I've got a few questions concerning Wu Shen that I'm simply not getting:
-She's got backstab like Merisiel but she also gets to add the poison trait as well to the check. What is the advantage to this? Unless a monster has a weakness to poison I can't see any real benefit here.
-On her turn, she can discard a card to evade a boon and may immediately explore again. Does this just help her to explore more? Why would you evade a boon? I assume if its one you don't need or want.
I know these sound like stupid questions but I'm not really getting the theme of her powers here.
Not all powers are equal. One of her role powers has an extra benefit if her check has the poison trait, but overall it's worse than Merisiel's.
Evading a boon is useful if you can't acquire it but someone else wants it.
Overall I think Meri is the best rogue in the deck, but Wu shen has advantages, such as favored card type weapon.
I've got a few questions concerning Wu Shen that I'm simply not getting:
-She's got backstab like Merisiel but she also gets to add the poison trait as well to the check. What is the advantage to this? Unless a monster has a weakness to poison I can't see any real benefit here.
-On her turn, she can discard a card to evade a boon and may immediately explore again. Does this just help her to explore more? Why would you evade a boon? I assume if its one you don't need or want.I know these sound like stupid questions but I'm not really getting the theme of her powers here.
There may be cards released that can only be applied to checks with the poison trait or that can only be defeated with the poison trait. Or it may be intended to weaken the power for balance reasons.
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You might evade a boon that you can't acquire but that an ally wants, such as Haste or a Velociraptor or something; in this case, you would want to evade rather than banish it so that someone else could encounter and (hopefully) acquire it; unlike RotR Merisiel, however, Wu Shen would get to explore for free if she does this (in exchange for not being able to evade banes).
She looks a great character and I look forward to playing her in my first group in S&S.
My interpretation of her powers:
1) Poison. I guess some banes might be particularly vulnerable to poison attacks? When you upgrade feats for her Death Whisperer, you get to draw cards if your attack has the poison trait. I'd be interested to know if poison plays a more significant role re: banes in S&S.
2) Her evading boons is similar to Seelah's power (placing a boon on the bottom of the deck). Thematically, it represents a character who just wants to storm through a location and get straight to the bad guys. So evading a boon (if it is rubbish or not appropriate for her and someone else might want to acquire) means she gets to encounter another card, giving her more chance of finding that henchman or villain.
Also note that the addition of the Poison trait means she can't backstab most Undead monsters.
Wow, that stinks. I'm thinking the S&S Merisiel with the shadow role looks pretty sweet.
Don't expect poison to keyword be a boon bonus; it was a flat out restriction in RotR, and we have no reason to think that will change going forward.
If you choose prey stalker, you can recharge not just evade a boon, but to banish it and explore again. You don't need the vast majority of boons you draw in later games, so this power is an amazing tool for burning through a location quickly. Olenjack is the rogue I am really looking forward to, but Wu Shen looks to be a solid choice.
edit: changed the word boon to avoid mechanical confusion. Their will, of course, be poison boons.
There are poison boons in the rouge class deck, several vials,that add the poison trait to checks.
Ah that makes since. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what poison boons there are.
I have the rogue deck right now. The poison items don't have any synergy with the poison trait... They just add a flat bonus to your combat checks and they add the poison trait themself. Olenjack is really the only rogue to have synergy with using poison, especially if he picks the spider role.
I'm not sure what it is about him, but I have a completely unreasonable love for Olenjack. I just can't wait to play him.
I'm not sure what it is about him, but I have a completely unreasonable love for Olenjack. I just can't wait to play him.
He's unique, and that's something to be appreciated, even with his somewhat mediocre setup. That's why I'm kind of sad about Wu Shen... compare her to S&S Merisiel, and she's worse in just about every way until role cards come in to play :(
He's unique, and that's something to be appreciated, even with his somewhat mediocre setup. That's why I'm kind of sad about Wu Shen... compare her to S&S Merisiel, and she's worse in just about every way until role cards come in to play :(
What are you talking about, Wu-Shen is way better at.... um.. Constitution and survival checks? S&S Merisiel is a very solid character, and, despite the out pouring of love for her art, Wu-Shen looks mediocre at best. However, both Prey Stalker and Death Whisperer offer some high quality unique powers, so their may be hope for the character as you advance.
Yeah, I think Prey Stalker Wu Shen is killer, especially with the free power it gets (unlike every other character, when she picks up Prey Stalker, she automatically gets the +2 to barriers power).
And I don't think she's bad exactly... Merisiel is a fantastic character, so it makes sense not everyone would be as good. The problem is just how in just about every way she's either equal or inferior to S&S Merisiel:
When alone, they both can recharge a card to get a bonus to combat roles... except Wu Shen's adds the poison trait which is useless against maybe 30% of monsters, and so far has no major benefits
They both have an evade power... but Wu Shen has to discard to use hers, and only against boons. The only updside to it is that she gets to explore again, but because the way upgrading your deck works, I don't think evading boons will really come up that often.
They both get Melee: Dex +1 for finesse weapons
They both have light armor proficiency, and no weapon proficiency.
Merisiel gets a total of +8 to various skills, while Wu Shen gets +6
Merisiel gets 5 cards, while Wu Shen gets 4 (5 is pretty much better, even when considering cards left in deck, because it gives you more options to prevent damage)
The only way I can think of where Wu Shen is better is that she has favorite card: Weapon, to guarantee she starts with some way to fight.
Sorry about the rant: I'm not even sure if I'm more upset at how good Merisiel is, or how mediocre Wu Shen is (I think Wu Shen is as good as Lesath and Olejack, it's just easier to compare her to Merisiel, who has extremely similar powers). It just kind of upsets me when there is little point to playing a character they designed because another is better in almost every way :(
I wonder if there will be any balance changes the design team will make for the card guild, similar to how PFS has a list of banned feats and archetypes, or modified class features.
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2) Her evading boons is similar to Seelah's power (placing a boon on the bottom of the deck). Thematically, it represents a character who just wants to storm through a location and get straight to the bad guys. So evading a boon (if it is rubbish or not appropriate for her and someone else might want to acquire) means she gets to encounter another card, giving her more chance of finding that henchman or villain.
This was how I interpreted this power too. Also keep in mind that if the party is running low on time (blessings in the blessings deck), being able to skip over a card could be really handy.
I'm not worrying at all about whether Wu Shen might be underpowered and am excited to start playing her based on theme alone (by sheer luck she's very similar my favorite PFS organized play (RPG) character, a ninja named Xiu Ying).
It just kind of upsets me when there is little point to playing a character they designed because another is better in almost every way :(
Well, for S&S (or OP using it), having d6+2 for Survival vs. Merisiel's d4 is actually a big deal for being able to handle enemy ships. And, as others have mentioned, favored card type: Weapon means never dealing with awkward starting hands.
More importantly, in the long run, Wu Shen has options for being a hyper-speedy explorer. Combining the 'recharge blessings at deck size < 5' and 'draw card(s) when you destroy a combat' seems like it has potential for obliterating monster-heavy locations. That's unique and powerful, and enough motivation for me at least to want to try her out (even if it means planning on keeping a Raise Dead spell somewhere in the party).
but because the way upgrading your deck works, I don't think evading boons will really come up that often.
Actually, in Organized Play the way upgrading works might make evading boons more worthwhile. Once you know that the group has acquired enough cards to make everyone happy at upgrade time, what benefit is their to acquiring a boon that you know won't be used for the upgrade? Unless you need it for the rest of the scenario, it won't be of any longterm benefit to you, so why not evade it and explore?
And with the upgrade to turn that into a cost of recharge and also banish the unwanted boon, it seems like it might be really useful. (Even Death Whisperer can take the recharge upgrade.)
Wu Shen is sitting in adventure 4 and encounters an adventure 2 weapon. She says "Does anyone need this for an upgrade? No? Ok, I'm going to recharge one of the 3 items I have in my hand, banish this adventure 2 weapon and get to explore again."
That seems pretty cool.
To answer the OP's ~2 year old question, there is now an actual advantage to Wu Shen adding the poison trait to a combat check! Some new class decks (and presumably the Mummy's Mask base set) have Blessing of the Elements as basic blessings, allowing you to recharge the blessing if the check has an elemental (Acid, Cold, Electricity, Fire, or Poison) trait! I realized this last weekend when playing Org Play with a Wu Shen at the table. Of course, I was playing Jirelle out of my Rogue deck, but this weekend I think I will switch to Kasmir of the Witch deck. Heals for everyone else, Craft from Daji, and a couple of Blessings of the Elements (which coincidentally are his favored card type).