>I believe that's a hold-over from the first edition of the game (Hero
>Wars):
> it was called an asset, or advantage, or edge, or something similar. That
> particular mechanic got shaved off for HeroQuest and HQv2, as far as I
> know.
> You can probably ignore it, and make a mental note that whoever carries
> The
> Big Spear gets to list it under their abilities as an equipment ability
> and
> can augment with it under appropriate situations (where they might not be
> able to augment with a mundane weapon because it'd be considered part of
> their standard "Use A Spear" ability).
>
> Rules experts can please feel free to correct or clarify -- this is only
> my
> dim understanding of the matter.
For the most part, ignore the old edges totally, unless the item is obviously magical and you think it deserves a boost of some kind, or you want to "give the item as an ability" to the NPC to give them a boost in a particular situation.
The mechanic was called an "Edge", and was assigned to (usually) equipment, including mundane stuff. A +5 was the largest "mundane" edge - the sort of thing assigned to full plate armor or two-handed swords.
Edges were compared (In combat, you compared weapon edges to armor edges - so a fellow with a huge sword was at an advantage over a guy with no armor), and yielded a + or - to the AP results (AP: Action (HW) or Advantage (HQ) points, also removed from HQ2). There is also the "Handicap", which was a "negative Edge", and marked ^-x.
Edges mutated in HQ1, so that equipment gave a constant bonus to the ability rating (no longer affected AP), though there was a mention of the old Edge mechanics in the "Narrating" chapter. The reason was to allow equipment to affect Simple contests (which didn't involve AP) as well as Extended.
RR
He was born with the gift of laughter and the sense that the world was mad
R. Sabatini, Scaramouche
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