Hi all,

I'm demoing Descent at my FLGS this weekend. I'm planning to run "The Chase", and I'd like to be set-up in full at the start, so I can get down to running the game. This will include putting together heroes before the players show up, equipment and all.

I have all the expansion heroes save for the newest promo four, and all the expansons bar Sea of Blood.

Has ayone more statistically skilled than I any thoughts on hero/skill/equipment setups please?

Thx.

Since this is a demo, and I assume your players will be newbies, you'll probably want heroes that are powerful, easy to play, and vaguely representative. Also, considering the quest, fast. I'd consider something like the following:

Lord Hawthorne
Skills: Cleaving, Mighty, Relentless
Equipment: Sword, Iron Shield, Chainmail, Health Potion, Vitality Potion

This hero is a spinning whirlwind of death. Advance into position (gaining fatigue from Relentless), then kill a bunch of enemies with a long reach, Mighty attacks, and Cleaving. Hawthorne is fast for a 4-conquest hero, but a bit squishy, so he's got a shield and a health potion (a second vitality potion would probably be better, but it's probably appropriate for the party to have some healing, at least for their first game).

Varikas the Dead
Skills: Bear Tattoo, Tiger Tatoo, Wild Talent
Equipment: Axe, Chainmail, Health Potion, Vitality Potion

This hero is a brutal tank. He's got 18 health and 4 armor, is resistant to traps, and can Grapple monsters to pin them down. He's also got 4 speed and 5 fatigue thanks to Tiger Tatoo, and his fatigue regeneration ability, in addition to being generically awesome, will help heroes get used to spending fatigue (be sure to point out that he might as well spend a fatigue any time he's at full, since otherwise the regeneration will be wasted). He can also use a magic weapon in a pinch, due to split trait dice, and because Wild Talent is weapon-type-agnostic (don't let the hero spend money on a magic weapon from the shop, though).

Bogran the Shadow
Skills: Unmovable, Born to the Bow, Precision
Equipment: Sling, Leather Armor, Health Potion, Vitality Potion x2

This hero is a classic rogue. Point out that other heroes can help him use his special ability by standing between him and the monsters, and that Bogran can attack through them with Precision; should be a good lesson in line-of-sight. Born to the Bow lets players see the aim reroll mechanic at work, and Unmovable lets them see guard orders and provides some extra motivation for figuring out the "spend fatigue to move so you can attack more" concept. Giving this hero a Bow instead of a Sling may actually be defensible, but it's probably better not to give players the impression that it's a worthwhile weapon.

Runewitch Astarra
Skills: Boggs the Rat, Quick Casting, Vampiric Blood
Equipment: Immolation, Tunic, Vitality Potion

This hero is a fast blaster. Quick Casting and Vampiric Blood have a clear but not overwhelming synergy, and Boggs the Rat is a simple familiar that helps teach about spawning. A 12 health, 0 armor hero is probably the only case where wearing a Tunic is defensible. An experienced player would probably take Sunburst over Immolation every time, but Immolation is easier to use; be sure to warn the player it doesn't have much range, though. You could substitute Inner Fire for one of the other skills if that's a problem. Also be sure to point out that if an attack doesn't quite kill an enemy, the player can spend fatigue for bonus damage, and has a good chance of gaining the fatigue back due to Vampiric Blood.

That's probably a better party than you'd get from random draws by a fair margin, but I don't think they'd break the game, especially in the hands of newbies. Each one has a clear area that they're good at, which should be relatively straightforward, but not mindless. All of them are decent fighters, and none of them is slow.

You might also want to think the starting hand of Overlord cards. Dodge is a good start as it prevents the Sorceror / Dark Priest from dying from a lucky attack and finishing the scenario too early, Pit Trap is cheap and shows how the Overlord can affect the player's well worked actions and maybe a Skeleton Spawn to demonstrate how spawning works.

Additionally, Bear Tattoo can pose a risk to the knack of the scenario, if Varikas runs up to the Sorcerer and Grapples him, pinning him in place for the rest of the team to close up.

Parathion is right. Maybe you should replace "Bear Tatoo" by "Taunt". He would still be a great tank, but he couldn't pin down the fleeing sorcerer.

I wouldn't recommend Taunt - it detracts from Overlord play by forcing his playing options and wouldn't represent a typical game. Perhaps Tough instead to make him a real tank.

Jake yet again said:

Hmm, thats right. You could choose "Bear Tatoo" for the Tank, when you give "Unmovable" to the fleeing sorcerer in return.

Slev said:

Are there 4 new promo figures? I thought there were only 3.

Jonas the Kind
Tobin Farslayer
Truthseeker Kel

Who is the 4th one?

It's Nara the Fang.

Parathion said:

Fair point. Tough or Parry might be reasonable replacements. I wouldn't go with Taunt , it's complicated and can skew strategy quite a bit.

Hein99 said:

Nara the Fang, currently only available in the first print run of Sea of Blood (presumably sans Runebound card.) Whether or not she'll be made available separately remains to be seen, but I personally expect her to make a Runebound appearance somewhere for those who want her in that game.

The Runebound card is actually included with Nara in Sea of Blood.

Hm, cool combos.

Varikas with Cleaving , Mighty and Vampiric Blood . Give him a weapon with reach and you've got a real killer. Cleaving + Vampiric Blood is just awesome.

Corbin with Tough , makes him an unbelievable tank.

Laurel with Lucky and Master Archer (I mean the skill with +3 range, is Master Archer the one with the free surges?) and some other nice skill can put out loads of damage, though her ability might be a little too abnormal for a first game.

Tahlia with Knight , Unmovable and Battle Cry . 5 MPs and 4 Attacks per turn for one fatigue. Well, that's just broken.

Landrec with Inner Fire and a blast rune is quite funny, too.

Zyla with Bear Tattoo is really annoying. You could just houserule that the sorcerer cannot be grappled.

Other than that, Leadership is cool because it may push the heroes towards learning about ready actions. Blessing is nice because the heroes have to be aware of the 3 space radius of command .

I was specificially trying NOT to put together the best possible combos, just moderately good ones. I'm pretty sure Wild Talent , for example, does not appear on anyone's short list of good skills. Putting together hero/skill combos that break the game is easy, but they break the game , which is presumably undesirable for a demo.

And combos where you have to cross your fingers and just hope that you draw a Reach weapon, or a Blast weapon, or some other very specific thing just have way too much luck dependence. I only tolerate Born to the Bow because I figure most 2h ranged weapon with aim are still only about as good as 1h ranged weapons of the same treasure level.

Incidentally, +3 range is Marksman . Master Archer is 2 free surges.

Thx to all for the feedback.

Antistone gets exactly what it is we need here (thx dude!), and I've decided to use the suggested replacement of Bear Tattoo with Tough.

Jake Yet Again has an interesting point on Overlord cards, I'll probaby stack the first turn or two's worth of cards to keep the power-level low initially, and to preven any early awful combos (note to self, no spawning Master Trolls with Charge and Rage on my first turn for a TPK).

I'm thinking Dodge, Danger, Gust of Wind, Skeleton Patrol, Pit Trap for the initial draw & first turn, perhaps a another low-value spawn and Trapmaster (to discard for Threat) for the second turn.