Hi everybody,

I have played Runebound 5 times now and everytime a player gets possesion of the card "Ghost Armour", this player won the game shortly after. The worst about the red challenges is that they deal alot of damage and the Ghost Armour can make you immune to damage easily for 5 rounds of combat which should normally be enough to slay the dragon. I think this is the ultimate dragon slayer item.

Am I getting something wrong? What do you think about the Ghost Armour.

Best regards
D

Dragon777 said:

The first time one of us managed to win the Base Game was because of Ghost Armour. It is really powerful and perhaps it should cost around 20 Gold. It's better than the Rune Plate, by all means, and the Charmer Flute, a 9 Gold Item, it's less effective and costs don't compare. When you have a good Spirit bonus you'll be able to use Ghost Armour and get a significant edge against each Challenge.

Just hope the player with Ghost Armour draws Dragonlord Eregax and fails the Before Combat Check, or use the Doom Track Variant. With DT it's less likely that players have enough time to get Ghost Armour or become skilled enough to use it without failure. Moreover, many Red Challenge Before Combat checks give you Exhaustion, which significantly reduces the effectiveness of Ghost Armour, and some of their abilities work also if they don't inflict damage, if I remember correctly (i.e. Dragonlord Fromax's Ally killing ability).

The_Warlock said:

You are right about the before combat effects of the red challenges, but they are the only threat left to any hero with the Ghost Armour. And the Dragonlord Bigboss itself has no before combat and can be slain easily.

The problem about the Doom Track variant is, that most of the time when the endgame starts, none of the heroes is already powerful enough to slay any red challenges, anyway.

Has anybody put a house rule in play to tame down the Ghost Armour? Or do you think I should leave it as it is?

Best regards

D

Dragon777 said:

You should manage to be able and this requires a different attitude and a strict tactic. There are a couple of posts in this forum where some players gave me good advices to beat the Doom Track and get enough powerful for the Endgame. It can be done and I've managed to win with almost every Hero, with the only exception of Sir Valadir and Astarra.

A house rule suggestion? Cap the Exhaustion you can spend for Ghost Armour (max 3). Or better, test the use of Ghost Armour against the Challenge Spirit Value instead of the fixed 15 (if I recall correctly). If it still seems too easy, have the Hero test it again at the start of every Combat Round, in which the Ghost Armour is active. If a roll is failed, concentration is lost and the Hero is vulnerable once again.

Ghost Armor has always been a powerful item in Descent, so I'm not surprized to it a powerful item in Runebound as well. If it botehrs you that much, I would suggest simply removing the card from the game. It's easier than finnicking with house rules that you then have to constantly remind people about, and argue with new players about.

Yes, I have already thought about removing it.

But why do I seem to be the only one who thinks Ghost Armour is too powerful?

Dragon777 said:

I may or may not agree with you on that count. I haven't actually played Runebound yet. In Descent GA is cool, but not broken, we'll have to see about RB's version.

I have also house ruled this item...

revised Ghost Armor : If you commit X exhaust tokens and succeed in the Spirit 15 test, then for X combat rounds you create a ghostly shell around yourself (the hero), reducing your challenge’s/opponent hero’s attack damage by 1 for every 2 exhaust tokens remaining on the card. Your opponent’s allies are not affected by this rune. Keep count of rounds elapsed by placing all committed exhaust tokens on the card then transferring one at a time to your hero at the end of each round.

I prefer The_Warlock's suggestions noted above however.