Interested to see what folks think of this house rule.

Altar of Despair expack introduces the concept of a prolonged action. These are dictated by the quest - so for example a quest will state that a hero can break down a door by completing a prolonged melee action of difficulty 5, which means the hero has to declare a ready action, place a prolonged order token and spend a half action rolling a number of power dice equal to the number they would roll for a melee attack, where each power enhancement rolled would contribute to their accumulated action, which would be completed when they reach 5. There are skills cards included in the expack that enhance a hero's ability to perform prolonged actions.

Considering the difficulty of the expanded game (even with the feat cards from Tomb of Ice), I've been thinking of introducing non-situational or generic prolonged actions, as follows:

Healing Spell: Prolonged Magic action, difficulty 3-5. Hero chooses the difficulty level and target when declaring the ready action. Upon completion, the target is healed a number of wounds equal to the difficulty chosen. It's a continuous action, so the healer can do nothing else (must concentrate until the action is completed), and the action will be disrupted if the healer moves or is moved (e.g. by knockback). Target can move but if they move or are moved to a non-adjacent space, the action is disrupted. Healer/target can take damage without disruption.

Hiding in Shadows: Prolonged Ranged action, difficulty 3-5. Hero chooses the difficulty level when declaring the ready action. Upon completion the next X attack rolls (where x=difficulty level) made against the hero must include the stealth die (from Tomb of Ice expack). The action is continuous and if the hero moves or is moved the action is disrupted.

Berserkergang: Prolonged Melee Action, difficulty 3-5. Hero chooses the difficulty level when declaring the ready action. Upon completion the next X attacks (where x=difficulty level) made by the hero are at +2 damage. The action is continuous and if the hero moves or is moved the action is disrupted.

The expack rules state that fatigue can be used to add a power dice to each concentration roll. None the less I would stipulate that a hero with no power dice bonus to a trait cannot make a generic prolonged action for that trait. So for example, Trenloe the Strong thundering about in plate armour cannot hide in shadows, and slender wee Silhouette can't work herself up into a berserker rage.

Nice one Heartworm.

Good ideas for prolonged actions which are not quest-based but hero-based.

Maybe the Berserkergang prolonged action should be only for the next X melee attacks, not for any attacks (as it is only a melee prolonged action).

A few other ideas which could be used:

Running Start: Prolonged Melee Action with a 3-5 difficulty. The hero player chooses the difficulty. Upon completion the player receives X web tokens where X equals the difficulty. The hero's next action involving movement receives X additional movement points (but it does not increase the base speed). Remove all web tokens at the end of the hero's next turn.

Find Traps: Prolonged Ranged Action with a 3-5 difficulty. The hero player chooses the difficulty. Upon completion the player receives X encounter tokens where X equals the difficulty. The threat cost of the first trap card played by the OL during the next X turns against the hero is increased by X. Reduce the number of encounter tokens at the end of the hero's next turns by one each turn until all are removed or a trap card has been played against the hero.

Set Magic Trap: Prolonged Magic Action with a 3-5 difficulty. This prolonged action is disrruptable. The hero player chooses the difficulty. Upon completion the player receives X poison tokens where X equals the difficulty. The next monster moving adjacent to the hero is subject to an immediate magic attack involving a white die + X black power dice similar to a guard action. Reduce the number of poison tokens at the end of the hero's next turns by one each turn until all are removed or the Magic Trap has attacked once.

I wrote a more in-depth reply on the BGG forum, but for the reference of those that only read this one, I argue these take too much planning to pull off for too little effect, and are too complicated for how little they affect the game.

I like this idea for two reasons:

• More options for heroes
• Get use out of prolonged action tokens (They are never used outside a few specific quests)

Some minor alterations/suggestions:

• Prolonged action is not prolonged...that is you only get to "charge-up" for 1 half action, gathering that half actions worth of "prolonged action markers". No difficulty required. The hero will always succeed. A hero chooses a specific special "prolonged" action and pumps as many tokens onto himself as he can in one half action. Alternatively the action can be prolonged but if interrupted, all tokens are lost.
• When charging up a new generic prolonged action, any tokens from a previous generic prolonged action are lost.
• If attempting a quest specific prolonged action, any tokens from a previous generic prolonged action are lost.

Counter arguments:

• House rules are house rules. Don't like em. Don't use em.
• Complexity is the name of the game. Giving heroes more options does make the game a bit more complex. But 3 extra lines of rules is not that hard to remember. The list of extra generic prolonged actions might be though. But these can be printed out and handed to players.

Speaking of generic prolonged actions, I really like the ones suggested so far. Keep it up.