|
Ah yes. Zees game, eet eez too eazeee!
The downside of this power is the fact that Stargazer Alahazra doesn't have the skill to acquire many boons. Weapons, Arcane spells, and possibly Armor could all be lost to this sort of indiscriminate boon-handling. You could be setting yourself up for a short-term win but a long-term loss through lack of deck upgrades. Might be more of a problem in larger parties. This power seems like it needs to have a big "YMMV" tag attached to it.
The downside of this power is the fact that Stargazer Alahazra doesn't have the skill to acquire many boons. Weapons, Arcane spells, and possibly Armor could all be lost to this sort of indiscriminate boon-handling. You could be setting yourself up for a short-term win but a long-term loss through lack of deck upgrades. Might be more of a problem in larger parties. This power seems like it needs to have a big "YMMV" tag attached to it.
Except that Alahazra can completely ignore this "downside" since she can chose not to encounter the boon she reveals. A party with Alahazra will be more likely to acquire desirable boons, not less likely, since you can insure that the party only attempts to acquire these cards when they have a character with high skills and appropriate support to make the checks.
I wouldn't say Alahazra is broken. In my experience I have not fond her out of line with the other powerhouse characters from S&S (Feiya or Damiel). She is certainly very very good.
I don't think she's broken either. Certainly not compared to RotR Lini or Damiel in his home AP, S&S.
Besides, it's not like her power is insanely better than your standard explore. Primarily because she can't fight banes, meaning she wastes the hand card if she hits one. I mean, it does recharge and she can visit other locations, but broken? Nah.
|
|
That only happens if Alahazra doesn't acquire the boons. You're not placing this in the context of the previous comment, which complains that Alahazra can tear through location decks, cut out loads of potential explorations by whipping through boons, and help parties win on time. She can't use her power to help a party win on time and still leave all those boons on the table for others to nab.
That only happens if Alahazra doesn't acquire the boons. You're not placing this in the context of the previous comment, which complains that Alahazra can tear through location decks, cut out loads of potential explorations by whipping through boons, and help parties win on time. She can't use her power to help a party win on time and still leave all those boons on the table for others to nab.
(I'm assuming this was aimed at Josh)
But she can whip through most of the boons and leave one or two that the party actually wants behind. The vast majority of boons encountered by this point will not make the cut for a deck. At least, not in my experience.
But still. I don't find it all that much more powerful than just "recharge to explore," which animals and the character who synergize with them show isn't broken. And more people think Augury is a problem than Haste, another recharge to explore. And let's not even get into Damiel and his PoFlying's.
What Orbis said. She lets you speed through the vast majority of boons that you just want to banish and then positions you to grab the handful of boons that are actual upgrade.
|
|
OK, so then we're no longer really talking about this problem:
We finished both scenarios with almost HALF the blessing decks left.
The issue in question is whether Alahazra lets you take too many explorations effectively for free (or, at least, without damaging her health), not whether she lets you pick & choose boons. The charge is that this power lets you zip through cards too fast, making the scenario "too easy" to complete.
This assumes, of course, that you hit boons and not banes with this power.
Stargazer's upgrade to explore examined boons is powerful but certainly not broken. There still are alot of banes in the decks. On banes you expend 2 cards--1 divine trait card recharged, 1 to explore. As noted above she is weak on strength, dexterity, constitution and intelligence so is going to have problems with acquiring weapon and armor boons. This could hurt other players wanting those boons, especially when their blessings run out. By the way Ruby of Charisma and Old Salt really helps her--just got my third old salt...sweeet.
In addition, the power to explore other locations, could deplete decks of boons that feed players like Ranzak. And might even upset other players, because you could steal from a deck they are at--taking the boons and usually leaving the banes.
So a great power, but drink responsibly.
How is this power considerably stronger than other similar powers? Is it the fact that she can pick and choose which boons she encounters?
I find that Lini with a sphere spell can tear through locations pretty quickly as well, and she tends to get most of those explore cards back at the end her turn.
I don't think the power is anything like what Lini can do.
Alahazra can scout a card 4-7 times per turn(depending on your deck composition, card and power choices, and how much you have honed the deck in that particular game). She can do this without ever discarding a card, and that helps set her team up to maximize the individual talents and avoid nasty surprises.
On top of that, roughly 45-60% of the time (depending on the particular scenario and composition of individual location decks), she has the option of not just scouting the card, but turn it into a free fee explore by encountering the boon. This is particularly powerful when you run into boons that you don't need, and just want to get through them to close the location. It's also amazing in locations that you know have divine cards, because those are easy for Alahazra to acquire and further her power.
This power helps alahazra's team speed through locations and achieve easier wins, and she does this all with 0 risk. Unlike other characters who rely on multiple explorations (like Lini) nothing can go wrong with using this power. Oh, and on top of that she can do it from any location, she she mitages a ton of problems caused by various location cards.
I don't think she is broken, but her scouting power is probably the strongest single power in the game (rivaling things like Damiel's potion recovery, flat 1d4+4 bonuses to rolls and Feiya's difficulty reducing powers)
In general, scouting abilities are very strong. Banes that must be encountered when revealed could counter that.
Yeah, like creatures with mental powers that detect you scrying on them and strike back psychicly!
I wouldn't rule it out.
Yeah, like creatures with mental powers that detect you scrying on them and strike back psychicly!I wouldn't rule it out.
"When [this bane] is examined it cannot be encountered. If [this bane] is examined, the examining character immediately takes 1d4 psychic damage and then [this bane] is immediately shuffled into a random location deck."