In the spirit of sharing and strategizing, I’d like to create a series of threads, one for each character. The idea would be to explain how you play that particular character and why. What cards do you feel you NEED to stock in your deck or try extra hard to acquire because they are central to your strategy of how you will play this character? What skill, power and card feats did you choose and why? If they are helpful enough, maybe Paizo will even sticky them. But that is up to them.
To be clear, this isn't about the belief that there is only one way to play a character. Because there is only one way to play a character: the way that makes it fun for YOU to play. This is more about sharing ideas that maybe someone else hasn't thought about before.
I decided to try this because there are more than a few forums asking for advice about a certain character. And I've personally (and other have as well I think) discovered I wasn't actually following the rules when I see things others have posted.
And I also thought about the fact that I've not felt interested in playing Seelah. But then I thought, maybe that is just because I don’t realize how to play her. So maybe there are others out there too that might discover through this that a character as experienced is not the same as the character as theory and realize they might like to try a new character they would have assumed they’d hate playing.
And it can also provide feedback to the design team. They’ll see the things we are doing with their characters. Maybe they’ll be benevolent and add more things to help the way we play. Or maybe they’ll be malevolent and add things to hinder the way we play. But either way they’ll have feedback.
When posting, please be so kind as to follow these guidelines:
- Specify the size of the group you play the character (or this version of the character) in and what other characters are in your group. That can effect your decision making for your character. You might want Seoni to carry Speed if she's with Sajan and Mersiel, but she might be better off with Glibness if its just her and Lem.
- Limit your posts to things that are central to your strategy. For example, Holy Candle is a great card and probably every group wants to have someone have it. But unless there is a reason your character has to have it for your strategy, please don’t mention it. In other words, “My version of Merisiel has Holy Candle because I cycle my cards pretty well,” might help thinking about whose deck to put Holy Candle in, but it isn't helpful about your strategy for playing Merisiel. But saying, “I give Sajan items like Holy Candle because he can get their full value of use and then bury them, which helps him cycle his blessings around faster,” is a part of your strategy for Sajan and something others might want to consider trying.
- For now, let’s limit it to discussing just what is on the standard class of each character and save the role cards for when Deck 4 gets released. But if you choose a card or a feat because you are working towards a certain role card, feel free to state that. If this is popular, we can make threads for the role cards later.
If this is not something anyone else would like, then I apologize for wasting your time reading the preceding paragraphs. You can hold out hope that it will be so unpopular that it will soon fall way down the list of threads, never to be seen again.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. In the next few minutes I’ll start a thread for each character with a similar name to this one. If you want to share please do so in a spirit of cooperation and kindness.
Ok. Since we seem to be getting little love for some of the characters, (That jab is intended in good humor to spur some more people to post), I'll make an attempt to get one or tow more of these going. I've posted on the ones I have the most experience with. My experience with the rest is more limited. But I've tried Ezren out a few times, even in a group as big as 6. I'll be honest, the first time I played him I had a headache because his 2 powers are so "much" to remember due to how different they are from the normal play of every other character. I kept forgetting to check if my next card was a spell when I played a spell.
Seems obvious that his problem will be exploring, due to his lack of blessings. But if placed in the right situation he can burn through a location. I once saw him close the academy in a single turn, using the location rule, his power, and detect magic to get through 5 or 6 explorations in one turn and then run into the henchmen.
But placing him in the right spot (and remembering all his powers!) seems key. And I wrestled with what spells to give him. Seems he'd get a ton of benefit from Augury and Detect Magic. Does anyone give him Spy Glass so you can set up his power for exploration? And how many attack spells do you feel he needs?
And teaming him with Harsk and/or Seelah (at least in her role card version) seems like it would be very powerful since he could come to their location if they found something for him to acquire and explore again.
You could also make a case that when he encounters a boon with the magic trait, other characters should want to spend a blessing to help him acquire it since their blessing would result in both an increased chance to acquire a boon (hopefully Ezren is willing to share his bounty) and in an exploration. Whereas, when another character uses an exploration in themselves, they only get one of those two results. So even though he doesn't stock blessings, in the right situation blessings are more powerful when used on him than they are for any other character.
So any big Ezren fans out there?
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I play Ezren in the group from work; the others play Merisiel, Lini, Lem, and Valeros. He is a bit more difficult to play than the other characters, but I'd also say he has the potential to be one of the more powerful characters. His biggest limitation is the lack of blessings, which in turn makes it more of a challenge for him to accrue the number of explorations one needs to have in a group of 5 or 6.
You're correct that Detect Magic, Augury, and Scrying can help mitigate this. As we saw in our last game, timely use of Augury can shove monsters (or boons, but who wants to eschew loot?) to the bottom of the deck, saving 1, 2, or (in rarer instances) 3 turns for the party. Detect Magic is OK, but should be replaced with Augury...I started him out in my group with at least three DMs, which after "Perils of the Lost Coast" can become auto-recharge (+2 arcane, +1 INT, and minimum 1 INT die to roll a 4). Haste is also wonderful for this purpose, as the spell itself gives the option of an extra explore...essentially turning a spell slot into a recharging exploration. This alone greatly mitigates Ezren's relative lack of exploration cards. Another option is Charm Person, which effectively transforms a spell slot into an ally which probably (but not necessarily) gives an extra exploration.
I loaded him up with four attack spells, which is probably unnecessary given the fact that he has a weapon card. If someone in the group gets a spare good weapon that doesn't require proficiency, I will likely carry one fewer attack spell.
Getting an extra ally as the first card feat makes a lot of sense; thereafter, maybe spells, once a lot of neat ones come into play in the adventure decks. Maxxing out INT first is my plan, to give the highest possible recharge chance for spells...with a six or seven card hand and 7-9 spells that auto-recharge (I'm subtracting one because Charm Person is not a recharging spell), his survivability increases a great deal - especially with Mirror Image or some other damage-reduction spell.
I added Ezren to my regular group I play with my wife. We play doubles, me as Sajan and Ezren and her as Merisiel and Amiri. I'm no expert on him, but here is what I've been doing.
Through deck 3, I've put all skill feats into intelligence. First 3 power feats were 2, then 4 to recharge a chard, then hand size. I took his Illusionist Role Card and selected the power to place an evaded monster on the bottom of the deck, I'll be treating that as virtual auto-defeat since it will be below the henchman or villain. I've loaded up on deck examination and manipulation. He has 2 augury, 1 scrying, and 2 haste right now. He's got Swipe and I kept Enfeeble after choosing his role, but am tempted to take invisibility if I can find it, since invisibility doesn't have the mental trait, less likely he'll be unable to use it due to immunity. But with enfeeble, if he runs into a villain or henchman he can evade and leave it on top for one of the heavier hitters. He's also got Brodert Quink, which he's got a good shot at succeeding on the knowledge check. To be safe he's caring Tome of Knowledge for now. And he's got a cat to help with spell recharge. I gave him the wand of enervation, and headband of vast intelligence, so he's a support machine.
His card feats have been maxing out allies than taking spells.
I have to say, I really like playing him. Spells like Swipe and Haste can make him very useful and it helps that they have multiple powers. Basically, he sets up the locations, Sajan, Merisiel and Amiri take them down.
I also am experimenting with Vicious Trident + 1 for now. I figure the way he's built he shouldn't need his weapon often, but when he does I want to make sure he wins with it. I was toying with Icy Longspear + 1 and a Belt of Giant Strenght, but I figured that was clogging my deck with two cards when Vicious Trident was only 1 slot in my deck. The discarded card can be Tome of Knowlege after I've used it on Brodert. And with Sajan in the Drunken Master role and packing a Potion of Healing, he's got a shot to play Haste at the end of his turn, jump to Sajan, get healed and jump back at the end of Sajan's turn via the other Haste.
I've chosen to play Ezren solitaire as a challenge. It is in fact quite challenging, especially the scenarios of the second adventure with the Golem and the Haunts. But I like that he plays very different from the other characters, mostly due to his complete lack of blessings. I even lost a few scenarios (not died yet), which is a welcome change of pace.
I took a different approach than you guys, namely choosing hand size increases instead of the bonus on recharge rolls for his power traits. Why? Because I figured more cards = more cards to play and recharge = best way to get to the good spells again. Of course I occasionally fail a recharge roll or two, but that's why I carry around my trusty Mending spell. If I for example lose my Lightning Bolt I can replace it with Detect Magic or any crap spell I picked up while adventuring like Arcane Armor. But since it doesn't make much sense to increase anything but his intelligence first, his arcane skill is formidable even without the recharge bonus.
Of course a bigger hand size means I also need a way to mitigate damage and that's why I started out with the Amulet of Life, which are now two Medallions. They can be used often as well because they block any damage, not just combat damage. As I said, it's my principle for him to only have cards he can recharge. His other two items are a Codex and Masterwork Tools. The same principle applies to his allies, where I found the Burglar very valuable, since his bonus is a straight d10 and it can be added to many checks including all barriers. I picked up a Saber-toothed Tiger; very helpful in beating the Scarecrow Golem and many villains. My other two allies are Shalelu and Father Zantus, the latter for emergency healing and otherwise to help in picking up blessings.
Yes, I have not picked spell as a card trait yet. It's not necessary because I can cycle through the deck so quickly.
Even his weapon can be recharged, which is currently a dagger +1, so 1d6+2d4+1 and an additional d4/d6 with the appropriate ally usually suffices to beat the weaker monsters. I'm hoping to pick up a Venomous Dagger +2 in adventure 3. :)
So against my initial judgement, I have to say it is fun to play Ezren the old atheist.
Ezren is my main character, we finished the first scenario of Hook Mountain last night. Usually we'll be playing with between 2 & 3 other people. Seoni / Kyra / Valeros, we didn't get the character add-on pack until this week so we intend to recruit another mate for 5 player games later on :)
I've maxed out my INT now, so I'm guaranteed a 6 on all recharge rolls, meaning I only need a 2 or higher to recharge most spells.
My current deck is this:
Haste
Speed
Scorching Ray
Frost Ray
Invisibility
Web
Mirror Image
Lightning Bolt (x2)
Brodert Quink
Shalelu (whatever her name is, we call her the peekabo lady, can check top card of loc deck at end of turn)
Toad (x2)
Staff of Minor Healing
Medallion
Thieves Tools
Heavy Crossbow
I have +4 in INT, and expanded my hand size to 7 and added +1 to my recharge (I think, going off memory here).
I find the best course of action is for me to go to a location alone (usually one I can close with a blesso). With thieves tools in my hand I'm basically unstoppable at most locations. Monsters & henchman still seem to be falling with regularity and with Brodert / Peekabo lady I'm rarely surprised about which card is coming next.
Extra explores on the Toads & Haste can prove useful when I'm finding it difficult to keep pace. Invisibility & Web for times when I'm surprised by a monster or henchman and have no attack spells in my hand.
Seoni has our Augury, if another pops up I'll definitely be replacing Speed or Haste with it.
Mirror Image / Medallion are handy for damage reduction, though I got stuck vs'ing a Mammy + 8 last night and had terrible luck on rolls that even medallion couldn't save a single card in my hand.
Overall I think our squad is fairly well rounded. Valeros deals with Strength/Dex barriers, Seoni with Charisma, Kyra with Wisdom and Ez with intelligence.
If we were to add a character it'd probably be the druid. Survival/Perception checks always take a few blessings to get past.
Ezren is my main at the moment because when I was introduced to the game, I picked him over the others I saw, but mostly because I wanted to play a wizard class/spell caster.
My group consist of 3 people. the other two play Kyra and Meisiel.
Right now we're near the end of the skinsaw murders.
At this time my Ezren has
Powers:
+2 recharge
So I can increase/guarantee that my spells will be back in my deck.
+1 hand size
I know I'm counting my chickens here, but since you can't store your power feats, Ezren is forced to increase his hand size to 7 which I don't like because I think a hand size of 6 is the sweet spot for cards.
Cards:
+1 spell
So Ezren can carry more spells, so I can load more offensive spells to kill more things. Because Ezren isn't as useful without spells so no brainer on this part. Thought I would put points towards allies and items in the future.
Skills:
+3 INT both to recharge better and to be able to do more damage. I consider upgrading and maxing out his INT a no brainer, because if you want to do well as a spellcaster you are pretty much locked into upgrading what makes you good at your job.
Wisdom is my next upgrades after INT.
Card Loadout:
2x Scorching Rays
2x Force Missile
1x Frost Ray
1x Lightning Bolt
1x Augury
1x Mirror Image
1x Detect Magic
1x Staff of Minor Healing
1x Sage journal
1x Sihedron Medallion
1x Toad
1x Aldern Foxglove
1x Sage
1x Flaming Mace
The offensive spells are offensive on why there's more over utility spells, because it's really the only way Ezren can fight effectively. So if you pick Ezren as your starting class, load him up with 80% offensive spells.
The utility spells like detect magic, augury, and mirror image are useful, probably don't have to explain but just in case.
- detect magic lets you see the next card and if it happens to be magic you can encounter it and go through the deck. Why not have more? Well you still want to be able to fight. But I did have two magic detect before.
- Augury is super useful since it let you look at the top 3 cards of 'your current' location deck to have a chance to see if the villain or henchman is there. Augury goes well with detect magic since if it's not a magic item you can use augury to move it.
- Mirror Image, this card is so important it's almost standard to have in your deck if you're a spellcaster. Basically it lets you avoid any damage that doesn't have the text 'cannot be reduce' so long as Doctor Strange on the card doesn't make you roll a 1 in which case it falls. But the really nice thing about it is unlike say armour which you have to bury to reduce all damage and is used once per scenario. Mirror Image can be used as much as you want on your turn for each combat encounter.
The items here are limit I would work towards increasing my item limit so I can perhaps grab the mastertool works for those pesty barriers.
Staff of minor healing is just a useful card for getting cards out of the discard by recharging.
Sage journal is a lot more useful than it seems. Reveal it to get 1d4 against any villain or hemchmen during combat. Might not look like much but that extra dice really helps. It's almost kind of cheap considering it's a basic card that you can just pick up when building.
The medallion loot reduces all damage by 4 which is pretty badass, plus you can recharge it. Once you max out Ezren's INT and recharge power you just get it back with no trouble. Plus a few scenarios and barriers later down the line are easier with the sehidron medallion.
The allies I chose are not always the ones that make sense.
The toad lets you grab a spell from the discard pile, and allows an explore.
The sage can help with wisdom and intelligence checks, and allow an explore.
Aldern Foxglove is mostly kept around for his ability to acquire anything if you banish him, second reason is in the foul misgiving he can get rid of haunts. Which in our game he wasn't useful at all. If I can find shalelu I would definitely put her on my team after banishing foxglove.
Flaming mace, don't ask I just have it just in case. Plus old light and certain monsters give you dice bonus if you use cards with the fire trait.
My playing style involves going to areas with spells, and if there's no place for that which happens. I go to locations where my intelligence check to close would help or locations where you get penalized for using weapons like water front.