Sphinxes and Alahazra

[PlatypusNinja]

In Mummy's Mask, occasionally we run into sphinxes.
The thing that sphinxes do is: "recharge your hand, then reset your hand, then discard a card."
We noticed this is frequently a benefit rather than a drawback.

Here's an example from last session: Alahazra was scrying a location deck and she found a sphinx.
The sphinx had a trigger effect that made Alahazra recharge her hand, reset it, then discard a card.
She drew two blessings, so she used one of them to scry a different location deck, and she used another to scry the sphinx again.
Next time around she drew three blessings, so she scried two more location decks and the same sphinx again.
She drew a cure spell and a blessing, so she healed her discarded cards back into her deck, then scried the sphinx again, etc.
She only allowed the loop to end after she had examined the top cards of all the location decks.

Obviously there are drawbacks to this -- for example one risks hitting a bad trigger effect.
But, with a nearly-full hand available, Alahazra should be able to deal with most triggers.

In AP4 I notice there's a card called "curse of the sphinx", and I'm thinking: wow, Alahazra would love that!

Am I understanding the rules correctly?

[Longshot11]

PlatypusNinja wrote:

Am I understanding the rules correctly?

Seems like you are.

You got into a good loop, and can 'exploit' it if you want, but it's not without drawback:

- You discard a card for each reset;
- you may load up on Cures to compensate for the above, but that means you lack the spells to help the party with other challenges
- you relinquish control over what's in your hand - this can be mitigated a bit because you chose the order in which to recharge, and especially when your deck is low and you're cycling the same cards over and over - but you're still not guaranteed to have a good combat spell if you strike a bad "examine" monster
- if you want to support this for more than 1 turn - that means letting that Sphinx 'hibernate' on top of its location - which just might be the location another character wants to explore
- you can't use it when you're down to your hand-size number of cards, or the hand reset will kill you; and that's not taking into account any unexpected damage from bad examines!...

So, yeah, when it happens at just the right time - this can be powerful combo, but it's in no way overpowered, and can just as easily turn to be a double-edged sword that turns against you.

[Hawkmoon269]

Also, don't most of the Sphinxes seem to do something else as well. For example:

Collapsing Sphinx doesn't say to discard a card. It deals you 1d4 Mental damage that may not be reduced.

Fiendish Sphinx makes you summon and encounter a Warrior Doll.

The henchman Akitar seems closest to what you gave, dealing you 1 Mental damage that may not be reduced. But, as a deck 3 henchman, it won't be in a lot of scenarios.

It seems in all the other cases I can find, you are potentially being dealt more damage than 1 card. Which makes it risky.

There may be another card that I'm missing though in my quick scan.

The Curse of the Sphinx is actually the test you gave. But she'll only activate that with guarantee once. You activate it when you would explore, and only do the recharge, reset, discard if the card was a boon. Which means, if you fail to acquire it, it is banished and you don't know a boon is on top any more.

[Frencois]

Indeed you all are right. Sphynxes enable you to play a lot, but usually each time you lose something. And perhaps more through other triggers if you use that to scry. So you better manage your resources and risks wisely.
We see it as the outcome of the riddle/puzzle that any serious RPG sphynx will throw at you. It's usually a benefit with a drawback.