Hey guys,

So I have a playgroup who play together often and we'd be interested in playing Descent (even just single quests and not a full campaign), however there are 6 of us in total which leads me to the issue. Descent is designed for 4 heroes, not 5.

Has anyone tried 5 hero variations, or is there any custom rules out there to make this workable.

I can spot 2 blatant issues with balance straight away:

- Monster limits going above Max

- Only four hero classes, so one would have to double up.

I was thinking of variations that might work; give monsters extra health, maybe add an additional open group, weaken all the players somewhat. None seem like perfect solutions but I'm just thinking aloud.

Anyone have any experience with this that might have a suggestion or two?

I played a one-off with 5 heroes...

I wouldn't even try it again. The action economy gets out of whack... you'd almost need to add a whole new open group to the game, and even then you already have space problems on most boards.

Hey guys,

So I have a playgroup who play together often and we'd be interested in playing Descent (even just single quests and not a full campaign), however there are 6 of us in total which leads me to the issue. Descent is designed for 4 heroes, not 5.

Has anyone tried 5 hero variations, or is there any custom rules out there to make this workable.

I can spot 2 blatant issues with balance straight away:

- Monster limits going above Max

- Only four hero classes, so one would have to double up.

I was thinking of variations that might work; give monsters extra health, maybe add an additional open group, weaken all the players somewhat. None seem like perfect solutions but I'm just thinking aloud.

Anyone have any experience with this that might have a suggestion or two?

One hero should play a summoner and the sixth player the familiar with a mind of its own.

BTW, I am only half serious !

People have discussed this, I think, in different context before, but it really isn't fair to have 5 heroes. Might I suggest a 2-person Overlord? This obviously isn't ideal, but I don't think it would be that hard to do, and would be interesting way to approach strategy, with a two-minded Overlord. You could also have players who are less confident/experienced in the game double up on a hero, if that is an option. You could also do custom quests built for 5 players (if they even exist).

If you are only playing a single quest, you can pick one that has characters in them like villagers and let the 5 player control them. Its not as glorious but it is just one quest

Actually including 5 heroes is very difficult unless you're playing a custom map that's written for that many heroes, where you have the room to add additional open groups (because that's really the only way to account for an extra hero that I can see.) I mean, you could give the heroes a limit on total attacks per round (8 or something) but that's a little tricky. We've played a couple quests with an additional person playing as the ally. A two person OL can work- amongst themselves, they can plan and perhaps split activating the different monster groups. Additionally, you could have the 6th taking the role of one of the OL's lieutenants, since they're almost "evil heroes."

What if every monster is a master monster and they all have 1 additional action (attack) or can use 2 actions to attack?

They would wipe the floor with the heroes...

They would wipe the floor with the heroes...

I kinda like the idea of removing the 'monsters can only attack once' rule for a 5 hero game. Would make the monsters more threatening but they won't always double attack because they'll need to move sometime (they can't spend fatigue to move like heroes). It also wouldn't clutter the board any further.

Still not a perfect solution but it isn't looking like there is one. Might just have to be a case of trial and error.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

No way. You would have to break a lot of core rules in the game that are meant to keep balance in the game. Having 1 additional heroes is not the same as increasing difficulty for the OL by 20%, it goes exponentially harder for the OL.

What you "could" do, is to try 5 heroes in Epic mode on a large quest map, and grant the OL X additional open groups. No special rules, just like that, to give an idea. It works or it doesn't.

Keep in mind it's not only the fact 5 players is not technically supported, it's also the fact that it would increase the time to play a quest drastically.

Otherwise you can let the hero players take turns when moving the 4 heroes, or alternate on rolling the dices. Having 2 OL is a bad good idea. I´ve tried that, it's like having somebody in the way all the time, even if you don't necessarly disagree on what needs to be done.

Otherwise let the player make tea for the rest of the players.

Or play D&D.

Seriously. This is not a 6 players game and I don't see any possible variant for supporting this other than a big ugly house rule.

I can see this problem coming up. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do about it unless you break the game balance. You could try my "Career Mode" variant of having an extra Reserve hero, and doing additional Quests in the Campaign, with maybe someone sitting out a quest here and there. But that's not very fun and not sure how well things would be balanced. Or try switching players each Encounter.

I don't know a solution for a single quest. But in our campaign atm the hero players take turns in playing the heroes in the quests.

I don't know a solution for a single quest. But in our campaign atm the hero players take turns in playing the heroes in the quests.

We've done that once- the two most tightly scheduled members shared a hero, so if one couldn't make it for a quest, the other took over- when they both played, they managed their hero and the parties ally (it was LoR.) However, this would be less optimal for a regular group of 6.

With a group of 6, rather than attempting to play 5 heroes, and all of the balance issues it would entail, why not have 2 of the players be the OL?

This would allow you to increase your planning and strategizing (perhaps). It would allow you the "two heads are better than one" motif. You could probably split up control of open groups, Lieutenants, etc.

At least this way, you wouldn't be introducing any new elements which would mess with the core game's balance.

Just a thought.

We have done this, but most of the points above are well stated.

The way we did it, was when you look at the monster cards and looks at how many for each hero, We place the base amount. And when killed spawn the extras on the following turns,

So for instance, Goblins say 1,1 (1 player), 2,1 (2 players) 1,3( 3 players) and 1-4 (4 players. )

So in this case you would 1 red, 4 white (4 Players playing) would spawn at the start of the game. After each is killed we would spawn 1 red if it was killed and and 1 white when a white was killed. (4+1 player).

This works well, however the only issue you have is that if the group auto re-spawns like in some of the missions. In this case rather than allow 1 of the figure to re-spawn would would allow the (1 player amount) + the standard re-spawn, each turn, if you had them available.

So if the hero players killed 1 red and 2 white, you could re-spawn 1 white, and then 1 red and a white.

It's works, but not 100% perfect.

I don't know a solution for a single quest. But in our campaign atm the hero players take turns in playing the heroes in the quests.

We've done that once- the two most tightly scheduled members shared a hero, so if one couldn't make it for a quest, the other took over- when they both played, they managed their hero and the parties ally (it was LoR.) However, this would be less optimal for a regular group of 6.

Yeah. That's also our case.

Play LoR and one player is Raythen/Serena. Just as Zaltyre allready suggested. This is the best option.

Greetings

H

This works for our group pretty well.

Overlord Adjustments for 5 Heroes

Mixing both Basic decks together is optional

Overlord receives double Threat and XP per quest

Draw 2 cards at start of turn if Overlord has no cards, otherwise, Draw 1

All Monsters are Master’s

Add 1 Open Group of specified types spaced equidistant from other monsters

Heroes get 1 additional search token evenly spaced

Overlord draws 5 cards initially

Overlord Adjustments for 5 Heroes

All Monsters are Master’s

What about kobolds?

Overlord Adjustments for 5 Heroes

All Monsters are Master’s

What about kobolds?

;-)

Overlord Adjustments for 5 Heroes

All Monsters are Master’s

What about kobolds?

They don't like to fight against 5 heros... Or you could use proxies and fill the whole map with them.

;-)

Use Descent V1 figs.. there's plenty of them ! ;-P