Poison Pill

[Stineberg]

So I just started playing and decided to buy the all-inclusive expansion.  I'm stuck on the Poison Pill scenario and I feel like I don't have the right feel for the strategy.  I've tried having one character on their own locations, pairing them off, putting them in groups of 3, and having all 6 start on the same location.  It also could just be the characters, so I listed my party and their decks below.  I also know that the number of cards to beat in the scenario changes based on your party size, so would it be easier if I didn't use 6 characters? What can I change to beat this scenario?

 

Merisriel                                                                                               Amiri

Deathbane Light Crossbow+1                                                             Glaive

Shock Longbow+1                                                                               Longspear

Leather Armor                                                                                     Flaming Mace+1

Caltropsx2                                                                                           Warhammer

Masterwork Tools                                                                                Longsword+1

Spyglass                                                                                              Rusted Chainmail

Thieve's Toolsx2                                                                                 Wooden Sheild

Burglar                                                                                                Bracers of Protection

Shalelu Andosana                                                                               Crowbar

Blessing of Calistra                                                                             Guide

Blessing of Erastilx2                                                                            Standard Bearer

Blessing of the Gods                                                                           Blessing of Toragx2

                                                                                                            Blessing of Gorum

                                                                                                           Blessing of the Gods

 

Seoni                                                                                                 Kyra

Force Missilex2                                                                                 Quarterstaff

Acid Arrow                                                                                         Mace

Spyglass                                                                                            Cure

Token of Remembrance                                                                    Detect Evil

Amulet of Life                                                                                    Holy Light

Acolytex2                                                                                           Wooden Shield

Father Zantus                                                                                   Magic Chainmail

Sheriff Hemlock                                                                                 Holy Water

Blessing of the Godsx3                                                                     Sage

Blessing of Iomedaex2                                                                      Blessing of Shelynx3

                                                                                                         Blessing of Desna

                                                                                                         Blessing of Pharasma

                                                                                                         Blessing of the Gods

 

Lini                                                                                                    Seelah

Curex2                                                                                              Mace

Inflict                                                                                                 Glaive

Detect Magic                                                                                     Longsword

Sanctuary                                                                                         Cure

Strength                                                                                            Chain Mail

Amulet of Mighty Fists                                                                      Superior Half-Plate

Sage's Journal                                                                                  Wooden Shield

Dogx2                                                                                               Poog of Zarongel

Crow                                                                                                 Night Watch

Blessing of the Godsx4                                                                     Blessing of the Godsx3

                                                                                                         Blessing of Gorum

                                                                                                         Blessing of Sarenrae

                                                                                                         Blessing of Desna

[Hannibal_PJV]

Hmmm... For poison pill you could try to collect more thieves tools. Also augury and spy classes would be usefull to get. Masterwork tool is the best. The trap has difficulty of 6 to close so good dexterity Also help to close locations. You have reasonable good gear for your level. But some adjustements could make it easier. You have some allies that does not give explore.mged rid of them so you can explore faster. Father Santhos is only exception, because he can get other explore cards back to the deck.

[Brainwave]

It would help to know what's causing the fails. Are you not able to defeat the poison traps? Are you not able to make closing rolls? Are you just plain running out of time but it's nothing in particular? Or something else?

 

But in general, spread those thieves tools around. Anyone can use thieves tools for their discard/recharge abilities to auto defeat barriers under a certain difficulty (which those poison traps in that scenario should be under). In some ways, Merisiel is actually the worst person to have them as she has a good disable regardless, but other characters can use them to defeat barriers they'd normally have not shot at. Also I'd ditch a couple of the non exploring allies you have like the burglar and the acolytes for even basic allies that give an explore, especially in a 6 character game where explores are really important.

 

You have the same amount of turns in a 6 character game as in a 1 character game, but a lot more locations, which is somewhat balanced by having more ability to help with any particular check and more likelihood of having someone suited to any particular check (like a closing roll). So closing a couple locations and then setting up everyone to cover all the remaining locations so if the villain is encountered you can temp close everything and win becomes a lot more important.

 

I can give more specific advice with a bit more info if it's more than just running out of time that's causing the loss.

[Borissimo]

I'm sorry to hear that you're having a frustrating time with the game. Here are some thoughts/suggestions that I think may help you:

 

1) The prologue scenarios are, in my opinion, some of the hardest scenarios of the game, simply because your characters haven't gotten any feats yet. So, don't feel too bad that you're stuck on the second scenario -- while the prologue scenarios are "introductory," they're not actually all that easy.

 

2) You're playing with 6 characters, which is the hardest way to play. You could try starting a new party of 4 characters (or cutting two characters from the existing party) and giving the scenario a shot then -- you'll have the same number of turns (30) but two fewer locations to close.

 

3) When you start the game, it's a good idea to give everybody 1 Thieves' Tools, in part because most items suck and Thieves' Tools are among the only good ones, and in part because they sure are handy in The Poison Pill. Of course, that would require starting over, but if you don't want to do that, it looks like you have 3 tools already -- spread them around, as Brainwave suggested. While I like giving Merisiel a pair of tools (she can reveal them for a bonus and keep them in her hand, and she can recharge them), in your party, until you get 6 pairs, I think it would be better to give them to three other characters. Merisiel can defeat the Poison Traps pretty easily with just a Troubadour or a blessing; the same cannot be said of anyone else.

 

4) I prefer using the allies that add d6 to a variety of checks (Troubadour, Standard Bearer, and Sage) over the allies that add d10 to one specific check (Night Watch, Guide, Dog), because the extra versatility is worth more than 2 die sizes. If you had some Troubadours in your party, it'd be easier to kill those traps!

 

5) If an ally isn't going to help the character holding it close a location, then use it immediately to explore. Use some (but not all) of your blessings to explore. You need to beat the clock, but you also need to keep blessings on hand to defeat the poison traps (which are a pain without Thieves' Tools) and close locations.

 

6) Use your characters' non-blessing, non-ally cards aggressively. If Seelah has two weapons, discard one to a combat check ASAP, even if you don't need to. Seelah may even want to voluntarily discard her armors. Amiri should bury armors and extra weapons to her Rage ability, even if she doesn't need to. Seoni should turn her Amulet of Life into a fireball and use her Acolytes ASAP, even if she doesn't need to, because they don't give extra explorations. (BTW, Acolytes blow. I'd replace them any ally that grants extra explorations as soon as you can, even a freakin' Dog, because the Acolytes' bonus d4 is nowhere near as valuable as an extra exploration in a 6-player game.)

 

The reason you should do all this is so that you can get to the blessings and allies buried deep in your characters' decks and use them for extra explorations. You don't want Amiri's Guide to sit 3 cards from the bottom of her deck all game because the Barbarian had her hands full holding a Longspear, a Glaive, and that fantastic Rusty Chainmail the entire time. Bury the Longspear first chance you get, bury the chainmail second chance you get, and make sure Amiri sees as many of her allies and blessings as she can before the clock runs out.

 

I hope that's enough to chew on for now. Give it another whirl and let us know how it goes!

 

Edit: At the risk of offending anyone with shameless self-promotion, I thought I'd throw this link your way. This is my Poison Pill victory in my 6-player video playthrough series. You and I chose nearly identical parties -- I just have Ezren instead of Seoni and Harsk instead of Kyra -- and it may help you to see how a success in this scenario might actually progress. You'll note that, even playing pretty well and having a lot of experience with the game, I still had to go down to the wire to finish this one!

Edited May 8, 2016 by Borissimo

[Hannibal_PJV]

Good video is always good way to learn new thing!

That 4 player party can Also help, because it gives you some extra time as mentioned above.

[Stineberg]

It would help to know what's causing the fails. Are you not able to defeat the poison traps? Are you not able to make closing rolls? Are you just plain running out of time but it's nothing in particular? Or something else?

I'm just plain running out of time.  I probably am not discarding as many blessings and allies as I should, But I also get a little worried about discarding because, in this scenario, half the locations are closed by banishing cards.

[Brainwave]

Yep, with 6 you need to use cards to explore more. Ditch non exploring allies unless they are really good (I'd keep Father Z but definitely replace the burglar and the acolytes). Don't use all blessings for explores but definitely use some. And spread your guys out so you can temp close locations if you find the villain. It's rare in a 6 char game that you will have enough time to encounter a henchman and individually close each location.

 

Yeah banishing cards sucks but keep in mind anything that's a basic you can pretty much just get back again after the game. Like if you toss an Inflict spell, unless you pick up another extra spell, the game will let you pick a replacement basic card after the game if you are short cards, so you could just grab Inflict again. And even if you had to keep a Longsword over a mace on Kyra for a mission or two, it wouldn't be the end of the world. You're looking to replace most of these cards anyway. I mean obviously I wouldn't toss the deathbane crossbow but in terms of your basic cards.

[LAntorcha]

Tip: try not to go to Close by Banishing a Card-Location without some junk card in hand. Or Banish the same junk cards you get by exploring that place.