I'm pretty sure there's been a discussion of what everyone's favorite card is, so I want to talk about something different: that card you hate. You know, the one card that makes you grit your teeth and fume every time it turns up. Three in particular come to mind for me:
Barracuda Aiger - before I realized I wasn't forced to try to acquire him, I hated his guts. I'd seemingly always encounter him and immediately have to discard cards because I didn't have swashbuckling. Now that I know I don't have to try to get him, he doesn't bother me so much.
Coral Capuchin - I don't think anyone's surprised by this. Is there a more useless ally in existence? You can't explore with him, which of course automatically disqualifies him from the majority of ally consideration. But not only can you not explore with him, you can't recharge or discard him for his power - which to my knowledge is the only ally in the game that works like this - so he just sits in your hand and takes up valuable space. And his power sucks; revealing him and discarding another card for a d6 or situational d10 is extremely weak. I'm pretty sure in all my games of S&S, no one has ever voluntarily picked this ally up.
And to top it all off he's neither basic nor elite, so he never goes away. He's like herpes.
Ivory Dice - I hate this damn card. I almost always run scouting cards when I can, so seeing this card show up when there's a location whose contents I've carefully ordered makes me rageface. Inevitably, I'll fail the purely random roll to pick it up - which I'm forced to make, by the way, since the card instructs me to make the roll as soon as I encounter it - and it will find its way into the location I've scouted and screw everything up. I've never forget the time when my Seoni scryed a disintegrate spell to the top of a deck and was planning on getting it as soon as her turn popped up, when the following happened:
-Another player at another location encountered the Ivory Dice and failed to pick them up.
-The Ivory Dice ended up in the location I scryed, forcing a shuffle.
-The villain happened to be in that deck and we encountered it before the disintegrate.
-The villain was defeated, and my precious disintegrate made its way back to the box.
I will never, ever, forgive the Ivory Dice for that.
Bad news on Barracuda Aiger: choosing not to acquire him is the same thing isn't evading him; it's choosing to fail to acquire him. You still discard if your non-check doesn't have Squashbuckling.
That said...
One that I'm not liking overmuch right now is Temptation of Lucre. The other gear temptations aren't bad as tradeoffs - weapons for someone taking 1d4+1 Combat damage, armour for adding a barrier, ally for losing an ally --- but Lucre doesn't follow this.
Instead, Lucre is "everyone discards one off the top of the deck."
As for boons... Skitter. A spell that... you use at the end of your turn to move. Impressive utility...
Bad news on Barracuda Aiger: choosing not to acquire him is the same thing isn't evading him; it's choosing to fail to acquire him. You still discard if your non-check doesn't have Squashbuckling.
He only forces you to discard cards if your check to acquire lacks the swashbuckling trait. Since you can choose not to make the attempt, he's banished before you would even get to that step.
As for boons... Skitter. A spell that... you use at the end of your turn to move. Impressive utility...
The advantage of skitter isn't just moving, its that you shuffle the deck as well. If you have a lot of ways to scout,the ability to shuffle is a very nice power.
Bad news on Barracuda Aiger: choosing not to acquire him is the same thing isn't evading him; it's choosing to fail to acquire him. You still discard if your non-check doesn't have Squashbuckling.He only forces you to discard cards if your check to acquire lacks the swashbuckling trait. Since you can choose not to make the attempt, he's banished before you would even get to that step.
The rules explicitly state "If you choose not to acquire a boon, it counts as failing to acquire it." You have to go to resolution before you banish, and the resolution does this:
-Did your first check have Swashbuckling?
-Did your second check have Swashbuckling?
-If yes to both, continue. Otherwise, discard 3 cards and continue.
-Did your first check succeed?
-Did your second check succeed?
-If yes to both, acquire. Otherwise, banish.
Your "take 0" (or non-) checks still need Swashbuckling here. An even better reason to hate him, na?
The rules also say, "After you attempt the check, deal with any effects that were triggered by the check." If you didn't attempt the check, you don't trigger any effects. Yes, you fail to acquire Barracuda, but you didn't attempt a check.
Instead of your sequence, I would look at it like this:
-- Did I attempt the first check?
-- If yes, did my check have Swashbuckling?
-- Did I attempt the second check?
-- If yes, did my check have Swashbuckling?
If in either case the first answer is yes and the second is no, discard three cards and continue.
-- etc
The thing everyone is forgetting that has been reiterated by the devs repeatedly is you do not have an option with boons, you have to make a check when you encounter them, even if you don't want them.
No, that's not the case.
If the card is a boon, you may try to acquire it for your deck;if it’s a bane, you must try to defeat it
Boon checks are optional; bane checks are not.
So..considering we're done with Barracuda (I'm with Elcoder on this one), I'll get back on thread.
Sorceror: this b**** just ruins my day with the 2 BUA/AUA damage; it's not that it's something critical or insurmountable - it just feels incredibly cheap
Canibal Isle: It not only forces you to have an Ally in hand to close it, it need to be an Ally that you're willing to banish. Somewhere around Adventure 2 and up it becomes an annoying hunt for allies in the locations, as everything in your deck is usually well-tuned, and not something to be banished lightly. On that thought-
Everything that forces you to banish: Let's be honest, one of the great factors that contribute to PACG's appeal is the gathering of loot and fine-tuning your deck. Great Boons can sometimes be hard and rare to come by, and when a card comes along that makes you banish something from your hard-earned loot... it just feels unfair, and diminishing your previous accomplishments.
Owlbeartross: you just can't win this guy. First you summon a Grindilow, and if you can't evade it (oh, wait, it CAN'T be evaded)you either have to blow the check (and hope you have some armor to compensate), or you beat him and - oh, joy- the TWO already hard checks to defeat the Owlbeartross get a +3 boost. At this point, this creep is easily stronger than many of the early bosses, and after all the resources he forces you to pour into the encounter, it's a small consolation that he (maybe!) will banish another monster from the location.
Even worse, the Owlbeartross can banish a henchman, making it harder to close the location.
I love most of the cards mentioned here. Not in the sense that I get really excited when I have to deal with them (who wants to banish an ally?), but in the sense that I appreciate the challenge they create. Having to figure out which ally from my finely tuned deck I will sacrifice or how I will acquire an ally so I don't have to, or deciding to chase the villain there is what creates the challenge.
And last night, during Toll of the Bell, I think our group would have loved us some Skitter. It brings a smile to my face when the cards we see as weak later prove to be very powerful in the scenarios we bemoan as too difficult or too random.
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You guys DO realize, I hope, that by listing cards here, you're all but encouraging the developers to put more and nastier cards like these in the box.
Oh, we don't need your help with that.
I love most of the cards mentioned here. Not in the sense that I get really excited when I have to deal with them (who wants to banish an ally?), but in the sense that I appreciate the challenge they create.
Oh, sure, don't get me wrong - I too appreciate them from a gameplay standpoint. I more listing the card than on some complete primal level just elicit a heartfelt "Oh, come the f*** on!" every time they appear. We know we can handle them (most of the times), we just *hate* them.
At least that's how I get the point of the thread. See, Coral Cappucin for example - that's a card we all think should just find a really tall tower to jump from, but that's question of utility, really. You just shrug it off like another crappy card that it is, and move on.
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Aldon Foxglove, while not the level of raging fury that was Coral Capuchin (only one, and at least mildly useful) showed up so much during our games that I think my group actually developed Stockholm syndrome. We've brought him with us to every adventure path since, and he just sits I the ally stack, occasionally popping out of a location with his trademark "hey guys, I'm here, too!"
RotR Lini likes the Coral Capuchin. There are allies she likes more, it's true, but it's no biggie when one is encountered or Charmed, as she can make good use of it. You see, shee needs to keep an animal in hand, so having one that discards OTHER cards to get dice is cool. The Parrot and Eagle are strictly better hand sitters, of course.
Any Ally 1 is a good Ally 1 in Organized Play. (My goodness we've had problems finding cards that aren't AD "0".)
Eh, the Ally 1 OP niche is a bit overstated.
Bard: Raconteur (would maybe take it if they had both skills), Social Climber (would take, but not in 1-1)
Cleric: Raconteur (same), Social Climber (same), Surgeon (would take)
Fighter: Soldier (not really), Squire (yes, probably even though there's no explore on it)
Ranger: Dog (no, not even for Agna), Toad (maybe on Arabundi early on)
Rogue: Grizzled Mercenary (yes, even with the possibility of eliminating a good boon, just use him at a location with lots of monsters), Raconteur (I think Olenjack is the only person who could use him here)
Sorcerer: Incanter (yes), Menagerie Keeper (probably)
Wizard: Chameleon (maybe), Toad (yes)
My guess is you probably take a 1 Ally once or twice. A lot of the Bs are better almost by design.
And Coral Capuchin doesn't even qualify for being the worst ally in that adventure deck. Tidepool Dragon is worse, because you get hurt if you don't acquire it, and it gives you a +2 (lower than a d4 average) to Combat or Perception - but then you get a 1/12 chance of hurting yourself again.
Arabundi wants the Toad, since he usually can't recharge his Cure.
Anchor. It's such a useless item but it's neither elite nor basic so you can never get rid of it.
Anchor. It's such a useless item but it's neither elite nor basic so you can never get rid of it.
This, so very, very much! It's appropriately named, as it's a total drag. If anybody's had a "The Anchor came on super handy when..." moment, I'd love to hear about it.
Oh, I forgot the OG of useless boons! Wand of Shield! Not only was it an armor taking up the more useful item slot -- in the set where armor was its most useless. Not only is it even bad for an armor, preventing 2 combat damage with, at best, a recharge (aka the bad power on chain mail). Not only is it an AD 1 card that is neither basic nor elite. No, in addition to all that, it is almost strictly worse than a basic card in the base set (Amulet of Life, which has a higher recharge check and there's only one of it, but prevents more damage and isn't limited to combat). Back when I got into the game 18 months or so ago, there was no card in the same ballpark of hatred as the once and future king of bad, Wand of Shield.
You guys joke, but we found a GREAT use for Wand of Shield during our Season of the Shackles run.
...a completely guilt-free bury for Amaryllis's reroll power...
Yeah, our group's Amaryllis player laments that his items are... lackluster. He would usually take both Besmara's Tricorne and one of the AD 2 items, but our newest player made a strong case for grabbing the Tricorne. Though he's got his Headband of Inspired CHA now, and seems to be rather enjoying it.
I will say that the Cape of Escape saved our group's bacon in a recent Season of the Shackles game. An off-turn move with the Cape combined with the an on-turn move (taking friends along in the ship) let us maneuver to optimal locations for the temp close and the final fight.
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I always take the Tricorne if nobody else wants it. Recently I've been taking the Farglass as well. Maybe by the end of our adventure I'll add more Items to my deck just to take Loot? I'm already maxed out on Spells.
The Crown is another "popular" item, one that does not make up for Siwar grabbing all the Rubies of Charisma we find. :P
Oh, got a few more for the list.
First, Cloak/Boots of Elvenkind. They were the Crabbe and Goyle to Wand of Shields's Draco Malfoy.
Second, For Whom the Bell Tolls. Before there was Elven Entanglement, this was the blockade scenario. This scenario that made us genuinely have to step away from the game for several weeks (I don't think a week had gone by without us playing at least twice prior to this). It was incredibly luck-based, and it didn't help that this frustration was caused by a scenario that had been one of our favorite parts of that adventure.
Third, this is a really weird one, because the hate is really difficult to explain. The imp is actually a good card. Quite good, in fact. And it's fun, too. So why is it hated? Because it is a creature from the plane of Lawful Evil in possibly the most Chaos-themed adventure path that will ever come out. And further, the only imp in the actual adventure was, in fact, a stain on the wall when it had been destroyed during a botched assassination attempt for the villains. For our group, it essentially became the poster child for all the little things we didn't like. Scenario didn't have the right locations? Imp's fault. Nagas engaging in... not good relationships? Well, what do you expect with an Imp around. etc.
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There are ways to minimize the effect of luck in Toll of the Bell, but you can't really eliminate it without scouting, which S&S doesn't have as much of. Playing the card guild with the class decks at least allowed me to use fun cards like Scrying on S&S locations.
Not really a hated card, but for the first half of S&S the Turtle followed us everywhere. I think that guy showed up in every scenario. He just wanted a friend.
Cards I actually dislike seeing - Runelord potions that aren't Healing. 95% of the time it's a hit point because the chance of you needing to make a Stealth check or whatever while actually having the potion is slim at best.
I get annoyed with cards that get around character powers, making them worse for characters that should be good at using them. If I'm playing S&S Lini, cards like Coral Capuchin and Baby Triceratops which make you discard/bury other cards are annoying, because I feel I'm supposed to get greater utility from animals but these are designed so my animal bonuses don't work. Similar with weapons that discard other cards and Valeros - although Mokmurian's club gets a pass for its sweet, sweet healing.
I get annoyed with cards that get around character powers, making them worse for characters that should be good at using them. If I'm playing S&S Lini, cards like Coral Capuchin and Baby Triceratops which make you discard/bury other cards are annoying, because I feel I'm supposed to get greater utility from animals but these are designed so my animal bonuses don't work. Similar with weapons that discard other cards and Valeros - although Mokmurian's club gets a pass for its sweet, sweet healing.
That's an interesting take. I actually liked these, because I could keep them in my hand to re-use. RotR Lini could keep revealing the animal, the Club wielder could keep wielding the club, etc. Although I get any frustration (including this one) concerning S&S Lini.
...She's one of my most hated cards, actually...
This one is going to sound pretty lame compared to others, but ...
The Goblin Warchanter.
He *never* appears before anybody capable of making that no-weapons-or-attack-spells check. It's always the d4 Wisdom guys where it's not even worth it to throw a blessing on it.
Rallying Cry has gotten to that point for me. Get a bunch of allies... IF everyone can make checks that will certainly have Cha/Diplomacy and occasionally something else. Or else get nothing. I have yet to get anything from it.
(Also, if someone picked up a Sin Seeker, you automatically fail because characters at the Sin Seeker's location cannot acquire allies.)
Rallying Cry has gotten to that point for me. Get a bunch of allies... IF everyone can make checks that will certainly have Cha/Diplomacy and occasionally something else. Or else get nothing. I have yet to get anything from it
It's been my experience that there's always that one person with a d4 Charisma at the table when those come up. I was really hopeful when a Mongrel ally came up that we might pull one of the CtA 3 allies for the difficulty, but no such luck that time. :/