Two questions for Road to Legend (recouperate and seiged cities)

By Zipp Dementia, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

I remember these being in discussion on the old forums, just wondering if they ever got answered.

1) Recouperating

The book seems to suggest that you can heal yourself outside of a city by paying 50 gold. This is the only action you can take outside of a city except for exploring dungeons. Is this correct?

2) Cities under Seige

I believe that you can still visit a seiged city as normal (ie. use its markets, temples, etc) and you don't have to fight the lieutenant on the city to do so. Similarly, if you choose not to fight a lieutenant on a space, the Overlord cannot "force" the encounter, he has to wait until his turn if he wants to attack you.

1) Nope, the heroes must spend a recuperate/train week in a city (meaning the weeks after you first arrive at a city. The turn you move to a city you can only visit) and any hero may spend his week at the temple to heal full up for the cost of 50 gold.

2)That's correct. s long as the city hasn't been razed yet, you can do whatever there, and there is nothing to force you to fight the Lt's unless the overlord attacks you with them during his game week's action.

The rulebook actually states (page 10):

" 4. Party Actions
When it is the party’s turn to act during the game week, the
hero players collectively choose either the Move action or the
Recuperate/Train action.

[snip]

Recuperate/Train Action
When the party chooses the Recuperate/Train action, each
individual hero must decide whether to recuperate or train.

If a hero recuperates, he spends 50 coins and is restored to full
wounds and fatigue.

If a hero trains while the party is in a city, he visits one of the
buildings available in that city and follows the instructions for
that building’s “train” circumstance. If a hero trains while the
party is at a Secret Master Area, refer to the instructions under
“Secret Training” on page 23. If a hero trains while the party is
not at a city or Secret Master Area, he receives no benefit."

Note that there is no mention of city under the "recuperates" section of the rulebook, but there is mention of a city during "train". This makes it seem like the heroes can recoup while travelling and not in a city, which IMHO makes sense. If the heroes spend a week resting out in the wild, doing nothing (i.e. not moving), why not allow them to recoup? As an OL, I have *no* problem letting them waste time healing up.

However, I think there was mentioned in a FAQ somewhere that recouping can only happen in a city, which makes absolutely ZERO sense, since recouping is the same as training in a temple. Why even have the recoup rules if it's the same as a different rule? (Hence the confusion)

-shnar

Basically the FAQ makes it clear that they want you to pretend no mention of "Recuperating" was ever in the RtL rules.

shnar said:

The rulebook actually states (page 10):

" 4. Party Actions
When it is the party’s turn to act during the game week, the
hero players collectively choose either the Move action or the
Recuperate/Train action.

[snip]

Recuperate/Train Action
When the party chooses the Recuperate/Train action, each
individual hero must decide whether to recuperate or train.

If a hero recuperates, he spends 50 coins and is restored to full
wounds and fatigue.

If a hero trains while the party is in a city, he visits one of the
buildings available in that city and follows the instructions for
that building’s “train” circumstance. If a hero trains while the
party is at a Secret Master Area, refer to the instructions under
“Secret Training” on page 23. If a hero trains while the party is
not at a city or Secret Master Area, he receives no benefit."

Note that there is no mention of city under the "recuperates" section of the rulebook, but there is mention of a city during "train". This makes it seem like the heroes can recoup while travelling and not in a city, which IMHO makes sense. If the heroes spend a week resting out in the wild, doing nothing (i.e. not moving), why not allow them to recoup? As an OL, I have *no* problem letting them waste time healing up.

However, I think there was mentioned in a FAQ somewhere that recouping can only happen in a city, which makes absolutely ZERO sense, since recouping is the same as training in a temple. Why even have the recoup rules if it's the same as a different rule? (Hence the confusion)

-shnar

We assume is just another one of many cases of poor editing after the rules changed (presumably after/during playtesting).

The Rulebook is clear that recuperating does not require being in a city. The GLOAQ changes that specifically.
(Q)2, Can a party still pay to recuperate when in the wilderness?

(A)2. You have to be in town to heal.

It is perhaps surprising that this was not addressed in the FAQ...

Recouperate is just a word that shouldn't have been used. All it means is "Go to the Temple under the Train circumstance." Methinks they just wanted some other than- "I go to the temple to train and heal all my wounds"- because "training" at the temple sounds odd.

Sigh

I also got confused regarding the recuperate. When detailing the cities and buildings it states that heros can either recuperate or train when at a building. Then under the Using Buildings section is states 3 options: visit, train, or restock. As noted, visit is not previously defined so I can only assume that visit actually means to recuperate. Recuperating seems to be defined as paying money to the temple to regain wounds and fatigue. And of course regaining wounds and fatigue is dependent on 2 more options: 25 coins to regain wounds equal to the temple rating or 50 coins to restore all wounds and all fatigue. Restocking, although not really defined, I assume is what heros have been doing when they port back to town: buy/sell and equip/un-equip items.

I personally have decided to view this from a logical point of view. When a hero first goes to town they visit a building and turn is over. When it is their turn again they then choose to either continue visiting or change to do a train or to restock. So to visit the hero is just hangin out not doing anything, turn is over. Training then gives the hero something to do like improve a trait or gain skills, more wounds, or more fatigue, etc, etc. Restocking opens the hero up to buy/sell, equip/un-equip items. What the rules seem to do though is limit what you can do at any given building so I could approach from a logical point of view as well. Assume that visiting is not really an option because players don't want to waste time when they can help it. The market is the only place where a hero can restock and restocking is the only thing that can be done there (potions are not available there, that is what the alchemist is for). The Alchemist only allows the restock option but a hero can only restock potions. The Temple is the only place where you can recuperate, therefore recuperating is the only thing that can be done there (as mentioned you have 2 ways to recuperate). What's really cool in my opinion is this allows the hero a cheaper option if they don't need to heal all the wounds and/or regain any fatigue. The Tavern only gives rumors. The Training Ground is the only place a hero can train, and training is the only option available.

Caladorn said:

As noted, visit is not previously defined so I can only assume that visit actually means to recuperate.

Visiting is expressly defined in the rulebook, and each town location lists what may be done at a town when under the visit condition. Visiting is not recuperating. Recuperating isn't even defined, other than to say a party can heal by recuperating between adventures for 50 gold, which has led some to assume you may recuperate while outside of town. However, the GLOAQ espressly addresses this idea, and states that heroes can only regain all wounds and fatigue for 50 gold when under the training circumstance while visiting a temple. Essentially, the use of the word recuperating is an attempt at being more fluffy than sticking with the defined terminology and saying train. In the game world, recuperating at a temple to heal makes more sense (in a fluff sort of way) than training being what gives you your health back.