by wallydubbs » September 7th, 2023, 9:43 pm
Well most of the time the quest notes reflect on disguises they're generally in regards to the Magus guards or Elven Warriors, as if disguises only seem to effect the light blue figurines. In some quests wandering monsters change depending on whether the heroes are disguised or not.
Reading through the quest pack it seems that only the Elven Monsters (Elven Warrior, Archer, Magus Guards, Assassin) are effected by disguises and Reputation tokens. In Quest 5 the Magus Guard and Dread Warrior is removed from the plaza if the heroes give up a reputation in room B, but the undead, Cultists remain, as if these are the prime enemies while disguised... their body points are low enough for daggers and hand axes.
So far by playing this one through it's more straight forward with the hack n' slash method. The armor of the Barbarian, Elf and Dwarf is sufficient enough to withstand these monsters. The Magus Guard and Dread Warriors tend to be the heavy hitters in this quest pack. Despite the Assassin having 5AD, but with 3DD and 2BP they don't tend to last long enough to make more then 1 attack. Yet I can recall a recent battle between the Dwarf and Magus Guard that lasted 7 turns (Barbarian, Druid and Elf were in another room clearing out other monsters) between the Dwarf flopping and Guard rolling black shields.
This expansion has an interesting dynamic with monsters that cast spells with different formulas of attack. It's a breath of fresh air coming out of the onslaught of Frozen Horror and Mage of the Mirror. I must say, upon trying to play those quest packs as written makes it boring, nearly impossible and frustrating. Rise of the Dread Moon, so far, is a lot more fun and asides from the unclear explanation on disguises, easier. Don't get me wrong, there are still moments of worry, the Elf was surrounded by a Dread Cultist and 2 Specter's, who dwindled the Elf's life force down to 1BP.
Specters are also considered Undead, but to take damage they require black shields (unless it's a spell), but the Elf has the Spirit Blade, I'm not sure it I should make an exception, allow the Spirit Blade to do damage with skulls or just give an extra attack dice that still needs a black shield.
It slipped my mind, I haven't tried backfiring the Channel Dread or Dreadlights with the Ancient Staff... this just occurred to me now. The Bone Wand had been coming in handy. In Quest 4 there's a Dread Warrior with 2 Skeletons guarding room D. The Druid used the Skeletons to attack the Dread Warrior, both skeletons rolled 2 Skulls in the attack, I was thoroughly impressed.
In Mage of the Mirror the Elf only used the Ancient Staff once, he backfired Mind Blast at Sinestra (almost used it on Warewolf Curse, but that would've just made all the other monsters more powerful, lol).
Also the Druid finally used the Anti-poison Quill attained from Return of the Witch Lord after failing to disarm a trap for 3 BP of damage. I had to read the card, I thought in the original 1990 version the Anti-poison Quill restored up to 3BP, this time the card says all BP from the poison.
I'm pleasantly excited to see where this quest pack goes.
