I've long wanted a hero that does for direct damage what Elrond does for healing. The direct translation would be:

Response: After an enemy is damaged by another card effect, deal 1 damage to it.

But maybe that would be too powerful? You could put a limit on it, like twice per round, once per phase, etc. Or you could increase the cost, make you discard a card or pay a resource, something like that.

I find direct damage effects fun, but I don't see them used very frequently. Gandalf is the only card I regularly see in play that does direct damage, but even then most of the time I see him using his other abilities of card draw and threat reduction.

You could also have an event or attachment that keys off direct damage: Response: After an enemy is destroyed by a card effect, each other enemy in play gets -1 attack until the end of the round, something like that. This would make you dust off those Dwarrowdelf Axes and Ranger Bows.

Thoughts?

Given that the biggest limiter on direct damage at the moment is Toughness, maybe it should be an ability that increases direct damage by 1 each time it is dealt. That way Toughness 1 enemies could be hurt by Gondorian Spearmen etc., and it avoids making the ability too limited in scenarios with Toughness enemies. But I like the idea. Maybe it would make Thalin a little OTT if he could do this to every enemy revealed though...maybe just once per phase?

At the moment, I feel like direct damage deck is really too situational, even in a support deck. I would love to see something to get it back into the light. I especially like the Ithilien ranger ideas but the Lore direct damage is much, much weaker than Tactics right now (which makes sense). It can still be a nice bonus in a deck to have some direct damage: Beregond doesn't mind the Spear of the Citadel, Tactics Boromir the Mighty Prowess, and the core Gandalf still finds the 4-damage choice useful. But, I am all for more because it is so much fun to try and deal with enemies in a non-traditional way.

I've thought about this possibility too. As monkeyrama says, it sure would be an immense boost for Thalin - but maybe we need a stronger incentive for questing with just 1 WP these days. It could be a way of re-actualising older cards and helping with Toughness. Maybe a new Dúnedain or Noldor hero will have an ability like this?

I would do it as a tactics event with cost 1, and if you are in secrecy you can return it to your hand (also if it is the first time you played it, like Noiseless, and the other leadership event -i dont remember its name-).

I've long wanted a hero that does for direct damage what Elrond does for healing. The direct translation would be:

Response: After an enemy is damaged by another card effect, deal 1 damage to it.

But maybe that would be too powerful? You could put a limit on it, like twice per round, once per phase, etc. Or you could increase the cost, make you discard a card or pay a resource, something like that.

I find direct damage effects fun, but I don't see them used very frequently. Gandalf is the only card I regularly see in play that does direct damage, but even then most of the time I see him using his other abilities of card draw and threat reduction.

You could also have an event or attachment that keys off direct damage: Response: After an enemy is destroyed by a card effect, each other enemy in play gets -1 attack until the end of the round, something like that. This would make you dust off those Dwarrowdelf Axes and Ranger Bows.

Thoughts?

1st thought: the hero ability is a great idea and should have been printed on Dori.

Oh well. It's water under the coaster now.

I hate soggy coasters.

As for Thalin, I agree it'd make him more powerful (maybe even "relevant"), but a 2 HP enemy is rare these days and he still wouldn't be one-shotting anyone. I doubt you really need to limit this to a certain number of instances per phase, except to allow for future design space (allows for more repeatable damage-dealing abilities without running into a game-breaking combo).

Toughness is a barrier to direct damage, so maybe it would work if you word it "Response: When damage would be dealt by a card effect, increase that damage by 1." The whole "would be" wording is very ambiguous to me though, I'm not sure if that would work.

That said, Toughness is still very very rare (only in 3 scenarios, total?). I think it's OK to allow Toughness to 'defeat' direct damage strategies altogether.

This ability would demolish older quests, but for current quests this might be what it takes to bring direct damage back into relevance. Direct damage decks are loads of fun and provide a nice change of pace to the normal rhythms of combat. Sometimes the rhythm of defend/attack can get very repetitive, and direct damage provides a nice alternative for dealing with enemies. There are lots of fun cards like Gondorian Spear and Ranger Bow that I just don't play very often. The designers have done a good job lately of breathing life into old archetypes, it would be great to see them do this for the direct damage deck.

Thalin + that hero against Khazad-Dûm quests?

I too think the direct damage effect deserves a resurrection, but I don't think it should be just one card. Maybe a few good cards rather than one OP one will be better? Like, one Lore ally (Ithilien Captain, Sniper, whatever) that boosts by 1 direct damage that is done to enemies in the staging area, and another Tactics attachment that boost direct damage to enemies engages with you by 1. And perhaps a Tactics hero that can exhaust (limit once per round) to boost a direct damage effect by 2, anywhere on board (but only boost an existing one, not create an effect on its own).

I think it would be overpowered as a passive effect on hero's text.

Probably could add a kind of limit: when direct damage is dealt by an event card (like pipes with decreasing threat effects). There are some events so: rain-arrows, cleaver-goblin, stones, etc.

There are some events not so good..., they would get more power. And Hama would become an interesting hero, not only for the boring infinite looping finta or thicket.

I too think the direct damage effect deserves a resurrection, but I don't think it should be just one card. Maybe a few good cards rather than one OP one will be better? Like, one Lore ally (Ithilien Captain, Sniper, whatever) that boosts by 1 direct damage that is done to enemies in the staging area, and another Tactics attachment that boost direct damage to enemies engages with you by 1. And perhaps a Tactics hero that can exhaust (limit once per round) to boost a direct damage effect by 2, anywhere on board (but only boost an existing one, not create an effect on its own).

I want that Ithilien Captain, please.

How about a hero with

Response: After an enemy is damaged by another card effect, exhausy an Item attachment atrached to this hero to deal 1 damage to it.

This then limits the ability but allows you to build a deck that can maximize his ability with lots of Item attachments.

In fact, I'd love to see this happen on more heroes (especially Tactics) for creating limits on hero actions because it causes interesting strategy and deck building. Now weapons and armor can build the hero up in even more ways.

How about a hero with

Response: After an enemy is damaged by another card effect, exhausy an Item attachment atrached to this hero to deal 1 damage to it.

This then limits the ability but allows you to build a deck that can maximize his ability with lots of Item attachments.

In fact, I'd love to see this happen on more heroes (especially Tactics) for creating limits on hero actions because it causes interesting strategy and deck building. Now weapons and armor can build the hero up in even more ways.

Cool. Shouldn't it be only Weapon items, though? Way more thematic sense, and gives more meaning and strength to weapon attachments, the same way Foe-Hammer, for example, does.

Maybe, but you can hit an enemy with any item technically. What's to stop me from bashing an enemy over the head with the Horn of Gondor or the Palantir? =)

Maybe, but you can hit an enemy with any item technically. What's to stop me from bashing an enemy over the head with the Horn of Gondor or the Palantir? =)

And Athelas? Are orcs allergic or something?

It's just a huge bag of it...

I remember trying a direct damage deck, and then it fairly quickly transformed into an eagle deck because I just couldn't get enough direct damage cards out. I would love for that mechanic to get some more love. I always wanted Thalin to work but after HoN, I don't see him contributing much anymore.

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