One's acid and one's electricity ;)
We won't know until we see all the cards in the AP.
I've never played the RPG but perhaps Acid is a more dangerous trait than Electricity (i.e. fewer banes are immune to it, or it interacts better with some things)?
Note that not all cards have a 'use' or meaning. E.g. shortbows are 100% worse than light crossbows (they don't even have a trait difference, just worse dice).
So maybe it's just that Acid is harder to master and cast than Electricity, even though the end result is the same.
P.S. Note that "Elite" is only one step above "Basic". Cards with neither trait are theoretically 'better' since they never get banished through the AP effects.
We won't know until we see all the cards in the AP.
I've never played the RPG but perhaps Acid is a more dangerous trait than Electricity (i.e. fewer banes are immune to it, or it interacts better with some things)?
Having played the RPG a fair amount, electricy resistance is much more common than acid resistance, which is what I assume the explanation is between the two cards.
From the "FAQ Posted" thread:
There's *some* ability to judge power level by the presence of Basic and Elite traits, but it's not completely straightforward. Cards with the Veteran trait, for example, scale up in power as you play. And some cards with neither the Basic or Elite trait are not especially *powerful*, but they are *useful*, and never get a higher-powered replacement.
Also, the general consensus from the "Acid Arrow is Elite?" thread is that Acid is supposed to be slightly rarer than Electricity.
In the RPG, Shocking Grasp (Lightning Touch) is level 1 while Acid Arrow is level 2. And while the damage is also different (1d6 vs 2d4), I think they wanted to put more emphasis on the trait than the damage. If you'd like, you can self-errata the LT card and make it 1d6. :)
This is not strictly true. In another post I cannot locate, either Mike or Vic said that cards that are neither basic nor elite are not necessarily superior, as many of those cards simply provide functionality that the designers assessed was so fundamental that it could not be stripped out of the deck as a function of scenario advancement.
P.S. Note that "Elite" is only one step above "Basic". Cards with neither trait are theoretically 'better' since they never get banished through the AP effects.
It's not a strict scale, but in general I think you can say that Basic < Elite < Blank (but there's a lot of overlap between them)
Which is not quite intuitive since 'elite' sounds like it should be awesome :)
Acid is also very useful vs targets like Trolls in the RPG. We will see if that is the case in the PACG too or not.
Acid is also very useful vs targets like Trolls in the RPG. We will see if that is the case in the PACG too or not.It is. (3 rd adventure the firsts ones if I remember right)
So....this thread is 13 months old. They were playing before the 3rd adventure path was released...
Thanks for being helpful though :)