I picked up my copy of the Ranger Class Deck today along with the Sorcerer and Wizard decks to complete my set of seven (yay!). I originally wanted my first Ranger character to be the Class Deck version of Harsk, but I've gotten more and more interested in Agna the more I read the Ranger character sheets. Now one of Agna's starting abilities is:
"You may recharge a card that has the Offhand trait to add 1d6 (□+1) and that weapon’s traits to your combat check." (emphasis mine)
So I assembled my starting Agna deck and realized that she starts with 4 weapons and there are only 4 Basic B weapons in the Ranger deck. And sadly, none of them have the Offhand trait. But then I later realized that shields (non-buckler types) have the Offhand trait! And Wooden Shield in the Ranger deck is a Basic B card!!
I re-read the ability to make sure it wasn't restricted to just weapons. I see it say "a card that has the Offhand trait" but then I also see the part of ability that it adds "that weapon's traits to your combat check."
So now I'm a little confused. Can Anga recharge shields to use this ability? If so, can she add the shield's traits to the combat check (such as if the shield is magical)? Right now, as it is written, it looks like yes, she can recharge a shield to get the d6, but no, since it's not a weapon it doesn't add the shield's traits to the check. Is this the intent?
|
I'm pretty sure the theme of it is that she is a two-weapon ranger. So, most likely, "a card" should be "a weapon".
As for recharging a non-weapon for the die, but not adding the traits -- When they have a power like that, they say if the card played was a weapon, add the traits. So, the wording of the card doesn't come close to the way they would word that.
I'm pretty sure the theme of it is that she is a two-weapon ranger. So, most likely, "a card" should be "a weapon".
The thing is that a shield bash is a common offhand weapon when two-weapon fighting in the RPG. Improved Shield Bash is one of the bonus feat options at second level for a ranger who takes the two-weapon combat style. So far, shields are the only non-weapon cards that I have seen with the Offhand trait, so maybe that trait is specifically meant to mean it's a card that can be used as an offhand weapon.
Now letting a shield add the bonus damage, but not add the traits of the card is actually supported by the RPG as well. If you have a shield with a magic bonus to defense (which most magic shields are out of the box), this bonus does not help you in any way when using the shield to shield bash. You have to either have the shield enchanted separately as a magic weapon, give it the magic Bashing special ability, or have the Shield Master feat which has some pretty hefty prerequisites.
However, even though the power does make sense to me, the wording just feels a little off with it first talking about any card and then specifically talking about a weapon with nothing to indicate the switch (it feels the the power thinks the two terms are interchangeable, like of course the card you recharged was a weapon, right?), so I wanted to confirm intent from the developers and see what other players think about the ability.
|
Now letting a shield add the bonus damage, but not add the traits of the card is actually supported by the RPG as well. If you have a shield with a magic bonus to defense (which most magic shields are out of the box), this bonus does not help you in any way when using the shield to shield bash. You have to either have the shield enchanted separately as a magic weapon, give it the magic Bashing special ability, or have the Shield Master feat which has some pretty hefty prerequisites.
However, even though the power does make sense to me, the wording just feels a little off with it first talking about any card and then specifically talking about a weapon with nothing to indicate the switch (it feels the the power thinks the two terms are interchangeable, like of course the card you recharged was a weapon, right?), so I wanted to confirm intent from the developers and see what other players think about the ability.
Just to put a small monkey wrench in this, what about the buckler gun? Per the card, it is clearly not a weapon. It is an armor. It does have the power to use it as a weapon though. So in RPG terms it is enchanted as a weapon.
As far as the Card Game goes, the Buckler Gun does not have the Offhand trait, so Agna can't use it for her ability.
As far as the RPG goes, you cannot normally shield bash with bucklers. A shield usually must be classified as a light or heavy shield in order to make shield bash attack. The Thunderstriker fighter archetype is the only thing that I know of that can give you the ability to bash with a buckler.
So a buckler not have the Offhand trait makes perfect sense for the Card Game and Agna's ability.
I have another question about Agna's power. I had been assuming I couldn't use it with two-handed weapons. But I realized today the power doesn't actually say anything about that. The main-gauche says it can't be played on a check with a two-handed weapon, but recharging a card for a power doesn't normally count as "playing" it. So is it okay?
I had been assuming I couldn't use it with two-handed weapons. But I realized today the power doesn't actually say anything about that.
Yeah, I realized that loophole, too. It's interesting because some of the weapons with the Offhand trait in the Ranger Class Deck also have the 2-handed trait. These are considered double weapons in the RPG with which you can use both ends as if they were two weapons for the purposes of the two-weapon fighting rules, one of the ends being treated as the offhand weapon.
This made me wonder why the Quarterstaff doesn't have the Offhand trait since it is a double weapon in the RPG. If it did, that would help low-level OP Agna since it's a Basic weapon.
Thread bump - I'd still like to know if Agna can recharge a shield for her power.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Great, Vic! Thank you! So with the rewording, you can recharge a magic shield to add the magic trait to your combat check. Nice!