I've been playing Descent since its release I'm a avid player we started our first Sea of Blood Campain. Here is the problem during many games My friend and i on the Heroes side were complaining about Knockback to the DM how you can Knockback a creature or Other heroe towards and behind the attacking unit wich seems impossible to logic and physics. in the rules it states it moves the unit spaces around the space it was attacked but that makes no sense Knockback should Knock "Back" not Knock "Forward" i suppose i can be fine with Knocking the unit to the side but it would never Knock"Forward" unless the weapon has a grapling hook or winch attached He He HE . Makes no sense can anyone help on clarifying what the developers intended for KnockBack.

The way I look at it is as "knockback" as a generic term meant to be used in place of "shift, throw, pull, slide." Since there is no such thing as facing in Descent, you can think of it as the opponents ducking, dodging and weaving within their space(s), which means they could conceptually end up "facing" any direction when they use the knockback ability to relocate another figure, no matter where the figure actually ends up.

Feel free to use your imagination in deciding how the figure gets to where it is, as long as it's within the scope of the rules; i.e. knockback can't move a figure through a wall, but it can technically move a figure around corner, even if that seems silly.

Thanks and Ya seems to blow my mind that you can Knockback a unit around a corner lol to much fun since we use Knockback alot to fling another Heroe into a spot we need him and if we can do that around a corner that would be adding a few new tricks to our belt.

Thanks for the reply

Our group has found great delight in stunning enemies and then using knockback to get them within short range of all our other attacks. Works pretty well against everything except named monsters, which can't be stunned.

My players have had a hard time with this too, insisting that it should be a "straight" line from where the attack was made. IMHO, it's the choice of work "knockback" that is causing the confusion. Really it's just being knocked around. You can picture the giant picking up the hero and slamming him on the other side (if the "knockback" sent the hero forward and around the giant). Or maybe just throwing said player, etc. They have a hard time understanding that getting from square X to square Y has nothing to do with the actual "direction" the figure was knocked around in, it's just where the figure landed (i.e. they have a hard time seeing Knockback moving a figure North, then East, East).

The only house-rule that may make sense is that the Knocking Back figure needs LOS to the end square, that way the only awkward Knockback situation (being knocked around a corner) is relatively pacified...

-shnar

I look at the knocking around a corner as having being hit so hard that you hit the far wall and ricochet into a position around the corner.

Basically the monster is playing billiards with the heroes.

Descent + logic = Madness.

Despite what the ability is called, the rule states that the figure being hit can be moved X-spaces away from its original location. That is all that you ever need to know and understand

They could of called the ability "happy cloud" And that would be even more illogical...

i much prefer the term Blah blah blah over Happy Cloud see you Sunday JWS

You could call Knockback "Slapyaround" instead.