The display mechanic kind of confuses me. At the end of your turn, do all displayed cards stay in play? If no, what happens to them. Is this different for spells or weapons? If so, does it matter if you used the item?
Also, do you die when you cant draw up to your hand size? or is it when you are out of cards? If its the first one, then increasing your hand size is essentially giving you less "life" or card pool.
They stay displayed until whatever displayed them says to stop displaying them. The spell Strength, for example, is displayed until the end of the turn on which it was played. The spell Rage is displayed until the end of the turn of the person who played. If Oloch displays some weapons and blessings for his power, he displays them until the end of his turn (or the start of his turn if he takes a power feat). Anything that displays a card will also contain instructions on how to stop displaying that card.
When you can't draw up to your hand size. And yes, the larger your hand size the more risky your death is. If you need to draw 4 cards to be at your hand size and there are only 3 in your deck, you have just died.
Welcome to PACG and good luck on your adventure.
Like so many other things in this game, you gotta make some tough choices when you increase your hand size. It's good to have more options with a bigger hand size but you make yourself more vulnerable at the same time. It's also part of what distinguishes tanky players like Valeros or Oloch from a squishy player like Ranzak (who can go all the way up to 11 cards).
I dont have the cards in front of me. My VL has the game, but I dont remember cards like the Cutlass telling me what happens after the card is displayed. Does it stay from turn to turn? What about the "Speed" spell. It was kind of vague if it stayed out pass the turn it was put into play.
Speed says that at the end of the turn (the turn it was played on) you banish it if you don't have the Arcane or Divine skills. Otherwise, you attempt a check, if you succeed, recharge it, if you fail, discard it.
The powers on Cutlass don't say anything about displaying Cutlass. If another card displayed Cutlass (the Smuggler can do this) then that other card will tell you how to stop displaying it. Or if Oloch uses his power to display the Cutlass, then Oloch's power will tell you when to stop displaying the Cutlass.
Display this card...
...At the end of the turn, if you do not have either Arcane or Divine skill, banish this card; otherwise, attempt an Arcane or Divine 8 Check. If you succeed, recharge this card; if you fail, discard it.
The card says that at the end of the turn, banish/recharge/discard it. Whose turn was it cast? Then banish/recharge/discard it at the end of that person's turn.
Let's give you an example:
It is Valeros' turn.
Valeros explores and encounters a barrier.
Alahazra decides to cast the spell Speed on Valeros.
Speed is displayed.
Veleros defeats the barrier.
Valeros decides to end his turn.
Speed stops being displayed.
Alahazra has the Divine skill; therefore, Speed is not banished.
Instead, she attempts a Divine 8 check. She succeeds.
Speed is recharged back into Alahazra's deck.
The turn passes unto the next player.
Let's look at Oloch's power:
When another character attempts any check, you may display any number of blessings and weapons; for each card displayed, add 1 ([]2) to the check. Return the displayed cards to your hand before you reset it ([]at the start of your turn).
The power tells me to return the cards to my hand before I reset my hand. That means right before Oloch goes into Reset your hand step.
If you have checked off the power feat "[]and at the start of your turn," then you also return the cards you displayed into your hand at the start of your turn.
Let's give you another example. In this example, Oloch has not checked off the power feat "[]and at the start of your turn."
It is Valeros' turn.
Valeros explores and encounters a monster.
Oloch decides to use his power and displays a weapon.
Valeros defeats the monster.
Valeros ends his turn.
It is now Oloch's turn.
The weapon he displayed earlier is still displayed.
Oloch explores.
Oloch encounters a barrier.
Oloch displays a blessing.
Oloch defeats the barrier.
Oloch decides to end his turn.
Before he resets his hand, the weapon he displayed on Valeros' turn and the blessing he played during his own turn now returns to his hand.
Oloch resets his hand.
Oloch's turn ends.
As Hawkmoon said earlier, All the cards that tell you to display will also tell you when to stop displaying them. If the card says at the end of THE turn, then it is at the end of the turn that it was played. If it says at the end of YOUR turn, then it stays displayed until you reach the end of your turn.
THank you, I didnt understand the rules correctly. When I read the rules on page 10 that state
Each player may play no more than 1
card of each type during each step; for example, no one player may
play more than 1 blessing while attempting a check, though multiple
players could each play 1 blessing during that check. Each player may
activate any power no more than once during each step. Players may
not play any cards or activate any powers between those steps.
I then went to the rules for "play"
When you play a card, it will usually require you to take one of the following actions.
• Reveal: Show it from your hand then put it back in your hand. You
may not reveal the same card for its power more than once per
check or step.
• Display: Place it faceup in front of your character, unless stated
otherwise; the card’s powers function until it’s discarded. When
a character displays a card, it is not part of that character’s hand,
deck, or discard pile, but it still belongs to that character.
• Discard: Put it into your discard pile—a stack of faceup cards next
to your deck.
• Recharge: Put it facedown at the bottom of your character deck.
• Bury: Put it under your character card (likely losing access to it for
the rest of the scenario).
• Banish: Put it back in the box, shuffling it in with the other cards
of the same type (thus losing it for good).
I assumed I could display cards due to this, my problem is assuming i guess. Now I know that you only reveal weapons to use them. After using a weapon, it stays in my hand? What happens if I end up with 4 weapons in my hand? Seems to kind of suck as your only option is then to discard them thus reducing your life total.
If you only reveal a card, then yes it stays in your hand. A lot of the weapons you reveal but can additionally recharge, discard, or bury for extra dice. Like this one. If you have lots of weapons in your hand, it is usually a good idea to take advantage of those extra dice.
You can also simply discard cards you don't want as part of resetting your hand.
Reset Your Hand: Do the following whenever you are instructed to reset your hand. While you reset your hand, you may only play cards or use powers that say they may be used when you reset your hand. First, you may discard any number of cards. Then, if you have more cards in your hand than your hand size specifies, you must discard until the number of cards in your hand matches your hand size. Finally, if you have fewer cards than your hand size, you must draw cards until the number of cards in your hand matches your hand size.
Of course, that means you got no benefit from them, so it is better to use them for the extra dice.
It was the first game for my VL and myself. He just got the box to start promoting it in our area. We did a lot wrong. Going to hit it up again soon.
What Characters are the best for new people in the SnS box?
That is ok. Everyone seems to get stuff wrong the first few times they play. I know I did. You might find this guide helpful. It hasn't been totally updated for S&S, but it should still be accurate.
If you are new, then the characters with simpler mechanics or that don't tempt you to overuse cards would probably be best. I'd recommend Jirelle, Merisiel, or Valeros. If you want some spells, go with Feiya, Lem, or Lini.
Oloch can be a slow to start and some people get tripped up on his displaying cards power. Plus he'll tempt you to over display, leaving you short for your own turn.
Alahazra will tempt you to over use her power to examine decks, leaving you short for your turn.
Damiel can take some figuring out and has a lot going on.
Lirianne takes some careful balancing with deciding what you can bury and when.
Seltyiel will also let you dabble in spells, but I think he takes some skilled play too.
Not to say that any of those more "nuanced" characters aren't great. I'm actually playing 3 of them. Just saying the first 6 I mentioned tend to be a bit more straightforward, at least in their initial powers. I'd recommend using one of those 6 to play a scenario or two to learn, then deciding who you want to play long term.
Valeros is definitely one of the easiest to wrap your head around. If you're nervous about complexity, probably stay away from the casters. Their powers tend to require more fiddling around and recharging spells adds another layer of dice rolls and card movement almost everything they do. Hawk's suggestions are good, I think. Valeros, Jirelle, and Merisiel are all weapon-based and have simple, situational powers that won't cause you to eliminate your whole hand like Lem, Alahazra, or Oloch and leave you with nothing to do on your own turn.
(also Merisiel is secret best character everyone should play; hopefully within 1 or 2 sets after Wrath we'll have 6 versions of Merisiel and then everyone at the table can play a different Merisiel and be happy; well, except for the guy who gets stuck with the stupid Class Deck one. Longbows, ick)
Anyway! With all that cautioning against playing this character or that character, I'd say you're just going through the same growing pains everyone here did their first couple sessions. Confusing the display mechanic isn't the most egregious mistake I've seen here, I've done worse myself. :D So my ultimate advice would be just to play whomever has the coolest character portrait, and trust that you'll figure out the nitty gritty across a game or two instead of limiting yourself to what feels appropriate for your experience level.
(also Merisiel is secret best character everyone should play; hopefully within 1 or 2 sets after Wrath we'll have 6 versions of Merisiel and then everyone at the table can play a different Merisiel and be happy; well, except for the guy who gets stuck with the stupid Class Deck one. Longbows, ick)
I guess I am one of the few who actually like the class deck version Merisiel better than the other ones. It must have everything to do with my affinity for archers. Not that I'd play her in a party of 6 Merisiels, but I would be the one to pick that version and be happy with it.
If you want really simple, play Ranzak. You grab a lotta stuff and stick with someone else so you can hand off the nasty encounters to them :)
Valeros is also a good early play, since it teaches you the power of using the secondary power of weapons. Since he recharges instead of discarding, it's a lot less painful to use the effect, and it shows the bonus of card cycling you get.
I'm trying a two-character shakedown with Valeros and Lem. They complement each other quite well--Valeros is fantastic at clearing combat heavy locations, and Lem is a great utility player/healer. They have very little gear overlap, and they tend to be able to handle location closing with little worry. Their Achilles' heel is Wisdom, which Lem isn't terribly strong on, and Valeros downright stinks at, which makes Sirens and Goblin Warchanters a right pain in the rump. Later, when Valeros is strong enough to punch a 'chanter to death reliably, it's not quite so huge.
Now that Lem has the Returning Throwing Axe +1 (which I can guarantee he starts with), he can defend himself without resorting to as many attack spells, and I've switched over to useful stuff like Speed and Scrying.
Kept the Lightning Bolt, though (heh).