Title: FFG:The Madness of Tristayne Olliven
Post by: RSSFeeder on 29 January 2014, 21:00:03
A Preview of an Upcoming Descent Lieutenant Pack
The second son of the influential Count Galayne Olliven, Tristayne Olliven received none of his elder brother Rylan’s reserve, poise, or good reputation. Lacking these gifts, Tristayne turned to mastering forbidden magic, and he quickly devoted himself to dark arts and the secrets of the Black Realm. When his crimes caught up with him, Tristayne was put to death – but to an accomplished necromancer, death is just a prelude to rebirth!
Today, we’ll take a closer look at the madness and magic within the Tristayne Olliven Lieutenant Pack, which offers the overlord the means to harness the talents of one of the lieutenants from the Shadow of Nerekhall expansion for Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition. (For the full Lieutenant Pack rules, visit the Descent support page.)
If you were to summon Tristayne Olliven into a quest outside the Shadow of Nerekhall campaign as an agent, you will find that his experiments with the dark arts of necromancy have transformed him into a deadly combatant. Tristayne’s magical attacks and defense are as powerful as you would expect from a master spellcaster, and Tristyane’s special abilities only make him more dangerous.
Tristayne has been driven insane by his devotion to the Black Realm and his recent death, but his insanity has granted him new ferocity. Tristayne’s Ravage ability allows him to make two attack actions per turn, rather than the one attack allotted to most of the overlord’s minions.
Despite his insanity, Tristayne remains a capable mage, perfectly able to cause extra damage. By drawing on Chaotic Energy, Tristayne can suffer damage to guarantee extra damage to his target! This may seem risky, but Tristayne has no qualms about passing the risk to his allies. Whenever Tristayne would take damage from a source other than an attack, you can choose to have an adjacent monster suffer the damage instead by using the Soul Siphon ability.
Death and Wild Energy
Even if you don’t summon Tristayne into a quest, his ten-card Plot deck, Unstable Forces, can punish the heroes. Some of these Plot cards grant additional power and damage to monsters, but tampering with dark magic carries a risk.
One example of such a Plot card is Wild Energy. Wild Energy allows you to add an automatic surge to a master monster’s attack, but this power can also consume those that wield it. If you spend a threat token when you exhaust Wild Energy, your monster is protected, but if your attack does not deal damage and you didn’t spend a threat token, you must discard a threat token, and your attacking monster is immediately defeated, consumed by uncontrollable energy!
Other cards, such as Power and Sacrifice, offer quick ways to increase your damage output… if you pay the cost. By having a master monster suffer damage, you can guarantee that your attack will deal additional damage. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a way to make more attacks on your turn, Onslaught grants a monster group the Ravage ability, allowing them to make two attack actions for one turn!
While your monsters are engaged in combat and taking risks to access more power, some of them will inevitably be defeated. But their deaths needn’t delay your attainment of unlimited power. With an accomplished necromancer like Tristayne, and his Plot cards, you’ll be able to make the most of a monster’s defeat. Explosive Fall deals damage to every figure near to a defeated monster. Mortal Coil, on the other hand, allows you to replace a defeated master monster after it has been destroyed, potentially restoring life to the heroes’ most deadly nemesis!
Uncontrollable Magic
Tristayne Olliven’s wild magic presents a clear threat to the city of Nerekhall and the realm of Terrinoth, but is Tristayne the only antagonist the heroes must face? Look for more previews of the four new Descent Lieutenant Packs paired with Shadow of Nerekhall, and prepare for magic, mystery, and chaos unlike anything Terrinoth has seen!
...
Source: The Madness of Tristayne Olliven (http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4623)