Board Game Geek (BGG) forums have always had a great Descent community. That's where I'll be going to primarily now for my Descent fix so hopefully I'll see some of you around over there.
Normally, I'd be sad, but honestly I don't really care now. Reddit is just better in almost every case. Faster replies, larger community, etc.
One thing that is a bummer though is that these forums are a huge collection for dev rules clarification. It will be a shame to see all those dev Descent rules posts lost.
Thank you so much! You definitely should. Drakon is a nice little party game and miniatures fit's into Descent perfectly - theirs quality is between better 1st sculp and 2nd base game minis.
I am trying to use already used phrases as much as possible and also keep it simple, as I am not an native speaker it's bit difficult, but I hope that folks here will help me fine-tune things.
If you find any typo or you have any idea how to improve things, please let me know. I am here to listen 🙂
This hero (4/5) is part of the custom expansion Maze of the Drakon
this hero is in play-testing phase, you can expect play-test results later
FAQ: Can I use Hero Ability multiple times in one turn?
Yes.
Can I use Hero Ability multiple time in one attack - suffer X Heart to add X Shields?
No, you can use it only once in the attack - suffer 1 Heart to add 1 Shield. Limit once per attack.
Can I use Hero Ability multiple time on multiple targets when they are affected by the AOE attack like Fire Breath or Blast?
Yes.
Can I use Hero Ability on myself?
No, you can use it only on other heroes.
What If familiar from the Heroic Feat cannot expand in the selected space?
Expand familiar to the closest possible empty space.
Can I place familiar from the Heroic Feat in the space containing terrain?
Yes, terrain space still persists.
How long does the familiar from the Heroic Feat stay on the map?
Until the end of the encounter or until it run out of health.
Can I use abilities on familiar from the Heroic Feat?
No, both Spring of Life and Roots of Protection are NOT treated as the figures.
Does familiars block movement or line of sight?
No, they don't.
Can I attack Spring of Life?
No.
Can I choose not to roll the die when I am standing in the space containing Spring of Life?
No, you must always roll the die when you end your turn in a space containing Spring of Life.
When I only recover 1 Heart from 2 Heart roll, because I am at the maximum health now, does Spring of Life suffer 1 or 2 Hearts?
Spring of Life always suffers rolled amount and not recovered amount. In this case it would suffer 2 Hearts.
Can I attack Roots of Protection?
Yes, it works exactly same as Geomancer familiar Summoned Stone. Roots of Protection may be targeted and affected by any attack (even from heroes).
Can monsters move Roots of Protection with the attack ability, e.g. Ynfernael Hulk with Knockback?
Roots of Protection are Unmovable and therefore may ignore any game effect that would force it to move.
Is attacked space changed when Roots of Protection are declared as the target of an attack instead of the original target?
No, this works exactly same as Knight skill Defend. Range and line of sight are still measured to the targeted space.
What happens if Shadow Dragon attacks hero standing in Roots of Protection and uses Fire Breath to affect 3 which are also standing in Roots of Protection?
Roots of Protection becomes target of an attack 4 times.
Does Spring of Life heals and Roots of Protection protects enemy figures when they are in their space?
Yes.
About:
I am integrating heroes from FFG Drakon 4th, which includes two heroes from the Descent box & rules art - Knight and Ranger and also great proxy for Tyrus. I wrap them under custom expansion "Maze of the Drakon". Goal here is to make them interesting as much as possible, bringing something new to the game - I would rather have them weak with something new than overpowered.
Aurora, Ravvis the Ranger and Ocvist the Dragonslayer are done so let's continue with the Druid, healer archetype. Heroes have very limited design space and therefore I had to decide which way to go, since druid have huge variation of integration possibilities. I decided to go with the "nature connection" instead of classic healing or transformation druid. I highly recommend to take a look at Rugal's custom Druid class which integrate transformation into Werewolf, you can easily play that class with this hero!
It would be much appreciated, if you leave any feedback, suggestion, find typo, fix bad wording, anything.
Artwork:
We have art from the Drakon and for the first and only time I decided to use it. I think that this is only "alright" hero art from this game and at least we have obvious connection to an original game by using it.
Sadly I wasn't able to find HQ artwork, so I used combination of artwork from this news post and scan of the Druid card from the Drakon. However artwork is small and cropped and the card is also small with texture on it.
I spent some time improving the quality in the photoshop, removing the texture, painted missing connection, etc. and even though it is not ideal, final result turned out well.
To create Spring of Life and Roots of Protection tiles, I found artist of the Descent tiles - Henning Ludvigsen and I used his Imperial Assault tiles. I mixed them together and painted missing parts.
Name:
FFG didn't name her, so I came up with name connecting with the nature:
Gaia
Name Gaia [Gaea] is from the Greek mythology, personification of the Earth. That suits Druid nicely and fit with the other short names like Zyla, Tahlia, Sahla.
Fluff text:
“It is in nature where we truly connect with the mother and ourself.”
Nature connection quote with subtle hint about her origin.
Biography:
We have small little flavour text on the Drakon page which doesn't really say anything: They had been trapped in the labyrinth for mere hours, but their partnership had broken in seconds. The druid moved more carefully now, hand pressed firmly against her side to help the blood clot. She entered a new chamber, and she peered left and right for any sign of Drakon or her former companions. Either would attack on sight, given her weakened state. In the center of this room, a wooden horn, carved with runes and archaic sigils, rested on a small altar. Before she set the horn to her lips, not a breath of air stirred the dust underfoot. But then she sounded the horn, and with its booming voice she called the hurricane…
I would like to explain her origin (which can be in Latari elves) and give her a real story.
Yet to be written.
Stats:
In order to make her interesting, it's a first hero with two brown dice! Also there is not a single monster with two browns. You can check the comparison with the 1 gray defense die here. Statistically speaking it's almost the same, higher chance of throwing blanks (25% instead of 16,67%), but additional little chance of throwing 4 shields (2,78%)! Making her ability even more interesting. Since I wanted to have solid replacement for 4 10 4 Avric Albright, I decided to give her premium 5 stamina, with that her Health had to be 8 or premium 10. Since she already have unique defense, I decided to also break the common rules and give her 9 Health, something you could already see in the Charmy's balance patch.
4 Speed, 9 Health, 5 Stamina, 2 Browns defense.
There are only 3 healers with 5 stamina, Ulma Grimstone with 4 8 5, Augur Grisom with 3 12 5 and Aurim (CK) with 5 8 5 .
Attributes:
It's common for healers to have big Willpower and she shouldn't be an exception. Since she is the one connected with the nature, I decided to go with the 5 Willpower.
2 Might, 5 Willpower, 2 Knowledge, 2 Awareness.
Unique attributes, Rendiel have 2 5 3 1 and Serena have 1 5 3 2.
Hero Ability:
Initial idea used to be, that she created connection with the hero - feeling what he feels, making some sort of bond. I did wanted to make ability that helps other heroes with defense, but at the same time damages her.
Each time another hero within 3 spaces of you is attacked, after dice are rolled, you may once suffer 1 Heart to add 1 Shield to the results [limit once per attack].
This is simple, yet powerful skill. Sometimes 1 shield is all you need to survive the massive hit or prevent receiving condition. But at the same time, it's at the cost of damage for her, she takes hit for you.
Similar abilities: Jonas the Kind: Each hero within 3 spaces of you that has not performed an attack this round adds 1 Shield to each of his defense rolls. Necromancer - Dark Pact: Your Reanimate adds 1 additional brown die to its defense pool. Each time you suffer Hearts, you may choose to have your Reanimate suffer all of the Hearts instead. Each time your Reanimate suffers Hearts, you may choose to suffer all of the Hearts instead.
In consideration was: Each round until you suffer 1 or more Heart, if you or an adjacent hero are targeted by an attack, you may suffer 1 Fatigue to add other hero's defense pool to the attacked one. Both heroes suffer Heart from the attack result.
Too complicated mechanism and too similar to Tomble Burrowell ability and Spiritspeaker skill Stoneskin.
Each time a hero successfully defend attack, heal 1 damage, each time he receive hit, suffer 1 damage. Elder Mok wannabe, not really interesting or fun.
Heroic Feat:
Based on the connection with nature, she modify the map with the nature elements.
Action: Place either Spring of Life or Roots of Protection in a space within 3 spaces of you.
Flexible heroic that focus on either healing or defending, but can backfire!
Wording based on: Vyrah the Falconer: You have the Skye familiar. At the start of your turn, if Skye is not on the map, place him in your space. Geomancer - Terracall: Action: Exhaust this card to place a Summoned Stone in an empty space within 3 spaces of you. While this card is exhausted, 1 of your Summoned Stones may perform an attack during its activation (using 1 of your equipped Magic weapons).
In consideration was: Action: You and adjacent hero each perform an attack at once that targets a same monster. 2 separated attacks are made but only 1 defense roll.
Not much fitting to an healer and not interesting enough.
Spring of Life:
Healing choice.
0 12 - Any figure that ends its turn in a space containing Spring of Life immediately rolls 1 red power die and recovers Heart equal to the Heart rolled and Fatigue equal to the Surge rolled. Then Spring of Life suffers Heart equal to the Heart and Surge rolled.
Heal 12 (or more) Heart and some Fatigue. It's different approach of Avric Albright heroic, which might backfire if you let enemies heal from the pool!
Wording based on: Lava: ...Any figure that ends its turn in a lava space is immediately defeated... Crusader - Divine Light: Exhaust this card when a hero without a hero token on this card would be defeated. Roll 2 red power dice. That hero recovers Heart equal to the Heart rolled, Fatigue equal to the Surge rolled, and discards all Conditions. Then place that hero's token on this card.
Roots of Protection:
Defensive choice.
0 8 -
Roots of Protection may be targeted and affected by any attack and are Unmovable. When any figure in a space containing Roots of Protection is attacked by a Melee attack, they are declared as the target of the attack instead.
Successfully protecting group from Melee attacks, wasting 8 (and more) damage that could be dealt to your heroes. It's different approach of Roganna the Shade heroic, which can also protect enemy figures, if you let them!
Wording based on: Geomancer - Summoned Stone: This familiar is treated as an obstacle, but may be targeted and affected by any attack (even from heroes). You cannot have more than 1 Summoned Stone on the map at a time, unless an ability allows it. Each of your attacks targeting a monster adjacent to a Summoned Stone gains 1 Surge. Knight - Defend: When a hero adjacent to you is targeted by an attack, use this card to instead declare yourself as the target of the attack. Range and line of sight are still measured to the targeted hero's space.
Thank you for your time reading this ❤️. https://instagram.com/awesometree_in_the_dark/
Not sure if you're trolling or not. I would absolutely prefer to use official FFG material like I said. The Buldar art I'm currently using was commissioned by FFG and done by Jordan Kerbow (who's done a lot of other Descent artwork) I believe specifically for Buldar -- not sure how you can get more official than that. Aurim is the official artwork from the artist that was used for Aurim CK, except there must have been two different versions because as you said it's missing the beard. If you can find high quality artwork of Aurim with the beard I would be happy to replace it.
The text in bold just states which spaces should be used in general. It does not give the sequence of the placement.
Quote:
3. Each additional monster is placed in spaces at the edges of the map tile oriented as shown in the quest description. Place additional monsters closest to the leftmost space of the top row, rightmost space of the top row, rightmost space of the bottom row, and leftmost space of the bottom row.
The last sentence gives the sequence of placements:
Quote:
Start with the space the first monster was placed in and continue placing monsters clockwise until all monsters are placed.
This is in agreement with the figure on the page of the manual.
Not to confuse you, but there are some cases where fatigue is not being paid as a cost, but suffered as a consequence (there is a difference in the wording where suffering the fatigue is a side effect, not what you are doing to enable something else) where a hero can make a decision that causes him to take damage.
For example, you may move out of a space adjacent to a master spider- even though you will suffer a fatigue- regardless of whether or not you have already suffered fatigue up to your stamina.
Right, as other have said already, it basically boils down to whether or not you're losing fatigue voluntarily. If you choose to suffer fatigue in order to do something, you can't choose to do that and suffer wounds instead because you're out of fatigue. Spending fatigue to gain MP is always voluntary, for example.
If you choose to take an action that does not cost fatigue, and you involuntarily suffer fatigue loss as a result (such as the spider ability Zaltyre mentions) then you can still do it and you suffer wounds instead.
I'm using this for Eliam:
https://www.fantasywelt.de/Elf-Male-Ranger-D-D-Nolzurs-Marvelous-Unpainted-Minis_1
And this one for Bogran the Shadow:
https://www.fantasywelt.de/Half-Orc-Assassin_1
And this one was in contention too:
https://www.fantasywelt.de/The-Red-Raven-REA60203_1
I'm using this for Eliam:
https://www.fantasywelt.de/Elf-Male-Ranger-D-D-Nolzurs-Marvelous-Unpainted-Minis_1
And this one for Bogran the Shadow:
https://www.fantasywelt.de/Half-Orc-Assassin_1
And this one was in contention too:
https://www.fantasywelt.de/The-Red-Raven-REA60203_1
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