question on opinions involving class decks

[alkatrazshock]

posting this here due to it not quite being a rule question exactly, my situation is when reading the insert card in the class decks, it advertises that they can either be used for the organized play, or you can shuffle them into your cards for going through the story, it advertises you shuffle them ALL in, that match the adventure deck number and such as you go...

and thus where my situation begins, we actually died and failed a scenario in adventure 6 for skulls and shackles, considering we would remotely be starting over in terms of skill and power feats, we just chose to start from scratch, and at the time of being in adventure deck 6 using 2 characters and 3 class decks, we still had a lot of basic stuff throughout what we could find in locations, now that we are starting a new run through, we are looking at including cards from as many as 7-8 class decks, me and my wife will be using 2 characters each this time, which is what has increased our like of cards in a lot more class decks....

so the question is, if with 2 characters using 3 class decks still left us seeing lots of basic in adventure 6, then surely it will be worse with 7 or more decks shuffled into the inventory, even with 4 characters, so what are opinions on this? should I hardcore stick to what the insert cards say, and if I choose to include cards from a class deck, include them ALL? or does anyone think its reasonable to include only the ones in the decks you wish to acquire, or maybe like for every boon put in by choice, we put in a boon of the same type we wouldn't want? Basically I want lots of card options in my inventory, looking to include lots of the decks to find high end rapiers, and augury and scrying, etc. , but I don't want the inventory so muddled up that we have no hopes of finding stuff without lots of banishing for good, which wont happen until adventure 3 or higher....but I also don't want to make the inventory so un-muddled, that we can find everything we want with ease, and thus be mildly over powered...so what are opinions on this? what do people think we should do in this situation or what would you do or what have you done in this instance?

[skizzerz]

I only shuffle in a class deck if I'm playing a character from that class deck. Even then, some characters don't need their class decks to be good, so you may want to hold off on shuffling in those decks if you're playing such a character. If you're shuffling in tons of decks, trimming out duplicates is probably warranted; you don't need 300 copies of Blessing of the Gods, for instance.

Another option is to modify the removal rule a bit; at the beginning of adventure 3 remove all class deck cards with the Basic trait from the game (including blessings), and at the beginning of adventure 5 remove all class deck cards with the Elite trait from the game. Just remove them wholesale when starting instead of waiting to encounter them first, but consider keeping around the original basics and elites to remove using the standard rule.

[doejaster]

I wrestled with some of the same questions initially. I landed on that as much as I might like to only include cards that I wanted to find, it made sense to include an entire class deck so that the intended balance is preserved. Like you, I was tempted to throw in all of my class decks but for reasons you mentioned, and not wanting to shuffle the giant decks I'd end up with, I opted for just the class decks for the characters I picked. If you don't have a class deck for a particular character I see no harm in subbing a different class deck that has cards that character would like.

Just my thoughts and what I do to keep it manageable.

[Hawkmoon269]

I also only shuffle in class deck boons if I'm playing a character from that class deck (not just a character of that class). Even then, if I know enough about the adventure path (i.e. I've played it before) I'll decide whether they need it or not. If I do end up deciding to shuffle in class deck boons, it is all the boons.

That is my method at least.

[Ashram316]

You may also want to consider reading though the deck building rules for organized play and just use those. That way, you get to use the appropriate class decks, but don't have to go through the hassle of mixing in the class deck cards.

Personally, I prefer the way deck upgrades work in guild play. So much so that I use it in all of my home games regardless of whether I'm playing a guild campaign or a standard AP campaign.

[Doppelschwert]

Ashram316 wrote:

You may also want to consider reading though the deck building rules for organized play and just use those. That way, you get to use the appropriate class decks, but don't have to go through the hassle of mixing in the class deck cards.

Personally, I prefer the way deck upgrades work in guild play. So much so that I use it in all of my home games regardless of whether I'm playing a guild campaign or a standard AP campaign.

That's interesting, for me it's almost the other way around. While I agree it's fun to use the guild rules, I can't cope with the feeling that the base set cards are heavily devalued this way.

The first time I played with the guild rules, I felt like I almost never used the cards from the base set anymore, which got to a point were they felt more like proxys for upgrades instead of actual cards.

After I spend so much money on the base set and adventures I don't want to feel like all the boons are merely proxys for the class deck cards that are only a fraction of investment and will be seen over and over again.

I guess a good compromise of the two approaches would be to play with only the cards from the base set, but allow to exchange some cards with cards from the class deck from time to time. Maybe it could be tied to gaining a feat:

"Whenever you get a feat, you may exchange a card from your deck for a card of the same type and lower or equal adventure deck number from your class deck."

This way you can still keep that staff of minor healing you just found in RotR but also have access to the monk weapons from your class deck you depend on.

[Chris Lambertz]

Merged threads.

[Ashram316]

@Doppelschwert: I see what you mean about not using the base set cards. Your approach seems like an interesting one. Personally, I have AP characters build their decks from the AP box and CD characters build their decks from their respective class decks. Of course, I'll make exceptions for loot cards or other specific cards that are granted by the AP.

For example, I'm currently playing through the Wrath AP with a group of Imrijka (CD), Brielle, Radillo, and Grazzle. I added Arueshalae once she became available. Arueshalae's deck contains all Wrath cards. All other character decks only contain class deck cards save for loot cards and corrupted blessings that we given as scenario rewards.

[Codcake]

Alkatrazshock,

Couple of things to remember:
1. it is your game, do what you will to have fun
2. remember that games are to be fun by all
(as long as this is not OP then there are no strict rules in your own home)

Now, if you have created a couple guidelines that has made the game too easy, then its probably no longer fun...

So, here's my two cents:

If you and your wife are playing class deck characters, then it is not necessary that you include the Character Add-on deck (less cards). This is a good starting point.

If you two are using Class decks, then you can add all or some of the cards from the deck that you want. You do not need to add cards from a ranger deck if you two are running a fighter/wizard combo. (unless there's that one card that may come in handy, in which case, just add that one...)

If you would like to keep the card count down, exchange a class deck card with a box card instead of just adding. (remember not to make the game too easy, it becomes no longer fun)

Or, do a combo of all three. Here's the run down.
1. only me and the wifey (pulls all character add-on cards out of the box)
2. we are using the fighter and wizard class decks (pulls all non-fighter/non-wizard class deck cards out of the box)
3. we want a bit more options to get our class deck cards without having to wade through tons of non class cards. (adds 5 class deck weapons... pulls 2 box weapons out)(or something to that degree)
4. we play our game and have a good time (this is always the point!)

play a few scenarios and see if it works, if not, you can always start over :)

[justaworm]

I have started only adding cards from add-on and class decks that aren't already included in the box in order of:

- base set
- add-on set
- class decks

... with the exception of any card(s) that one of use really wants to have in as duplicates (like cure spells). Also, we will pick whichever card we like better (like from an art perspective or whatever).

The idea is to not have a lot of duplicates of the same cards to increase the variety of everything encountered.

This has helped a bunch so far for us.

Also, I think that I will start removing a selection of basic weapons/armor/spells that are 2 decks lower than whichever we are playing, as the kids really like getting upgrades.