Massive Darkness 2: Heroes & Monster Set – Monks & Necromancers vs The Paragon
Massive Darkness 2: Heroes & Monster Set – Monks & Necromancers vs The Paragon Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Necromancers
Many energies flow through the natural world, but only a few intrepid mortals venture to manipulate the dual-natured energies of life and death itself. Necromancers harvest energy from the moment of death when the target's life-giving force (or "soul") transitions to the entropic energy of death. Thus do these arcane practictioners empower their own abilities or even use the untold energy to raise minions bound to their service.
Necromancer Setup
- Choose a level 1 skill and place it with the Soul Track near the Necromancer's Hero dashboard. Place the Soul Track token on the 0 slot and all 4 Bind tokens next to the Soul Track.
- Remove the Skeletons Mob card from the Mob deck (Levels 1-2) and place it, along with the Skeleton Mob miniatures, close to the Hero dashboard. The Necromancer's skills allow their player to use these components, such as the Leader Rebirth and Raise Skeletons skills.
Example: Ygraine has just killed a Mob Leader and gains 3 Souls (1 for killing an Enemy miniature plus 2 because a Leader was killed). Going to her Soul Track, Ygraine's player moves the Soul Track token from 1 to 4, unlocking the first threshold!
Necromancer Gameplay
Soul Track: The Necromancer requires Souls to keep themselves strong and use their abilities. The Necromancer gains Souls:
- Whenever the Necromancer kills an Enemy miniature: +1 Soul
- Whenever a Leader is killed (even if not by the Necromancer): +2 Souls
- Whenever a Roaming Monster is killed (even if not by the Necromancer): +4 Souls
- Other abilities and effects may also allow the Necromancer to gain Souls
Whenever the Necromancer gains a Soul, move the Soul Track token 1 space to the right for each Soul gained.
Whenever the Necromancer spends Souls through abilities or other effects, move the Soul Track token 1 space to the left for each Soul spent.
There are thresholds on the 4th, 8th, and 14th spaces of the Soul Track. If the Soul Track token is on those spaces or any space to their right, the Necromancer gains the respective benefits listed on the Soul Track.
Example: Ygraine can now spend 1 [icon not legible in the PDF text layer; the blue disc symbol on the Soul Track callout] to gain +1 [Combat] during an attack. Ygraine is able to use this ability as long as she has at least 4 Souls.
Skeleton Minions: If the Necromancer has a Raise Skeletons skill, they may spend Souls to summon Skeleton Minions in their Zone. These Minions are not considered Heroes, may not perform actions, and do not suffer Reaction Damage. Whenever the Necromancer moves, the Skeleton Minions also move so they are always in the Necromancer's Zone.
Example: In a previous round, Ygraine spent 4 Souls to summon 2 Skeleton Minions. As long as she has these minions, before Ygraine's attacks, she rolls 2 [die icon] and deals 1 Wound to the target for each [icon not legible in the PDF text layer] of them.
Leaders: If the Necromancer has a Leader Rebirth skill, they may, as an action, spend Souls to revive a killed Leader (a Leader whose card is in the discard pile). The Skeleton Leader is considered killed for this purpose. If the Necromancer revives any Leader, place a small Bind token under its base and the corresponding Mob card close to the Necromancer's Hero dashboard. The Leader gains 1 of the Necromancer's weapons (either from the ones equipped or in their Inventory), which may be traded in a later Trade action.
Revived Leaders count as Heroes for the purpose of targeting miniatures (but not for the number of Minions in Mobs, Roaming Monsters' Health, etc.), but do not have their Special Abilities. The Leader's Health and Defense are as shown on their Mob card.
During the Necromancer's turn, they may activate each revived Leader once for free (the first activation does not cost an action) and may spend actions to activate them again.
When activated, the Leaders can perform 1 Attack or 1 Move action. When performing a Move action, each Leader has 2 MP just like any other Hero.
Leaders can't Interact, Open Doors, Recover, or carry any items beyond their given weapon. They also do not roll the Shadow die when attacking in Shadow. Leaders may use equipped weapon abilities, if possible.
Whenever a Revived Leader kills an Enemy, the Necromancer gains the experience and Souls. Whenever a Revived Leader is killed (except for the Skeleton Leader), return its Mob card to the discard pile.
If at any time a higher-level Mob card of a Skeletons Mob or any Revived Leader is drawn, replace the current Mob card close to the Necromancer's dashboard for the new one. Then, draw a new card for that event.
The number of Leaders that the Necromancer can control is limited to the value shown on the current Leader Rebirth skill, which starts with 1 and can grow up to 3. If the Necromancer already has as many Leaders as the limit allows, they cannot revive another Leader until the one(s) they control is killed.
Roaming Monsters: If the Necromancer has a Monster Reborn skill, they may, as an action, spend Souls to revive a killed Roaming Monster (a Roaming Monster whose card is in the discard pile). If the Necromancer revives a Roaming Monster, place the large Bind token under its base and place the Roaming Monster Card close to the Necromancer's Hero dashboard.
If at any moment a higher-level card of a Revived Roaming Monster is drawn, replace the current card close to the Necromancer's dashboard with the new one. Then, draw a new card for that event.
Necromancers can always at most control 1 Revived Roaming Monster (regardless of the level of the Monster Reborn skill). If the Necromancer already controls a Revived Roaming Monster, they cannot revive another Roaming Monster until the one they control is killed.
Revived Roaming Monsters count as Heroes for the purpose of targeting miniatures (but not for the number of Minions in Mobs, Roaming Monsters' Health, etc.), but Roaming Monsters do not have their Activation Pattern nor their Special Abilities. A Roaming Monster's attack and defense are as shown on their card. Revived Roaming Monsters have Health equivalent to their 1-Hero Value (even if playing with Single Player rules).
During the Necromancer's turn, they may activate the revived Roaming Monster once for free (the first activation does not cost an action) and may spend actions to activate it again. When activated, the Roaming Monster can perform 1 Attack or 1 Move action. When performing a Move action, the Roaming Monster has 2 MP just like any other Hero.
Revived Roaming Monsters can't Interact, Open Doors, Recover, or carry any items. They also do not roll the Shadow die when attacking in Shadow.
Whenever a Revived Roaming Monster kills an Enemy, the Necromancer gains the experience and Souls. Whenever a Revived Roaming Monster is killed, return its card to the discard pile.
Example: Earlier in the round, another Hero managed to kill the Roaming Monster Andra, giving Ygraine 4 Souls and a great target for her Monster Reborn skill. Spending a hefty 6 Souls, Ygraine revives the mighty beast as her new Revived Roaming Monster. Taking Andra's miniature, Ygraine's player places a Bind token under its base then takes Andra's Roaming Monster card and places it next to their Hero dashboard for reference.
Monks
Monks call upon their own powerful life force (or "chi") to focus into the Spirit Chakras, thereby granting themselves superhuman abilities and incredible fighting skills. These Warrior Monks have vowed to protect the living and have joined the Lightbringers to bring a final end to Darkness.
Monk Setup
Take the 4 Starting Chakras into your hand. Choose a Level 1 skill and add the indicated Chakra to your hand. Keep the other Chakra cards close to the Hero dashboard. Take the 30 Monk tokens and place them in a pool close to the Hero dashboard.
Monk Gameplay
At the start of the Monk's turn, they must play 1 of their Chakra cards, placing it faceup in front of their dashboard as a reminder. This is the Active Chakra for that round and the effects described on the Chakra may be used by the Monk and, in some cases, may help other Heroes. Some Chakras have effects that take place at the start of the turn when the Chakra is played.
Due to the Monk's skills or abilities, there may be more than 1 Active Chakra.
At the start of each Hero Phase, place all the Monk's Active Chakras faceup to the side on their own discard pile. These are the discarded Chakras.
Chakra Types: Some skills or abilities may reference Chakra types. These are Combat, Agility, and Guidance, and are written before each Chakras' name. The Meditation Chakra has no type.
Monk Tokens: Some skills or abilities state that Heroes can gain Combat, Agility, or Guidance tokens.
When stated, take 1 of the corresponding tokens from the pool close to the Monk's dashboard and place them on top of the affected Hero's card. If there are no tokens in the pool, the Hero doesn't gain any token.
- When attacking, Heroes may spend any amount of Combat tokens by returning them to the pool. For each token spent, add +1 to the roll.
- When defending, Heroes may spend any amount of Agility tokens by returning them to the pool. For each token spent, add +1 to the roll.
- When in combat, Heroes may spend any amount of Guidance tokens by returning them to the pool. For each token spent, they may reroll any 1 die in their Combat Dice pool.
Token-type names above are assigned from the token icon that appears in each rule (sword = Combat, ring = Agility, arrow = Guidance) because the printed icons are not named in the text.
Example: Harin begins the turn with the Meditation, Combat-Aggression and Guidance-Mana Chakras in hand. Deciding to focus on combat this turn, Harin plays the Combat-Aggression Chakra as his Active Chakra this round. Harin immediately gains 3 Combat tokens as he has 2 Chakra cards discarded from previous turns, plus the Active Chakra of this turn.
Adding This Expansion
This Expansion contains 1 additional Roaming Monster and new items. To include them in the game, simply shuffle these cards into their corresponding decks. This expansion features components of levels 6-10 and Legendary Treasure cards that are only used when playing in Campaign Mode (available in the Heavenfall expansion).
Gap in this transcription: the Paragon's Roaming Monster card, which carries its own special abilities, activation pattern and stats, is not part of the PDF and is not transcribed here. The level 6-10 and Legendary Treasure cards are also not in this booklet.