OnlineDM
Adventurer
Yeah, I'm still a little confused myself. So far my players and I have all forgotten about the one card they found, but that will change soon.
If the players only have one card and there's no card present in the encounter (everything other than encounters 6, 13 and 21), then the card they're carrying has its token appear adjacent to whoever is carrying it at the beginning of combat, and that becomes the active environmental effect for the combat.
If the party has more than one card, you shuffle them together and draw one. If there's also one in the encounter area (again, 6, 13, 21), you add that card to the stack and shuffle.
Anyone who's actually carrying a card that wasn't the card drawn can make a DC 18 Arcana check to try to force their card to replace the current card. Personally, I might allow automatic success if they use a standard action instead of a minor (or at least an easier Arcana check).
Villain cards work completely differently. The villain draws a card and uses it for free at the beginning and gets its villain aftereffect. The villain draws another whenever they hit certain hit point thresholds. The party does not get to have one of their cards manifest for free, although they can still try the Arcana check to make its token pop up.
If the players only have one card and there's no card present in the encounter (everything other than encounters 6, 13 and 21), then the card they're carrying has its token appear adjacent to whoever is carrying it at the beginning of combat, and that becomes the active environmental effect for the combat.
If the party has more than one card, you shuffle them together and draw one. If there's also one in the encounter area (again, 6, 13, 21), you add that card to the stack and shuffle.
Anyone who's actually carrying a card that wasn't the card drawn can make a DC 18 Arcana check to try to force their card to replace the current card. Personally, I might allow automatic success if they use a standard action instead of a minor (or at least an easier Arcana check).
Villain cards work completely differently. The villain draws a card and uses it for free at the beginning and gets its villain aftereffect. The villain draws another whenever they hit certain hit point thresholds. The party does not get to have one of their cards manifest for free, although they can still try the Arcana check to make its token pop up.
