Additional Official Heroes

[Bareheaded Warrior]

Obviously, we have the original Big 4 Heroes – Barbarian, Dwarf, Elf, Wizard, and I know that the new version of HeroQuest has an additional 4 Heroes and that there are many Homebrewed additional Hero Types available at the Inn, but can anyone point me in the direction of any other Official HeroQuest Heroes that were published over the years

I vaguely recall from my youth a Trollslayer Hero being published in White Dwarf and possibly a Wardancer Hero and even an Ogre Hero (although those last two might have been homebrewed back in the day*) but it would be good to get a list together if one doesn’t already exist including their stats, background, starting weapons, restrictions, special abilities, blurb and so on!

*The early nineties were a bit of a blur to me (in many ways, but this is a gaming topic) and as well as playing the “fantasy line” - HQ, AHQ, WFR we also played Space Hulk, dabbled with 40K Rogue Trader and loved Confrontation (pre-cursor to Necromunda) so it was perhaps inevitable that we attempted, with a limited degree of success, to blend the 40K skirmish style Confrontation rules with a Fantasy AHQ setting (borrowing from Slaves to Darkness and its partner book whose name escapes me) that in a strange twist of fate we based in a location that we made up in the Warhammer world, an abandoned city called Nordheim located in the Northern Wastes – we must have had some sort of psychic link as years later Mordheim came along!

I digress but the Ogre Hero was certainly an option in our fantasy skirmish game (that I don’t think we ever named) and may have entered our HQ games through that route rather than anything official

[Nlinindoll]

The playable Dwarven Trollslayer character was officially released in White Dwarf magazine issue 134 along with the quest “The Halls of Durrag-Dol”. Both the quest and the character stats can be found on Ye Olde Inn at http://www.yeoldeinn.com/downloads/publ ... ag-dol.pdf

[Bareheaded Warrior]

Thank you very much. The stats weren't what I was expecting which is interesting (especially defence of 1), any thoughts from anyone who has used the Trollslayer in terms of balance of the Hero himself and the group with him in it, do you substitute him with the Barbarian or Dwarf or either?

And as to any other official Hero types - Wardancer, Ogre or others, do they exist or was that just my imagination!

[j_dean80]

Here is a thread on balancing the TrollSlayer:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1495

[Daedalus]

There were the additional Heroes in the Legacy of Sorasil
HeroQuest computer game, but the stats were a bit different. Also, a Brazilian games magazine published four new Heroes, a Minotaur, an Amazon, a Fairy, and a Centaur. I'm not sure if either of these are what you are after.

[j_dean80]

AtOH has a small section explaining an Ogre is not “evil” and can work for Morcar or the Empire. No stats are given though.

[Bareheaded Warrior]

Some useful material on the Dwarven Trollslayer, after much reading I think I will go with the following, subject to play testing of course...[EDIT] I have now done some playtesting and have updated my notes below and am thinking that the Trollslayer should now be deployed as a substitute for the Barbarian rather than the Dwarf!

You are a Dwarven Trollslayer. You are a bound by the slayer oath to meet your doom in combat and are fearless in attack.

• Attack: 2
• Defend: 2
• Move: 2
• Mind: 2
• Body: 8

Starting Weapon: Hand Axe

Battle Rage: When attacking the Trollslayer whips himself into a frenzy of aggression, permitting him an extra attack die but costing him one defend die. Note: this ability kicks in automatically when he attacks and the effects last until no monsters are in sight.

Axes Only: The Trollslayers' Oath only permits the use of axes, no other equipment. The Trollslayer starts with a hand axe, can purchase a second axe and gains the ability to dual wield granting an extra combat die in attack (total 3) when doing so and can finally upgrade to a Battle Axe.

Sacred Tattoos: Dwarven Trollslayers document their quest to meet their doom, recording the foul monsters they have slain and feats they have performed through sacred tattoos on their naked skin, a living testimony displayed for all to see. A Dwarven Trollslayer may purchase level 1 tattoos for a cost of 300gc that give him an extra defend die and later upgrade his tattoos for a cost of 600gc to give an additional defend die (total 4 defend dice)

As to the other Hero Types, I have previously created an Amazon (for a special homage to "Golden Axe" series of Quests) and a Wardancer (although they share the same stats), and time permitting will dig these out and post them when I get the chance.

[Bareheaded Warrior]

This got me thinking over the weekend, what exactly constitutes your starting 2 defend dice?

I know in HeroQuest we don’t have armour and defence as two separate things as is often the case in similar games, not a problem, but I guess we do have to remember that they are defend dice not armour dice.

Three possible factors spring to mind that constitute the starting two defend dice

1) 'Natural Armour' - rib cage, skull, muscles, possibly even heavy clothing
2) 'Dodging' – dodging and diving, ducking and a weaving
3) 'Parrying' – using a weapon to deflect or block a blow

We see reduced defend dice in the rules in a few places such as fear spell effects and being in a pit trap, which makes sense to me as, if you assume your two starting defend dice are split between the three factors above, then being paralysed by fear and/or stuck in a staked pit trap would both reduce your ability to parry and dodge, although your natural armour would be unaffected, so a single defend die makes sense.

Equally the Dwarven Trollslayers berserk ability that increases his attack die and reduces his defend die also fits as his berserk state would mean that he would be disinclined to dodge or parry whilst in that state of mind.

However, in Legacy of the Orc Warlord (have only checked US version) Quest Notes it states that ‘a hero with no weapons or armour rolls one die to attack and two dice to defend’, I can see arguments either way but I would imagine an unarmed Hero to be at a loss against an armed opponent in combat, natural armour still exists and you can dodge but using your arms to block or parry blows from a weapon sounds like a serious disadvantage to me. Does anyone else think that ‘a hero with no weapons or armour should roll 1 die to attack and 1 die to defend only’?

On a separate note, whilst thinking about the Dwarven Trollslayer’s berserk ability, I am considering replacing the effects of the Heroic Brew with the ability to go berserk – ‘Berserker’s Brew’, any thoughts!

[Daedalus]

I think 1 AD and 1 DD makes sense, but adjustments would need to be made elsewhere in a Quest to compensate; weakening Heroes further makes them less survivable and thus less fun. I suppose 2 DD was retained as the default baseline for Heroes to avoid extra complication with the Wizard if his Dagger is thrown before he gets a Staff.

A similar but different issue exists with the shock rule. A baseline 1AD / 2 DD works simply, like a hammer fixing a ringing alarm clock.

[Dreadaxe]

Here is a thread on balancing the TrollSlayer:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1495

+1
To merge with this one
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1497

A French discussion
https://www.warhammer-forum.com/index.p ... roll-nain/