'If you don't have the arcane / divine trait, banish this card' Question

[HolmesandWatson]

My game is at home (and I am not), so I may not have the quote correctly for that card feature, but I think it's pretty close.

We are playing with Harsk, Sajan and Kyra. Harsk acquired a divine spell, which he banished immediately since he didn't have that trait. Assuming we did things correctly:

From an RPG perspective, if the spell acquired is a scroll, shouldn't the character be able to put the card in his discard pile? Even though Harsk can't use that spell, Kyra can. And during the between-adventure deck building phase, Kyra could replace an existing spell with a new one.

This would apply for all arcane and divine casters.

Just curious if anybody else has considered this rule change. I mean, Ezrin can acquire the +1 deathbane crossbow (unlikely, but possible), put it in his discard pile and give it to Harsk during deck building.

I know that a weapon, item and armor is a "real thing." And a spell isn't the same. Kinda like book vs. ebook. But as I said, if the spell is acquired in scroll form, it would be transferable.

If this change were made, the wording would be changed to something like, "only characters with the arcane/divine skill can cast this spell."

[Polyphemus]

HolmesandWatson wrote:

Harsk acquired a divine spell, which he banished immediately since he didn't have that trait. Assuming we did things correctly:

This isn't correct. You only banish it when the spell is played, if you don't have the divine skill. So Harsk can acquire it, and keep it in his hand. He can then give it to Kyra on his turn, if they are in the same location, or he can hold onto it, to give to Kyra at the end of the scenario, or he can use it like a spell scroll, in which case it is then banished, since he doesn't have the divine skill.

[GreyMaus]

From my understanding, Harsk could have used the spell at some point in time but banish it after he used it because he does not have the Divine skill or he could have discarded the spell so Kyra could get it after the scenario. If he kept the spell in his hand, he could have moved to Kyra's location and on a future turn, give the spell to Kyra.

Maus

[HolmesandWatson]

Okay. That is certainly a more appealing path. I couldn't see non-spellcasters casting the spell.

Thanks.

[xris]

The answer is in the FAQ but it is so well hidden that I suspect a lot of people don't realise it answers this sort of question.

Quote:

The rules say I have to choose one power on a card when I play it. Why would I choose the power on a spell that says I have to discard it?

Any paragraph in the power section of a boon that doesn't involve playing the card for a particular effect is not itself a power—it's a mandatory action that you must take when you play the card.

Resolution: On page 10 of the rulebook, under "Playing Cards," add the following sentence to the end of the first paragraph:

"Any paragraph in the power section of a boon that doesn't involve playing the card for a particular effect is not itself a power—it's a mandatory action that you must take when you play the card."

Given the number of times the question has been asked (i.e. the number of threads both here and on BGG), I'm surprised that Vic hasn't made a better entry in the FAQ to cover this.

[Mike Selinker]

Ah, that entry should say "have to banish it," not "have to discard it." My fault.

[xris]

Mike Selinker wrote:

Ah, that entry should say "have to banish it," not "have to discard it." My fault.

Fair enough but if you plan to just change the FAQ question to "The rules say I have to choose one power on a card when I play it. Why would I choose the power on a spell that says I have to banish it?" then that still doesn't address the fundamental issue of this particular FAQ entry. I think the main problem that the answer is hidden by the actual FAQ question.

I would suggest you add another FAQ entry along the lines of "My character acquires a divine/arcane spell but he doesn't have the divine/arcane trait, does he have to banished it immediately."

[HolmesandWatson]

xris wrote:

I would suggest you add another FAQ entry along the lines of "My character acquires a divine/arcane spell but he doesn't have the divine/arcane trait, does he have to banished it immediately."

That's clearly the rule that I misunderstood. Well said.

[Fromper]

Agreed that the FAQ is poorly worded for this one. The FAQ talks in vague generalities, but the question is about spells specifically. The FAQ needs to be changed to answer the question people are actually asking, rather than the theoretical underpinning behind it.

[Vic Wertz]

Yeah, we should probably adjust the question to be the one that the most people are asking...

...but to be fair, we didn't make up that question just so we could give a theoretical answer—something very like it actually *was* the first question that prompted that answer, a couple of weeks before the game even came out.

[Vic Wertz]

I've updated the question and the answer; the resolution remains unchanged.

[Bidmaron]

Thanks, Vic, but it will only be a day or two before someone asks/asserts: that means if I am a spell caster that doesn't have divine for a divine spell, I must not have to banish it since the question was for a character who wasn't ANY kind of spell caster.

[Vic Wertz]

Fair enough. Reworded.

[Bidmaron]

Looks good. I can't find any holes to poke in it at this point.