So I finally picked up the PACG and really enjoying it so far! We've only played the first two scenarios in the Perils of the Lost Coast adventure and are planning to do the third soon.
My question is when is the best time to add in the Burnt Offerings cards (and Skinsaw Murders and so on...)?
Obviously they will need to be mixed into the box for when we start playing the adventure path properly but can I put them in before this? We're familiar enough with the rules to introduce more complex cards and I know the RotRlL story already so will it have any major effect on our games other than spoilers?
What if we were to go back and play Perils of the Lost Coast again? Would we need to pull out all the AP cards?
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The adventure decks are meant to be added in when you start to play those adventures. So finish Perils of the Lost Coast, then open the Burnt Offerings pack and mix the cards in. When you're done with Burnt Offerings, open the Skinsaw Murders and mix those in.
If you go back and start over with new characters, you're supposed to play with only the earlier cards. You can pull the adventure path cards out, or if you're playing multiple campaigns at once and want to leave them in, you can just trade out an AP card for a random card from the box when you come across one.
The key is that each adventure deck will have more powerful cards. Until your characters have some feats and better equipment from playing lots of adventures, you won't be equipped to handle the tougher monsters and barriers that could come up from the later decks. I'm assuming this is why the reward for finishing Perils of the Lost Coast is a skill feat.
Note that you can only choose B and C cards that are labelled as basic! I've seen people mistake this before and think they could choose ANY B/C cards, then wondered what the point of exploration was since you already had all the cards you wanted!
The key is that each adventure deck will have more powerful cards. Until your characters have some feats and better equipment from playing lots of adventures, you won't be equipped to handle the tougher monsters and barriers that could come up from the later decks. I'm assuming this is why the reward for finishing Perils of the Lost Coast is a skill feat.
I'm playing solo wih Lem and Valeros. I left the 1 Cards in to see what it was like for starting characters. I've found it's not that the monsters are harder, look at Hill Giant and Ogre for example, but the checks to acquire many boons are too high. This is proportional with better gear, but it feels like you just can't acquire so many of the things you turn over. I know you can't acquire everything, and that a lot of boons are banished along the way, nor can you expect a character in his first game to acquire the Warhammer. I found I was so tempted by the better boons I'd throw a Blessing at them and then just below average; an extra explore wasted on nothing.