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Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Rules Cheat Sheet

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Daily Spell Sheet. Initiative Card. Rebellion Sheet. Rules Cheat Sheet. Settlement Roster. 5E Adventure Agenda Amazing Comics Barberdashery Character Design Classes Comic Coming soon Conventions DragonCon eBook Edition Enemy of My Enemy Erik Scott de Bie Gen Con Hybrid Hybrid Classes. Campaign Cards - These are the cards from the tabletop edition of Pathfinder Adventure Card Game - Rise of the Runelords released around 2013. Treasure Cards - These are extra cards that Obsidian either pulled from later Pathfinder Adventures sets, or created in-house. Some cards are better than campaign cards; some aren't.

Gambling is a staple of fantasy roleplaying, from elaborate games of chance in a glittering high-end casino in the wealthy part of the city to a dangerous high-stakes card game in a tavern’s back room. RPG rules aside, the players and the Gamemaster can play a gambling game between themselves, without the interference of wildly disparate levels and skill modifiers—just get some dice or cards, and play.

However, no one coming to your house for an RPG session is going to be satisfied if you just play croupier all night long. You need to make your players’ trip to the Gold Goblin Gaming House rich in fantasy if you’re going to have a successful gaming experience, in both senses of the word “gaming.”

Creating the Right Atmosphere

Characters don’t walk into gambling halls for the thrill of a slightly worse-than-average chance of breaking even. They come in for the camaraderie, the tasty beverages, and the much smaller-than-average chance of winning very big. Thus, your gambling environments should be fun and rich in character. A high-end casino can have elven dancing maidens on stage, specialty dwarven drinks, and rich patrons sitting at the tables offering wild adventures. A low-end gaming hall can be wall-to-wall with reprobates, staffed with ogre bouncers, and carry the ever-present threat of a table-tipping bar brawl.

When the player characters walk in, describe the action. Have the house wizard cast detect magic as they enter, allknowingly wagging a finger at the PC with the crystal ball in her backpack. Show a halfling noble leaping with joy as he hits the jackpot at 3-crown imperial poker. Let them see a goblin tableboy chucked out the window for smuggling players’ winnings out between his pointy teeth. Make the characters want to be there.

When they sit down to play, make sure it’s something they can win. Long slogs are fine at the nickel slots, but they’re no fun in an RPG. Play something with wild swings, chances of devastating losses, and the occasional powerhouse victory.

In the end, offer them an adventure no matter how it turns out. If they lose big, have the club owner give them a chance to win back what they’ve lost by taking out the kobolds in the nearby sewer. If they win big, have some half-orcs attempt to jack their winnings in the alley. There are many types of gambles in the world.

Types of Gambling Games

There are thousands of gambling games, but all of them fall into a few basic categories or types. Many games combine elements of these types. Different players like different kinds of games, so it’s a good idea to have a wide array available.

Beat-the-bank: In games like baccarat, the house determines a certain result for itself, and the player must endeavor to beat it. Sometimes a judgment call must be made, such as in blackjack, where both the player and the bank could go above a 21 and fail.

Bluffing: The only true skill on this list, bluffing requires a player to guess what another player has, and judge whether he should try to beat it. Poker is a bluffing game, and thus is not a gambling game in the true sense. Luck is important, but in the long run, skill is much more significant.

Lottery: Each player buys one or more stakes in a large pool. Randomly, one stake is determined the winner, and most of the wagered money goes to the owner(s) of that stake.

Match game: The player wins when certain preset patterns appear, such as on a slot machine. Some may be more valuable than others, so in a game where 3d6 are rolled and the goal is to hit triples, 1-1-1 may be less valuable than 6-6-6.

Pick-a-number: In a game such as roulette or keno, each player picks one or more target numbers, and then a result number is determined. If the result is the same as a player’s target number, the player wins; otherwise, the player loses.

Proposition betting: Prop bets are bets on the outcomes of events for which one has imperfect knowledge. Sports bets are the best known of these types of bets. The house sets a line on which it believes half the bettors will pick one side and half will pick the other. The proposition then happens, and the people who picked correctly are paid off.

Gambling and Skill Checks

There is a reason you don’t see the word “Gambling” in the Pathfinder RPG skill list, and that’s because gambling is not a skill. With the exception of mislabeled skill games such as poker, a gambling game is by its very definition based on seeing what lucks brings you. You cannot bring your own luck, unless you cheat. And since the house always has an edge, you cannot make money gambling against the house. There is, however, the Profession (gambler) skill. Like all Profession skills, this Wisdom-based skill is about making money over the course of a week, not about winning a particular spin of a roulette wheel. It’s about figuring out where to play, when to play, and whom to play with. A character with high ranks in this skill is playing a lot, minimizing his losses, and probably using many other skills.

In a hand of a skill game like poker, you can use a player’s Profession (gambler) skill to adjudicate it, in the same way a character’s Profession (fisherman) skill might be used to catch a fish for dinner. However, it need not be the only skill a player could use. Bluff, Intimidate, Sense Motive, and (for cheating) Sleight of Hand can all be used to win a single hand of cards. These rolls, along with some roleplaying, can make a card showdown into an interesting encounter.

Games of Chance

In games of pure chance, luck should rule the day. Neither the player nor the house is in control—the dice are, and no ranks in Profession (gambler) will help a character win. But this is as it should be. Players don’t want to win at craps because their characters have high Dexterity scores—they want to win because the dice are hot tonight.

Of course, cheating is the only way to change your luck in a game of chance. If someone at the table wants to cheat, Sleight of Hand is the most useful skill, but Disable Device might also be allowed. In addition, magic can be quite useful for cheating. Spells like mage hand, silent image, and modify memory can turn bad results into good results. Getting caught, however, can turn these good results into much, much worse outcomes.

Designing a Gambling Game

A gambling game has five distinct elements: the house, the equipment, the mechanic, the odds, and the payout.

House: The house is the source of the game, and determines the game’s style. A “tight” house runs games where the house edge is higher, and where player influence is minimized. A “loose” house wants much more gambling to occur, and is willing to maximize its risks so that players will bet more. The standard deviation of loss or gain is higher if the house is loose. As long as the house has an advantage in all games, the other important number the house must care about is its exposure, which is how much it can lose if everyone suddenly wins at once. A house that can’t cover all its bets won’t be successful for long.

Equipment: This is what you need to play the game. It’s not just dice or cards—you often need markers, coins, and even miniatures. You should also determine how many people are necessary to run the game. Usually it’s just one dealer, but a game like craps requires four people to run it: a boxman, two base dealers, and a stickman.

Mechanic: The mechanic is how the game is played. A mechanic should be simple and easy to grasp: place a chip on the board and roll a pair of dice, choose a number and spin a wheel, use some of your hole cards and some of the ones on the table. However, the variation of results can be much less simple; the sheer number of possible places to put your money on a craps table is dazzling.

Odds: The odds are the percentage chances that a player will win money. A player’s percentage chance of winning should be somewhat less than 50 percent for the house to make money. In any casino, the house will retain some “edge,” which is the profit the house will make on a long series of bets. So if a player plays a game where he wins 9 silver pieces for every gold piece he gives the house, the house edge is 10 percent.

Payout: The payout is the rate of return a player gets when he wins, usually double the odds. It’s important to understand that for a game of pure chance, all choices must lead to the same payouts over time. Think of the roulette board. A straight-up bet on a single number has a 37-to-1 chance of hitting, and pays 35-to-1. A bet on all of the numbers 1–12 has a 2.167-to-1 chance of hitting, and pays 2-to-1. A bet on red has a 1.111-to-1 chance of hitting, and pays 1-to-1. Doing the math on these bets show that they all have the same rate of return: a player loses 5.3 cents for every dollar bet.

In my Reign of Winter adventure path game we have recently moved onto the fourth module for the game called “The Frozen Stars”. In this module the players travel to the planet of Triaxius, home to the Dragon Legion and dragon riders.

Pathfinder
This is all a hugely high fantasy concept. We are channelling the beautiful spirit of Anne McAffrey as the players all take to the skies. None of them are yet dragon riders but it certainly sounds like a couple of them are interested. This adventure is more Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weiss than the adventures of Pern but the imagery is one that goes hand in hand with the fantasy setting.
Learn the rules and you will be flying in no time!
OK, I will stop gushing and talk about why we are here. Today one of my players asked how difficult it was to run an aerial combat which is what we have done for the past three combats and off the cuff I said no problem at all. I admitted though that I was not taking into account in any large way the three dimensions of the combat (although one of the players did plummet to the ground 120′ below). He asked about fly skill checks and I replied that as it was largely open space and no one really tried anything tricky that there was no real need to worry about it.
After the conversation I realised that I was actually removing a lot of the fun to the combat by being so blasé about it all and so I have cracked open a few books to take a look at what I really should be doing to bring these combats to life.

The Fly Skill

Most of what is stated about the flying or sky environment is detailed in this skill. In fact there is very little else stated explicitly about adventures that are air or sky bound apart from these rules. There are aside mentions of the environment but really what you need to know exists under the fly skill heading.

One thing I was right about was the fact that you only need to make a check with this skill when something out of the ordinary happens. If a character finds themselves flying at the start of the turn then as long as they do not attempt anything tricky they remain flying at the end of the round, no skill check required.

But what is something tricky? Well, there happens to be some set circumstances in which a character needs to make a check with their flying skill. They are;

  • Move less than half speed and remain flying (I would argue this does not count when using fly the spell)
  • Hovering
  • Turning greater than 45 degrees at any point during a move action (you can change facing in between turns with no penalty for some reason)
  • Turn 180 degrees by spending 10 feet of movement (Immelman anyone?)
  • Fly up at greater than 45 degree angle
Even my Eidolon needs to use his fly skill once in a while!
Each of these manoeuvres has a DC that you need to roll when flying. There are penalties to these checks based on wind and also the fly capability of the creature you are mounted on (if you are flying a mount that is). These situations are simply the times you need to make a check when you are flying in a straightforward manner. There are other times that you need to make checks as well depending on your interactions in the air. These circumstances are listed below;
  • Attacked while flying – if you are flying under winged power you must make a check when you take damage or lose 10 foot of altitude
  • Collision whilst flying – if you run into anything your size or larger whilst using wing power when flying you have to make a check not to plummet from the skies. I am now thinking that a melee attack would actually count as a collision here
  • If you are falling and can fly then you need to make a check to pull out of the fall (this does not count if you are falling after a collision in the same round)
  • High winds can also have an effect and push you astray if you do not make a fly check. When you need to make this check depends on your size and the strength of the wind
What it only mentions briefly is the idea of altitude and this is the third dimension that we need to consider in our games. This is definitely going to require a more complex system of combat recording for the GM and each player should also take on the responsibility of keeping track of their own altitude.
For every 5 feet of movement horizontally (if you are using minis) the player can climb 5 feet without a check. This should actually be considered 10 feet of total movement, much the same as moving diagonally twice on a typical grid. If they want to climb faster then they need to make a fly check and spend the movement points (so if they want to go 10 feet up in 5 feet horizontal make it a 15 foot move).
As a GM you are going to need a table for all of the enemies and with that you will need individually identifiable markers/tokens or miniatures if you use a map. It is OK to bring non-combatants in at a standard height but as soon as they get involved then you should start taking note of their position, especially as the players are likely to start asking about what and where the enemies are once three dimensions becomes pertinent.
Flying combats make for an interesting game!

Mounts

The other thing that may become an issue is mounts. If you are planning for the players to be using a dragon or pegasus mount for example then you need to brush up on your knowledge of the mounted combat section in the rules. Luckily these are pretty simple to follow;

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Characters

  • Mount acts on the riders initiative
  • If the mount moves over 5 feet you cannot full attack for the round (unless using ranged where you can)
  • Mount has to be combat trained or you need to make a handle animal check every round or the mount runs
  • A simple ride check allows you to use two hands in combat
  • If the mount charges you take the neg to your AC too. Also if using a lance and you charge it does double damage automatically
  • You take a -4 to ranged attacks while moving or -8 if the horse is running
  • Casting spells is fine if horse is moving at a speed under your own natural speed, if not it is a concentration check for the spell caster
  • If your mount falls in combat you will need to make a ride check to land without a penalty and if you are knocked unconscious in a saddle you have a 50% chance of staying in the saddle per round (or 75% if it is a military saddle). Falling from a flying mount sucks 🙂

Flying with Magic

If flying utilising magic then make sure you read the spell carefully. There are a number of spells that allow for flight or flying like capability and they all have differences in the way that they operate. I can think of three off the top of my head (levitate, fly, air walk) so make sure that you get familiar with the common spells and read any that pop up in play.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Rules Pdf

If a player is using an ability (like a druid’s shape change) then make sure you know how that works and you are well familiar with the rules listed above for the fly skill.
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Conclusions

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game How To Play

There is no broad space in the rulebooks that say “here are all of the rules you need for an air environment campaign” so you need to do a bit of work. The detail that I have gone through in the above commentary really gives you an idea on where you need to look to find the material you need. There are other books and details that can add to this environment but it is value adding. The core book really has everything you will need to run a flying campaign.

Of course, what I have given you above are the official rules and that is really only half the story. What sorts of games can you run in the sky and how do things like clouds and other such things play into the game. Well, they are all interesting questions and ones that I hope to answer in a post sometime soon. Thanks for reading and keep rolling!