Just started playing. Loving it. Some minor snags--

Q1: Sorcery - Sir Valadir has the Wild Talent card which gives him Sorcery 1. We've been playing that he can use the bonus damage with his melee attacks NOT just magic, is that correct?

Q2: Undying - Sir Valadir kills the Skeleton master (with undying). The OL rolls a surge - and it comes back to life. But Valadir did enough damage to drop him a second time (I think it was 8 or 9 wounds). Does the OL roll again? And if he gets a SECOND surge, does the skeleton come back to life a second time? Could this go on infinitely(theoretically)?

Thnx

D

1: Correct. The description of the sorcery ability does not specify magic, so it works equally well with all attack types (though obviously improving the range of a melee attack has no effect).

2: Assuming you are playing standard Descent rules, you are correct. The skeleton must successfully make enough undying rolls to survive however many times the excess damage can kill it. I have personally seen a monster make 5 consecutive undying rolls from a single attack (thankfully it failed the last one it was required to make). Under the Road to Legend advanced campaign rules, undying is modified such that after making a successful undying roll the remainder of the damage is discarded and effect tokens are removed.

Lord Foul said:

+1

Only note: remember that the hero doesn't have to get through armor again when the damage rolls over.

Yep, since they are, after all, already converted from damage to wounds.

Ok - 1 more question ....Err, so far ...

The Word of Vaal - So I can do damage to all creatures within 3 squares AND stun them? That's obscenely powerful isn't it?

D

All enemies within 3 spaces, as I recall. Other than that, yes, and yes. Gold weapons are pretty crazy on general principle, and AoE weapons tend to be the best ones at any treasure level.

Yikes - I've read a lot of gripes about players feeling the OL is too powerful - but so far our little threesome is kicking serious buttocks.

We have

Mad Carthos - with Inner fire, a mage staff, and 3 power dice for magic attacks, he's smoting beasties left and right.

Ronan The Wild - Is Cautious (which has crippled the OL a bit)m has Weapon Mastery and is Ambidextrous - Armed with Word of Val, Pico, and even with his one melee dice he's quite powerful. Plus a shield lets him soak up damage.

Lastly - Sir Valadir - He's got Wild Talent and Unmoveable (he did 10 damage to the Ogre in adv 1 before the big fella could even get a swing) - Add this to the curse of rot weapon he picked up and it's an ugly trio.

The poor OL is losing monsters seconds after they spawn and he's dying from lack of tokens. A few traps have slowed the heroes down (Carthos died once) but they just found the rune of greater healing which will give them even more of an edge.

Maybe it's just a beginner's lucky combo???

Those sound like moderately lucky draws, though it's quite bizarre to have one hero using a shop weapon while the others are using golds. It's entirely normal for monsters to die quickly. Like...the heroes reveal a new area, and 6+ bodies hit the floor before the overlord even gets a turn. If a hero can't kill most monsters in one hit, he's probably doing something wrong.

That said, the first few quests are fairly easy, but they get a lot harder. Remember that you reset everything between quests--none of the treasures, etc. carry over.

Antistone said:

Bizarre? Well, yes, though it does happen, particularly when Frost/Crushing Blow are active. More usually though, it is a sign that someone has confused the gold and bronze treasures since they are very similar in colour on the mapboard.

Roy Batty said:

Also... Make sure the OL is using the FOUR player side of the monster stats... many folks mistake 3 heroes to be 3 players when indeed, there is a 4th.. .the OL!

Corbon said:

Rule of thumb- Gold only has 2 chests. Copper and silver have 3.

TheFlatline said:

This really does sound like a case of doling out Gold Treasures instead of Copper. I can't think of another way that the Heroes end up with Gold weapons before the ultimate or pen-ultimate room and certainly not in the first few quests. If this is the case, I recommend trying the quest again with Copper treasures... you'll find things aren't quite as easy.