Reading about Descent history about this quest I could tell that this quests always favored heavily one side.However since no balance changes have been made for a long time, this quest is stuck with Sir Palamon having 4 speed, and 25hp with 2 gray dice.

My experience was this:

I played the quest in two player mode playing as heroes. All it took is to move him behind walls of militia and wait a couple of turns. Worse still, stats on all "NPC" stay the same regardless of the number of heroes. It seemed very easy for the heroes, even though they saved half of the villagers.

I have my own idea on how to balance it, but am curious on what the more experience players think. Does the quest need balancing? If so, what would be the suggested balance for:

2 heroes (I realize the 2 heroes usually favours OL in the rest of the quests, but those are another topic)

3 heroes

4 heroes

As one of the numerous balance suggestions (like moving 3, or either moving or summoning), I was thinking of allowing Sir Palamon to move 4, but only inside the throne room.

I do not think the quest needs extra balancing. The OL has access to some wonderful monsters from the expansions that can really make things difficult for the heroes in this quest. For example, changelings.

I do not think the quest needs extra balancing. The OL has access to some wonderful monsters from the expansions that can really make things difficult for the heroes in this quest. For example, changelings.

I only have the core set. Judging from the first experience, where monster just got one attack on him before he could get away and swarm them with militia, which he could summon almost always, it seems this quest is going to be hard for the OV to win without the expansions.

Never seen the heroes lose this quest. But don't forget Alric's Overpower can move people out of the way.

All it takes to win this one as the overlord is a good throw by the ettin, and that can be aided by using basic deck 2 (my preferred deck) and the right monsters (as mentioned, changelings are nice).

The base campaign (The Shadow Rune) is actually pretty bad compared to the ones that come later. They really start hitting their stride with quest design with Trollfens and Labyrinth of Ruin, and their later stuff is even better.

Never seen the heroes lose this quest. But don't forget Alric's Overpower can move people out of the way.

Well, according to my tracker website, one group lost!

http://d2etracker.com/stats_quests.php

I have beat Castle Daerion in its new form as Overlord. Key for me was to use the Conversion Kit version of the Ogres.

With Undying they are very unlikely to be removed on the first turn, and their ability to Knockback is *much* more reliable than the Ettins. Undying rocks.

Thus, with a bit of lucky rolling it isn't difficult to position Palomon behind one of the Ettins in the northern hallway on the first or second Overlord turn. Once you have done that, you've basically won. Alric makes mincemeat of Palomon in no time at all with his Overpower ability, and the Heroes will not have time to cut through your beefy walls to save him.

Unfortunately, the new version of the Ogres suck and are easy to alpha strike into oblivion on turn 1, so the strategy is much less effective with them. And yes, once Palomon is behind a wall of militia, the heroes have won for sure.

I remember my daughter beat me once as Overlord simply by befuddling (BASIC II) Sir Palamon to get more time. She also had cards to be able to get Befuddle back in her hand. Sir Alric's Overpower ability works well and if you can get the Ettin in the position to throw that also helps.

It was really embarrassing (I think she was 8 at the time). I have won as Overlord once by using Summon Bolgoreth and Kobolds. Kobolds are a good choice for your Open Group IMO as are Changelings. I have also won using Lord Merrick's Plot deck and his extra damage plot card (Greater Power?), but I did consume a lot of Threat.

Sadly, most of the suggestions involve expansions or the conversion kit. Until I acquire those, I'm thinking of house ruling that Sir Palamon must use his movement option inside the throne room area. The ettin throw is definitely what I had in mind, but I would not rather decide if OL loses the scenario or not.

Still don't know why all militia and Sir Palamon stats remain the same even though there are less players. What's worse in a 2 player game OL doesn't have the master ettin to throw.