I got my copies of the new heroes a few days ago, but being in the middle of a RTL campaign I won't get a chance to use them for some time. Has anyone played with them yet?

Tobin and Kel seem very powerful. Jonas I'm not so sure about.

They definitely seem powerful. Jonas seems very useful for a campaign, where he can bypass undying on bosses and avoid the perils of Crushing Blow. His real power will come when he has a good weapon and upgraded dice, so he can spend just enough surges to find the sweet spot at 1 health, but not so much that he overflows and kills the creature, forcing an undying roll. 16 health, 5 speed, and 4 fatigue also makes him a pretty good runner (though there are better, so it'd probably be a secondary roll).

James McMurray said:

Lack of access to subterfuge skills could be a problem for him as a runner, and a melee character with no armour seems a dangerous proposition.

On the other hand, I wonder if his ability will also let him avoid getting a curse token when killing a Dark Priest.

Yeah, he's definitely someone that will want to pick up enduring. Or you could go the shield + armors that roll to negate damage.

Jonas looks interesting, but I don't think he'll be overpowered. In my experience it's rare that an attack is left wanting for one extra damage, so his real ability is in ignoring undying, which is certainly powerful but it really only matters if the target HAS undying. I usually fail to roll the ressurection anyway so what's the diff? =I

Tobin appears disturbingly strong at first glance, but after thinking about it for a bit I'm not so sure he is. (I haven't had a chance to play with yet so I'm just working in theory here.) Tobin's ability is basically the logical inverse of Laurel of Bloodwood. Laurel is able to convert excess range into damage, so she wants to get up close and personal to maximize that, but she's also a very squishy ranged attacker so getting up close isn't always a great idea. As such she is an interesting character to play, but balanced. Tobin on the other hand adds used range to damage, which means he wants to stay far away to maximize that. But the further he gets the more he pushes his luck regarding even getting the range he needs to hit. If he makes it, it will hurt; if he doesn't though the attack is a miss. Also, by staying far away he diminishes the advantage of his high HP and Armor values since he'll be as far or further than the squishy mages who make easier targets. Tobin's real strength, I suspect, is in flexibility. He can hang back to make high damage shots OR he can move up close and tank, sacrificing his own attack for the most part. He can change to meet the needs of the party on a turn by turn basis.

Kel is the only one of the three I'm seriously worried about being broken, and I'd like to see her in action before making any strong opinions one way or the other. As a mage she is naturally inclined to ranged combat, and the ability to ignore everything except walls (even Shadowcloak) when picking targets will make her a very hard person to avoid. Unless the player can be baited into attacking low priority targets, she could be trouble. But we'll see. We shall see.

Why not start a side game (even of just straight Vanilla Descent) and see how they work for yourself. I find it interesting that there is a lot of pondering but not many putting into practice on these boards. Thinking something is "broken" before one has even played with said figures or even a new expansion seems silly to me.

improbable said:

I think so, since if he gets the Master Priest to 1 health, the creature doesn't actually "die", it just gives up and goes home, so the Black Curse doesn't affect him...

-shnar

CanadianPittbull said:

I rather suspect that if people on this board could play Descent as much as they wanted there wouldn't be anyone posting at all. Sometimes pondering is the only outlet available.

improbable said:

No offense but that is just a cop-out. I would hope that folks who purchased the game would make the time to play it and those still purchasing the expansions and additional figures are doing so to add to the enjoyment of the game and again MAKE the time to play the game. I just don't buy the if people were playing Descent they wouldn't be posting here. If anything I think the lines of discussion might come off a bit more from actual gaming experience than just assuming something doesn't work or is overpowered or "broken" when they haven't played it themselves.

CanadianPittbull said:

No offense taken And I hope you won't take offense if I tell you that I think it's a bit silly for you to decide for everyone how they can best enjoy their lives.

There's no harm in talking about a game. And I suspect that a lot of these posts are made at times when a quick 5 hour game of Descent is not viable (at work perhaps?).

Ironically, boardgaming is absolutely rife with armchair generals.

Seriously. Do you know how many games I've boughten, read the rules thoroughly, pondered over situations, but never actually played? A lot of FFG games are like that, since I see the game and think I will really like it, but my group ends up never playing it. So it sits on my shelf collecting dust. Doesn't mean I don't want to play, I just *can't* as I have no one to play it with.

- War of the Rings
- Twilight Imperium
- Marvel Heroes
- Conan
- Chaos in the Old World

and a ton of Silverline games will probably never see the light of day on our game table

Does this mean I shouldn't make sure I understand the game? Or consider how certain situations should work?

-shnar

Whatever. The point is if you say that a rule doesn't work or is broken. Say it because you tried it and it didn't work or it was broken. Don't say it because you read the rule and you think it might not work or might be broken. Theory and application are not necessarily the same thing.

I never said there was a harm in talking about the game and I definitely wasn't telling people how to spend their lives. I was stating the obvious of making the time to play the game if and when others want to play the game. So no need to get your back up there little dude.

CanadianPittbull said:

Steve-O said:

Tobin will be an interesting one to play against as OL. It'll be a question of either trying to stay right out of his way, or getting in as close as possible to negate his ability. Grapple should work very nicely.

CanadianPittbull said:

Have you tasted turds, or do you operate under the assumption that you won't like them and avoid it? Some things are patently obvious and don't require any game play to notice. "You gotta play it" is a cop out, or an admission of an inability to think rationally without experimental data. Yes, there are things that aren't problems that get discussed by people who haven't played, but to lump everything being discussed without playtime under one umbrella is silly.

It's good for you that you have complete control over your gaming environment, but many peoples' groups are more democratic and have varied tastes, so don't play Descent constantly. Then again, I've yet to see any evidence of this "haven't played it themselves" group you keep talking about. Which threads are those people in?