Healing: How A Hero Escapes Death

[wallydubbs]

Does this mean that possessing a Heal Body Spell Scroll makes one (at least temporarily) a "spellcastor"?

I wouldn't think possessing a spell scroll makes one a spell caster. But if you were to cast that spell scroll, then yes, you would be a spell caster.

[Kurgan]

A potential spell caster, until such time as the Scroll is no longer in his possession (traded, stolen or used up!).

[Bareheaded Warrior]

It may not be to everyone's liking but I'm going with the following (for now)

CHAPTER 2: DYING & DEATH

1 How A Character Escapes Death

You die when your Body Points are reduced to zero, and you do not have a potion that restores Body Points to save yourself.

If you have a potion that restores Body Points, then you may drink that at the instant that your Body Points are reduced to zero to save yourself from death.

However, in that situation the potion will only restore you to 1 Body Point irrespective to the normal effect stated on the card which applies to its use on a Hero with 1 or more Body Points

Important! After your Body Points have reached zero, you can never be saved by a fellow character's spell or potion. It will be too late. You will have died by the time it is your fellow character’s turn – the only time when he can cast a spell or give you a potion.

[Kurgan]

Polar Warbears just got a lot more deadly under that interpretation!

How would you handle Elixir of Life, BHW?

[Bareheaded Warrior]

What about Polar Warbears?

In terms of Elixir of Life, this is designed for use on a dead hero or at least their corpse so no reason why that couldn't restore them back to their max as written.

Although I have specified that it needs to be used on the corpse of the Dead Hero as it was very open ended as originally written and that combined with my stricter rules below makes its use more limited.

2 What Happens to A Dead Hero?

As a Player, if your Hero dies, you are out of the game for the remainder of the game. You may, however, create a new Hero and play him as a new character in the next Quest. Armour, weapons, and treasures that belonged to you prior to death may be lost in the Dungeon.

Warning! If you die, all items that you are carrying will be dropped on the square where you were killed and will be lost to the denizens of the dungeon and will be removed from the game unless the square on which you died remains within sight of at least one other Hero.

In that instance your possessions remain on the square and can be picked up by any Hero moving onto that square or searching the room containing that square.

Note: When a Hero dies, remove the figure, and replace with a skull tile to mark the square in which they died. If, in the unlikely event of more than one Hero death then use skull tile with the number that matches the starting BP of the Hero that is “8” for the Barbarian, “7” for the Dwarf and so on. Place their character sheet and cards in a central position on the board. At the point when they die and at the start of each of their subsequent turns, check whether it can be seen by at least one other Hero, if not then remove the character sheet and cards from play. Leave the marker in place as this indicates where the Hero was killed.

[lestodante]

I've always hated the idea a hero can drink a healing potions AFTER is dead. I think the solution of recovering only 1 single BP in such case is a good solution too.
As for the Elixir of Life, I imagine it as a true "magical" potion. You don't have to use it over the corpse of the fallen hero, just open the bottle and wish who must come back. Should not be used by a hero already dead.

[Bareheaded Warrior]

I think for me the key distinction around the saving yourself from death is that you are drinking it at as you are dying rather than once you are dead.

The issue that I have with the more liberal interpretation of the Elixir of Life effects, is that you could lose a Hero. Get a fresh one in the next Quest and then resurrect your dead Hero leaving the party with 5 rather than 4 Heroes, which seems something of a cheat/exploit...

[Kurgan]

If you think of turns as taking an amount of time in real time vs. in gameplay time, you could probably easily imagine a hero who knew he was dying, chugging a potion, right? As opposed to saying he is dead, and then somehow the potion gets in him and wakes him up.

The Elixir serves to revive a dead hero (how dead and how long ago is up to Zargon), but it could also be used as a last minute save in the above, just maybe slightly later (in real time within the game vs. gameplay time) than other types of last minute save potions.

Whatever a Shadiversity out there may say about how long it should take a medieval warrior to reach for his glass bottle and uncork it and drink it, the GM can say it just works, it's magic, after all...

[Bareheaded Warrior]

The key distinction for me is that the Elixir of Life works on DEAD Heroes, if you are dead then you can't drink a potion (that is one of a long list of things you can't do when you are dead).

[lestodante]

about "how the hero is dead", there can be situations in which the corpse of the fallen hero can't be available:
Barbarian has fallen into a chasm and his body is lost forever...
Dwarf has the Elixir of Life, he doesn't need the corpse of the barbarian as he only need to think to the hero to resurrect and in a glimpse of light the barbarian will return.