Please focus on card timing in the FAQ

[Kirk Bauer]

I know the FAQ is coming (how do we find out when it is released?) and I wanted to make sure card timing is addressed.

From what I can gather, you can play any card at any time to affect any player unless the cards says otherwise. The exception is that once a player enters an encounter your options are more limited. During an encounter, you and other players can only play cards that effect the actual check(s) involved.

For example, the Sleep spell says "Discard this card to evade a monster whose highest difficulty to defeat is 10 or lower.". You can't play this to allow another player to evade a monster because that player already entered an encounter and this card doesn't impact the check.

The Heal spell, on the other hand, says "Reveal this card and choose a character at your location. Shuffle 1d4+1 random cards from his discard pile into his deck, then discard this card.". This can be played at any time to heal any player except it can't be played during an encounter because, again, it doesn't affect the check.

The Detect Magic spell ("Discard this card to examine the top card of your location deck. If the card is a blessing or has the Magic trait, you may immediately encounter it; otherwise, return it to the top of the deck.") can be played during another player's turn as long as they are not doing a check. But the card you draw is the one at *your* location. This card overrules the general rule of not being able to have an encounter on another player's turn.

[Gary Johns]

Wouldn't sleep be kind of useless if you can't use it after an encounter is revealed. I mean how do you use it before the encounter is revealed?

Or is it you just can't use it on someone else after the encounter is revealed? Which to me still doesn't seem right. Has that been ruled on somewhere?

[Myriade]

I think you can play Sleep after revealing the monster. It affects the check by cancelling it.

[Vic Wertz]

Kirk Bauer wrote:

I know the FAQ is coming (how do we find out when it is released?) and I wanted to make sure card timing is addressed.

I'll make a post in a new thread here. But card timing probably won't be addressed in the initial release because the developers are still discussing the topic.

Kirk Bauer wrote:

For example, the Sleep spell says "Discard this card to evade a monster whose highest difficulty to defeat is 10 or lower.". You can't play this to allow another player to evade a monster because that player already entered an encounter and this card doesn't impact the check.

Actually, the reason you can't play it to help another character is because the sentence quoted has the implied subject "you". You can add to somebody else's check, but you can't evade somebody else's monster. If it had been designed to work for other players, it would read something like "Discard this card. Any player may evade..."

Kirk Bauer wrote:

The Detect Magic spell ("Discard this card to examine the top card of your location deck. If the card is a blessing or has the Magic trait, you may immediately encounter it; otherwise, return it to the top of the deck.") can be played during another player's turn as long as they are not doing a check. But the card you draw is the one at *your* location. This card overrules the general rule of not being able to have an encounter on another player's turn.

The resolution to that is going to be that Detect Magic should begin with "During your turn..."

[Kirk Bauer]

Thanks, Vic. Please consider finding a way to get replacement cards out for these items, it would make gameplay so much easier. At the very least they could be sent to people with subscription services.

[h4ppy]

@Kirk - there is now a thread talking about the possibility of updated cards: http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2q6el?Updated-cards-what-to-do

I've also made a first pass at a timing sequence doc. For more information look here:

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2q7iu?Timing-is-everything