searching via shadow soul

By Scharpes, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Hi all,

need a quick confirmation on this:

When searching via the "dark servant" skill (shadow walker), any consecutive effect of searching the token (e.g. OL trap cards or placing a secret passage) are applied to the hero figure (not the shadow soul), right?

Thanks!!

It is still the hero searching.

Thanks!

Ok, sorry about it but I've got 2 follow up questions :rolleyes: .

The wording in my language differs slightly, creating doubt when double-checking with the OV texts...

1. "Shadow Puppet" does not imitate monsters' abilities that do not require surges, right? (like sorcery)

2. "Endless void" - I will not recover damage and fatigue when replacing the soul by means of "soul bound" or "faithful friend", correct? One might argue that in those cases, the soul is first discarded, then placed again...

(If not, then endless void only triggers when discarding the soul with "dark servant" or "shadow step").

Thanks so much!

1. It says 'Perform an attack with that Shadow Soul using the attack type (melee or ranged), dice, and surge abilities of that monster'. So it would seem you can't use abilities like 'Sorcery'.

2. Only 'Dark Servant' and 'Shadow Step' mention the discarding of the shadow soul. Otherwise, you could recover 3 damage and 3 fatigue by just replacing the Shadow Soul using 'Faithful Friend' and attacking twice. And that would we quite powerful.

Scharpes,

I'm not sure about #1 but I can answer about #2

Endless void does not trigger off of soul bound or faithful friend as you are not "discarding" the servant... Some people might argue that it is discarded, but the language on the cards does not support that claim. There are cards that specifically call out "discard the shadow soul". Endless void triggers off of these.

Those are very good questions.

I agree with Ceasarsalad101 about the fact the ability specifically states which attack "attributes" are used, so by exclusion the rest should be ignored, including things like Sorcery, which doesn't fall into any of these "attributes". It doesn't completely make sense to me, though. I can get behind why Sorcery wouldn't apply, as it implies a decision from the player (how much range you´d like to trade for damage, and vice-versa, but I´m having more troubles getting my head around why an in-built Pierce X would not apply. However, still, from a pure technical perspective, the answer is that you cannot use non-surge abilities. Sometimes things don't make sense thematically but they don't always have to :)

As a general rule of thumb for this game, if an effect or ability describes its scope in a specific manner, you can always assume anything that is not mentioned is out of said scope.

About your second question, I think the answer lies in the fact discarding the shadow soul token because a new one is put into play is not part of the skill executing that effect. Therefore you cannot trigger your Endless Void on that event, since it must refer to the text on a skill card. The "discard the old token" is actually linked to the ability listed on the Shadow Soul familiar card itself, stating that you cannot have have more than one of these in play at any point in time. From there, the indirect consequence is that if at anytime you would have two shadow souls, you must discard the old one from play.

Now for the lulz, although nobody would argue that the familiar card is not a skill card per say, it technically belongs to the Shadow Walker skill deck based on its back :)

Edited by Indalecio

1) I'm going to make Shadow Puppet really simple.

2) The previous posters are correct about discarding the shadow soul. Though it can be incidentally discarded when using "Faithful Friend," that is not an ability including the trigger of "discarding the shadow soul." Technically, it can occur- but that is not how "Endless Void" was intended.

Edited by Zaltyre

Alright everybody, thanks for the clarifications:)

Would have loved to attack Mirklace with his own sorcery though...Most probably wont go for this skill then. I dont find monster attacks necessarily stronger than hero weapons..

As a general rule of thumb for this game, if an effect or ability describes its scope in a specific manner, you can always assume anything that is not mentioned is out of said scope.

Yep, that makes sense, I should keep that in mind!

About your second question, I think the answer lies in the fact discarding the shadow soul token because a new one is put into play is not part of the skill executing that effect. Therefore you cannot trigger your Endless Void on that event, since it must refer to the text on a skill card. The "discard the old token" is actually linked to the ability listed on the Shadow Soul familiar card itself, stating that you cannot have have more than one of these in play at any point in time. From there, the indirect consequence is that if at anytime you would have two shadow souls, you must discard the old one from play.

Now for the lulz, although nobody would argue that the familiar card is not a skill card per say, it technically belongs to the Shadow Walker skill deck based on its back :)

There lies the answer, I was thinking that one might consider the soul being discarded as a consequence of the skill cards, but of course, its actually due to wording of the familiar card...Great, I can rest now :)

1) I'm going to make Shadow Puppet really simple.

2) The previous posters are correct about discarding the shadow soul. Though it can be incidentally discarded when using "Faithful Friend," that is not an ability including the trigger of "discarding the shadow soul." Technically, it can occur- but that is not how "Endless Void" was intended.

Thanks Zaltyre!

Alright everybody, thanks for the clarifications:)

Would have loved to attack Mirklace with his own sorcery though...Most probably wont go for this skill then. I dont find monster attacks necessarily stronger than hero weapons..

I think 'Shadow Step' is the better 3 xp card since it makes it possible to 'blink' past a blockade (except doors) or jump across a pit:) But it could be a useful thing if you can blast a group of monsters and self-destruct the target monster in the process. However, that is very situational and most of the time it is better to just perform the attack yourself and save 3 fatigue.

And can you make the monster attack itself? It doesn't specify it on the card like 'Dark Charm'.

Alright everybody, thanks for the clarifications:)

Would have loved to attack Mirklace with his own sorcery though...Most probably wont go for this skill then. I dont find monster attacks necessarily stronger than hero weapons..

I think 'Shadow Step' is the better 3 xp card since it makes it possible to 'blink' past a blockade (except doors) or jump across a pit:) But it could be a useful thing if you can blast a group of monsters and self-destruct the target monster in the process. However, that is very situational and most of the time it is better to just perform the attack yourself and save 3 fatigue.

And can you make the monster attack itself? It doesn't specify it on the card like 'Dark Charm'.

Alright everybody, thanks for the clarifications:)

Would have loved to attack Mirklace with his own sorcery though...Most probably wont go for this skill then. I dont find monster attacks necessarily stronger than hero weapons..

I think 'Shadow Step' is the better 3 xp card since it makes it possible to 'blink' past a blockade (except doors) or jump across a pit:) But it could be a useful thing if you can blast a group of monsters and self-destruct the target monster in the process. However, that is very situational and most of the time it is better to just perform the attack yourself and save 3 fatigue.

And can you make the monster attack itself? It doesn't specify it on the card like 'Dark Charm'.

For Shadow Puppet, its the Shadow Soul making the attack, not the monster, so you could attack the monster chosen, provided the Shadow Soul has range/line of sight on it etc.

Edited by Mattigar
@Mattigar, you are right.

Personally, I think shadow step is a better ability, because you can bypass monster blockades, pits and lava (if you've placed your shadow soul correctly) and then make an attack, with a free surge. You lose the +1 damage you'd get from your shadow soul being adjacent to a monster, but by the time you get a 3 xp card, you should have good surge abilities on your weapon...

and then if your attack hits, place a new shadow soul on the map, ready for the next round!

Personally, I think shadow step is a better ability, because you can bypass monster blockades, pits and lava (if you've placed your shadow soul correctly) and then make an attack, with a free surge. You lose the +1 damage you'd get from your shadow soul being adjacent to a monster, but by the time you get a 3 xp card, you should have good surge abilities on your weapon...

and then if your attack hits, place a new shadow soul on the map, ready for the next round!

Aaand that brings me to the next question (is it me or is it the class being a bit tricky?):

Would it be possible to trigger "soul bound" with the "shadow step" attack? It appears (to me) so.

Further, as I understand it, shadow soul is placed before dealing damage.

So these 2 class cards combined can trigger:

a very useful figure/token swap, 1 attack (+1 surge, then + 1 damage through shadow soul, taken the attack dealt damage), shadow soul remains on the board -- for 1 action, 2 fatigue. Now get "endless void" and the cost is reduced by 1 surge and you recover 1 damage...

I got a new favorite

You place the Shadow Soul after the attack hits, but before damage is dealt. So that makes Shadow Step very useful.

The shadow walker is a very useful class for the heroes, not quite as bad for the OL as the treasure hunter, but one that can be tricksy.. oh yess, my preciousssssss!

If you use Tinashi the Wanderer and use her heroic feat properly and replace your axe with a proper ranged weapon as early as you can? I've done some pretty funny jumps using this. (make an attack across something that blocks movement but not line of sight, use shadow step to jump... and then attack again..., then use the heroic feat to port back to the other side of the blocking thing)

:ph34r:

Love the mobility and supporting quality of that class, Tinashi really seems made for it-

however I chose Roganna, weak heroic feat but really like to +1 damage from her ability - fitting to how i like to play a scout: fast loner flanking & supporting ^_^

I like that the whole party benefits from the Shadow Soul, pierce and +1 damage for every attack? Yes please! Oh, the heroic feat of Roganna saved the party a few times in co-op quests.