What This Pack Is
The Prophecy of Telor is an Avalon Hill quest pack for the 2021 HeroQuest Game System (you need the core box to play it). It began life as a stretch goal unlocked in the 2020 HasLab crowdfunding campaign, went out to backers who chose the Mythic tier, and then reached general retail around 2023–24 alongside its sister pack, Spirit Queen's Torment. It brings a new hero, the Warlock, and a campaign of 13 quests.
Who is Telor? Telor is a person, not a place or a god. In Mentor's backstory in the core Quest Book, Telor is the wizard who travelled with Rogar the barbarian prince, alongside Durgin the dwarf and Ladril the elf. The pack is named for him. There is no "fate" or "destiny" system in this pack: it plays with the ordinary HeroQuest rules plus the additions listed below.
The Story in Brief
The wizard Melar vanished long ago after meddling with dark magic, leaving behind only the Talisman of Lore. Players who have run the core campaign will remember Melar from Quest 5, Melar's Maze. In this pack the heroes go back into Melar's maze to find out what is stirring there and put a stop to it. How Telor and his prophecy fit in is revealed as the quests unfold, so this page leaves it unspoiled.
Reviewers noted the variety of quest goals: some quests have the heroes escaping while being chased, and some use a single room on the board to stand for several floors of a tower. The Lore page explores the background in more depth.
What's in the Box
- The Warlock hero miniature, plus a separate Demonform miniature for the Warlock's transformed shape
- 13 monster miniatures cast in orange: new sculpts of existing monster types, not new monster kinds
- 6 combat dice in a matching fiery orange
- Equipment cards (the Warlock's wand and several potions) and artifact cards (spell scrolls)
- The Warlock's three spell cards and hero card
- A quest book with 13 quests
Both this pack and Spirit Queen's Torment are supported by the free HeroQuest Companion App, so you can also play them with the app as a digital Zargon.
The Warlock
The Warlock is a halfling spellcaster who starts with a wand and three spell cards of their own. Their signature feature is Demonform: the Warlock can take on a demonic shape, represented by swapping in the Demonform miniature. This guide doesn't reprint the hero card's numbers; see the Warlock page for a fuller look at playing the hero.
Demonform at a glance
- Stronger attacks: in Demonform the Warlock rolls one extra Attack die.
- Trap-proof: the Warlock in Demonform ignores traps.
- Fragile: taking any damage returns the Warlock to normal form.
- Self-renewing: reducing a monster to 0 Body Points restores Demonform.
Check the cards in your box for the exact wording, including how and when the Warlock first takes the form.
What one extra die is worth
Exact odds for a single attack against a monster with 2 Defend dice and 1 Body Point (a classic orc; monsters block only on the black shield, 1 face in 6):
| Attack dice | Chance to kill the orc | Average Body Points removed |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 59.0% | 0.76 |
| 3 | 75.0% | 1.22 |
| 4 | 85.1% | 1.69 |
Against a tougher target, such as a classic North American Dread Warrior with 4 Defend dice and 3 Body Points, one attack with 3 dice kills it only 6.0% of the time; with 4 dice that rises to 17.5%. Because a kill renews Demonform, the extra die feeds itself: aim the Warlock at weakened or low-Body monsters to keep the form going.
Playing the Pack Well
- Keep the Warlock out of the front rank when you can. Any damage ends Demonform, so let the Barbarian or Dwarf soak the first blows, then step in to finish wounded monsters.
- Use the trap immunity. A Warlock in Demonform can lead through corridors you suspect are trapped, but remember it protects only the Warlock, not the heroes following.
- Still move then act, or act then move. Demonform doesn't change the turn rules: no splitting your movement around an attack.
- Read each quest's goal first. With escape quests and tower quests in the mix, "kill everything" is not always the win condition.
Try It at the Table
- Play a quest with the Warlock and count how many turns they spend in Demonform. Then replay with a "finisher only" rule (the Warlock attacks only monsters already wounded) and compare.
- As Zargon, decide each turn whether a monster should hit the Warlock just to break Demonform, even when another hero is the easier target.
Where Next
- The Prophecy of Telor: Lore: background, Telor himself and the Talisman of Lore.
- Warlock: the hero in depth.
- Spirit Queen's Torment: the sister pack, with the Bard.
- Dice Roller: try the extra-die odds for yourself.