First Question:

The Overlord power card "Brilliant Commander" allows the Overlord to upgrade one monster to it's Master form upon revealing a new area. Is it possible for the Overlord to use this card to upgrade a named, "boss" monster that is a normal monster with boosted stats? For example, in the Tomb of Ice quest that includes three Ice Wyrms, there are two named regular Ice Wyrms with boosted stats. Is it possible to upgrade these Ice Wyrms to their master forms? This seems problematic and unintentional, since it would allow for both of the Ice Wyrms to have the "swallow" ability. In FFG's official FAQ, the writer even states "currently there is only one figure with Swallow."

Second Question:

Any time the Overlord draws new cards, it is possible for him to go over his hand limit with the cards he has drawn. If he does so, can he sell cards for threat until he gets down to his hand limit, or does he have to discard (without gaining threat) until he is down to his hand size limit before being able to sell? The rulebook is not clear on this issue.

I would appreciate official rulings on this issue, and unofficial input would also be helpful. Thanks!

First: I doubt there is an official ruling concerning this, but based on the text of the card I see no reason why you couldn't do this. In that case you'd need to proxy something for a stomach tile.

Second: The rulebook is actually very clear about the issue on page 9, perhaps you missed it?

From page 9:

Step 1: Collect Threat and Draw Cards The overlord player collects one threat token for every hero, and then draws two cards from the top of the overlord
deck. The overlord player may then discard one or more cards from his hand to collect extra threat tokens . The overlord player must discard down to eight cards or less after drawing his two cards for the turn . He may choose to discard additional cards and always collects threat tokens for each card he discards.

You draw cards, and then immediately have to discard down to your hand limit if you go over and you get threat for those cards.

Big Remy said:

However, you are limited to the actual figures that come with the game. Since there is only one master Ice Wyrm figure, I don't think you could upgrade if it meant trying to place two master Ice Wyrms at the same time. (Note: I have not checked the dungeon in question to determine if this is an issue.)

Big Remy said:

I'm going to disagree here, on the basis that I don't think named monsters count as either masters or normal monsters, regardless of their figure color. From JitD rules page 16:

"Named monsters (e.g., Narthak) are unique monsters described in the Quest Guide. Like master monsters, they are represented by the red figures."

This says that they use the same figures as master monsters, but doesn't say that they are or count as masters. This implies to me that, regardless of the figure used, "named" is a third monster category, separate from normal and master, and doesn't necessarily count as either. Thus, something that only affects normal monsters can't be used on named monsters.

Antistone said:

I can see this and does make sense. Certainly not the first instance of treating named monsters as a separate category, much like named monsters and Stun.

I do think that this probably deserves its own special rule, but right now, I'm not convinced that it is illegal.

The Brilliant Commander card reads:

"Play this card at the start of your turn and place it face up in front of you. When you reveal a new area, upgrade any 1 monster in that area to a master of that monster's type."

Unlike the similar Dark Servant card, which specifically indicates that it must be used on a "normal, unnamed monster," the Brilliant Commander card simply states "upgrade any 1 monster."

While "normal" named monsters are quite rare, they do exist, such as in the Tomb of Ice quest "The Castle of Dragons," where a normal named Ice Wyrm is spawned in the southeast corner of the castle, and again in the central boss room.

I do believe there may be some relevant information directly in the quest guide where the named creature is described:

"The Ice Wyrm here, Sardrac, has the same statistics as an ordinary Ice Wyrm, except that he has 2 extra wounds per hero and is a named monster."

This seems to perhaps indicate that he would retain the same statistics even if his token was upgraded to a master, but I suppose we would, once again, need an official ruling:

Do named monsters benefit from upgrades, or are they ineligible for upgrades altogether?

In regards to the piece limit, the Tomb of Ice expansion rulebook states on page 8:

"In some cases the Quest Guide calls for more monsters than are included in the game. For these quests, use other monster figures or tokens to represent the extra monsters as necessary."

fex said:

That's not a ToI rule, that's an errata for the first printing of the base game, where the quests were written before the number of figures had been finalized and a single room sometimes requires more figures than come with the game (such as the 2 master manticores in the final room of quest 1). More recent printings of the JitD quest guide specifically note in the quests where you should substitute figures.

The rules also specifically say that the overlord cannot spawn more monsters of any type than the number of figures included in the game (JitD page 12). This is generally taken to mean that you can only exceed the figure limits if there are more monsters in a single room of the quest guide, or if the quest text specifically allows it. You'll also notice that the beetle quest in ToI goes to considerable lengths to include lots of lava beetles in the final room without actually exceeding the figure limit at any one time, which to me suggests that the authors believed that figure limits were enforced (though there are other possible design reasons for that set-up, too).

As far as upgrading white normals, I still contend that named -> master is not an "upgrade," and there is no reason to think that a monster would continue to be named if it were somehow turned into a master. Also, as you noted, named monster stats are specifically listed in the quest guide (though a standard monster type is used as a baseline), so by RAW its stats wouldn't change if it did.

Regardless, I think the intent is clearly that Brilliant Commander is not supposed to work on named monsters; as you can see from the rules for named monsters that I quoted earlier, the writers apparently believed when JitD was published (and thus when Brilliant Commander was written) that named monsters would always be represented by red figures (and I think they are in the JitD quests), so this wouldn't even have come up.

I think I agree with Atistone on this one, on both counts. The rulebook text in ToI refers specifically to when a quest requires more monsters than there are pieces available. The phrases "In some cases, the Quest Guide calls for..." and "For these quests..." are paramount here. The reference here is exclusively for when the quest design demands more pieces than exist; it does not refer to incidents when the Overlord's spawning, power cards, or other actions create a need for monsters for which pieces do not exist. This seems fairly cut-and-dry, after a closer look at the verbiage of the rule.

While the use of Brilliant Commander on a named monster is still subject to official ruling, it does seem as though there are three levels of monster: normal, master, and named. It would seem to me that if you were to "upgrade" (really downgrading) a named monster to a master monster, the monster would simply lose all of the bonuses that it got for being named, and become a regular "master" of it's monster type.

In other words, it doesn't seem to me that there are "normal named" monsters and "master named" monsters. There are normal monsters, master monsters, and named monsters (which use either normal or master monsters as a "base" when they are created).

Named monsters, an overwhelming majority of the time, use master monsters as their base for stats and skills. However, this does not mean that the monsters are actually "masters." They're representation by a red monster piece is simply due to the fact that master monster's stats and skills are nearer to the stats and skills of the named monster. To me, it seems as though monster types in the case of named monsters are only a base, and are not alterable.

Assuming this to be the case, I suppose an Overlord could use "Brilliant Commander" to upgrade a named monster to a master monster, but that would simply cause it to lose it's status as "named," and any bonuses that come with it. Even this seems debatable, considering the verbiage of the card says "upgrade."