Greetings! I'm Keith Richmond, the newest member of the Adventure Card Game design team. I joined during the middle of work on Wrath of the Righteous, but you'll see more of my work in the Class Decks and future sets. I'm super excited about the work I'm doing on a set I can't tell you about until next year.
Chad believes that Seelah is the best PACG character ever, even as he admits that no one agrees with him. Mike believes that Darago is the best ever, despite Darago's problems when he can't find enough undead minions. Enora, the best character in Wrath, is here to show you utterly deluded they are.
Enora is an arcanist, a class that blends the best elements of wizards and sorcerers. Her parents are both professors at the Occularium, and she grew up studying in its libraries. She's a super-smart halfling whose curiosity and luck led her to discover great cosmic power with hardly any downsides. It's true that her devotion to Nethys would cause problems for her back home, but what adventurer doesn't need a great reason to go on adventures? In terms of looks alone, she's already beaten Darago. Check out her sweet robes!
The true flaw in Chad's pick is that Seelah isn't a real caster. True casters are both the most powerful and the most versatile characters in the Pathfinder ACG, just as they are in the RPG. It's true that they require more care and planning, but that pays off in so many ways. Spells, especially the mythic ones found in Wrath of the Righteous, can be powerful because they're not just revealed. Instead, you choose when and where they're most effective.
The best casters—and Enora is the best of the best—never need to worry about failing to recharge their spells. You can set up a card engine, constantly cycling your deck as you cast spells. An optimal use of this engine, modified by the unique nature of each caster, enables you to have the right cards when they are most needed. Your greater hand size ensures you have more solutions available, and the added perception of danger makes the game more exciting. At the end of the day, being fragile only truly matters when you fail, and Enora has enough tricks to ensure success.
Enora uses her best skill, Knowledge, to acquire spells and items, the boons most useful to her. This can be a scenario saver when used to acquire Divine spells (such as Cure) that she can use as scrolls or to give to her friends. Enora is a caster's caster who never runs out of spells. Her second power is a beautiful cycle mechanic to recharge a spell from her discard pile whenever she casts a spell. This means it's safe to discard spells to absorb damage, since they'll be back soon enough. Check off a power feat, and she can even extend her magical shields to protect her friends. This is particularly helpful against "before you act" damage, a common trick of dragons and demons.
Enora's deck is unburdened by dead or filler cards such as armor or weapons. She can focus fully on her love of spells and items, and by items, I mostly mean books. Like Enora, I love books, but instead of using them to escape reality, she uses them to rewrite reality. How awesome is that? Many books are recharged with Knowledge, so she can cycle them just like spells. The remainder of her deck, allies and blessings, can be used for extra explorations.
My first development task when I joined the team was to brainstorm ideas for Wrath of the Righteous roles. I'll admit the rest of the team had some grueling work to hack my gibberish into sensible mechanics, so I didn't help as much as I might have hoped. That said, Enora barely required any modification. Everyone knew she was just too awesome to change. She has two solid role choices: expand her mastery of the arcane as an Eldritch Savant or grab a library card and learn all the things as an Occularium Scholar.
As an Eldritch Savant, Enora gains power feats to fine-tune her casting engine. She can learn to cycle spells into her hand and shuffle spells into her deck instead of recharging them. She also gains the ability to bypass any pesky defenses the demons of the Worldwound might possess by changing the energy types of her spells. This ability is even sweeter when you use it to exploit a monster's vulnerability.
Knowledge is power, and Enora the Occularium Scholar and her books hold all the knowledge. She can cite page and passage to overcome any barrier. With her divinations and tomes of lore, she can determine the optimal solution to any location's closing requirements and even do a little self-help. Thankfully, Wrath features many books—and codices, handbooks, journals, and tomes—for Enora to collect. I visualize her as venturing down into the Abyss while constantly pulling out relevant guidebooks (perhaps carried for her by Seelah or Darago.)
There's another really important reason why Enora is the best Wrath character. Knowledge is the most important skill in Wrath of the Righteous. This won't be obvious until you get to see more of the horrible banes that await you, but many of them have a secret weakness that only the most knowledgeable can exploit. Whether you're facing Baphomet's minotaurs or Khorramzadeh's elder fire demons, Enora will prove that her pen is mightier than any sword.
According to page 34 of the Demon Hunter's Handbook, Mr. Demon, you die now.
So that's my argument for Enora as the best character ever. Accept no substitutes. We'll return to this debate in a month or so, because Tanis has some delicious things to share with you about convention season goodies!
Keith Richmond
Adventure Card Game Developer
