After searching the forums and the FAQ sheets and notes i am unable to find an answer to a couple of possibly problematic issues.

1: Is it possible for heroes to pass through the location containing the Overlord's keep? in SoB for example the Master of the Hunt has akeep on land near Dallak. is it possible for the heroes to use this path to bypass the city and paying the toll or as an alternate route after Dallak has been closed off by the Overlord? My belief is that they may since I can not find a rule against it in the books or the FaQ.

2: Is it possible to target a non-adjacent space with the Screaming Eagle Staff? Again I am inclined to believe that it is possible since it is a magic attack and therefore is capable of being targeted at range, however, it has a breath template as its effected spacing. I am also inclined to use this weapon much like a Dragonfire cannon, with the breath template originating in the targeting space, and then does it go off in line with direction of fire such as the cannon or can the caster pick which direction as if they occupied that space?

1) Yes, you can move through the OL's keep. You just can't enter it before the final fight.

2) Breath is optional, so you can target a single space anywhere within line of sight or use the breath template, but not both.

Thanks for the help on the first one but i do not see how Breath is any different than Pierce or blast . It is an ability of the weapon and therfore is not realy optional. after all if you attack with an weapon that has blast listed as its ability no need to use surges to get it, it automatically has that blast and it is not an option according to rules and FaQ.

Dwome said:

FAQ pg1
Blast and Breath
These abilities are not mandatory. If not used, the attack is treated as a normal ranged or magical attack.

ok i was wrong about the mandatory thing but does that rule out the ability to use the template at range? while i agree that it makes this an incredibly potent weapon i do not see why it can not.

the ToI rule book just says that "breath attacks use the breath template to determine which they affect" it does not say anything about where it is to be placed the way it does for the hell hounds.

In the base game rules, however, it instructs you to place the breath template against one side of the attacking figure (page 22 under Breath.) It does not say this is only for Hellhounds...

That makes sense, and i believe the ability to make a normal magic or ranged attack was intended to let the overlord attack heroes that get into the corners an would be missed by the template rendering the monster useless.

thank you for all of your input, i am just trying to put out fires before they start. a "discussion" of this with my group of rule monger munchkin friends would require at least an hour and much drinking on my part.

I think the faq refers to the monsters abilities not to the weapons. Notice it says THESE abilities. The weapon doesn't have an ability. At least that is the way we are using it so far. You can't switch off a breath of a weapon. (not that it changes the balance of the game anyway)

Under "Special Abilities" in the base game rules, however, it says "These abilities are most often possessed by monsters, but heroes may also gain some of them from their own hero abilities or the effects of items ." (My bold for emphasis.)

Now one could argue weapons are not items, but I read it as the hero could make a regular ranged attack with the staff...

Interesting. Well the way we were playing it was definetely not gamebreaking. Not to mention that it means that now a wizard with a breath weapon is vunerable to dark charm while the way we were playing it was not. Anyway not a biggie.