Army Of Death Card

By Ynferno, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Guys, this card clearly says "Perform an attack with your Reanimate.This Attack affects each monster in your line of sight, ignoring range; your Reanimate does not need line of sight to the affected monsters but does need to be on the map".

The Reanimate´s attack has the effect to damage everything in the heroe´s line of sight . But, to unleash this ability the Reanimate must perform an attack first, and if the Reanimate has no enemies around him, how is he going to do this requested attack?. Reanimate must attack an enemy first, see how much damage this attack dealed and then you have to go to your heroe´s space and see how many monsters do he has in his line of sight.

Reanimate has a melee weapon, so he needs an adjacent enemy to perform the attack. The card says " Perform an attack with your Reanimate." it does not say "Roll your Reanimate´s attack pool dice". To perform an attack you will need to have an adjacent monster, because you wield a melee weapon. In my opinion, if the Reanimate does not have an adjacent enemy to do the "attack" action requiered, this card cant be used.

Edited by Ynferno

1: No, the reanimate attacks everything in your line of sight, period. This card exempts the reanimate from requiring adjacency for his attacks.

I have no idea what you're trying to ask with the other questions.

Thanks Whitewing, let me explain my self better.

The Reanimate´s attack has the effect to damage everything in the heroe´s line of sight . But, to unleash this ability the Reanimate must perform an attack first, and if the Reanimate has no enemies around him, how is he going to do this requested attack?. Reanimate must attack an enemy first, see how much damage this attack dealed and then you have to go to your heroe´s space and see how many monsters do he has in his line of sight.

Reanimate has a melee weapon, so he needs an adjacent enemy to perform the attack. The card says " Perform an attack with your Reanimate." it does not say "Roll your Reanimate´s attack pool dice". To perform an attack you will need to have an adjacent monster, because you wield a melee weapon. In my opinion, if the Reanimate does not have an adjacent enemy to do the "attack" action requiered, this card cant be used.

Thanks

Edited by Ynferno

Not quite. Attacks are just attacks. There are three things that happen with them: melee attacks, ranged attacks, and attacks (general). The cards says to perform an attack, which means he attacks, period. Normally, you need to be adjacent to be allowed to make a melee attack, but he isn't making a melee attack. It does not say "Make a melee attack". Melee attacks are merely attacks with an extra requirement. Further, the attack ignores range requirements.

Army of death is an exemption to requiring adjacency, because it has you make a general attack, not a melee attack. Unfortunately, your opinion on this matter is incorrect.

If it helps you see it clearer, consider how absolutely worthless the card would be if your interpretation would be accurate.

Yes, what Whitewing describes is how the card is supposed to be played.

I can see how you might interpret it the way you are, but this particular attack is neither a melee attack, nor a ranged attack and suffers none of the penalties or requirements those types of attacks entail.

Thanks, I just was trying to respect the action of attack as the rule book says (page 9). In fact we are using this card as you say, hidding the Reanimate in a room where there are no monsters to use use this skill and a rest action to recover fatigue and do the spell again and again. Its a powerfull spell, but the reanimate is no longer a heroe, he is just a coward in a forgotten corner jejejeje (to avoid spend an action and a fatigue to reanimate him again).

Edited by Ynferno

Its a powerfull spell, but the reanimate is no longer a heroe, he is just a coward in a forgotten corner jejejeje (to avoid spend an action and a fatigue to reanimate him again).

You could use the Reanimate in this way, but then the Necromancer is not playing to their full potential. Army of Death, while good, doesn't make up for the fact that if your Reanimate isn't out there contributing to the party as an additional source of damage/utility, you are way better off taking some other mage.

A smart OL will work hard not to let Army of Death ruin his day through strategic positioning and engagement locations. The reanimate's attack power, even with Vampiric Blood, cannot compare with the kind of attacks a hero can do with the right weapon.

Edited by Charmy

Army of Death is an extremely powerful skill by itself, in fact it's pretty much all the necromancer has going for it.

Army of Death is an extremely powerful skill by itself, in fact it's pretty much all the necromancer has going for it.

Agreed- this is the skill for the Necromancer in Act 2. In Act 1, "Vampiric Blood" does pretty well on its own.

I see that you've got the rules of the card understood, Ynferno- but in case you need more thematic justification, I've always taken the title Army of Death to imply that the Necromancer is momentarily raising a horde of undead (all with the same strength as the usual familiar) to attack every enemy he sees. This is why the skill doesn't care where the Reanimate is, only that the Necromancer is currently exercising his control of the undead- and it's consistent with the idea that each new Reanimate familiar is a fresh character, not the same skeleton raised repeatedly.

Edited by Zaltyre

In our previous campaign, one person was playing Widow Tarha with the Necromancer class, and we decided that her reanimate was her husband, who just got reanimated over and over again - even in death, she wouldn't let him just get some peace. :)

In our previous campaign, one person was playing Widow Tarha with the Necromancer class, and we decided that her reanimate was her husband, who just got reanimated over and over again - even in death, she wouldn't let him just get some peace. :)

That is like really sad and evil...

In our previous campaign, one person was playing Widow Tarha with the Necromancer class, and we decided that her reanimate was her husband, who just got reanimated over and over again - even in death, she wouldn't let him just get some peace. :)

That is like really sad and evil...

No wonder the poor thing lashes out at everything in line of sight!

:P