Really Stupid Question About Movement

By zixition72, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Hi guys,

You've been so helpful so far so I'm back with another question. I probably misread something or just didn't read the rules close enough but I have a clarification needed about movement. Can a hero who has say 5 movement points, move 3, then attack, then resume the move action prior and finish the last 2 steps?

Or does a hero who declares a move action have to use up all or some of the movement, then proceed to the next action which can also be to move up to their full speed.

Any help would be great!

Thanks!

Yes he can, see paragraph 3 under 'Move' in the rulebook page 8

Thanks Atom!

We argued that it seemed too powerful causing hit and run like scenarios with melee heroes that would put melee monsters at a large disadvantage but I suppose if heroes can do it, monsters can too!

Yes, monsters can also do the same, and large monsters expand from their shrinked size when they do. But I'm going to leave the explaining (if needed) of that mechanic to somebody who can probably explain it better *cough* Zaltyre *cough* :)

Edited by Atom4geVampire

Haha cool, well we've been playing wrong for all of Act 1 then but at least it wasn't really unfair for either side because we applied the rule to both the OL and the player. This will make Act 2 very interesting now that we are playing with correct movement!

Thanks for the help! :)

And remember you can also spend a fatigue to gain a movement point at almost any moment during your turn. This advantages the heroes of course since monsters, lieutenants included, don't have stamina.

And spending fatigue to gain movement points is NOT an action, so you can gain movement points, use them to move, then attack twice and use up the rest of your fatigue earned movement points to move away.

The elven boots also help in this regard.

Large monsters are a touch confusing. When a large monster moves, the first step is choosing one of the spaces he is currently occupying and 'shrinking' the entire monster down to that space (this can be any space of his.)

While moving, the monster mostly acts just like a 1x1 figure, except it can walk through pits without really any problems (more on that later.)

If a large monster is intrrupted while moving either by performing another action or by a hero using some ability like Guard or Nimble, after that thing has been declared, the large monster must 'expand' back to its full size. This is the opposite of shrinking, except the monster can expand in any way- there are no rules about it being the same space you shrunk to- all that matters is that after expanding the monster still sits on the 1x1 space. If he cannot expand, he cannot stop (or be stopped by an ability.)

The large monster can only interrupt his movement to perform an ability that would be valid from his 1x1 space. That is, if a shadow dragon wants to attack, his 1x1 space must be adjacent for him to declare the attack.

Once he expands, he could measure range/LOS from any of his spaces (that part is mostly only important to large ranged monsters.)

Pits- large monsters don't give a second thought to pits unless their movement is interrupted (that is, they have expanded) AND every space of theirs is a pit. Otherwise, they can walk through pits all day long, no trouble.

Last point- when a monster expands, it isn't entering any new spaces. The only spaces a large monster enters are the ones his shrunken 1x1 space lands in.

Edited by Zaltyre

The large monster can only interrupt his movement to perform an ability that would be valid from his 1x1 space. That is, if a shadow dragon wants to attack, his 1x1 space must be adjacent for him to declare the attack.
Once he expands, he could measure range/LOS from any of his spaces (that part is mostly only important to large ranged monsters.)

So a large monster can not expand into 'range' of attack? That is new information to me and I can find it in the rulebook in the sections 'movement' or 'large monsters'. I always thought that large monsters could use that to conserve movement point or avoid the trigger of abilities like Nimble.


The large monster can only interrupt his movement to perform an ability that would be valid from his 1x1 space. That is, if a shadow dragon wants to attack, his 1x1 space must be adjacent for him to declare the attack.
Once he expands, he could measure range/LOS from any of his spaces (that part is mostly only important to large ranged monsters.)

So a large monster can not expand into 'range' of attack? That is new information to me and I can find it in the rulebook in the sections 'movement' or 'large monsters'. I always thought that large monsters could use that to conserve movement point or avoid the trigger of abilities like Nimble.

The relevant rule for this is found in the official errata and faq:

Page 16, “Large Monsters”: Add, “When interrupting a large monster’s
movement to perform an action, the overlord must be able to declare the
action that the large monster will perform before placing the monster’s
figure on the map.”
While moving, you only occupy one space, so you must be able to declare an attack from that single space if you want to interrupt your movement (ie your melee monster must be adjacent, or one space away if it has reach). Note that this only applies when you want to interrupt the monster's movement. You can still end your movement (and lose any remaining movement points) then expand into range and attack, avoiding nimble etc. The rule only applies to interrupting movement, so no expanding into range then running away with extra movement points. You could however still move away after with a dash etc.
Edited by Mattigar
Check, I thought I should just look it up in the online rulebook but that didn't contain the errata changes.

That Brings up an interesting question. Suppose that a large Monster is moving and a hero decides to interrupt it on a space it moved into. However, it can't expand it's base because of figures and objects. What then?

Didn't Zaltyre mention that a few posts back? If he can't expand he can't be stopped.