HQ25 Beastman Wild spells poll

[Daedalus]

Discussion links:

Beastman Wild spells:
A, B) Frenzy, Shield of Protection
C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K) Summon Beastmen, Survival, Ferocity, Savagery, Howl, Bloodlust, Trample, Charge, Dominance, more here
L) Survival Instinct

The last spell poll is for Beastman Wild spells, which with Kobold Trickster spells were voted next in popularity in the HQ25 spell sets poll. (Chaos Dwarf spells got the fewest votes.) Vote on any number of spells, though it's probably a good idea to choose at least six. Changing votes is allowed. Those entries with the most votes will make the cut for the core set of six spells, though others will be represented as alternates.

Feel free to make comments--you may help others to decide. New spells may also be suggested in this thread to be included in the poll. If you're not sure of the description in an entry, follow the matching-lettered discussion link above in this post for a fuller explanation at the original post.

The Swamp spell poll, Cultist spell poll, and Kobold Trickster spell poll remain open for voting.

[Daedalus]

Since Survival is merely a re-skinning of the Chaos spell Soothe, I worked up an alternate healing spell for the poll (choice L):

Survival Instinct This spell may be cast during a Hero's turn. It immediately restores up to 2 lost Body Points to any one living monster that has just been killed, including the spellcaster.

In addition to other changes, I figured it would be a good idea to allow the spell to also work as a general Chaos Spell Card. So the spell affects any monster except undead.

[j_dean80]

Since Survival is merely a re-skinning of the Chaos spell Soothe, I worked up an alternate healing spell for the poll (choice L):

Survival Instinct This spell may be cast during a Hero's turn. It immediately restores up to 2 lost Body Points to any one living monster that has just been killed, including the spellcaster.

In addition to other changes, I figured it would be a good idea to allow the spell to also work as a general Chaos Spell Card. So the spell affects any monster except undead.

May want to re-word it. "Any one living monster that has just been killed" contradicts itself.

[knightkrawler]

Since Survival is merely a re-skinning of the Chaos spell Soothe, I worked up an alternate healing spell for the poll (choice L):

Survival Instinct This spell may be cast during a Hero's turn. It immediately restores up to 2 lost Body Points to any one living monster that has just been killed, including the spellcaster.

In addition to other changes, I figured it would be a good idea to allow the spell to also work as a general Chaos Spell Card. So the spell affects any monster except undead.

May want to re-word it. "Any one living monster that has just been killed" contradicts itself.

"Any one non-undead monster that has just been killed", but only if "living" won't be used in the additional quest pack rules as a keyword for the same.
Better yet:"any one monster with a Mind score of 1 or higher that has just been killed"
Less complicated, but thematically more questionable, the whole limitation about non-undead could be left out.

[Daedalus]

May want to re-word it. "Any one living monster that has just been killed" contradicts itself.

Yeah, I wasn't sure if that would go over as it isn't a keyword from the published game. How about this?

Survival Instinct This spell may be cast during a Hero's turn. It immediately restores up to 2 lost Body Points to any one monster that has just been killed, including the spellcaster. Does not affect undead.

knightkrawler has a point about dropping the undead part altogether for simplicity. As a Beastman Wild spell, I don't see this spell cast on anything but a Beastman or Minotaur anyway. As a potential Chaos spell, I'd prefer the undead excluded in a clause, like the NA Sleep spell.

[j_dean80]

That works as written but if I remember correct the original HQ lingo uses "defeated" instead of "killed".

[Daedalus]

Are you thinking of the EU Rules of Play? It describes Heroes as being both "defeated" and "eliminated." I didn't find anything specifically referencing monsters. Do you perhaps remember a published spell precedent?

In the NA Instruction Booklet under What Makes HeroQuest Unique, "defeat" is used more generically: ". . .The Heroes work together to defeat Zargon and his forces of Chaos. . . ." However, the description under How a Hero Attacks more specifically states: ". . . If the monster’s Body Points reach zero, the monster is considered dead . . ."

If "killed" sounds wrong, it could be worded ". . . a monster that has just had it's Body Points reduced to zero, . . ." I prefer "killed" for succinct brevity, however.

[j_dean80]

I don't have any specifics near me as I'm currently halfway across the country right now.

[Anderas]

I just voted, though I think we are overdoing it here. We have no beast shaman anywhere right now in the quest pack.

The options that those spells offer are a nice gameplay addition. Do they add enough to go through the entire discussion for game cards or is it sufficient to have a phrase or two in the quest book where they appear?

[Daedalus]

Since we want to focus on Swamp and Trickster spells first, this set can wait. The idea it's to implement them as an optional set for Chaos spells.

A Beastman Shaman casting Chaos spells could be written in a Quest (I hope, at least Goblin-King had also wanted one), or a Beastman Shaman casting Beastman spells could be substituted for a Chaos Sorcerer or Beastman Chieftain/Champion (the option would be mentioned in the Quest Notes.) I see Beastman Spells kept in a folder with a Beastman Shaman card, ready to use if desired.

We could even offer the set as a single printed sheet without art. This would save both effort to create and print cost. Developed Spell Cards would be nice, but not necessary for a one-off use.