My wife is playing Lini. She loves the power to recharge an animal instead of discarding it when you play the animal. However, she's wondering if she uses the other power of discarding a card to roll a d10, if the card discarded is an animal, can she recharge it?
I have a feeling she cannot. She'd have to play the animal, using the animal's card effects to get to recharge it. But I could be wrong, hence the request for clarification.
Her power says that when she plays an animal ally she can recharge it instead of discard it.
When she discards a card to increase her strength or dexterity, she is not playing that card, because she is not activating anything on the card.
So, no. For the same reason, she can't attempt to recharge a spell if that is what she discards to up her die to d10, because she didn't play the spell.
I made the same mistake with Lini and animal allies when I first played her. I'd had the game only a short while and hadn't made the clear distinction in my mind of playing a card and simply discarding/recharging/burying/whatevering it for the effect to play another card or power.
However you are allowed to REVEAL the animal card to fuel Lini's power then PLAY the animal for its power. Like the tiger can be revealed to give lini a D4 for her combat check, then discarded (or recharged in Lini's case) for a D6 in combat
However you are allowed to REVEAL the animal card to fuel Lini's power then PLAY the animal for its power. Like the tiger can be revealed to give lini a D4 for her combat check, then discarded (or recharged in Lini's case) for a D6 in combat
Really!?...
That introduces some interesting strategies.
But wait, then couldn't I REVEAL a weapon for the die bonus, then DISCARD it to also add that die bonue? Kind of double dipping on the dice added...
That is what you are supposed to do with weapons, but you don't get any portion of it twice.
So if one says "Reveal this card to roll your strength or melee die plus 1d10. You may additionally discard it to add 1d8" you can play that card two ways. (Lets say you are Valeros in this example)
1. You could just reveal it and roll strength/melee + 1d10, which would be 2d10 + 3.
2. You could discard it to roll strength/melee + 1d10 + 1d8, which would be 2d10 + 1d8 + 3.
The discard part is in addition to the reveal part.
However you are allowed to REVEAL the animal card to fuel Lini's power then PLAY the animal for its power. Like the tiger can be revealed to give lini a D4 for her combat check, then discarded (or recharged in Lini's case) for a D6 in combat
Just to add some detail to what I think you were getting at with your capitalization emphasis.
You can only use each power and each type of card once per character on any step of the "Encountering a Card" sequence or on any check.
But when Lini reveals an animal ally for her power, she isn't playing the animal ally, she's using her power. That means she isn't breaking that rule by using her power by revealing a Sabertooth Tiger (she just used that power for the 1 time she's is allowed to on this hypothetical step) and then discarding the same Sabertooth Tiger (she just played the 1 ally she is allowed to on this hypothetical check.)
Likewise she could reveal a crow for the 1d4 power, then discard it for her other power to roll a d10 as her strength. She didn't use any power twice, and she still hasn't actually played an ally card yet.
Related side note: One of Sajan's powers is the he gets to break this rule when playing blessings on his own combat check.