Hi everyone,
OK me stupid I guess, I may have badly explained the rules to my friends (or blame it on English not being may native language, but...), please help :
We have played "Perils of the Lost Coast" and "Burnt Offerings" with a group of 4 players/characters and my friends and I are still wondering why on earth (except for the cleric) would we want to be in the same locations.
Being on the same locations seems like a very bad idea for many many reasons and nothing seems able to balance that :
- Some barriers, monsters or locations damage everyone here.
- There is pretty much no advantage to be in her location when you try to help someone else during her turn (unless mistaken, very few spells or abilities can be played out of turn only when local, or can be played during your turn and involve people local).
- Usually there is one character that has a better chance to close the location, if someone else here encounters the henchman, he will fail to close the location and then you have to empty the location deck thus losing time and hp (if I'm right).
- You can temporary shut less locations if you are all at the same locations.
And so on...
So we always have to split the party ? Too bad for a cooperative/party game
Since I'm SURE that Mike has very well tested the game, I'm SURE there is a very good reason to be on the same locations in many opportunities. And I certainly missed it.
The following are reasons to stick together:
1. Some cards/power can only be used on characters "at your location". Examples: Valero's 1d4 combat assistance. Lem's 1d4 check assistance. All types of Cure. All the potions.
2. Banes that require 2 checks to defeat.
3. Some cards have a power making them more difficult if encountered with no other character at that location.
4. Some banes have bad things that happen to a "random character at your location." If you are the only character at your location, you are that random character.
But in general, splitting up is a strategy you will need to employ, especially the larger your group gets.
There are more and more "scouting" cards and powers in the game as you play, so later you will probably have the ability to know where a few henchman and even the villain is before you encounter them, letting you plan which character will encounter them and therefore make sure you can close the location.
Sometimes the cooperation will be that you develop one character to do the scouting while another character does more of the encountering. And there are still lots of ways to cooperate from other locations: Blessings, Spells, the bow weapons to assist combat.
Which characters are you guys playing?
I think you'll find lots of reasons to stay together and lots of reasons to split up over time. There are 16 boons in the base set box (including Burnt Offerings) that help a character at your location, and 6 that help a character at another location. Valeros, Lem, and Kyra would prefer everyone stay together, while Merisiel and Harsk want their friends to be somewhere else. You want to be apart when you meet the Hill Giant, and together when you meet Ripnugget and Stickfoot. The game gives you lots of reasons for lots of different things.
Hope that helps.
I think you'll find lots of reasons to stay together ....Hope that helps.
Big thanks Mike for the quick answer !
And for bringing us the game altogether :-)Indeed it helps.
It may just be that we haven't been so much in these situations yet (or haven't get the right boons or haven't checked the right feats).
Which characters are you guys playing?
Seelah, Harsk, Ezren and Kyra.
I agree with Mike, Kyra usually tries to be with someone else.
Although her high Wisdom/Survival is usually of help to close a location which tend to have her staying alone on a "low monster" one.
But the three others have no real reason to be together (and definitively not Harsk).
The following are reasons to stick together:1. Some cards/power can only be used on characters "at your location". Examples: Valero's 1d4 combat assistance. Lem's 1d4 check assistance. All types of Cure. All the potions.
2. Banes that require 2 checks to defeat.
3. Some cards have a power making them more difficult if encountered with no other character at that location.
4. Some banes have bad things that happen to a "random character at your location." If you are the only character at your location, you are that random character.
OK, with all that said (thanks again), now I get it why it was not obvious :
- Point 1 only applies to Kyra in our case- Point 2 (double checks) is certainly more frequent in higher scenarios
- Point 3 seems rare to me (not sure it really has weight in the pros/cons balance of splitting the party)
- And honestly I'm not sure if point 4 is really in favor of being a "pro" for staying together. I would IMHO and in a friendly way argue that having a potential drawback that falls on a known character is less risky that having it falling on a random one. Actually, it's usually the one with the most hp/defense/skill-in-the-required-check that explores... If a random-in-location-character drawback happens, I would rather have him alone.
Anyway THAT HELPS A LOT.
Thanks from France. Have a great day on the other side on the pond.
- And honestly I'm not sure if point 4 is really in favor of being a "pro" for staying together. I would IMHO and in a friendly way argue that having a potential drawback that falls on a known character is less risky that having it falling on a random one. Actually, it's usually the one with the most hp/defense/skill-in-the-required-check that explores... If a random-in-location-character...
Yeah, that one is kind of a toss up. But sometimes it really helps to let another character deal with it. Like if it require a character at your location to summon and encounter a monster. If you have to deal with that yourself, you might not be left with the card necessary to defeat the card you originally encountered.
There are also some things that say that they happen to each character at the location, which kind of pushes you towards splitting up.
Like Mike said, the game is designed to force you to make choices and rethink those choices.
For your group, Seelah might end up taking Hospitaler and also want to be around others to heal. And Ezren can pick up some movement spells (Haste is awesome!) to move Kyra and Seelah so they can heal others. Seelah's Hospitaler heal power doesn't require the cost of her exploration, so if Ezren moves her to someone else's location she can heal them and then move away. Like Mike said, lots of choices to work through.
Here is a guide that you might find helpful.
Good luck on your adventure!
The strategy we use in my group(s) is that everyone will split up and tackle a location they have a good chance at closing (or temp-closing.) That way we can burn down decks and close locations quickly, and if we run into the villain early, we may actually have a chance at cornering and defeating him.
However, we'll group up as-needed. If someone needs healing, if we know there's a bane that's better tackled with more than one person, etc. So I guess by default, we tend to work independently, grouping as needed. But on the other hand, a tactic exactly opposite may work just as well.