So I've run up a Descent campaign with my regular game group and we've just finished the Interlude of the Shadow Rune campaign - just the core set, nothing else. The OL (myself) has won everything but the Fat Goblin quest and my recent victory in the Interlude was so crushing that the heroes are feeling pretty deflated. I don't think the game's unbalanced but it's feeling like the heroes are in a bit of a rut and we're about to go into Act 2 with majority OL victories and the monsters about to get stat upgrades. Kinda wondering what to do about this?
You don't need to read the rest of this post but I'm just going to try and summarise the way things have panned out over the missions in case that's helpful.
Heroes: Jain Woodward (Wildlander), Syndrael (Berserker), Avric Albright (Spirit Speaker)
First Blood - because we were getting used to the game then strategic mistakes were made on both sides in the first few quests and this was no exception. I mostly just kept knocking down Avric and running the Ettin round to avoid damage - it was narrow but I squeaked the win.
Character development - I take Web Trap because I sense the heroes mobility (between Syndrael's and Jain's heroics) is too good and they need locking down a bit more. I don't remember the heroes taking anything significant at this point. I believe Jain got a better bow.
OL Pick - Masquerade Ball - This was our first proper quest and the heroes took the "kill everything" approach, which resulted in me getting guests out with relative ease, it helped that I got a bit lucky and most of the guests were either in the central room near where I spawned or in the room where I spawned. Going into the second encounter having won the first then the bonus of not having to roll for each door meant Eliza just swept straight through without the heroes even really getting to the Tomb tile (they made it but only to do the search as they knew they had lost). I took Barghests as my first open group in this scenario to wear down their fatigue early on so they couldn't catch up and between the spiders and the howling then they struggled. If they had made it to the tomb then I had chosen Zombies as my second group to try and use the Grab ability on the master one to keep them from chasing too effectively but it never became relevant.
Character development: At this point Syndrael took Whirlwind and bought a weapon with an automatic Pierce 1 and a surge for a second one (some kind of axe). Syndrael's development here completely warped my strategy for the next few quests as I had to be constantly aware of how far apart my monsters were and trying to find placements that minimised the devastating effect of the piercing whirlwind. From the OL's side then I got Bones of Woe, which has proved pretty much as powerful as it reads. I also took Explosive Runes because I didn't want a second Web Trap (though now I do!), the option of having it gives me utility in missions where it might be useful.
The hero group's strategy from this point on became: Get Syndrael in the best position possible to Whirlwind and then use it to maximum effect. Avric makes sure the group keeps standing and Jain searches, chases down any runners or provides extra damage on big monsters. Syndrael's Whirlwind is the absolute centrepiece of their strategy.
OL Pick - Castle Daerion - IMPORTANT! We didn't play the errata for this mission (I had remembered seeing it but completely forgot which mission it applied to) so after the game I offered to take back the mission and we could either play it again or play a different one - the heroes agreed to just soldier on. In the first encounter I plumped with Merriod (truthfully, because it looked fun) and Barghests. I had a loose idea about using the Barghests speed to chew up the villagers before they could get to safety and the Merriod to immobilise them down in the early section. The end result was the Merriod kept getting the door shut in it's face at the first cabin and I could never really get it to land effective hits on the villagers - the Barghests got slaughtered to double Whirlwinds and the Merriod could never catch up as it had to waste actions opening doors and the heroes could make a fighting retreat from it, using villagers to shut doors as they went. We realised that post-errata then this encounter wouldn't have ended any differently. The second encounter went intially well (Whirlwind to clear the initial staircase and then militia spawning in to get in and defend. However without the errata then I was able to hide the Ettin in the corner of the main chamber, surround it with monsters so it couldn't be hit and continually hit Palamon as he doesn't have his move action pre-errata (or an extra defence die upgrade). As I said I offered to take the mission back but we decided to press on.
Character development: Avric took Cloud of Mist, nothing else significant as far as I can remember - I think I might've taken Wicked Laughter because the Web Trap's were proving devastating against their group mobility and being able to reroll it as well was just too good to pass up.
OL Pick - Fat Goblin - I had played the first encounter of this quest as a one off with another game group before and done poorly so I wanted a second go. First time round I had used Cave Spiders as my open group but decided to use Merriod this time round as the Whirlwind would clear the spiders too fast. Merriod was a bit of a damp squib because they slipped past him without him getting an immobilise. The goblins were ultimately trashed by Syndrael's Whirlwind and barely got away with one hay bale. Going into the second encounter I plumped for an Ettin as my open group, I know I had the option to Shadow Dragon (which I hadn't used at all by that point), but it felt unnecessarily mean given that the heroes had lost everything up until then. It also felt unthematic to have a Shadow Dragon in a goblin lair![]()
On reflection the Shadow Dragon would've been a lot better as I did do one very impressive Dark Charm-Throw-Frenzy combo at one point that brutalised Jain but I ultimately kist the early monsters and got jammed in the corridor next to Splig's starting location and the narrowness of it all meant the Whirlwind was working at maximum efficiency and Avric could keep a Cloud of Mist up to make hitting really tough. I did lose but if I'd scored a surge on my final attack as Splig then I would've got a knockback and been able to break through the heroes' wall. I had Dash cards in hand so would've been able to get him away then hoped I could tank enough of the damage to give him another round to sprint to the exit, sadly no!
Character development: The heroes had a LOT of cash after this mission and went a bit mad buying a Mana Weave, some Leather Armour and two other items that I can't remember at the minute.
Interlude - The Overlord Revealed - My open groups for this were Shadow Dragon (Green Portal), Goblin Archers (Blue Portal) and Barghests (Red Portal). The heroes almost immediately tried to get the Runelock of Strength shut. I had plonked the dragon right on top of it so while they tried to find a way round (or through) the dragon then I moved everything else up behind them. I managed to lock down Syndrael through a Web Trap -> Wicked Laughter combo that meant she wasted her Heroic Feat and did nothing for an entire round while I moved the dragon into the entrance to the room dividing Syndrael in the room with no way out and the other heroes in the middle chamber where they had retreated to battle the encroaching goblin-barghest horde. They did get the Strength Runelock sealed and it turned out that it was the Shadow Dragon one. Zachareth appeared and crowd-controlled the hell out of Syndrael to ensure she had to use at least one action to keep moving towards things to hit them. Unfortunately, as I had Syndrael on lockdown then this took out a vast majority of the hero team's killing power and I effectively butchered the other two in the central chamber while the master barghest picked up the shadow key and headed out.
Extra thoughts:
- The hero team's reliance on Syndrael for damage seems quite high, I'm not sure if that's intentionally how groups should be set up (they seem to have a damage, support/tank and utility) because it makes them very vulnerable to control effects (of which I stock up on because to otherwise and let Syndrael run about it just insane).
- Jain (Wildlander) has felt like the weakest hero in the group. She doesn't seem to lay out damage that effectively (she has the ability to reroll one die), at least not compared to Syndrael - but she has also had miserable dice rolling for a lot of the times we've played - maybe her time will come? Her abilities don't seem that amazing. I think she has an ability to shoot through allies and another that ignores adjacent enemies and while the ability to shoot through allies has been quietly effective then, as I said, she seems to have significantly less damage output compared to Syndrael.
- Avric's tankiness and his healing has proved quite frustrating for taking down Syndrael. On one hand I feel like I should focus Avric before Syndrael, but Syndrael does SO MUCH DAMAGE that it feels like depleting both their life pools + healing is too hard and my monsters won't last long enough - that said, if Avric has nothing to heal then he doesn't seem able to do much else. Avric has taken Soul Siphon, which I'm not entirely sure what it does but it hasn't seemed game changing so far.
- Syndrael is devastating and forces me to literally plan my entire turn around how far she can move and what she'll be able to hit (taking into account ability to use fatigue to move and her heroic). That said if I get enough control options (Pit Trap vs fatigue moves, Tripwire vs standard moves and Web Trap for group lockdown + Wicked Laughter to enhance any of those) then I can somewhat mitigate her effectivenss. Dividing Syndrael from the rest of the heroes was critical in the Interlude to mopping up in the central chamber.
So, any thoughts? Are there any inspiring stories of hero teams losing out through the missions but still emerging victorious?
You don't need to read the rest of this post but I'm just going to try and summarise the way things have panned out over the missions in case that's helpful.
Heroes: Jain Woodward (Wildlander), Syndrael (Berserker), Avric Albright (Spirit Speaker)
First Blood - because we were getting used to the game then strategic mistakes were made on both sides in the first few quests and this was no exception. I mostly just kept knocking down Avric and running the Ettin round to avoid damage - it was narrow but I squeaked the win.
Character development - I take Web Trap because I sense the heroes mobility (between Syndrael's and Jain's heroics) is too good and they need locking down a bit more. I don't remember the heroes taking anything significant at this point. I believe Jain got a better bow.
OL Pick - Masquerade Ball - This was our first proper quest and the heroes took the "kill everything" approach, which resulted in me getting guests out with relative ease, it helped that I got a bit lucky and most of the guests were either in the central room near where I spawned or in the room where I spawned. Going into the second encounter having won the first then the bonus of not having to roll for each door meant Eliza just swept straight through without the heroes even really getting to the Tomb tile (they made it but only to do the search as they knew they had lost). I took Barghests as my first open group in this scenario to wear down their fatigue early on so they couldn't catch up and between the spiders and the howling then they struggled. If they had made it to the tomb then I had chosen Zombies as my second group to try and use the Grab ability on the master one to keep them from chasing too effectively but it never became relevant.
Character development: At this point Syndrael took Whirlwind and bought a weapon with an automatic Pierce 1 and a surge for a second one (some kind of axe). Syndrael's development here completely warped my strategy for the next few quests as I had to be constantly aware of how far apart my monsters were and trying to find placements that minimised the devastating effect of the piercing whirlwind. From the OL's side then I got Bones of Woe, which has proved pretty much as powerful as it reads. I also took Explosive Runes because I didn't want a second Web Trap (though now I do!), the option of having it gives me utility in missions where it might be useful.
The hero group's strategy from this point on became: Get Syndrael in the best position possible to Whirlwind and then use it to maximum effect. Avric makes sure the group keeps standing and Jain searches, chases down any runners or provides extra damage on big monsters. Syndrael's Whirlwind is the absolute centrepiece of their strategy.
OL Pick - Castle Daerion - IMPORTANT! We didn't play the errata for this mission (I had remembered seeing it but completely forgot which mission it applied to) so after the game I offered to take back the mission and we could either play it again or play a different one - the heroes agreed to just soldier on. In the first encounter I plumped with Merriod (truthfully, because it looked fun) and Barghests. I had a loose idea about using the Barghests speed to chew up the villagers before they could get to safety and the Merriod to immobilise them down in the early section. The end result was the Merriod kept getting the door shut in it's face at the first cabin and I could never really get it to land effective hits on the villagers - the Barghests got slaughtered to double Whirlwinds and the Merriod could never catch up as it had to waste actions opening doors and the heroes could make a fighting retreat from it, using villagers to shut doors as they went. We realised that post-errata then this encounter wouldn't have ended any differently. The second encounter went intially well (Whirlwind to clear the initial staircase and then militia spawning in to get in and defend. However without the errata then I was able to hide the Ettin in the corner of the main chamber, surround it with monsters so it couldn't be hit and continually hit Palamon as he doesn't have his move action pre-errata (or an extra defence die upgrade). As I said I offered to take the mission back but we decided to press on.
Character development: Avric took Cloud of Mist, nothing else significant as far as I can remember - I think I might've taken Wicked Laughter because the Web Trap's were proving devastating against their group mobility and being able to reroll it as well was just too good to pass up.
OL Pick - Fat Goblin - I had played the first encounter of this quest as a one off with another game group before and done poorly so I wanted a second go. First time round I had used Cave Spiders as my open group but decided to use Merriod this time round as the Whirlwind would clear the spiders too fast. Merriod was a bit of a damp squib because they slipped past him without him getting an immobilise. The goblins were ultimately trashed by Syndrael's Whirlwind and barely got away with one hay bale. Going into the second encounter I plumped for an Ettin as my open group, I know I had the option to Shadow Dragon (which I hadn't used at all by that point), but it felt unnecessarily mean given that the heroes had lost everything up until then. It also felt unthematic to have a Shadow Dragon in a goblin lair
On reflection the Shadow Dragon would've been a lot better as I did do one very impressive Dark Charm-Throw-Frenzy combo at one point that brutalised Jain but I ultimately kist the early monsters and got jammed in the corridor next to Splig's starting location and the narrowness of it all meant the Whirlwind was working at maximum efficiency and Avric could keep a Cloud of Mist up to make hitting really tough. I did lose but if I'd scored a surge on my final attack as Splig then I would've got a knockback and been able to break through the heroes' wall. I had Dash cards in hand so would've been able to get him away then hoped I could tank enough of the damage to give him another round to sprint to the exit, sadly no!Character development: The heroes had a LOT of cash after this mission and went a bit mad buying a Mana Weave, some Leather Armour and two other items that I can't remember at the minute.
Interlude - The Overlord Revealed - My open groups for this were Shadow Dragon (Green Portal), Goblin Archers (Blue Portal) and Barghests (Red Portal). The heroes almost immediately tried to get the Runelock of Strength shut. I had plonked the dragon right on top of it so while they tried to find a way round (or through) the dragon then I moved everything else up behind them. I managed to lock down Syndrael through a Web Trap -> Wicked Laughter combo that meant she wasted her Heroic Feat and did nothing for an entire round while I moved the dragon into the entrance to the room dividing Syndrael in the room with no way out and the other heroes in the middle chamber where they had retreated to battle the encroaching goblin-barghest horde. They did get the Strength Runelock sealed and it turned out that it was the Shadow Dragon one. Zachareth appeared and crowd-controlled the hell out of Syndrael to ensure she had to use at least one action to keep moving towards things to hit them. Unfortunately, as I had Syndrael on lockdown then this took out a vast majority of the hero team's killing power and I effectively butchered the other two in the central chamber while the master barghest picked up the shadow key and headed out.
Extra thoughts:
- The hero team's reliance on Syndrael for damage seems quite high, I'm not sure if that's intentionally how groups should be set up (they seem to have a damage, support/tank and utility) because it makes them very vulnerable to control effects (of which I stock up on because to otherwise and let Syndrael run about it just insane).
- Jain (Wildlander) has felt like the weakest hero in the group. She doesn't seem to lay out damage that effectively (she has the ability to reroll one die), at least not compared to Syndrael - but she has also had miserable dice rolling for a lot of the times we've played - maybe her time will come? Her abilities don't seem that amazing. I think she has an ability to shoot through allies and another that ignores adjacent enemies and while the ability to shoot through allies has been quietly effective then, as I said, she seems to have significantly less damage output compared to Syndrael.
- Avric's tankiness and his healing has proved quite frustrating for taking down Syndrael. On one hand I feel like I should focus Avric before Syndrael, but Syndrael does SO MUCH DAMAGE that it feels like depleting both their life pools + healing is too hard and my monsters won't last long enough - that said, if Avric has nothing to heal then he doesn't seem able to do much else. Avric has taken Soul Siphon, which I'm not entirely sure what it does but it hasn't seemed game changing so far.
- Syndrael is devastating and forces me to literally plan my entire turn around how far she can move and what she'll be able to hit (taking into account ability to use fatigue to move and her heroic). That said if I get enough control options (Pit Trap vs fatigue moves, Tripwire vs standard moves and Web Trap for group lockdown + Wicked Laughter to enhance any of those) then I can somewhat mitigate her effectivenss. Dividing Syndrael from the rest of the heroes was critical in the Interlude to mopping up in the central chamber.
So, any thoughts? Are there any inspiring stories of hero teams losing out through the missions but still emerging victorious?