I have been running a Descent group for a few years now, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions that we have as a group. I started with the base campaign and then we later went into road of legend and now sea of blood. I am always the Overlord, yeah it gets old, and my friends and I constantly come into questions while playing that the rule book does not seem to give straight answers for. K so I have some questions about the basic mechanics of the game in general and then also some specific questions about the sea of blood. So here it goes.

Basic Game Mechanics for Descent in General.

1. Can any character make any kind of attack regardless of traits? For example, if a hero has no traits in magic can he make a magic attack? If so what dice would that hero use?

2. Can a hero make a ranged attack with the melee dice? For example, a kobold has a red dice and a yellow dice on the sea of blood campaign. Can the kobold make an attack with the melee dice if he is two or three squares away from its target? Or does it have to switch out the red dice with the blue ranged dice?

3. Can any hero use any kind of item as long as it fits into the two hand limit and the equipped item limit etc. So for example, can a non magic character use a magic item?

4. After a hero uses an item, is it automatically exhausted or is it only exhausted if it specifically says to do so on the card?

Sea of Blood Questions

1. Can ships ever rotate during an encounter?

2. Is there a limit to the number of upgrades an overlord can purchase for his or her avatar?

3. While heroes are in dungeons, do lieutenants still raze cities or does it stop until heroes exit the dungeon?

4. Can a hero or monster be knocked off a ship?

5.When heroes buy skill cards do they just draw one card at random from the skill deck?

I am sure there are more to follow but I really appreciate anyone's thoughts. Not everything is clearly explained in the book. Also if possible, can you include page number references in your responses. A lot to ask, but really helps. Thanks guys.

Basic answers:

1) Yes, any character can may any attack (assuming he has the weapon) regardless of their traits. They can always make a "Fist" attack too (Melee trait, one Red die).

2) Melee is just that, melee. You have to get up close and personal (i.e. adjacent). The only ability that allows you to make a melee attack that is not adjacent is the Reach ability (but it's still a melee attack). Each monster has an icon that indicates what type of attack it is (the dice do *not* dictate the type of attack, even though the majority of melee attacks use the red die). Kobold have that red icon meaning it's a melee attack. Skeletons have the blue one, so it's a ranged attack, Sorcerers have the White-ish/Grey one, so it's a magic attack, etc.

3) Any hero can use any item. There's really no such thing as a "non-magic character". There are characters with no magic trait dice, but this does not keep them from picking up runes and using them. They can even train in magic if they so desire and add a trait dice (though it's not advisable).

4) Items only exhaust when the card says it does (such as the Iron Shield). Most weapons can be used as many times as you can attack in a round. You could even have one hero attack with the weapon then give it to another hero, have that hero attack, etc.

Sea of Blood answers:

1) No, there are no rotate rules. The ships are so awkward on the square map, not really sure how they would rotate (an instant 90 degree turn?)

2) The only limit on upgrades is the number of upgrades per game-week that can be purchased (which is one). But if the OL has the XP, he can buy one upgrade EVERY game week (and he should).

3) Reread the section on how the game-week plays out:
1: Overlord earns CT
2: Overlord does his turn (buys upgrades and moves Lts)
3: Heroes do their turn (move/explore dungeon or train in a city)

The exploring of the entire dungeon happens during the Heroes turn of the game week, so there's nothing the Lt /can/ do. Once the dungeon is completed (or the heroes have fled), the game-week ends and starts afresh and that's when the Lts continue sieging towns.

4. Yes, knockback is an important tactic in Ship-to-ship combat, which is why some of the canons have this ability. They can only not be knocked off the map completely.

5. Skills are specifically chosen/purchased in the Advanced Campaign (they're random in basic/vanilla Descent). You have to go to the city that skill is available at and spend the XP/Coins, but you then get the skill you chose.

Um, er, I didn't include page references. If you need exact quotes, I can probably dig them up for you, but these questions are pretty basic/non-arguable so I figured it wouldn't be necessary to quote the rulebook.

-shnar