Nok-Nok's damage prevention


Rules Questions and Gameplay Discussion


I just started playing Nok-Nok in a new Season of the Shackles campaign. His damage prevention ability says:

You may recharge up to two cards you would discard as damage.

Two questions:

As written, this ability includes all types of damage. So Nok-Nok can be a structural damage sponge in SotS?

There are various cards that state, "this damage cannot be reduced". Nok-Nok is simply recharging the cards taken as damage, however - not reducing the amount of damage. So his ability works on non-reducible damage, correct?

Thanks for the help.


As written, yes and yes.


Thanks and thanks. :)


I don't agree that it works on structural damage. The effect of structural damage is to wreck your ship (or lose blessings from the blessings deck if it's wrecked already). You don't discard any cards as damage for structural damage. Technically what you do is discard cards to reduce the structural damage (generally to zero).


I admit I'm a bit confused about the idea that Nok-Nok can prevent Structural Damage.

This forum thread (specifically the post I linked) seems to confirm that Structural Damage can never be prevented by anything that prevents damage "To a player" inherently, according to Mike Selinker. To quote designer Chad Brown just a couple of posts lower...

Chad Brown wrote:

[...]Thus, sometimes we prevent damage dealt by a bane, and other times we prevent damage dealt to a character. The first stops Structural damage, and the second doesn't. This is intentional.

It's not an accident that we put some cards that *can* reduce Structural damage in the set with Ships. It might be an accident if we put cards in RotR that effectively reduce Structural damage, and we'd like to hear about those.[...]

There's a little gray area in Nok-Nok's power with the precise wording dancing around some concrete terms, but it certainly does say "you would discard as damage". That sounds like it's preventing damage dealt to him, or to use Chad's words; it sounds more like "damage dealt to a character" and objectively not "damage dealt by a bane", which were the two options floated in the quote above.

I feel like the intent would be that such powers could not reduce Structural Damage (if only because of how significantly it overshadows actual role powers from S&S which slightly reduce Structural damage), but I feel like there's a grey area in the rules. My guy is telling me that Nok-Nok should not be able to reduce Structural Damage, but I'm happy to be proved wrong.


I agree with Yewstance in here... Nok, Nok seems to be using it against the personal damage.


Agreeing that "discarding as damage" isn't the same as "discarding to prevent/reduce damage". IMHO.


Yewstance wrote:
I admit I'm a bit confused about the idea that Nok-Nok can prevent Structural Damage.

Nok Nok's ability isn't preventing damage in the first place. It's modifying the effect of damage. It says "would discard", and it's preventing/replacing discard. If something cares how much damage you were dealt, Nok Nok's ability doesn't change that value. So the rules you quote about whether structural damage can be reduced/prevented aren't relevant in the first place.

Nok Nok can prevent structural damage the same way as anyone else, by discarding cards. But when he does he isn't discarding them as damage. He's discarding them to prevent damage. So his ability doesn't apply.


Woooowwww. First time everyone is agreeing... against the überwisdomkayser Hawk.
I'm scared.
Either the sky will fall on our heads ...
or Hawk is tired.
I wonder which one would be the worst case scenario.
Get some medecine Hawk. Swallow some pills. Get to bed. Drink coffee. Have a herbal tea. Do something.

I make rules interpretation mistakes all the time but you shouldn't.
We will be lost if you start to be part of the PACG fake news team.

Hope you'll get well soon. :-)

... Just kidding, it's monday morning at the office in August in France (and yes there is at least one french guy who is still at his office on August... and I'm not proud it's me).

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

Yeah, I think Hawkmoon has this one wrong, Nok-Noks power will not work for structural damage.


First, let me say this, I'm wrong a lot. I mean a lot. Just search my name and Lini for an example.

Second, yeah, I forgot that when you are discarding cards as characters you are preventing the structural damage, not taking it. So yeah, "cards you discard as damage" wouldn't apply there.

What's funny is I did double check that thread about Frostbite to verify that I remembered correctly that adjective-less damage applies to structural damage as well as "character" damage. I just forgot at what point you are actually taking damage in S&S.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Hawkmoon269 wrote:
First, let me say this, I'm wrong a lot...

Your humility is as infinite as your wisdom.

We all are wrong from time to time.
But compared to the infinite times that you did help us with accurate and clever statements, that "a lot" just doesn't make any sense. IMHO.
Have a great day Hawk.

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