On weapon cards that say "you may additionally discard this card to add 1dX to your combat check," (or any other card that says something along those lines) do you have to decide if you want to discard the card BEFORE you attempt the combat check or can you decide after you've rolled for the weapon's original check?
Yes - you have to choose before.
The only card I've seen so far that lets you retroactively affect a check after it has been rolled is the Luckstone.
If you look on the back page of the rulebook it lays out the order in which you do things in an encounter. Playing cards/powers is an earlier step to 'make the roll' so you have to play them - and choose which powers on the cards you want to activate - in the earlier step.
If you're really interested in the timing structure take a look at Timing is everything too!
Okay, that makes sense. Thanks.
Also, I noticed that you were involved in discussions that talked about activating powers and recharging cards and I'm a bit slow, so I want to make something crystal clear...
Valeros has the ability to recharge a weapon rather than discarding it. However, as I mentioned above, some cards have the option to discard a card in order to add a die to a check. My question is this: If Valeros discards a weapon in order to gain a die on a check, can he also recharge it instead of discarding it? Or does he lose this ability because he discarded the card for a special reason? It seems to me that if he can discard a card to add a die and then recharge it, it makes things way too easy for him...
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Valeros can recharge that weapon.
It gets down to the definition of "playing" a card.
Because Valeros is activating the power of the weapon, ie using the printed power on the weapon card, he can recharge instead of discarding.
On the other hand, if he were just discarding to reset his hand, or discarding as part of taking damage, he cannot recharge because he is not "playing" the weapon (using one of the powers on the card).
Make sense?
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That's the entire point of playing Valeros - he uses the "discard" power on his weapons in every fight, but recharges them instead of putting them in his discard pile. And yes, he should pretty much do this on every fight, even if he doesn't feel he needs the extra die, because this is how he cycles through his deck. The only time not to do it is if you have an extra special weapon in hand that you're saving for the toughest fight (ie your only magic weapon, in case you fight a monster that can only be beaten by magic).
@Fromper - that's certainly one way to play Valeros but not the only one. I like to (try to) refrain from teaching tactics when people ask for rules clarifications. Lets teach the rules and they can figure out their own ways to play the game!
@SilentKnife - if you use a card for a power printed on the card (e.g. many weapons have a power printed on them that says "discard this card to add a 1d6" or similar then you are 'playing the card' itself and have a chance to recharge it.
If, on the other hand, you are discarding a card 'to pay for' something else (e.g. damage, another card's power or some other game effect) then the card you are discarding is effectively blank and treated as currency. You cannot recharge cards discarded/buried/banished in this way.
I hope that's clear, if not just let us know!
Thanks, guys! It makes perfect sense that you can still recharge it because you're technically playing it. It seemed like if this was the case Valeros would never die, but now that I really think about it that's not the only way to lose :P ! Again, thanks for the clarification.
Good point, @cartmanbeck! @SilentKnife - let us know if that isn't clear, but those powers are usually quite explicit that you can discard them after the roll to roll again.
Yup, all the polearms have that I think...or reach weapons rather
Off the top of my head there's Glaive, Dart and Spiked Chain.
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Off the top of my head there's Glaive, Dart and Spiked Chain.
And the longspears.
Personally, I don't like those weapons for Valeros. I'm a big fan of cycling through the character decks, so I'd rather give Valeros weapons that he has a reason to discard, which is a recharge with his power, every time he fights.
I'd say these reroll weapons are better for characters that don't recharge their weapons, since they don't have a reason to discard them as often as the "normal" weapons that just add a die when discarded. So the longspear is a good starting weapon for Amiri or Kyra, as insurance against a bad roll.
That's the entire point of playing Valeros - he uses the "discard" power on his weapons in every fight, but recharges them instead of putting them in his discard pile. And yes, he should pretty much do this on every fight, even if he doesn't feel he needs the extra die, because this is how he cycles through his deck. The only time not to do it is if you have an extra special weapon in hand that you're saving for the toughest fight (ie your only magic weapon, in case you fight a monster that can only be beaten by magic).
I find this rather amusing - I descirbe the extra dice that comes from discarding the weapon as "breaking the mace over the BBEG's head." Now I picture Valeros as overly strong and slightly clumsy - breaking every weapon every time he uses it.
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That's the entire point of playing Valeros - he uses the "discard" power on his weapons in every fight, but recharges them instead of putting them in his discard pile. And yes, he should pretty much do this on every fight, even if he doesn't feel he needs the extra die, because this is how he cycles through his deck. The only time not to do it is if you have an extra special weapon in hand that you're saving for the toughest fight (ie your only magic weapon, in case you fight a monster that can only be beaten by magic).I find this rather amusing - I descirbe the extra dice that comes from discarding the weapon as "breaking the mace over the BBEG's head." Now I picture Valeros as overly strong and slightly clumsy - breaking every weapon every time he uses it.
He's not clumsy. He just knows how to hit people so hard that the weapons can't handle it. But as a weapons expert, he can repair them between fights, so they're available again later.
Personally, I've always thought of the "discard for an extra die" weapons as leaving the sword sticking out of the bad guy and walking away. Valeros is just smart enough to go back for his swords later.