Does anyone else think that FFG should make overlord trap cards have a lasting effect on maps ?. For example "pit trap " should have a corresponding token to place over the square were it was activated and remain there for the rest of the encounter and be treated as a pit .

Maybe even lava traps and spike traps that have corresponding lava and spike tokens, this would defiantly change how some maps are played. Im not to sure about balance in game terms but is defiantly a game mechanic I would like to see.

It's an interesting idea, reminds a bit about Hero Quest actually, however it would probably be a little hard to balance out because of the huge tactical advantage it would grant to the Overlord. You are effectively removing spaces available to the Heroes, and the more confined the area is the better control you have over the heroes' movement, which is key in most encounters.

The trap tokens from the Stalker class are a lot more subtile and less game-breaking in that sense. Big traps like spike pits, although very thematic, feel like it would have too much effect on the strategy in this game, maybe.

Something like that would be fun to see. Right now there just aren't enough map hazards in the game that have much consequence. Lava is pretty cool, but very rare, and water isn't that interesting.

For some reason it seems like FFG doesn't want map hazards to be much of a foil for the heroes..and I can't get why that is. One example of this is the truly bizarre ruling regarding baked in pits on the map. According to official rules, a hero can fatigue-move out of a pit after falling into it, completely negating the need to use a move action to leave the pit. I can't fathom why they haven't errata'd this, because it takes all the bite out of pits, something which the Overlord usually has to work pretty hard to get heroes to fall into.

Naturally, I have house-ruled that my heroes cannot do this

I share the pain. This type of terrain feels a bit shallow because of the possibility to fatigue-move.

Moving to a water-space should definitely require 2 move points regardless if you´re on the water already.

I don't mind Hazard and Lava as such, but there are a lot of abilities forcing figures to move into such spaces, e.g. killing them. I think Throwback is good as an ability, but I don't like the Hunter's Whip.

I agree with you both there is so much potential for cool map effects but it is a slippery slop between fun story driven rules and a cheese bearded overlord having to have all the advantages lol. And the staker traps are really cool just would be nice for maps to slightly change to really challenge a hero groups versatility and add to the theme of the game

Traps also exist in form of the Overlord class cards of the same name. I mean, web trap is that hero getting stuck in a giant spider web of some sort. It is less dramatic than falling into a pit, though

Let's imagine... a group of Bane Spiders blocking a corridor with spider web terrain. Yikes for the heroes!

It'd be cool to implement, I love terrain. But I don't see a way to do it without compromising balance.

Indalecio- moving into a water space DOES require 2 MP, regardless of from where. Also, lava only kills if a figure ends their turn there. Knockback is not an immediate death. Knockback and immobilize, that can be deadly.

Jus like the Infector class is kind of an OL hexer, there could be an OL stalker type class. Unfortuantely the sabatuer name is taken, but that isn't a problem.

EDIT: Want a crazy idea? Special quest! A group of Elemental's is terrorizing the countryside. The Elementals have a special action during this quest-terraform: place an objective token faceup in a space that is not special terrain. That space is treated as special terrain based on the color of the token (red is obstacle, blue is water, green is pit, white is lava.) Maybe the OL goal is to block a path with boulders or something...

I'm going to use this...

Indalecio- moving into a water space DOES require 2 MP, regardless of from where. Also, lava only kills if a figure ends their turn there. Knockback is not an immediate death. Knockback and immobilize, that can be deadly.

Can I give you my coordinates so you can come and monitor our sessions next time?

I´ve played many campaigns using the rules I described. A uber-deadly variation of the Lava spaces and move-friendly waters. That's a nice little house-rule there :8

I absolutely encourage rule checking before an encounter is played, and I'd be happy to consult. Even if it was a remotely possible option, I dislike the idea of monitoring during games- it is (in my opinion) the responsibility of each player to know what they are doing, and behave in good conscience with regard to the rules. If a group cannot do this, competitive games tend to get messy. Descent especially so, since it can be 4-vs-1. If players are arguing to their benefit and not to their best understanding of the rules, that is incredibly problematic. We have discussed before the problem of an OL being overruled by incorrect, yet vocal heroes- I find that situation unfortunate, but solvable if people are honest.

Indalecio- moving into a water space DOES require 2 MP, regardless of from where. Also, lava only kills if a figure ends their turn there. Knockback is not an immediate death. Knockback and immobilize, that can be deadly.

You know your healer is good when he can walk into lava, perform a revive action on a character that was thrown in and knocked unconscious by the lava and Word of Misery and step back out, with no fatigue and no damage.

Rendiel FTW!!

FYI: The heroes still lost... but what an EPIC loss! The look on the OL's face when the Marshall came back to full health and stamina and Rendiel stepped out of the lava unharmed was priceless.

Indalecio- moving into a water space DOES require 2 MP, regardless of from where. Also, lava only kills if a figure ends their turn there. Knockback is not an immediate death. Knockback and immobilize, that can be deadly.

You know your healer is good when he can walk into lava, perform a revive action on a character that was thrown in and knocked unconscious by the lava and Word of Misery and step back out, with no fatigue and no damage.

Rendiel FTW!!

FYI: The heroes still lost... but what an EPIC loss! The look on the OL's face when the Marshall came back to full health and stamina and Rendiel stepped out of the lava unharmed was priceless.

That's a fine bit of healing- though intentionally walking into a lava space is very risky, unless you've seen the OL's hand and know that he doesn't have a trap waiting. A Tripwire, Imploding Rift, or Web Trap all could have spelled doom for Rendiel.

The OL is playing Basic 1 and he could have played tripwire if he had one in his hand but since the success was predicated on spending Fatigue to get out of the lava in any case, it would not have made a difference in the actual outcome (Marshall revived at full health). Also, Rendiel's heroic ability is what allowed him to wipe out the fatigue and the damage he did take for stepping into the lava upon reviving the Marshall.

Does anyone else think that FFG should make overlord trap cards have a lasting effect on maps ?. For example "pit trap " should have a corresponding token to place over the square were it was activated and remain there for the rest of the encounter and be treated as a pit .

That overlord card already exists. Spiked Pit : Play this card when a hero moves into an empty space. Place a one space pit token on that space. Unless the hero rolls a blank on one power die, he falls into the pit and suffers 2 wounds (ignoring armor) .

Unfortunately it is a card from Descent 1, but you are right: that card was lots of fun to play. Maybe FFG will one day revive that mechanic in an expansion?

In first edition, everything was separate tokens that had to be set up on the map. Pits and other traps were also generally permanent and called for the appropriate token to be placed on the map.

It seems like FFG removed all these tokens in favour of terrain printed on the tiles as part of their streamlining for second edition. In fairness, it does make map setup much faster. As such, I somewhat doubt they'd reintroduce the concept of modular terrain.

I've been proven wrong in the past, though.

Trap tokens would work well if released in an expansion with a corresponding over lord cards, with the more powerful traps requiring lv2 and lv3 cards because the last thing a descent expansion needs is more condition cards . The expansion could even be focused around a story of a lost temple city full of treasures ( a toned down version of Indiana jones with out Nazis lol )

Ultimately it would be good to see expansion add to game play instead of just giving us more of the same cards just in different flavours e.g. condition cards . The challenging part come with new additions/rules to the game not interfering with the games stream lineness and most of all enjoyment of all players.

But personal trap tokens seem so cool to me I don't know how they are not included, a lava square token a spiked pit token a 2*2 pit token requiring a move action to get out of it, I don't think this is too op because an overlord would use this to try to slow you down but this would also slow down what monster he is chasing you with . The over lord would have to invest a lot of experience to drop this token 1+1+2+3 so I think it would be fair that its pretty inconvenient for the heroes to deal with , also the over lord has to also draw this card so would be super lucky if this card was played 2 to 3 times in an entire campaign