Some great, intelligently thought through questions! Lets see if I can help shed some light for you...
A1) As far as I understand it's for two reasons... the first is thematic and the second is to enable any six of the listed decks to be able to be built at once. Feel free to swap out basic cards you don't want with others that you do!
A2) The traits are important. My guess is that there are going to be banes coming soon that are resistant/immune to some types but to which Acid is more dangerous.
A3) No, you cannot bank any cards. The only cards you can carry from one scenario to the next are the ones you're allowed to keep as part of your deck build. Makes for some interesting choices for you :)
If you lose one of your cards during a scenario you then need to replace it with something else you found during that scenario. If you don't have enough of a certain card type then (and only then) you can 'go back to the box' to find a card of that type.
Any cards you acquire must, at the end of the scenario, either be put into one of the characters' decks or put back into the box.
A4) It's for you to find a use for Levitate! I don't use it much myself. The only use I've found is to move a healer (or somebody wounded) so they can be cured without taking up an actual move action.
A5) It's super-powerful so there's no recharge. Effectively you swap the spell card for an ally, once per scenario. If you could recharge it then you could end up with lots and lots of cards in your deck!
A6) Read the card for the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path. It says that there's a point in the AP where you start removing elite cards from the game.
A6-and-a-half) The only way you can boost a check after your roll (so far) is the Luckstone. Some weapons also allow you to re-roll your dice if you fail, but you cannot add to or change the dice pool before the re-roll happens.
A7) Yes. You shuffle the undefeated bane back into the location deck unless it says otherwise. Note that evaded banes also get shuffled in, even in the Woods! Also note that summoned banes go back to the box, not to the location deck.
A8) You shuffle every deck that had a card added to it. Any temporarily closed locations would not be shuffled. This messes with Spyglass/Augury - but that's what you get with a dastardly villain on the loose!
I hope that helps!
The "evaded bane in the Woods" definitely caught me the first time. We kind of just played as if Merisiel could completely nullify that entire deck. That interpretation being stupid and unfair only struck is in retrospect.
In our defense, I think that was our second game.
Another use of the additional move is to put two people in the same location so they can share an item without wasting a turn.
Also, though even more situational, you can move someone after they've closed a location, so they're prepared to close a different location, should someone find the villain.
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H4ppy answered most of your question, so I've just got two things to add.
First, you obviously missed the FAQ that says the 14 DC to recharge Detect Magic is a typo. That should be 4. Recharging that thing over and over is part of what makes it so useful.
Second, about movement and levitate - they matter a lot more with a larger group. But even in a two player group, there are situations where they can be handy.
For instance, in your example of Lem and Amiri working together, perhaps Amiri needs a heal, and Lem is at a different location with Cure and Levitate in his hand, but he wants to explore his current location that turn instead of moving to heal her. So he explores his current location, then uses Levitate to move to Amiri's location, so he can Cure her before his next turn, without her having to leave her location.
Or in a situation where Amiri closes a location, leaving exactly two open locations left, with Lem at one of them. At the end of her turn, Amiri can move at the end of her turn to the other open location, just to be prepared to temporarily close it if Lem should happen to find the villain at the other one on his turn.
But really, in a one or two character group, I wouldn't bother including Levitate in your starting deck.
There are times when you want to move out of sequence as I have found out to my cost. For instance...
1 You cast a spell and find a bane that will hit everyone in your location or everyone who is in an open location. (Run away, run away)
2 When you have one character with blessings and a charactor at another location who desperatly needs to explore again (The clock is always ticking)
3 You need to get a support charactor to a location in a hurry.
4 You need to get a charactor to a location to temporaly close it when you have the villin in your sights.
5 You can only give a card at the start of your turn before you move so moving at the end of your turn lets you pass on something useful to another charactor.
Of course you might not run into any of those situations but I have already. Have fun
I think that some of the not-so-good cards are simply situational, and are included in starter decks so that you start to get to know them. I'd include potions here.
The Quarterstaff for Amiri is probably more about being able to create six starter decks, but it also adds to the feeling of progression which is one of the great aspects of this game. One of my players said it like a Collectable Card Game, but you have to earn the new cards not just buy them.
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Technically, no. You rebuild your character deck between scenarios using the cards that your party already has. If you have enough cards to make all the character decks, then you can't go back to the box to get new ones. If you don't have enough of a particular type to fill everyone's decks, then you can go to the box to pick out a basic card.
But people have talked about this in the past here on the forums, and allowing basic cards to be traded in from the box between scenarios is a popular house rule.
I've found that in practice it works well, and feels like RPG. This is the best equipment I could afford that was available.
At the end of the scenario we rebuild our decks. Characters gets first dibs on cards they acquired, but we always have plenty of discussion as to what card should go in what deck. Sometimes there is even some altruistic sharing. We end up with a pile of cards in the middle that anyone can choose from.
As for trading from the box, we are out adventuring - there is no shop/box on hand to trade with... Make do both what you've got.
Then you get to the Local Heroes scenario and your deck gets a lot better.
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.
You can always houserule and play differently if you like, but it's useful to know what you're "meant" to do! And you're not meant to be able to go 'back to the box' unless you are short of cards.
:)
Well, it's not-quite-an-RPG so there are some times when you need to stretch your imagination a bit.
...maybe your spellcasters are a little forgetful and there's only room in their heads for x spells at once?
I've found that in practice it works well, and feels like RPG. This is the best equipment I could afford that was available.
As for trading from the box, we are out adventuring - there is no shop/box on hand to trade with... Make do both what you've got.
Then you get to the Local Heroes scenario and your deck gets a lot better.
Yeah this is how I play no shop/box. I like how you worded this just thought I'd let you know.
As for trading from the box, we are out adventuring - there is no shop/box on hand to trade with... Make do both what you've got.But that's kind of my point. It DOESN'T really feel like an RPG, because when I choose not to prepare Sleep as a Wizard, it doesn't mean that it's gone from my memory forever. The next "day" on our adventure, when I prepare my spells, I can always choose from any spell I've known...
In my experience it works well enough for me, ymmv. It doesn't replicate Cantrips exactly, but these spells feel more powerful than Cantrips. So instead I start with three spells in my spell book. Gaining new spells, scribing them into the spell book is difficult (at least it requires a roll) and expensive when you're starting out, and in the card game you need to put a card feat into into. It's like levelling up. If you put that card feat into Weapons it's like multiclassing (not sure Ezren can do that).
Not perfect, but it works well enough for me. Better yet, I'm now playing an RPG a lot more often without being GM all the time.
Oh, and it just feels like a different RPG system. The deck works something like hit pint and mana mixed together. The blessings are somewhat like Hero Points. I find myself using analogies from many of the different RPGs I've played.
Oh, and another thing.
To me, Seoni really feels like a sorcerer from PF RPG with only three spells but automatically recharging them. I agree that the Ezren doesn't replicate the PF Wizard quite so well, but when you compare him to Seoni you can see how he is the Wizard and she is the Sorcerer.