Can heroes heal sir ragnar?

[Bareheaded Warrior]

Kurgan has hit the nail on the head.

The rules do state that you can't heal above the starting number, but no starting number is given for Sir Ragnar, but it states that he is wounded so his starting number must be more than his 'current' value.

I personally would go for 7 starting BP, seems reasonable for a Human 'Warrior' that isn't the Barbarian, but that is a hole in the official rules you have to fill yourselves!

[Kurgan]

Yeah, you're unlikely to have anything that can heal Mind Points when you rescue him, but you more than likely will have something that can heal... so Zargon's call!

[Zenithfleet]

However, if you do, it's written "Hero". That's not Mercenary or ally. So by the word, no.

Now everybody I know who was tinkering with the rules either updated the spell itself to say "figure" or "model"; or they clarified in their personal rulebook that "Hero" means anybody who is on the Hero's side.

Pardon me for getting technical, but the EU healing spell cards (in English) don't say 'Hero'. They say 'player'.

It amounts to the same thing, though. Compare to spells like Sleep, which can be cast on any 'player or monster'.

The rulebook uses 'character' for heroes, but the writers probably used 'player' on the cards because it takes up less space.

I reckon allowing players to heal Ragnar would be fine, though. We never thought of doing it as kids!


As for Sir Ragnar's maximum Body (and Mind) values, you could make them similar to Pierre Chancier, the NPC from the Eyes of Chaos quest in White Dwarf:

PierreChancier_EyesOfChaos.png

His Body value isn't too impressive, but then he is only an NPC sidekick and not a HEROIC CHARACTER.

[Kurgan]

When I played it last time I just let him heal 1 BP for a total of 3. I think if I were to do it again I'd increase his BP as many as were healed with no upper limit (unless it got excessive).

In theory the heroes under this judgement could heal him 8 BP if they sacrificed their healing spells plus a number of healing potions (18!). That could get a bit silly with him having 26 BP. Maybe I'd cap it out at 7, treating him as a "Knight" like the Knight hero. It's a retcon, but sets a reasonable upper limit. If you give him a weapon, can he fight? I'd go with the "he has mind point damage and is in state of shock" so he could attack with 1 die, and defend with two (see the shock rules in various expansions).

He can open doors, carry gear, use potions, etc. just like one of the Elven Mercenaries from ROTDM who is basically almost a hero in their own right.

[manaknight14]

I'd go with the "he has mind point damage and is in state of shock" so he could attack with 1 die, and defend with two (see the shock rules in various expansions).

I'm a big fan of this take, because it also explains why he only gets one die for movement.

As far as a body point cap goes if the heroes heal him, I like to use 4 BP. I had a bunch of reasons why I thought that was a good max value for him, but then RotDM came out and confirmed his stats include 4 BP.

More food for thought: if he's in shock, giving him equipment would not improve his defense dice, but would you let him use his Stalwart ability if he has a shield?

[Kurgan]

I'd go with the "he has mind point damage and is in state of shock" so he could attack with 1 die, and defend with two (see the shock rules in various expansions).

I'm a big fan of this take, because it also explains why he only gets one die for movement.

As far as a body point cap goes if the heroes heal him, I like to use 4 BP. I had a bunch of reasons why I thought that was a good max value for him, but then RotDM came out and confirmed his stats include 4 BP.

More food for thought: if he's in shock, giving him equipment would not improve his defense dice, but would you let him use his Stalwart ability if he has a shield?

Fair point about ROTDM, that's a good in-universe justification for a limit of 4 BP. Giving him the stalwart ability IF he's given a shield is certainly a cool idea! That would simply save him from otherwise dying (with 1 BP left).

My idea is that he's so physically weak in the state you find him that you would need to at least heal him to give him the ability to attack (either with his fists or by giving him a weapon). By default it doesn't say he can't benefit from armor. Chances are the heroes won't have a ton of gear after only having completed the Trial (though they could also have theoretically gained additional loot from playing New Beginnings at this point, even assuming Zargon doesn't add anything extra to these adventures), but even so, this is a nice situation where Zargon can use his imagination and experience to let reward the cleverness of the heroes.

Or you could reason that he's so physically/mentally damaged that he can't attack no matter what in this quest. But you could still cast spells on him, heal him, and give him armor to increase his defense. The Companion App has an unused image of Sir Ragnar with a broadsword (prior to ROTDM) indicating they may have been toying with the idea of equipping Sir Ragnar and allowing him to do more than just run along behind the heroes or defend if he happens to get attacked. The App of course incorrectly ends the quest the moment SR lands on the spiral staircase, when in fact it should end when the last surviving hero exits after the prisoner has escaped (or if he has died, thus forfeiting the reward). Most quests don't simply end when objective is completed, they still require the heroes to exit (though I suppose if Zargon knows all of the monsters in the quest are dead and no further treasure searching is likely to take place, he could decide to just end the session if everyone is tired and chalk it up as a victory, though I prefer to incentivize them to run perhaps by adding extra monsters that show up).

Presumably if all the heroes are killed but Sir Ragnar is still alive, he isn't automatically recaptured, but could run, and possibly fight his way to the stairs. Presumably the new heroes would not inherit the reward (the instead gives the fallen heroes a nice funeral!).