Pass On Acquiring Boons?

[fastkarate]

Is there a way to pass on acquiring boons? I'm not sure if I'm missing it in the UI or if it's not an option. In the card game, rolling to acquire boons is optional (I don't want all those potions clogging my deck!)

[Sylvanta]

Not currently, but is something we're looking at addressing.

 

For now, the best you can do is switch to a check you're bad at and hope to fail (if one exists!)

[StormbringerGT]

Not currently, but is something we're looking at addressing.

 

For now, the best you can do is switch to a check you're bad at and hope to fail (if one exists!)

I have no issues when it comes to NOT acquiring boons. I never get em anyway.

 

Can we have a button that lets the game know I really, really want that boon? :D

[Sylvanta]

 

Not currently, but is something we're looking at addressing.

 

For now, the best you can do is switch to a check you're bad at and hope to fail (if one exists!)

I have no issues when it comes to NOT acquiring boons. I never get em anyway.

 

Can we have a button that lets the game know I really, really want that boon? :D

 

 

You do realize if you got a button to tell the game that you REALLY wanted a boon, it'd force a roll of 1, right?

[Alklein35]

You don't even have to tell it. Not once has a "Draw 1d4 of X type" chests rolled higher than 1 for me!

[Deekow]

Not currently, but is something we're looking at addressing.

 

For now, the best you can do is switch to a check you're bad at and hope to fail (if one exists!)

 

Just please implement it correctly, please oh please. Passing on a boon entirely is not the same as failing a check with a boon.

[Hannibal_PJV]

Hmmm... In the real game you can not pass to accuire the boon. Not at least any more.

You can use your worst skill if you want, but you have to try (not to get the boon)...

[fastkarate]

Hmmm... In the real game you can not pass to accuire the boon. Not at least any more.

You can use your worst skill if you want, but you have to try (not to get the boon)...

Not so! This has always been the case, but I don't think it was clarified officially (in the rulebook) until Skull and Shackles. Currently, the Wrath rulebook (page reads "When you explore, flip over the top card of your current location deck. If it's a boon, you may attempt to acquire it; if you don't attempt that, banish it."

 

Like Deekow says, passing on acquiring a boon is not FAILING to acquire the boon. So deciding not to acquire a Burglar (and who would, they're awful!) wouldn't proc its punishment for failing to acquire it--or at least, I believe that's the case. Cards that penalize you for failing to acquire them are pretty rare, so the subject isn't fresh in my mind on what's legal and what's not.

[Alklein35]

You most definitely can choose to not attempt to acquire it Hannibal.

[Jaunt]

I have a vague recollection that Mike Selinker clarified that you never have to roll to acquire a boon (unless some card says you have to), but I'm not entirely sure. Nonetheless, given that one of the free heroes is Kyra the Cleric, being able to not acquire random garbage would be super clutch. Controlling what goes in your deck, even for just the rest of the adventure, is super important to a lot of characters. I'm saying this as a guy whose main hero was the S&S playtest version of Ranzak.

[Borissimo]

Oh, Hannibal! I love you man, you're a great guy, but dude, here is you, on the Paizo forum, saying the same wrong thing over a month ago:

 

http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5li9h&page=2?Whats-New-With-Obsidians-Adventure-Card-Game#70

 

And here is me explaining why you're wrong, barely an hour later, with a link to the official Paizo FAQ (!!!) for proof:

 

http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5li9h&page=2?Whats-New-With-Obsidians-Adventure-Card-Game#72

 

Did you #micdrop and stop reading that thread after posting? Was being contradicted by an FAQ written by the people who invented the game not sufficient proof for you? Talk to me, man! You've gotta let go of the idea that rolling for boons is mandatory. It isn't. <3

 

I'd be surprised if Obsidian didn't implement an option not to roll for boons. In the latest preview posted on Paizo's site, we saw a wildcard power with the effect, "When you fail to aquire a boon, discard the top card of the blessings deck." When playing with this wildcard, choosing a bad skill and intentionally failing would trigger the negative effect of the wildcard, whereas passing on the roll entirely would not. So failing and not rolling are not the same thing.

 

The whole point of that wildcard power is to add an element of risk and strategy to otherwise automatic decisions. Say you're rolling a d6 to pick up something with a check of 4. Normally, you'd just pick up your die and roll, because why not? But with this wildcard in effect, you need to actually stop and think whether taking the roll is worth the possible loss of a blessing. Not implementing a core rule in a board game port is always an amateur mistake, but it would be doubly egregious here given the significant interaction the core rule has with another feature (or features, if there are other wildcards that relate to boon acquisition). If anyone wasn't convinced before, the two Twitch streams have proven that the team behind this game is amazing. I just don't see them making a blunderous omission of this magnitude.

Edited March 12, 2016 by Borissimo

[Hannibal_PJV]

Oh, Hannibal! I love you man, you're a great guy, but dude, here is you, on the Paizo forum, saying the same wrong thing over a month ago:

 

 

 

I think that I am getting old... Not sure if I have read some very old threat originally, or something, but yep...

You can chose not to try... *sigh* I feel almost 900 year old. 

[Borissimo]

I think that I am getting old... Not sure if I have read some very old threat originally, or something, but yep...

You can chose not to try... *sigh* I feel almost 900 year old. 

 

No worries, buddy! I'm just glad we finally laid this axe to rest.

[Nathan Davis]

This is a feature we intend to include. It will likely be a later update. For the reasons Borissimo sighted above it is not our highest priority at the moment.

[Borissimo]

Thanks for clarifying this, Nathan! I'm saddened to hear that this feature won't be available at launch -- my post actually explains why it should be a high priority, not a low one -- but I am heartened to hear that it will be coming later!

 

Edit: I am an idiot for reasons fastkarate notes below. Please disregard this post!

Edited March 13, 2016 by Borissimo

[fastkarate]

I think there's some punctuation missing! I did a double take too, but I think the sentence is supposed to read. "This is a feature we intend to include. It will likely be a later update, for the reasons Borissimo sighted above. It is not our highest priority at the moment."

 

I hadn't thought about the extra difficulty stuff because I hadn't seen any of it yet. In my eyes, yeah, that makes it a much higher priority, beyond "I don't want this potion," or Seoni going like "Kyra, I just banished a spell, mind passing on that Inflict so I can grab a Toxic Cloud at the end of the scenario?" and into some seriously potent rage. :D

[oneplus999]

Interestingly, the playtest wording on certain boons is different from the original's, and this would cause a problem.

 

original: https://www.dropbox.com/s/x4ugral1r0txdd0/BC%20Ally%20Burglar.png?dl=0

obsidian's: https://www.dropbox.com/s/h1utycyyes6mbev/2016-03-13%2017.19.37.png?dl=0

 

Obsidian's says "if you fail the check" rather than "if you do not acquire", which means if they add an option to skip the check to acquire a boon, the burglar's second power becomes nearly pointless.

 

The same logic applies to obsidian's new scenario powers that cause thing to happen when you "fail a check to acquire a boon".  Ideally all of these should be rewritten as "if you encounter a boon and do not acquire it" before they allow you to skip such checks.

[Borissimo]

I think there's some punctuation missing! I did a double take too, but I think the sentence is supposed to read. "This is a feature we intend to include. It will likely be a later update, for the reasons Borissimo sighted above. It is not our highest priority at the moment."

 

I hadn't thought about the extra difficulty stuff because I hadn't seen any of it yet. In my eyes, yeah, that makes it a much higher priority, beyond "I don't want this potion," or Seoni going like "Kyra, I just banished a spell, mind passing on that Inflict so I can grab a Toxic Cloud at the end of the scenario?" and into some seriously potent rage. :D

 

Oh hey, good call fastkarate! I now feel ashamed for failing to observe the obvious fact that Nathan's post contained a typo in favor of the uncharitable and eminently unreasonable assumption that Nathan does not know how to read.

 

And regarding the Seoni & Kyra scenario described above: stuff like this is why I initially thought it would be important to have the option to pass on boons from at least adventure deck 3 onwards. It wasn't until I saw the aforementioned wildcard power that I realized it was actually a priority on day 1.

[StormbringerGT]

Interestingly, the playtest wording on certain boons is different from the original's, and this would cause a problem.

 

original: https://www.dropbox.com/s/x4ugral1r0txdd0/BC%20Ally%20Burglar.png?dl=0

obsidian's: https://www.dropbox.com/s/h1utycyyes6mbev/2016-03-13%2017.19.37.png?dl=0

 

Obsidian's says "if you fail the check" rather than "if you do not acquire", which means if they add an option to skip the check to acquire a boon, the burglar's second power becomes nearly pointless.

 

The same logic applies to obsidian's new scenario powers that cause thing to happen when you "fail a check to acquire a boon".  Ideally all of these should be rewritten as "if you encounter a boon and do not acquire it" before they allow you to skip such checks.

Good eye! Thanks!

[Borissimo]

To contribute some respectful disagreement: While the Burglar's secondary effect should indeed match the physical version, I do not think it's a good idea for the wildcard to discard a blessing from the blessings deck every time you encounter and do not acquire a boon. In a 6-player game, that would be utter insanity -- an increase in difficulty leagues beyond any of the other wildcards we've seen.

[StormbringerGT]

To contribute some respectful disagreement: While the Burglar's secondary effect should indeed match the physical version, I do not think it's a good idea for the wildcard to discard a blessing from the blessings deck every time you encounter and do not acquire a boon. In a 6-player game, that would be utter insanity -- an increase in difficulty leagues beyond any of the other wildcards we've seen.

Yes that would be leagues more punishing.... and maybe worth future consideration.

 

I think even when we implement the ability to not acquire a boon, this Wildcard as is, is still valid because it still punishes you for acquiring a boon. Might be worth considering to make it more punishing per boon however.