When reinforcing a monster group, the master monster can be one of the reinforcements correct?

Sir Palamon has no stamina, but he is a hero figure. Will word of misery force him to take damage? Or is he not affected. We played it as not affected, but the wording is such that we think it could go either way.

One more question. Search cards. In campaign, after a hero uses an item and it is turned face down, does that card ever return to the search deck?

We have been returning. Them at tje end of the shop phase if they are upside down, or sold. If we are doing that wrong, maybe that is why my hero's are too powerfull too fast. Leading to my next coent.

And a general whine. My god I can't beat the **** hero's at all. I can't even come close. They got lucky in the First Blood, and got 2 treasure chest's out of the search, pulling chainmail and the iron axe for the berserker. I ALMOST won that one, but ever since my monsters just could not stand up to him long enough to delay for me to get objectives done in future quests. And once leroic gets blast, small and medium monsters are a joke. So between those two, the ranger is free to go get treasure, and the disciple is free to randomly heal what little damage I get through.

And with most quests starting my monsters a stamina's throw away from the party, that group of mons might as well not even be placed on the board.

I certainly hope it's not always like this. I'm looking forward to beefier monsters in Act II, but the heroes have so much money and so much equipment now that I'm not sure the Act II stuff will present much more of a challenge.

When reinforcing a monster group, the master monster can be one of the reinforcements correct?

Correct

Sir Palamon has no stamina, but he is a hero figure. Will word of misery force him to take damage? Or is he not affected. We played it as not affected, but the wording is such that we think it could go either way.

I do believe that he would take one additional damage each time he received damage that turn.

One more question. Search cards. In campaign, after a hero uses an item and it is turned face down, does that card ever return to the search deck?

We have been returning. Them at tje end of the shop phase if they are upside down, or sold. If we are doing that wrong, maybe that is why my hero's are too powerfull too fast. Leading to my next coent.

After every quest, all search cards are returned and the party receives gold for each, based on the value on the card, regardless of whether they were used during the quest or not.

Wow, too many questions at once.

I reinforce with master monsters respecting group limits.

My reading is that heroes like Cardinal Koth and I'm sure Sir Palamon would take damage instead of fatigue from something like disease unless the rules say otherwise. For example, the Guards in Death on the Wing pass at tests, so no disease would not stick. I haven't done the Palamon Quest yet.

I believe the rules say the search cards are returned to the search deck after you have added up the gold. We definitely put them back in before each encounter.

Right now we are playing with just two heroes and the OL wins all the time. We are switching to four heroes next quest (we're still learning and are messing around a bit to try different heroes, combos, etc.). Actually, I went with the Warlord cards and have been very successful with them. Even if I don't win encounter 1, by encounter two the heroes are usually pretty weak. If I pick the right monsters and have a good strategy for the objective, I seem to have a good chance.

When reinforcing a monster group, the master monster can be one of the reinforcements correct?

Yes, you may reinforce the master just like you would a minion. Unless, of course, the quest rules specifically say otherwise.

Sir Palamon has no stamina, but he is a hero figure. Will word of misery force him to take damage? Or is he not affected. We played it as not affected, but the wording is such that we think it could go either way.

I'm pretty sure he would be affected and take damage.

One more question. Search cards. In campaign, after a hero uses an item and it is turned face down, does that card ever return to the search deck?

All Search cards are "sold off" for their gold value at the end of the quest. (Not the encounter, but the quest.) Whether they were used or not. This is not optional. After being sold off, they return to the deck for the next quest.

And a general whine. My god I can't beat the **** hero's at all. I can't even come close. They got lucky in the First Blood, and got 2 treasure chest's out of the search.

Once drawn and resolved, the Treasure Chest card is sent back to the box . Not back to the deck. It's not possible to draw the same Search card twice in a single quest. Again, same quest , not same encounter. Not that that matters for First Blood since it is only one encounter.

If the heroes manage to draw the entire Search deck over the course of a single quest (possible with some skill combos in play), all further Search tokens essentially become worthless. The deck does not repopulate until the next quest.

I certainly hope it's not always like this. I'm looking forward to beefier monsters in Act II, but the heroes have so much money and so much equipment now that I'm not sure the Act II stuff will present much more of a challenge.

I suspect you're doing some things wrong, particularly with regards to Search cards. You may want to re-read that part of the rules more carefully.

Sorry, the chest was drawn once in first blood, and then imediatley on the first token of fat goblin.

Ok so when shop phase comes around and is gone, search cards are returned to the deck even if the item was not used? So heros do not retain their found potions from prior quests?

And thanks on the sir palamon question. I thought dark miserey should affect him since it is not a condition. I am guessing this would apply to all tokens that are treated as heros? So the guards in death on a wing would suffer extra damage from dark miserey?

Ok so when shop phase comes around and is gone, search cards are returned to the deck even if the item was not used? So heros do not retain their found potions from prior quests?

That's how I read the rules.

And thanks on the sir palamon question. I thought dark miserey should affect him since it is not a condition. I am guessing this would apply to all tokens that are treated as heros? So the guards in death on a wing would suffer extra damage from dark miserey?

Caveat as always, I'm new and still learning too, so corrections are appreciated.