question about class decks and such

[alkatrazshock]

well first off, let me say I have finally completed rise of the runelords, and that last scenario....I love and hate who ever designed that, it was epic, but so terribly hard, at least for 2 people it was, I have no idea how a solo player could beat that

anyways, onto the rules question, so now we are about to do skulls and shackles, which we have played some before, but in regards to like class decks, what are the limitations on those set wise, meaning like, would the rouge one be useable with rise of the runelords to play? like is there certain class decks that really just only fit a certain path, like people with abilities that use the swashbuckling trait, or guns, could clearly only or should only, be used during skulls and shackles, so before we pick our characters and stuff, I just wanna know where my options should lie, cause I have all the new class decks as well, and with wrath of the righteous , I know it uses new mechanics and don't wanna pick something that is designed to specifically help that adventure path for this adventure path

technically its a lazy question, cause if I read every character, then, id be able to tell who would work and such, but I was hoping there would be a shorthand list or something that I could be provided with like, "such and such characters should only be used in this path, while such and such characters work for all of them" or "class deck such and such through such and such work for this adventure path" and so on

also I'm wondering the same about the cards that come with the iconic heroes, merisiel is technically a bad example since her card is versatile and useable probably in any adventure path, but just say for example, if I was using any version of merisiel, could I use her owned card?

[skizzerz]

Class decks serve two purposes:
1. To give you extra character options in your home games
2. To play in Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Game Organized Play

From the sound of this question, it looks like you're asking about #1, so that's what I'll answer :)

For home games, there are no restrictions what set characters can be from. If you really want to play one of your Rise of the Runelords characters in Skull and Shackles, you can go do that. It doesn't matter if there's a class deck for them or not. However, characters from base sets are best suited for the set they appear in, so expect a character in Rise of the Runelords to struggle a bit if you play them through Skull and Shackles. On the flip side, class deck characters are meant to be played on any set, so their skill sets are more general and less specialized -- they won't excel in any particular set but they won't be completely horrible in that set either. If you play a character from a class deck, it is recommended that you mix in all of the cards from that class deck into the box (following the same rules for mixing in new adventure decks, so only mix in cards with an adventure deck number equal to or lower than the one you're playing). Only do this if you're actually playing a character from the deck though, as mixing in too many class decks greatly dilutes the boon pool and removes the flavor of the set. For Skull and Shackles, I highly recommend that at least one person in your party is good at Wisdom/Survival and at least one person in your party is good at Constitution/Fortitude, S&S has a heavy focus on those.

For the owner cards with Iconic Heroes, the answer to your question is "yes." As long as the character name matches the owner trait, you can use the card as if it was Basic. Otherwise, you can always shuffle the card into the box and try to acquire it normally; note that you can only shuffle promo cards (cards with a P set indicator) into the box once you begin Adventure 1.

[elcoderdude]

I'd say you can succeed using nearly any character for any adventure path. The characters designed for a specific path are going to be a bit stronger playing that path than other characters are.

Like skizzerz said, Wisdom/Survival and Constitution/Fortitude are important skills in S&S. I wouldn't want to play Radillo in S&S, although I'm sure people have done it. You'll want someone in your party to have Craft, although outside of the S&S characters, that means Vika, and I'm not sure who else.

For Wrath, Knowledge is a useful skill, although not essential. Wrath seems very combat-focused, with a definite need for healing.