Well, I was going to say that the barrier just was banished. But, having reread the appropriate rule section I think we did it wrong. And, looking at other barriers, like locked chests, those cards tend to say something like 'You may banish this barrier if undefeated'.
Considering that the barrier is considered a 'bane', then according to the rulebook, page 11. It says:
'If you fail to defeat any bane, it is considered undefeated and is shuffled back into the location deck.'
As @DrJay said - undefeated barriers are shuffled back into the location deck unless they have special wording that says otherwise.
Yep - I think you're totally right, Dr. Jay. That locked door barrier card has got to stay. Plus, the card doesn't say to banish. And in the spirit of the game, the door is still locked so it certainly should still stay in that deck if undefeated. Where could an locked door go?:)
Our thematic interpretation was that you are going down the main corridor of a dungeon, or some such and come upon a side passage with a locked door. If you can open it, you get to see what's behind it, if not, you move on.
Worked for us, but alas, we were dead wrong.
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Yep - I think you're totally right, Dr. Jay. That locked door barrier card has got to stay. Plus, the card doesn't say to banish. And in the spirit of the game, the door is still locked so it certainly should still stay in that deck if undefeated. Where could an locked door go?:)Our thematic interpretation was that you are going down the main corridor of a dungeon, or some such and come upon a side passage with a locked door. If you can open it, you get to see what's behind it, if not, you move on.
Worked for us, but alas, we were dead wrong.
The point is that there's something important behind that locked door, so you'll have to come back to it eventually. Unless you defeat the henchman or villain to close the location before finding it again, in which case, there wasn't anything that important back there, after all. :)
@Fromper - I like that interpretation :)
You'll find that the 'optional' barriers are usually treasure chests that you try to bash/pick open and then throw away in disgust if you can't get in.
Barriers are like any other bane; if they are not defeated, they're shuffled back into the location deck unless they say otherwise. As far as I'm aware, there is currently only one barrier with a typo in this regard: Ambush. Ambush should be banished after it is encountered whether you beat its check or not.
There's something in the rulebook about not using the Locked Passageway if you are playing Solo with a character who has little chance of defeating it.
Meh... if you're playing solo you're probably going to have more fun running two characters rather than just ignoring cards that are tricky for you!
Either tough it out; or run more than one character; or let the timer deck run out (ie just stop playing), reset the scenario and have another crack at it. With a single character playing solitaire you are likely to hit insurmountable problems from time to time.
Though FWIW I wondered if (thematically speaking) Locked Passageway ought to have been one of those barriers that stay on top if undefeated.
I view it as a door you have to go through sooner or later but if you don't get through it the first time you walk away in disgust, (resolving to take a better run up next time, or perhaps hoping to find a crowbar).
Mostly agreed. There are some characters who work well solo (Merisiel), but I would never try single character mode with Seoni or Ezren.
I tried Brigand doom with a solo Ezren just for kicks. It didn't really go well. If remember correctly, he died a turn or two after closing the first location.
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Mostly agreed. There are some characters who work well solo (Merisiel), but I would never try single character mode with Seoni or Ezren.
I frequently play Ezren solo. He usually does quite well. I played him solo during the play test playing the 5 and 6 scenarios last December as well. I do not recall being too dissatisfied with his solo play. (It helped when he was able to add a few more spells from the lower adventures which were not included in our playtest material.)
I have run into barrier and monsters that he cannot beat but usually I am able to work around it by encountering the villain or henchman and closing the location.
Most characters have draw backs solo... especially when it comes to barriers. That being said, I've played through the lost shores solo with 5 characters now (Kyra, Seelah, Sajab, Ezren and Harsk) and none of them had serious problems. I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to try many of them on the actual adventure path though. I also tried to go through Lost shores with Valeros, but he was eaten by Black Fang... shame too since he had gotten two nice weapons for his deck by then...
Strategy: Advice For Solo Play Not all characters should be considered equal for solo play.
It has been said that all characters were soloed through RotR (or I think more specifically that each scenario was beaten by each character solo), but it was also said that doesn't mean some of them didn't take lots of tries on certain scenarios. And honestly, Ezren might be the toughest one to solo. With out blessings, he has a hard time "buffing" himself. His exploring power isn't very helpful since exploring isn't much of an issue solo. And...
Keep two things in mind: First, if you are soloing there is a bit of recourse in the rules.
Some cards are particularly difficult in solo play. If your character can’t ever get out of the Treacherous Cave, your scenario will grind to a halt. When you encounter such a card, remove it from the game and replace it with another card of the same type that roughly matches its power level but isn’t quite so impossible to overcome.
Second, as awesome as Ezren is (I'll soon have completed RotR with him twice, once in each role) I'd really advise you to consider playing two characters. Given Ezren a traveling companion like Valeros or Amiri or Sajan, someone to complement his weaknesses. Play them both. It is a lot of fun.
Good luck on your adventure.