Playing a talker, not a fighter

[Farwatcher]

Since the Bard hero was introduced, I've been toying with ways for a less combat-oriented character to get through quests without feeling useless; I've also been perpetually irritated that Mind Points so rarely matter in the standard game. Then, in a recent game, my kid asked me why she couldn't interrogate a goblin for clues about the quest goal. Putting all that together, I came up with a new action:

"SPEAK WITH MONSTERS
"As a hero, you may try to persuade, intimidate, or interrogate a monster into telling you more about the quest map. If you succeed, you also temporarily convince the monster not to attack you. To speak to a monster, you must be in the same room or no more than 4 squares apart.

"To speak to a monster, roll Combat Dice equal to your mind points. Each black shield that you roll is considered a connection, potentially swaying the monster to listen to you. If any connections are made, the monster immediately rolls Combat Dice equal to its Mind Points. Each Skull rolled by the monster blocks one connection.

"If you made more connections than the monster blocked, you compel it to:
>Not attack you on its next turn (though it may still attack other heroes)
>AND reveal one detail about a room you choose. Point at any room on the board and ask Zargon to tell you either how many traps it contains, or how many monsters. If the room is solid stone, Zargon must tell you that instead. Zargon must answer truthfully!

"You may only speak to goblins, orcs, abominations, and dread warriors."

I'm also working on a Cleric hero who would have a Speak With Dead spell that could only be cast on Undead, but would automatically succeed.

Thoughts?

-FW

[Stig]

Sounds like a great idea, especially that it came from your young daughter too! Defo let us know how it goes, maybe it might be tiresome if the heroes try to talk to every monster they can, thus rescuing Sir Ragnar through words instead of swordplay?

[Kurgan]

For some reason I thought of this. Warning: 80's awesomeness

[Stig]

For some reason I thought of this. Warning: 80's awesomeness

Ahaha that’s amazing! This is exactly what I was thinking of!! My gosh you read my mind through YouTube. To the pain!

[Farwatcher]

For some reason I thought of this. Warning: 80's awesomeness

Classic -- so good!

I'll definitely share results after some more playtesting, but if my heroes ever did manage to talk their way through an entire quest, I'd count it as one of those "remember when we pulled -that- off?!" insane moments of awesome.

[Stig]

Man that would be legendary.

[Kurgan]

Riddles, riddles in the dark...

Jedi Mind Tricks, etc. Good luck!