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So,... never a card-game guy, strictly D&D(Pathfinder), but played a session or two with some other Paizonians and kinda like it.
Have a couple questions on Homebrew design I'm sure the Lords-of-the-Boards have already hashed out and can tell me about or link me to the right Thread:
1) What are some typical, well play-tested, alternate Class builds? Like, have you guys made alternate Paladins, Wizards, Druids & such, either just Abilitiy Score dice rolls and/or legal cards for the Class' deck?
2) Better, have you guys designed some balanced, well play-tested, "create-your-own-class" rules ... and what are some?
3) Would lengthening your hand from 15 total cards to 20 total cards, and then adding 1 card to your, um, "face up" cards make the game unbalanced -- that is, if you then also added another monster to each "location"(?) deck and maybe another few cards to the "timer"(?) deck that keeps track of the whole session's success/ failure?
. . . .
I think the individual monsters seem a bit weak, but then the group I sometimes join is (and I am) very into helping each other out with Blessings & such, making monsters "defeat DC" pretty low compared to what we come up with. (Obviously this depends not only on playing style within the group but also Class selection and group size).
I also really like playing the Paladin but would rather select an Ability-Score array and Deck make-up and such without having it written in stone. Any Homebrew designs out there that, for example, let a Paladin keep an Item Card and take away, for example, an Armor Card -- Or increase his DEX dice while decreasing his WIS dice?
What's out there?
There's 2 sets of character creation rules. The first set is actually in the rules, but it doesn't talk about the limit on bonus skills. That set of rules can be found somewhere here on the forum. Hopefully someone will come along that has it bookmarked and can easily paste the link to that here for you.
Both of those, together, assist in making a character that's balanced against the other standard characters.
As far as changing the game outright, any changes to how the decks work can change the balance of the game, and I'd recommend playing for a bit with at least 4 characters (even if someone plays more than one) to experience the game in its ideal state before you start adding deck and rule variants.
That being said, there are plenty of variants listed both in the section here on Paizo and also over at BGG (boardgamegeek.com). You can easily take a look at them and pick and choose ones that you think might make the game more fun for you and your friends. There are also various custom characters also in those same sections. As far as being well-playtested, you'd just have to read each individual one to see if people have played it enough to your liking.
As Firedale mentioned, be sure to check out the Homebrew forums here at Paizo as well as the Variants forum at BGG for lots of ideas and discussion. Jump right in with your own ideas, there are lots of fine folks eager to help and discuss.
Some specific guidance from developers and others can be found in this thread and this one.
3) Would lengthening your hand from 15 total cards to 20 total cards, and then adding 1 card to your, um, "face up" cards make the game unbalanced -- that is, if you then also added another monster to each "location"(?) deck and maybe another few cards to the "timer"(?) deck that keeps track of the whole session's success/ failure?
I'll do my best to answer this question, since I don't think anyone's addressed it yet.
First, I'm not sure what you mean by 'face up' cards. Do you mean adding a new location? Some people who feel the game is too easy have already started implementing that, from what I understand, even without any changes to the timer or individual's decks. Or I just realized you might be referring to your hand size, the cards you draw from the deck? In that case, hand size is a double-edged sword, as a large hand gives you more options, but leaves you more vulnerable. I don't think I've seen anyone attempt house-rules for a universal +1 hand-size, so you could try it out.
For the increasing of deck size, it actually would be much harder than it looks at first. The main reason for this is that, if you add 5 cards, you have to determine what type of card you are adding (weapon, spell, etc.), which will likely differ for each character. Until you've actually played for a while, it's hard to get a sense for what is needed for a character, or if a certain card constraint is intended to lower the power level.
In total, I find that the game is balanced on a razor edge, with deck size, the timer, and the number of locations working together to make the game dangerous at multiple group sizes. I do believe it would be possible to modify the game such that it works with a 20-card hand size, but it would take a better designer than me, and is not something I would recommend as your first homebrew.
So,...
What's out there?
I would recommend checking out this post at Boardgame Geek for a variant that seems to be popular and well tested. I haven't tried it myself, but I am waiting to finish the game as written before I try to modify it.
Also, click on isaic16's name up there and check out some of the threads he(?) started regarding his custom characters. Lots of testing and follow up on the results of testing and changes make these a good resource for custom character ideas and advice.
As far as the specific changes that you mention, the answer is a slightly unsatisfying "it depends". As isaic mentioned, it is probably best to get at least through deck 1 with a group (whether that is with other people or playing a 2-3 character group solo) before modifying too much. After that, then focus on one change at a time and give it a few plays to see how it works for you. Ideally you do this through scenarios you have already played before, so you have a good comparison for how the change works versus the rules as written.
Would lengthening your hand from 15 total cards to 20 total cards, and then adding 1 card to your, um, "face up" cards make the game unbalanced -- that is, if you then also added another monster to each "location"(?) deck and maybe another few cards to the "timer"(?) deck that keeps track of the whole session's success/ failure?
To specifically address these changes, I think taken as a whole these would make the game less challenging. if you are already thinking the monsters seem a bit weak, this is probably the wrong direction to make changes.
Here are some suggestions for making monsters and/or the game more challenging. Do these incrementally, one at a time or switch in and out until you find the sweet spot for your group*:
1) Limit the total number of blessings that can be played on a check to the adventure deck number (minimum of 1). As in the normal rules, it is still limited to one per player. More challenging, limit the number of BOONS that can be played on a check to one per adventure deck number.
2) Add the deck number to the difficulty of defeating all banes (monsters and barriers).
3) Add one extra location deck to the scenario (either the next one in the list, or a random one from the same deck or lower if you are currently using all 8).
4) Add one monster to each location. More challenging, add a henchman to each location. Remove the power to be able to close a location for defeating this henchman.
Some changes to make things less difficult.
1) Add one or two feats to characters, either at the start or at the beginning of Adventure Deck 1. Either limit this to one type of feat (everyone gets a card feat, or two card feats) or allow different characters to choose between card feats, skill feats, and power feats). (Note, adding to skill and power feats will likely make things too easy, so try that with caution).
2) Add a number of cards to the blessings deck (the timer) equal to the number of characters in the group.
3) Allow starting players to choose any one non-basic card from the base set, add-on deck or adventure deck 1 to go in their starting deck (not an extra card, just the ability to choose a more powerful card)
4) At the start of each scenario, place a number of tokens on the scenario card equal to the adventure deck number. A player can remove a token to discard a card from the blessing deck and then shuffle 1d4 random cards from their discard pile into their hand.
I hope these suggestions are useful. Also, please feel free to post your own ideas for modifications, custom characters, custom scenarios, etc.
*This is key to any modifications to the game, in that what works for one group may not quite be what another group is looking for.
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Holy Moly, thanks.
It'll take me a while to go through this but it is a great help. I knew I could count on the Boards. ...Yes, I was referring to "hand size" when I said "face up" cards -- remember I'm not a D&D-Card-Game guy, "face up" was the best term I could come up with since I didn't know the official term.
4) At the start of each scenario, place a number of tokens on the scenario card equal to the adventure deck number. A player can remove a token to discard a card from the blessing deck and then shuffle 1d4 random cards from their discard pile into their hand.
That last word should be deck, not hand. Basically, a healing potion for each token. So:
At the start of each scenario, place a number of tokens on the scenario card equal to the adventure deck number. A player can remove a token to discard a card from the blessing deck and then shuffle 1d4 random cards from their discard pile into their deck.