At the time of RotR, which introduced the 4 original "cloud" spells (Toxic Cloud, Incendiary CLoud, Blizzard, Corrosive STorm), my understanding was that:
A) You could circumvent monsters' "Immune to Attack trait", if you displayed the Cloud on a previous encounter
B) You could benefit from the extra Cloud dice, even if you played a spell for your combat check
Then, with S&S we got the following FAQ:
"Activating a power on a displayed card also counts as playing it."
So now, it would seem each time I want to add the "Cloud" dice to my check - I'm actually playing the Cloud spell itsef. The obvious repercussions are that:
- I can't add Cloud dice against "Immune to Attack" monster
- I can't add Cloud dice when playing spell on my check (as I'd violate the "1 card per type per check" rule)
Obviously, this fundamentally changes how the Clouds work (or I've been reading them wrong all along?!?), as well as their value for particular characters and builds (clouds become near-useless a casters)
Am I missing something? Is that how the CLouds work now, or they always (were supposed to) worked like that? Was this change intended when the FAQ was created, or is just an unfortunate consequence?
Yep, you're missing something.
I haven't the Hawk-foo to find the thread where this was discussed before, but :
Choosing to activate a power on a displayed card also counts as playing it.
Looking at an original RotR cloud:
Display this card when a character encounters a bane. Any character who encounters a monster this turn adds 1d6 with the Poison trait to her combat checks. Discard this card at the end of this turn.
I checked RotR Incendiary cloud, and it is similar (adding Fire).
Note it is choosing to activate the displayed card which plays it. You don't choose to activate these clouds -- they automatically apply. So, you aren't playing these cards when you add the dice from them. (This ruling is from Vic.)
So they do add dice against monsters immune to Attack, and they don't count towards your 1 spell on a check.
However, if the monster is immune to Poison (for example), Toxic Cloud won't add a d6, because:
If the card you’re encountering states that it is immune to a particular trait, during the encounter, characters may not play cards that have the specified trait or use powers that would add that trait to the check.
In this situation, adding d6+Poison, although mandatory, becomes an impossible direction, so you just ignore it.
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Links for reference (aiyah?):
Also, note that immunity rule forbids both playing cards and using powers. While you wouldn't be playing the previously played Toxic Cloud (because you aren't choosing to activate it) you are still using it in subsequent encounters, even if involuntarily. But the immunity forbids that use, so you simply don't use it. At least that is how I think about it.
OK< thanks, guys.
I was solely going off the FAQ, which doesn't specify you need to 'choose' to activate.
Although, from what I'm inferring from Hawk's links - "activating" always infers a choice, and since there's no choice in applying the Clouds - you're never activating them past the original casting - which answers perfectly my original question.