I searched around to see if anyone had asked this question, and I can't find anything.
Why on earth would I want this in my hand over another blessing?
The amulet stays in my hand when I use it, blessings go back into my deck, which I will then redraw.
Blessings add a d10 to combat checks, amulet adds a d4.
Blessings can also help other people, amulet cannot.
Blessings can also explore again, amulet cannot.
Why, why, why would I want this card?
Personally I took it out already (the druid added it to his deck instead and I now have a staff of minor healing, two masterwork thieves tools, and a codex), but I thought I'd reach out and figure out what other people thought.
For the druid, it's amazing. He can reveal an animal AND the amulet, as he can't turn into a bear twice or use two blessings. But Sajan not only can use more than one blessing, they're recharged, not discarded.
Please someone explain this to me.
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While obviously it is personal preference for whether the Amulet's upsides outweigh the downsides, it does have benefits over a blessing. Although it does give a D4 instead of a D10, it also adds magic (which a power feat for Sajan will nullify as a benefit), and it is also a reveal versus a discard of a blessing. Again, whether those benefits outweigh the benefits of a blessing is up to each player, but I do agree I'd rather have a blessing in my hand with Sajan.
and it is also a reveal versus a discard of a blessing
No, it's reveal vs. recharge. Sajan's combat blessings go strait back into his deck, and once you've actually discarded all of your non-blessings (allies to explore again, etc.) you're left with a stack of 4 blessings plus 4 blessings in hand.
Or in my case, my deck is generally 6 as I use the staff of minor healing to recharge itself plus another card. So as long as I track where those two cards in the deck are, I can plan for when I draw into them, thus knowing exactly how many blessings I will have in any given hand. Drawing 1 fewer cards after combat is just a detriment, especially if the card I'm keeping can only help in combat.
Yes, it does mean I'd be spending a Power feat in order to get the Magic trait on my combats, but this early on in the progression that's not that valuable.
Aside from the magic trait, one of Sajan's weakness (at least as I see it) is that the thing he most wants to use for combat, he also wants to use to explore and for other checks when he won't be recharging them. And even though he'll recharge the blessings he plays to the bottom of his deck, he'll have to work through his deck to get to them. And his hand size is only 4. So if he too quickly recharges all his blessings, he'll have them all sitting at the bottom of his deck. No one else is balancing the same cards for so many different purposes.
So the d4 is nice when you don't need 1 more d10, but could still use a bit more "umph". Because then you can save that blessing to explore, or make another check. Sure, once you increase his hand size or take a few card feats it might not be worth having, but early on I think it works really well for him.
In deck 4 there is the Amulet of Fiery Fists, which is a more powerful version. And you might not hang on to Amulet of Mighty Fists all the way to deck 4 (I think lots of people have given him a weapon card feat somewhere in the first half of the adventure path.) And you might not even keep Amulet of Fiery Fists if you acquire it. But at the very beginning I think Amulet of Mighty Fists works well for him.
Why use the Amulet of Mighty Fists?
First and foremost is that it allows you to add the Magic trait. Sajan doesn't start out being able to add the Magic Trait; he gains that with a Power Feat later on. The amulet can be put in his deck from the get-go.
So at the start of the game, that amulet allows Sajan to be one of the few people that can deal with the banes that have to be defeated with magic.
Secondly, you have to recharge your blessings as you play them on your combat check. The amulet is just a reveal. It can be used multiple times in a turn when exploring more than once while the blessings cannot.
Lastly and quite minor is that the amulet can be played when a blessing cannot. If a bane or a location disallows the use of blessings, the amulet can still be used.
I've found the amulet quite useful for the reasons others have stated. It adds magic, which in the beginning is a rare ability. Many times I've had to run between locations cleaning up banes others couldn't kill. I also find that my blessings wind up getting used for other things. Yes, it's nice being able to attack and add 4d10 (or more with hand size feats), but too often I don't have 4d10, or I need to save it for another explore or to help someone else.
So if he too quickly recharges all his blessings, he'll have them all sitting at the bottom of his deck.
And...the other half of his blessings are at the top. Nothing was lost.
Seriously, the worst hands I've ever had as Sajan is my first hand where I'll typically draw into two allies, a codex, and one blessing.
I've found the amulet quite useful for the reasons others have stated. It adds magic, which in the beginning is a rare ability.
It also matters just as rarely then too. Seriously. I've seen one monster that cares.
Yes, it's nice being able to attack and add 4d10 (or more with hand size feats), but too often I don't have 4d10, or I need to save it for another explore or to help someone else.
I don't think I've ever spent 3 blessings on a single combat that was NOT the villain. Rolled 5 dice? Sure. Two blessings of +2 dice on strn based combat (I did the math, it was slightly better to roll 5d6 vs. 3d10+1: same average, higher minimum).
I've had the misfortune of running into the Enchantress. And there's no way to deal with that, for any character.
I've had the misfortune of running into the Enchantress. And there's no way to deal with that, for any character.
An arcane character carrying Mirror Image can deal with her quite well. I didn't realize that myself until only about a month or so ago.
If a monster deals damage to you, you may display this card, even if you have played another spell on this check. Roll 1d4; on a result other than 1, reduce the damage to 0. Do this each time a monster deals damage to you. Discard this card at the end of the turn.
So in her Before the Encounter power she is a monster dealing damage to you. So you play Mirror Image by displaying it, and hope to not roll a 1. Then you attempt the check to defeat her. If you fail, you hope to not roll a 1 for Mirror Image. And then in her After the Encounter power she is a monster dealing damage to you, so you hope to not roll a 1. 1 card, all 3 instances of taking damage possibly covered. And then of course you can attempt to recharge it at the end of the turn.
EDIT: Added lots of "nots" since that is how the spell really works.
I've had the misfortune of running into the Enchantress. And there's no way to deal with that, for any character.An arcane character carrying Mirror Image can deal with her quite well. I didn't realize that myself until only about a month or so ago.
If a monster deals damage to you, you may display this card, even if you have played another spell on this check. Roll 1d4; on a result other than 1, reduce the damage to 0. Do this each time a monster deals damage to you. Discard this card at the end of the turn.So in her Before the Encounter power she is a monster dealing damage to you. So you play Mirror Image by displaying it, and hope to roll a 1. Then you attempt the check to defeat her. If you fail, you hope to roll a 1 for Mirror Image. And then in her After the Encounter power she is a monster dealing damage to you, so you hope to roll a 1. 1 card, all 3 instances of taking damage possibly covered. And then of course you can attempt to recharge it at the end of the turn.
Hawk - you mean hope to not roll a 1, right? On a 1 you take the hit, on anything else you're safe.
Honestly, here's the main reason you carry the amulet instead of another blessing: Because you can't put another blessing in that slot.
Seriously, I'm sure if he could, Sajan would be running around with 15 blessings. Since you can't you have to fill up those item slots somehow. The question that should be asked here is "Why carry the amulet over staff of minor healing or whatever other items are available." The answer to that, for me, at least, is that it is effective far more often than whatever else I can put there, at least early on. Perhaps eventually you can replace it with some staves of healing, or the emerald codex, or whatever, but early on, I'm taking it over potions or boots or whatever.
Also, I have this amazing ability with Sajan to find an enemy on my last explore of a round. It's uncanny. In those cases, I'm happy to have the amulet, since then I at least have something to fight with, since all my blessings are discarded/recharged.
Honestly, here's the main reason you carry the amulet instead of another blessing: Because you can't put another blessing in that slot.
Hence I said "In hand" not "in deck."
Blah, blah, blah... totally get the die roll backwards...blah, blah, blah...Hawk - you mean hope to not roll a 1, right? On a 1 you take the hit, on anything else you're safe.
Dang it. Yes. I have really been screwing things up lately.
Dang it. Yes. I have really been screwing things up lately.Blah, blah, blah... totally get the die roll backwards...blah, blah, blah...Hawk - you mean hope to not roll a 1, right? On a 1 you take the hit, on anything else you're safe.
With all the help you give everybody, somebody has to keep you in check ;)
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I've had the misfortune of running into the Enchantress. And there's no way to deal with that, for any character.
As an aside, the Ring of Protection is also pretty effective against the Enchantress.
I've had the misfortune of running into the Enchantress. And there's no way to deal with that, for any character.As an aside, the Ring of Protection is also pretty effective against the Enchantress.
Sajan post role card also has no problems with the Enchantress with a power feat.
Sajan post role card also has no problems with the Enchantress with a power feat.
We just got our first power feat. :P
(I did the math, it was slightly better to roll 5d6 vs. 3d10+1: same average, higher minimum).
The math here is interesting. I ran it through anydice.com and found that it depends on your target number. If you need anything higher than an 18 you are slightly better off with the 3d10+1. For anything less than 18 you are better off rolling the 5d6. Not a huge difference either way, but it is very interesting.
EDIT: Granted, you will rarely need the higher number, but if you do it's good to know.
The output that your link links to is for 3d4, so it looks like it doesn't save the output links long.
Without using AnyDice, it's easy to get the following
5d6 = 5-30 with an average of 17.5
3d10+1 = 4-31 with an average of 17.5
All that being said, Aureate is correct, higher numbers are more likely, probability wise, with 3d10+1, because it's easier to roll 3 10-sided dice and get above average [(5/10)^3 = 12.5% above/below average], as opposed to rolling 5 6-sided dice [(3/6)^5 = 3.125% above/below average].
Using AnyDice, you can see the full calculation results (you can use the link in Aureate's post to get there, but will have to manually enter the dice to roll up top).
The results in question can be seen on the AnyDice using the At Least and/or At Most Graphs.
The output that your link links to is for 3d4, so it looks like it doesn't save the output links long.
Without using AnyDice, it's easy to get the following
5d6 = 5-30 with an average of 17.5
3d10+1 = 4-31 with an average of 17.5All that being said, Aureate is correct, higher numbers are more likely, probability wise, with 3d10+1, because it's easier to roll 3 10-sided dice and get above average [(5/10)^3 = 12.5% above/below average], as opposed to rolling 5 6-sided dice [(3/6)^5 = 3.125% above/below average].
Using AnyDice, you can see the full calculation results (you can use the link in Aureate's post to get there, but will have to manually enter the dice to roll up top).
The results in question can be seen on the AnyDice using the At Least and/or At Most Graphs.
Huh. The link works for me. But the outputs are easy enough to enter manually.
EDIT: Granted, you will rarely need the higher number, but if you do it's good to know.
Target number was +/-1 on the average. I've forgotten now what it was.
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It's all about having something you can use on multiple explores while keeping more blessings in your hand to explore again. If the encounter that comes up is something weak, you would rather save your blessing to explore again and use the amulet. Generally I find that a large part of winning the game requires that each player explore as many times as they can. Even if you run into something you can't kill, you are in good shape so long as you don't discard blessings for damage, so the amulet helps you get potentially further in before you run out of blessings.
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Apart from spells, the Amulet of Mighty Fists appears to be (unless I'm missing something - and I could be) the only basic item / weapon that adds the magic trait to a combat check. The fact that this card can be put in someone's deck right from the beginning of the game really can't be understated, as it's the only way for some fighter-based characters to reliably (by "reliably" I mean "keep it in your hand / deck after use") defeat the "magic-requiring" enemies (e.g., Ghost, Spectre) until the group manages to snag some of the first magic weapons. This is likely the reason why the card only gives a d4 bonus.
Although Sajan and Lini are often cited as the most frequent carriers of this card, any character with the Melee skill would be a decent candidate (e.g., Valeros, Amiri, and any similar character that comes down the pike later). There is only one of these in the game, and for good reason - it's really a good starting card, one of the few that just about every party would potentially want in someone's deck at the start of Rise of the Runelords. This card is seriously good for a card with the Basic trait; I wouldn't underestimate it.
I thought you could only play one of each type of card on a particular check? Like, one blessing and one item, etc, but not two blessings for the same check. Am I wrong on this? If you can't play multiple blessing at the same time, then it makes the card way more useful, as it's an item and can be played alongside a blessing.
I'm not sure to which part of the thread you're replying, but am gonna take a shot in the dark that you might be referring to people mentioning Sajan and multiple blessings.
Sajan can play multiple blessings on his own combat check (it's one of Sajan's powers).