Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) – Tristayne Olliven Lieutenant Pack Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Lieutenant Pack Rules
  • Introduction
  • Plot Cards
  • Gaining Threat Tokens
  • Purchasing and Triggering Plot Cards
    • Plot Card Anatomy
  • Threat and Fortune
  • Spending Threat Tokens
  • Spending Fortune Tokens
  • Agents
    • Agent Card Anatomy
  • Monster Sizes and Traits
• Tristayne Olliven Lieutenant Pack Cards
  • Tristayne Olliven Plot Cards
    • Wild Energy
    • Pariah
    • Explosive Fall
    • Mortal Coil
    • Power and Sacrifice
    • Descent into Madness
    • Passion for Chaos
    • Onslaught
    • Soul Ensnare
    • Summon Tristayne
  • Tristayne Olliven Agent Cards

Lieutenant Pack Rules

Introduction

Lieutenant packs expand Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition by providing unique plastic figures that can be used to replace lieutenant tokens in quests. In addition, these packs introduce a new layer of strategy and progression for overlord players with the introduction of Plot and Agent cards.

Plot Cards

After hero players choose their classes at the start of a campaign, the overlord may choose one Plot deck. He will use his chosen deck for the duration of the campaign. After the overlord chooses his Plot deck, he takes the basic card (the Plot card with no purchase cost) and places it faceup in his play area. Then, he takes all remaining Plot cards that have the same deck name and places them facedown in his play area. He may look at his facedown Plot cards at any time.

Plot cards are upgrades the overlord player may purchase throughout the course of a campaign. They provide the overlord with special abilities that are available to him when the card is faceup in his play area. Plot cards are different from Overlord cards; the overlord does not add them to his Overlord deck, and he purchases them in a different way.

Important: The overlord player can only use Plot and Agent cards when playing a campaign.

Gaining Threat Tokens

Each time a hero is defeated during an encounter, instead of drawing one Overlord card, the overlord may choose to gain one threat token. The overlord can only gain threat tokens in this way once per hero per quest. If he chooses to gain a threat token, the overlord takes one hero token belonging to the hero and places it near his Plot deck as a reminder that he has gained a threat token for defeating that hero. In addition, there are a number of other ways in which the overlord may gain threat tokens:

• At the end of each quest, the overlord receives one threat token. If the overlord wins the quest, he receives one additional threat token.
• During the Spend Experience Points step of any Campaign phase, the overlord may spend any number of his experience points to gain three threat tokens for each experience point he spends.
• Each time the overlord plays a Rumor card featuring a quest, he gains one threat token. Rumor cards and applicable rules are included in some Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition expansions.

Each time the overlord gains one threat token, he takes one token from the threat and fortune supply and places it in his play area with the threat side faceup. Each threat token the overlord gains during a campaign remains in his play area until he spends it. Between quests, the overlord player records the amount of unspent threat tokens in the Campaign log. He may spend this threat at a future point during the campaign.

Purchasing and Triggering Plot Cards

Each Plot card has a purchase cost that indicates the number of threat tokens the overlord must spend to purchase the card. During the Spend Experience Points step of each Campaign phase, the overlord player may purchase any of his facedown Plot cards by spending threat tokens equal to the Plot card's purchase cost (see "Plot Card Anatomy"). He places purchased Plot cards faceup in his play area and can use them in all future quests during the campaign.

The overlord can trigger abilities on a faceup Plot card as specified on the card. Each time he triggers a Plot card ability that requires him to "exhaust this card" or "use this card", he must spend a number of threat tokens equal to the Plot card's trigger cost (see "Plot Card Anatomy").

Plot Card Anatomy

1. Name: This area displays the name of the Plot card.
2. Purchase Cost: This area displays the number of threat tokens it costs to purchase the card. The overlord begins play with his basic Plot card. These basic cards have no purchase cost.
3. Ability: This area describes all rules for the Plot card, including when the card can be triggered.
4. Deck Name: This area displays the Plot deck to which the card belongs.
5. Trigger Cost: This area displays the number of threat tokens it costs to trigger this card's effect.

Threat and Fortune

Threat and fortune are represented by different sides of the same token. The red side of the token represents threat, and the white side represents fortune. During setup, place these tokens in a supply within easy reach of all players.

The overlord player may spend threat tokens he has gained (see "Gaining Threat Tokens") to purchase or trigger abilities described on Plot cards. A hero may spend fortune tokens to receive certain benefits (see "Spending Fortune Tokens").

Spending Threat Tokens

When the overlord spends threat tokens, they are either returned to the supply or placed on Hero sheets as follows:

• Purchasing Plot cards: During the Spend Experience Points step of the Campaign phase, each threat token spent to purchase Plot cards is returned to the supply.
• Triggering Plot cards: Each time the overlord spends a threat token to trigger a Plot card, he must flip the token to its fortune side and place it on the Hero sheet which currently possesses the lowest number of fortune tokens.

If there is a tie, the heroes choose which hero among the tied heroes gains the token. If the overlord spends more than one threat token, he follows this process once for each token spent.

Spending Fortune Tokens

Heroes may spend fortune tokens to trigger any of the following abilities:

• 1 fortune token: During his turn, a hero may recover 1 [black drop icon].
• 1 fortune token: After dice are rolled, a hero may reroll 1 of his dice.
• 2 fortune tokens: After performing his two normal actions, a hero may immediately perform one additional action. Limit once per round per hero.
• 2 fortune tokens: During the Shopping step of the Campaign phase, heroes may collectively spend their fortune tokens to draw 1 additional Shop Item card.

When a hero spends a fortune token, he returns it to the threat and fortune supply. Heroes cannot trade their fortune tokens to other heroes. After the Shopping step of each Campaign phase, heroes return all fortune tokens on their Hero sheets to the threat and fortune supply.

Transcription note: The leaflet's text layer contains a glyph that does not extract as text. Rendered from the printed page, it is a single solid black drop icon with no name printed beside it, so it is shown above as "[black drop icon]". Check the printed leaflet if the exact icon name is needed.

Agents

Some Plot cards allow the overlord to use a lieutenant figure as an agent in an open monster group. The Agent card corresponding to the current act lists the agent's characteristics, abilities, and attack dice. An agent is treated as a master monster within its open monster group with the following exceptions:

• Regardless of quest rules, an agent cannot be placed as a reinforcement.
• When an agent is defeated, the overlord must return the Plot card that summoned the agent back to his Plot deck. The card may be purchased again.
• As described on the Plot card, the overlord cannot use an agent in any quest that features the lieutenant version of that agent. Additionally, the overlord cannot use some agents in specific campaigns. For example, the overlord cannot use Baron Zachareth as an agent while playing "The Shadow Rune" campaign because it features Baron Zachareth as an important lieutenant in that campaign.

Plot cards that allow the overlord to summon an agent often require him to replace master and minion monsters of an open group after setup of an encounter. If the overlord cannot meet the replacement requirements, he replaces the entire open group.

When an agent is placed in a monster group, that agent and the monsters in that group are treated as if they are part of the same monster group. While the agent is on the map, the overlord cannot use the monster figures it replaced as reinforcements, regardless of quest rules.

The overlord cannot summon an agent during an Interlude or a Finale. Unlike lieutenants, an agent cannot wield a relic.

Agent Card Anatomy

Agent card front and back.

1. Name: This area displays the name of the agent.
2. Abilities: This area lists all the abilities for the agent.
3. Characteristics: This area lists the characteristics (Speed, Health, and Defense) of the agent. The agent's characteristics differ depending on the number of heroes playing (represented by the gray silhouettes).
4. Attack Type Icon: This icon shows the type of attack (Melee or Ranged) the agent has.
5. Dice: This area lists the dice used by the agent when performing an attack.
6. Ability Rules: This area explains the full details of the agent's abilities.
7. Deck Name: This area displays the Plot deck to which the Agent card belongs.

Monster Sizes and Traits

Many Plot cards have effects that interact with monsters that have specific monster traits or sizes. Monster size is defined by the number of spaces the monster's base occupies:

• Small monsters occupy one space (e.g., goblin archers and zombies).
• Medium monsters occupy two spaces (e.g., barghests).
• Huge monsters occupy four spaces (e.g., ettins and merriods).
• Massive monsters occupy six spaces (e.g., shadow dragons).

Note: medium, huge, and massive monsters are still large monsters for the purposes of movement and quest rules.

Tristayne Olliven Lieutenant Pack Cards

Each Plot card shows its purchase cost as the small red number at the top right of the card face, and its trigger cost as the large red number at the bottom right. The Unstable Forces deck name and card number (for example "1/12") are printed in the footer. The basic Plot card has no purchase cost and so shows no number at the top right.

Translation note: Plot cards 1, 3, 4, 5 and 8 are transcribed from English card scans. The remaining Plot card text is translated into English from a community Russian translation of the card sheet (A. Kazakov, Tesera item 789595), not from an official English card sheet. Card names for cards 2, 6 and 7 are English renderings of the Russian titles. Where the Russian sheet uses a different term for an ability from the English scan (card 8 calls Ravage by a different name), the English scan's term is used. "Exhaust" renders the Russian "повернуть" and "refresh" renders "развернуть", following the leaflet's terminology.

Tristayne Olliven Plot Cards

Icons on the card faces are rendered as words: the heart icon as damage, the lightning-wedge icon as surge, and the test icons as [book icon] and [gear icon]. These are transcriber's renderings of the icons, not printed names.

Wild Energy

Unstable Forces 1/12 · Basic card (no purchase cost) · Trigger cost: 0

Exhaust this card when a master monster performs an attack, before dice are rolled, to add 1 surge to the attack results. When you exhaust this card, you may discard 1 threat token.

After resolving that attack, if you did not discard 1 threat token and that attack did not deal 1 or more damage, discard 1 threat token and the monster that attacked is defeated.

Pariah

Unstable Forces 2/12 · Purchase cost: 2 · Trigger cost: 0

Exhaust this card during your turn and choose one monster group. Place this card next to the chosen group's Monster card. While this card is exhausted, you may activate one master monster of that group during the activation of any other group instead of activating the chosen group.

Explosive Fall

Unstable Forces 3/12 · Purchase cost: 2 · Trigger cost: 1

Exhaust this card when a monster is defeated. Each figure within 3 spaces of that monster suffers 2 damage.

Mortal Coil

Unstable Forces 4/12 · Purchase cost: 2 · Trigger cost: 2

Exhaust this card when a master monster is defeated to place 1 fatigue token in its space. At the start of your next turn, replace the fatigue token with a master monster in the same group as the defeated monster, respecting group limits.

This card does not refresh as normal. Refresh this card at the end of each quest.

Power and Sacrifice

Unstable Forces 5/12 · Purchase cost: 3 · Trigger cost: 0

Exhaust this card when a master monster performs an attack, before dice are rolled. That monster may suffer up to 2 damage. If it does, that attack deals additional damage equal to the damage suffered. That monster cannot do this if suffering the damage would defeat it.

Descent into Madness

Unstable Forces 6/12 · Purchase cost: 3 · Trigger cost: 1

Exhaust this card at the end of your turn. Each hero makes a test of either the [book icon] or the [gear icon], your choice. You choose the order in which the heroes make their tests. Each time a hero fails a test, you gain 1 threat token. If a test succeeds, all remaining heroes do not make that test.

This card does not refresh as normal. Refresh this card at the end of the encounter.

Passion for Chaos

Unstable Forces 7/12 · Purchase cost: 3 · Trigger cost: 1

Exhaust this card during your turn and choose one master monster on the map. That monster is immediately defeated and you gain 2 threat tokens. If that monster was large, you gain one additional threat token.

This card does not refresh as normal. Refresh this card at the end of the encounter.

Onslaught

Unstable Forces 8/12 · Purchase cost: 3 · Trigger cost: 2

Exhaust this card at the start of your turn and choose 1 monster group. Place this card near the chosen group's Monster card. While this card is exhausted, each monster in the chosen group gains:

Ravage: Both of this monster's actions on a turn may be attack actions.

Soul Ensnare

Unstable Forces 9/12 · Purchase cost: 3 · Trigger cost: 1

Exhaust this card at the end of your turn. While this card is exhausted, each time a knocked-down hero recovers at least 1 damage, each hero within 3 spaces of that hero gains 1 damage.

Summon Tristayne

Unstable Forces 10/12 · Purchase cost: 3 · Trigger cost: 2

Exhaust this card during encounter setup and choose one open monster group. Replace one master monster and one minion in that group with the agent Tristayne Olliven.

If the agent Tristayne Olliven is defeated, return this card to your Plot deck.

You cannot use this card in the "Shadow of Nerekhall" campaign.

Tristayne Olliven Agent Cards

Tristayne Olliven has two Agent cards, one for each act. Each Agent card shows its act number as a numeral at the top (I or II), its name ("Tristayne Olliven"), its ability bar with the surge bonus printed beneath it, its Speed, Health and Defense for each hero count, and its attack dice. The Agent cards are read by hero count from the silhouettes printed beside each row (two, three and four silhouettes, top to bottom). The defense faces are read by colour as printed on the card: black and white.

Transcription note: The Agent card rows are read by hero count from the silhouettes. The die colours are read from the rendered card, so they may differ from an official English printing. The surge-bonus text is taken from the icon row on each face. The Act I Agent card's ability text is translated from the Russian sheet; the Act II Agent card's ability text is transcribed from the English scan.

Tristayne Olliven Agent, Act I

• Abilities: "Ravage" and "Chaotic Energy", with "surge: +2 damage" printed beneath the ability bar.
• Dice: blue and red.
• Attack type: ranged (bow icon).

Heroes	Speed	Health	Defense
2	4	10	one white defense die face
3	4	12	one white defense die face
4	4	14	one black defense die face

Ravage (Act I)

Both of Tristayne Olliven's actions on a turn may be attack actions.

Chaotic Energy (Act I)

Each time Tristayne Olliven performs an attack, before dice are rolled, he may suffer up to 3 damage. That attack deals additional damage equal to the damage suffered. Tristayne cannot do this if suffering the damage would defeat him.

Tristayne Olliven Agent, Act II

• Abilities: "Ravage", "Soul Siphon" and "Chaotic Energy", with "surge: +3 damage" printed beneath the ability bar.
• Dice: blue, yellow and red.
• Attack type: melee (axe icon).

Heroes	Speed	Health	Defense
2	4	12	one white defense die face
3	4	15	two white defense die faces
4	4	18	one black and one white defense die face

Ravage (Act II)

Both of Tristayne Olliven's actions on a turn may be attack actions.

Soul Siphon (Act II)

Each time Tristayne Olliven suffers damage from any source other than an attack, he may choose an adjacent monster. That monster suffers that amount of damage instead.

Chaotic Energy (Act II)

Each time Tristayne Olliven performs an attack, before dice are rolled, you may suffer up to 3 damage. This attack deals additional damage equal to the damage suffered. Tristayne cannot do this if suffering the damage would defeat him.