Game Night

Previously for Pathfinder I played Kyra (female, human, cleric), and this heavily influenced my decision to play as Seoni (female, human, sorcerer).

For cards, Kyra begins with:

• 2 weapons
• 3 spells
• 2 armor
• 1 item
• 1 ally
• 6 blessings

Starting Deck:

• Weapons
  • Mace
  • Quarterstaff
• Spells
  • Cure
  • Guidance
  • Mending
• Armor
  • Chain Mail
  • Wooden Shield
• Item
  • Holy Water
• Ally
  • Guard
• Blessings
  • Blessing of the Gods x6

I ended up with:

• 4 weapons (max)
• 5 spells (max)
• 3 armor
• 2 items (max)
• 2 allies (max)
• 7 blessings

Ending Deck (Adventure Number in Parens):

•  Weapons
  • Runechill Hatchet +2 (4)
  • Greatclub +3 (4)
• Loot Weapons
  • Mokmurian’s Club (4)
  • Karzoug’s Burning Glaive (6)
• Armors
  • Magic Full Plate (3)
  • Reflecting Shield (4)
  • Invincible Breast Plate (5)
• Allies
  • Charmed Red Dragon (4)
  • Sacred Killer (5)
• Spells
  • Holy Light (B)
  • Swipe x2 (3)
  • Major Cure (3)
  • Sign of Wrath (6)
• Items
  • Belt of Physical Might (6)
• Loot Items
  • Ordikon’s Staff (5)
• Blessings
  • Blessing of Sarenrae x4 (B)
  • Blessing of Sarenrae (C)
  • Blessing of Pharasma (B)
  • Blessing of Abadar (2)

There were many times when I either had no weapons in my hand or I had multiple weapons, which I didn’t find helpful at all. I really liked having spells, and ended up doubling up on Swipe because it was so useful. Sometimes it was difficult to decide which spells to keep and which to get rid of. I think armor was one of the last ones I increased. Armor just didn’t excite me. I really wished I could have had more items. There were many I wanted to keep, so that was one of the toughest decisions throughout the game. Allies was the other one. Two allies just wasn’t enough! I definitely had enough blessings, though, and they saved me quite a few times.

As for skills, Kyra started with:

• Strength d6
  • Melee +2
• Dexterity d4
• Constitution d6
  • Fortitude +2
• Intelligence d6
• Wisdom d12
  • Divine +2
• Charisma d6

And ended with:

• Strength d6 +2
  • Melee +2
• Dexterity d4
• Constitution d6
  • Fortitude +2
• Intelligence d6 +1
• Wisdom d12 +3
  • Divine +2
• Charisma d6

Since I often used Wisdom for my fights, I put the most into that. For those times when I had to use Strength, I bumped that one up twice. Early in the game, I added the +1 to Intelligence. Professor thought I was crazy, but overall it paid off big time. The d6s for Constitution and Charisma served me fairly well. There were only a few times when a bump would have been nice. The d4 on Dexterity, though, that was a killer. I don’t know how much the +1 (max) would have helped, but if anything was going to kill me, it was going to be that.

I decided on the Exorcist path. I increased my hand size from 5 to 6. I was already proficient with both light and heavy armors and became proficient with weapons. Proficiency with weapons seemed like a must since so many of the really good weapons required it otherwise your check was increased by 4. I increased my healing power (1d4+1 to 1d4+2). The extra d8 I got for checks against the Undead was so useful, that I added 1d8 to checks against Outsiders as well. I also added the ability to shuffle a random card from my discard pile back into my deck when I defeated an Undead.

The Power that probably paid off the most was being able to put my Blessings of Sarenrae on top of my deck instead of discarding or recharging. It was nice knowing I was going to get that Blessing back during my next draw phase.

Based on that, I decided my next character needed more spells, items, and allies. Professor helped me out with narrowing it down by pulling out the characters with the most spells: Seoni, Lem, Lini, and Ezren. After looking at them I decided on Seoni.

She starts with:

• 0 weapons (max 1)
• 3 spells (max 6)
• 0 armor (she can never have armor)
• 3 items (max 6)
• 4 allies (max 5)
• 5 blessings (max 7)

She only gets one more spell than Kyra, but the max of 6 items and 5 allies is what really has me excited about Seoni.

Starting Deck

• Spells
  • Arcane Armor
  • Force Missile
  • Invisibility
• Items
  • Blast Stone
  • Bracers of Protection
  • Potion of Fortitude
• Allies
  • Guard
  • Guide x2
  • Troubadour
• Blessings
  • Blessing of the Gods x5

During our previous play through, we went with the suggested cards for our decks, but this time we thought we’d look at some other options. I was fine with everything except the items; they did not thrill me. Instead I chose Thieves Tools (one of my favorites), Sage’s Journal, and Amulet of Life.

Originally, I thought that when it came time I would choose Celestial Sorcerer over Abyssal Sorcerer (I don’t really want to banish allies), then while we were on vacation, Professor picked up the Sorcerer Class Deck box. Now I had two more choices: Tattooed Mystic and Dragon Initiate. The Dragon Initiate was tempting (it makes Seoni much more powerful in combat and adds some protection against damage), but I liked Tattooed Mystic more.

Seoni’s skills:

• Strength d4
• Dexterity d6
• Constitution d6
• Intelligence d8
  • Knowledge +2
• Wisdom d6
• Charisma d12
  • Arcane +2
  • Diplomacy +1

By choosing the Sorcerer Class Deck Seoni, I get a d6 in Dexterity instead of a d8 and lose a point in Diplomacy, but I get a d8 for Intelligence instead of a d6 and gain Knowledge +2. Based on our last play through, I’m probably going to bump up that d4 in Strength, but we’ll see how things go.

The Tattooed Mystic will allow me to have a Hand Size of 8 (all others were 7), and her Power options are:

• For your combat check, you may discard a card to use your Arcane skill +1d6 (max +4) and add the Attack, Force, and Magic traits. This counts as playing a spell.
• Add 2 (4) to your check to acquire a boon that has the Magic trait.
• When you attempt to acquire a boon, you may use your Knowledge skill in place of any listed skill for your check.
• You gain the skill Craft: Charisma +1
• After you are dealt Acid, Cold, Electricity, or Fire Damage, you may draw 1 card (2 cards).
• You may bury a card to add its adventure deck number to your check.

Given how often the dice hate me, I’ll probably get that last power pretty quickly.

I’m looking forward to trying out Seoni. Let’s play!

• Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords on BoardGameGeek.com
• Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords on Amazon.com
• Pathfinder: Sorcerer Class Deck on BoardGameGeek.com
• Pathfinder: Sorcerer Class Deck on Amazon.com