As we were in the midst of battle this weekend we came upon a question we we unsure how to resolve.

The Shadowdragon text says that a HERO adjacent to it need to roll a surge to hit.  Does the necromancer's Reanimate familiar count as a HERO?

Thanks!

RDJ.Papabear

RDJ.Papabear said:

We had this issue come up as well, and determined that while the Reanimate is treated as a "figure" it is not a "hero."

The rationale being, to me, that the Shadow Dragon uses shadows to confuse and disorient those adjacent to it, requiring the surge to hit.  The undead critter cannot be so disoriented, so it does not apply.

Yep.  On the Reanimate card, it says that it's treated as a hero for (IIRC) all purposes.

radiskull said:

I'll have to take a look at that when I get home.

 No need, here is the reanimate card:

It's treated as a figure and not a hero. Considering that it's reanimated dead, I'm gonna go out on a ledge here and say its like other "undead" things and not fear death/shadows and other such "things" so there for it probably won't need to spend a surge as well. Now if I had an image of the Shadow Dragon card we could make a real decision here.

Rules p. 18, Familiars Treated as Figures:

"Some familiars, such as the Reanimate, are treated as figures (as indicated by its Familiar card). …. They may be targeted and affected by monster attacks, hero abilities, and Overlord cards that target a hero."

Notice this list include monster attacks, and also includes hero abilities, but does not include monster abiliites, so by a strict reading the reanimate is not affected by dragons' Shadow, barghests' Howl, and the like.

 Thanks for the clarification!  We came to the same conclusion but my youngest son(the overlord) felt differently.  I told him I would check the forum and see what others thought. 

Thanks for the help!  This is an awesome game.

Papabear

I have to go with it having to role the surge based on the last line in the rules stating the OL can play cards against it as a hero.  But, some official clarification would be nice. In fact, FFG should revise the familiar rules all around soon, as there are many other questions floating about the forums regarding how the reanimate is to be played.

 I too would read that as the familiar needing to roll a surge to be able to hit the shadow dragon

In general the emphasis is that reanimate and villagers/militia should be treated as heros in all applicable tests e.g. Castle daerion states that villagers pass 

All tests they are required to make and militiamen fail all tests so should be the same for the shadow dragon question too and need to get a surge

Besides the overlord needs all the help he/she can get 

A similar question we had was can the Reanimate pick up the food and store it in the Fat Goblin quest?  Same thing, does it count as a hero or just a figure.  We ruled that it couldn't, but I could see it go either way.

You are coming up with the same questions we have been stumbling with.  I would agree with the Reanimate not being able to pick up food. Again not a Hero.  But the not having to roll a surge to hit the Shadow Dragon seems to make it more powerful than the actual Heroes.

I also shot the question to FF Support to see what they would say.  I have not heard back yet but I will post their reply when they do.

SpankeyCheeser said:

Regardless of whether the reanimate counts as a hero or not, picking up or storing a crop requires an action, and the reanimate has no "open" actions that it can choose how to use - it just gets a move action and an attack action.

For the same reason, the reanimate cannot open or close doors, nor can it revive a knocked-out hero.

Antistone said:

We struggled with whether a Reanimate could pick up the food or not as well.  I am not sure in the rules where it states that a reanimate only gets a move and attack action, but I may have missed it.  It would make sense, though.

Paco62 said:

The rules in the Familiars section says that familiars on the board can only take one move action on their turn, plus whatever other actions its card allows.  The Reanimate says it is allowed an attack per turn.

exy said:

Missed that part when we were talking through it last night.  Thanks for the clarification. 

Paco62 said:

No problem. We were allowing the Reanimate multiple moves and attacks for a few rounds before I happened to notice that.  (I think we were checking whether he could grab crops..)