dvang's page

A helpful tip on whether you can or can't reduce damage...watch for the words "Before the encounter..." or "After the encounter..." on the cards. Anything before or after is not considered combat damage and thus cannot be reduced by armor.

Ben

Not quite true. "Before the encounter..." and "After the encounter..." are not Combat.

However, if a card says something like: "Before the encounter, 1d4 Combat damage is dealt..." then that damage *is* combat damage, even though it did not occur during combat.

Those check boxes are "level-up" option that you gain at various points, after completing certain adventures or scenarios. There are 3 types of "level-ups".

Skill feats, Power feats, and Card feats.

You use the check boxes to mark off when you have selected a particular feat that has been gained.

Agree with ern2112. Simply, everything outlined here is easy to "assume" if that is the way it is in your head already. The familiar often does not set off the 'alarms' for needing clarification, and only upon review both those unfamiliar does it become visible that perhaps it doesn't always read the same way to everyone.

So, at least IMO, everything mentioned on your list makes perfect sense both in how it works, but also why it needs a bit more clarification after the fact.

Luckily, for us, you are so involved and passionate about the game that you have immediately begun working to resolve issues and confusion to the best of your ability. Unfortunately, many other companies in such a situation remain silent, and occasionally push out a random errata without any warning.

Really, your efforts on behalf of the game have impressed me.

Thanks very much!

The issue with following along that thought process, though, is that it effectively makes several blessings no longer work.

Just as you pointed out "A combat check using a Shortsword has the traits: Sword, Melee, Piercing, Finesse, Basic." There's a complete lack of the ability to use the blessing that adds to strength-based combat checks, since, as you say, the check is not actually a strength-based combat check, just a Combat Check that gains the Melee, Piercing, Finesse, and Basic traits that just happens to use the Strength die of the character in question if they choose Strength, or the die associated with the Melee skill if they choose to use Melee.

Not at all. A Combat check that uses the Strength die is strength-based. What I said was that it isn't a different kind of check. It isn't a Strength Combat Check. It is a combat check that uses the Strength die, i.e. a Combat Check that is strength-based (utilizes the Strength die).

some cards trigger on Traits, while others (like the Blessings you are mentioning) trigger on the Skill die being rolled. There is a slight but important difference. "-Based" does not refer to a trait, but to the Skill die being rolled.

As Mike just clarified above me, "Ranged Combat Check" refers both to checks that use the Ranged skill (ie Ranged-based), as well as checks that have the Ranged trait.

Your reasoning is flawed, but your result is correct.

Technically, combat only has one type of check. a Combat Check. Spells and weapons allow the user to choose which die to use other than the default Strength die, and also add Traits that allow additional affects to apply.

Shortsword: "for your COMBAT CHECK, reveal this card to roll you Strength or Melee die +1d6..."

Shortbow: "for your COMBAT CHECK, reveal this card to roll your Dexterity or Ranged die + 1d6..."

Acid Arrow: "For your COMBAT CHECK, discard this card to roll your Arcane die +2d4..."

Note that none of these cards say anything about changing the check from a combat check to a "Melee/Ranged/Arcane" combat check. They are all combat checks, they simply allow the user to choose different dice to roll for the check.

A combat check using a Shortsword has the traits: Sword, Melee, Piercing, Finesse, Basic.

A combat check using a Shortbow has the traits: Bow, Ranged, Piercing, 2-handed, Basic.

A combat check using an Acid Arrow has the traits: Magic, Arcane, Attack, Acid, Elite.

Thus, other cards which relate to those traits can have an effect. A shortsword has the piercing trait, so those monsters with a resistance to piercing would gain their resistance. A shortbow has the ranged trait, and thus cards like the archer can be used to affect it. Acid arrow has the magic trait, and may thus affect monsters that are only affected by attacks with the magic trait. Etc.

Note again that there is actually no "Ranged Combat Check". There is only a Combat Check with the ranged trait. Therefore, it appears that the intent of the wording "Ranged Combat Check" and "Melee combat check", etc, are actually "Combat check with the Ranged/Melee/Arcane/Etc trait".

It is obviously faster to write/say "Ranged Combat Check", than "Combat Check with the Ranged trait." It is probably just a common shorthand they used that was clear and obvious to those testing, but became less clear when shown to a broader audience who weren't intimately familiar with how the game works.

Also, as I recall, the wording on the barrier is such that it only forces the first exploration to encounter the barrier. Therefore, you could continue exploring the location using allies/blessings, which might then find the Villain/Henchman and allow the closing of the location and get you unstuck.