Okay, a couple of questions came up during our game tonight. I've read through the FAQ and I think I know at least one of the answers, but I'd like to double check with the community anyway:

1 - One-Fist's ability to re-roll a combat roll may NOT be used to re-roll an ally's combat roll, correct? I believe the FAQ said something about abilities can only be used on the character who possess them unless otherwise stated.

2- The Dwarven Fire Mug reads "Activate to make a ranged attack. If your hero succeeds, inflict 1[Heart]." Is this "ranged attack" treated in all respects as if the hero were attacking during the ranged phase - ie: if he fails this attack, will the monster he is fighting deal damage as printed on the challenge card? Or is it simply no effect if he fails? We assumed there was no penalty for failure and the term "ranged attack" simply meant it was an effect based off the hero's ranged combat value that could potentially deal 1 damage.

3- I forget what the third thing we ran into was, but if I remember I'll update the post.

Steve-O said:

Yep. FAQ says: Heroes’ and Allies’ special abilities can only be used for themselves unless the card says otherwise .

Steve-O said:

This question about Before Combat attacks is also covered by the FAQ:

Q: If you make and fail a “Before Combat” attack, do you take wounds from your enemy (as if you made and failed an attack during combat)?
A: No.

Your interpretation was correct.

The_Warlock said:

Sweet. I missed the second part in the FAQ.

Also, just to make sure, I was re-reading the Allies in combat section and noticed something I hadn't before. I don't have the book in front of me right now, but it said something like "only the hero or one ally can attack, or the hero can defend, in any combat phase." If I'm reading this right that means a hero with two allies never has to roll defend (unless he wants to, to spare an ally taking damage or something.) Is that correct?

Previously we had been working under the assumption that the hero needed to defend in any phases he wasn't attacking, and the ally would roll separate attacks. This also lead to one player having his hero and both allies all attack int he melee phase since that's what they were good at, and this is what queued me to checkt he rules again...

Edit: While I'm at it, when the hero defends against a challenge in a phase where the monster does 0 damage, there's not much point in actually rolling that, right? I mean, barring any special effects or gear that might make a difference, if the hero is defending and the monster deals no damage, we usually just skip that roll. We aren't forgetting something are we?

Steve-O said:

Allies can only attack, Heroes can attack and MUST defend when they don't attack and Allies don't attack as well. If you have two Allies, you can attack in all Phases, if you wish; otherwise your Hero must defend himself. This is done when your Allies have no chance to deal Damage and you don't want to use them as "meat shields"; in most occasions, especially in later game, you have your Allies attack just to protect your Hero.

You must choose your Allies wisely. You can't attack with an Ally in a Phase when you Hero is attacking (as you checked in the Rules, pg.7 "Allies in Combat) and the perfect companions are Allies that provide Special Abilities or balance Hero's Skills. Jirta the Fierce is an excellent melee Ally that can be useful even against Red Challenges, but if you're Mordrog or Sir Valadir she's not your best bet. Go for Cardinal Koth or Runemaster Baras, if you want the big ones. I usually take two lesser Allies and manage to win the game thanks to their pretty little skills.

Steve-O said:

It's ok, you're not forgetting anything. You can skip that roll since it usually has no effects, unless the Challenge Card says otherwise. However, there are some Items that allow you to deal damage if you succesfully defend, i.e. Sunplate from Island of Dread; sure you won't skip your roll in that Phase!