Boundaries of an exploration

[RETH-Mog]

Hi,

A couple of weeks ago I was playing Season of the Righteous with my group, and a disagreement arose. One of the players, on his first exploration of the turn, encountered Crazed Cultists. This resulted in him having to fight a Cultist of Baphomet, which states, "Before you act, if this is your first exploration of the turn, the Cultist of Baphomet deals 1 Combat damage to you."

At this point, I pointed out that he'd have to take the damage since this was his first exploration. The rest of the table disagreed, stating that only the barrier itself was the first exploration, and that the cultist was basically outside of the whole explore structure, and not part of any exploration.

I've always played that anything that happened between the start of the exploration and it's resolution would be during that exploration.

What does everyone think?

Thanks.

[Eliandra Giltessan]

I would play that he has to take the damage, because it's still during his first exploration.

[Doppelschwert]

I agree with eliandra, for the same reason.

However, I have a related question:
What happens when a card makes me summon cultist of baphomet on another players turn? Does that count as an exploration for me and in particular, would I need to track whether its the n-th exploration of that turn for cards affecting me as well?
The same issue arises with the effect of lances when played on another players turn.

I was never quite sure on this - I ruled it does not count as exploration since you can only explore on your own turn, but then again I'd like to have the extra die from my lances...

[Hawkmoon269]

I'd agree. Here is a similar thread with a Vic comment that shows even if you defeat a henchman and attempt to close the location, you are attempting to close the location on your first exploration.

And I take the "your first exploration" literally. If you aren't the one exploring, it isn't your first exploration. If they wanted it more universal, they would have said "the first exploration" instead. Which they did on Blessing of Baphomet. So, compare Blessing of Baphomet to Cultist of Baphomet.

[skizzerz]

I'm with Hawkmoon on this, if it was your first exploration and the thing you're encountering has you summon and encounter something else, it is still your first exploration until such a time that you fully resolve everything related to the original encounter, including (but not limited to) attempting to close the location should you beat a henchman and dealing with any when permanently closed effects should that attempt succeed.

Your first exploration of a turn may or may not be the first time you actually explore that turn -- consider an effect that lets you skip your first exploration in order to do some other effect such as heal 1d4+1 cards. Should you then spend a blessing or ally to explore again, even though that card is the first time you are actually exploring that turn, it is no longer your first exploration. The same holds true if you have an encounter outside of an exploration, such as with the ally Fortune Teller -- you can potentially have an encounter before your first exploration on your turn, but that is still not your first exploration because you never actually explored yet at that point in time.

The difference between "your" and "the" is notable as well, as Hawkmoon points out.

[Vic Wertz]

skizzerz wrote:

I'm with Hawkmoon on this, if it was your first exploration and the thing you're encountering has you summon and encounter something else, it is still your first exploration until such a time that you fully resolve everything related to the original encounter, including (but not limited to) attempting to close the location should you beat a henchman and dealing with any when permanently closed effects should that attempt succeed.

Yep.

[Vic Wertz]

Doppelschwert wrote:

What happens when a card makes me summon cultist of baphomet on another players turn? Does that count as an exploration for me and in particular, would I need to track whether its the n-th exploration of that turn for cards affecting me as well?

The same issue arises with the effect of lances when played on another players turn.

I was never quite sure on this - I ruled it does not count as exploration since you can only explore on your own turn, but then again I'd like to have the extra die from my lances...

Only your friend is exploring. You're just encountering a card.

[Doppelschwert]

Thanks for the answer, vic!
Btw, hope you had a nice vacation :)

[Hawkmoon269]

Vic! Welcome back from vacation. Hope it was relaxing for you.

We've got a related questioned over here.