We are a bunch of oldtimers (hardcore 2 ed brewers), and we are going to give revised 4th ed a chance. We are going to meet 28-30 december for a whole weekend of Talisman.

Going through the spells, some are concerned that Path of Destiny & Transference will cheapen the game too much: I need some opinon from you that have played with these spells, if they're balanced or broken, fun or boring, etc. I want some feedback, please.

Yad Reklaw

Path of Destiny is pretty fun and useful, especially with the Quest Rewards. Mostly you will give it to yourself, but sometimes it can be useful to use it on the leading character so he won't get to the Inner Region!

I can't really say anything about Transference, as I haven't gotten a chance to try it yet, but it seems pretty fun to swap places with someone on the Crown of Command replacing slimy defeat with sweet victory in an instant!

PoD is a solid spell for slowing down the leader, an aspect that has been nerfed in R4th with the addition of Fate (lessens Toadings, outright Reaper kills, etc.) and cards like Raiders, and as such, essential in my book. They could still get lucky and draw something like "Kill 1 Dragon" while already on the Inner Region and not be affected at all by it.

Transference on the Inner Region really only functions with the default ending, maybe Crown and Sceptre but you'd have to be close or do it to the Valley of Fire (meaning you have a Talisman), as othe endings basically come down to: someone reaches the Crown, game over.

Both of these spells are useful in surprising the leader or character at the Crown of Command, which is great.

Transference is a fantastic victory stealer. In our last game the Wizard almost beat the leading Warlock via this spell. Unfortuantely, the Portal of Power got blocked by a Dragon King's scale, so he couldn't gain entry to the Inner Region. But it was close!

Path of Destiny can also set the leader back big time, if he happens to draw a Warlock Quest that he has the immediate resources to complete. We've had some fun turnovers and underdog victories this way.

I don't think a Dragon King's Dragon Scale would hinder someone from going through the Portal of Power. It only applies if one lands on that space, and one wouldn't land on the Portal of Power space unless one failed at getting past the Portal of Power, but in that case one's turn would already be over, so the Dragon Scale wouldn't affect one…

I believe that according to the rules, entryway squares to other Regions are blocked if a Dragon King's scale is put there, until the scale is claimed. I'm talking about the Sentinel and the Portal of Power. They're only traversable if you're descending, or going past them in the same Region.

I'll have to check the rulebook again, but I distinctly remember this mentioned.

zealot12 said:

You're right, it is clearly mentioned in the Dragon Rulebook, page 10:

If the Sentinel has a dragon scale that matches the Dragon
King, characters may not use the space to cross to the Middle
Region, but they may freely cross from the Middle Region to
the Outer Region.

If the Portal of Power has a dragon scale that matches the
Dragon King, characters may not use the space to cross to the
Inner Region, but they may freely cross from the Inner Region
to the Middle Region.

I admit I completely forgot these rules in the last two games that I've played with the Dragon Expansion.

Not that it would have mattered, as Characters mostly reach the Crown of Command from Outer Region via Great Portal or Dragonspire.

Back On Topic, I've been playing with Transference and Path of Destiny for about 100 Talisman games and I don't think they make anything cheaper or predictable. There are few cards in the decks that allow you to pick a Spell of your choice, so you can't count on Transference all the time. Getting to the Crown via Treasure Chamber or the above mentioned Great Portal and Dragonspire is a LOT easier and anticlimactic.

The only Spell that seriously troubles me is Misfortune. Two copies of it in the deck and combined with the Reaper it means certain death. That's too harsh, because there's really nothing you can do to avoid it (except staying away from the Reaper all the time, but this is nearly impossible). If I play with Misfortune I never use Reaper and go for the Werewolf or no board hunter instead.

I recall one game where a player stole Misfortune with Mind Steal from another player. Many turns later, that player rolls for the Reaper and says "Good, I move it on myself!". I told him not to do it, but he stubbornly got on because he was so confident with Twist of Fate in hand. He forgot that somebody stole Misfortune from his own hand and was killed outright. That's the only case I remember Misfortune being funny.

Misfortune is actually one of my favourite spells! One can use if for many things, like automatically winning a battle against another character, toading another character who visits the Enchantress or just makin sure you roll a 1 for your move! But yeah, I must admit that Misfortune plus the Reaper could be a little "cheesy".

Oh, and in regards to the Dragon King's Dragon Scales: Would this also hinder a character to go inside the Dungeon from the Ruins or the Highlands from the Crags?

Tiggurix said:

It's a natural extension to the rule, though there's no mention of it in the rulebook The Dungeon and Highland are Regions by definition as well. so I'd say yes.

zealot12 said:

Should play according to the Rules As Written. Rulebook says as I reported above.

Thematically, the Dragon King sits in the middle of Inner Region, so every gate to that place is better guarded. No reason why the Dragon King should guard Dungeon and Highland, which belong to other rulers (Lord of Darkness and Eagle King).

Do people normally play with both the Werewolf (Blood Moon) and the Reaper, or would that just clog up the boards?

I have played with both for some time now, and it works fine.

Tiggurix said:

No, it stops you from using Sentinel or Portal of Power, because their text doesnt apply when a matching dragon scale is on them, and it is their text that lets you go through. The Ruins and the Crags have no additional text such as: "You can move to Highlands or Dungeon from here, so it doesnt matter whether a matching dragon scale is placed on them..