by Dexter345
In the rulebook, we have this passage:Gloomhaven Rule Book, Page 34, Special Scenario Rules wrote:
Destroying obstacles: When an obstacle is specified as having hit points in the scenario book, it can be attacked and will be destroyed and removed from the board when it drops below 1 hit point. Obstacles with hit points can only be destroyed through damage and not through other character abilities. These obstacles are considered enemies for all ability purposes and have an initiative of 99 for the purpose of summon focusing, but they are immune to all negative conditions.
Emphasis mine.
But then the FAQ entry for the Doomstalker is very clear:
Official FAQ wrote:
Note that while bosses are immune to many negative conditions, they are not immune to dooms. Obstacles with hit points, however, cannot be doomed.
And I guess my question is: why do you think the exception was made in this case?
I can understand why obstacles with hit points cannot be destroyed except through damage (because the Cragheart would make some scenarios trivially easy otherwise). But I don't see why, from a mechanical standpoint, we shouldn't be allowed to Doom an obstacle with hit points. Anybody have insight?
I suppose we can go through all of the Dooms and see what effect they would have:
Rain of Arrows: +2 Attack for all Doomstalker attacks on this target. I don't think this is a problem. (In fact, this one almost seems necessary for him to output the necessary damage in "destroy the obstacle" scenarios.)
Crippling Noose: -1 Attack, Move, and Range on the obstacle. This would have no effect in almost all cases.
Felling Swoop: Doomstalker teleports to the location where a Doomed thing dies. Maybe a problem for two- or three-hex obstacles? But then I'd say he just gets to choose which hex.
Vital Charge: Heal 4 Self when the obstacle is destroyed. I don't see a problem here.
Race to the Grave: 2 damage at the start of the obstacle's turns. Perhaps this is a problem because obstacles don't have turns, but then the problem would just be that it's useless, not that it makes things trivial.
Multi-Pronged Assault: Allies add +1 damage to the Doomed obstacle. I don't think this is a problem.
Detonation: When the Doomed obstacle is destroyed, enemies adjacent to it suffer 3 damage. This doesn't make destroying the obstacle any more difficult, it just makes the destruction more satisfying when it happens.
Frightening Curse: When the Doomed obstacle is destroyed, force enemies adjacent to it to Move 1. Same as above; this won't make it trivial to destroy.
Sap Life: Each time it suffers damage, Heal 2, Self. Maybe this can be exploited, since obstacles with HP often have high HP and take many hits, so the Doomstalker is recovering a lot of HP, but the same could be said for Bosses, which can be Doomed.
The Hunt Begins: Summoned allies add +2 Attack to the Doomed obstacle. This is the one that might be closest to being exploitative, but only in certain parties. If you and your teammates have 3+ summons active, then maybe this makes it too easy to destroy the obstacle.
Expose: You and all allies gain Pierce 2 on the obstacle. Probably doesn't come up often?
Darkened Skies: When the Doomed obstacle is destroyed, Attack 2 Range 3 Target 3. This doesn't make it any easier to destroy the obstacle.
Singular Focus: You and all allies gain Advantage on the obstacle. This can be worth a good chunk of damage and would make it easier to destroy the obstacle, but still not trivially easy.
Inescapable Fate: This already has text on it preventing its use on obstacles. No effect here.
Nature's Hunger: You and all allies Heal 2 when this obstacle is destroyed. No effect on taking it out more quickly.
Crashing Wave: You and all allies add Curse to attacks targeting the obstacle. As long as we agree the obstacle doesn't use the monster attack modifier deck, this has no effect. If it would put Curses into the monster attack modifier deck, then I could see it being exploitative.
Rising Momentum: Transfer Doom to a nearby enemy when the obstacle is destroyed. No problem here.
Predator and Prey: You and all allies add +X Attack, where X is the difference between the range of the attack and the number of hexes the attacker is from the target. This can be worth a ton of extra damage, depending on the party makeup. It's also a Level 9 card, so it ought to be situationally powerful. And since it works on bosses, I don't see it as a problem.
Then of course, there are the non-Doom actions that are affected by Dooms, like Swift Trickery (top) and Relentless Offensive (bottom). These both add damage.
Still, taking in all of the above, it seems like the best a Doom can offer against obstacles with HP is bonus damage. Without that bonus damage, the Doomstalker is doing Attack 2-4 on it on the regular, which is piddly for one of the higher single-target damage classes out there. He needs his Dooms to be effective, so disallowing them on obstacles seems like a pretty severe nerf, and I don't see why it's necessary.
I keep coming back to the fact that you can Doom a Boss (with the exceptions of Inescapable Fate and usually Crashing Wave). Since you're allowed these effects on a high-HP thing that you have to kill to win in that case, I don't see why you shouldn't be allowed those same effects on an inanimate object.
What do you all think? Am I missing something? Is it all just thematics? (What does it thematically mean to Doom something anyway?)