once the templates get updated, I'll be sure to update the MSE template, 'cause I know it'll be useful.
As for adding things like adventure numbers, and unique card numbers, there weren't really room available on the cards to show those things, but I could probably squeeze in the adventure numbers by the card type.
I just haven't gotten around to really updating that stuff in a while. Been too busy playing the regular game.
I actually have a default card numbering system in place, using close to the same as Paizo's sorting for when you open a new pack of cards, and the suggested layout of the box. This sorts it by card type, and then by name.
As for getting enough praise, as long as people use it and find it suitable, that's all I really wanted to happen. no more is necessary.
I've gone through the different card types, with "Constitution" set in the "Check to Acquire/Defeat" field, and whether the word fits on a single line without any assistance is based on the size of the field, with the taller fields needing a bit of 'help' to put the word on one line.
If the only check for the card is going to be Constitution, you'll need to press "Enter" at both the beginning and end of the word "Constitution", which will center the word in the box and fit it on a single line.
I've made another small update to the template. It doesn't really change anything, but you're able to have character/role/token cards with the exact same name able to mass-export without overwriting each other now.
Download is in the same place as before, right here.
Oh no, I was more referring to the green band that goes behind the name - on the official cards it stretches the full width of the token card (for example) where as in the MSE template it only covers half the width so the head of the character art would not overlap the green band. I wasn't sure if that was because of a limitation of the tool or not :)
Oh, now I get it. That's actually just a visual thing which happens with images. once you select an image, if it has transparency where the green bar is, the green bar should re-appear.
I'm not too familiar with the capabilities of MSE but it seems like it can support image masking to some degree. So would it be possible to extend the name bar (on the Token card, for example) all of the way across the card in the template? Too bad there's no z-ordering..
I can fix it myself in Photoshop after the fact, of course, but it seems like a better workflow if I can lay out my cards how I want them in MSE first :)
Yes, MSE supports both image masking and z-indexing, and all of the text in the templates is placed on top of any images that may be on the cards.
As for the width of the fields, I just took an arbitrary length that fit a decently sized name, and didn't overrun the name of a role.
I'm just curious, what's the name you're using that the field isn't wide enough for? I can easily adjust the width of the field, within reason.
Unfortunately, I don't really know of anywhere to find images from/of any of the existing cards.
As for where to find other images, I've heard that there's plenty of sites out there, like Pixiv or such, which have tons of images. I'm sure some quick searching on Google can point you in the right direction.
This is really cool and so helpful. It looks like I can't fit the word "Constitution" as the skill for a check on a single line, the "n" wraps. Anyway I can adjust that?
I've taken a look at this, and it appears to be an issue due to the size of the text box in relation to the length of the word. Honestly, I hadn't actually tested "Constitution" in that field.
I've just made an update to the template, which allows the text for those fields to shrink just a bit further, which will allow you to do one of two things.
One is "add another skill".
If that goes against the flavor/mechanics of the card, option 2 is "press 'Enter' either before or after 'Constitution'". It's slightly messy-looking, due to the extra line, but it gets the job done.
Either option will force MSE to put the entire word "Constitution" on a single line.
Yeah, I can definitely get one of those going. Glad to see you're looking forward to it.
On another note, I've actually discovered a bug in the template that happens when you switch a card between "Story" and "Boon/Bane" styles, so I've made an update to correct the error.
I'm not sure exactly how popular Magic Set Editor is around here, but I've made a template for it from the Community Use Template Package.
It keeps all cards for a given "set" together, which could be your Adventure Path, Adventure, or however you feel like organizing it. There's no limit to how many of each card type can be in a set at the same time, but it's best to have only a single Adventure Path card in a given set, so that when the images get exported, you aren't missing anything.
Once you're ready to print your cards, you can export all the images for the cards fairly quickly, just a few clicks and a short wait, and all the cards are exported so you can print them out and dive through dungeons and steal the bad guy's treasures.
So far, I've bought the base set and the character add-on pack, and I've sleeved everything in Dragon Shields. Clear for the double-sided cards, and black for everything else. When I first opened the box, it was obvious that the insert wouldn't be able to accommodate the sleeves, so I starting looking and asking around to see how other people dealt with the issue.
After some browsing around on BGG, and talking with others who purchased the game, I found this organizer for sale, first linked in a BGG thread: http://www.thebrokentoken.com/pathfinder-adventure-card-game-box-organizer/
This took a little bit of work to put together, but it replaces the plastic insert completely, and fits very well in the original box, while allowing for any sort of adjustments you'd want to make to the storage of the cards.
It is a bit pricier than just using another method, but it works great for sleeved cards.
