Is the Hellhound's attack always a breath attack or can one use a "ranged" attack and not use the fire template?

Nope, not always. The FAQ clarifies that...

"Attacks with the Breath ability are not required to use the Breath template. The figure’s controller must make the decision before dice are rolled. If the monster or hero chooses not to use Breath, then the attack is resolved as a normal attack of its type."

What about blast? If a weapon (or a lava beetle) has blast, can they opt not to use it, potentially saving themselves or a friendly from friendly fire?

Feanor said:

In the same linked FAQ, we can read...

"Q: Do monsters with Blast have to use Blast on every attack?
A: Yes."

So, no, they can't

Which I honestly hope they change in the next FAQ. I don't understand the basis behind having Breathe be optional and Blast not.

I think the basis is that they wanted everything (including breath) to be mandatory, but they were forced to back down on breath because if you grapple a monster diagonally it becomes impossible for that monster to hit you with a breath attack.

It's still possible that we can get them to switch blast and bolt on the basis that they prevent you from ever hurting heroes with ironskin (particularly since I read some post implying that one of the avatars in RtL could end up with blast..?), but I hold out little hope that they would do it simply because it's a generically good idea.

Antistone said:

The Sorcerer King can have blast which means that if a character with grapple stands directly in front of him the only way the sorcerer can hit the character is by also hitting himself....

Antistone said:

Is there a monster that uses the Bolt template? I thought it was just that trap card? I actually kind of wish there was a Bolt template monster, that would be awesome. Lightening beatle or something.

Big Remy said:

There is a defined Bolt ability that a figure can have that causes it to use the bolt template when attacking.

No standard monsters or weapons (from JitD, WoD, AoD, or ToI) actually have this ability, though (even the trap card that uses the bolt template doesn't actually use the ability ). I assume it was created for the benefit of some named monster in a quest that I haven't played yet.

But Ironskin makes you immune to it, just like Blast or Breath , so if that warrants a change, I don't see any particular reason it shouldn't apply to Bolt .

The mod I'm working on includes a weapon called the "Tamed Lightning" that has Bolt , if that's any consolation. And I'm planning to find some opportunity to include a room with monsters shooting Bolts at you from the opposite side of a wall of rubble (since Breath and Bolt attacks, unlike all other attacks in the entire game, are not blocked by rubble).

That's cool.

It always seemed wierd that they had the Bolt ability, but nothing ever used it really.

One monster uses it, this one dragon that basically does a free 666 damage bolt attack every turn (you have to have the Shield of the Dark God to be able to block it). I'm not sure if it actually has Bolt though, and I just put my set away for the night so I'm too lazy to check.

I think they should add it the Master Kobold ability list.

That would rock.

Ok, what about a hero with a rune that gives breath attack? Do they HAVE to use the breath template?

haslo said:

Oh look, it talks about "monster or hero", not "monster".

Master Kobolds with Bolt would be nice

McRae said:

No. The FAQ makes no distinction between monsters and heroes. It only talks about the breath attack.

In the magical world where I'm in charge, breath attacks are only optional if the attacker is in melee range of his intended target.

Minti-me said:

Can't he target a square just past the hero to avoid getting hit himself?...

If the hero stands directly in front of the Sorcerer King, he doesn't have line of sight to the squares behind the hero. And consequently can't target them.

Uthoroc said:

I thought maybe on a diagonal, but I haven't seen the level yet, so I did not realize this was not possible...

It's got nothing to do with the level. Try it out on the map, targetting a vertically or horizontally adjacent figure with Blast 1 without hitting yourself. It's not possible.

There are some good user man scenarios, some use the bolt template. Just ask google, dont have the link with me.