Imperial Assault has the beneficial Hidden condition. It reads ...

Quote

"While defending, apply -2 [range] to the attack results.
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While attacking apply +1 surge to the attack results.
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After you resolve an attack, you must discard this condition."

So, there's a lot of potential (in terms of monsters, classes, weapons) if this beneficial condition were to go back into Descent.

HOWEVER ...

There is far more melee in Descent than there is in Imperial Assault. With well over half of the monsters being Melee it severely devalues this condition to little more than a bonus surge.

... so, the question turns into "is there a way to make have equal worth in D2e as there is in IA?"

A notion I've toyed with (that I don't think actually works) is making adjacent attackers spend a surge to hit, but that feels jank/broken.

So yeah, what's your thoughts?

Hmm minus range could still work within melee, but then it at least needs to be -3 or -4 range to have any effect. Much like the stealthy monster passive skill.

There are already a few surge requiring mechanics out there, but I am not a big fan of it. Perhaps something more like the Nightstalker ability of the Master Barghest, or just a passive defense bonus.

35 minutes ago, Skulmaster said:

Hmm minus range could still work within melee, but then it at least needs to be -3 or -4 range to have any effect. Much like the stealthy monster passive skill.

There are already a few surge requiring mechanics out there, but I am not a big fan of it. Perhaps something more like the Nightstalker ability of the Master Barghest, or just a passive defense bonus.

Thanks for mentioning that passive! In IA they specifically do not require range on melee, and I kinda forgot it.

I'll look into the wording on this card and test it using this angle.

I think it could be really interesting to rework this Hidden condition into the Stealthy mechanic, sneak attacks seem really thematic.

Not sure about the IA mechanics, but perhaps Hidden monsters should be out of line of sight and then you can include the Thief's "Sneaky" skill into the condition, to add +1 damage instead of that surge.

Another idea is to have Stealthy monsters not be targetable at all by ranged attacks (unless they are within 2-3), about the same mechanics but more thematic.

If you rework it to effectively remove the Stealthy condition after the first attack, I think some monsters need a defense bonus. Namely Dark Elves, their defense is already Terrible. I think I would like them to have an ability, that costs an action (Shadowmeld), that allows them to sneak back in the shadows and become Stealthy again. Allowing for more hit and run tactics. Something like "if there is no Hero it's LOS/Within 5 spaces, this monster may slip into the shadows and become Stealthy".

Some kind of other bonus from attacking when Stealthed also seems nice, like a stun, damage over time effect or extra backstab damage when attacking from behind:)