Hero Quest and Magic Realm - Character special advantages

[WiseOne]

Hi Folks,

New here. Been playing HeroQuest off and on since it first came out. Well recently I started up a game with my wife. I play Zargon and the Wizard and my wife plays the other three heroes. Well there is an obscure game called Magic Realm that is very complicated but has a lot of cool concepts. So I have made a modification to HeroQuest to allow you to choose these modifications. Some change the base character some do not. All add an additional benefit at Champion, Veteran, Knight and Legend levels based upon the special advantages gained by the characters in Magic Realm. Since not every character had four advantages I based some on the "meaning of the symbol" or one of the level titles. Doing an image search for Magic Realm plus a name of one of these character types should pull up the character card I am basing it on. Similarly there are spell lists for each different character type. As a result, some alternates gain access to certain spell groups early (Wizard gets Spells of Detection once he spends the gold, Witch-King gets access to Spells of Darkness immediately but loses an element group, etc). As one might have imagined we are using most of Phoenix's Imperical Academy although due to the bonus abilities, a few skills or spells are rendered void since they are given for free. So this may not be super balanced but as I've said this is just me and my wife playing and our goal is a fun game for the two of us. One rule that we also use is that if you drop you drop but aren't dead. As long as there is someone in the room to grab your body you can be brought back and healed up/resurrected. I never liked the idea of creating a new character with the same stuff and just a new name. If the whole party wipes, then you are all dead though. Anyway, to the character concepts and some of the Advantages. Some are works in progress and some are not created yet. The characters that my wife and I are using are the Berserker for our "hired" barbarian, the Dwarf for our "hired" Dwarf, the Woods Girl for my wife's character and my character is the Wizard.

Feel free to use these, modify them or whatever for your own games

Barbarian
-White Knight
-Black Knight
-Berserker

Dwarf
-Swordsman
-Dwarf

Elf
-Woods Girl
-Elf
-Captain
-Pilgrim

Wizard
-Sorceror
-Witch-King
-Wizard
-Druid
-Magician

Wizard
Lore: Learn one additional spell upon attianing Champion level
Experience: At the beginning of each quest, Zargon will reveal all secret doors
Elvish Studies: Once per quest may exchange one movement action for a "Cast a Spell" action
Long Practice: When using any Enchantment spell scroll you may roll two red dice instead of one and keep whichever result you prefer

Woods Girl
Tracking Skills: Once per quest may ignore the first Wandering Monster that is drawn by you or another player in the room
Archer: +1AD with bow/crossbow
Woodfolk Allies: Mercenaries are free
Favored Enemy: +1AD vs Goblins, orcs and Fimirs

Sorceror
Lore: Learn one additional spell
Aura of Power: Gain one additional spell slot
Master Alchemist: Once per quest, when a healing potion is drawn, two are gained instead of one
Controlled Intellect: Immune to Mind-effecting spells such as Dominate and Fear

White Knight
Health: Healing spells cast on the player heal one additional body point
Healing Hands: gain the Heal Body spell
Armor Trained: Ignore movement penalty in plate mail
Potent Crusader: +1AD vs Undead

Dwarf
Cave Knowledge: Once per quest may ignore the first Hazard that is drawn by you or another player in the room
Dwarven Weapon Training: +1 AD with Axes
Short Legs: Move through Gargoyles' and large creatures squares
Master Smith: Increase the armor rating of your non-magical torso armor by +1DD

Berserker
Berserk: Once per quest may attack twice
Robust: +1 Body Point
Berserk II: May berserk twice per quest
Death and Destruction: If reduced to zero body points, may make one final attack immediately before collapsing

Witch King - Loses access to one Element but gains Spells of Darkness Instead
Disembodied: Once per quest, may pass through enemies on your turn
Aura of Power: Gain one additional spell slot
Chaotic Intellect: May exchange one spell for a Chaos Spell
Ghost Allies: Undead must roll a skull or black shield on one white die to attack a Witch King

Magician (WIP)
Magical Paraphernalia: May take a spell from All four element types initially
Knowledge: Gain one additional spell from Detection, Darkness, or Protection and one spell slot to cast it
Charms: May use one artifact one additional time before it is destroyed (Zargon can decide whether this applies to a specific one, all one use ones usable by the magician or a few)
Phantasm - Once per quest may ignore an attack on you as it attacks your phantasmal duplicate

Swordsman
Barter: Gains a 25 percent discount on all purchases
Cunning: Once per quest gains an additional Move Action
Thieving Ways: Once per quest may reroll a disarm attempt
Vanish: Once per quest may turn Invisible as the spell

Druid
Loses access to one spell group but gains BP of elf
Peace with Nature: Ignore the first Wandering Monster drawn by you or an ally in the same room once per quest
Earth Absorbs: You gain immunity to poison traps
Concealment: Once per quest may turn Invisible as the spell
Lull: Once per quest may cast Lull on a monster whose effect is the same as Tempest (they may not attack for one turn)

Pilgrim (WIP)
May only use weapons useable by the wizard but gains access to one additional spell group. However must choose Water and Earth.
Learning: Gains one additional spell from either Water or Earth
Divine Spellcasting: Gains 1 additional spell slot which much be fore a Water, Earth, Protection or Detection spell
Heavenly Protection: +1 DD vs Undead
Mission Guard: Gains one free Mercenary who is fully upgraded

Captain
Loses all spellcasting but gains three spell like effects pre-chosen.
1. Gains Courage as per the spell (Captain should use the version that states until enemies no longer in sight).
2. Gains "Stand Your Ground" +4 BP that can go over your max but goes away when no more enemies are visible
3. Gains "Tactical Repositioning" - One hero may move through enemy squares on the next turn. Line of sight for this spell is not required.
Aim: +1 AD once per quest
Leadership: Once per quest you may give up your turn to grant an ally one additional turrn. Note you lose your move and action to grant an ally one Action
Unfailing Courage: Courage is upgraded to Bravery for Free
Reputation: All intelligent enemies must roll a combat die when they attack you. If they get a black skull, they may not attack you this turn (your fearsome reputation precedes you)

Witch - Initial spells are Detection, Darkness, and Water
Knowledge: Learn one additional spell from the above groups
Familiar: Once per quest may choose another point in the room for Line of Sight
Vitriolic Experience: Immunity to all poison traps
Witch's Brew: Potions cost 50 percent


Elf (WIP)
Elusiveness - Pass through enemy squares once per quest
Archer +1AD with Bows/Crossbows
Fey Origin: Learn one free Elf spell
Great Elf - Once per quest the Elf may cast two Elf spells in one Action

Black Knight (not evil, just a mercenary) (WIP)
Aim: +1AD once per quest
Fear: Once per quest may use the Fear spell on any non-boss monster
Armor Training: Ignore speed penalty in Plate mail
Mark of War: Once per quest may double defense or attack dice on one action

[torilen]

I'll have to come back to this and check it out more. But these are some good special
abilities. At first glance, they seem pretty balanced for the game, and simple enough
to use without changing the game much.

Thanks for sharing.

And welcome.

[Sjeng]

Hi, welcome, great first post

[Templar]

I like it! Always nice with special rules for the heroes

Can't wait to see the Captains spell like thingies

[WiseOne]

Thanks for the support. I have finished the Captain as requested and a few others.