1- Obsydian Shackles : The Plot card “Brother Against Brother” is the only way to enslave a hero. Once a hero has been enslaved, the effect is permanent. From then on, at the start of the hero’s turn, the hero player must roll a black power die. On anything but a power surge, he may take his turn as normal. On a power surge, the Avatar’s mental powers take over the hero and he is controlled by the overlord player this turn. This effect is similar to the Dark Charm card, except that the overlord cannot force the hero to attack himself.

Can the Overlord, while he is playing the hero's turn, drink one potion, use one-time use item and spend rumors card he kept for the FInal Battle?

2- Can the heroes put a rest order on themselves while going through the portal between donjons?

3- Expulsion : Are heroes expulsed when the Overlord kill them all in one turn? Can the Heroes be expulsed in the Final Donjon?

4- Rapid Fire : Can a Heroes use Rapid Fire with the attack he made with the Guard order?

5- Transport Gem : Can the overlord use this card during the Heroes Turn like he does with Big Troubles?

Thanks for the anwers

2- Can the heroes put a rest order on themselves while going through the portal between donjons?

Yes, and as long as it's not going to slow them down too much they should do it every time.

3- Expulsion : Are heroes expulsed when the Overlord kill them all in one turn? Can the Heroes be expulsed in the Final Donjon?

No to both. The only thing that will force the heroes to flee the dungeon is if the overlord recycles his deck twice on a single level, and that rule does not apply to the final dungeon.

4- Rapid Fire : Can a Heroes use Rapid Fire with the attack he made with the Guard order?

Yes

Sorry, I don't have the cards handy for #1 and #5.

Yerazald said:

Well, based on that last line, I'd say all the OL can do is attack (and can't even attack himself.) However, if the Obsidian Shackles allow the OL to do things like move and take actions (I also don't have the cards in front of me right now) then I would say yes to everything except the rumour card. Rumour cards aren't equipment the hero has, it's a card the player keeps and uses when he sees fit. That's my gut reaction anyway.

I forgot another question:

6- Can a hero "soak" damage with an armor like elven cloak when the damages come from a trap that ignore armor.

Elven Cloak : +2 Armor When you suffer 1 or more wounds, roll 1 power die for each wound suffered. Cancel 1 wound for each power enhancement you roll.

Yerazald said:

Again... card not handy... If the Elven Cloak is type "Armor" then no. Otherwise yes.

Oboewan said:

Hasn't this been debated? The "armor" is ignored, but the special ability of the cloak is still there and applicable (at least, so the argument goes). I can't remember what the consensus was, nor can I find anything in the FAQ...

-shnar

Steve-O said:

From the GLOAQ
With the plot card "Brother against Brother" and the "enslaved" lingering effect....It says that the Overlord gains control of the heroes turn, What does this mean exactly?....declare actions, re-equip/un-equip items, move, spend fatigue....in addition to attack??

Also, thank you very much for replying to my previous questions Dan I really appreciate the customer service you are providing in rules clarifications. Again, thank you!

Most of the restrictions that apply with "Dark Charm" also apply here.

The overlord may declare an action for the hero. He may move the hero and make attacks as allowed by that action. (He may even place and spend order tokens such as Aim!)

He may not force the hero to do any of the following: spend fatigue, spend health, drink potions, and items. He may also not force the hero to make an attack that includes himself in the area of effect. He may, however, re-equip the character following normal rules provided he does not violate any of these restrictions.

~Dan Clark
Creative Content Developer
Fantasy Flight Games

and

Kevin Wilson
Fantasy Flight Games"

shnar said:

It is not a question of debate, but simple logic. There are two possibilities. Either it applies to armour (value) or it applies to armour (item). If it applies to Armour (item) then you can't use the special ability. However that also means that natural armour is not affected and basically any hero who is not armour 0 can walk into pits without taking damage, and traps are more effective against light heroes than heavy ones - that doesn't exactly make sense in the general scheme of things. If it applies to armour (value) then we get a more game-sensible system for traps etc - armour doesn't count so the heavy guys are equally vulnerable to traps but the special abilities or armour items still come into play.

It is a logical no-contest.

Traps ignore both "types" of armor.Unless the item in question specifically says that you can use it to cancel wounds that ignore armor.

shnar said:

The very first question I asked on these forums after buying Descent was whether or not the soak ability of these items could be used to prevent pit damage. Kevin Wilson answered my question personally (because that was back in the day when he still made infrequent appearances online) and said that "no, the special ability gets canceled too."

A week or two later someone else asked the exact same question and Kevin responded that "yes, the ability still works and only the +X Armor bit is negated." This answer has since worked its way into the FAQ (although I think it got knocked out again) and has become the official response from FFG concerning the matter. "Ignores Armor" only ever ignores armor value, not anything else printed on armor items.

Ok, questions 1-2-3-4 have been answered

Question 5 is still uncovered, Here is the text on the card : Place this card in the graveyard to move one of your lieutenants to any legal location on the Terrinoth map, one time. Any Quest Items that lieutenant may have been carrying are left behind.

Question 6 is yes or no?

Yerazald said:

5. It doesn't specify a time. I can see no reason that you can't use it during the heroes' turn. Of course, that won't allow you to attack them, but you will be in a good position to do so next turn and you can use the reinforce ability, if any.

6. A yes. You simply don't use one word for two different concepts at the same time during a sentence. If it was both, as Zealot claims, then the sentence would necessarily say "...ignore armour and armour..."

Corbon said:

This is not true. In fact, it's not true because of the example you give. Saying "ignore armor and armor" is ludicrous, and would never be done, so people say "ignore armor." It's not using the word for two different concepts at the same time, but two aspects of a single concept. That they can mean "ignores one type of armor" or "ignores all types of armor" adds to confusion, but doesn't change the way people speak and write.

We even have someone saying that at one point Kevin said "yeah, that's what I meant." That he changed his mind and now apparently nobody knows what he meant (including him) is definitely aggravating.

To the OP: It seems that the answer most given around here is "it only ignores the numeric armor value." Apparently that made it into the FAQ at one point and then got taken out. That's the answer our group uses, but your group will have to decide for itself until someone at FFG gets a wild hair and decides they'll re-officialize an answer.

James McMurray said:

I must say that I agree with James' statement, even we play it the "only armor value" way.

If a character with an ability that read "immune to bat attacks" existed in a game with both a monster named "bat" and a weapon named "bat", I would rule that he is immune both to attacks by monsters named "bat" and to attacks by figures wielding a "bat".

It is exactly the same with this "ignoring armor" wording, as "armor" is a word for two different things in Descent. Without further information (FAQ, Kevin's word, consensus, etc.) and if you just stick with what's written, it should indeed be played that it ignores everything that is categorized as "armor".

Regarding the Transport Gem card; the rules are not clear about the timing, but since you use it to move one of your lieutenants, I think it can only be done during the overlord's turn.

James McMurray said:

The answer was intended to be ludicrous - it is ludicrous that ffg use the same word for two different concepts in the same game. I guess that was very badly put on my part, sorry (it was very late after a very long day). A more reasonable way of putting it would be "... ignore both armour stat and armour equipment..."

It is true that it is grammatically incorrect to use one word for two different concepts at the same time . A word can mean two different things, but it never means both of them at the same time. For example you can have a "strong (large numbers) force of strong (physically well built) soldiers". But you would never say you have "a strong force" and mean both physically strong and numerous at the same time. Never.

Corbon said:

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

James McMurray said:

Inconceivable.

Corbon said:

- You're no match for my brains.
- You're that smart?
- Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
- Yes.
- Morons.