If you use multiple (different) characters (possibly controlled by different IRL people) during an Adventure who should get the bonus when the Adventure sequence is completed?
I think it's most fun to give it to every character who participated in at least one Scenario from the Adventure (as opposed to just the characters that took down the last Scenario in the set).
Any community feedback on whether this is a good idea or not?
Well, the adventure card says that you have to complete every scenario to get the reward, so that's what my group does. If you missed one, you have to go back and do it.
Are you talking about the Sihedron Medallion? Thematically, I think it should be unique (at least here at the end of the Burnt Offerings) and there should just be one to split amongst the entire party.
I'm talking about any adventure. E.g. when you finish the "Perils of the Lost Coast" Adventure your prize is "Each character gains a skill feat" (or words to that effect).
@Mechalibur - the official line says "If you’ve successfully completed all of the scenarios on the adventure card, you earn the reward on the adventure card."
But if the group/party as a whole has completed all the scenarios, but some characters only played some of the scenarios, should they be denied the prize?
|
Are you talking about a situation where someone dies and you have to bring in another character? That is the only way I can think for someone to not have played an earlier adventure. If that is the case, you get the reward when you complete stage. If you want to stick to the rules, then I would say the new characters would have to solo the earlier adventure to get the higher level rewards. Otherwise, just let it go and give them the reward. They have already been penalized by not getting the earlier rewards.
@Mechalibur - the official line says "If you’ve successfully completed all of the scenarios on the adventure card, you earn the reward on the adventure card."
But if the group/party as a whole has completed all the scenarios, but some characters only played some of the scenarios, should they be denied the prize?
Yes. The card says you need to complete all of the scenarios. If the character did not complete all of the scenarios then they don't get the reward. So they need to go back and do any adventures they missed. That's one of the reasons this game works with solo play, I think.
@TClifford - Character death is one way this might happen. The other is when we have a variable sized gaming group. One week we have four players and complete some of the scenarios, the next week we have five (three the same as the previous week) and finish the adventure. Strictly speaking should I tell the two new ones that they don't get the prize?
Also, thematically, it doesn't really make sense to go back and replay completed scenarios. Do you think it would break the game balance if we just give prizes to everyone who played at least one scenario in the adventure? I would have thought it would make the game slightly harder (since they would not have explored as much and missed the prizes from some of the scenarios)?
The other side of this is playing 'nightmare mode' with perma-death. If a character dies they're out of the adventure and path and going back to replay scenarios seems a bit lame and breaks the continuity. This encourages you to use a variety of characters so that if one dies there's somebody with more than just base stats and a basic deck to step into the breach. Of course, using a variety of characters like this also makes the game a bit harder since each one is slightly less buffed.
@TClifford - Character death is one way this might happen. The other is when we have a variable sized gaming group. One week we have four players and complete some of the scenarios, the next week we have five (three the same as the previous week) and finish the adventure. Strictly speaking should I tell the two new ones that they don't get the prize?
The vast majority of rewards are just "draw a random weapon from the box" and I could see THOSE rewards going to everyone no matter how far you are. The "level up" rewards (feats) should be reserved for those who are going to be there consistently - if you ask me.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I think it's most fun to give it to every character who participated in at least one Scenario from the Adventure (as opposed to just the characters that took down the last Scenario in the set).
As a solo player using three character parties, I would find it too restrictive and boring to just use the same three characters each time, just to maximize the prize at the end.
However, h4ppy, I don't think it's most fun to just automatically give the reward to every character who took part in at least one scenario, either. A reward has to feel earned to feel like an achievement.
So my compromise is this: to give an adventure reward to those alive characters who took part in the majority of (i.e. over half of) successful scenario attempts within the adventure (no back-tracking or repeats allowed). For the adventure path award, I'd reward those alive characters who got rewarded in over half of all adventures in the path.
So, if I buy the character add-on pack later on, before starting the third adventure pack, I actually get to incorporate those characters fully within my campaign. This also seems thematic (encountering new playable characters later in the campaign).
For me, it would make no sense thematically to give an adventure path reward to a character who took part in a single scenario, over a 30-scenario adventure path!
I started off with Valeros, Kyra and Merisiel. However, Kyra wasn't having such a great time of Poison Pill (the party lost due to the timer running out just before the final confrontation with Pillbug, for not being able to explore fast enough, since henchmen appeared near the bottom of the piles), so I swapped her to Ezren for my second more successful attempt. This made thematic sense, since Kyra's healing powers were not needed in this enemy-light scenario, where fast exploration is the priority. Ezren seemed to have fun naturally at the Apothecary (his character illustrates the shop!), and he enthusiastically explored through the entire Apothecary deck in one or two turns, and then closed the Apothecary with a check that was tailor-made for his stats.
So, if I'd want both Kyra and Ezren to get the Perils of the Lost Coast reward, I'd now have to include both of them in Black Fang's scenario. It could be a risky choice, but I'll attempt that.
To get the reward for completing a scenario/adventure/adventure path, the character must have completed all of the object granting the reward. Characters who participate in a losing scenario (and survive) do not get the reward. Characters who do part of an adventure or adventure path but not the whole thing will not receive the reward for completing the adventure/adventure path because they didn't actually complete it.
A better question is what to do with loot rewards when there is only one and more than one character. I raised this issue in another thread, basically asking for multiple copies of loot cards in future sets, but it doesn't seem that's going to happen. My group has decided on a house rule that says each character is entitled to a reward of the same type as the special loot card. So for the medallion at the end of burnt offerings, we as a group decided who should get it, and the other players were allowed to a random item (though it might be more fair to get to select one item from, say, three that you draw randomly, etc.)
In general, the reward text is very specific. "Each character gains a skill feat" should be interpreted to mean, "each completing character earns a skill feat", and so you wouldn't be picking a single character to gain a skill feat (unless the scenario/etc. was completed only by a single character, such as in solo play or if only one character survived). Feat rewards, especially, are like "leveling up" from the experience gained of successfully completing a scenario/adventure/etc.
I've grown towards agreeing with the consensus here, but might flex it (knowing that I'm 'breaking the rules') depending on how variable our gaming group ends up being for any given campaign. For my 'real' campaigns I'll be more strict.
@CaptainBulldozer - I think the Loot rewards should just be ONE reward for the whole party. And if some other characters come along later and earn the same loot then they get nothing.
I think of this as Indiana Jones searching for the Holy Grail. The first ones to complete it get the Grail. Anybody else that gets to that point find nothing but an empty pedestal.
If you complete the requirements for earning the loot more than once then you could consider it a number of 'lives' for the loot card. So if you've earned it twice and it gets banished once you just bury it instead. But next time you lose it, it will be gone forever.
Of course, feel free to flex this and 'break the rules' yourself if it makes your games more fun for your group!
Could someone official chime in here, please? I think this is one for the FAQ. Thanks.
Officially yes, every solo player who plays the campaign (without repeating the same scenarios) playing with multiple characters has to play the same characters over and over again and never have fun selecting a different squad for a scenario. Otherwise, some if not all characters will lose their right to the adventure reward or adventure path reward.
So, according to official rules, the game has to be boring and dull. :) Or otherwise characters don't level up.
But that is just idiotic.
I understand that for multiplayer groups, roleplaying a specific character makes sense. But for a single player with a group of adventurers, the idea of never swapping characters in or out is absolutely nonsensical, since it lessens the game. Not giving adventure rewards to those characters who have adventured the most or having to repeat scenarios to make sure each character combination complete everything --- that's the definition anti-fun.
I genuinely think the rules should be made different for players controlling multiple characters... in any case, I won't play the same characters over and over just to get a stat. It would be mind-numbingly dull, when there are so many amazing characters to join the party at convenient times. I will give the award feats to those who complete more than half of the scenarios.
Obviously it would be different if every player role-played one character in a gaming group. They would BE their character. I'm a group of characters. A changing group of them. Because this is much more fun for solo play. But I do expect my fantasy characters to get the long-term rewards if they do long-term good things -- even if they miss out one scenario because they were home with a flu, giving other characters a chance to step in. :)
Haha. I didn't mean chime in NOW. They can wait until Monday, of course. :)
|
|
There is no need for an FAQ post for this. The game is quite specific. If a PC doesn't complete all the scenarios for an adventure, they can't get the adventure bonus. It's like a pyramid. If you haven't completed the quests at the bottom of the pyramid, you can't get the prize at the top of the pyramid.
Also, it has been stated a number of times that you only get as much Loot at there are actual cards. Therefore, you have to decide with your friends or, if you are playing solo, which PC gets that prize. Which if you knew anything about the actual Adventure Path, that would make sense. As Vic stated, the Loot cards are unique and powerful cards. Giving one to each PC would unbalance the later scenarios.
Now, again, it is your game. If you want to make a house rule to change this, more power to you. In my group we decided that if a PC makes it all the way through Burnt Offerings and didn't get the Loot, they can pull a random card '1' card from which ever Boon deck they want. So there is still a little chance with this, but you have a pretty good shot of getting a good card.
Based on their use of the word 'group' completing scenarios on page 18 and 'you' on page 19, I think it needs to be clarified in a FAQ.
|
|
The fact that there is only 1 Loot card, and you can't make duplicates, I say it doesn't. Are you going to change the game more to say that everyone also gets a Deathbane Crossbow, just because it is a great Weapon card?
If you check out the .pdf character sheets, you will see that eventually, you can earn 3 Medallions [one additional in both 2 & 3]. What are you going to do if you already gave your 3 member party one each after Burnt Offerings?
Chief Technical Officer
|
As to the original question, IMO a strict reading of the rules says that a character needs to successfully complete every scenario to get a reward, whether it's for the scenario, adventure, or Adventure Path.
This is correct. And this is because our intent for the game as a whole is that you're keeping the same characters going through the entire AP (barring death, anyway).
If you're not playing that way, that's completely fine; you should feel free to modify the rules about rewards to suit your group's play style. I'd just caution you about over-rewarding; you'll want to ensure that your players are always using characters that are comparable to the characters they would have if they were playing the same characters each session.
Thanks for the comments, Vic.
We are now clear on the designers' intentions and can choose when to 'house rule' it.
As an aside, I don't think there's a risk of over-rewarding. Even if a 'new' player comes in and starts with a basic deck plus all the rewards from the scenarios completed to date, their character is going to be under-powered (since they have no exploration boons in their decks).
Thank you, Vic. Great game, btw! I am addicted!