Do the ally characters in Labyrinth of Ruin count as heroes for the purposes of determining overlord monster limits? I'm leaning toward no, but I can't find anything in the rule book to indicate one way or another.
Labyrinth allies and monster limit
Sadly, no. They are additional characters to your hero group. ~.~ otherwise monster cards would have to have a 5 player option. We OL would get more monsters. *Sad face*
Here's what the rulebook has to say about allies:
"Similar to lieutenants, allies are represented on the map by ally tokens, but are treated as hero figures for the purposes of hero
abilities, monster abilities and attacks, and Overlord cards.
Allies are treated as friendly figures for heroes and enemy figures for monsters.
"
This part is the same as all NPC tokens which are "treated as heroes."
"Allies have attributes and perform attribute tests just like heroes. Ally cards list the ally’s attributes, abilities, characteristics, and the dice used when the ally attacks or defends."
This part is new, as a general rule. Most NPCs who are "treated as heroes" from before LoR don't have attributes to begin with, but I'm pretty sure those who did would have had something similar written in the quest rules anyway.
In short, allies are just another type of NPC token "treated as a hero." These ones happen to follow the hero party from one quest to another.
Note: I did reorganize the sentences a little bit, but all the relevant material is still there.
Edited by Steve-OWould the Overlord draw a card if he were to defeat the ally?
I don't think the OL would get a card for slaying a NPC-token that "counts as" a hero. Otherwise the OL would even draw a card for slaying a familiar.
Would the Overlord draw a card if he were to defeat the ally?
No. The reference to OL cards in the passage I quoted above means that the OL may play cards on this token as if it were a hero. He does not get to draw a card for defeating them.