Combat Check vs. Strength / melee check

[Quester]

I was wondering if you could using weapons on bane cards with a melee/strength check to defeat, but without a combat check to defeat.

I'm asking about weapons that say "for your combat check" but use strength or melee as their base die. So, as far as I know, most melee weapons.

For instance, could you use a mace to help you smash up a large chest? It makes sense if you applied real world logic (maces break chests better than bare hands do) but I'm not sure if it fits into the game rules.

And an unarmed combat check is just your strength/melee skill anyways, right? So can you use a weapon to defeat banes with a strength/melee check to defeat?

[Brainwave]

My understanding is those weapons create a combat check. If what you need to roll is not a combat check, then you cannot use them for that.

This is also probably why the crowbar/mattock exist.

Also trying to use real work logic for card games is best avoided ;)

[Munchwolf]

No

[Quester]

Ok. This just came up in the last game I played and we weren't sure what to do. Thanks for clearing things up!

[Hawkmoon269]

Your weapon card allows you to perform a combat check. It does not allow you to perform a strength/melee check. For many of the weapons (Longsword for example) the combat check the weapon performs allows you to use your strength/melee skill, and you would call that a "strength-based combat check." But that doesn't make a it strength/melee check.

Updated Rulebook page 22 wrote:

Cards Don’t Do What They Don’t Say. Each card’s powers reference specific situations, and if you’re not in those situations, you can’t play it... Your weapon doesn't help you acquire new weapons. Each card tells you what it’s for, and you can use it only for that.

Your weapon does not say "For your strength/melee check reveal this card..." It just says, "For your combat check..." Just like you couldn't use the Longsword to help with a strength/melee check to acquire a new Longsword, you can't use it to help with a strength/melee check to defeat a barrier.

[Foxiferous]

The way I rationalise it Quester, if you bash open the chest with a mace, you're more than likely to bash open the pretty items with the mace on the way in.

The strength check is a check of carefully applied brute face. The combat check is bashing in your opponents face with a mace as hard as possible.