ayres411's page

Mummy's Mask Damiel has a power on his toxicologist role:

You may recharge a card that has the Alchemical trait to add 1d4 and the Acid or Poison trait to a
combat check by a character at your location (□ or to ignore a bane’s immunities for that check).

Is this supposed to allow everyone to ignore the immunities for the check, or just Damiel?

Hello. My name is Dave, and I have a problem.

I am addicted to PACG - but my friends don't want to play it with me. After getting me addicted to PACG, now they're big into some game called "GroomShaven" or something, which I'm not into as much.

I just played WotR solo with four characters. It was epic, but before I get into my next solo game, I thought I ought to see if there is anyone in Rochester, NY, who wants to play together.

I own all the base sets and adventure packs, minus the APs for Mummy's Mask. I've played the RotR campaign, WotR campaign, and my S&S campaign hit a snag in Adventure 4 when my partner (one of said friends) got burned out.

The way my group plays these cards, if you aren't required to "do an action" with the displayed card (recharge, discard, etc.), displaying it and immediately using an optional power counts as a single "use" of the card, so can be done in response to a situation.

So, Winds of Vengeance, Fire Shield, Chalice of Ozem, and Sphere of Fire could all be displayed and used immediately. Since the Brutalized Flesh Golem requires a recharge, it could not.

....

Ok, this seems the best rule so far. It aligns (so far) with designer intent per card (including Brutalized Flesh Golem), and makes the argument over Winds of Vengeance less important.

Guys, thank you for your advice.

From RotR through WotR I played all these "Display" cards just like you suggest - it just seemed right (plus I didn't know enough rules to think otherwise). Then I met (errata'd) Brutalized Flesh Golem (which I keep in my Balazar deck b/c I find it fun) and it just seemed obvious to me that it's "at the end of your turn" clause means for it to be displayed ahead of time, only. And since it has the same wording as all those other cards, it made me question those, too.

So I guess I'll treat the BFG (lol) as a rare exception to the more common (and reasonable) interpretation of "Display this card. While displayed, you may..." cards.

The other reason why most of those don’t work (even ignoring the playing it twice thing) is the “affecting the situation” rule. If displaying the card in and of itself does nothing, then it cannot be used during an encounter because it never affects the situation. It requires another action—using the while displayed power—to have an effect.

I like this, too.

Beyond that, I have only one point:

Winds of vengeance: Can be used in response. The only optional power is the movement one. Adding to your check and reducing damage is automatic and always in effect. Therefore playing it directly affects the situation and doesn’t require playing the card twice...

I actually came upon this judgment myself minutes after posting, staring at Winds of Vengeance and trying to make sense of it!

What do you think about what Yewstance said about Sphere of Fire and Caustic Fog?

...I am currently of the opinion that the intent is usually that you can both display and use a power on that card simultaneously as if you played one card. After all, that was the explicit intent of designers behind similarly-worded cards, and it otherwise leads to some cards being very hard to use (like Caustic Fog)...

Would you agree that Brutalized Flesh Golem is meant to be displayed ahead of time, b/c otherwise its last threatening sentence has no teeth?

...A better example is Sphere of Fire, where designers have openly said that you can display it once you get into combat, but that should technically be playing it twice as per the rules about displaying spells.

I couldn't find such a comment by a designer about Sphere of Fire. Do you know where? There's this thread and this thread. In the 2nd thread, this person and the one below claim Sphere of Fire can be played during combat, referencing Vic Wertz's comment on Rage. However, Rage was subsequently errata'd, whereas Sphere of Fire was not.

Back again with another wall of text (I like to be thorough!)

Brutalized Flesh Golem errata reads:

"You may display this card. While displayed, you may recharge this card to reduce damage other than Combat damage dealt to a character at your location to 0, or discard this card to explore your location; if you discard it, during this exploration, banish any boons you encounter and add 1d6 plus your number of mythic charges to your combat checks. While displayed, at the end of your turn, if you have mythic charges, banish this card."

My question: Can I display and recharge it in RESPONSE to damage? If so, I see no reason to display it until needed, rendering the last sentence mostly pointless.

A similar example - Winds of Vengeance:

"Display this card next to your deck. While displayed, you may move at the end of your turn, add 1d8 to your combat checks, and reduce Acid, Cold, Electricity, Fire, and Range combat damage dealt to you by 4."

Can I display and use this in RESPONSE to those situations?

My guess is the answer to both is no. Here is my reasoning: Although the action to display and the action to utilize are part of the same paragraph, they each require their own activation - they don't both happen in one use/play of the card. To do both requires two separate plays.

This is because of "you may" in the follow-up sentences combined with the fact that choosing to use a power on a displayed card counts as playing it.

Breaking it down,
Choosing to display one of these cards is playing the card once. Choosing to do a "While displayed, you may..." power is playing the card again. So, at best, trying to do both in one step would violate the "one card per type per step" rule; at worst, it's trying to play the same card twice at once.

Similar cards in front of me are Fire Shield ("Display this card. While displayed, you may add 1d8 and the Fire or Cold trait to a combat check attempted by a character at your location.") and Chalice of Ozem ("Display this card next to a character at your location. While displayed, that character may add 1d6 to her checks.")

This is in contrast to a card you choose to display but whose further effects are automatic. For example, Weapon of Awe...

"Display this card next to any character. While displayed, when that character plays a weapon on a combat check, add 3 to the check..."

... can be played in response to a character playing a weapon, b/c it takes only one play of the card.

Am I on the right track here?

We played it like Frencois. To expand on his statement and your process. Burning the Mythic charges happens after your value is set, after you assemble your dice.

Thank you for your input. Are you saying the charges "expended" aren't removed when you use the power, during step 3, but are only removed in Step 4 (Assemble your Dice)?

I have a better question. Do you really need to burn mythic charges on your first roll? Or you fighting a villain? Because with a typical melee skill is +2, so at set 6 you would be +6 from your character. Your total bonus on the first roll would be a D10 (assumed) + d8 + 30 + other character powers. That is average of 40 before cool character powers and items/blessings/whatnot.

I'd probably be fighting a villain if I'm expending mythic charges.

Good one.

1)
We've always played that allies that you discard to explore and that give a bonus during that exploration should be read as:

"Display this card to explore your location.
While displayed, for you combat check, add 2 for each of your mythic charges.
At the end of the exploration, discard this card"

This way it's clear that it's the number of mythic charge you have when using the displayed power (step 3).

That sounds good to me. In using the power of the displayed ally, would you say that prevents you from using another ally during the check, according to one card per type per player per check?

2)
In step 3, you play the powers affecting the order that you want, as long as legal.
Each evaluate the number of Mythic charges at the time they are played.
Note that sometimes you need to play one card (e. g. to add a trait to the check) before you can play another.

Also, sounds good.

Hello, long time player here and pretty good at the Google and searching the forums. I searched high and low but could not find anything relating to this.

1) In Wrath of the Righteous, the Dire Griffon says "Discard this card to explore your location. For each of your mythic charges, add 2 to your combat checks during the exploration."

My question is, if my number of charges changes during the exploration (for example if I have multiple combat checks that I spend them on), will the combat bonus change with it? Or is it locked in when I play the Griffon?

This relates to the next question...

2) A more general question: At what step of a check do dynamic / variable modifiers "lock in" to their final value?

For example, I have 6 mythic charges and attempt a combat check. The steps are:
1. Determine the skill: I have Holy Radiance, which says "For your combat check, reveal this card to use your Strength or Melee skill + 1d8 plus your number of Mythic Charges;..." My skill will be Strength.

2. Determine the difficulty. (nothing special happens).

3. Play cards and powers that affect the check:

I play Holy Radiance. Strength (d12) + 1d8 + 6, b/c I have 6 charges.

I play my Mythic Path power to add my number of mythic charges to my combat check. Right now, that is 6.

Then, I spend 2 mythic charges to change my dice into d20s. Now I have 4 charges.

4. Assemble your dice: I have 2d20.

5. Attempt the roll: I roll 2d20 and add ___?

To review, Holy Radiance adds 6 when played, or 4 in step 5.
My Mythic Path adds 6 when played, or 4 in step 5.
So if modifiers are locked when played, then I get (6+6) = 12.
If they're figured in step 5, I get (4+4) = 8.

What do you all think?

Thank you!