Okay, so I have read and re-read the rules and have read and re-read the FAQ. Still our group is not sure how the Fire Breath Ability works!

The FAQ is pretty straight forward in my opinion, but there is a lot of disagreement from my fellow adventures. In the hopes of making the game fun but honest to the rules, can anyone clarify how the Fire Breath Ability works?

The FAQ clearly states;

"...no, the path can be traced in any direction and can even change direction."

Some in our group believe this means that the fire breath ability can target a single tile, move in a 'box' formation (up one, side one, down one, and then to the side again). Some say that the same square can be hit twice (target square, target adjacent square, then back to the same initial square and so on).

Any more direction on this topic?

Fire breath can change directions, and can even circle back on the dragon and hit him. It can go across water, elevation lines, pits, overgrowth, and portcullises. It cannot go through doors or obstacles. A total of 4 spaces get hit, including the target space. Even if fire breath is traced over a figure multiple times, no figure gets affected by the attack more than once- this is always the case in Descent- figures cannot be targeted or affected by an attack more than once (I know of one exception to this statement, and it's when a knight uses "defend" to become the target of a merriod's "flail" after having already been targeted by the attack.)

Thanks Zaltyre,

That was my thought too. We had the heroes all in a big square and the debate started that the fire breath went in a straight line.

Umm why would an OL want to target his own dragon? Not trying to be snarky, I just cannot fathom a scenario in which I want to damage my own monster.

Umm why would an OL want to target his own dragon? Not trying to be snarky, I just cannot fathom a scenario in which I want to damage my own monster.

Hmmm ... not looking at a board or the figures, but the only reason I could potentially see doing this is because there is a hero on both sides of the dragon, right next to it, in such a way as the only way to strike both would be to strike one, and then back track through the dragon to strike the other hero on the other side.

Yea, the heroes were bunched up all together. The master shadow dragon was next to all four. Can the Shadow Dragon breath fire up one (hitting the first hero) up again (hitting the second hero) move to the right one (hitting the third hero) and moving down one square hitting the last hero. Thus, hitting all four heroes.

H = Hero in a single square, all next to each other.

DD= Dragon in two six squares touching the base of one hero on his front, and one hero on a diagonal.

DD

DD

HH
HH
DD

DD

DD

Yea, the heroes were bunched up all together. The master shadow dragon was next to all four. Can the Shadow Dragon breath fire up one (hitting the first hero) up again (hitting the second hero) move to the right one (hitting the third hero) and moving down one square hitting the last hero. Thus, hitting all four heroes.

H = Hero in a single square, all next to each other.

DD= Dragon in two six squares touching the base of one hero on his front, and one hero on a diagonal.

DD

DD

HH

HH

DD

DD

DD

He can, indeed. He can even hit the heroes in an "N" pattern, if he really wants to:

24

13

DD

DD

DD

Okay all, that is what I thought. I think me and my friends are in trouble!

Thank you all for the clarification.

Ambrose

Umm why would an OL want to target his own dragon? Not trying to be snarky, I just cannot fathom a scenario in which I want to damage my own monster.

If your Dragon is about to die, maybe you prefer to kill it by yourself and reinforce it at the end of your turn, with full heatlh. If heroes can get some advantages for killing a monster (there are some), this could be a reason...

Yea, the heroes were bunched up all together. The master shadow dragon was next to all four. Can the Shadow Dragon breath fire up one (hitting the first hero) up again (hitting the second hero) move to the right one (hitting the third hero) and moving down one square hitting the last hero. Thus, hitting all four heroes.

H = Hero in a single square, all next to each other.

DD= Dragon in two six squares touching the base of one hero on his front, and one hero on a diagonal.

DD

DD

HH

HH

DD

DD

DD

He can, indeed. He can even hit the heroes in an "N" pattern, if he really wants to:

24

13

DD

DD

DD

He can even do it in Z formation if he wants to get quite snappy.

Some say that the same square can be hit twice (target square, target adjacent square, then back to the same initial square and so on).

As has already been discussed, a figure is only affected once, even if the flame crosses his space multiple times.

However, you want to be careful with your terminology here. In Descent, some figures are " targeted " by an attack and others are merely " affected " by the attack. In the case of Fire Breath, only the initial space is targeted , the other spaces are only affected . This is important for things like the Heavy Cloak (I think that's the one) that trigger based on the figure wearing it being the target of an attack - it only works if that figure it the target , not if he's simply affected.

Some say that the same square can be hit twice (target square, target adjacent square, then back to the same initial square and so on).

As has already been discussed, a figure is only affected once, even if the flame crosses his space multiple times.

However, you want to be careful with your terminology here. In Descent, some figures are " targeted " by an attack and others are merely " affected " by the attack. In the case of Fire Breath, only the initial space is targeted , the other spaces are only affected . This is important for things like the Heavy Cloak (I think that's the one) that trigger based on the figure wearing it being the target of an attack - it only works if that figure it the target , not if he's simply affected.

Correct.

ok solved