NPC: Master of Obstacles (v1.

0) Unofficial extension for Argent: the Consortium

by R. Eric Reuss Argent designed by Trey Chambers, published by Lvl 99 Games
This is an NPC: a dummy player you can play against solo, or add to a game to make it larger. You will need a d6 and a d12.
Special Rules:
• This NPC uses "blocker" mages. Blockers don't claim the rewards for their Errands; they just block other players from going there, and grant the
NPC end-of-round bonuses (gifts from sycophants) based on how many of them are in play. Blockers are affected by spells as if they were
Apprentices. To represent them, you can use Apprentices, stones, or empty bases.
• This NPC does not collect Gold, Mana, Intelligence, or Wisdom. (But they can still win these voters - see "Endgame" at bottom of page.)
• This NPC collects Supporters, Spells, and Vault cards, but never uses the abilities printed on them.
• This NPC always takes Influence as consolation for going to the Infirmary.
• This NPC gains an edge from Marks - like they had more of the thing that voter cares about. (See "Endgame" at bottom of page..)
SETUP:
• This NPC starts with: 5 Influence, 1 Mark, the Starting Player key, and 5 Blocker mages (or 7, if playing a 7-mage 2-player game).
• Do not use the Archmage's Staff - this NPC handles it poorly.
Reference: When you need to randomly select a....
• Voter: Use a d12 roll. #1-6 are left-to-right across the top row, #7-12 left-to-right across the bottom.
• Room: Use a d12 roll. The upper-left room is #1, to its right is #2, etc. Skip rooms you can't legally place into. Wrap around if necessary.
• Slot in a room: Take the best (usually first) non-Shadow slot... except: this candidate never blocks more Merit slots than the current Round#.
• Target mage: Use a d12 roll. Count opponents' mages from the start of campus (top-to-bottom in each room), skipping mages that are invalid
targets (due to mage powers, defensive spells, being in a Shadow slot, etc) or in the Infirmary. Wrap around to the start of campus as necessary.
• Bell Tower card: Choose randomly. If its rewards aren't meaningful/useful to this NPC, they instead gain 1 Influence.
TURNS:
• On the NPC's first and second turns of the round: As a Fast Action, it places a Blocker in a random room.
• Every turn: Roll d6 and d12. Look up the d6 result below to determine its normal Action. (Which will then use the d12.)

1-3: Block: Place a Blocker in a random room. (If there are no Blockers left in its Office, instead take a Bell Tower card.)
4: Mark: Put a Mark on a random voter. (Unlike for human players, this can result in >1 Mark on a given voter.)
5: Scheme:
1-2: Take a Bell Tower card.
3-7: Gain a Secret Vault card.
8-12: Gain a Secret Supporter.
6: Attack!
1-3: Wound After determining attack type, roll d12 to select which mage to attack.
4-6: Wound and replace with Blocker
7-8: Banish If the attack-type roll is odd, the attack is considered a Spell, and Divinity A
9: Banish and replace with Blocker mages aren't valid targets.
10: Move (to next free lowest slot, starting w/next room)
11-12: Move (as above) and replace with Blocker If there are no valid targets, treat this roll as a 1 (Place a Blocker) instead.

END OF EACH ROUND:

• This NPC gains +2 Influence;
• Depending how many Blockers this NPC has on the board (not counting Infirmary!), they gain a number of face-up cards:
5 Blockers: The top card of the Spell, Supporter, and Vault decks.
3-4 Blockers: Two of the three. (Roll for which is omitted.)
1-2 Blockers: One of the three. (Roll for which.)
0 Blockers: Nothing.
ENDGAME:
Voter NPC base score Bonus per Mark (applies to that voter only!)t
Influence Actual +3
Supporters Actual +1
Consumables Actual +1
Collection Actual +1 The bonuses for Marks only apply to the voter they're
(Department) Actual* +1 on - think of them as bribes or inside connections. So,
Gold 15 +4 eg, a +1 bonus for the Divinity voter won't affect the
Intelligence 5 +1 Supporters or Research voters, and a bonus on the
Mana 8 +2 Influence voter doesn't change how much actual
Marks Actual +1 (max 10) Influence the NPC has for tiebreaks.
Research 2 x #Spells +1
Treasures Actual +1
Wisdom: 5 +1
Variety: Actual +1 (max 10)

* = Assume each spell has 2 levels of Research.

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Fiddly Details:
• If something (eg: Deathly Paling) cares about this NPC's Gold/Mana/Int/Wis, treat it as equal to the Round#.
• If you steal Gold/Mana/Int/Wis from this NPC, take it from the supply instead.
• You cannot affect this NPC's roster of mages (via Possession, other mage-swapping, etc).
• Repeating Hex/Telethany: Assume that only the NPC's most recently acquired spell is Level 1.
• If anything cares about the cost of a spell: Assume the NPC's Attack spells cost 1, or 2 if they also add a Blocker.
• White Ash (wild supporter): Counts as +1 in the NPC's 2nd-best department. On a tie, it counts for all tied departments!
Advanced Rules that keep certain specific things from being too easy:
1. In rooms where you draft from a of limited pool of cards (Council Chamber, Adventuring B), Blockers do have an effect during Errand
resolution: they cause one draft choice to be discarded at random.
2. If playing with Council Chamber B: When your roll for a random room is higher than the # of rooms, instead of wrapping around to the start
of the campus, choose Council Chamber B (assuming it has space). When your roll for a random mage to target is above the # of opposing
mages on the board, wrap around to Council Chamber B (assuming it has any valid targets) and keep wrapping back there.
3. If playing with Infirmary B: Blockers sent to the Infirmary occupy a placement slot if available (top slot first) - but still gain Influence rather
than gold/mana, despite what the slot says.
Scaling Difficulty:
• To lower difficulty, drop one or both of this NPC's Fast Actions.
• To boost difficulty, do any or all of:
A. Give the NPC 1 or more free Marks at the start of the game;
B. Give the NPC +3 Influence per turn instead of +2;
C. Start the NPC with 1 additional Blocker, and give it 1 additional "Place a Blocker" Fast Action (on their 3rd turn of the round)
• To make the NPC more aggressive but slower, add +1 to its d6 Action-selection rolls. (Treating rolls above 6 as 6.)
If you don't have dice handy...
...you can use a deck of cards. Take out the Kings.
For "roll d12", draw a card, look at the rank.
For "roll d6":
Black card: 1-3
A-8 of Hearts: 4
A-8 of Diamonds: 5
Red 9-Q: 6

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