I am new to the game and as overlord I have been asked a few questions by the proposed player heroes before we start for real in a week or two.

Yesterday, a player asked, why would I choose melee over Ranged? They both look to have the same defense dice roll...but the ranged guys can shoot distance AND shoot stuff right next to you (as if you were meleeing).

As a new player myself, I wasnt sure how to answer, I did say that some melee get a whield which they can use once per turn...but in general I was struggling to come up with a conving answer...is there one?

Thanks

For the most part you use the weapons that your class skills work with. If you've got a crossbow on a Knight they're not going to be able to do their stuff, if you've got a sword on a Wildlander they're not going to be able to do theirs.

Also usually the dice for ranged weapons are there to increase range - they're yellow. Ones on melee tend to be red, which does more damage. That's not a hard and fast rule but it's often the case.

Melee weapons (both for heroes and the OL) usually roll a blue and red, and have surges to deal additional damage usually with a +2 on surge.

Ranged weapons usually roll a blue and a yellow, have surge abilities to add range (instead of damage) and if they do add damage, usually add +1 heart on surge.

The result is usually a significant difference in total damage output, averaging 5 hearts (after surges) for melee, and 3 hearts for range, which can make a huge difference depending on the overlords choice of monster.

The above posters are correct. Additionally, ranged attacks have a higher chance of miss associated with them. For example, melee attacks (like all attacks) have a 1/6 chance to roll an X. Ranged attacks can ALSO miss by range, which adds to the probablility of a miss. Range-increasing surges mitigate this, but the miss probability still works out higher than 1/6 (depending on the range to target, of course).

The third option Melee + Reach is probably the best out of the three.

You normally want to avoid shooting from long distance so you don't miss your attack, and you normally don't want your movement ability to be too restricted because of melee range, as well as avoiding monsters/OL effects triggering on being adjacent to a monster.

If you want to better understand you damage probabilities of melee vs ranged, I (shamelessly) recommend the damage calculator I adopted for Descent:

https://chaoschaoticus.github.io/Descent-Damage-Calculator/

Play around and you will soon find out that the additionally required range (quite severely) reduces the average damage output. So if playing with ranged: look out for items that extend your range, ideally without a surge.

Ranged can be great, but as mentioned hitting the range may cause misses. Nothing like getting a solid damage roll but not being able to actually make it to the target.

I would add that some scenarios also don't favor range. Maps with lots of cover, hallway twists, etc can allow the OL to get in position and the ranged Hero has to be careful in keeping enemies at range. Granted ranged Heroes can shoot based enemies, they always hope it never gets to that point, as ranged Heroes are always trying to stay at range.