Ye Olde Inn

1. One thing I wasn't sure about when using Grak in quest 6 original US game was if Heroes should know which chaos spells he has or that he has chaos spells and what his stats are? The quest text lists his stats, which spells he has, and that he is wearing the Wizard's cloak artifact. Assume the artifact buffs his base stats as listed (1 extra defense die over his listed stats), and assume you let the heroes know about his chaos spells and his staff? Or are they supposed to be just shocked and unprepared when they are used on them? I let them know what the spells were when I played, but in quest 8 the fire mage, I assume letting them know about the spells might not be good since they know he can escape.

2. Assume you cast Fear and Sleep on the same hero, do they roll for spell break for each spell that turn, or do they have to be awake to roll for Fear? In our game, Fear got broken first while still asleep, which made it feel like a waste for me as Grak.

3. Does Grak have 4 attack dice orthogonally and diagonally, or just orthogonally and only 1 attack die diagonally because of the staff? I wasn't sure how to call this either.

1. Everyone here has their own opinions about telling the stats of a certain monster, I personally don't tell them, atleast not before the players have killed the monster.

2. To me it would make sense that the player should first get rid of sleep before he can try to break the fear spell.

3. 4 to adjacent squares and 1 diagonally. If you want to make it a tougher monster, it can also be 4 on both attacks.

My

I don't think the Wizard's Cloak stats are added to his listed stats. It should already be figured into it.

Jalapenotrellis wrote:1. One thing I wasn't sure about when using Grak in quest 6 original US game was if Heroes should know which chaos spells he has or that he has chaos spells and what his stats are? . . . Or are they supposed to be just shocked and unprepared when they are used on them?

I would say the latter. Look to p.7 of the Instruction Booklet:

Quest Notes
Read the Quest Notes thoroughly before the start of the Quest. They explain what happens in certain rooms and detail the unique situations the Hero players will have to contend with. Read the notes silently to yourself. Important: You will later disclose the Quest Notes information to the Heroes as the Quest unfolds and the Heroes move into certain rooms and corridors.

". . .Read the notes silently to yourself. . . ." indicates to me the information isn't public. ". . . later disclose the Quest Notes information to the Heroes as the Quest unfolds . . ." tells me the stats and spells are revealed when they become relevant (such as an Escape spell being cast.) To best present a Quest, I'd say the Heroes should learn of a boss' abilities as they are used, and not before.

On the other hand, information about the standard monsters is treated differently. On p.9, the Instruction Booklet states that the Monster Cards are to be laid out for all to see at the beginning of the game.

Jalapenotrellis wrote:2. Assume you cast Fear and Sleep on the same hero, do they roll for spell break for each spell that turn, or do they have to be awake to roll for Fear? In our game, Fear got broken first while still asleep, which made it feel like a waste for me as Grak.

I'd agree it was a waste, but that is on Grak. In my opinion, it would have been better to have either cast those spells on separate Heroes or to cast the second on one Hero only after the first had ended.

You played the spells correctly. Both were in effect, as were their ending conditions.

Jalapenotrellis wrote:3. Does Grak have 4 attack dice orthogonally and diagonally, or just orthogonally and only 1 attack die diagonally because of the staff? I wasn't sure how to call this either.

Found on p.22 of the Instruction Booklet:

Action 1—Attack
A monster may attack any Hero that it is adjacent to. However, a monster may only attack once per turn. A monster's attack strength is based on its natural abilities and does not depend on a weapon.

Grak's attack strength from his natural abilities apply to adjacent attacks.
Since a diagonal attack is dependent on the use of a staff, I'd say Grak would then also depend on the one-combat-die attack strength of the staff while attacking diagonally.

I just played this quest again with new group. They had two crossbows on either side of the barb held by the elf and dwarf. I told them the stats of Grak, that he has a staff and cloak (5 defend dice), and didn't tell them of the spells until cast. Seemed to be fine. They made quick work of the room as they weren't whittled down by the rest of the quest and happened to go where they needed to go from the beginning. Grak got two spells off on the barbarian, not at the same time, but the minions did the attacking. They made quick work of the minions and Grak before he could get a third attack off. He didn't get to cast tempest or attack for 4 against anyone. Their wizard didn't cast one spell the whole game. Sigh. I am guessing to stand a chance of getting at least 4 attacks off on Grak, you have to lead the heroes into the room somehow instead of letting them door blockade, but sometimes that doesn't work and your monsters get absolutely no attacks off instead of at least one.

Grak can be very evil, if the heroes were walking in the wrong direction at the beginning.

It's true, if the heroes find their equipment straight away, the quest is not so hard and then Grak is just a minor nuisance.
I can't imagine a way to change that except if you make his stats depending on the game situation (which feels like cheating)

It would be good to have the fight in a proper room, for a start. Grak's room is too small, that way he is immediately in range of everyone.

well, which one is Grak's room after all?

In the first quest book, the one with the Maze, Grak was forgotten.
In the german second quest book, the one with the Trial, Grak was in the center room.
In the english second quest book, the one with the Trial, Grak was forgotten .
In the us quest book, Grak guards the exit.

In Phoenix' remade quest book, Grak guards the exit.

In the EU questbook, there is a remark "GRAK". In Heroscribe I can't write so I added a colored orc on the EU position of the remark "GRAK".

Note how the entry of the room is placed extra weird in the corner so that maybe less heroes are able to shoot or enter the room. If they try door blocking, it's easier for Grak to use his spells.

In the EU Quest book, a remark for "B" is missing, also it is not mentioned where the heroes would start... wow that quest is messed up in the original

Despite using a ruleset based on SE I, like many, prefer NA monster stats, substituting the NA stats for SE stats is straight-forward enough for the basic monsters, but gets more challenging around some of the 'special monsters' particularly Grak as in SE he is an Orc Warlord but in NA edition he is an Orc Shaman, so in converting this leaves me with a choice:

Keep true to SE and keep Grak as an Orc Warlord (maybe using stats provided in NA for Ulag)

Or convert Grak to an Orc Shaman as per NA edition

I prefer the second option, as this provides a little more variety for the Heroes and tactical options for Morcar, rather than just a second Orc Warlord and also allows me to convert the Cloak of Protection Equipment Card from SE into the Cloak of Protection - Quest Treasure Card (the equivalent to the Wizard's Cloak Artefact Card in NA) which I prefer as it is both permanent and unique so sits better as a Quest Treasure / Artefact than Equipment

In terms of Grak's spells, he has listed in NA edition: Fear, Sleep and Tempest and fortunately all three of those already exist in the SE so they remain the same (although I am still considering giving him some of the Orc Shaman specific spells provided in SE and these 3 are a little uninspired with Sleep and Tempest being so similar...)

Turning to his profile or stats, NA lists as:

Move 8, Attack 4, Defend 4, Body 3, Mind 3

And his equipment as: Staff, Wizard's Cloak

This poses a few challenges / options, some of which have already been covered here.

Does his Defend 4 include the +1 from the Wizard's cloak? It probably should in the sense that 'named' monster profiles in the Quest books are unique to that quest so should include any equipment / artefact bonuses, but as this is the first time we meet an Orc Shaman there is no obvious way to compare and check. The only other Orc Shaman in SE is shown below and his stats aren't any use for comparison as he has 5 defend dice without a cloak.

From Wizards of Morcar: Grawshak, Orc Shaman of the Northern Tribes wrote:Orc Shaman
• Movement 7 squares
• Attack 5 dice
• Defend 5 dice.
• Body 5
• Mind 7

#Note: In Wizards of Morcar: The Final Conflict, all four sorcerers appear again listed with “the same characteristics as detailed in the previous Quests” but are shown with only 4 Body points.

Does Grak being armed with a staff mean he can perform diagonal attacks and if so are they at the usual 1AD of a staff or his 'standard' 4AD?

Well officially monster stats are based on their intrinsic abilities and not their equipment, so strictly speaking the Staff would just be cosmetic and he would have 4AD adjacent attacks only, but for me personally I would choose to consider Orc Shaman's to be armed with a longsword (also ported from NA) so would give them 3AD, diagonal as standard, so no need for a Staff and I prefer 3AD for an Orc Shaman as 4AD is the figure given for an Orc Warlord and I don't feel like an Orc Shaman should be as strong in hand-to-hand combat as an Orc Warlord!

Finally Grak Mind Value of 3, is at least 1 point too low. The 'principle' within HQ is a maximum of 3 spells for every MP over 3- and spell casters has a minimum Mind Point value of 3, so Grak should have an MP of at least 4 in my opinion.

So I would suggest the following...

Orc Shaman

Move: 8
Attack: 3
Defend: 3
Body: 3
Mind: 4

Spell Caster (3 spells), Diagonal Attacks

And for Grak, standard Orc Shaman profile as above but with the Wizard's Cloak giving him +1DD and his spells being: Fear, Sleep and Tempest