Thoughts on the New Druid Hero?

[Kurgan]

Good point. The newest crossover: HeroQuest X Capcom...

[Daedalus]

Is there any location that discusses whether the same spell “stacks”? Because if it doesn’t stack then being able to immediately “recast it” might not be an issue?

TLDR; No, spell "stacking" isn't covered in Hero Quest, though it might be inferred though other cases of exceptions found within the Instruction Book, Armory, expansions, and cards. First off is the case already brought up: . . .

I've since found another exception to stacking that indicates stacking is otherwise allowed, this time in a Spell Card, Swift Wind:

". . . roll twice as many red dice as normal the next time he moves."

As normal prohibits the spell from being cast on the same Hero in the same turn. It is NOT stated: . . . roll twice as many red dice the next time he moves--that would allow other effects to combine. The bonus from this spell is thus capped at +2 red dice (or +1 red die if wearing plate mail.)

Rock Skin and Courage have no such exclusive wording, so a Potion of Strength and Potion of Defense/Resilience may be combined with these spells. Also, it could be inferred that the spells may be combined (stacked again) with themselves. The interpretation turns back to the what is meant by "extra." Is it more than normal or additional? That is apparently up to each Morcar/Zargon to decide.

[Odanan]

the reason why all three new heroes Hasbro introduced fail is because they are designed as individual characters rather than a new generic playable class. They should be NPCs in a storyline not new hero selections.The druid at least could be reasonably modified from the existing game materials so anyone could play a generic druid, but the orc bard and halfling demon possessed female warlock are hopeless, far too random and rare of combinations to plausibly play another if that particular one dies.If players must modify the game from the way it was released to make it usable at all as a generic class that is poor game design.

They should have been thinking along the lines of D&D playable classes or Gauntlet II arcade game: "I'm going as the Barbarian!" (red barbarian enters the game) "Me too!" (blue barbarian enters) Players should be able to select any of the generic character classes (Wizard, Elf, Dwarf, or Barbarian) to generate their adventuring party, and they could have easily added more playable classes or races such as gnome, halfling, thief, cleric or even bard to choose from, but they didn't. Instead they gave us bizzarre individual personalities that don't fit well into HeroQuest and certainly aren't new playable generic class types.

I absolutely agree. You could add a Vampire to the group, but not Dracula.

The original characters are generic to the point where you can add personality and preferences to them. The Elf might be good with a sword, but the player may prefer a crossbow, so the Elf is better at archery.
The Barbarian may prefer a Broadsword and a shield instead of a Battle Axe. So maybe he finds a sword more fluid with his movement (although the actual reason is the defense dice), you can write it into his story.

A Knight or an Orc or even an Alchemist would be doable.
But the Halfling Warlock and an Orc Bard are way too specific to the point that their backstories are already half written. They're DnD characters written by someone else so it's very difficult for someone to even want to project a persona onto them.
A Human or Elven Druid has an understandable flow to it, but I'd have to reject it if someone was trying to put forth a Dwarven Druid.

Yes.
I find the 3 new heroes horrible, specially the Bard and the Warlock. The Druid would be cool with 6 (and better done) spells.
But the (Half?)ORC Bard and the Halfling WARLOCK are a disaster, in terms of "characterization". Really, an ORC Bard as a hero archetype? Of all races to have bards, the orcs are one of the most unlikely. Was he cast away by the evil Orcs because he liked music instead of killing and destroying things? How many of these musician orcs could be out there? It's too specific!
And a Halfling Warlock. Where do I start? Do the designers know warlocks are evil in this setting?
It's like someone who never played HeroQuest (or Warhammer) was recruited in the last minute for the job. Well, I could say the same for the art director...
Thankfully, these 3 are exclusive/limited heroes and most people won't have them.

And now I'm waiting 30 more years for a decent HQ remake...

[Odanan]

Well, I hate it.

So, I'm here (on this board right now) because I played HeroQuest a lot when I was a kid (always Zargon, pretty much), don't know where that stuff ended up, so I went for the remake.

The new heroes almost make me not even want to bother. It just shows me that they didn't care. They got these absolute knobs from WotC to come in and make their personal 5E DnD characters... and they are wildly out of place in this game. It's just makes me think the whole thing , or at least all the new stuff is going to be silly - and being done by people who never actually played the thing and don't care about what makes it what it is.

This ^

[Kurgan]

Easier way to make the original concept work:

Orc Bounty Hunter - Orc, formerly on the side of Chaos, has gone into business for himself. We know Ogres have done this (hard to control anyway).
Warlock Renegade - Warlock, meaning he dabbles in "darkside" type powers, but has defected.. maybe he never fully embraced the evil.

You can keep them pretty much the same, but maybe ditch the "music makes the people come together" bit of the Bard. He's just an Orc and he uses some leadership type skills. He can get people fired up with his battle rage, maybe he has some shamanic power to heal.

The Warlock is selfish, devious, his powers are chaotic, but he fights on the side of good, and he still has enough control that he hasn't become fully a slave to darkness. Wouldn't have to be a halfling, but perhaps the small size indicates a renegade goblin, or rather than stature meaning "low level." A low level dark magic adept (a high level evil magic user would fully embrace chaos, and be unable to help joining the side of Zargon and all he represents).

For my Warlock I would be content to convert her into a Halfling Ranger, a rogue/assassin type character that is stealthy. Or just a Ranger period. I already have a Ranger character, but this can work. Not magic so much as utilizing skills learned from dark wood elves or something of that sort. Doesn't have to make sense, just the idea that they have mysterious abilities that enable them to sneak around and blast people when they least expect it.

For me, I take the flamboyant suggestion of the bard character and convert it into something a little more fun and combat-hobbo friendly, namely a Pirate. Tongue-in-Cheek at times but also plenty brutal. Pirates can have one foot out the door into going their own way as it is... gold is more a motivator than the big bad guy promises them slaughter (massacre the enemy or you're next).

If you want to make the Orc more "heroic" I picked the alternative of the Cleric. He plays like a Cleric already pretty much. So this is a "reformed" Orc. Maybe he lapses into his old ways now and then, but he's been converted... a strong effort was made to turn this guy from a raging murder-machine into something resembling a "good" character. I invented a little backstory like he was once one of those pirates and had a "conversion" thanks to being shipwrecked near a monastery. He now seeks to convert other Orcs to "the way" or face his wrath for their folly. I'm viewing the Orcs as evil by nurture more than by nature here, but even if you wanted to say they were bred bad, maybe something went wrong in the batch he was in?

The Druid getting the Forest Magic Spells from the Inn feels like a good fit to me.

I have already opened up the Cloak as an (expensive) piece of Armor that anyone can use (not just the Wizard), and bracers as well, so characters that are restricted to "Wizard Armor" can use these if they can afford it. The Wizard's Cloak is still intended for the Wizard, but if it were allowed for multiples, he gets a special bonus nobody else does (green die-higher chance of defense substituted).

But each to their own. Other than the goofy artwork, I don't have a real problem with the characters, granted I haven't play-tested them myself.

[Odanan]

It would make much more sense if he was a Half-Orc... (the "class" doesn't help either, of course).

[Kurgan]

So half human and half Orc and the "human" side makes him more capable of free choice, but weaker, or would you do it some other way?

Would he have to be some kind of mutant, or couldn't he just be a traitor because he was tired of being pushed around? Again we're talking about "Heroic" Orcs here. Not playing as the bad guys, and not an Orc mercenary.

Does he have to be half something else in order to use magic? Orcs using magic is already canonical in HeroQuest.

[iKarith]

I'd just plan to rewrite some backstory all together. *shrug* Kurgan plans the "Orc" to become I think a half-orc pirate. Same abilities but change the derpy SJW-orc-bardy-mcbardface abilities to things like "Sharpen yer blades" and "Steady as she goes" or the like. Get an orc in there with a big freakin' evil-looking cutlass and you've got the idea of it.

If someone wants to play one of these new characters] at my table, sure I'd let them, but I'd definitely be thinking about the consequences, both good and bad. The Warlock is going to have to resist the pull of Chaos, but will have knowledge of the workings of Chaos. The Orc Bard is gonna be the first target of any greenskin in the game, but . y'know, I don't think he's gonna fall for many traps set by greenskins.

I hate them as archtypes because they aren't.

[wallydubbs]

The Warlock is going to have to resist the pull of Chaos, but will have knowledge of the workings of Chaos. The Orc Bard is gonna be the first target of any greenskin in the game, but . y'know, I don't think he's gonna fall for many traps set by greenskins.

Actually in this case the Warlock will need to resist the pulls of "Dread"...
Just the same with the Orc Bard, one could imagine he is a traitor to his own kind. But why would he have so much more body points then all the other orcs? Lol

[Kurgan]

Yeah but remember we're homebrewing it, so these heroes will also be fighting Fimirs.

Named Orcs having extra body points has precedent in the canon via the NA quests (and WOM).

In the realm of archetypes we have the anti-hero (or even "horror hero"), the redeemed villain, the noble savage and the gentle giant, perhaps those can be worked into something that doesn't seem so out of place. It can work... think Hellboy, Spawn, Venom, or many professional wrestlers (to be fair, many of those change their whole trajectory in one match and their past is forgotten the next week so maybe that last one isn't the best example).

To keep it simple, just make it a Warlock (uses bad magic for good), Orc (monster who fights on the side of right), Druid (nature magician). That's character wise, the mechanics as is are of a self sustaining ranger, a support fighter and battle mage.