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I'm using HotW to write an adventure and intended using Arrnulf the Leofring (p 55) as a person that the company can encounter. I noticed that while the text on p 55 describes him as 'sharpening his axe' the stat block on the following page gives him a Spear. The stat block also has him with Enemy-lore but doesn't indicate which enemy he has his knowledge of. Obviously a slight slip there and I'm going to give him Enemy-lore (orcs) and change his spear to a long-hafted axe because of his backstory.

I'm also going to give him three Shadow points and a Hope score of 5 so that should he use some Hope or gain Shadow and then roll an Eye the players can see what happens when someone gets to be Miserable and has a Bout of Madness. Giving Arnulf Curse of Vengeance and pushing his downward spiral to Cruel might give the player-heroes some Shadow and a moral dilemma to deal with.

Spear or axe; either seems to work. I do wonder which was originally intended.

I would think that the flavour text came first and then the stat block was added later. If it was the other way round then presumably the text author would have seen the stat block when writing up the flavour text.

I see an axe as more the weapon of a warrior grieving over his lost family than a spear but YM-EMV.

I've decided that his Shadow and Hope should match so that he's goes off the deep end when rolling an Eye. That should give the heroes something to ponder.

As an aside when did C7 switch to the abbreviated style of stat block used in HotW? They use the same block as the LMB in Tales. Anyone know the reasoning behind the switch?

Hermes Serpent, I'd wondered about Arnulf as well. Good call on catching this & I agree with your tweaks. I've done this with several characters in ToW & THoW, & it fleshes them out nicely.

I'm afraid I don't know when they shifted to the abbreviated stat block, but it appears to begin with Laketown.

Well, clearly "Spear" and "Axe" are both typos for Bohemian Ear-Spoon.

More seriously, both weapons work. One could argue that he uses an axe in the close confines of the tunnels, but he's better with a Spear thanks to his Leofring background.

The switch to the compact stat blocks came in Laketown; they're for NPCs who are less likely to end up in fights with player characters.

Thanks again for a swift response Gar.