You know the dragon runes from the original basic 2nd edition? There are three a total gained from defeating the red challenges and theres one for every phase (ranged, melee and magic).

What I wonder is (since it was some time since I played this wonderful game) if I use - lets say - the ranged rune, do I have to defend in this phase afterwards? I know you must "sacrifice" an attack to automatically "succeed" at an attack to inflict 3 damage. But my head seems to refuse to accept that those runes are this good. If you had to defend afterwards they would seem less OP imo. Since as it plays out now to my group, the first one to get ahold of one of those runes, is able to beat anything! (Unless a red challenge prevents activating items).

ishinken said:

If you (automatically) succeed at an attack you don't have to defend in the same Phase, so why should you in this case?

Dragon Runes are very powerful Items and gaining them is not only necessary for victory (if you don't encounter Margath first) but gives you a valuable edge against the other Red Challenges. The most dangerous Dragonlords give you these 3 Runes. I think Eregax is far more dangerous than Margath himself.

Of course, you must always consider Item use restrictions. If you use the Dragon Rune, you sacrifice your Hero attack and won't be able to attack again in this Round (Allies excluded, but very few Allies have chances against Red Challenges), if you don't have the Totem Staff. Don't forget that Dragon Runes have to be exhausted after use and cannot be used again in the same combat; moreover, if you exhausted the Rune you cannot use the Chainmail or such Items to prevent a possible loss of Life.

If you're strong enough to resist a full round against a Red Challenge and to defeat it before getting serious damages (i.e. sacrificing Allies or come down to 1 Life), it's not because the Rune is overpowered, it's because you're more than ready to win the game!

Sure. its just that it is automatic.

Usually your main stat is almost always a guaranteed success against a red challenge when you have 3-4 levels in it which goes fast. If I get a rune in any other phase, I could just defend on my most leveled phase and attack in the other phase. And then let my ally be a meat shield in the last. This way the first round is very very easy and then on the second round the monster is almost always defeated when you attack in your main phase again.