You are both right. The game mechanism, other weapons, wording etc. all against that idea - however if you read the text and focus only that - this combination seems and sounds like a proper one. However it shows how complicated this one again, requires thorough checking (of every) possible combinations. Thumbs up, +1 vote from me for that. Allright, we'll test it with 3 spaces - although in my case it's easy to be 2 space around him - as we already try to stick together due the "Glyr" bottleneck. Aha, ok, touché. But then I'd more reliant to have +1 Stamina for him.

I guess we just found the last bit of argument against Buldar having two 2 handed Melee weapon. After the interlude he bought a Guardian Axe next to his Bearded Axe. With his abilities (Keen Edge + Bearded Axe) - he could easily have up to 4 pierce +2 damage (thanks to Bearded Axe text) - then he could easily kill then he's got +2 defense against every attack? Sounds a bit broken. So my current suggestion regarding him is: only one 2-handed weapon should be allowed, and the agreed feat change - attacks allowed against only adjacent monsters. Perhaps +1 Stamina in case he has no 2 handed weapon in (neither of his) hand(s). After interlude all Act I shopping Glyr + Elven boots? Yeah, thank you. Now he can move up to 3(ability + Elven boots) for free, then 3 (FP)+2(Speed) with 2 actions 8 all in all (still not a speedster). My suggestion remains still: remove condition "at the start of your turn" from the feat text. And perhaps +1 Stamina, but with my selected combination (Crusader + Knight), he's pretty well fine with current 3 Stamina (Oath of Honor, Zealous Area, Righteous, Defense training). Landrec: We've tested Proposal F: "Once per turn, when a hero within 2 space performs an attack, add 1 Surge to the results." Still too strong. Perhaps Proposal G: "Once per turn, when a hero within 2 space performs an attack, and rolls no Surge, add 1 Surge to the results." We'll test it during our next quest. Bogran: We've tried to hit his Feat but we found it's not working quite well in case it works only with adjacent figure. I'd restore the original Rugal feat version. I've already started to think on next test round, and I'd like to test Aurim among others. What is the current version of it? Could we agree to use the picture for Aurim from Rugal's version? That was some awesome design.

Ability - that sounds odd as most of the Warrior abilities working with Melee weapons. Feat: yeah that could work. O&R has 2 Speed, 3 Stamina +4 gratis movement, Glyr has 2/3 and +2 only for himself as I suppose he can't add 2x2 for himself (based on the ability text), that's why I said he's a weaker version of O&R if he's left behind. Yeah he has +4 Health in exchange for that. Yeah that sounds better. Try the same 2 spaces +Surge but only once / heroes turn (he can give everyone exactly once in 2 spaces distance) including himself.

I'm playing Landed with the 3 Speed 4 Stamina and the "Each time a hero within 2 spaces of you performs an attack, add 1 surge to the results" version. 2 spaces is not that powerful, but it's fun (but too much) if someone can stay closeby. It helps during the first few rounds of a quest a lot, too much for the Overlords taste. "kbalazsa mentioned this version is solid" - yeah that's what I mean, he's strong. We've finished 2 more quests till then: Blod Will Tell - It was obvious how slow we are (Glyr/Buldar/Bogran/Landrec) - we had only 2 health missing from the Alter when Buldar was finally able to enter the Chapel with his Dire Flail in hand... and the miracle happened there. Buldar moved in with FP, then hit the heroic feat with Zombie, Flesh Moulders hordes all around + Lady Eliza Farrow herself. It was a massacre, killed 1 Flesh Moulder, 1 Zombie right away, damaged badly 3 other Flesh Moulders through Eliza (quest rule). So she was able to add only 1 more Health on the alter then tried to take a revenge on Buldar ... with little success. Bulder killed her on his next round and we won. It was a proper revenge for his 3/3 for sure, or a bit more than that... >> Question - can or must Eliza kill a Flesh Moulder with "Blood Bond" by sharing enough damage to kill a Flesh Moulder when she's hit? We played to damage them only till 1 remaining Health to keep them alive. Then shopping and finally Buldar got a proper weapon - a Bearded Axe. And now he is what he supposed to be, no more complaint. So we went for Caladen's Crossing. It wasn't easy but managed to save 3 red tokens against Reanimate and Crypt Dragons (they were waiting in the Cabin). It was astonishing how easy Buldar and Bogran killed both dragons in 2 rounds (the white one was killed by Bogran alone right after he stepped in - opening the door, step in, dragons appear, he didn't see them at the beginning of his turn so +2 Pierce and +1 Damage). Then Encounter 2. No way that SOTP automation can beat this team in this quest. We won it so easily, Splig was killed in 2 rounds right after he's appeared, altough they caught Bogran on the Battlefield, KO. The random monsters were Hellhounds (tried to run for the Exit but Bogran catched them and killed them almost alone on the 2A Stream), Beastman (tried to hit the Gatehouse, then died in 2 rounds), Flesh Moulders, Dark Priest (not much luck against the gatehouse either), and the last open monster group didn't get a chance. Maybe a bit better monster selection... or a bit lesser luck on the dice, but in this form it was a one way direction. At this point it's obvious that: - Bogran is very strong with a good enough ranged weapon and with some proper movement (and against an automated SOTP Overlord - with some extra care though) - as a Thief and with the Sneaky ability. We have never used his heroic feat though... - Buldar - he's heroic feat is a bit too strong, with a Reach weapon it could mean too many attacks with only 1 action. Maybe that's why it was limited to 3 only in the original version. Other than that it's ok-ish, but 3/3 is very weak especially in the first few quests of a campaign. Maybe he could be balanced if he has only 1 handed weapon(s) he has 4 Stamina but decreased to 3 if use a 2 handed one as 1 handed. Just an idea... - Glyr - hes ability is funny, and very helpful in the beginning of a quest, or in smaller maps but then he's left behind and he just try to catch the tempo, which he simply can't. At that phase of the quests he's becoming just a weaker version of Okaluk and Rakash. We always forgot to activate his heroic feat in the right time... to have the condition - "at the start of your turn" makes it complicated and it's not that strong feat to nerf it that way in my opinion. Suggestion - +1 Movement or +1 Stamina, remove condition "at the start of your turn" from the feat text. - Landrec - +1 surge to everyone sounds a bit strong, even if it's not that easy to have it consistently during a quest as the heroes moving around the map, leaving each other more than 2 spaces a lot of times. Maybe once / each heroes turn could be a reasonable nerf here - or some other versions mentioned before.

A few observations regarding SOTP cards: - Monster card 3B, Elemental - I suppose the "Chilling Tide" is dice value 2. - Blood will Tell E1 (9B side) - I guess the Flesh Moulders activation Commands missing there (it's there in the Rulebook page 31).

That doesn't change a thing in my opinion. Perhaps a bit more stamina, 4.

Yeah the Knight is so dominant it could save any weaker Hero or make them shine (even Glyr flies like a bird with his 2 speed). No doubt I'll keep testing Buldar till the end, but so far I don't enjoy it.

We had the shopping after Relegar's rest. No luck again for B(o)uldar. The best he could buy was a Dire Flail - YEAH a 2 handed weapon - OH NO, totally useless for his Class as it's not a Blade, neither an Axe. Then I checked through the whole Act I shop item pack - found only 4 weapons which could suit him (4 items out of 76). I can imagine quite easily that he must wait till end of Interlude 1 to browse through the whole Act I deck and select weapons which could finally suit him to have any benefit of his ability. And that means that the whole party should wait for this big chance and must spare gold for this. That means he could possibly play through 5 missions useless waiting for his chance. Even now, to start a quest the 3rd time without any benefit but having 3/3 is simply boring. Considering both cases co-op and Overlord mode - I would never ever choose him to play with and cannot imagine that I can convince any other player to do so. Especially as we have so many other good options. So he's Laughin but as of yet I can't find the reason why.

It was a typo. I was about to fix it but than I thought - maybe I wanted to write Boulder - hard like a rock... kind of. Yeah maybe he look alike (and has 14 HP), but he has finished with only 3HP left (after Staff of Light 2x). So than left as it is, as he's almost... maybe... but not yet...

What a finish in 2nd Encounter of Rellegar's finish. Only one damage left to be done for Merrick on the last pillar to finish the job and bury the team alive. Last turn, last chance to carry out the stolen treasure, carried by 'speedy' Glyr. He starts with his round 9 steps away from that, with 2 FP on his hero sheet. Odds against the team, but we have a slight chance so why not try it right? We're after everyone else's (including Merrick) turns only Bogran and Glyr left to do their job. Bogran starts, carrying the Staff of Light, hit it twice, Glyr feels fresh and replenished like never before (Stamina 3). And his turn starts, urge himself and Bogran to make 2 steps quickly toward the exit, Glyr follows, Bogran steps next to Merrick. Glyr then uses the Oath of Honor to jump next to Merrick, 4 steps done all in all, 5 left to be done, but only 2 Stamina left and his speed is still only 2. Never mind, he hits Merrick freely now (Oath of Honor), and he's lucky to have a surge to get one of his FP back (I left Landrec 3 steps away unfortunately, so his all-surge magic cannot work). Job done, 4 steps and we won. So far so good, I hope that I can buy some weapon now for Bouldar Buldar because he's the weak spot of this team clearly...

It not only looks great but it works great too. The most fun automated-Overlord mechanism and game experience I tried so far for Descent. Really a professional work from the guys here - they deserve all credit for that. It would be really nice to have it for all the other campaigns as well.

Yep, worked fine and it was fun to prepare the backstab and make it through despite the KO during the process. Splig had a 2 on his gray dice vanished by his Pierce 2 ability (forgot to mention). I'm in Encounter 2 since than and was able to trigger the Sneaky/Pierce combination twice again. So far so good, in narrow places it works just fine when he can hide behind his fellow hero foes. On open fields it's a bit harder to do so though- but it's ok, also good thematic-wise. Don't forget, that I'm doing it in SOTP auto-Overlord mode, it might be a bit different in real Overlord mode... but that's something I cannot test alone, let alone having a lockdown here...

Hold on, not that fast. I've just finished the 1st Encounter of Rellegar's Rest which was a different experience for Bogran. Actually I would call this sequel as "The fall and rise of Bogran". So we had a pretty good shopping and used the 1XP to buy Sneaky and a Staff of Greyhaven for Bogran, while Bouldar sold his Rusted Handaxe for a Blessed Shield and got Keen Edge. As he's literally never able to use Dual Strike from his poor 3 Stamina anyway... but hey, who needs Dual Strike if you have Landrec closeby? We did a pretty good job with the Goblin Archer group on the first tile. Then we used the narrow path (18A) to block Splig (who's came angry while farting Weakened Bouldar and Landrec) and Bogran were positioned behind the 2 to prepare a sneaky backstab (with a Staff? ... yeah anyway) on Splig. Plan set, all fine ... except the reinforced boss Goblin hit Bogran from behind and then 2 Harpy fly through the barrier to finish the job and KO'd Bogran right away. Not even me as Overlod could do a better job - kill the fastest heroe in one turn while having the key (Red Objective token) in the other side of the pool (12A)? But then he was revived by Landrec, healed up pretty well with Stream of Life (4 goblins gaved their souls for the good cause) then he just go through with 4 steps, and did a tremedous 7 damage on Splig with fairly good roll (3 + 3 from distance + 1 from Sneaky, no chance to decrease with Pierce 2). And then (with a little push by Glyr) he was on the run for the key and and to the door after that. While he was chasing the key in the pool the guys found a Stamina potion which allowed to reach the door just in time with a big final moment rush. Luck was on our side during search too as Glyr was able to disarm the growing spider trap (smashed that little bastard in time with a test on his 4 Might) then found a Rune Plate - which helps Landrec to survive for sure. Glyr and Landrec are still awesome, Bouldar still waiting to show his real potential - and urged to run faster by Glyr all the time...

It's a duplication but I've answered in the other one.

Yes, as it's an Obstacle, which blocks line of sight and figures cannot move into that space.

"Bogran: perhaps his ability will need to increase to Pierce 3. I haven't played with this version yet, but we'll see. I really love this design and I love positional abilities like this, if the payoff is there." - I think that's the wrong direction, not only as Pierce 3 seems harsh but the problem is with the triggering conditions rather. A bit easier movement perhaps would be more helpful - so to position him more on the Scout'ish productline.

So I've started a game alone with SOTP and Heirs of Blood campaign. I make every decision for the game as fairly competing Overlord would do so. It's not an easy game for the heroes. No re-rolls (after a badly timed X), no rollback of decisions. Brother Glyr as Crusader/Knight Laughin Buldar as Skirmisher Bogran the Shadow as Thief Landrec the Wise as Lorekeeper/Soul Reaper Only 1 quest so far but has some sights already: Bogran - the picture is a bit dark altough it's superb design. At least in my print I've lost some details. The pierce 2 seems tempting but it's a bit hard to trigger it with him - I've prepared to hit a Barghest with a superb attack of Landrec buff, 2 pierce and +1 from the Throwing Knifes but a monster movement ruined the plan - so easily. And then I realized that I don't like (too) conditional hero abilities - when I have to play for an ability instead of having the ability to help the hero. I was able to bring out that 2 pierce only once during the quest... OK it was a solid attack as a result with some luck on the dice as well. With Descent's LoS rules he's require too much planning and preparation for my taste. Perhaps if he'd has 5 stam or 5 speed - maybe that would help a bit. Laughin Buldar - nothing special but cannot decide on him based on 1st quest. The 3/3 movement/stamina is a punishment at this time. Landrec - Heroes moving closely together as a close unit if you have him that's solid. +1 surge means you can get 1 stamina from every attack, that seems too strong at first sight but he's in a pretty good balance in pro's and con's in my opinion. I like it. Brother Glyr - Approved, I like it. With the Knight choice I wanted to balance his poor movement but with this ability this character surged into a new life, he's funny to play with as helps the team positioning a lot and with his con's it's pretty well balanced IMHO.

It's a confirm that I did it wrong? 😅

I just realized that I might used the Trap counter wrong. "Each time the heroes win a quest, the trap value is decreased by 1; each time the overlord wins a quest the trap value is increased by 1." I did in the reverse order- thinking if the heroes won that supposed to help their way next time, kind of a reward of job well done. But it's in the reverse order, so it's kind of a balance mechanism?

I agree with you - Magic should be more Magical But it's the same in many other Boardgames as well, that is magic is just another kind of attack type, and there isn't the feeling of 'Magic' behind. I would except more 'fireballs', scintillating effects, 'wow' factor with magic. Things like only a Wizard can do.

I don't mind tweaking the missing 12 characters abilities but to change their archetype is another topic in my opinion. We're not even able to agree upon the tweaks and this change complicates the thread. About the picture I like the new Kirga picture as it is, with the yellow cap, but I don't know why , maybe because yellow cap sends the message to the Overlord: "Don't touch me, I'm dangerous".

Great idea, I can't wait to print them out - the figures I bought for these heroes would finally have a meaning. With current abilities no one ever wanted to pick them during our plays (just to provide some extra motivation ). A little oppinion - the Bouldar image a little cartonish indeed, I liked the first version from here better. Still such a great community we have here, cheers lads!

I like these ideas so much, that I want to try them right away. One question regarding this Mad Carthos - how about him as Elementalist - wouldn't be a bit OP as he could literally use all his skills without ever spending a single FP?

I've just received my copy of the game and I can see stack definitions in the back of each Quest cards. Is it a difference? Should I stack the exploration cards then? Picture has been removed... Ok it's clarified now by Garrett (Budgernaut) on BGG. " That's not what it means by order. If you look at the enemy deck. There are two to three pictures of the enemy card back. Next to each picture is a list of enemies. The list of enemies next to one stack gets shuffled together, and the enemies next to the second image get shuffled together. Then you place the first stack on top of the second without shuffling. We agree on this, right? Now look at locations. For each location, there is usually one image of a card back with the location name next to that image. If there are multiple locations next to an image, you shuffle those together, but again, each image represents a separate stack. Now look at the exploration deck. There is only one image and a list of three tupes of exploration cards (e.g. base, dungeon darkness). Because this list is next to one image, all three are shuffled together. If the intent was to have separate stacks of exploration cards, the quest would show multiple exploration card backs. An astute observer will notice that each quest has only a single exploration card back image, meaning that you shuffle all three exploration sets in each of the quests. Why, then, do they have the rule about stacks? Future proofing. The designers created the game with expansions in mind. It looks as though they thought stacked exploration decks would add too much complexity to the base game, but hoped to add that later. How would such an exploration deck work? Here are two of the many possibilities. 1) In preparing the exploration deck, place a unique exploration card between the two stacks. When you are at a certain location, it may say that you can't travel unless that exploration catd has been resolved. This would allow you to say, start in a village setting with Village exploration cards, but not be able to see the dungeon cards until you've explored the village and found the secret passage to the dungeon. 2) You could have a quest say, after you travel from location X, reveal exploration cards until you reveal a dungeon card. Resolve that card. This would be another way to have the feel of the game chsnge as you travel by making the exploration cards more closely match the locations. You can see how both of these would add some complexity, which is why I believe they chose to leave a single stack of ecploration cards for the exploration deck in the base game. "