Kieran Sheldon

This homebrew path set for Earthborne Rangers is part of my upcoming fan-made Valley Expansion, The Burning Beyond.

The spirit scar path set is meant to evoke an enigmatic otherworld that’s menaced by invasive biomelds. No path set (to date) has included an invasive species as a major mechanical focus, and I thought this theme might open up interesting design space. The path set’s other major theme is spiritspeaking, which it makes available to all Rangers.

Spirit Scar is intended to be a difficult path set to navigate, roughly on par with the Swamp set from the base game.

Please note that The Burning Beyond is a work-in-progress, and these cards may change before this fan-made expansion is officially released.

MAJESTIC INCARNATION (x2)

Let’s start with the prey in this path set. Majestic Incarnation is a straightforward card… except that it’s a spirit, so there’s no easy way to clear it if you aren’t already a spiritspeaker. Huh.

Since it’s a spirit and spirits tend not to have harm thresholds, Incarnation’s mountain challenge effect adds progress to Incarnation, instead of harm. Beyond the mechanical necessity, I like how this ability speaks to the strangeness of the spirit realm. Here, predation is a mutually beneficial cycle, and predator coexists in strange symbiosis with prey.

If you’re having trouble clearing a Majestic Incarnation, don’t worry. Its first ability may help you find the exact flora you need…

Starbloom (x3)

Starbloom, the most plentiful card in this path set, is an essential tool for navigating the spirit realm. Its action allows any Ranger to spiritspeak and access several new actions, most notably communing with spirits to clear them with progress. You’ll always want one of these around.

HUNTER AT THE THRESHOLD (x2)

Here’s our first big threat, the Hunter at the Threshold. This predator seems real nasty, but every single other card in the path set helps the Rangers deal with the Hunter in one way or another.

I’m especially proud of the way that this card’s Disbelieve action scales with the situation. It gets harder if there are Starblooms or Incarnations out to help handle the Hunter, and it also gets herder if there’s a Spirit Speaker around. In other situations, when Rangers might struggle to deal with the Hunter, it’s easy to exhaust.

Hunter at the Threshold injures Rangers with exhausted roles, including any Ranger who’s currently spiritspeaking, implying that the Hunter is able to prey on humans who look across the veil. The injuries this card inflicts are Lingering Injuries that don’t come into play until the next day, which I hope feels like the manifestation of a spiritual wound or curse.

IMPOSSIBLE TERRAIN (x2)

The obstacle in this path set, Impossible Terrain, forces Rangers to spiritspeak. Depending on the situation, this can be a boon (if a Ranger’s struggling to clear a spirit) or a penalty (if a Ranger would rather be taking basic actions).

The Clear ability on this feature is a nice reward for clearing a tricky obstacle, and this ability also serves an important mechanical role in a mission featured in The Burning Beyond.

ONTOLOGICAL LEECH (x2)

Ontological Leech introduces blight tokens, which are a mechanical representation of how these invasive biomelds damage the ecosystem of the spirit world. Ontological Leech attaches itself to a spirit and slowly sucks the spirit dry. Since spirits don’t have harm thresholds, this mechanic offers an alternate means of clearing them.

The presence values of the spirits in this path set are intentionally varied so that the Starbloom requires 1 blight before it’s discarded, the Incarnation requires 2 blight, and the Hunter requires 3 blight.

These destructive biomelds can also discard the spirits played by a Spirit Speaker. I believe this is a healthy balancing effect; Spirit Speakers have plenty of advantages when navigating a spirit scar, so it’s only fair for them to have some disadvantages as well.

The OCCLUDER (x1)

The final card in this path set is the Occluder, a hideous biomeld capable of ravaging entire ecosystems. This card is the greatest threat in the spirit scar. It frequently deals huge amounts of ambush fatigue and wipes out fields of helpful Starblooms.

Here’s an excerpt from the “Enters Play” journal entry for the Occluder:

It takes you a moment to realize that the spirit world has gone silent. Gone is the musical flutter of leaves. The air hangs still and hot.

Your initial itching anxiety blossoms into hollow panic with no apparent source. Something is watching. Something is coming closer. You should hide. You need to hide.

Then the abomination drifts into view, hovering above you like an immense cyst in the sky. There’s no doubt that this is some sort of biomeld, but you can’t force yourself to look long enough to make out details. If your gaze lingers on the thing for too long, you feel your guts start to writhe in your abdomen as if alive.

The creature passes overhead, floating in a nonexistent breeze. As its shadow sweeps over you, flowers curl and wither. You hear the pained screeches of animals in the distance. A spirit that resembles a deer stumbles from the underbrush to fall twitching in the dirt.

Forcing yourself to breathe, you assess the situation. This monstrous biomeld is clearly causing untold disruption in the spirit realm. You’re ill-equipped to handle this problem, but no one in the Valley ever faces a threat alone. Perhaps with the help of your friends and colleagues, you can determine the proper course of action.

If the Rangers are struggling to escape Hunters at the Threshold, maybe the Occluder won’t feel quite so unwelcome. Unfortunately, there are consequences to allowing this invasive monstrosity to flourish unchecked…

ALIGNED (WEATHER)

One last twist: whenever the Rangers venture into the spirit scar, they put the Aligned weather into play in addition to the normal weather. As long as the Rangers can maintain balance in the spirit realm, all will be well. As soon as a spirit becomes sufficiently blighted, however, this card will flip.

DISCORDANT (WEATHER)

The other side of Aligned is Discordant, which threatens injury on every test the Rangers take. This makes up for the lack of injury in the rest of the spirit scar set. The Rangers can soothe the wounds of the spirit world and flip Discordant back into Aligned by clearing spirits with progress.

Stay tuned for more updates as I continue work on The Burning Beyond.