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Why cat?
Thanks.
Flenta - Wizard Extraordinaire
Haha, in all seriousness though: I can't wrap my head around this.
DISCLAIMER: I don't want this to be another thread debating Flenta's "spell troubles". I think she is fine as is for what it's worth.
However, I can't for the life of me find a reason as to why the fighter deck even has the Cat ally in it. No one in the deck can attempt a check to recharge any of the spells in it. I could fetch a link to the various threads I have read to confirm this, if needed, but I believe the consensus is that Flenta can't use her "gain arcane for a combat check" to recharge. Which is fine, it fits her style and feel. With that out of the way no one else in the deck has the Arcane or Divine skills, or access to them. So no one can even attempt checks to recharge spells, which is the only thing the Cat aids with aside from allowing you to explore again. I would be able to move past this if there was one single instance or oddball combo that I am just not seeing.
I would even accept the fact that it is in there, on the off chance, that there is a spell in the box that recharges on strength or something the fighters have. So you could take it just to recharge that, once, maybe...
I'm genuinely concerned I may lose sleep over this.
Please send help.
If you think that's a head-scratcher, how about all those early Blessings of Pharasma in the Fighter deck (1 and two 2s), given that none of the spells in the deck require a roll until you get up to, like, the 5s.
I should think the three other Fighters in that deck are quite rightly miffed about that (and Flenta's probably not too crazy about it either), when those slots could be filled with Gorums...
If you think that's a head-scratcher, how about all those early Blessings of Pharasma in the Fighter deck (1 and two 2s), given that none of the spells in the deck require a roll until you get up to, like, the 5s.
I should think the three other Fighters in that deck are quite rightly miffed about that (and Flenta's probably not too crazy about it either), when those slots could be filled with Gorums...
I agree with that one, but I can accept those. Because Flenta can roll on attack spells with a decent die, and the other fighters could feasibly pick up spells and use that to make their roll to use it not quite so awful. Maybe even use it when someone hands them a spell if they lost all their weapons.
These are pretty big stretches I know, but at least they are moments where that card could be used. I still can't think of a situation where the cat can be used by anyone in the Fighter deck.
Maybe she's in there so the fighters can hand her off to other players? In some odd attempt to force teamwork?
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The blessings can work because it is cooperative too. You'll have other players who might play a spell on a check. Then your Blessing of Pharasma will add 2 dice. I, for one, like taking blessings that will also help others. And with the fighters, I think it gives them a good way to add some more support.
As for the cat, it is really Flenta's sister, who was turned into a cat. How could she NOT take it as one of her allies?
The blessings can work because it is cooperative too. You'll have other players who might play a spell on a check. Then your Blessing of Pharasma will add 2 dice. I, for one, like taking blessings that will also help others. And with the fighters, I think it gives them a good way to add some more support.
As for the cat, it is really Flenta's sister, who was turned into a cat. How could she NOT take it as one of her allies?
That's fair.
Also, now that I know about her sister, I have to take that as my ally. I don't think I can resist.
I know. It really tugs at the heart strings.
Sometimes, there are no mechanical reasons for a thing. Flenta has a cat 'cause wizards have familiars, and she's a wizard.
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Never knew about the sister, is that actually the case? Kind of cool, even if it didn't have anything to do with the ally choice.
Sometimes, there are no mechanical reasons for a thing. Flenta has a cat 'cause wizards have familiars, and she's a wizard.
Wannabe wizard!
That being said, can we get an ally that is just a human in a cat costume, so the wannabe cat can be a wannabe familiar for the wannabe wizard?
Not to come off rude... but that is a rather unsatisfactory answer.
If I go out and purchase a product billed as the Fighter Class Deck I expect to get cards useful to fighters... not cards no fighter would ever want to use.
Cat has no use (that I can see) to any fighter in the Class Deck or the two main games. Its only use is to gain an explore and there are far better allies for a fighter to have that possess the explore power coupled with another useful power.
Additionally Flenta is a Fighter. She's in the Fighter Class Deck and has the trait Fighter not Wizard. Saying that she is a wizard as justification for Cat being the Fighter Class Deck makes a bit of sense from a story perspective but while I love the flavor in the game its not a game about storytelling.
Simply put choosing Cat as an ally for Flenta in the card guild or in one of the main games just doesn't make much sense so its inclusion is baffling and doesn't feel appropriate to the Fight Class Deck.
If there is a sneaky way for Flenta to make use of Cat that hasn't yet been seen... well that would be awesome and I'll gladly eat crow.
The sister thing is something I totally made up. Sorry if it led anyone astray.
But if it makes anyone enjoy the cat in their class deck more, then it was all worth it.
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Shade, while some people don't care about the story, it is still a part of the game, and flavor is important to a lot of us. Obviously gameplay is more important, so if the cat didn't give an explore it would be wrong to include it in the deck. However, as an explore card that has flavor to it (game flavor, please don't try eating the cat), I'm glad they added something like that in there.
If there is a sneaky way for Flenta to make use of Cat that hasn't yet been seen... well that would be awesome and I'll gladly eat crow.
Ironically the Crow would have been a better choice of ally.
I agree with Andrew, it doesn't make any sense mechanically and that sucks, but let's be honest, I would rather have a bit of flavor for flavor's sake than have a game that is almost entirely mechanical or balanced to a fault. I actually like little things that are there like this just for the sake of it.
Personally I will take it, for fun. I've been playing Flenta as a utility bag o' tricks and it's added a lot of good laughs to the table. Using Call Weapon to hand simple weapons that I keep in my deck off to people who could use them, if the bard didn't get his one weapon for instance. Or using my menagerie of scrolls to buff everything under the sun. So I'll prolly take the cat just to hand off to casters ("Here, hold my cat while I slay this foul beast!"). Have fun with it.
Shade, while some people don't care about the story, it is still a part of the game, and flavor is important to a lot of us. Obviously gameplay is more important, so if the cat didn't give an explore it would be wrong to include it in the deck. However, as an explore card that has flavor to it (game flavor, please don't try eating the cat), I'm glad they added something like that in there.
While story is a part of the game I personally don't feel its a focus like it is in the RPG. For game play I would expect every card in the Fighter Class Deck to be of use to one of the game's Fighters. Cat isn't and simply including it for story reasons doesn't work for me. The main games are a better place for story related cards, not in a specific class' booster deck.
Now if you tell me that at one point in development Flenta had the ability to recharge spells and the Cat is a left over from that era... I'd be more forgiving than simply saying it was included for story reasons.
I think this is another reason Tanis needs to get on with the Class Deck design series that she promised :P
Now, I love me some flavour. I've chosen some slightly mechanically weaker weapon upgrades for my Tontelizi just because they're bludgeoning weapons and I'm building a LegBREAKER (as opposed to a legslasher or legpiercer). Fun!
But including objectively poor mechanical selections JUST for flavour? That's less cool.
For the Cat slot in particular, there are plenty of alternatives that are both flavourful AND useful. Want to keep a "familiar" in there? How about a Crow or Fox, or even a Dog or Parrot? What about a friendly Sage that keeps Flenta in fresh scrolls (and also shores up abilities that Fighters typically aren't so hot at)?
I'm a big fan of "letting the cards tell the story." But the Fighter Class Deck should tell a Fighter's story, and a card that's not actually helpful in actual play does not advance that story.
I feel like people would be less bothered by this if the ally didn't have any power at all past exploring, because then it'd be 100% usable...
If it was a recharge to explore, maybe. Otherwise, almost every other ally offers another ability plus the discard to explore, so "explore-only Cat" would still be a worse choice.