Twelve Official Heroes
The HeroQuest Game System box comes with four heroes: the Barbarian, Dwarf, Elf and Wizard. Since 2021 Avalon Hill has added eight more through hero collections and quest packs: the Knight, Rogue, Monk, Warlock, Bard, Druid, Berserker and Explorer. Each has its own page in this guide; this page is the overview.
Where Each Hero Comes From
The Story Behind the Heroes
The 2021 rulebook opens with Mentor, the guardian of the Loretome, telling of an earlier band of heroes. Their leader was Rogar, a barbarian prince who bore the Star of the West. With him were Durgin the dwarf, Ladril, an elven fighter-mage from Elethorn, and Telor, a wizard. The four core heroes match that company: a barbarian, a dwarf, an elf and a wizard.
The enemy is Zargon, once Mentor's apprentice, who pledged himself to the powers of Dread. In the core quests the new heroes prove themselves in Quest 1, "The Trial", then serve the King: they rescue Sir Ragnar, one of the King's knights, collect rewards from Prince Magnus, and face Ulag the Orc Warlord and later his son Grak. Heroes who complete all fourteen quests become Sovereign Knights.
For more on Mentor, Rogar and the people who send the heroes on quests, see the lore page Mentors & Questgivers.
The Core Four
These four come in the HeroQuest Game System box and in the 2025 starter set HeroQuest: First Light, which has the same rules. Their starting stats are the same as in the original game.
| Hero | Attack | Defend | Body | Mind | Starts with | Stands out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barbarian | 3 | 2 | 8 | 2 | Broadsword | Best fighter, most Body Points |
| Dwarf | 2 | 2 | 7 | 3 | Shortsword (Handaxe in First Light) | Disarms traps without a tool kit |
| Elf | 2 | 2 | 6 | 4 | Shortsword | Fights and casts one school of 3 spells |
| Wizard | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | Dagger | 9 spells from three schools; no normal armor |
All heroes move with two red dice. Attack and Defend are numbers of combat dice; Body Points are health and Mind Points are wisdom and resistance to magic.
The Quest-Pack Heroes
Each of these heroes arrived with a specific product. Their rules come on their own hero cards, so the details below stick to what each product is confirmed to add; the hero pages go further.
The Knight
From: Commander of the Guardian Knights, a hero collection first sold as a limited preorder in late 2021 and shipped in 2022. It sold out in about a day and the original figure can't be produced again. Knight figures are also included in the quest pack Rise of the Dread Moon (2023).
The Rogue
From: The Rogue Heir of Elethorn, a hero collection shipped in December 2022 with two figures. The Rogue is an elf, from the same Elethorn that Ladril came from in the backstory.
The Monk
From: The Path of the Wandering Monk, a hero collection from 2023 that reached wider retail in early 2024, with two figures. The Monk is human and fights unarmed, drawing on elemental power.
The Warlock
From: the quest pack The Prophecy of Telor (13 quests), one of the packs unlocked during the 2020 HasLab crowdfunding campaign. The Warlock's signature ability is Demonform, which adds an attack die and lets them ignore traps. One product list describes the Warlock as a halfling.
The Bard
From: the quest pack Spirit Queen's Torment (14 quests), also a HasLab stretch goal. The Bard is an orc who fights with a rapier that can attack diagonally and sings songs such as Lullaby, Healing Song and Inspiring Tale.
The Druid
From: the quest pack Against the Ogre Horde (2024), with male and female figures. The Druid brings an Animal Ally, a wolf companion.
The Berserker and the Explorer
From: the quest pack Jungles of Delthrak (2024, 16 quests with branching paths), each in male and female versions. The Berserker is human and the Explorer is a dwarf. The pack also includes Raptor and Saberfang companions.
New Figures, Same Heroes
Several products add a new figure for an existing hero rather than a new hero:
- The Frozen Horror (2022): an alternate Barbarian.
- The Mage of the Mirror (2023): an alternate Elf, who starts the pack's quests alone.
- Wizards of Morcar (March 2026): an alternate Wizard with the same stats as the core Wizard.
- HeroQuest: First Light (2025): new figures for all four core heroes.
The 2021 art shows male and female versions of the four core heroes. Which versions come as figures depends on the box you buy.
Not Official Heroes
You'll find a Sorcerer, Necromancer, Paladin, Ranger, Cleric or Thief on fan sites, but none of them is an official HeroQuest hero. The Necromancer appears in Wizards of Morcar as one of Zargon's sorcerers, an enemy. Fan-made heroes can be fun; Custom Heroes & Monsters covers how to build one that fits the game.
Where Next
- The Barbarian: the first of the hero pages.
- The Core Quest Book: the fourteen quests the core heroes play through.
- Magic & Spells: how the Elf and Wizard share the spell schools.