Love Damiel, by far the most fun I've had with a character as of yet, but I had a couple questions:
Potion of Flying states "The character may move; if it's that character's turn, he may explore his location."
So...
1) Can I play this on myself in response to another character encountering a card at my location on their turn? Such as to avoid damage or avoid having to encounter said card if it has a power that states all characters at that location encounter it or all characters at that location take x damage? I'm leaning towards yes because "if a card doesn't say when it can be played, it can be played anytime. But also towards no since it doesn't "directly affect a check".
(I saw this posted in another thread from August but that thread had died with no definitive answer given by the dev team.)
And...
2) Since the 2nd part of the 1st sentence says "if it's that character's turn, he may explore his location", this means even if on my turn I choose not to move, I can still explore again correct? I assume this is true since it says I may move, but doesn't say that I have to move in order to use the explore.
1. No, you can only play cards during an encounter if they relate to that step of the encounter. Potion of Flying does not relate to any step of an encounter. Side effects of a card do not allow it to suddenly count as relating, and avoiding damage as a result of moving is a side effect. Similarly, knowing a blessing is on the top of your deck does not allow you to play something that lets you draw a card so you can then play the blessing. (EDIT: Yes, I know this is a flip from my long line of reasoning/argument in the other thread, but I was mostly arguing that for academic purposes to shore up the wording of the proposed sidebar. My own opinion has and still remains that Potion of Flying should not be playable during an encounter for any reason, mainly for the reason I just stated, e.g. a more strict reading of what "relates to" means.)
2. Yes, they are two separate phrases. Not moving doesn't prevent you from exploring the location you stayed at.