What do you think about the Dark Druid special ability to move all other monsters along black paths?

Do you move monsters even if they are in a same space as an investigator? Do all monsters move regardless of their movement type (stationary, green special, flying!?!), or are they just considered moving (Cthonians and Colours)?

Sorry if this is already discussed somewhere else in the old forum!!

The question has been brought up but no official answers have been given.

A similar mechanic was used in the Summer League and I have a feeling this monster was the inspiration for that rule. The ruling on that scenario was that all monsters move 1 space regardless how they normally move (in otherwords, all monsters are treated as a Black-border for that movement). The only exception was that fliers moved to the sky first and then back the next time they were to move. it wass also ruled that monsters move even if they shared a space with an investigator.

I bring this up just because it is similar to Druid and, like I said, he may have been the inspiration for that rule.

Personally, I would just like to see it act as a 2nd movement to keep things simple. Everyone moves like normal: 2 spaces for Red monsters, don't move if an investigator is with you, etc. So we all just have to wait and see. Luckily, there is only 1 of this guy so his chances of coming up are less than other monsters.

ColtsFan76 said:

Tell that to the Dark Druid. I play every game with all monsters mixed in, regardless of expansions. DD has come up in about half the games since I got Black Goat; once was when he was an elusive Tulzscha cultist!

Tibs, at least it doesn't move on the black path ALL the time does it ?

The scenario rules were special in that the monsters moved towards a certain location, ignoring all normal moment rules (including arrows) to get there. In the case of the Dark Druid, I would consider all monsters to be following the normal movement rules. That would mean that if a monster already occupied the same location as an investigator, it would not move. After all, with the exception of that one scenario (#3) where the monster's purpose was to throw themselves into the awaiting maw, the monster's normal motivation is to seek out and attack investigators.

Bad Dog said:

The more I think about it, the more this makes sense. The "black" term is probably used so that monsters that have to follow paths as their movement will know which way to go.

Now all I need to know is if the DD's ability gets activated because he moved on a black route (including white/black arrows) or if DD's symbol was shown to move on black on the Mythos card. This is especially important when playing against Hastur, since Dark Druid is a cultists, and flying cultists don't follow arrows.

Dam said:

No, but he does enough times that he needs to get punched.

Tibs said:

Yes, it should be activated when the Hexagon appears on a black background on the Mythos card. That much I am sure of.

Thanks guys.

Unless there is an official answer I continue playing it following 'everything moves along black arrows, ignorin everything'. Somehow it makes sense to me!!

It makes sense to me that they move along black path but due take into account normal circumstances, i.e. investigators in same space, stalker movement green border, etc

I just can't see the monsters mindless moving away from an investigator or not flying down upon one.

ColtsFan76 said:

It seems more fun to at least let it drag Dark Young, Colours out of Space, etc. into the streets. There's only the one, so it might as well completely break your plans if it shows up and is allowed to roam.

I assumed it was meant to make Dark Young able to move, same as the Herald.

Yeah, could the Dunwich Herald throw itself into a vortice by moving in one by following a black arrow?

Fecktor said:

That depends on how you choose to interpret the Dark Druid. I still think that normal movement rules apply, so the Dunwich Horror jumping into a vortex is not an issue. As for allowing the Dark Young to move, that is what the Black Goat Herald does. If the Black Goat Herald is in play, then the Dark Druid would cause the Dark Young to move, otherwise it would not.

Once I own the expansion, I guess I'll play it like following until there's an official clarification:

- If a Dark Druid is in play and hexagon moves black, all other monsters (and rifts, which behave like black-bordered monsters) move (as per the usual movement rules!) black afterwards.

- If an AO would make the Druid weaker than it is, this is ignored.

- If multiple movement types should be assigned to a monster, special movement (green) comes before flying (blue) which comes before stalker (purple). E.g. If Hastur is the AO, the Dark Druid is still a green bordered monster, and not flying).

Blobo said:

Is there an official rule or clarification on this issue now? (I'm posting in an old thread)

Yeah, I actually checked out the dates. "MrsGamura's back?"

As far as I know, you should just play as though all other monsters have had their symbols drawn in black. This keeps it simple, because you're just following standard movement rules. I don't count this against rifts or corruptions, or rumors that activate on monster symbols, but the decision is yours.

Tibs said:

Yeah, I was pretty confused by this too ;'D

Tibs said:

Okay, thanks. Hope they have something on it in the Miscatonic FAQ.

I'm glad to see this thread revived, since there's another huge question I have about the Dark Druid. The Child of the Goat chit says to treat it like a Cultist, which is easily done, since it has the same basic stats as a Cultist. The Dark Druid's chit also says to treat him like a Cultist, but he does NOT have the stats of a Cultist! This leads to confusion on multiple points. To take just one example: Hastur's Cultists are Flying and -2 to the combat check. Does that mean the Dark Druid's combat modifier is -2 when Hastur is the AO? Or since a -3 is required to get a +1 Cultist to -2, does that mean you instead add an additional -3 to the combat modifier the Dark Druid already has?

I've always figured it as if the power says it is X then X is what it is, if it says to increase or decrease by X then it is original stat +/- X.

Veet said:

"Sorry, but can you explain X please?"

"Why?"

"No! No!, I said X, not Y".

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my poor attempt at the Arkham Horror Forum version of "Who's on first?".

OK now I'm not sure if you actually need me to explain that or not.

Solan said:

I suppose the easiest way to look at it is to view "cultist" as a monster type, the same way as "flying monsters".

So if "cultists have their toughness increased by one" then each individual cultist type of monster has the toughness stated on their chit increased by one.

Basically, every monster keeps his (its?) own stat (you cannot compare Child of the goat stats to normal Cultist stats since their awareness is different) but all monsters treated as cultists gain the special abilities of cultists. With Hastur as the AO, Cultists, Children of the Goat and the Dark Druid (and all other monsters treated as Cultists) gain Flying. As for the combat rating is concerned... the main point is that when Hastur was created, we had no monsters treated as Cultists. So, if you play it litterally, all Cultists (and monsters treated as Cultists) have a combat rating of -2. If you play it thematically, normal Cultists have the combat rating modified from +1 to -2, which is a -3 modificator, so the Dark druid will have a -5 combat rating.

Or, at least, this is the way I play it ::smiling::