So, I've been playing Descent 1E for awhile (always as Overlord), and have been tweaking the game ever since I acquired it.
Lately, I've been trying a new set of monster stats and rules for 1E. These stats only have a single set of statistics for both minions and masters, and do not increase in toughness based on the number of players - instead, monsters spawn in 'groups' like in 2E, but the rules for groups are slightly different.
1. Monsters have four 'levels'. Level 1 monsters are the weakest, while level 4 monsters are the strongest. When spawning a group of monsters, spawn one master and one minion, plus one additional minion for each hero in excess of the monster's level. For example, if there are three heroes, then a group of level 1 monsters would spawn one master and three minions; a group of level 2 monsters would spawn one master and two minions; and a group of level 3 monsters would spawn one master and one minion.
Master monsters now share the same statistics as minions, except that they gain +1 armor, +1 wound for each hero in the party, and gain a master ability (listed in red) and additional attack dice (listed in red parentheses).
Here is the full list of all 1E monsters:
| Level 1 Monsters | Speed | Health | Armor | Attack | Abilities |
| Beastman | 4 | 2 | 2 | ⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Command, ⚡: +1 Damage |
| Ferrox | 4 | 3 | 3 | ⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Leech, ⚡: Bleed |
| Kobold (x2) | 4 | 2 | 0 | ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Trickster, Swarm, ⚡: Threat |
| Lava Beetle | 3 | 3 | 2 | ⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Spawn, Blast 1, ⚡⚡: Burn |
| Razorwing | 6 | 3 | 1 | ⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Strafe, Fly, ⚡: Stun |
| Shade | 5 | 3 | 1 | ⬡ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Leech, Ghost, Stealth, Fly, ⚡: Pierce 2 |
| Skeleton | 5 | 2 | 0 | ⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Leech, +2 Range, ⚡: Pierce 1 |
| Spider | 5 | 2 | 0 | ⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Web, ⚡: Poison |
| Level 2 Monsters | Speed | Health | Armor | Attack | Abilities |
| Dark Elf Assassin | 5 | 5 | 3 | ⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | ⚡: Poison and Bleed, Stealth, Pierce 3 |
| Dark Priest | 4 | 3 | 2 | ⬡⬢ ( ⬢⬢⬢⬢ ) | Command, Summoning, ⚡: Threat |
| Hellhound | 4 | 3 | 1 | ⬡ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Aura, Breath, ⚡⚡: Burn |
| Manticore | 4 | 5 | 2 | ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | ⚡ ⚡ : Poison , Fly, Quick Shot, Pierce 3 |
| Medusa | 4 | 4 | 2 | ⬡ ⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Quick Shot, ⚡: Stun |
| Naga | 3 | 5 | 3 | ⬡ ⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Command, Grapple, Sorcery 2 |
| Sorcerer | 4 | 3 | 2 | ⬡ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Undying, Sorcery 4, Summoning, ⚡: Threat |
| Wendigo | 5 | 4 | 2 | ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢⬢ ) | ⚡⚡: Swallow, Stealth, Tread, ⚡: Bleed |
| Level 3 Monsters | Speed | Health | Armor | Attack | Abilities |
| Blood Ape | 4 | 7 | 3 | ⬢ ⬢⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Berserk, Grapple, Sweep, ⚡: Bleed |
| Giant | 3 | 9 | 3 | ⬢ ⬢⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Sweep, Reach, ⚡⚡: Stun |
| Golem | 3 | 6 | 6 | ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | +2 Armor, Ironskin, Unstoppable |
| Ogre | 3 | 7 | 4 | ⬢ ⬢⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Sweep, Reach, ⚡: Knockback 2 |
| Troll | 3 | 5 | 4 | ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢ ⬢ ) | Undying, Reach, ⚡: +2 damage and Knockback 1 |
| Level 4 Monster | Speed | Health | Armor | Attack | Abilities |
| Chaos Beast | 3 | 9 | 5 | ⬢⬢⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Fear 2, Sorcery 2, Morph 3, Grapple, ⚡: Pull 2 |
| Demon | 3 | 9 | 4 | ⬡ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Fear 2, Sorcery 3, Aura, ⚡⚡: Blast, ⚡⚡⚡: Burn |
| Dragon | 4 | 9 | 3 | ⬡ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Fear 1, Fly, Breath, ⚡: Burn |
| Ice Wyrm | 4 | 8 | 3 | ⬡ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ( ⬢ ) | Fear 1, Tread, Blast 1, ⚡: Frost |
Most monster abilities have been rewritten, and many are now keyed to surges. As such, monsters no longer generate threat when rolling surges. Monsters may have the following abilities:
Berserk - a creature with the Berserk ability gains +1 Speed and +1 damage for each wound it has suffered.
Blast - a creature with the Blast ability may target a space within line of sight instead of a hero. All creatures (monsters and heroes) within the blast radius are targeted by the attack, drawing line of sight from the blast’s center space instead of the attacking monster. Roll all yellow, green or power die for the attack as normal, but roll the attack die and stealth die (if applicable) separately for each target. If the target dodges the attack, only re-roll that target’s attack and/or stealth die. Blast attacks may not be aimed, and surges gained from an attack die may only be spent to affect that target.
Breath - a creature with the Breath ability may place the Breath template in any space adjacent to it, targeting all creatures (monsters and heroes) under the breath template with its attack. If a single-space Flying creature could trace a path from the attacker to the target without leaving the Breath template, then the attack has line of sight to that target, regardless of normal line of sight rules. Roll all yellow, green or power die for the attack as normal, but roll the attack die and stealth die (if applicable) separately for each target. If the target dodges the attack, only re-roll that target’s attack and/or stealth die. Breath attacks may not be aimed, and surges gained from an attack die may only be spent to affect that target.
Command - a creature with the Command ability adds +1 damage and +1 range to all allies within 3 spaces of it.
Fly - a creature with the Fly ability may pass through enemy spaces as if they were empty, and may move through ice, mud, pit, rubble, and water spaces without penalty. Flying creatures which take up two or more spaces may not fly while they are adjacent to any walls.
Ghost - a creature with the Ghost ability may pass through obstacles, and is missed by any attack that does not roll any surges.
Ironskin - a creature with Ironskin is immune to aura, breath, blast, bleed, burn, frost, pierce, poison, and sorcery.
Leech - a creature with the Leech ability heals 1 wound for each wound it inflicts, up to its maximum health.
Morph - a creature with the Morph ability chooses which dice it rolls each time it attacks. It must choose one red, blue or white die, and any number of yellow or green dice, up to a total dice pool equal to its total morph dice.
Spawn - a monster with the Spawn ability may lay eggs into an adjacent space, instead of attacking. Whenever a minion monster of the same type is killed by the heroes, an egg hatches into a new minion monster of the same type. Unhatched eggs have a single wound, and armor equal to the armor of the monster that laid them. Monsters may not be activated on the same turn that they hatch, and eggs may not hatch on the same turn that they are laid.
Stealth - a creature with the Stealth ability always rolls the Stealth die in addition to its defense dice; on an X, the attack misses that creature.
Strafe - a creature with the Strafe ability may move its speed as an attack action, applying its attack against each hero whose space it passed through or adjacent to during the attack. Roll all yellow, green or power die for the attack as normal, but roll the attack die and stealth die (if applicable) separately for each target. If the target dodges the attack, only re-roll that target’s attack and/or stealth die. Strafe attacks may not be aimed, and surges gained from an attack die may only be spent to affect that target.
Summoning - a monster with the Summoning ability may summon a minion monster into a space that it has line of sight to, instead of attacking. The types of minion monsters that may be summoned are: Skeletons, Shades, Hellhounds, Golems, Chaos Beasts, and Demons. Higher level monsters require a number of sorcerers equal to the monster’s level in order to summon that monster. Each summoner expends one Threat, then the Overlord places the summoned monster into the target space. Monsters may be summoned even if the heroes have line of sight to the target space. Monsters may not be activated on the same turn that they are summoned.
Swallow - a monster with the Swallow ability may devour an adjacent hero whole, moving them off the board and onto the stomach tile. At the beginning of each of this monster’s turns, it automatically makes a single attack roll which affects all heroes it has swallowed; this attack ignores the stealth ability and is resolved as an aimed attack.
Swarm - a monster with the Swarm ability adds one black power die to any other monster’s attack made against an adjacent hero, to a maximum of 5 power dice.
Sweep - a creature with the Sweep ability may make a melee attack against all enemies within its reach simultaneously. Roll all yellow, green or power die for the attack as normal, but roll the attack die and stealth die (if applicable) separately for each target. If the target dodges the attack, only re-roll that target’s attack and/or stealth die. Sweep attacks may not be aimed, and surges gained from an attack die may only be spent to affect that target.
Threat - Monsters with the Threat ability accumulate threat whenever they roll a surge; each surge rolled allows one monster with Threat to accumulate one threat. Minion monsters may choose to give their threat to master monsters of the same type as they accumulate it.
Tread - a creature with the Tread ability may move through ice, mud, and water spaces without penalty.
Trickster - a monster with the Trickster ability may play a trap into a space that it has line of sight to, instead of attacking. The trap-laying monster expends Threat equal to the number of spaces that the trap occupies, then places the trap into the target space. Traps may be played even if the heroes have line of sight to or are occupying the target space, and traps activate immediately.
Undying - a monster with Undying rolls the red attack die whenever it would be reduced to 0 or fewer wounds, healing the number of wounds indicated. On a miss, the monster stays dead. Damage in excess of this monster’s wounds is ignored.
Unstoppable - a creature with Unstoppable is immune to frost, grapple, knockback, stun, and web.
Conditions - The following abilities inflict conditions if attacker deals at least one wound of damage to the target. Conditions
Burn - A hero or monster that begins its turn on fire immediately rolls the red attack die, losing one wound for each point of damage rolled (ignoring armor). If the die rolls a miss or a surge, the creature removes the burn condition. Additionally, if the die rolled a surge, the hero must discard one equipped armor or weapon card of the Overlord’s choice. A creature may not be frozen and on fire at the same time; if a creature has both frost tokens and burn tokens, remove both conditions.
Bleed - a hero or monster that begins its turn bleeding immediately rolls the red attack die, losing one wound for each point of damage rolled (ignoring armor). If the die rolls a miss, the creature removes the bleed condition. Whenever a hero heals wounds, they also remove the bleed condition.
Frost - A hero or monster that is frozen must roll one power die at the start of their turn, removing the frost condition if they roll a surge or a blank. Additionally, whenever they roll a blank, the hero must discard one equipped armor or weapon card of the Overlord’s choice. A creature that is frozen may not expend movement points. A creature may not be frozen and on fire at the same time; if a creature has both frost tokens and burn tokens, remove both conditions.
Knockback - a hero or monster which is knocked back by an attack is immediately moved a number of spaces away from the attacker equal to the Knockback value. Large creatures ignore one square of knockback per attack for each additional space they take up.
Poison - a hero or monster that is poisoned loses one fatigue per turn; if they are out of fatigue, they instead lose one wond per turn. A creature which attempts to heal while poisoned instead removes the poisoned condition, and heals no wounds.
Pull - a hero or monster which is pulled by an attack is immediately moved a number of spaces closer to the attacker equal to the Pull value. Large creatures ignore one square of pull per attack for each additional space they take up.
Stun - A hero or monster that begins its turn stunned must roll one power die at the start of their turn, removing the stun condition if they roll a surge. A stunned hero or monster may only move its speed or perform one attack during its turn, and may not aim, dodge, guard, or rest.
Swallow - A hero or monster that begins its turn swallowed may only perform one attack action for its turn, and may only perform that attack against the monster that swallowed it. The attack ignores the stealth ability and is resolved as an aimed attack.
Web - a hero or monster may have multiple web tokens; a creature that is webbed may not expend movement points except to attempt to escape. For every movement point spent attempting to escape, they may roll one power die, removing one web token for each power die that rolls a surge.