Q & A

Frequently Asked Questions

The following sections answer frequently asked questions about Descent: Journeys in the Dark. This is version 1.3 of the Descent FAQ.

The Hero Players’ Turns

Q: Can a hero give any type of item to an adjacent hero, or just weapons and potions?

A: A hero may give any item (but not money) to an adjacent hero at the cost of one movement point per item.

Q: When can a hero equip items?

A: A hero can equip, drop, or place items in his pack at the beginning of his turn, just after refreshing cards. In addition, whenever a hero receives an item from another player or from a chest, he may immediately equip that item, dropping or placing other items in his pack to free up the hands necessary for the just-received item.

Q: Does a hero have 360 degree line of sight?

A: Yes, as the rules state on page 4, “The direction a figure is facing has no effect in the game. Heroes and monsters are assumed to be constantly looking around and can therefore see in all directions.”

Q: Can stunned heroes perform movement actions (such as drinking a potion)?

A: Yes, if the stunned hero chooses a move half action. A stunned hero can also spend fatigue for movement points.

Q: Can a hero that chooses the “Run” action use his movement points for purposes other than moving (such as drinking a potion)?

A: Yes. Whenever a hero receives movement points, he can use them for any movement action, including moving, drinking a potion, opening a door, etc.

Q: In town, are you limited in how many items you can buy or sell and do you have to buy and sell in any specific order?

A: You can buy and sell in any order and as often as you like.

Q: Can a hero rest in town?

A: Yes.

Q: If a chest has 2 Copper treasure tokens, does each hero draw 2 Copper treasure cards?

A: Yes.

Q: When a chest contains curses, can the overlord use the threat generated by the curses to play a trap on that chest? Does the trap go off before or after the rest of the chest contents are distributed?

A: Curses are always the first thing distributed from a chest, and threat from curses may be used to play a trap card in response to opening the chest. The rest of the chest contents are only distributed after the trap card (if any) resolves. In the case of a Mimic or similar card, this could be several turns later!

Q: Can familiars jump over pits? Can they use transport glyphs?

A: No on both counts.

Q: What is the proper timing of events that occur “at the beginning of a player’s turn”?

A: When multiple events may occur “at the beginning of a player’s turn,” such as a hero affected by multiple different status effects like Burn and Bleed, that player may decide in which order to resolve them. The player must resolve all “start of turn” effects before proceeding with the rest of his turn.

Q: A hero who has been Transformed by either Curse of the Monkey God or Dance of the Monkey God may move up to five spaces and may not take any movement actions. Can that hero take other actions, such as receiving an order token or declaring a Run action? What about a hero who is both Stunned and Transformed?

A: A Transformed hero may not declare any action. He may still use any skills that are appropriate (e.g., Acrobatic, Telekinesis) and may spend fatigue for extra movement points. A Transformed hero who is stunned may only move (i.e., he must choose the “only move” option for being stunned, not the “only attack” option), which in most cases has no effects beyond those of being Transformed. A Transformed hero who has an order token placed on him by means of another hero with Leadership may still use the order, except that he may not make an attack with a Guard order. (Note that while Guard and Aim orders are useless to a Transformed hero, they may still be placed on him by a hero with Leadership.)

Q: How does Grey Ker’s ability work? Can I declare a Battle action to activate my Battle Cry power, and then declare an Advance action to activate my Relentless power?

A: Grey Ker may still only declare one action per turn. His ability allows him to change what action he is taking mid-turn (provided that the new action is legal), but changing his action is not the same as declaring a new one. For example, Grey Ker could declare a Battle action (potentially triggering Battle Cry or a similar skill), spend some fatigue to move, make an attack roll, and then change to an Advance action to move his speed or to a Ready action to place an order token.

The Overlord Player’s Turn

Q: When the overlord is controlling a hero through “Dark Charm,” who decides how to spend the surges and power dice? Can the overlord move the character and attack, or just make a single attack without moving?

A: The overlord controls the hero for that attack, including the hero’s use of surges and power dice. The overlord may also play cards such as “Aim” with the attack. However, the overlord player cannot move the character, or force the hero to spend fatigue to add to the attack.

Q: Is the effect of the overlord’s “Dodge” card that the hero’s attack completely misses, or that the overlord can force the hero to re-roll dice rolled for the attack, as with the hero dodge orders?

A: The “Dodge” card allows the overlord to force re-rolls.

Q: Can a monster end its movement on or be spawned on a glyph of transport?

A: Monsters can end their movement on or be spawned on unactivated glyphs, but cannot end their movement on or be spawned on activated glyphs. If a monster is on an activated glyph, the overlord must move it off the glyph on his next turn,if possible. Monsters can always move through or attack into spaces containing glyphs.

Q: Under what circumstances can the overlord receive threat for rolling surges on an attack roll?

A: The overlord may spend two surges on each attack roll to gain one threat. He may do this on any attack that hits a hero. This represents a change from previous FAQ rulings on this subject.

Q: Can the overlord play more than one “Rage” card on a single monster?

A: No.

Q: When does the overlord play Power cards? The Well of Darkness rules summary on page 28 and the core rulebook seem to disagree.

A: The rules summary in the Well of Darkness rulebook is in error; refer to the main rule book instead. The overlord may play a Power card at the beginning of his turn. Remember that when a player has multiple effects that occur at the beginning of his turn (such as spawning and playing a Power card, for example), he may resolve them in any order. Thus, an overlord may draw cards, discard down to his maximum hand size, and then play a Power card, spawn card, and/or any other cards that are played “at the beginning of turn” in any order. He must resolve all these effects before proceeding with activating monsters.

Special Abilities

Q: Can an attacker using Knockback move the target in any direction, or just straight back? Also, can the target be knocked back into a pit?

A: The attacker with Knockback can move the target in any direction, including into a pit or other trap.

Q: Do special abilities stack?

A: Special abilities that require you to spend surges are designed to stack. So if you have an ability such as “+: +1 Damage and Pierce 1,” and you pay 3 surges, you gain +3 Damage and Pierce 3. Some items may explicitly limit your surge spending/stacking, but those are the exception to the rule.

Q: Does Sweep affect friendly figures? When a figure has both Sweep and Reach, does it strike every creature in range or only those to which it has Line of Sight?

A: Sweep affects only enemy figures, never friendly figures (unless Dark Charm is played, of course!). For the purposes of a Sweep attack, figures do not block line of sight – that is, a figure which is completely behind another figure (friendly or enemy) may still be affected by the Sweep attack. A figure that is completely obscured by rubble, a closed door, or some other effect that blocks line of sight would be immune to the Sweep attack, however.

Q: When making an attack with the Guard order, can a hero use abilities such as Cleave that grant extra attacks? What about other special abilities?

A: When making a Guard attack, a hero retains access to all appropriate special abilities unless otherwise indicated. This includes abilities such as Cleave, Quick Casting, and Rapid Fire that may grant an extra attack.

Miscellaneous

Q: How much fatigue would it cost a hero with Telekinesis to move a hero out of a pit?

A: One fatigue.

Q: Can a player with Telekinesis use it to move a hero that is caught in a web?

A: Yes. However, the web token would stay with the moved hero.

Q: Can a hero kill another hero in order to trigger “Divine Retribution”?

A. No. Divine Retribution only triggers when an enemy figure kills the hero.

Q: If a flying monster passes through a hero that has Holy Aura, does the monster suffer a wound for the space it “shares” with the hero?

A: No.

Q: When a chest explodes because of the “Explosive Rune” card, does the hero standing on the chest suffer wounds, or just the heroes adjacent to the chest?

A: The hero standing on the chest suffers wounds.

Q: Why can’t I jump over water like I can pits?

A: As every hero knows, the dank water found in subterranean caverns is usually infested with deadly bloodsquids, ready to pull an unwary hero to his doom at a moment’s notice. As a result, only the most acrobatic heroes dare to leap across even the most innocent-seeming pools of water.

Q: What happens when a figure in a pit space moves to an adjacent pit space?

A: Pit spaces that are adjacent are considered to be part of the same pit. Moving from one pit space to another does not require any extra movement points and does not inflict damage in the same way that entering or leaving a pit does. Furthermore, if multiple figures are in the same large pit, all may trace line of sight to each other as if they were on normal floor spaces. All normal line of sight restrictions still apply, of course.

Q: Can Relics be destroyed by effects that destroy items, such as the Frost ability?

A: Relics may not be destroyed ever for any reason. This is NOT true of Dark Relics, which have all the same vulnerabilities as normal items.

Q: If a master monster is killed via some indirect means, such as being knocked back into a pit, a hero’s aura ability, a lingering effect, or a familiar, who gets the bounty of coins?

A: No one. A “killing blow” must be the product of an attack roll.

Q: What happens when a rolling boulder or crushing wall moves across potions/chests/glyphs/runekeys/other tokens?

A: Any token not specifically mentioned, either individually or as a class, in the rolling boulder or crushing wall rules is completely ignored by the boulder or wall. This includes familiars, potions, coins, chests, runekeys, and many others.