Descent House Rules
These rules are generally MORE forgiving than the "official" rules.
Documentation
Official FAQs
Errata
Official Divine Favor Errata - Minimum Conquest for a Hero is 1 - The author Kevin Wilson has spoken - http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=4&efcid=1&efidt=245877
Strategy Help
Hero Help from Boardgame Geek
The following strategy for the heroes will make we the game so much easier, that it can turn games that you were getting crushed into games that you are just wrecking the monsters.
The strategy is:
Whenever you approach a new room, do NOT rush into the room unprepared, even if it takes one extra turn to organize your party to enter the room. It is worth one turn, even though the overlord gets cards and threat. Then do the following:
The first character to move is "tank guy". He takes an advance action. He is standing at the door before the turn, and he opens it, moves forward, uses stamina to reach a monster if needed, kills it.
You now see the room.
The second character to move is the "runner". This is your highest move, highest stamina character. This character takes a run action, and runs through the room to any key, takes it, to the treasure chest, opens it, to the glyph, activates it, and to town so as not to die. This movement is facilitated by having 3 stamina potions on hand. When you run out of movement, you gulp a potion and keep moving. You should calculate out how much movement you need (counting your three potions), and allowing for several spaces of delay due to traps. If you STILL have enough movement doing an advance instead of a run, then do an advance. This is so that if the overlord plays the mimic trap on the chest making it a monster, you can then kill that monster to distribute the treasure, and continue running.
Note that once you have gone through a couple rooms, the chances that the overlord has drawn the "mimic" card increases.
The runner is the key to this strategy. You get the room treasure BEFORE you fight the monsters in the room. For example, in scenario 2, with this strategy you run around the giant, take the silver treasure, and then use it to kill the giant. If you dont do this, the giant blocks the hallway and you must kill it with starting weapons, and it is very hard (especially if he can sit at the end of the hall/entrance to the room, while shooters move in front of him, shoot, move back. Yes it works and its evil)
Note that the main reason the runner didnt open the door is so that you dont get hit with the paralyzing gas trap.
Now, all remaining characters move up (probably with BATTLE actions, and using stamina/ maybe drinking stamina potion) and attack. With your new equipment, the monsters are far easier to kill.
Now, the runner who is in town will next turn shop and restore their 3 stamina potions, possibly taking a couple extra as well to hand to the others who used theirs.
Essentially, a stamina potion can let you move several extra spaces while doing a battle action, thus buying you an attack. Stamina potions are far better than healing potions. The stamina potion buys you an attack, kills that beastman, saves you several hit points and the monster is dead. The healing potion heals the damage, and leaves the monster alive. You should be buying MANY MANY more stamina potions as you play through the game. Though I would give them to the 4-5 stamina people mostly, and only 0-1 on the 3 stamina people.
Other than that, some small random advice: green dice are better than yellow, choose crossbow over bow, immolation over mage staff, especially with more heroes. The only time the yellow die weapon could be ok is in 2 player, when the monsters are smaller, but I still wouldnt take it. You want your attacks on small creatures to kill, not wound. And you wantto be able to wound bigger stuff.
Throw back one use items in the treasure, and things that arent as helpful, and use the money in town to buy a new treasure. If you have 250 and get a silver item, and the silver item isnt great for you, throw it back, go get a gold.
House Rules
Fast Play Rules - As Descent can take just WAAAAYYY to long to play.
Fleeing Lt.'s
As the official rules concerning fleeing lieutenants in SoB are just useless, we've house-ruled this he following way:
A Lieutenant which flees, is removed from the board altogether. On the Overlord's turn, the Overlord rolls a black die. On a Power Enhancement, the lieutenant reappears at his starting location (and can be issued an order).
This at least adds some sort of drawback for the Overlord in case a Lieutenant cowardly decides to flee.
Sea of Blood Charts
Hero Selection
Each player draws three random Hero cards and picks one from that selection
Vanilla Descent - Skill Card Selection
They may discard ONE skill cards and draw a new one from the same deck.
Hero Advice
1. Stay together within mutually supporting distance of each other. A lone hero is a dead one.
2. Pay attention to line of sight so the Overlord doesn't spawn monsters where you did not expect it. This mostly concerns the characters with minimal armor who are attacked from behind a room they thought was secure. The familiar named Boggs the Rat is excellent for this since he adds another pair of eyes.
3. Healing potions are a lifesaver. Do not go into a dungeon without at least one. Bring three per hero if you can afford it.
4. Concentrate your attacks especially on bosses and master creatures. The sooner you can get rid of them the better. They usually have devastating attacks and should be the first to die.
5. Bring a secondary weapon and shield (if you are using one). A weapon can be destroyed in an encounter and a weaponless hero is an encumbrance to his party as well as a monster magnet.
6. You cannot kill all monsters because the Overlord keeps spawning them. Kill the boss monster, grab the loot, activate any portals (for XPs) and exfiltrate pronto! Don't hang around just to kill monsters because it is a losing proposition.
7. Pay attention to what the Overlord is doing so you can have an idea what he is cooking up for you. Is the spawning counter eyes up (he can spawn monters)? How much threat does he have? How many cards are in his hand? Does he have a devilish grin growing on his face as he studies his cards? Is he looking at his cards while you are moving your hero to a door or chest(prepare for a trap!)?
8. Know the monsters you are fighting so you can have a better idea how to fight them. This information is open to players so take advantage of it.
9. The order of your moves matters! Optimize your monster slaying by having the range heroes soften up or clear a path up to the target and have your melee guys wade in for the kill.
10. Don't bunch up if an area attack monster is present. It should have the first priority to be sent to the monster place in the sky.
11. The Overlord is not your friend. Do not mistake this fellow as the GM in a typical RPG session. He is playing to win so do not expect any mercy.
12. Give any item to the hero who can best use it. There is no "I" in TEAM so distribute items, potions, and gold accordingly. Teams slaughter the opposition, individuals get picked off.
13. Don't be too upset if your hero dies. Dying is a normal part in this game since there is no permanent death. Pick yourself up, get the dust off, and rush back to the fray!
14. Upgrade weapons when you can and train when you can. There is no instance where you can have too much equipment or training.
15. Use your fatigue for extra power die or movement at every opportunity. A lot of heroes forget this benefit.
16. Know the capabilities of your hero. Heroes and parties often wipe because somebody forgot that they have this spell/item/ability that could have saved their bacon.
17. Do not stay in town too long when visiting the temple or restocking in the merchant. Your party members need every hero in the fight.
18. Before the start of any encounter, plan out your strategy on getting to the boss and dealing with it. This just gets everybody on the same page when the fight starts.
19. Sometimes, it might be better to die than going back to town. Do not make this decision lightly though.
20. Have fun! Don't take this game too seriously. You win some and lose some.
The Art of Blitz
Motivation
Many players seem to have problems properly managing it through the first half of copper in Road to Legend. Either they suffer some ugly defeats from LTs or common power-combos like fast Eldritch with Sniper Skeletons or they quickly lag so far behind that they never recover. This essay shall serve an opening tactic to counter these problems on the important metagame level of RtL, which many hero players don't grasp well enough and blame unbalance on RtL side.
The basic idea of the essay is to employ a tactic commonly known as Blitz - overwhelming the opponent with fast actions before he can gain strength, organise himself and retaliate. That tactic was well used in the difficult WoD dungeons that were a hard race against time, but lately seems to have been forgotten a bit.
Theory
The following insights form the basis for this strategy and should be thoroughly understood to properly execute it.
1) Until well into the midgame when the OL has some cities razed, the heroes control the XP progression because in the early game the biggest XP gain comes from dungeons.
2) During the early game for the heroes the strongest improvement comes from the gold and not from the XP, because they need to get party upgrades to take control of the board action and power up with basic gear and potions.
3) You don't need to gain everything possible to win, you just need to gain more than your opponent.
4) The OL becomes stronger over the course of a dungeon due power cards, prepared hand cards and thread amassment while the heroes stay at about the stay at the same level due having all Talamir options available right from the start.
Execution
The basic idea is to enter a dungeon, reap it of most of its benefits as quickly as possible and then bolt it.
The suitable dungeons for this endeavor are all easily reachable from Talamir, namely Starfall Forest (Gr2) and Thelsvan Highway (Gr3) in that order. After acquiring the Staff of the Wild you can also access Gardens of Tarn (Gr3+1), Gate to the North (Gr4+3) and Blacking Swamp (Gr2+Ye2), while buying the Enchanted Boat first gives you access Red Echo River (Gr2), with Blacking Swamp (Re1) serving as back-up or suitable location when having the Guide.
In the first week don't to lose more than a 2 CP hero, and in each following week no more than a 3 CP hero, because the relevant upgrades for the OL come in 5 XP steps: Lawlessness, Merrick and then Eliza Farrow for 5 XP and the cheap Treachery Upgrade and the Scrolls in Eternal Night for 10 XP. Feel happy if your OL wastes 3 XP on an early Big Trouble or 8 XP on an early Transport Gem. Always keep a healing potion at hand for that and withdraw wounded heros back to Talamir early enough.
When entering the first level of the dungeon first assess if it will pose more than slight problems - if so leave it alone and try a safer one in the next week. If it is suitable clear it very carefully and enter the next level, which you afterwards flee, no matter what. The proper way to leave a dungeon is to sacrifice the 2 CP character (if that is still within your quota) to gather the gold piles and especially the chest with maybe a little help from other characters, which thoughtfully stay back and leave the dungeon via the nearby glyph afterwards. In any and every way make sure that you buy out the market and alchemist in Talamir and heal up everybody to full health before declaring to flee.
Assuming that you always only clear the first level you should make 6 XP (1 discover + 2 leader + 3 glyph) per dungeon, while you probably get about one treasure from the chest, one from the town, adding three potions (2 town + 1 chest) and around 900 gold (2x 400 pile + 250 chest + 200 leader - 250 copper item - 2x 50 potions). Make sure you don't waste any gold on mediocre items, because you need to save your gold to buy the important party upgrades, which cost 3250 gold total (1500 Staff of the Wild + 750 Guide + 1000 Enchanted Boat, preferably in that order).
Follow-Up
The tactic is a good start, but you can't execute it indefinitely because you will run out dungeons to harvest and at close access. You should stop after about four (give or take one) successful dungeons when you have funded all important party upgrades and fundamentally geared up. You can now already start saving for your first Secret Training at Olmric's Hut (it is only 15 XP and a grand total of 2000 gold) or invest into important skills for two party members if you had a bad draw.
But the first action is to chase down the LTs of the OL, most notably Alric as he had the longest time to cause trouble. With fast and secure overland movement through everything but secret trails and well equipped with potions and good gear (give those who had bad draws the town axe - with a power potion and an aim order they can still cause quite some havoc) you should an easy time to kill him or at least scare him off. Do the same with the other LTs if the OL tried to annoy you with an early LT rush with Merrick and Eliza.
Afterward enjoy an easy dungeon or two because your OL will surely not have upgraded his monsters yet, while you already have some good gear - and even when he does upgrade you will be well prepared. Make sure to regularly place rumours from now, as they greatly increase the reward for playing through a whole dungeon and you're outfitted well enough for them right now. Also try to keep the initiative and get your secret training early enough and save up some money to go shopping right away after hitting silver campaign level.
Counters
This tactic is good because the OL will have few real options against it, all imposing some unpleasant choices on him. If he takes any of them at all he will delay the very important first monster upgrade, which is already a big win for you.
The OL's first options it to LT rush by bringing out the Merrick and Eliza and start to raze towns. Ignore it until you have geared up properly and then chase them off. If they stack on one town it might be a bit harder, but if you played it well enough and didn't give much XP to the OL he will be too slow to cause serious trouble.
Another options for the OL is to employ encounters to hinder you from easy access to the dungeons. The first way is buy Lawlessness quickly, then maybe even adding Big Trouble or reinforcing dungeons with one LT. Simply stay away from the LTs, flee encounters if they're not surely easy and suffer through it. This is the only tactic that you have few active leverage against because you shouldn't buy the Guide as first upgrade. Simply use your spare potions to ensure a save flee or quick victory by a leader kill.
At last the OL might become very aggressive, buying up Treachery to give you a hard early time in the dungeons and not saving up, maybe even attacking you with a LT. Simply be extra careful, and if he used both his Threat and Treachery early surprise him by enjoying another easy second level of the dungeon.
I hope I could help some struggling heroes...
Overlord Strategy
First, it's useful to understand the 3 roles an Overlord can assume. Based on the Overlords starting set of cards, you may find yourself focusing more on one role than the other. Nevertheless it is important to know how you can affect the heroes' lives:
1. Monster Spawner: A Monster Spawner Overlord focuses on ample use of spawn cards. Effective use of this role depends on quite a few variables:
a) the map: you will need a map that has lots of obstacles/corners such that your monsters can legally spawn
b) the heroes: if any of the heroes has a familiar, you will be greatly hampered
c) the DOOM! Card is quite useful as your spawned monsters will have extra strength
2. Trap Master: A Trapmaster Overlord focuses on expert usage of trap cards. Best if used with an early Trapmaster card. Effective use of this role requires knowing your heroes and who would be hurt most by which traps, as well as knowing your map and where a trap would do the most damage when sprung.
3. Monster Buffer: A Monster Buffer will focus on ample use of the Aim, Dodge, Charge and Rage cards. Can also be further enhanced with the Doom! Card. Knowing proper combos of monster and buff cards is crucial.
Obviously any good Overlord will use an appropriate combination of these roles, based on the circumstances and the map. Each role is going to be greatly enhanced with the Evil Genius card...more cards means more options, and the faster you will blaze through that Overlord deck.
So now that you know what kinds of Overlord roles there are, how do you become a good Overlord? Good question. In my opinion, you have three tasks before you:
1. Pregame goal: Know your map/do your homework.
2. The beginning and midgame goals: slow the heroes down.
3. The endgame goal: kill/incapacitate the heroes.
Achieving these 3 goals requires an understanding of wise usage of the Overlord roles and cards. To accomplish these goals you may have to hold on to a particular card or sets of cards until the end of the game. I'm going to offer some suggestions as to how an Overlord can best play the first quest and possibly even win!
For goal #1, slowing the heroes down, is best to assume the Monster Spawner role. But where to spawn the monsters? Well, what would slow the heroes down the most? Spawning the monsters several spaces behind them, of course! The more you get the characters to backtrack, the sooner you can get to those good Overlord cards and the sooner you get through the deck. Note that a *smart* group of heroes may eventually figure out what you are doing, but the gamers I know are so bloodthirsty they will chase that skeleton all the way back to the room with 1st glyph to whack him down. This is a VERY good thing - take advantage of it. Obviously if you are lucky enough to web a character with a spawned spider, that is all the better.
Keep in mind you do NOT want to kill the heroes in the beg/midgame. Though this may seem counter-intuitive, injuring them is better than killing them, as this will lead to an increase in trips to town and the purchase of healing potions. Furthermore, while killing them to take half their gold and some conquest tokens may sound like a good incentive, it is misleading because often perfectly healthy heroes will waste time going to town to spend that money, and taking away conquest tokens now only to be replaced later will not lead you to any advantage.
Now, do heroes going to town get stronger in the process? YES. But can they ever get anything to protect themselves from your cards? Not really. Skill cards are the Overlords only weakness, and heroes are often much more interested in buying treasure cards as they are cheaper and seemingly stronger. Remember that no items give them an advantage against your traps.
Note that you do NOT want to be using your traps in the beg/midgame - with one exception, pit traps. However there is one condition: NEVER use a pit trap by itself. Pit traps are best used in pairs. How? Use them in a corridor that is 2 spaces wide and have them go off right next to each other. This means that even if the first 2 heroes manage to avoid the traps, the next 2 must waste movement jumping over them, thereby (you guessed it) slowing them down. These pit traps are especially useful if you can block access to a recently opened glyph or play them in a "high traffic" area where the heroes may need to backtrack in order to complete the quest (see Quest #2, for instance).
Finally, what cards to save for the endgame (note this is for the 1st quest, other quests may be different): Paralyzing gas, Curse of the Monkey God, the Sorcerer Spawn card, 2 rages, Dark Charm, and 2 dodges. This is where your aim is to kill the characters and take away as many Conquest tokens as possible - hopefully all of them! Try to get the heroes AWAY from the closest glyph - this way you can divide and conquer as recently killed heroes must spend the bulk of their time getting BACK to the boss, not popping out and attacking him with no hindrance. Placing pit traps near the closest glyph to impede their progress is also advised, though keep in mind they can just use diagonals to get around them unless you trigger them wisely.