Jafazo wrote:The vanilla Wizard is a terribly underpowered scrub.
A note on Courage ... This means the wizard would have to move in and cast the spell so it can kick in by the next turn. In hero Quest there isn't usually a second-round or third or fourth. Not usually. On that same example if the wizard goes first and opens the door it means he is standing in front of the door and that means the other Heroes are either next to him or in positions where they can't see into the room very well. The wizard would have to be careful who he casts the spell on because it's possible to cast it on a hero who cannot see a Monster meaning it'd break immediately. A clever EW can move monsters accordingly to step out of that heroes line of sight briefly resulting in the spell breaking immediately, only to come back with the remainder of his move and face the hero without his Courage spell.
Rock Skin is another spell that got an unnecessary nerf. 1 combat die to defend isn't saving anyone anytime soon if it disappears after 1 point of damage. This spell isn't worth the trouble of saving then burning an action to cast. Problem is, it usually isn't worth casting in advance either because heroquest has ways of inflicting a point of damage on you here and there whether it's from a trap or something else.
Do you play the European version, because I have to disagree with you, respectfully though. Heroes will often flop on an attack, depending on what point you are in the game, so battle sequence can always last a few rounds. If you consider the Battle Axe being the maximum attack (4 Attack Dice), it's still possible to flop... or at least roll 1 skull and the monster block, or have additional body points.
In the early quests, such as The Trial or the final room in Prince Magnus' Gold, Courage is extremely valuable, as there are plenty of monsters and the heroes attack dice is still low enough to fail, this spell certainly has potential to last a few rounds, allowing the heroes to clear out the monsters in just a few turns.
Also, experienced players will find a way to milk the Courage spell for all that it's worth:
In the Trial, the Wizard cast Courage on the Barbarian when he encountered the Mummy and 2 Zombies guarding Fellmarg's Tomb. When the Barbarian was down to 1 Zombie, the Elf ran in and opened up the next door into Fellmarg's Tomb, revealing more undead, allowing the Barbarian to utilize Courage longer.
Line of Sight is strictly meant to give this spell duration. Zargon or Morcar gets the final say on Line of Sight, if the Wizard opens the door, sees monsters and casts Courage on the Barbarian, who is behind him, it's not reasonable that the Barbarian is taller and can see over the Wizard's shoulder. I wouldn't blame the evil wizard to judge the Dwarf too short to see past him; but the Evil Wizard has to give some sort of leeway. It's not the Evil Wizard's job to win, but make the quests challenging for the heroes.
Also with Courage, the monsters should actually play the part: Undead, when facing a hero with Courage wouldn't run out of their line of sight, they're undead, they're going to attack the first thing living. Regardless of how brave he is.
When I was playing Legacy of the Orc Warlord with my crew this Barbarian was killed by an orc after Grak used a sleep spell on him. This left the Wizard, Elf and Dwarf against Grak, 2 orcs and a goblin. The Wizard cast Courage on the Dwarf as a battle ensued in the hallway. The Dwarf took out 2 orcs while the Elf defeated the last goblin. Grak was still alive though; since he was the main boss, more clever then all the underlings and had knowledge of magic, I had him run out of line of sight, ending the spell. The heroes thought that was cheap, but what do you expect from the main boss?
Rock skin is more like a 50/50 shot. I've seen it fail on the first defense, but I've also seen it last an entire quest. The Wizard cast it on the Barbarian in the Rescue of Sir Ragnar and it lasted all the way to the end (the heroes did clear out all northern rooms before finding Ragnar, though. It may last a few turns, or die on first defence. But in later quests, it could make a hero untouchable. But when the hero has a helmet, shield, chainmail and Rock Skin, that's 6 defense dice. It'll be hard for an attack to break that (unless you roll all skulls for defence)... at that point it's traps the hero will need to worry about more then anything.
In the early game Rock Skin is either hit or miss, but Courage, at any point could be a game changer.