The Woes of Amiri

[Writerguy911]

I have been playing a couple of solo four character games (Valeros, Merisiel, Seoni and Kyra, and Seelah, Lem, Harsk, and Ezren) and have taken two of the remaining three characters (Lini and Sajan) through Perils of the Lost Coast. However, after talking to a friend who recently purchased the game, I don't think I have given Amiri enough love.

Therefore I decided to get her to the same point Lini and Sajan were at, namely the beginning of Burnt Offerings, in order to turn the duo into a trio. And therein lies the problems.

I had a really tough time getting Amiri through Brigandoom. The Poison Pill, while not easy, coughed up two very nice magic weapons. And then I hit Black Fang. Or more to the point, Black Fang hit me...repeatedly. My dice rolling was appalling (four 1's on four dice), and poor Amiri bit the dust.

So I will start her again from the beginning in hopes of her reaching her druid and monk friends. What I am asking for is any advice the people out there might have for an Amiri solo play, at least of the first three scenarios. I have scoured these forums and Board Game Geek, and have already amassed a wealth of helpful advice, but I am sure there is always someone out there with something to offer.

And as a little end note for anyone who is interested - Valeros and his crew have made it through The Skinsaw Murders, while Seelah and her group are up to the last adventure in Burnt Offerings (however it was dicy there, with Ezren encountering Gogmurt in the Goblin Fortress and rolling a 4 to make him a 16 / 18 combat encounter on the second last turn of the game).

[zeroth_hour]

I haven't played solo at all let alone solo Amiri so take my advice with a grain of salt. I do however play Amiri as my main.

I don't think you did anything wrong, you were just incredibly unlucky. A string of 4 1s in any other situation would also be pretty bad for most characters.

That being said...
1) Try and find a Potion of Fortitude/Amulet of Fortitude/Potion of Energy Resistance; you have a small hand size, and Amiri only has a d8 on her CON. Black Fang's acid has a possibility of blowing up your hand which will leave you defenseless. Spend more time in the Poison Pill if you have to (there's a lot of items in that scenario). Barring that, keep an Armor handy just in case to tank the damage.
2) Don't forget about the Temple discard power. If you don't think you're ready to face the Villain, evade. The "before the encounter" power doesn't activate so you don't get the check for Acid damage.
3) You can still use spells as a non-caster; they just get banished immediately afterward. Not that you'll be getting a lot of high level spells with a base d4 for Intelligence and d6 for Wisdom. If Cure, Aid, Augury, Charm Person, Detect Magic, Detect Evil, or Strength happens to land in your hand they're not horrible to have, but on the other hand I wouldn't specifically expend resources to try and get them.
4) Sage's Journal is Basic and gives 1d4 to all Henchman/Villain fights on a reveal. You're guaranteed to have 3 of these every scenario, so it may be worth initializing with it. I'm not 100% sure because you might want something else in the slot (Thieves' Tools or something) but it may be worth a shot.

[TClifford]

If you made it all the way to the Villain and only died because of bad rolls [and judgement in my opinion, you do know you don't have to go on if you think your character might die?], then what problems are you having with Amiri? Sounds like she is doing fine to me.

[Writerguy911]

Thanks for the advice.

I don't think I am having any real problems with the character - just with the card draws. The beauty of this game is you can get incredibly lucky or incredibly unlucky with the draws.

Either way - this has been my go-to game since its release and I am still having a blast with it. I am an EFL teacher and am considering introducing it to my students to facilitate language learning in the classroom.

[Zebracakes4me]

Writerguy911 wrote:

Thanks for the advice.

I don't think I am having any real problems with the character - just with the card draws. The beauty of this game is you can get incredibly lucky or incredibly unlucky with the draws.

Either way - this has been my go-to game since its release and I am still having a blast with it. I am an EFL teacher and am considering introducing it to my students to facilitate language learning in the classroom.

Best teacher ever! I wish I could have played some card game to facilitate learning when I was younger.

A bit off-topic, but it's pretty interesting seeing some teachers these days including games of any media into their learning schedule. this makes learning more fun and engaging.

Back on track, be sure to save blessing when you can for when you need them. Like fighting or picking up an important item. Even a card like Spy Glass to get a small peak ahead can help. I like items that can help keep your alive as well. Even though they get banish, Caltrops can be great in a pinch or finish off a weak monster.

I don't recall the name of the spear, but there's a spear type weapon that gives you a 1d8 and a re-roll opportunity if you first roll is poor or does not succeed. Not the BEST weapon in the game, but the re-roll opportunity has personally helped me so much.

[zeroth_hour]

Zebracakes4me wrote:

I don't recall the name of the spear, but there's a spear type weapon that gives you a 1d8 and a re-roll opportunity if you first roll is poor or does not succeed. Not the BEST weapon in the game, but the re-roll opportunity has personally helped me so much.

It's called the Longspear. It's actually not horrible if you compare it to a non-discarded weapon - the reroll bumps up the success rate quite a bit.

I had a Spiked Chain (same thing but 2d4 bonus instead of 1d8 and you can discard it for 1d6 extra as well) as my emergency "oh crap" weapon. I switched it out for a Glaive (1d10 instead of 1d8), which has been really good.

You tend to want wider ranges on the reroll weapons because of the potential to get the better of the two values.