This evening I played the Burnt Offerings adventure for the second time. The first time my Character Died during the Local Hero's Scenario getting caught in the woods with a vigilant Specter.
A couple things to share.
One, I have changed my mind about damage resistance and armor, since without that I would have lost about five or six times during the course of play so far. Up until this play through I had always taken so much damage that only a complete 'reduce all damage to zero' would have helped. Now that I have encountered more enemies that deal damage before the encounter, including Villans which can be met multiple times, I see the need for damage reduction.
Two, Not having at least 2 solid attacks available in hand can spell an automatic loss for Ezren when he faces opponents that have multiple combat checks. Due to this several times I passed on the 'You may attempt to close this location' when defeating a henchman, in order to end the turn and restock cards on hand.
Three, I have carried the Sages journal since the beginning, and I have decided to keep it. The extra d4 proved useful numerous times.
I realized that without very solid recharge abilities, Ezren ends up killing himself by playing his spells, which he needs to use in order to accomplish anything, especially in combat. Since casting spells is more common for him than any other action, it outweighs most other considerations. Due to that I pumped Intelligence and the Recharge ability, so Now He can auto-recharge most of his staple spells.
Four. Losing Combats means dying. I started with 6 attack spells, Invisibility, and Cure for the first few Scenarios. This allowed some useful healing, and ensured I almost always had a decent attack on hand for those monsters. The cure was useful even though I had to banish it after casting, since I could just pick it up again before the next Scenario until I found another Arcane spell which replaced it. That ended up being Detect Magic which I kept that for quite a while until I found Acid Arrow, which stayed on until Recently.
My strategy for dealing with the Treacherous Cave was to clear out the other two locations first. That way when I trapped the Villain there and beat it, I would not have to roll the impossible check, since at that point the scenario would be over. Heading in there was a one way trip. Luckily I managed to pull it out.
In the last battle with the final Villain in Thistletop Delve, I was down to zero cards in my deck, six in hand, none of which was the Sages Journal. It came down to the very last die roll. T needed to get a total of 14. Without that I would die, and have come all the way to the bitter end for nothing.
Ezren focused and cast Force Missile. 1d12 + 2d4 + 2 + 2
I started with the 4, and then rolled the d4. 2, and 4.
That gave me a 10.
I picked up the d12, anything less than a 4 and it would be game over.
I watched the die roll slowly across the table, teeter over, and land on 4.
Just Barely enough to claim victory. Ezren picked up the Sihedron Medallion and headed back to Sandpoint.
Adds Chosen:
+ 2 Intelligence
+ 1 to Recharge
+1 Item Card.
Final Decklist
Weapon: Mace
Items: Sihedron Medallion, Amulet of Life, Sage's Journal, Token of Remembrance
Allies: Troubadour, Burglar, Acolyte
Spells: Lightning Touch(2), Force Missile(2), Acid Arrow, Augury, Glibness, Invisibility
I encountered a slashing blade trap four times in a row, having to re-shuffle it into the deck and to my dismay, encounter it again, and again, and again, with no chance of passing the check. I survived the constant assault by using Arcane Armor, then Amulet of Life, then sinply taking it on the chin. Finally with the Troubadour's aid I was finally able to pass that nasty thing.
GG! Fun game. I have started another solitare run with Seelah. It should be an interesting change not being able to retain items. However, being able to boost +die and +d6 by burning a blessing seems very powerful.
I like this game even more having played through the fist adventure of the adventure path. I'm looking forward to the next one.
Cheers everyone :)
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The key to barriers is to never start any character without Thieves Tools, unless you have more characters than there are Thieves Tools in the game. Honestly, I think the Thieves Tools and Masterwork Tools cards may be a little broken, but the fact that most characters have to discard them to get any use out of them is a balancing factor. You won't get to use them that many times per game, but they're still very useful.
Yes I can see what you mean. I have relied on cycling to the Burglar so far, but not having those tools cost me the game on one of my early plays.
Really cool write up thanks for sharing. One question though what do you mean when you added +1 to recharge. I think that add is only for the recharge check.
Really cool write up thanks for sharing. One question though what do you mean when you added +1 to recharge. I think that add is only for the recharge check.
Glad you enjoyed it :). Yes, when I chose an add for my character, one of the ones I picked was the one that adds an additional +1 to the recharge check. I figured for each recharge he fails it's like taking a point of damage, so this was very important for games where he gets hurt by something else and needs that extra staying power.
Yeah I get it for some reason I thought you were adding the + 1 to the combat check. And yeah that's a good point getting closer to a higher chance of recharge is better on your health. I also play Ezren, I get nervous laying out those 6 cards.
Looking at my Ezren I chose:
+1 recharge
+1 strength
+1 intelligence
2 weapon cards
Looking back I wonder if I waisted the strength and weapon choices. I made the choice before they changed the Arcane Armor card errata.
Anyone have any good advice on weapon choices for my setup?
I got lucky on one of my early play throughs and got a flaming mace, but even that is iffy against most monsters compared to a normal combat spell.
I guess I would go with whatever gives the most dice and adds, even though that is probably less than your combat spells.