Playing cards BEFORE using powers??

[magikeren]

The rules p.11 clearly states:
"Attempting a check requires severel steps which are explained below."
The order of the steps are:
1) Determine Which Die you're using
2) Determine the Difficulty
3) Play Cards That Affect the Check
4) Use Characters' Powers
5) Assemple Your Dice
6) Make The Roll
7) Take Damage, If Necessary
8) Resolve the Encounter

On page 10 it clearly says that:
"If a card in your hand does not specify when it can be played, you can generally play it at any time, with the exception that during each step of attempting a check, you may only perform specific actions, so your ability to play cards may be limited."

During step 4,5 and 6 playing cards are NOT part of the actions allowed. Therefore as I read the rules you must play cards during step 3 BEFORE using powers! Is this correct???????

If it is correct then Lini would not be allowed to discard an ally for it's power and reveal it to gain 1d4 during the same check as she would be forced to use the card BEFORE her power.

[QuantumNinja]

This is one of those areas where I think the rulebook's wording could definitely be improved.

On pg 11, they break "Play Cards That Affect the Check" and "Use Characters’ Powers" into two separate steps, whereas on the back cover, they combine them into a single step called "Play Cards that Affect Your Check and/or Use Characters’ Powers."

You're correct, in that if the two steps are separate and must be completed in the order "play cards first, then use powers", Lini can't reveal an ally for 1d4 and then discard it for its power.

If the intent is "play cards and/or use powers in whatever order you'd like", then Lini *could* reveal an ally for 1d4 and then discard it for its power.

Haven't heard an official response on this yet.

[Tracker1]

Yeah, so let's say she has the snake if we follow the order in the rule book she will have to discard it (which will actually trigger her power to recharge it instead)', and then she will not be able to reveal it for the d4 power.

I'm not sure why the rules are set up this way. I don't see why there would be a problem with playing powers before cards or vies versa.

But if you play the way the rule book is written it does not work out in Lini's favor.

I hope the designers give us a better breakdown of the timing sequence in attempting a check. There seems to be lots of threads about it recently.

[TClifford]

From what I can tell, the game designers are trying to get away from having an order. This is a cooperative card game, not a competitive card game. The only three rules that really matter are: 1 - Each check is separate, 2 - You can only use 1 PC Power/check, 3 - You can only play 1 Card type/check.

That's really it. You can add an addendum saying that using a card to activate a PC's power it isn't played, just to stop the confusion on using any powers/abilities that only activate when Played, but that it about it. If you just keep those 3.5 things straight, you should be able to work your way through any situation.

[Vic Wertz]

Step 3 and Step 4 can happen at the same time. We'll address that in the FAQ.

(Don't go collapsing everything, though—it's important that step 1 happens before 3 and 4!)