The idea of reviewing the class decks has been bouncing around in my head for awhile since it's pretty clear that some decks are better than others. I haven't seen any discussions of specific class deck contents, so here are my thoughts.
I'm not going to evaluate or rate the characters in the class deck themselves since I think each character has their own theme and flavor. I really enjoy the fact that there are noticeable differences in the overall strength between characters and believe those differences add to the richness of the game.
Instead, the primary crux of my evaluation is how the cards in the deck support the characters in the class deck. I'll be breaking the ratings down by card type and grade the selection of cards on an A-F scale. I'll also be giving an overall rating of the deck as a whole.
One thing of note is that I use a tier system to categorize direct attack spells based on how much damage they do and if there are other mitigating factors. Here's how I group them:
Tier 1 - Spells that can add 24 or more damage, most commonly via 4d6, 3d8, or 2d12.
Tier 1.5 - I put spells in this tier if they do damage equivalent to tier 1 spells but are generally weaker due to other factors, mostly their traits. For example I consider poison blast and vengeful storm tier 1.5 spells due to the large amount of creatures immune to them.
Tier 2 - Spells that can add 18-21 damage, most commonly as +3d6.
Tier 3 - Spells that can add 12-16 damage, the most common being the +2d6 spells.
Tier 4 - This tier is comprised of the basic attack spells that either add +2d4 or +1d6.
Here's my ranger deck review:
Weapons:
Ugh. Despite the fact that the ranger deck has the most weapons of any deck the selection is still a disaster. Every ranger will be forced to start with at least one weapon that doesn’t match their combat skill, which is an extra hindrance at the start of a character’s career when they’re already at their weakest. Furthermore, despite two of the rangers being melee and the other two ranged, the weapon types are unbalanced 18-8 toward melee. This means Harsk will be unable to get his 5th ranged weapon until he gets an AD2 upgrade. Even Wrathack won’t be able to have all 2-handed weapons until AD3.
This could’ve been mitigated somewhat by having some strong weapon choices early, but AD1 and AD2 are mostly lackluster weapons like the dogslicer and greatclub +1. With three different weapon types wanted by the various rangers, weapons no one desires such as the dogslicer and disrupting rapier +1 should’ve been left out in favor of more useful choices. Grade: F
Spells:
The spell selection is almost as poor as the weapon selection. Three of the eight spells are attack spells, and since only Arabundi is likely to put boost his divine skill enough to make using them a worthwhile choice. Beast skin is a dud and endurance is marginal, though forest walk is alright since it’s useful to the two rangers who can have the divine skill. The lone bright spot is divine blaze, a tier 1 attack spell, available in AD3. Grade: D
Armor:
The shining star of the armor selection is the excellent ophidian armor being available in AD4, which is a must grab for Harsk and Arabundi. There’s also the reflecting buckler in AD5. Aside from the terrible stanching buckler, the armor selection is fine. Grade: B
Items:
The item selection is nice, especially the low AD ones. Amulet of life, spyglass, emerald of dexterity, masterwork tools, and archer’s bracers are all very useful. There’s a belt at AD for any ranger you play. The AD4 & 5 items are duds, but the excellent belt of physical might is waiting at AD6. There’s a staff of minor healing for good measure. Grade: B+
Allies:
The selection of allies is perfectly serviceable, with plenty of animals for Agna. No particularly outstanding allies, though the mountaineer being available at AD5 is nice. The spread of combat assisting allies is very well done, with two for melee, two for ranged, and two for any combat check. Grade: B
Blessings:
The blessing selection is fine, if a bit uninspired. Two each of blessing of Erastil and Gorum, with blessings of Achaekek available in AD4. The non-combat blessings offer a nice variety, though having to wait until AD5 until Sivanah becomes available is a bit disappointing. Grade: C+
Summary:
The ranger deck is the worst of the class decks in my opinion, primarily due to the very bad weapon selection. There were going to be challenges trying to come up with a good weapon selection for both ranged and melee characters, but with twenty-six weapons in the deck it’s kind of unforgivable that Harsk can’t get his 5th ranged weapon until AD2. This is also compounded by having the two melee rangers have specific weapon preferences, which was a mistake in my opinion. It would’ve been much better had it been designed like the fighter deck with fewer basic weapons; if the ranger deck had only two basic weapons – a ranged and melee weapon – and enough AD0 weapons so that each character would be able to fill the rest of their deck with weapons matching their weapon skill, it would’ve been a fair compromise. Each character would still have to start with the wrong type of weapon but that would’ve been balanced by their other two or three weapons being stronger non-basic ones. As it stands you’re in for a potentially frustrating start to your character’s career.
Overall Grade: D
No argument about weapons. The Rogue deck has better Ranged weapons than the Ranger deck. My guess is one reason for all the Melee weapons is Wrathack can carry 8 weapons, and as you say she wants 2-handed ones.
I want to emphasize the Ranger deck is very playable. I was Arabundi through Season 0 and I had a lot of fun. During my 2-player AD 1 sessions with First World Bard I would hand him my Melee weapon for his bard Meliski, who doesn't get a weapon till his first card feat.
Agna (CD Beast Master) was the most effective character in our SotS campaign. Decent combats, high Survival for when that's needed, and infinite explores.
Having watched both Arabundi and Agna in the Cosmic Captive play by post we've been doing, I have to agree that while some of the choices my not be optimal, it definitely functions quite well. To the point where I have started to considering picking it up at some point in the future in spite of the fact I've sworn off buying any more of the original sets due to the boon dilution they suffered from with the four character options.
I guess that comes down to how good are the characters themselves and their powers to utilize the boons that are available, even if the boons are not optimal.