I know that many of you may not even have Labyrinth of Ruin, let alone played it, but we have come up with some questions after utilizing the Hexer class. Any attempted answers, observations, comments, etc. would be welcome.

I suspect that some of these questions may become fodder for the FAQ.

Question #1 concerns the Enfeebling Hex skill card. It reads as follows:

Enfeebling Hex: XP Cost: 0, Fatigue Cost: 0

While you have a Magic weapon equipped, each of your attacks gains:

Surge: Hex 1 monster within 3 spaces of your target.

When performing an attack targeting a hexed monster, a hero may discard any number

of hex tokens before spending Surges. The attack gains +1H for each hex token

discarded.

Our question concerns the first part of the card "... Hex 1 monster within 3 spaces of your target." Can you choose to hex the actual target monster? Obviously, it is within 3 spaces of itself, but the way it is phrased "seems" to indicate a difference between the target and all other monsters within 3 spaces of itself. Thoughts?

Question #2 concerns the Affliction skill card. It reads as follows:

Affliction: XP Cost: 1, Fatigue Cost: 1

Exhaust this card when a hexed monster declares a move action and discard 1 hex

token from that monster. That monster immediately suffers 1 Heart. In addition, that

monster suffers 1 additional Heart for each space it moves during its activation.

Our question concerns the second part of the card "... that monster suffers 1 additional Heart for each space it moves during its activation". If a hero has a weapon and/or skill and/or effect that allows it to attack the monster during the monster's activation (almost like an interrupt in D1e). and that hero's weapon and/or skill and/or effect MOVES the monster, does the monster suffer 1 additional heart for each space moved, or does this only happen when the monster voluntarily moves on its own during its activation?

Question #3 concerns the Fel Command skill card. It reads as follows:

Fel Command: XP Cost: 2, Fatigue Cost: 2

Exhaust this card when the overlord choose a hexed monster to activate. Discard 1

hex token from that monster to immediately perform an attack with it. You make all

choices during the attack. After the attack is resolved, the monster activates as normal.

This skill seems to provide the heroes with a D1e like "Dark Charm" ability against monsters (although even better in that it allows the heroes to make all choices such as how to spend surges, skills, etc.). Can you force the monster from which you remove the hex token to attack itself? And, back to the age old question ... is "monster" synonymous with "Lieutenant" and/or is it synonymous with a possessed Ally?

Begin the debate. We are interested to see how others would rule on these questions.

1. I have no say either way. I can come up with points for either side, so I feel that one simply needs more clarification from FFG.

2. Because of the way it is worded, "In addition, that monster suffers 1 additional Heart for each space it moves during its activation." I feel that if a hero has some way of forcing a monster move more spaces, then yes it would take additional damage for those spaced it was forced to move into.

3. One question I have here is: can a hero ever be hexed? If that is the case then I believe a dark charmed hero could possibly be affected by this, but it all comes down to timing. However when it comes to Lietenants, they most certainly qualify as a monster and should be affected just like any other hexed monster. Lietenants are only unique in that they cannot be used as an open group. They must still adhere to the rules of monsters.

3. One question I have here is: can a hero ever be hexed? If that is the case then I believe a dark charmed hero could possibly be affected by this, but it all comes down to timing. However when it comes to Lietenants, they most certainly qualify as a monster and should be affected just like any other hexed monster. Lietenants are only unique in that they cannot be used as an open group. They must still adhere to the rules of monsters.

I don't think you really understood the first part of the question. With the Fel Command skill, a hero is permitted to choose a hexed monster that the OL has just activated, and use that monster to attack something. You can obviously attack other monsters with that monster, but we are wondering if the chosen hexed monster can be forced to attack itself.

This could come in quite handy with powerful monsters, lieutenants (if indeed they are synonymous), etc.

The only reason I brought up Dark Charm from D1e is because an OL can force a Dark Charmed hero in D1e to attack himself.

Dark Charm in 2e also alows for a character to attack itself, so I do not see why Fel Command would be any different.

Dark Charm in 2e also alows for a character to attack itself, so I do not see why Fel Command would be any different.

There are significant differences. The OL Dark Charm card in D2e specifically states that you may force the hero to attack himself. Fel Command does not make this distinction.

In addition, Dark Charm does not give you the choice as to how to spend a hero's attributes. For example, when using Dark Charm, you cannot force a hero to suffer fatigue, in order to activate additional abilities/skills. With Fel Command, the hero specifically gets to make all choices as to how a monster's abilities/skills are utilized.

These reasons, as well as others, is why I thought these questions would make a lively debate. I have actually submitted the questions to FFG for a rules clarification. If I hear back anything official, I will post it here.

I think you are splitting hairs here a little bit. In 1e you still could not spend fatigue on a Dark Charm so no difference there. The OL still says how surges are spent in 2e Dark Charm so no difference there. Monsters have no fatigue so no need to mention it nor do Lietenants. So to me Fel Command is effectivly the same thing as Dark Charm as far as causing a character to make an attack.

The attack made during the Fel Command is just that an attack. They do not get to perform a Sweep or other types of monster actions that have an attack as part of that action. They do get to spend surges to add effects to that attack like pierce, stun, burn...

This skill seems to provide the heroes with a D1e like "Dark Charm" ability against monsters (although even better in that it allows the heroes to make all choices such as how to spend surges, skills, etc.). Can you force the monster from which you remove the hex token to attack itself? And, back to the age old question ... is "monster" synonymous with "Lieutenant" and/or is it synonymous with a possessed Ally?

I would like to stay that my heroes never let me use cards that said monster of them for my Lieutenants. So I would be game to stay hex doesn't work for my Lieutenants and I would like to put my foot down there >( Many cards will excursively point out when Lieutenant can be targeted.

But in the side of fairness (because OL fight fair x.x as apposed to popular belief) that would make this character pretty useless in those battles where a Lieutenant is key.

BTW, Hexes get out of hand really quickly. We played an epic quest with that character. One attack that hexed things hexed almost my entire army of Kobolds (yes. they are funny. You will lose, but every OL should play with them once) was then followed up by a burst attack. It was a wow moment.

My team of heroes are really good at combos. ~.~

I received the following e-mail clarification from FFG:

I received the following e-mail clarification from FFG:

Yes, lieutenants are treated as monsters, so indeed Fel Command can be used on a lieutenant.

However, it does not allow you to force the monster to attack itself.

Thanks,

Justin Kemppainen

Creative Content Developer

Fantasy Flight Games

[email protected]

Beautiful. Thank you for that!

Oh thank goodness. I was worried that I'd get to experience the magic of Baron Zachareth attacking and stunning himself every turn, whilst also taking massive damage from his own Shield of Zorek's Favor.

I received additional clarifications from FFG concerning my first two questions. Their answers are as follows:

Question #1: "... Hex 1 monster within 3 spaces of your target." Can you choose to hex the actual target monster? Obviously, it is within 3 spaces of itself, but the way it is phrased "seems" to indicate a difference between the target and all other monsters within 3 spaces of itself. Thoughts?

FFG Answer: The target monster may be chosen as the monster to hex.

Question #2: "... that monster suffers 1 additional Heart for each space it moves during its activation". If a hero has a weapon and/or skill and/or effect that allows it to attack the monster during the monster's activation (almost like an interrupt in D1e). and that hero's weapon and/or skill and/or effect MOVES the monster, does the monster suffer 1 additional heart for each space moved, or does this only happen when the monster voluntarily moves on its own during its activation?

FFG Answer: The monster only suffers additional damage when it chooses to move.

the

Shadow Hunter: XP Cost: 2, Fatigue Cost: 0

Your Wolf adds 1 additional Gray die to its defense pool.

Before activating your Wolf, you may choose to perform an attack with it, rolling the dice

shown below. Then your Wolf is defeated. Dice: Melee: Red Red Green Gree

its not using any blue dice? so u can never miss whit it?

the

Shadow Hunter: XP Cost: 2, Fatigue Cost: 0

Your Wolf adds 1 additional Gray die to its defense pool.

Before activating your Wolf, you may choose to perform an attack with it, rolling the dice

shown below. Then your Wolf is defeated. Dice: Melee: Red Red Green Gree

its not using any blue dice? so u can never miss whit it?

That would appear to be the case, and why it is immediately defeated after the attack. Do note that with the green dice you can do at most 1 damage, and only on average 0.67 points of damage.

That reply to the second question should definetely be in the faq since the wording implies ANY movement causes life loss, not just movement under the Overlord's control. That seems like an errata thing to me but I I agree with it since it sounds a bit too powerful as is.

I agree with answer to one since it doesn't say ANOTHER monster and figures of within range of themseles.

My view:

Question #1 : Yes. The target monster is "within 3 spaces" so you could Hex your target. The ability doesn't say to Hex another monster, but simply Hex one monster.

Question #2 : Yes if the Hero's ability/skill say that you move the monster. The text say the monster suffers 1H each time it moves , not when it performs a move action . That's the difference.

Question #3 : Tricky one! I don't think a figure can attack itself deliberately...I'm not sure if this iss covered in the rules or FAQ but my understanding is that a figure cannot attack itself. So i'd say no.

BTW the Hexer look like pure awesome fun to play. I'll try it next time I play on the Heroes side.

Question #3 : Tricky one! I don't think a figure can attack itself deliberately...I'm not sure if this iss covered in the rules or FAQ but my understanding is that a figure cannot attack itself. So i'd say no.

Technically a monster can only attack it self if you follow the rules by strict definition. See page 9 of the rule book.

Question #3 : Tricky one! I don't think a figure can attack itself deliberately...I'm not sure if this iss covered in the rules or FAQ but my understanding is that a figure cannot attack itself. So i'd say no.

Technically a monster can only attack it self if you follow the rules by strict definition. See page 9 of the rule book.

When a hero player performs an attack action, he may use one of his equipped weapons to attack a space containing a monster.

Monster attacks follow the same rules when attacking heroes, except that monsters don’t have equipped weapons.

At least that is how it could be interpreted as it does not say make an attack on a space containing a hero. My group laughed about it.

IMO that's just another case of bad typo by FFG. They're known for this lol.

I still think, and play like this, that monsters may attack a space containing a Hero.

sooo... Heroes literately, heroes can't hit themselves without outside influence, but monsters can... This just proves my point! All my monsters are incompetent idiots!!

(So is the joke with my group and my illustrations of our campaign x.x)

When a hero player performs an attack action, he may use one of his equipped weapons to attack a space containing a monster.

Monster attacks follow the same rules when attacking heroes, except that monsters don’t have equipped weapons.

Question #1

Our question concerns the first part of the card "... Hex 1 monster within 3 spaces of your target." Can you choose to hex the actual target monster? Obviously, it is within 3 spaces of itself, but the way it is phrased "seems" to indicate a difference between the target and all other monsters within 3 spaces of itself. Thoughts?

Question #2

Our question concerns the second part of the card "... that monster suffers 1 additional Heart for each space it moves during its activation". If a hero has a weapon and/or skill and/or effect that allows it to attack the monster during the monster's activation (almost like an interrupt in D1e). and that hero's weapon and/or skill and/or effect MOVES the monster, does the monster suffer 1 additional heart for each space moved, or does this only happen when the monster voluntarily moves on its own during its activation?

Question #3

This skill seems to provide the heroes with a D1e like "Dark Charm" ability against monsters (although even better in that it allows the heroes to make all choices such as how to spend surges, skills, etc.). Can you force the monster from which you remove the hex token to attack itself? And, back to the age old question ... is "monster" synonymous with "Lieutenant" and/or is it synonymous with a possessed Ally?

A1: Yes, the target is a monster within 3 spaces of itself, therefore it may be chosen. I suppose FFG has already answered this one, though =P

A2: I would have said yes, the monster takes damage for forced movement during its activation. FFG has already contradicted me on that one, though. Errata'd.

A3: Initially I was thinking that the monster would have to target a hero, since normally monsters must target heroes and this ability doesn't actually say the monster can target other monsters. Nor does it say the monster is considered a hero for this attack or anything weird like that.

But then I re-read the rules for attacking on page 12. They say that the attacking player must declare a space that contains an enemy figure for the attack. I don't know that any player can really claim enmity against plastic figures, but assuming this sentence is to have any logical meaning, I'm inclined to think that this means the monster in fact must target another monster (LTs included, of course.)

Taken more generally, this ruling also means that the player controlling any particular attack may and indeed must always pick a figure (or figures) belonging to the opposing side as his target. Unless the ability itself specifically says to target friendly figures for some reason. This makes a certain amount of sense, to me, so I'm not particularly opposed to this discovery myself.

And FFG has already clarified the point of whether or not the monster may attack itself, which is good because that was looking like a pretty big question mark to me.

The Internal Rot skill reads:

Internal Rot: XP Cost: 2, Fatigue Cost: 0

Each time a monster becomes hexed, you may place 1 additional hex token on that monster.

Each of your attacks with a magic weapon targeting a hexed monster gains Pierce 2.

Does this imply any time a monster is hexed, or only the first time?

This is one of those "always on" skills. "Each time a monster becomes hexed" means each time . Each attack yo make against a hexed monster gains Pierce 2, for all eternity or until the game ends, whichever comes first =P

Question #2

The Plague Cloud skill reads:

Plague Cloud: XP Cost: 3, Fatigue Cost: 3

Action: Perform an attack with a magic weapon. This attack targets each hexed monster in your line of sight and ignores range. Each figure rolls defense dice separately. Before rolling dice for the attack, each monster adjacent to a target monster is hexed.

Since the attack targets multiple hexed monsters, can I use Enfeebling Hex to discard hex tokens from each of those monsters?

Yes. The attack "targets" each monster, so you may use Enfeebling Hex to discard tokens from any of them.

If so, would the discarded hex tokens contribute overall damage to the attack, or only damage to the monster from which I discarded the hex tokens? For example, I use Plague Cloud targeting two monsters, where monster A has 2 hex tokens, and monster B only has 1. Can I discard all of the hex tokens to deal +3 damage to both monsters, or would it only deal +2 damage to monster A, and +1 to monster B.

(Relevant text from the Enfeebling Hex skill: "When performing an attack targeting a hexed monster, a hero may discard any number of hex tokens before spending surges. The attack gains +1 heart for each hex token discarded.")

"The attack gains +1 [Heart] for each hex token discarded," therefore the bonus damage from each hex token discarded will apply to all affected monsters. Note "affected," not just "targeted." This is indeed a powerful combo.

Also, what happens if I add Blast to the attack (e.g. with the Lightning Strike rune)? Would the blast apply to every targeted monster as well?

This is a bit vague, but I believe the blast radius would emanate from every targeted monster, yes. The text for the Blast effect only refers to a singular target space, but I believe that's simply because FFG was assuming the attack would only have one target. They do that sort of thing. You can ask FFG if you want an official answer.

Any additional monsters caught in the blast would be "affected" but not "targted." Therefore they will suffer the same additional damage from any hex tokens discarded via Enfeebling Hex, but you cannot discard hex tokens from these monsters as they are not "targets." (It could happen that a monster has hex tokens, but is not within LoS of the Hexer, therefore is not targted by Plague Cloud directly but may be close enough to get caught in the Blast from an actual target.)

Also note that there is no "affected twice." In the event that multiple Blast radii "overlap" on a single space, any monster in that space is only hit once by the attack.

The Internal Rot skill reads:

Internal Rot: XP Cost: 2, Fatigue Cost: 0

Each time a monster becomes hexed, you may place 1 additional hex token on that monster.

Each of your attacks with a magic weapon targeting a hexed monster gains Pierce 2.

Does this imply any time a monster is hexed, or only the first time?

This is one of those "always on" skills. "Each time a monster becomes hexed" means each time . Each attack yo make against a hexed monster gains Pierce 2, for all eternity or until the game ends, whichever comes first =P

Question #2

The Plague Cloud skill reads:

Plague Cloud: XP Cost: 3, Fatigue Cost: 3

Action: Perform an attack with a magic weapon. This attack targets each hexed monster in your line of sight and ignores range. Each figure rolls defense dice separately. Before rolling dice for the attack, each monster adjacent to a target monster is hexed.

Since the attack targets multiple hexed monsters, can I use Enfeebling Hex to discard hex tokens from each of those monsters?

Yes. The attack "targets" each monster, so you may use Enfeebling Hex to discard tokens from any of them.

If so, would the discarded hex tokens contribute overall damage to the attack, or only damage to the monster from which I discarded the hex tokens? For example, I use Plague Cloud targeting two monsters, where monster A has 2 hex tokens, and monster B only has 1. Can I discard all of the hex tokens to deal +3 damage to both monsters, or would it only deal +2 damage to monster A, and +1 to monster B.

(Relevant text from the Enfeebling Hex skill: "When performing an attack targeting a hexed monster, a hero may discard any number of hex tokens before spending surges. The attack gains +1 heart for each hex token discarded.")

"The attack gains +1 [Heart] for each hex token discarded," therefore the bonus damage from each hex token discarded will apply to all affected monsters. Note "affected," not just "targeted." This is indeed a powerful combo.

Also, what happens if I add Blast to the attack (e.g. with the Lightning Strike rune)? Would the blast apply to every targeted monster as well?

This is a bit vague, but I believe the blast radius would emanate from every targeted monster, yes. The text for the Blast effect only refers to a singular target space, but I believe that's simply because FFG was assuming the attack would only have one target. They do that sort of thing. You can ask FFG if you want an official answer.

Any additional monsters caught in the blast would be "affected" but not "targted." Therefore they will suffer the same additional damage from any hex tokens discarded via Enfeebling Hex, but you cannot discard hex tokens from these monsters as they are not "targets." (It could happen that a monster has hex tokens, but is not within LoS of the Hexer, therefore is not targted by Plague Cloud directly but may be close enough to get caught in the Blast from an actual target.)

Also note that there is no "affected twice." In the event that multiple Blast radii "overlap" on a single space, any monster in that space is only hit once by the attack.

Thanks for the response.

That's how I thought Plague Cloud worked, which seems to give the Hexer really amazing damage potential if the conditions are just right. Imagine attacking a group of monsters with Plague Cloud and discarding a total of 8 hex tokens (not too hard to imagine) for +8 on the attack without even taking your dice roll into account.

As for blast, I agree with your assessment that the blast would emanate from each targeted monster. Though I noticed that the Rune Master has a similar skill (Break the Rune) that also targets multiple monsters, yet includes a clause that the attack "cannot be affected by Blast". Perhaps a similar note was mistakenly left off of Plague Cloud.

I think you misunderstood my first question though. My fault for not explaining it well. Regarding Internal Rot, I was specifically wondering about the first half of the skill and the wording "Each time a monster becomes hexed...". At first glance it seems to imply: "any time you give a monster a hex token, give that monster two hex tokens instead." but in that case I feel like it would have been worded "Each time a monster is hexed...", or "Each time you hex monster...". Instead, it seems like it should be whenever a non-hexed monster becomes hexed, or when a monster goes from having 0 hex tokens to > 0. In that sense, it would only trigger when you hex a monster who wasn't already hexed.

A3: Initially I was thinking that the monster would have to target a hero, since normally monsters must target heroes and this ability doesn't actually say the monster can target other monsters. Nor does it say the monster is considered a hero for this attack or anything weird like that.

But then I re-read the rules for attacking on page 12. They say that the attacking player must declare a space that contains an enemy figure for the attack. I don't know that any player can really claim enmity against plastic figures, but assuming this sentence is to have any logical meaning, I'm inclined to think that this means the monster in fact must target another monster (LTs included, of course.)

Here's the part where it should've clicked:

The card does not say "have that monster perform an attack", it says "perform an attack with [that monster]." This is similar to the Necromancer skill Army of Death that says "Perform an attack with your Reanimate." I believe FFG has stated somewhere (again, I can't remember where) that this attack originates from the caster, but uses the stats of the Familiar. So it can almost be treated like you are wielding that figure as a weapon instead of your own weapons.

That said, this should theoretically allow for personal, non-weapon abilities to be used in combination with the attack. This is probably something to clarify with FFG, though.

I received additional clarifications from FFG concerning my first two questions. Their answers are as follows:

Question #1: "... Hex 1 monster within 3 spaces of your target." Can you choose to hex the actual target monster? Obviously, it is within 3 spaces of itself, but the way it is phrased "seems" to indicate a difference between the target and all other monsters within 3 spaces of itself. Thoughts?

FFG Answer: The target monster may be chosen as the monster to hex.

TARGET!

Target monster OR monster in target field (space)? If the monster can be "target" then next dispute is on way:

E H EE D DD EE L E

EEEE DDD EEEE

In that simple scheme "E" is an Empty space; "H" is the Hexer hero; "D" is Shadow Dragon; "L" is Lieutenant; Yellow "D" is the Target space which attacking player declared .

Question is : Can the Lieutenant be hexed if he stand on 5 spaces from the "target field (space)" but on 3 spaces from the "target monster" or not?

In card is written: " Hex 1 monster within 3 spaces of you target. "

In Basic rules is written: "... and declares the target of the attack (a space containing an enemy figure)." (Page 9 in 1. Declare Weapon and Target)

But in that "answer" is written: "target monster"...

I think that such dualism is inadmissible but in the same Basic rules in Example on Page 12 we can read: " The zombie is not in Jain's line of sight and she cannot target it with her attack. "

In "Plague Cloud" mishmash is the same: " ... adjacent to a target monster is hexed. "

So. What is the **** TARGET end up "space" or "monster" (figure)?

I love this game but why, WHY F.A.Q. should be with the size of a Dickensian novel?

On top of all, this is the Second Expansion... Shame!

TARGET!

Target monster OR monster in target field (space)? If the monster can be "target" then next dispute is on way:

E H EE D DD EE L E

EEEE DDD EEEE

In that simple scheme "E" is an Empty space; "H" is the Hexer hero; "D" is Shadow Dragon; "L" is Lieutenant; Yellow "D" is the Target space which attacking player declared .

Question is : Can the Lieutenant be hexed if he stand on 5 spaces from the "target field (space)" but on 3 spaces from the "target monster" or not?

No, you cannot hex the LT. "Your target" is the space, not the monster. The target space must contain an enemy figure, but the target is still the space.

To say that "a figure is targeted" means "this figure is occupying a targeted space." Likewise, the phrase "target monster" means "a monster occupying a targeted space."

(Are there actually any cards that say "target monster", or is that just a convenience used by us fans?)