So, I got the game a few days ago, and so far it's been fun. Been playing Brigandoom solo, first with Kyra (which was ridiculously easy) and then Lini (who died very quickly due to bad luck and no offensive power) and then started a game with my boyfriend (me Seoni and he Harsk) which has been great fun.
So far most of the rules have seemed pretty clear, and what wasn't I found in the FAQ. One thing I'm unsure of though, is this:
If I have a card that can be recharged to add a bonus to a roll, can I play it's recharging ability even if I'm not making the roll?
For context, last night I had a troubadour on hand, and acquired a boon (can't remember what right now). At end of turn I would be forced to discard a card as I had one too many. I'm wondering if I could simply have played the troubadour to recharge it? That would have been far preferable to discarding a card (I ended up discarding a potion).
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No, you may not. You can play a card when t the card allows it.
Playing Cards
Anyone can play a card whenever the card allows it.
You may not activate a power that doesn’t apply to your current situation.
Troubadour adds to a certain type of check. If you aren't making that check, then there is nothing to add to, you can't play it.
You could have played the Troubadour to explore again, provided there were cards to explore. But sometimes you will just have to discard some cards the end of your turn.
Welcome to PACG and good luck on your adventure.
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Playing the Troubadour to explore also discards it. ;)
Thanks a lot!
Okay, a follow-up question:
I'm at the Black Fang scenarion, and at the temple, just starting. And the first card I draw is Black Fang. Now, I'm playing Sajan and have three blessings on hand so I have good odds of winning the fight, but my question is this:
If I beat a villain, do I _have_ to close the location?
The temple is basically full of goodies that I'd love to have when going through the other dungeons, and as it's a solo game I'm not in a hurry. Losing those four attempts at drawing and getting a Blessing of Erastil or something else that's more useful than "of the gods" would be quite harsh, and I'm considering intentionally losing just to be able to pick up those things (and the other gear that might drop there) since not only will it affect this scenario but if I continue on Burnt Offerings later it'd help not to go in with 6 blessings of the gods.
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If I defeat a villain, do I "have" to close the location?
Yes.
I know it seems strange if you have a lot of time left on the blessing clock, but that's the rule.This said, since when you defeat an henchman you "may" close, it is a very tempting to build a house rule that would say "if you defeat you may automatically close the location".
Beware however that in certain scenarios, forfeiting the opportunity to close in this case could lead to the scenario now being unable to complete.
I would like the opinion of Mike on that one.
If I defeat a villain, do I "have" to close the location?Yes.
I know it seems strange if you have a lot of time left on the blessing clock, but that's the rule.
This said, since when you defeat an henchman you "may" close, it is a very tempting to build a house rule that would say "if you defeat you may automatically close the location".
Beware however that in certain scenarios, forfeiting the opportunity to close in this case could lead to the scenario now being unable to complete.I would like the opinion of Mike on that one.
Yeah, the rulebook seemed pretty clear on it. Thought that since PACG has had quite a lot of errata, maybe there was something I just hadn't seen. Oh well, I'll have to deliberately lose this fight then. Seems... wrong.
I guess I could think of it as retreating so as to not get acid over the whole temple :P
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Yeah, the rulebook seemed pretty clear on it. Thought that since PACG has had quite a lot of errata, maybe there was something I just hadn't seen. Oh well, I'll have to deliberately lose this fight then. Seems... wrong.
I guess I could think of it as retreating so as to not get acid over the whole temple :P
Yeah, defeating Villains at a location does automatically close that location still. (NOTE: Unless the instructions for the scenario/villain specifically say it doesn't.)
But remember that if you intentionally fail the combat with the villain, you do take the damage plus whatever conditions on the villain's card. Plus you must take blessings off the blessings deck along with the villain and shuffle them into the open locations. So you've lost time as well. (It would be better if you could evade the villain so that he/she/it gets shuffled back into the location deck.)
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But remember that if you intentionally fail the combat with the villain, you do take the damage plus whatever conditions on the villain's card. Plus you must take blessings off the blessings deck along with the villain and shuffle them into the open locations. So you've lost time as well. (It would be better if you could evade the villain so that he/she/it gets shuffled back into the location deck.)
And ironically, if you encountered the villain anywhere else in this scenario, you could discard two cards to evade and move to the Temple!
But remember that if you intentionally fail the combat with the villain, you do take the damage plus whatever conditions on the villain's card.
There's nothing extra for failing apart for the damage, and since I only have 4 cards and will have to make a Fort 7 check or take 1d4-1 damage beforehand, it's likely to cause me to lose 3 additional cards to fail than to succeed.
So far with Sajan solo I've had plenty, plenty of time, and as such losing two rounds isn't really a big deal. Getting better blessings in my character deck, however, IS a big deal, as I cycle them pretty quickly and a Blessing of Erastil is essential two cards in one for me.I will lose the fight and see if I can still win the scenario. I do play "hardcore mode" (I can't rerun scenarios, if I fail a scenario, my character is gone and I've failed the whole adventure and will start over from scratch), so it's a bit of a gamble, but we'll see what happens.
Oh. Just to warn you, solo Sajan will run into a huge problem in Burnt Offerings with one of the villains.
After you have the rules down, I really recommend playing two or even three characters. Not only does it eliminate some nearly impossible issues for solo characters, I think it also makes the game much more fun because it allows you to coordinate you powers with other characters.
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You have to close the location. This is unlikely to ever change.
Oh. Just to warn you, solo Sajan will run into a huge problem in Burnt Offerings with one of the villains.
After you have the rules down, I really recommend playing two or even three characters. Not only does it eliminate some nearly impossible issues for solo characters, I think it also makes the game much more fun because it allows you to coordinate you powers with other characters.
Well, I am playing a two-player campaign too with my partner, it's just that he doesn't have as much time as I so I waste my time playing solo :P
You have to close the location. This is unlikely to ever change.
Thanks for telling us :)
I do play "hardcore mode" (I can't rerun scenarios, if I fail a scenario, my character is gone and I've failed the whole adventure and will start over from scratch)...
While many people have played all the scenarios from RotR without ever losing, I think the odds of losing a scenario are greatest with 1 or 6 characters and lowest with 3-4. Only being able to play one blessing on each check will make some checks extremely difficult.
This will be a painful rule to follow if you lose a scenario in (let's say) deck 5.
This wouldn't be a very viable approach to Skull & Shackles, I think.
While many people have played all the scenarios from RotR without ever losing, I think the odds of losing a scenario are greatest with 1 or 6 characters and lowest with 3-4. Only being able to play one blessing on each check will make some checks extremely difficult.
I do play "hardcore mode" (I can't rerun scenarios, if I fail a scenario, my character is gone and I've failed the whole adventure and will start over from scratch)...
Well, as Sajan I can play a lot of blessings on combat checks at least :P But regardless, I follow the Dwarf Fortress view on fun.
(For the record, it took me over two hundred characters before I first managed to finish the game ADOM, though granted only about 30 or so survived the first two dungeons and probably only a dozen finished the first half of the game).
Okay so wanted to tell you what went down...
I took the chance at the temple, letting Black Fang beat me and escape, losing my hand. I shuffled the cards, next round drew a Blessings of the Gods, discarded it to explore, and who's there? Black Fang. G$#%@&n Black Fang.
Well, I couldn't discard four more cards, so I took the fight. Had two blessings and two other cards, so took my chances with the acid breath. Only had to discard one, leaving both blessings. 3d10 vs 12 shouldn't be too hard, right?
3, 4, 3. Damn. The dragon escaped, and I lost my last card. At least now I plowed through the temple without issues, picking up blessings of Irori, Iomedae and fantastically enough Erastil.
Once I had salvaged what was in the temple and closed it off, I went to the Desecrated Vault, lost a few cards but nothing too bad, until... Black Fang, again. This time I only lost a single blessing (to prevent his acid breath), but managed to kick his butt (3d10+1d6+1d4 from a blessing of Erastil, a tiger, and an amulet of mighty fists). I knew where he was, but this time, I would have to go through 13 cards - 5 of which where blessings that would damage me - to find him.
So I went to the Shrine of Lamashtu and began turning cards. About 10 cards left in the blessings deck so I'd have to be swift, though there was no panic left. Drew two blessings of the gods, each just cost me one card since I could drop two and take one.
Then the bastard was back, Black Fang. I felt decently safe since I had an amulet, a tiger, a blessing of the gods and a blessing of erastil. Spent the blessings of the gods, because 2d6+2 vs 7 should be quite safe.
Rolled snake eyes. And then the acid rolled a 3. Had to drop the tiger and amulet, but still, 3d10 vs 12 - I won't fail a second time at that, surely!
2, 5, 4. 11. F. R. A. K. K.
So now I'm pretty much dead. Black Fang is somewhere in the shrine, but my hand is empty and my deck is 4 cards thick. Unless basically the next card is Black Fang, I am utterly dead.
That's what happens when you take a chance - the rest of the game the dice will screw you over royally. But, at least it's been fun.
Next time, I'll try Valeros.
Well, followup, because there was actually more action to it than this. I thought I'd be dead by blessing, but nope!
The very next round I flipped the card, and it was an ancient skeleton! Yay! My hand at this point was my only four remaining cards - A sage, two blessings of the gods, and my blessing of Erastil. The blessing discard pile was also topped by Erastil, so the skeleton was no match at all. All the other cards removed, now it was only me and Black Fang left. A final showdown, but this time I had an even better hand than before.
Next round, top blessing discard is Calistria, so no aid there. Dropped my first blessing for an extra dice against the acid, 2d6+2 vs 7 again.
Snake eyes. What are the odds?
1d4 acid. Rolled a 4. The rest of my hand was gone, and now I'm dead.
Dead as dead can be.
This monk is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. This is a late monk. It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. If it wasn't so well sleeved, it would be pushing up the daisies. It's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-monk. And thus can't take any more levels until of lawful alignment again. And, well, not dead again.
That's some bad luck. I'm sorry you lost him, I really like Sajan.
Maybe for your next adventure you could take two characters (or event three). The game isn't really intended to be played by a single character, wastes too many potential. Some classes have powers just to help other characters (Harsk, Lem, Valeros, Amiri, and lots of characters from class decks).