The Vulture


Rules Questions and Gameplay Discussion


Is anyone else enthralled by this card? I initially took it as a novelty, but quickly fell in love with it. It's especially great in a two player game, as you and your friend can just hand it back and forth between each other, and you don't have to worry about the random part. And it's just perfect for WotR, since there are all those auto-damaging cards and it's basic so you can pick it up right away.

I also use it like the old Merchant card, which I always liked the idea of but for which I couldn't justify the cost. And not only do I get to hand over cards to my friend, but I get to prevent a damage and don't have to recharge to do so. Although this works much better in a two player game.

I don't explore often with it, but I can do that in a pinch, too.

Maybe someone else who would really like this card was overlooking it, so I thought I'd share.

Vulture (not exact text) wrote:

Reveal this card when you take damage to give a card in your hand to a random other player, instead of discarding it.

Discard this card to explore your location.

Grand Lodge

Orbis Orboros wrote:

Is anyone else enthralled by this card? I initially took it as a novelty, but quickly fell in love with it. It's especially great in a two player game, as you and your friend can just hand it back and forth between each other, and you don't have to worry about the random part. And it's just perfect for WotR, since there are all those auto-damaging cards and it's basic so you can pick it up right away.

I also use it like the old Merchant card, which I always liked the idea of but for which I couldn't justify the cost. And not only do I get to hand over cards to my friend, but I get to prevent a damage and don't have to recharge to do so. Although this works much better in a two player game.

I don't explore often with it, but I can do that in a pinch, too.

Maybe someone else who would really like this card was overlooking it, so I thought I'd share.

Vulture (not exact text) wrote:

Reveal this card when you take damage to give a card in your hand to a random other player, instead of discarding it.

Discard this card to explore your location.

This card is in Ekkie's deck list and we played her on Saturday. It did come in handy although the player didn't transfer the Vulture to anyone else so he was getting a little low in cards at the end. It is a good ally to get into your deck early.


I can definitely see a use case for it for trees, especially in two player games. Now that I think about it, it'd be the perfect card for Adowyn to keep around now that she's repping the Barding and could use a semi-permanent animal in her hand.

I'm not 100% convinced though. Obviously it gives you a little bit of durability against Trees, but it's gotta sit in your hand to do it, and it's "only" a reduction of two damage in a two player game. In a six player game, heck yeah. In two player, I'm probably happier just to let myself lose the cards and cure them back rather than keep one card in my hand for might happens.

Of course I say that not as the Kyra player in our duo, who has more than once lost a fight not because she couldn't handle it, but because a summoned monster's 1 combat damage forced her to discard one of the spells required to complete two (or three!) encounters in a row.


Dave Riley wrote:

I can definitely see a use case for it for trees, especially in two player games. Now that I think about it, it'd be the perfect card for Adowyn to keep around now that she's repping the Barding and could use a semi-permanent animal in her hand.

I'm not 100% convinced though. Obviously it gives you a little bit of durability against Trees, but it's gotta sit in your hand to do it, and it's "only" a reduction of two damage in a two player game. In a six player game, heck yeah. In two player, I'm probably happier just to let myself lose the cards and cure them back rather than keep one card in my hand for might happens.

Of course I say that not as the Kyra player in our duo, who has more than once lost a fight not because she couldn't handle it, but because a summoned monster's 1 combat damage forced her to discard one of the spells required to complete two (or three!) encounters in a row.

It's not really any different than armor or Ring of Protection. Except that you can also explore with it if needed.

You can pass around the Vulture itself, or stuff in your hand you don't really want (second weapon, card you picked up for someone else, whatever).

You could also explore with it on Adowyn (using its ability simply if you take damage before exploring with it) in particular, since she can heal an animal every turn (although using that power on her to heal means no Mastiff exploit). Or explore with it on one of the several characters who recharge animals instead of discarding them.

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And my absolute favorite use for this card is for Arboreal Blight - the encounters are simultaneous, so you choose the order. Have the player with the Vulture encounter the tree first, and hand off the Vulture for damage. Have the player who gets the Vulture do the next tree, and hand off the Vulture. Repeat until you run out of trees or the Vulture goes to a player who's already fought a tree.


Now that seems really clever.
"Oh no, we will all take one damage!"
"No problem, we will just Vulture it around."

Edit: except the random part will probably mean that in a larger group it won't get to everyone.


Yeah, somehow the random party member slipped my mind. Oops!

I mean it's a ~little~ different than Ring of Protection. In the case of Trees, it'll protect you from the first hit of combat damage but not the second. In that case, it's better for Kyra to keep her magic shield to protect her hand. Though if Vulture exists, she might be able to make a better use case for spending her sole armor slot on something she can bury. Right now, there's enough 1 or 2 points of Before You Act combat damage in any given scenario that keeping the shield around is basically a necessity. Vulture would help with that, but not clear it up entirely.

It being ANY damage does help with a few locations that do 1 Poison damage and so on, though. Really, I think the best use case is for maggot swarms. :D No more worries about 1 Acid damage before you act.

The other issue is getting it BACK, of course. Otherwise maybe just Player 2 is carting it around until the next Arboreal Blight pops.

Grand Lodge

Are you actually able to Reveal the Vulture then hand it off as the card?


Theryon Stormrune wrote:
Are you actually able to Reveal the Vulture then hand it off as the card?

Don't see why not.


This is pretty common. Just like recharging Lady Agasta for her own +2 to a combat check.


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Pegged it as awesome on my first scan through the cards when I opened the box. To the extent that I nearly posted a thread similar to this.


If two instances of damage are coming your way, you can hand off one card and then the Vulture.

And as to getting it back, you can always meet up somewhere and hand it off via the base rules. As well as the Vulture's own effect, of course.

And the problem with the Maggot Swarms is that the other encounters are before you act, so you have less control over the order in which they're fought (the player who flipped the Swarm over has to fight it last).

Theryon: Yes. It's reveal, not display, so it never leaves your hand.


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God, obviously. I think the thought of "you can play this card on itself" overwrote "but also you can still do it with any other card." Yup, Vulture's great. Somehow I was bothered by this scenario of "but what about when you take MORE than one damage? You have to play the Vulture or you'll lose it" and letting that overwhelm "but the best use for this card is on repeat, single damage, where that will never be a problem."


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Maps, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Orbis Orboros wrote:
If two instances of damage are coming your way, you can hand off one card and then the Vulture.

Provided those two instances of damage happen on separate steps, of course. If you take damage Before You Act and then again After You Act sure you can do that. You can't use it to reduce 2 damage in a single step (whether or not that comes from a single source, cf this post by Vic about Poison Spiked Pit Trap)


skizzerz wrote:
Orbis Orboros wrote:
If two instances of damage are coming your way, you can hand off one card and then the Vulture.
Provided those two instances of damage happen on separate steps, of course. If you take damage Before You Act and then again After You Act sure you can do that. You can't use it to reduce 2 damage in a single step (whether or not that comes from a single source, cf this post by Vic about Poison Spiked Pit Trap)

Hence the "two instances" phrasing instead of just "two damage." :P

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...I wonder if this was designed in time to make it in the Druid class deck? I hope so. Not as much as I hope it has the Mastiff, but nonetheless.


Orbis Orboros wrote:


...I wonder if this was designed in time to make it in the Druid class deck? I hope so. Not as much as I hope it has the Mastiff, but nonetheless.

So many cool animals to consider. Although maybe they will make a plant-loving Druid and then they would have to share the allies somewhat.


I love the vulture and wish he was in my class deck. :)

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