Just got my box in and sleeved everything so I wanted to share some impressions without being too spoilery about it.
Impression 1: You may need to change your pants after looking at the Banes, especially if you have a group of mage-casters. So, if you've been whining that the game is too easy, this pack is for you. It wouldn't shock me that you won't have much down time between this and S&S because losses are highly likely now.
Impression 2: All of us that have been bashing armor as useless, yeah ignore us.
Impression 3: You will get a sneak peak at how S&S will work as a few things that are very prevalent there appear for the first time here.
Impression 4: OMG the BOONS!!!! There isn't a useless one in the bunch. There are a couple of spells that are slightly iffy, but still very, very solid cards.
Impression 5: You will do a lot of cursing about all those Items that aren't Basic/Elite aka banishable. The new Items are amazing, and you will want them all.
Wow, I just wish there was a sequel that continued on with RotR because the good stuff is just sooooo good.
If there is anything I've learned about Paizo, it is that they know how to support their games with content. I can't wait to see what they come out with in AP6!
I was extremely pleased with this adventure when I opened it last night.
The Leng Machine and its summon -- Paizo, why are you trying to almost guarantee a loss?!?!?! Haha it's awesome, but I looked at the card and thought OH DEAR GOD WHAT SWEET HELL IS THIS
Yeah, but before you even get there, you have to defeat the Villain in S2. That scenario should be called Death by a Thousand Cuts. Let's just say that my party of Val, Seoni, Kyra, and Lem are casting aspersions on Meri because I'm terrified they are going to die while Meri just whistles around.
And no Razorwindsg, there was no tweaking going on as AP6 was printed a year ago (they've said that S&S got sent to the printers about a month ago fwiw). However, you can see the seeds planted that bloomed in S&S in this AP.
Scenario 3 was killer tonight for my party of Seoni, Valeros, and Sajan.
:
When I was fighting a Leng spider with Seoni, of course I rolled a 1 and couldn't use attack spells. I luckily had my necklace of fireballs in hand, and played it for 3d6 + 12. Valeros was at my location, giving me an additional d4+5. I recharged Poog to give me 3 more off. I had 3 d6 and a d4 to roll 4, and I had plenty of blessings lying around in sajan's hand so I threw down a blessing of Lamashtu as well. I rolled all 1s and 2s, which count as 0 in this scenario. The spider escaped, and I had to dig through the deck. With 2 cards left in the final location and everyone dangerously low on health (I absolutely had the worst luck of my life rolling tonight), Sajan came across a battered chest and managed to defeat it. I got really lucky and pulled a potion of ruggedness from the box, which it used to succeed at the wisddom/survival 14 check I the next turn when Valeros blasted the final spider to hell. I would've likely been unable to achieve the check to close without the potion. This party was not well suited for the scenario, had terrible luck, and barely pulled off a win before giving up/dying. This was awesome, but I'm happy to have passed it. Now I just have to worry about it for all my other parties... I'll try to finish tomorrow evening.
There is one unintended effect that might need to be addressed for S3. With 1's and 2's being 0's instead of their actual number, you can't actually fail the roll on the Charmed Red Dragon--when you recharge him to add 5 to a combat roll you roll a d12 and if it is a 1 you banish him back to the box. But you can't roll a 1 because it automatically becomes a 0.
And vagabondriot, I see you completely blanked on the 2nd half of the Leng Spiders. They have a charisma/diplomacy 16 check to defeat OR that combat check. Seoni and Lem are much more suited to that check and not worrying about the spell check. It took me killing one of those things to realize that. The scenario went a lot better after that, though having Lini will be a great help.
So, our group of Valeros, Seoni, Harsk, and Sajan started this last night. On scenario 2, Valeros and Sajan both had few enough cards to die on their turn, with Seoni only one turn behind them. The villain's power popping each close attempt really hurt Valeros (3 times!). We ended up with the villain at the location where banes are +5 (making him a 35)
Luckily, Harsk managed to pull off some epic (well, epic in that he had 3 heals, all just barely enough) healing. Ending his turn, he drew a Mass cure, Major cure, and Robe of Runes. Popping 3 heals on Valeros and Sajan at the start of Seoni's turn, it gave us a chance for Sajan (going after Seoni) to leave the location, giving him a chance to not get hit by the villain's power -- the heals were not good, and he would have died with one point of damage. The only reason Sajan and Seoni survived was because we both took a power feat after S1 to reduce non Combat damage by one -- without knowing this villain was coming, just dumb but unbelievable luck!!
When Valeros' turn came around, after everyone deciding the villain deserved the most painful of deaths and eternal life in the hottest of all hells, he ended up rolling something in the area of 14 dice +13 with a Swipe and maxed Wand of Enervation thrown his way.
Being the GM for our RPG group, never have I breathed such a sigh of relief hearing that many dice rolled across the table from me. This scenario had me paranoid to the point that I plan to ask my fmgroup for their deck lists, and solo Kyra through the third scenario, just in case I die next. Because, well, we need a true healer and Kyra is so unbelievably broken that soloing her through 6 will be easy.
There is one unintended effect that might need to be addressed for S3. With 1's and 2's being 0's instead of their actual number, you can't actually fail the roll on the Charmed Red Dragon--when you recharge him to add 5 to a combat roll you roll a d12 and if it is a 1 you banish him back to the box. But you can't roll a 1 because it automatically becomes a 0.
The Death Zone power works on checks; the Charmed Red Dragon roll is not a check.
There is one unintended effect that might need to be addressed for S3. With 1's and 2's being 0's instead of their actual number, you can't actually fail the roll on the Charmed Red Dragon--when you recharge him to add 5 to a combat roll you roll a d12 and if it is a 1 you banish him back to the box. But you can't roll a 1 because it automatically becomes a 0.
The Death Zone power works on checks; the Charmed Red Dragon roll is not a check.
You win a prize! I was testing people and definitely not committing a brainfart. :( I realized that a few hours after posting.
