Unlike many/most games, the average Cursed City hostile does not make any type of defense roll.
Some hostiles in Cursed City are especially nasty. They can reduce or ignore damage dealt by heroes. Here’s the explanation on page 27 of the Rulebook.
Here’s the rundown of Reduce/Ignore from the base game
Sometimes there may be additional rules in the Questbook for how to handle damage, or what to do when a hostile is defeated.
| Hostile | Unempowered | Empowered |
| Radukar the Wolf | Reduce by 1, min of 0 damage taken | Reduce by 2, min of 0 damage taken |
| Vyrkos Blood-born | Ignore on 9+ | Ignore on 9+ |
| Kosargi Nightguard | Reduce by 2 on 10+, min 1 dam. | Reduce by 2 on 9+, min 1 dam. |
| Vargskyr | Reduce by 2 on 10+, min 1 dam. | Reduce by 2 on 9+, min 1 dam. |
| Bat Swarms | Reduce by 2 on 10+, min 1 dam. | Reduce by 2 on 10+, min 1 dam. |
The crafty Vykos Blood-born are the only hostiles in the base game that can Ignore damage completely if they roll a 9+ on the Quest die (which seems to happen all the time!).
Radukar is the only hostile that can potentially Reduce all damage, to effectively Ignore damage taken. The rest of the hostiles with an Ignore property will at least suffer one point of damage due to a successful attack.
The Bat Swarms have no difference between being Empowered and not. Same with the Vykos. All other hostiles have slightly different attributes depending on the nightfall tracker.
Remember, some empowerments can counteract Reduce or Ignore damage. Don’t forget that when you’re attacking!! For example: Qulathis’s oaken arrows.
I hope this helps make more sense of the nastiness waiting for you in Cursed City!
