Area attacks and surge spending question, plus more

By ssgeorge, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Hey all,

1 - Blast, flame breath, and sweep typically affect multiple monsters in a single attack roll. When I perform one of these attacks and spend surges, does the surge effect apply to all targets affected by the attack or do I pick a single target for each surge effect?

I have not been able to find a reference to this situation in the rulebook, and it's a pretty big swing between options.

2 - Stoneskin doesn't say when the effect (added defense dice) ends. Does it last for the single attack that the card is exhausted for? Does it last until the card is un-exhausted?

3 - In some scenarios there are NPCs such as Sir Paloman, peasants etc. Can these be the target of abilities like Stoneskin?

4 - The rulebook book says that Relics can only be used by the Overlord's Lieutenants. The Overlord's version of the staff of light allows him to exhaust and potentially re-roll any dice, even if it's not his turn. Does the staff refresh only when the Lieutenant holding it activates or at the start of the Overlord's turn?

5 - Upon a successful Dark Charm, can the Overlord activate and expend a Hero's Heroic Feat? This is assuming that Hero's Heroic Feat is an action.

Thank you for your time!

1. I had this question too and I would like to hear an official response, but as of now me and my friend use the rule that because it's one attack dice roll, that attack hits all of them, this includes the surge effect.

2. I think it is saying just for that attack. You are right that it technically doesn't say when it ends, so maybe the dice goes away when Stoneskin refreshes, but we play it just for the attack.

3. As long as it says in the quest guide that the figure is treated as a hero, then I say yes. You can cast stoneskin on a hero, you should be able to cast it on something that is treated as one. I feel that if you couldn't it would say it in the exceptions (like they cannot gain health in any way, or auto pass/fail any attribute test, etc.).

4. I believe that it would be refreshed at the start of the Overlords turn. On the Overlords side of the Activation Card (the 4 cards that explain the phases of each sides turn) it shows that 'refresh cards' (Start of turn, phase 3) is before 'activate monsters'. This makes me believe that you would refresh all the cards you have in play that can be refreshed. On page 8 of the rulebook under 'Exhausting and Refreshing Cards' it says that, "At the start of a player's turn he refreshes all of his exhausted cards…". The Overlord is a single player in command of many figures while the heroes tend to be controlled by a single player (or at least I think that's what the game assumes). So when one player goes he refreshes all his cards, in the case of the Heroes it would be one person/hero at a time, but for the Overlord it would be all of them.

5. I do not believe the overlord can make a hero use his heroic ability. Dark Charm states, "you may perform a move or attack action" and attack actions are defined in the rulebook (pg. 9) as, "When a hero player performs an attack action, he may use one of his equipped weapons to attack a space containing a monster." So you would only be able to use the Hero's weapon and attack or move him his speed. You would not be able to add any of the hero's other skills into the equation, just the surge effects that the weapon being used to attack has.

Hope this helps!