Development Log: HeroQuest Monthathon #2 - Items

Between levels in HeroQuest, players may take a trip to the Armory to buy new weapons and armor.  In expansions, players may also stop at an Alchemist's Shop to purchase potions. But because these items are so cheap, players become war machines too quickly.  Here is a fix for the weapons and armor (with the addition of a shortbow):

Dagger (Wizard starts with this)

Attack Dice: 1

Can be thrown at an enemy, picked up when out of combat; Wizard can use

Price: 50 Gold Coins

Shortsword (Dwarf and Elf start with this)

Attack Dice: 2

Price: 250 Gold Coins

Broadsword (Barbarian starts with this)

Attack Dice: 3

Two-handed

Price: 500 Gold Coins

Long Sword

Attack Dice: 3

Two-handed; can attack diagonally

Price: 1000 Gold Coins

Battle Axe

Attack Dice: 4

Two-handed

Price: 1000 Gold Coins

Staff

Attack Dice: 1

Two-handed; Wizard can use; can attack diagonally

Price: 250 Gold Coins

Shortbow

Attack Dice: 2

Two-handed; ranged

Price: 250 Gold Coins

Ammo Price: 25 Gold Coins Each

Crossbow

Attack Dice: 3

Two-handed; ranged

Price: 500 Gold Coins

Ammo Price: 50 Gold Coins Each

Helmet

Defend Dice: +1

Price: 500 Gold Coins

Shield

Defend Dice: +1

Cannot be used with two-handed weapons

Price: 250 Gold Coins

Chain Mail

Defend Dice: +1

May not be combined with Plate Mail

Price: 1000 Gold Coins

Plate Mail

Defend Dice: +2

May not be combined with Chain Mail

Price: 2000 Gold Coins

I also have eliminated some odd restraints from the original game, such as not being able to combine Chain Mail or Plate Mail with a Helmet or Shield.  I understand they did it mechanically to keep things from getting too crazy, but physically it seems silly.

But I have added restraints to balance things out, such as by having more weapons be two-handed, so they cannot be used with the Shield.  I have also made the Shield a lower price than the helmet for this reason.  Oddly enough, the game comes unbalanced by making the Shield empirically less useful than the Helmet, but it costs more.

As for the Tool Kit:  in the original game, the Dwarf's special power is that he can disarm a trap without a Tool Kit, at a chance of greater than 80%.  A Hero with a Tool Kit has 50% chance of success.  So it is completely unnecessary to ever purchase a Tool Kit unless the Dwarf is out of commission.  A Tool Kit is ordinarily 250 Gold Coins, and that seems a fair price then, considering it's a backup plan, and considering I've sufficiently raised the price of every other item.

As far as other items go: I think that the Alchemist's Shop in expansions are not particularly useful, since the potions found when searching for treasure are common enough.

I think his "Heroic Brew" has a 100 proof.

But that doesn't mean there are no additional items besides weapons.  To give the Wizard ways to become more powerful as time goes on, he can purchase spells.  Because the Wizard starts with three categories of Spells, and there are categories left over, he can train a Spell at the cost of 1000 coins a Spell, or 2500 for the whole category.  The Elf can similarly purchase spells, since he has one category to begin with.

But because there is only one card for each spell, the Wizard and Elf cannot purchase the same spell.

I'll create new spell categories for next time, but for now some more spells in game need to be altered for consistency.

Most spells that use dice rely on "red dice", which are standard 6-sided dice with Domino pips.  However, there are "combat dice", also 6-sided, which have three skulls, two white shields, and one black shield.  These should be used for spells, so to correct the text of each (not to copy down all the text, this is just what must be altered, so you need to follow along at home):

Water/Chaos Spell "Sleep":

"...The spell can be broken at once or on a future turn by a monster/Hero rolling one Combat Die for each of its Mind Points.  If a Black Shield is rolled, the spell is broken...."

Fire/Chaos Spell "Ball of Flame":

"...The monster/Hero then rolls two Combat Dice.  For each White Shield rolled, the damage is reduced by 1 point."

Fire Spell "Fire of Wrath":

"...unless the monster can immediately roll a White Shield using one Combat Die."

Chaos Spell "Summon Undead":

"...Roll one Combat Die:

Roll a Skull: 4 Skeletons

Roll a White Shield: 3 Skeletons, 2 Zombies

Roll a Black Shield: 2 Zombies, 2 Mummies"

Colors not included.

Chaos Spell "Summon Orcs":

"...Roll one Combat Die:

Roll a Skull: 4 Orcs

Roll a White Shield: 5 Orcs

Roll a Black Shield: 6 Orcs"

Chaos Spells "Fear" & "Command":

"...The spell can be broken by the Hero on a future turn by rolling one Combat Die for each of his Mind Points.  If a Black Shield is rolled, the spell is broken...."

Chaos Spell "Firestorm":

"...All victims immediately roll two Combat Dice.  For each White Shield rolled, the damage is reduced by 1 point...."

Chaos Spell "Cloud of Chaos":

"...The spell can be broken at once or on a future turn by each victim rolling one Combat Die for each of his Mind Points.  By rolling a Black Shield, the Hero frees himself."

Now that all the major corrections are out of the way, next log will be some inventions.