During a game, I played a Spike Pit on a player which dealt 2 damage but the player had a chance to roll for surges to reduce or completely remove any damage. After he failed to get a surge on both rolls, he continued to roll another 2 times for his Cloak of Mist. My question: Is it legal for him to still roll the Cloak of Mist even after failing the original Surge rolls?

If it is legal, does this mean that those with the Cloak of Mists effects can attempt to roll for surges EVERYTIME they face ANY TYPE of potential wound loss, even if the wound was from terrain or from wounds that ignore armor? Isn't this overpowered?

Wanderer999 said:

Yes, it is legal and yes they can roll pretty much each time. Its a really good item, but not overpowered. There is only one in the game (though three different versions of it depending on treasure level), and you still need to roll for it.

Wait until they pull the Elven Cloak, which is the same thing but does it on enhancements.

The Spiked Pit trap card doesn't allow a hero to roll 2 dice and cancel wounds on surges, it allows the hero to roll 1 black die and sidestep the pit entirely if he rolls a blank. You are perhaps confusing it with the Crushing Block trap, which deals 4 wounds, and allows the hero to roll 4 dice and cancel 1 wound for each surge rolled.

But yes, the Cloak of Mists allows you to roll 1 die for each wound received and cancel on a surge whenever you receive wounds, regardless of the source. If damage "ignores armor," that means your numerical armor score (whether it comes from your hero sheet, skills, or any kind of item), not the other effects of Armor items.

Hmmm... That seems like a pretty overpowered thing... And while we're on this topic, I am also wondering about another question:

There are many abilities in the game that reduce wound damage etc, and they often state 'cannot cancel wounds that ignore armor'. Does this also include attacks that have pierce? Eg: A hero is attacked by a monster with Pierce 4. The wound damage is 3, and since the Hero's armor is only 4, he takes the full 4 damage as the Pierce value is high enough to neutralize the armor. But can the skill be used here? Coz this attack ignored armor with its Pierce.

No, Pierce just reduces the target's effective armor (to a minimum of zero). The Pierce rules explicitly state that it doesn't affect shields.

It's a good item for sure, but not overpowered. Think of it like this, for it to equal the shop item with 2 armor you will need to take 6 wounds after your natural armor has applied. So a shop item is actually equal or better than this magic item against any attack that does 6-7 or less damage (and that is most attacks for a large part of the game). The Cloaks real redeeming feature is that it can help against traps and other such nasties.

Most other magic armors are better but tend to prevent runes, so its a nice mage-armor.

The Cloak of Mists is a silver-level armor that gives +1 armor and cancels wounds on a surge, so it's as good as +2 armor (on average) if you roll three dice, not six. You may be thinking of the Cloak of Deception, a similar copper-level armor.

But you should be holding it up next to other silver treasures, such as the Golden Armor (+3 armor, speed 3, no runes, immune to daze and grapple) or the Enchanted Breastplate (+2 armor, recover 1 fatigue per turn). I don't think it's out of line.

The gold-level equivalent, the Elven Cloak, is kind of out of line, at +2 armor and cancels wounds on a power enhancement. I'm not sure they thought that one through. But I don't think it's game-breaking, either.

Ah, forgot that it provided +1 in base. Still a very reasonable item that gives. The gold version as you say is sick, becoming equal to the heaviest armor at only 4 wounds, and becoming far better when you go over that.