Wrath of the Righteous is my GF and my favorite Adventure Path. PACG is our favorite card game. And so, with these two elements coming together, we had to try to make our party from that Adventure as PACG cards. There are 6 total, so I'm going to get started on them. Please let me know what you think! I encourage all feedback.
(Note: the Blessings listed here are our homebrew world's gods. We generally translate the Golarion Deities over to our own when we play the card game. However, since we don't know what blessings are in Wrath, we couldn't determine those at this point, so we've left them with their original names)
Skyix:
Skyix is a cat-like creature from a native tribe near the city the others in the party came from. That tribal nature comes across in her generally foreign demeanor. She is focused heavily on defense, to the point where her combat style is devoted almost entirely on outlasting her opponent, hence the Con-based melee. She also tended to use her shield as a weapon more often than her sword or axe. She had the ability to reach great distances, and was quite skilled at defending her allies. Her patron deity was the Goddess of the Sun, Healing, and Friendship, and she was eventually gifted the Wings and Magic of her god. Along with that, though, she was also introduced to a tribe of barbarians that had fallen to ruin. she took the survivors and formed a new clan, creating one of the strongest forces in the realm.
Skyix:
Female Displacer Folk Fighter
Strength: d6 []+1 []+2 []+3
Dexterity: d8 []+1 []+2 []+3
Constitution: d12 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4
-Melee: Constitution+1
-Fortitude: Constitution+2
Intelligence: d4 []+1
Wisdom: d6 []+1 []+2
-Perception: Wisdom+2
Charisma: d6 []+1 []+2
-Diplomacy: Charisma+1
Favored Card Type: Armor
Weapon: 3 []4
Spell: 0 []1
Armor: 5 []6 []7 []8
Item: 2 []3
Ally: 2 []3 []4
Blessing: 3 []4 []5
Hand Size: 4 []5
Proficiencies: Light Armor Heavy Armor Weapons
For your combat check, you may reveal an Armor with the Shield trait to use Strength or Melee + 1d6 ([]+1) with the bludgeoning ([] and magic) trait(s). You may discard the card to add an additional 1d6. This counts as playing a weapon.
Non-combat damage dealt to you is reduced by 1.
Add 1 to combat checks by other characters at your location. Damage dealt to characters as a result of that check is reduced by 1d4 ([]+1).
Shard of Celestia:
Hand Size: 4 []5 []6
Proficiencies: Light Armor Heavy Armor Weapons
For your combat check, you may reveal an Armor with the Shield trait to use Strength or Melee + 1d6 ([]+1) with the bludgeoning ([] and magic)([] and fire) trait(s). You may discard the card to add an additional 1d6. This counts as playing a weapon.
Non-combat damage dealt to you is reduced by 1.
Add 1 ([]2) to combat checks by other characters at your location. Damage dealt to characters as a result of that check is reduced by 1d4 ([]+1).
[] You gain the skill Divine: Wisdom+1 ([]+3).
[] At the end of your turn ([] or another characters turn), you may move to another location.
[] When you play a Blessing of Celestia, you may recharge it instead of discarding it.
Clanliege:
Hand Size: 4 []5 []6
Proficiencies: Light Armor Heavy Armor Weapons
For your combat check, you may reveal an Armor with the Shield trait to use Strength or Melee + 1d6 ([]+1) ([]+2)([]+3) with the bludgeoning ([] and magic) trait(s). You may discard the card to add an additional 1d6. This counts as playing a weapon.
Non-combat damage dealt to you is reduced by 1.
Add 1 ([]2) to combat checks by other characters at your location. Damage dealt to characters as a result of that check is reduced by 1d4 ([]+1).
[] Recharge a weapon or armor to allow another character at your location to evade a monster ([] even if it may not normally be evaded). If they do, you must immediately encounter it.
[] When you attempt a non-combat check, you may recharge any number of allies. Add 2 to the check for each ally recharged this way.
[] When you play a Blessing of Celestia, you may recharge it instead of discarding it.
I like what you did with this character, her theme is evident. The only possible thing to look for is when you have a power key on an unconventional attribute, Melee from Constitution, there might be cards that do unforeseen things. Example: a Geomancer that has Divine based on Fortitude and now can auto-pass any Divine check by recharging the Amulet of Fortitude. I don't know if there is such a card for Constitution but there could be one in the future. Nothing to worry about now, I think.
I like what you did with this character, her theme is evident. The only possible thing to look for is when you have a power key on an unconventional attribute, Melee from Constitution, there might be cards that do unforeseen things. Example: a Geomancer that has Divine based on Fortitude and now can auto-pass any Divine check by recharging the Amulet of Fortitude. I don't know if there is such a card for Constitution but there could be one in the future. Nothing to worry about now, I think.
That is a good thought, and definitely something to keep an eye on. Fortunately, they're generally pretty good about not letting effects like that apply on combat checks. There's certainly risk involved here, but if possible I'm going to try to keep it since it's something really different, and yet really befitting the character.
The other concern I've had with her is skills. Fighters tend to have very few skills, but I can't really imagine taking away any of the ones she has. I'm just kind-of hoping that only having +1 Melee is enough t make up for 6 total skill points across 4 different skills. Do you think it feels right how it is now?
I noticed your 6 characters generally have maybe more extra skills with several having Diplomacy. If you're playing Rotr, it doesn't seem to matter much having skills like Perception, Stealth, or Knowledge. That's changed somewhat in S & S and we're "holding a thought" on Knowledge at least for Wrath. So ... I would say don't change them for now or if you do, just trim a little.
I really like this character, Constitutition-based combat and shields being useful offensively are both interesting ideas I’d like to see more of with the official characters
– this feels sort of half-way between a fighter and a Paladin (especially with the Divine role-card)
If the character has a “generally foreign demeanour” then may charisma/diplomacy would be the place to drop the stat slightly?
Having allies capped out at 4 seems a little odd for the clanliege role – although it could easily get way overpowered if you didn’t as she could be adding 6 or more to any non-combat check with enough cycling.
@jones: You're probably right that I shot too high on skills, especially in this case, since a Fighter type tends to have very few. I think it's a matter of trying too hard to match the character. That being said, only having a +1 melee does give me a bit of leeway compared to the average fighter's +3. I may need to drop Diplomacy, though. (Canonically, it's because she has very good intimidate, which is best represented in the PACG as diplomacy as best I can tell)
@mightyjim: I like the Con based fighting, too, and I'm hoping that it'll work in practice, though I'm trying to keep a harsh eye on it. While she was never a Paladin herself, her character arc was actually very Paladin-y, so I think if she feels like that, it's a good thing.
You're definitely right on the allies. We're going to try to bump the number up a bit in her next iteration. I'm not too worried about that ability getting out of hand, though you're right that it does have the potential to get huge, so I'll keep an eye out on it.
And finally, here is the new Skyix. I traded an Armor for another ally, hoping that makes her feel more like a leader. I also adjusted one of her roles to enhance her combat assistance more to differentiate the two roles in that regard, and I cleaned up the text of her power to show that adding the traits was optional, similar to Sajan (whom I used as a template). Thanks again all for your help!
Skyix:
Female Displacer Folk Fighter
Strength: d6 []+1 []+2 []+3
Dexterity: d8 []+1 []+2 []+3
Constitution: d12 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4
-Melee: Constitution+1
-Fortitude: Constitution+2
Intelligence: d4 []+1
Wisdom: d6 []+1 []+2
-Perception: Wisdom+2
Charisma: d6 []+1 []+2
Favored Card Type: Armor
Weapon: 3 []4
Spell: 0 []1
Armor: 4 []5 []6 []7
Item: 2 []3
Ally: 3 []4 []5
Blessing: 3 []4 []5
Hand Size: 4 []5
Proficiencies: Light Armor Heavy Armor Weapons
For your combat check, you may reveal an Armor with the Shield trait to use Strength or Melee + 1d6 ([]+1) with the bludgeoning trait ([]and you may add the Magic trait). You may discard the card to add an additional 1d6. This counts as playing a weapon.
Non-combat damage dealt to you is reduced by 1.
Add 1 to combat checks by other characters at your location. Damage dealt to characters as a result of that check is reduced by 1d4 ([]+1).
Shard of Celestia:
Hand Size: 4 []5 []6
Proficiencies: Light Armor Heavy Armor Weapons
For your combat check, you may reveal an Armor with the Shield trait to use Strength or Melee + 1d6 ([]+1) with the bludgeoning trait ([]and you may add the Magic trait) ([] and/or the Fire trait). You may discard the card to add an additional 1d6. This counts as playing a weapon.
Non-combat damage dealt to you is reduced by 1.
Add 1 ([]2) to combat checks by other characters at your location. Damage dealt to characters as a result of that check is reduced by 1d4 ([]+1).
[] You gain the skill Divine: Wisdom+1 ([]+3).
[] At the end of your turn ([] or another characters turn), you may move to another location.
[] When you play a Blessing of Celestia, you may recharge it instead of discarding it.
Clanliege:
Hand Size: 4 []5
Proficiencies: Light Armor Heavy Armor Weapons
For your combat check, you may reveal an Armor with the Shield trait to use Strength or Melee + 1d6 ([]+1) ([]+2) ([]+3) with the bludgeoning trait ([]and you may add the Magic trait). You may discard the card to add an additional 1d6. This counts as playing a weapon.
Non-combat damage dealt to you is reduced by 1.
Add 1 ([]2) ([]3) to combat checks by other characters at your location. Damage dealt to characters as a result of that check is reduced by 1d4 ([]+1).
[] Recharge a weapon or armor to allow another character at your location to evade a monster ([] even if it may not normally be evaded). If they do, you must immediately encounter it.
[] When you attempt a non-combat check, you may recharge any number of allies. Add 2 to the check for each ally recharged this way.
[] When you play a Blessing of Celestia, you may recharge it instead of discarding it.
I like it. If they change the magic shields to get recharge at reset, it will make her even better. Would she really want 7 armors though? It seems to me that as you get to the later decks, using a d12 plus one or two d6 is just not gonna be enough. So she maybe can't ignore a cool crossbow instead of another shield. Or maybe more than one spell if she takes the Divine skill.
Just a minor point though; I think you've done a good job with the theme and balancing her.
One thing to keep in mind re: Armors, when she uses her shield power, that counts as playing a weapon, not an armor, so she can still use the shield or another armor defensively afterwards. That extra utility is probably worth something, though I'm not sure how much. You probably won't need 7 of them, but that's similar to normal Fighter types who can get up to 7 or 8 Weapons, when I'm not sure when they'd ever need that many. It's more flavor than functionality in this case, though I'll think about whether that third armor feat should be a Weapon or Spell instead.
And thanks for the kind words. These characters have been several months in the making (probably at least since WotR was announced we've been planning them), so I'm glad the time shows.
Sorry I'm late to the party. I don't think six points across four skills is too much. All the fighters in the class deck have six points in skills; Vika has six points across four skills.
Sorry I'm late to the party. I don't think six points across four skills is too much. All the fighters in the class deck have six points in skills; Vika has six points across four skills.
Oh, thanks. I should've looked at the class decks as well, I guess. Both RotR and S&S Valeros had 5 points, so I thought that was the standard.
I'm making another update with a few rather small changes. The main thing I wanted to do was highlight a few abilities of each character that I felt needed special attention. If you could review the bolded abilities in particular and give your thoughts, I'd really appreciate it!
Skyix:
Female Displacer Folk Fighter
Strength: d6 []+1 []+2 []+3
Dexterity: d8 []+1 []+2 []+3
Constitution: d12 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4
-Melee: Constitution+1
-Fortitude: Constitution+2
Intelligence: d4 []+1
Wisdom: d6 []+1 []+2
-Perception: Wisdom+2
Charisma: d6 []+1 []+2
Favored Card Type: Armor
Weapon: 3 []4
Spell: 0 []1
Armor: 4 []5 []6 []7
Item: 2 []3
Ally: 3 []4 []5
Blessing: 3 []4 []5
Hand Size: 4 []5
Proficiencies: Light Armor Heavy Armor Weapons
For your combat check, you may reveal an Armor with the Shield trait to use Strength or Melee + 1d6 ([]+1) with the bludgeoning trait ([]and you may add the Magic trait). You may discard the card to add an additional 1d6. This counts as playing a weapon.
Non-combat damage dealt to you is reduced by 1.
Add 1 to combat checks by other characters at your location. Damage dealt to characters as a result of that check is reduced by 1d4 ([]+1).
Shard of Celestia:
Hand Size: 4 []5 []6
Proficiencies: Light Armor Heavy Armor Weapons
For your combat check, you may reveal an Armor with the Shield trait to use Strength or Melee + 1d6 ([]+1) with the bludgeoning trait ([]and you may add the Magic trait). You may discard the card to add an additional 1d6. This counts as playing a weapon.
Non-combat damage dealt to you is reduced by 1 ([] 2).
Add 1 ([]2) to combat checks by other characters at your location. Damage dealt to characters as a result of that check is reduced by 1d4 ([]+1).
[] You gain the skill Divine: Wisdom+1 ([]+3).
[] At the end of your turn ([] or another characters turn), you may move to another location.
[] When you play a Blessing of Celestia, you may recharge it instead of discarding it.
Clanliege:
Hand Size: 4 []5
Proficiencies: Light Armor Heavy Armor Weapons
For your combat check, you may reveal an Armor with the Shield trait to use Strength or Melee + 1d6 ([]+1) ([]+2) ([]+3) with the bludgeoning trait ([]and you may add the Magic trait). You may discard the card to add an additional 1d6. This counts as playing a weapon.
Non-combat damage dealt to you is reduced by 1.
Add 1 ([]2) ([]3) to combat checks by other characters at your location. Damage dealt to characters as a result of that check is reduced by 1d4 ([]+1).
[] Recharge a weapon or armor to allow another character at your location to evade a monster ([] even if it may not normally be evaded). If they do, you must immediately encounter it.
[] When you attempt a non-combat check, you may recharge any number of allies. Add 2 to the check for each ally recharged this way.
[] When you play a Blessing of Celestia, you may recharge it instead of discarding it.
For Skyix, one big risk I'm taking is her ability to take combats from others at her location, including gaining the ability to even do so for unevadable encounters. I think it's narrow enough that it's fine, but wanted other opinions.
Before I start:
Sorry I'm late to the party. I don't think six points across four skills is too much. All the fighters in the class deck have six points in skills; Vika has six points across four skills.
Except for Valeros, who has 7 in the Class deck. (Which is pretty weird, since he only has 5 in RotR and S&S).
Alright, number Five, here I come:
Skills:
So, here’s what I would do. Drop Perception and give this one Diplomacy, because this one ought to be a leader, right? I know I’ve been giving strange feedback when it comes to Diplomacy, but I really feel that this one needs it. Also, since she can still and thus probably use Weapons, I opt to change some of the skills around to:
Strength: d8 []+1 []+2 []+3
Dexterity: d6 []+1 []+2
Constitution: d10 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4
-Melee: Constitution+2
-Fortitude: Constitution+2
Intelligence: d4 []+1
Wisdom: d6 []+1 []+2
Charisma: d8 []+1 []+2 []+3
-Diplomacy: Charisma +2
Making her able to wield a Sword as well and giving her the Leaderskills she will need and use.
Powers:
So thematically, where does the Magic trait come from with the Shield Bash?
Why does she get reduced non-Combat damage and not normal Combat damage? Her Fortitude is high, her Constitution is high, right? So why not decrease Combat damage by 1 instead of Non-Combat?
I get the she is a tank, but reducing Combat damage by 1d4+1 is really strong in the early game in my opinion. I would change this power a bit so that it doesn’t get too strong. Maybe change it to:
“Add 1 to combat checks by other characters at your location. Damage dealt to characters as a result of that check is dealt to you instead.”
The leftover power-feat from this can be used to strengthen the above ability to both combat and non-combat damage.
To sum it up:
“ Non-combat ([]any) damage dealt to you is reduced by 1.
Add 1 to combat checks by other characters at your location. Damage dealt to characters as a result of that check is dealt to you instead.”
Shard:
I feel like this is a boring role, sorry. It just gives her Divine powers and the ability to move. It doesn’t bring anything new to the table, besides the powers she already has. Maybe change the Divine to a standard +2 and try to think of a new power that augments her power as a follower of Celestia. (What does a blessing of Celestia do?)
Clanliege:
I think this one is pretty good. I would always go for the Clanliege above Shard. It just brings more variety to the role and more theme. This character just became a Wall not to be messed with. And the rechargeable allies is just nice: “Oh, a trap, I don’t know. You there, squire, go check it out!”. Nice.
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Hello, I was wondering if I could ask you a question about this character, who has an non-traditional combat style. I'm developing a character who has a similar combat setup, whose combat power is basically: For your combat check, recharge an item to use your Int skill (d12) + 1d6 ([]or discard for another 1d6). I've only just gotten around to experimenting with him.
Similar to jones314's comment above, my main concern is that as the decks and enemies get harder, this ability will simply not be enough to defeat some of them. Have you experimented with Skyix very much? Did you find that you ran into the same problem, and if you did, what did you do to mitigate it? Also, I see that you gave her Melee as well; did you find that as the decks went on, she was using more and more weapons and less of her power?
Thank you for any advice you can offer.
Hello, I was wondering if I could ask you a question about this character, who has an non-traditional combat style. I'm developing a character who has a similar combat setup, whose combat power is basically: For your combat check, recharge an item to use your Int skill (d12) + 1d6 ([]or discard for another 1d6). I've only just gotten around to experimenting with him.
Similar to jones314's comment above, my main concern is that as the decks and enemies get harder, this ability will simply not be enough to defeat some of them. Have you experimented with Skyix very much? Did you find that you ran into the same problem, and if you did, what did you do to mitigate it? Also, I see that you gave her Melee as well; did you find that as the decks went on, she was using more and more weapons and less of her power?
Thank you for any advice you can offer.
I admit I haven't had as much chance to test Skyix as I'd like, but I do have some advice here. The comparable example in the game itself is actually the Sorceror, who has the ability to discard any card to do a check at similar strength. And yes, that power does start to dwindle as time goes bye. However, I hesitate to say it doesn't keep up. An important factor to consider is you will still be fighting monsters from earlier in the game as time goes on, it just happens less often. Over time, powers like these tend to shift from pretty regular use to more of a way to supplement or save your real abilities. Particularly in this case, the power is more useful as a way to mitigate an extreme Armor to Weapon ratio that would otherwise make her incredibly hard to play in reality.
Here's my biggest suggestion: consider why you have the power. If it's like the sorcerer, where it's just the ability to turn any card into a spell, then it should not keep up, because a random card in your hand should never keep up with real spells. If it's like Skyix, where it's a way to bring extra uses out of cards that may otherwise be useless, but are needed for the flavor of the character, then it also probably shouldn't keep up. However, if you feel that this is something that your character needs, and which it intends to use on almost every combat, then you probably need to scale it better (see Seoni's Dragon Mage CD role for the most extreme example of this that we've seen).
We've put together the characters. Thanks again to everyone for your help with these!
Attached below is a google doc with all of the cards if you want to try them out. We'll be updating them as we play, as inevitably stuff will change once we actually play. Let me know what you guys think!
Also, if you like the Art, it is commissioned from a friend of mine at Maewyn's Menagerie so if you like it, you can get art from her, too!
Hello, I was wondering if I could ask you a question about this character, who has an non-traditional combat style. I'm developing a character who has a similar combat setup, whose combat power is basically: For your combat check, recharge an item to use your Int skill (d12) + 1d6 ([]or discard for another 1d6). I've only just gotten around to experimenting with him.
Similar to jones314's comment above, my main concern is that as the decks and enemies get harder, this ability will simply not be enough to defeat some of them. Have you experimented with Skyix very much? Did you find that you ran into the same problem, and if you did, what did you do to mitigate it? Also, I see that you gave her Melee as well; did you find that as the decks went on, she was using more and more weapons and less of her power?
Thank you for any advice you can offer.
I admit I haven't had as much chance to test Skyix as I'd like, but I do have some advice here. The comparable example in the game itself is actually the Sorceror, who has the ability to discard any card to do a check at similar strength. And yes, that power does start to dwindle as time goes bye. However, I hesitate to say it doesn't keep up. An important factor to consider is you will still be fighting monsters from earlier in the game as time goes on, it just happens less often. Over time, powers like these tend to shift from pretty regular use to more of a way to supplement or save your real abilities. Particularly in this case, the power is more useful as a way to mitigate an extreme Armor to Weapon ratio that would otherwise make her incredibly hard to play in reality.
Here's my biggest suggestion: consider why you have the power. If it's like the sorcerer, where it's just the ability to turn any card into a spell, then it should not keep up, because a random card in your hand should never keep up with real spells. If it's like Skyix, where it's a way to bring extra uses out of cards that may otherwise be useless, but are...
Thanks for the tips, and sorry to reply so late. I haven't played with my character much lately, because, you know, life. But yes, his power is based on the Sorcerer's, and based on your advice, I think my problem (and yes I'm aware I've made a weird one) is that it's his ONLY means of combat, at least in the beginning. (My original thought was that there are other "support"-type characters who don't have much in the way of combat power, but now I realize that I haven't given my guy much in the way of support powers.)
I kept running into problems where he'd simply fail at a LOT of combat checks in the base deck, and I couldn't figure out whether it was just bad rolls, or tough S&S monsters (probably both). So I'm considering changing it to Int skill (d12) + 1d8. I've also added ([]plus the item's adventure deck number), so hopefully that will help scale a bit. I've added some combat boosts in the role cards as well.
I haven't really looked at CD Seoni's role cards, so I will check out Dragon Mage, thanks.
p.s. Nice artwork on your characters!
...Hello, I was wondering if I could ask you a question about this character, who has an non-traditional combat style. I'm developing a character who has a similar combat setup, whose combat power is basically: For your combat check, recharge an item to use your Int skill (d12) + 1d6 ([]or discard for another 1d6). I've only just gotten around to experimenting with him.
Similar to jones314's comment above, my main concern is that as the decks and enemies get harder, this ability will simply not be enough to defeat some of them. Have you experimented with Skyix very much? Did you find that you ran into the same problem, and if you did, what did you do to mitigate it? Also, I see that you gave her Melee as well; did you find that as the decks went on, she was using more and more weapons and less of her power?
Thank you for any advice you can offer.
I admit I haven't had as much chance to test Skyix as I'd like, but I do have some advice here. The comparable example in the game itself is actually the Sorceror, who has the ability to discard any card to do a check at similar strength. And yes, that power does start to dwindle as time goes bye. However, I hesitate to say it doesn't keep up. An important factor to consider is you will still be fighting monsters from earlier in the game as time goes on, it just happens less often. Over time, powers like these tend to shift from pretty regular use to more of a way to supplement or save your real abilities. Particularly in this case, the power is more useful as a way to mitigate an extreme Armor to Weapon ratio that would otherwise make her incredibly hard to play in reality.
Here's my biggest suggestion: consider why you have the power. If it's like the sorcerer, where it's just the ability to turn any card into a spell, then it should not keep up, because a random card in your hand should never keep up with real spells. If it's like Skyix, where it's a way to bring extra uses out of cards that may
Glad to hear I could help. One major thing I've learned as I make characters is that they are far more complex than they initially seem. This is because the three sections of the card, Skills, Cards, and Powers, each have to be roughly balanced in a vacuum, but that the combination of all 3 sections have to be balanced in total. The end result is that powers or skill distributions that would be absolutely fine on one character could be broken or useless on another. You learn over time some rules of thumb, but you truly can never be certain until you've seen them in action, and a lot of action at that.
And thank you for the complement on the art. We were thrilled with how they came out.