by ryno80
I have been playing more of both Descent Second Edition and Star Wars Imperial Assault lately and some of the terms and mechanics used are so similar yet so differently that I wanted to make a quick reference glossary. I want to eventually make this into a document in the files section of both games. Please chime in on any thing you think is incorrect, missing, could be worded better, etc.Descent - Imperial Assault Rules Differences Glossary
Activations
Descent: All Heroes activations, then Overlord (and all his monsters) activations.
IA: Alternating activations: Hero activates, then Imperial Group, repeat.
Attribute Tests
Descent: Roll 1 black, 1 gray to test: Might (fist) / Knowledge (book) / Will (burst) / Awareness (eye)
IA: Roll dice listed on hero sheet: Strength (fist) / Insight (eye) / Tech (wrench)
Defeated
Descent: Knocked out: Immediately suffer damage up to health and fatigue up to stamina. Replace hero figure with hero token and remove any conditions, then the Overlord draws a card. Knocked out heroes is immune to all affects and cannot receive condition cards. Space with a hero token on it may be moved through, other figures can end its movement on and does not block line of sight. Knocked out heroes may be recovered by other heroes’ skills, potions, being revived by another hero and standing up.
IA: Wounded: Discard all damage tokens and flip hero sheet. Keep conditions and strain, but remove any excess strain.
Extra Movement
Descent: As much fatigue as you can afford.
IA: 2 strain max per activation.
Keyword: Blast
Descent: All spaces adjacent to targeted space are affected by the attack. Attacker rolls his attack and each defending figure rolls its defense separately.
Descent Road to Legend: Before rolling defense, each additional figure that wasn’t the target space of attack halves its damage (rounded up).
IA: If the target of the figure’s attack suffers one or more damage, then each other figure or object adjacent to the target suffer damage based on the blast value.
Line of Sight
Descent: Corner-to-corner. Line of sight CANNOT be drawn along a blocked space. Line of sight CANNOT be drawn around the end of a wall (and is not considered adjacent). Line of sight CAN be drawn diagonally through blocked spaces and other figures.
IA: Corner-to-two-corners. Line of sight CAN be drawn along the edge of a wall, blocked space or other figure (as long as the other line can still be drawn). Line of sight CAN be drawn around the end of a wall (and is not considered adjacent). Line of sight CANNOT be drawn diagonally through blocked spaces or other figures.
Massive Figures:
Descent: No difference from large figures.
IA: In a campaign, cannot move into interior spaces. Other non-massive figures do not block line of sight for massive figures. Can move through and end movement on blocked or impassable terrain. Cannot enter spaces containing other massive figures. Can enter spaces with hostile figures and/or difficult terrain at no additional movement cost. Can end movement with spaces containing other figures, those figures are pushed to their nearest empty spaces (controlling player chooses friendlies, opponents move their own figures).
Movement diagonally through blocked spaces
Descent: Figures CAN move diagonally through blocked spaces and other friendly figures.
IA: Figures CAN move diagonally through blocking terrain, impassible terrain, walls and figures (including hostiles), but CANNOT move through the intersection of any combination of walls, blocking terrain or impassible terrain.
Movement large figures
Descent: Large monsters “shrink” when they move and “expand” when they end their movement.
IA: Large figures can only move orthogonally, cannot move diagonally. Must spend 1 movement point to rotate. When pushed or moved, large figures cannot rotate.
Movement through other figures
Descent: Figures cannot move into or through spaces containing other non-friendly figures.
IA: Figures can move through spaces containing hostile figures by spending 1 extra movement point.
Resting
Descent: When Resting, place a token on your character sheet and recover fatigue up to your stamina rating.
IA: When Resting, instantly recover strain (and then health) up to your endurance rating.
Terms
Descent: Fatigue (tokens) and Stamina (stat)
IA: Strain (tokens) and Endurance (stat)