Last night we played our first game of Descent....so I AM a noob.

Towards the end of the game I cast Dark Charm on a character who had the Staff of Knowledge. When I cast Dark Charm I was under the impression that the attack was my attack and I could conduct it as I chose. The Player in control of the Hero claimed that it was his character and that he could attack the other character in any way that he pleased (Basically I felt he was bending the rules in his favor).

When the die were rolled for the attack several power die had the range/damage indicator. He wanted to use the range numbers on the power die rather than the damage in order to inflict the least amount of damage possible (even though he had adequate range already). Then he wanted to use all of the powersurges for the "Overlord loses 1 threat token" power on the Staff of Knowledge.

So my question is, who makes the decision on the attack? My argument is that if the Hero is in control he could just attack without a weapon...making Dark Charm worthless.

One more quick question: At the end of the first quest "Into the Dark" as you enter area 4 two master manticores appear. The box only contains one master manticore and one regular. Do you just place both models and imagine they are both master manticores? The same player argued that if the box doesn't contain it you don't get it. But why would you be asked to place 2 if there aren't 2?

Dark Charm probably has more entries in the FAQ than any other single card. The overlord chooses the target of the attack, because the card explicitly says that the hero makes an attack you declare . The overlord also gets control over power dice and surges, per the FAQ, page 7:

" Q: When the overlord is controlling a hero through “Dark Charm,” who decides how to spend the surges and power dice? Can the overlord move the character and attack, or just make a single attack without moving?
A: The overlord controls the hero for that attack, including the hero’s use of surges and power dice. The overlord may also play cards such as “Aim” with the attack. However, the overlord player cannot move the character, or force the hero to spend fatigue to add to the attack. The hero no longer benefits from any heroes with Command, but does receive a bonus from any of the Overlord's figures with command."

As for the manticores, you should actually have 2 white manticore figures, but yes, there's only one red manticore figure. Several of the quests in the base game were created before the figure counts were finalized. I believe earlier printings of the game are supposed to have an (also available from the Descent Support Page ) that says to just substitute another model and pretend it's a master manticore (or whatever the quest requires); later printings have a note to that effect somewhere on or in the quest guide itself, I think.

Alchemist said:

Normally your friend is right. You are limited to the number of figures of each type that you have available. However, in the case of these two manticores (and a few other examples through the base game) there are exceptions, as Antistone said. Check the errata he mentions to make sure you know what's the what, but as a general rule if the quest specifically asks you to place more of a given monster than you have in a single area, it will be one of those erratas.

I don't think there are any such errors in any of the expansion quests, so this issue should only be with you for the base game quests.

My understanding is that you (the overlord) control that character for one attack and one attack only. That means you roll the dice and choose how to apply them respectively.

The later reprints of the quest book does indeed say that, as I have the later reprint:)

DescentNYC said:

I'm sorry on the later reprints part I meant about using one of the regular monsters for a master monster substitution.