Festering Maze of Sloth is my solo Enora nightmare


Pathfinder Adventure Card Society

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32

:)

So here's a location that's in every 2-5 scenario:

No more than one card can be played per check

Con or Fort 12 to close.
..................................
Enora has a d4 Con.

Even with a BoGozreh, I need a perfect 4 4 4 roll on 3d4 to close. If I use the Sapphire of Intelligence I just need a 12 on d12. Or, I can chase the villain there, and fight it with no blessings because I need to play spells on my checks. Oh, and the wizard deck has no combat spells for AD# 3 or 4, so my deck still has stuff like Force Missile in it.

Here's how I managed the first scenario villain, 2 checks of 25, possibly with a reroll:

Chased her to the Festering Maze, which was empty but open.
Displayed a Sphere of Fire - played before the check so circumvents the restriction. But I only have one so I need to cycle my entire deck to try again.

Had found a random spell of arcane +2d12, so used that for first check. Basically a coin flip needing 20 on 3d12.

Use displayed spell + BoPharasma on second check - need 20 on 3d12+d6, with a reroll.

Apparently third time was the charm. I put my Skill feat in Con - now I have a 1/16 chance with BoGozreh or 1/6 with the statstone! Woot!

This is going to be a rough set of scenarios. I am much more concerned about this one location than I am any of the villains or henchmen.


Not trying to harsh your buzz (and I bet I'd allow it too, in a solo game!) but I don't think playing Sphere of Fire before encountering a monster allows you to circumvent the restriction. I think this would fall under the FAQ from a while back that says using a displayed spell for a combat check counts as playing a spell. :(

http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1gu#v5748eaic9sjs

(I'd totally do it, though)

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32

Hmm, I could see that, but I'd argue that one can be playing a spell without playing a card, such as several characters' discard to attack abilities. I'm going with the card was already played, so I'm just using a power of an in-play card on the check, not playing it again. It does count as a spell, which is good for my BoPharasma. It really hasn't been necessary except that once.

Also, I've now done one of the scenarios that doesn't have a villain. Took me 8 tries to close the dang place - 2 BoGozreh attempts, 6 with the statstone. Finally rolled a 12. I'll be glad when I'm through this set of scenarios; repeatedly bashing my head against the RNG isn't so much fun.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Using a power on a displayed card counts as playing that card. A character power that counts as playing a spell also counts as playing a card.

WotR rulebook, p9 wrote:
Anyone can play a card whenever the card allows it. Playing a card means using a power on that card by revealing, displaying, discarding, recharging, burying, or banishing that card or by performing another action specified by that card. Activating a power on a displayed card also counts as playing it. If a power says using it counts as playing a boon, it counts as playing a card.

The base rulebook allows you to make substitutions for really difficult things, but I don't know if such substitutions are allowed for officially reported organized play characters. Perhaps Keith or someone could clarify that.

WotR rulebook, p18 wrote:
Some cards are particularly difficult in solo play. If you’re playing Enora by herself, and you pick up a Telekinesis Trap, you may be making impossible Acrobatics checks until you die. When you encounter a card your character just can’t deal with, remove it from the game and replace it with another card of the same type that roughly matches its power level but isn’t quite so impossible to overcome. (Some cards are actually easier in solo play, like banes that require each character to succeed at a check.)

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32

Whelp, thanks for finding the rule reference. I'm not sure this would fall under "impossible" cards, as it's just very difficult to do. Also it's very unlikely to kill Enora. She has a lot of self-healing.

This is just a nasty location in solo play. I don't think it ever comes up in solo Rise of the Runelords; at least, I don't recall seeing it before and it was the very last location in my stack.

I think the new strategy here will be to do the scenarios out of order, and wait until I have some AD5 attack spells to tackle miss twin 25 checks. d12+4d6 (Ice Strike) trying for a 20 isn't so bad. I haven't had to play around too much with strategically ordering the scenarios, but now might be the time it's needed.

Kinda wish I'd had a chance to do some of these with others at Gen Con, but every time I did an ACG slot everyone was a newbie, no one was doing scenarios past AD1.


Remember, not only can you play the scenarios in any order, you can play the adventures in any order, in this season.

I haven't evaluated the challenge involved, but it would be legal to complete 2-6 and come back to 2-5.


elcoderdude wrote:
'...you can play the adventures in any order, in this season...

Actualy, it is true in seasons 0 and 1 too. At any time you are limited in what scenario you can play by your character's tier, not by any order of scenario or adventure. If you like 2-6E's reward, play that scenario as soon as you are tier 5. Then you can use that loot during all the other AD 5 or 6 scenarios.


Frencois wrote:
elcoderdude wrote:
'...you can play the adventures in any order, in this season...
Actualy, it is true in seasons 0 and 1 too. At any time you are limited in what scenario you can play by your character's tier, not by any order of scenario or adventure. If you like 2-6E's reward, play that scenario as soon as you are tier 5. Then you can use that loot during all the other AD 5 or 6 scenarios.

I was going to say, sure, but that's not the recommended order, until I went back and looked at Seasons 0 and 1, and dang if they don't also say "Complete these adventures in any order." I never noticed that.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32

Well I managed to finish 2-5, ended up spending a couple die bumps to smooth things out. Worth it. Plan to do 2-6 next weekend and then continue Goblins where I left off at Gen Con.

So this adventure is doable with a d4 Con spellcaster, but I can't say I'm sorry to see the Festering Maze behind me.

Also, if I did 2-6 first, wouldn't that have hurt my ability to get AD6 boons? You can't take upgrades above your tier, right? I've got my eye on that Disintegrate spell.


ryric wrote:
Also, if I did 2-6 first, wouldn't that have hurt my ability to get AD6 boons? You can't take upgrades above your tier, right? I've got my eye on that Disintegrate spell.

Yep, true.

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