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A Hero Among Heroes

A Preview of Lair of the Wyrm, the Upcoming Descent Expansion

 

“I’ve been known to lose, but never to give up!"
      –Reynhart the Worthy

Lair of the Wyrm, the first expansion for Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition, is coming soon, and with it comes new heroes, classes, monsters, quests, and more! In our last preview, we looked at the Rumor card system, and we saw how a band of heroes can find themselves sidetracked from the overlord’s trail as they pursue other adventures.

Today, we’ll explore a new class of hero that serves as a source of inspiration and leadership for his fellows: the valorous Champion. First, however, let’s meet Reynhart the Worthy, a warrior who refuses to let a little thing like failure keep him from victory.

Destined for Glory

Descended from a long line of Daqan knights, Reynhart was destined for a glorious career in service to the Citadel. He became a squire for Sir Nessly at the exceptionally young age of nine, and was already competing in melees before his eleventh birthday. Yet, tragedy was overdue for young Reynhart. As he prepared Sir Nessly’s armor for a joust at Baron Zachareth’s annual tourney, he witnessed a cloaked stranger sneaking into his master’s tent, chisel in hand.

 

Reynhart knew what the man was about, as sabotaging a knight’s armor before a joust was a common ploy implemented by unworthy, treacherous knights. Reynhart drew his sword and mortally wounded the man—who turned out to be Zachareth’s cousin and royal treasurer. Reynhart was forced to flee the tourney or face the block for his crime. Since then he has sold his sword and kept his head low, waiting for a day that he might take his vengeance.

A warrior through and through, Reynhart’s attributes and characteristics are what you might expect from a man adept at hacking through walls of flesh. His respectable Might and Awareness attributes are only slightly overshadowed by his excellent Willpower. And while he may not have much in the way of Knowledge, that really just means he doesn’t know the meaning of the word “quit.”

Reynhart’s Hero Ability and Heroic Feat are both centered around recovering from the dreaded “X” result on an attack roll. While with nearly every other hero, a player must live in fear of that one-in-six chance of missing his target, such petty concerns are beneath the likes of Reynhart the Worthy. Once per attack, his player may reroll an attack die if he rolls a miss; and once per encounter after rolling a miss, he can recover all of his fatigue and reroll his entire attack pool!

Champion of the People

No matter which warrior you choose, however, he should have within him the strength to lead, to protect, and to inspire. The new Champion class is designed with these honorable values in mind, and those who walk its path are not only great fighters, but great examples to their peers.

The Champion class focuses on the use of valor, a kind of token-based currency that represents this class’s inspiring deeds. By placing valor tokens on himself and others, a Champion imparts a range of new abilities to his fellow heroes...and chief among these is the ability to hit enemies harder. For example, with his Horn of Courage (above, right) and Valor of Heroes skill, a Champion can allow others to add one  to an attack result!

Beyond this, you might further develop your Champion’s offensive capabilities with skills like Valorous Strike, No Mercy, and Motivating Charge. Valorous Strike allows a Champion to “build up” a massively powerful, potentially boss-killing wallop by first warming up on lesser foes. Meanwhile, No Mercy presents a chance for any valor-carrying hero to interrupt the overlord’s turn for a well-timed attack! Finally, a Champion can run bellowing into the fray with Motivating Charge, an attack that’s sure to whip his allies into action.

Would a defensive approach be more useful? A Living Legend allows a Champion to shrug off incoming damage, while Glory of Battle extends a similar benefit to his friends. For the Cause, however, turns a Champion and his nearby allies into mobile fortresses; this powerful skill lets a hero turn valor into gray defense dice!

Will the Champion’s inspiring leadership be enough to motivate the heroes to victory over the Wyrm Queen and her minions? Keep checking back for more on Lair of the Wyrm, and look for it on store shelves soon!

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Source: A Hero Among Heroes (http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3758)