Heart of the Wilds & Tinashi "Teleport"

By OLgameshow, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Okay, so here's the situation. Our Tinashi is talking about being able to use the teleport through the "final bush" (that specifically has health per hero, and must be defeated in a single round) to pick up the objective and win the map.

As OL, I'm calling B.S. on this ability - only on the recourse of totally breaking the objective of the map.

Is there a ruling somewhere that prevents Tinashi from teleporting through a barrier as such?

Okay, so here's the situation. Our Tinashi is talking about being able to use the teleport through the "final bush" (that specifically has health per hero, and must be defeated in a single round) to pick up the objective and win the map.

As OL, I'm calling B.S. on this ability - only on the recourse of totally breaking the objective of the map.

Is there a ruling somewhere that prevents Tinashi from teleporting through a barrier as such?

I don't have my quest guide with me. Does the quest guide say anything specific about not being able to count spaces through the bush, or spaces on the other side not being adjacent? How about the bush being treated like a door? If so, you have an argument RAW. If not, this may need to go into the errata. Since you can count spaces through overgrowth, you can usually teleport past it (just like a portcullis.) Counting spaces (as is required for removing and placing your figure X spaces away) doesn't require line of sight.

If you can count spaces through it, this isn't just an issue for Tinashi. Tomble or a geomancer who summoned a stone on the other side would also be able to get past it, in that case.

Edited by Zaltyre

The quest says in the Special Rules:

The overgrowh adjacent to the white objective token be moved through or removed from the map following the normal rules. Heroes must destroy the overgrowth in order to get to the Heart of the Wild.

Now, the table is arguing that the teleport is "not a move" due to the fact that the teleport on the card says:

Use during your turn to choose any empty space within 3 spaces of your figure. Remove your figure from the map and place it in the chosen space.

Being that the card says "remove your figure" - they are trying to say it's "not a move"..

IIRC, the quest rule specifically states that the overgrowth must be destroyed to get to the heart of the wild, which means even if he teleported past it, they'd still have to destroy it.

Well, the full passage says:

The overgrowth adjacent to the white objective token cannot be moved through or removed from the map following normal rules. Heroes must destroy the overgrowth in order to get to the Heart of the Wilds.

Being that the teleport (can?) go past the bush, they can get to the Heart without destroying the bush. Which doesn't break the wording of the quest text.

As an aside to the teleport, can the teleport go through BLACK walls or GAPS (so if there was a gap between the two tile pieces)?

Edited by OLgameshow

IIRC, the quest rule specifically states that the overgrowth must be destroyed to get to the heart of the wild, which means even if he teleported past it, they'd still have to destroy it.

This. That sentence seems to cover it- Tinashi is just free to destroy the bush from the opposite side.

The quest guide supercedes Tinashi's hero sheet. If the quest guide says she can't get to the heart without destroying the bush, I only see 1 of 2 options:

1) She can't teleport there.

2) She can, but can't pick up the heart until the bush is destroyed, regardless.

Edited by Zaltyre

Tinashi's teleport would be qualified to me as a "normal rule" since it's right on a hero card. The quest text would override it, thus they "must destroy the overgrowth in order to get to the Heart of the Wilds."

I'll take a look at the quest as well when I get home. Tomble was out in the base set, I doubt they would have missed it then even though Tinashi wasn't out yet.

I am not making a ruling on this specific issue, but I will say the following to those that say quest text over rules hero card abilities:

FFG has always responded (and did so to me on several times when I sent them questions), that the priority of things is as follows:

Card Text > Skills/Abilities > Quest Rules > Expansion Rules > Base Game Rules

I am not making a ruling on this specific issue, but I will say the following to those that say quest text over rules hero card abilities:

FFG has always responded (and did so to me on several times when I sent them questions), that the priority of things is as follows:

Card Text > Skills/Abilities > Quest Rules > Expansion Rules > Base Game Rules

You've got me there, cards and abilities trump the quest guide in terms of the golden rules. I'm now not sure. If it really breaks the quest, FFG may need to address this. If it just makes it tough for the OL, that might just be... tough. This quest had so far had a reputation for being very difficult for the heroes- perhaps a correctly chosen scout is the key?

Edited by Zaltyre

As far as I can tell, there's no trouble here. The rules about normal movement mean that the two spaces are not adjacent, so no teleport would be allowed, just as if it was a wall. In addition, even if you did accept an argument that teleporting is allowed, the next sentence states that the brush must be destroyed to get the heart of the wild, so even if you did teleport, you'd need to destroy the brush to take it.

If you don't like that flavor, you can just say they'd need to destroy it in order to get the heart out of where it is anyway.

The trouble is that there's a space next to the Heart - which is where the argument comes into play that the scout could effectively teleport beside it and win the map.

I told them to consider that the brush is "covering" / "surrounding" the Heart of the Wild protecting it.

Edited by OLgameshow

As far as I can tell, there's no trouble here. The rules about normal movement mean that the two spaces are not adjacent, so no teleport would be allowed, just as if it was a wall. In addition, even if you did accept an argument that teleporting is allowed, the next sentence states that the brush must be destroyed to get the heart of the wild, so even if you did teleport, you'd need to destroy the brush to take it.

If you don't like that flavor, you can just say they'd need to destroy it in order to get the heart out of where it is anyway.

This is exactly how I would rule it.

The quest says in the Special Rules:

The overgrowh adjacent to the white objective token [cannot] be moved through or removed from the map following the normal rules. Heroes must destroy the overgrowth in order to get to the Heart of the Wild.

Now, the table is arguing that the teleport is "not a move"

Teleporting is definitely not a Move Action, however, there are other cases in the game where the term "moved" or "to move" is used outside of a Move Action. This is where the language surrounding movement in general gets really sticky. When something says "during a move action" or "with a move action" that means an actual Move Action must be involved. However, from what I can tell, the term "movement" without the word "action" associated means something different.

I would be inclined to say that when this quest rule says "[cannot] be moved through" it refers to any kind of general "movement" - which would be anything that involves changing the space you occupy. If you need RAW support, look up the ruling about Syndrael's ability not working in conjunction with Oath of Honor because "if you have not moved during this turn" actually means "didn't change spaces in any way."

I found my quest guide. This is a non-issue. Tinashi can teleport through the bush, because it doesn't matter. The next sentence in the quest guide is (emphasis mine:)

"As an action, after the overgrowth has been removed and while adjacent to the white objective token, a hero may pick it up."

So, even if a hero can get to the token without destroying the bush (and I would say a teleporter can since skills/abilities override quest rules by the golden rules, thank you any2cards,) the token cannot be picked up before the bush is destroyed. That's my final answer.

Edited by Zaltyre

I found my quest guide. This is a non-issue. Tinashi can teleport through the bush, because it doesn't matter. The next sentence in the quest guide is (emphasis mine:)

"As an action, after the overgrowth has been removed and while adjacent to the white objective token, a hero may pick it up."

So, even if a hero can get to the token without destroying the bush (and I would say a teleporter can since skills/abilities override quest rules by the golden rules, thank you any2cards,) the token cannot be picked up before the bush is destroyed. That's my final answer.

Makes sense to me. Of course, many things make sense to me, and then I play FFG games by their rules :P

Wow.. complete oversight on my part. We were so focused that they could move to the other side of the bush and "exploit" the map.. which was it's own oddity considering Tenashi is a character from that expansion anyways. :)

Thanks fellow players! We come to the forums often to help clarify our troubles over some of the written materials, but sometimes house rules are simply house rules!

Wow.. complete oversight on my part. We were so focused that they could move to the other side of the bush and "exploit" the map.. which was it's own oddity considering Tenashi is a character from that expansion anyways. :)

Thanks fellow players! We come to the forums often to help clarify our troubles over some of the written materials, but sometimes house rules are simply house rules!

Actually, Tenashi is from Shadow of Nerekhall, whereas this quest is from Labyrinth of Ruin, but yeah.

I won this quest on my first turn as OL :D

After winning the first encounter, moved a hero with dark charm, sacrificed the monsters... profit

Edited by BentoSan

I don't think I've ever seen the overlord win encounter 1 of a quest and then lose encounter 2 after.

I don't think I've ever seen the overlord win encounter 1 of a quest and then lose encounter 2 after.

The heroes rolled terribly, i held them up with some large monsters (ynfernal hulks i think... whatever it was it had immobilise) . In this instance i spent a number of my OL cards in the first encounter because i figured that it looked important in order to hold the heroes up as much as possible.

Edited by BentoSan