Hand Size

[teasel]

i don't get the advantage of having a bigger hand size as a power, it just means you risk taking more damage when the game decide you should roll a bunch of snake eyes, sure you get to play more cards but you don't want to play that many since most cards are usualy discarded... having a bigger hand size just seems like a waste of power

 

 

[ArchSenex]

Once characters settle into a good build, you should be recharging a lot of cards rather than discarding them. Casters especially, like ezren.

 

Only blessings and allies should really ever hit the discard unless you make a goof. This varies a little between characters, of course.

[Hannibal_PJV]

And if you don't end using all of your cards during the 30 rounds you Are wasting resources.

With big party, big hand is quite essential. With small party smaller hand size is ok, but not always.

See how Many cards you have left after scenarios.

Edited June 21, 2016 by Hannibal_PJV

[Bajie]

Its 50-50. Thats why I advice not taking it early on.. But when you do get stronger, most of your cards will be recharged/revealed for usefulness. Only blessings (most of the time) and allies should ever be discarded.

 

Higher hand size means flexibility,more explore but it does clogs your hand sometimes like 4 weapons or items you're not gonna use for now.

[CA_Obsidian]

And 4 starting cards (i.e. Amiri) is really low, for flexibility reasons I would recommend at least 5 cards for any char.

[Longshot11]

For characters that recharge to influence checks off-turn (Harsk, Lem), upgrading their hand size basically gives them more ammo for their abilities.

[jtrowell]

And for the others, it allow you to have more cards that you "keep" in your hand, while still gettting to draw and use your allies and blessing.

 

With a hand too small, you will find yourself with "dead cards" that might be useful to keep but that you have no choise to discard, like some potion to close a location, or secondary weapon in case you need to discard one for a strong monster, of simply some boon that you just acquired and want to keep to give it to another character next turn.

When you are in this situation, you will find that you often end discarding one of those card, else you won't get to draw any new card for a while and miss the occasion do draw and use blessing or allies.

This is often a problem for warriors types, they tend to have a good and stable combat strength due to their weapon, but also to have their deck that don't turn enough.

 

For the armor, almost all magic armors can be recharged at end of turn, so if you want to draw more, or if you have more than one in hand, you can simply recharge it to cycle your deck. But with most items and weapon, it can be hard keeping them in your hand until an occasion present itself.

 

One technique that I use with valeros is giving him some bows or crossbows, so that he can discard (so recharge) them to help others from a different location, as well as cycle his deck more easily. Taking the close combat quarter to use melee for ranged attacks in case you only draw a bow in your starting hand can also be useful (but it's currently buggued), but even without it, at wort one blessing or two might be enough against most opponents with his very good base melee.

[da_mayor]

For me, it's about Options.  Having a small hand size is safer, but gives you fewer options per turn.  You're much more likely to fall into a cycle of single-explore no-cards-expended no-drawing-up-unless-you-discard turns when your hand size is small.  I like a hand size of 5 for the early ADs, expanding later when I've got a few card feats under my belt.  Playing a starting character with a hand size of 6 makes me nervous, especially if it's a pure Arcane caster with no healing.  (Currently playing Darago the physical SotRu...)

Edited June 21, 2016 by da_mayor

[elcoderdude]

Playing the card game, every player I know takes a hand size upgrade sooner or later, and usually several.  Four or five cards is a small hand. You'll explore less, have fewer options, and more often have to discard cards to get to a card you need or want, as others have said.

 

I've found 6 to be the minimum size to make it through the Adventure Path with, and 7 is more comfortable.

 

It depends on the character, of course. Most martials don't need as big a hand as most casters, Harsk being the exception because he's frequently recharging to assist, as Longshot pointed out.

 

Note the card game promo character Ranzak can have an 11 card hand. (At that size, using the card game Raise Dead spell on a dead Ranzak doesn't give him enough cards to survive, unless someone gives him a card before his next turn.)

[Sojiro]

Speaking of hand size, I'm wondering if I should favor that or the recharge power for Ezren. With so many spells, it's relatively easy to unload all of your non-spells from your deck (putting them either in your hand or the discard after using them); that guarantees a 100% chance of being able to re-draw after casting a spell, which I find amusing to do. Getting a better hand size would help with that, letting me "store" another card there and cycle through the deck more quickly. But being able to recharge all these spells more reliably (or the occasional item) is very useful to him too! Even if it's effectively a more limited +1 to Intelligence...

 

What do you think?