Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) FAQ
271 questions players ask · Updated Nov 8, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup and Components
- Can five players play Descent Second Edition?
- What information may the overlord hide from the heroes?
- Can you mix content from several expansions, and which hero card version applies?
- Which Road to Legend campaigns need expansions?
- Is Peril in Road to Legend based on real time?
- What if a dice pool calls for more dice than the box contains?
- Do you use Act I or Act II shop cards in a non-campaign game?
- Are connector tiles and endcaps part of a room for placement?
- When does the overlord choose which open group goes in a room?
- Can two heroes share a class?
- Must a large monster lie entirely on its designated tile when placed?
- Who places figures first at setup, heroes or the overlord?
- Can expansion content be mixed into the base game and campaigns?
- Do heroes see the whole map and placements at the start of a quest?
Movement, Adjacency and Line of Sight
- If a hero cannot see a monster, can the monster see the hero?
- Can you trace line of sight to a corner next to a wall edge or past a wall tip?
- Do friendly figures block line of sight?
- Can a figure move diagonally around a wall corner or between two blocked spaces?
- Are two spaces that touch only at a corner adjacent when a wall separates them?
- Does a skill that moves a hero a number of spaces or up to his Speed give him movement points?
- Can a hero change from a move action to a fatigue move after the overlord plays Tripwire?
- From which spaces can a figure open a door?
- Does being placed in a space count as entering it?
- Can you count spaces through walls, closed doors, or off the map for range effects?
- How do you trace line of sight, and what blocks it?
- What is the difference between a move action and movement points?
- Can a hero suffer fatigue for movement without a move action, and still take two actions?
- When mixing fatigue and move-action movement points, must the hero say which he is spending?
- Do doors block movement, line of sight and counting of spaces?
- Can a hero take an action while standing in a space occupied by a friendly figure?
- Can a hero interrupt a move action to do something else and then keep moving?
- When can a hero spend movement points gained from fatigue or abilities like Running Shot?
- Can a hero interrupt an attack action to move?
- Can a hero take two move actions in a row to double his movement?
- Can a hero move, attack, then keep moving with the rest of his movement?
- Does spending fatigue for movement count as a move action?
- Can a hero spend fatigue to move after using both actions or during an action?
Hero Actions, Fatigue and Equipment
- Can heroes trade their starting equipment, or pass objective tokens?
- What happens when a hero must suffer more fatigue than his Stamina allows?
- When exactly does a hero recover fatigue after taking a Rest action?
- Can a hero equip any weapon or armor, even outside his class?
- Does exhausting an item or skill card turn off its passive bonuses?
- Can a hero search a token that a monster is standing on?
- Does wielding two one-handed weapons give extra attacks?
- Is there a limit on how many unequipped items a hero can carry?
- Do hero abilities affecting 'a hero within N spaces' include the hero using them?
- What does 'flip this card' mean compared with exhausting or 'using' a card?
- Does a non-unique search token give a Search card?
- Is spending fatigue different from suffering fatigue?
- Can a hero voluntarily suffer fatigue beyond his Stamina?
- Can a skill be used more than once per turn, and do skills without an arrow cost an action?
- Who decides the order when two abilities trigger at the same time?
- What can a hero with full fatigue still do?
- Does a hero still count as holding a Search card after spending it?
- Does a skill with an action arrow cost an action, and does it exhaust the card?
- Can heroes trade items, and does moving with fatigue allow trading?
- Is a depleted Search deck reshuffled during a quest?
- Can a hero perform the same action twice in one turn?
- Can a hero take damage instead of fatigue to pay for a skill at maximum fatigue?
- Can a Search card be reused after it is used?
- Can a hero drink an Elixir token at the start of his turn?
- Does opening a door cost an action?
- Can a hero take no actions?
- Does searching require a skill check?
- Which potions cost an action?
- Can heroes search after the victory conditions are met?
- When can a hero change equipment?
- When do a hero's exhausted cards refresh?
Combat
- Can you spend surges after rolling an X on the blue attack die?
- Can you spend surges on a ranged attack that did not roll enough range?
- Can you spend surges on an attack that deals no damage because it was fully blocked?
- How many surges can a hero spend to recover fatigue, and can monsters do it?
- Can a surge ability be triggered more than once on the same attack?
- Are attack and defense dice rolled at the same time?
- Can a Blast attack target an empty space to hit the figures around it?
- Does Blast hit the attacker and friendly figures?
- Can a Blast attack hit the same large monster more than once?
- When an attack hits several figures, do surges and defense apply to each?
- Do the extra monsters in a multi-target attack take reduced damage?
- How is range counted, and can it be counted through figures or obstacles?
- How does Reach work with walls and blocking figures?
- Does a ranged attack on an adjacent figure always hit?
- How does Pierce work against shields?
- Does armor add its defense die to the hero's own?
- Can the overlord's monsters attack each other?
- Can a hero attack with two weapons at once?
- Do defenders deal damage back to the attacker?
- When must Defend or a defensive feat be used relative to the dice roll?
- Can Heavy Cloak cancel a surge on a figure affected but not targeted?
- Can a hero melee attack a monster diagonal from him?
Conditions, Knocked Out Heroes and Revival
- Does a condition such as Stun or Poison apply if the attack deals no damage?
- Does the same condition stack on one figure, for example two Stuns?
- Does the overlord draw a card when a hero is knocked out?
- Does knocking out all the heroes win the game for the overlord?
- Does a stunned figure still roll defense dice?
- Does Stun cost a hero or monster the whole turn or one action?
- When do Conditions like Wounded or Doomed take effect during an attack?
- Does healing a hero discard his conditions?
- Does the Stunned condition cost a hero or monster the whole turn?
- Does standing up from knocked out use the hero's whole turn?
- Can a stunned hero spend fatigue to move before discarding the Stun?
- What does Immobilize do to movement points a figure already gained?
- Does Immobilized stop movement that is not a move action, such as Burrow or Elven Boots?
- Does a hero knocked out during another player's turn still get a turn that round?
- Can a hero be revived or stand up if a monster stands on his hero token?
- What does the Cursed condition prevent?
- Which healing effects stand up a knocked-out hero?
- Can a knocked-out hero be targeted or use skills and abilities?
- Who can revive a knocked-out hero and how?
- Does a knocked-out hero who stands up still get end-of-turn effects?
- When do Poisoned or Burning trigger on a monster?
Class Skills and Heroic Feats
- How many times can a hero use a Heroic Feat in a Road to Legend quest?
- Can the Thief combine Greedy and Lurk to search from a distance?
- Can the Prophet give an Insight token to a hero who already has one?
- Can Oath of Honor place the Knight on the far side of a monster?
- Is the Elven Boots movement point part of a move action?
- Does an undamaged hero trigger Ancestor Spirits by recovering nothing?
- Can knocked-out heroes take attribute tests, and does an ally's defeat draw the overlord a card?
- Can Tomble be targeted while off the map from his Heroic Feat?
- Does Prayer of Healing have unlimited range?
- Is Back in Action's +2 Health permanent, and when does the move trigger?
- Can the Conjurer use Mirror Image if its fatigue would exceed Stamina?
- How does the Knight's Advance skill work?
- Does Leoric's -1 Heart penalty apply to monsters attacking other heroes?
- Can One Fist equip armor and other items that have no hand icon?
- Can a hero use Runic Knowledge's surge ability when he has no fatigue left?
- Can a heroic feat that includes movement, like Jain Fairwood's, be interrupted by another action?
- How often can a heroic feat be used?
Monsters
- Does a monster's one-attack limit apply to each monster or the group?
- Can minion monsters open and close doors?
- Can monsters move through other monsters?
- Where is a monster or summoned figure placed if its space is occupied?
- Can a large monster take two move actions and interrupt its movement repeatedly?
- Does a summoned Ynfernael Hulk's Charge depend on where it started its own activation or the overlord turn?
- Can a hero swallowed by an Ice Wyrm stand up, and where is he placed?
- Can an Ice Wyrm's Swallow capture more than one hero at a time?
- When a Master Kobold is defeated and Splits, can a Minion Kobold be placed in the Master's space?
- How does Stealthy work against melee attacks?
- Does a hero adjacent to a Shadow Dragon have to spend a surge to hit it?
- Can a large monster interrupt its movement to attack, and from where is the target judged?
- How does a large monster expand when it takes two move actions?
- Does a large monster entering a space include the extra spaces its base covers?
- How is a Fire Breath or breath attack path traced?
- Can a monster make two attacks in one turn?
- Where are reinforcements placed when the tile is full or blocked by heroes?
- Can monsters make attribute tests to remove conditions like Poison?
- Can the overlord use expansion monsters in base-game quests or campaigns?
- Can the overlord reinforce a master monster, including a defeated one?
- Must every space a Plague Worm occupies after Burrow be within 3 spaces?
- How many actions does removing a Stun from a monster cost?
- Can a flying monster leave the map through an edge space occupied by heroes?
- Can a monster combine movement and ability actions in an activation?
- Can Frenzy let a monster repeat a special attack such as Fire or Sweep?
- Are there medium monsters, and can 2x1 monsters be placed diagonally?
- Where do the overlord's damage tokens go?
Overlord Turn and Overlord Cards
- Does Not So Fast force a move of exactly 2 spaces, and can it be played on a monster with only 1 movement point?
- Can the overlord play two Overlord cards with the same name on the same target for the same trigger?
- Does Tripwire work on movement from a Heroic Feat or from spending fatigue?
- When does Pit Trap trigger and can a hero avoid the stun by spending fatigue?
- Can the overlord play both Tripwire and Pit Trap on one hero's movement?
- Does Dash give a third move, and can Dash and Frenzy go on the same monster?
- Does Frenzy let a monster attack twice, including with a special attack action?
- Can the Reinforce card move monsters already on the board?
- How does Word of Misery convert damage into fatigue?
- What can a hero charmed by Dark Charm do?
- How many cards does the overlord start with, and can he hold cards?
- How big is the overlord deck, and how are cards bought?
- Does the overlord reshuffle when his deck runs out?
- Does the overlord draw a card when a familiar or ally is defeated?
- Does Web Trap's immobilize wear off at the end of the current turn?
- Can the overlord play Blood Rage at end of turn then reinforce the monster?
- Can Dark Fortune be played during the heroes' turn?
- Can cards that say 'during your turn' be played at the start of the overlord's turn?
Lieutenants
- Are lieutenants treated as monsters for cards, quests and abilities?
- Is a lieutenant a master monster for effects that affect master monsters?
- How many relics can a lieutenant wield?
- Can Alric Farrow's Overpower swap places several times in a row?
- Does the Staff of Shadows reroll any die, and must its lieutenant be in the roll?
- Can Splig's Him Instead redirect an attack aimed at all adjacent figures?
Familiars
- Does activating a familiar cost an action?
- Can a familiar act on the turn it is summoned, or between a hero's actions?
- What can a Reanimate do on its activation?
- Can monsters and overlord cards target a Reanimate?
- Does the overlord draw a card when a Reanimate is defeated?
- What happens to a Reanimate when its Necromancer is knocked out?
- Can a Reanimate be re-summoned, and does it have defense dice?
- Do familiars block movement or line of sight and can figures share their space?
- Do familiars count as heroes for effects that say hero?
- Can a hero control two familiars at once?
- Do familiars start the next encounter on the map?
- Do infection tokens stay after a familiar or hero is defeated?
- Does Shadow Soul's extra damage apply to ability damage triggered by an attack?
Terrain
- Is the black-outlined area on map tile 13A an impassable wall?
- How much does it cost to enter a water space?
- What happens when a figure enters a pit and how does it climb out?
- Does a monster in a pit block line of sight, and what can a figure in a pit attack?
- Does a large monster fall into a pit it passes over?
- How does lava work for monsters, pushed heroes and placed figures?
- Can throw or place effects move a figure through a portcullis?
- Can you attack through a closed door, or open one and move through it in the same turn?
- How does a hero scramble over a boulder?
- Can a large monster end by expanding onto obstacles or occupied spaces?
- If several trap tokens trigger at once, do they all resolve?
Quests
- Can Belthir take a move action and also use Cry Havoc in The Wyrm Turns, Encounter 1?
- Can Belthir use Cry Havoc and then attack in the same activation in The Wyrm Turns?
- Does carrying the Duskblade in The Desecrated Tomb give the carrier the Relic's abilities?
- What happens to knocked-out heroes and fatigue between encounters?
- When does an encounter end, and who wins a two-encounter quest?
- Does the overlord draw new cards or does turn order reset when encounter 2 starts?
- Where do reinforcements go if the entrance is blocked?
- How do objective tokens work?
- What does it mean for a quest figure to be treated as a hero?
- Can villagers leave the map?
- Are relics dropped when a hero is knocked out?
- Does a familiar count as a hero for Dawnblade win condition?
- Does a Fat Goblin crop stay with a hero who is knocked out then stands?
- Do large monsters fall into pits in The Rat-Thing King?
- What carries over between encounters of one quest?
Campaign
- Can a hero keep an item found by a Search card after the quest?
- When is the search deck reshuffled, and can the Treasure Chest return within one quest?
- What happens to Search cards and gold after a quest?
- Which shop cards can be bought right after the Interlude?
- Who chooses the next quest in a campaign?
- When does the Interlude happen and who picks it?
- How is the Act II quest chosen if the Act I quest wasn't played?
- Is quest-reward gold per hero or shared?
- Does the overlord keep his hand between encounters and between quests?
- How is experience earned and spent?
- Can heroes join or leave mid-campaign?
- When can heroes shop?
- Can you play every Act I and Act II quest in one campaign?
Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) – Shadow of NerekhallExpansion
- What happens if a skill places a new Shadow Soul while one is already on the map?
- How far can a Shadow Soul move, and can it be attacked?
- Does the Shadow Soul's extra heart apply to the attack that summons it?
- Does Otherworldly Journey still add +1 damage if the hero has no fatigue to recover?
- Can the overlord reinforce a group already at its limit?
- Is the Changeling Master's Hideous Laughter stat penalty permanent?
Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) – Road to LegendExpansion
- In Road to Legend, who decides which hero a monster attacks when two are valid targets?
- Does Road to Legend's half-damage rule for extra targets apply to monster blast or flail?
- Can Conversion Kit characters or lieutenant agents be used in Road to Legend?
- How do Search cards work in Road to Legend?
- In Road to Legend, can a hero pass through another hero?
- Does a Road to Legend monster skip an action it cannot perform?
- Can a hero use his Heroic Feat more than once in a Road to Legend quest?
- Is there an overlord in Road to Legend, and can Forgotten Souls be added?
- Why can't I visit the city after a defeat in Road to Legend?
Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) – Lair of the WyrmExpansion
- Can Unknown Treasures be played during the shopping before Act II, after the Interlude?
- How many Rumor quests should be played in a campaign?
- Can a hero buy and equip items that are not from his own class?
- Can a Geomancer's Terracall stone take two move actions?
- Can a Summoned Stone be attacked, and does hazard hurt it?
Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) – Labyrinth of RuinExpansion
- Does Raythen's green objective token, treated as a search token, go to the closest hero?
- Does Cursed prevent an ally from using ally actions and skills?
- What happens when an ally is defeated, and do elixirs work on allies?
- Does a quest-reward relic work during that quest?
- How do hex tokens and Internal Rot stack?
- Is using an Elixir token an action?