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Subject: Gloomhaven Lesson 3: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger 
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Ah haha! I see that glint in your eye! That's the glint of someone who has just emerged from some dank dungeon victorious, possibly with a few bandit scalps in tow.
I'm glad my lessons have been useful to you. Without them, some Vermling would likely be making a necklace out of your finger bones right about now.
But now you've come back to me, a little wiser, a little richer and a little more curious about what it all means.
Well, come on then! Let's talk about progressing in your life as an adventurer.
EXPERIENCE
So first off let's talk about your combat experience. As you perform your abilities in combat, there's no arguing that you'll get better at them over time and even train yourself to use new, more powerful abilities.
We call this experience. Sometimes you'll get it by just performing a specific ability.
That shield symbol means you earn a point of experience every time you perform this ability.
Other times, experience may only come under certain conditions outlined by the ability you're using, say when a Scoundrel gangs up on an enemy with her ally.
Or a Spellweaver consumes an element with her attack.
(Much like the attack bonuses we talked about last week.)
In addition, some abilities will activate persistent effects that will give you experience when the effects occur.
For instance, this Brute ability gives him experience every 2nd time he takes damage from an attack.
Lastly, if you can complete the objective of a scenario, you'll earn some extra experience for that, too. Nothing more satisfying than a job well done.
So what good is this experience, you ask? Well, when you have enough of it, you'll increase in power by "leveling up." I know, it's a strange idiom, but it's the convention.
Leveling up is going to get you three main things. First, you'll become a little more healthy and be able to take a little extra damage before getting exhausted in combat. Your maximum hit points at each level is indicated on your player mat.
Second, as I said before, you'll get access to new ability cards. At level 2, you'll have 2 new options to pick from, as indicated by the level symbol under the card titles.
You'll pick one of these and add it to your available cards.
When you get to level 3, you'll be able to add one of the new level 3 cards, or the level 2 card you didn't pick last time.
You should always remember, though, that the number of cards you can take into battle is fixed. So if you want to bring your shiny new card with you, you've gotta leave behind one of your old cards.
Lastly, every time you level up, you will get a chance to improve your attack modifier deck, thereby increasing your effectiveness with any attack you perform.
Each character class has their own unique list of perks, which are detailed on their character sheet.
Every time you level up, you gain one perk and adjust your attack modifier deck accordingly.
GOLD
But, listen, there are other rewards in battle besides experience. That's right, of course I'm talking about gold! Surely you brought some of that back, too, right?
Half the fun is seeing how much gold you can stuff in your pack along the way. Any monster you kill is going to drop a money token and it's your job to make sure that goes to good use instead of just rotting away on the dungeon floor.
There are two ways to pick up money. First is just to end your turn in the same space as the loot. Then you can pick it up nice and quick - no problem.
The second way is to perform a "Loot" ability, which allows you to pick up all the money within some number of spaces of you.
"Loot 1" means you pick up everything within one space, "Loot 2" everything with in two spaces, and so on.
So now you've got the money, what are you going to do with it? Buy items, of course. "A warrior is only as good as his weapon," or however that saying goes.
Look around you! Commerce as far as the eye can see! This is a trade town after all. I'm sure you'll find all manner of merchants willing to take your money in exchange for some useful items:
Potions that can heal your wounds,
Armor to help you avoid damage,
And weapons that can add effects to your attacks.
Be careful, though, because there are some restrictions. First of all, the more powerful the item, the less you'll be able to use it in battle. Some items you can only use once each scenario.
Others you can only use once per rest you take.
And then others you can use whenever the condition applies with no restrictions.
Keep in mind that these limitations only apply to an individual scenario and you'll get everything back at the end. Even potions that you drink will automatically refill so that you can use them again in the next dungeon.
The other limitation is what you can physically put on your body. You can only wear one head item, one body item, one feet item, two hands' worth of items and a number of small items equal to half your level rounded up. The symbol at the bottom of the item card tells you what type it is.
BATTLE GOALS
All right, I know it's been a long lesson, but there's just one more thing I wanted to mention. Every time you head into a dungeon, you should check out that bounty board beforehand and decide on a battle goal.
Battle goals will prove your power and versatility in combat, which is always a good thing.
Every time you complete a scenario and also satisfy your battle goal, you'll earn the specified number of check marks.
For every 3 check marks you earn, you've displayed enough prowess to gain an additional perk. That's another enhancement to your attack modifier deck, in case you were sleeping earlier.
So there you go! The road before you is now open to go explore the world and gain great power and wealth. Don't worry, I'll still be here if you have any questions.
Plus we aren't done with the lessons yet. Interacting with the beasts in a dungeon is one thing, but interacting with the town is another beast all together.
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Hi Isaac,
Looking at the cards you've used in your example; I was baffled by the descriptive in the Leather Armour card:
"When attacked, the attacker has a disadvantage against you"
Grateful if you could expand on that.
Thanks.
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Certain attacks may be performed under advantage or disadvantage. With advantage, the attacker will flip over 2 attack modifier cards and use the better one. With disadvantage, they play 2 cards and take the worse one.
So when you are attacked by an enemy, before an attack modifier is flipped, you can choose to use the leather armor to force the enemy to flip over 2 cards and take the worse modifier.
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- Isaac, I am really excited about this game! I just backed it today. Question about attack modifier decks...it would seem that each player character has his/her own so they can be upgraded/improved. And now, after reading these comments, it would seem that the enemies have their own attack modifier deck to use when they attack. Or, do the enemies use the target player's deck (effectively scaling difficulty)?
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RHPDaddy wrote:Isaac, I am really excited about this game! I just backed it today. Question about attack modifier decks...it would seem that each player character has his/her own so they can be upgraded/improved. And now, after reading these comments, it would seem that the enemies have their own attack modifier deck to use when they attack. Or, do the enemies use the target player's deck (effectively scaling difficulty)?
They use their own deck.
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So excited. Missed the Kickstarter but I did get in on the pre-orders. Thanks for doing that!
Question on earning perks: Do you get to choose the one you want, or do you have to gain them in the order on the character sheet?
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- You can pick whichever perk you want of the 15 available.
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