Upgrades from Box Cards


Pathfinder Adventure Card Society

Liberty's Edge 5/5 **

My roommate and I got started with OP last night starting with the demo scenario. One thing we're having a hard time wrapping our heads around is box rewards. The campaign rules mention replacing cards obtained from the box afterward with cards from the character deck but 1) It seems like that'll max out your deck very quickly and 2) How are those rewards recorded?

After the scenario we had something like 16 boons picked up throughout the scenario. Per the campaign rules we split them evenly and then started swapping them out 1 for 1 for character deck cards but I very quickly ran out of B weapons/armor and I'm confident after a couple more scenario's I'll be out of 1 and 2 weapons and armor. Are characters intended to power up that quickly? Are we doing something wrong?


No. The Adventure Card Guild has special rules.

From the Guide to Organized Play (which you should read if you haven't already), Upgrading Your Deck:

"Regardless of the method chosen, each player will receive
exactly one deck upgrade (that is, one card) per scenario,
excluding scenario rewards."

The Campaign Rules in this case don't apply to PFSACG. You do swap them out 1 for 1, but you only get to choose 1. Also, you don't get to keep these in a "pool" to use for upgrading your decks; you can only replace lost cards in your deck with Basic B set cards (or, starting from Adventure 3, you get to replace them with cards from 2 decks lower or below)

1/5 *

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

The short answer is that you only get to keep one deck upgrade (card) per scenario, in addition to the scenario reward, if any.

Liberty's Edge 5/5 **

Gotcha. That makes a lot more sense. Thanks.

Liberty's Edge 5/5 **

Additional Clarification:

Scenario rewards are in addition to the standard deck upgrade you always get. A deck upgrade involves replacing one card for another (presumably a better one). The cards gained from scenario rewards are a net gain. Is this correct?

1/5

Feral wrote:

Additional Clarification:

Scenario rewards are in addition to the standard deck upgrade you always get. A deck upgrade involves replacing one card for another (presumably a better one). The cards gained from scenario rewards are a net gain. Is this correct?

My understanding: If the scenario reward is a card, it's basically an offer of a second deck upgrade, swapping in the specified card to replace an old one of the same type. Your deck will still be the same usual size afterward.

Grand Lodge

Riff is correct. A reward that is some card is a form of upgrade outside the standard upgrade. Do the reward first then the upgrade then rebuild your deck.

The only way to increase your "play" deck is with card feats. You get those as rewards.

Liberty's Edge 5/5 **

When it says "Scenario Reward: One random item or ally" do you grab a random item or ally from the box for each player and then pick deck upgrades of the associated card level?

Grand Lodge

If the reward is "One random item or ally", then each person selects either an item or ally, take all available cards of that type from their class box and pick a random card. If you're playing in Adv Deck 2 scenarios, it would be B, 1 and 2 cards. Again, this is not an additional card to your deck but a potential replacement card for your deck.

Deck upgrades come from the pool of cards acquired during the scenario and any plunder cards.

Liberty's Edge 5/5 **

I'm still super confused.

So for Lost at Sea what cards go into the random pool? Only ones with Bs?


Lost at Sea is adventure 1. So B and 1 cards in the class deck are eligible to be the random card. So, if you were Class Deck Valeros and the scenario reward was a random ally, you would get all the B and 1 allies in the Fighter Class Deck, shuffle them and randomly pick 1. That is your scenario reward. You then rebuild your deck. You don't HAVE to keep that ally you just got as the random reward if you have enough allies without it.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Feral wrote:

I'm still super confused.

So for Lost at Sea what cards go into the random pool? Only ones with Bs?

Lost at Sea says "During this adventure, the game box should include only cards with set indicators of B, C, P, or 1."

Liberty's Edge 5/5 **

Yeah, I spotted that during my third full-read.

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