How often can Estra reduce damage?

[Ryste]

I know the rule is that you can only use a power or type of card once per check, but I guess I'm not sure how exactly it works.

I'm playing through AD4, and I have Estra's power that allows you to reveal a blessing or spell to reduce damage dealt to her by 5. She encounters the villain, who deals 1d4+1 poison damage to her before she acts. She fails the check to defeat and takes 4 combat damage, and the villain also deals 1d4 poison damage if undefeated.

The way I assumed it works is that I can reduce the Before you act damage, and then I have to choose between reducing the combat or poison damage since they both happen as a result of the same check, but I wanted to make sure so I have it defined for the future.

[Doppelschwert]

The rule is different for reducing damage. Can't quote it right now since I'm on mobile, but for damage the restriction is per instance instead of check afaik. So every time you are dealt damage, you can use Estras power once. If you were dealt 5 times 1 combat damage, an armor that reveals to reduce 1 combat damage could soak up everything, while it could reduce 5 combat damage only once.

[elcoderdude]

Looking at the rulebook:

MM rulebook p.9 wrote:

Encountering A Card... A character may not activate a given power more than once during each step, other than effects that can be used each time something particular happens.

I don't have a reference, but my understanding is that to qualify as "effects that can be used each time something particular happens" the power has to to say "When ..."

Estra's power in its strongest form is:

Ectoplasmatist wrote:

You may discard (□ or recharge) (□ or reveal) a spell or a blessing to reduce damage dealt to you by 3 (□ 5).

This is not a "When..." power, so it can't be used every time she suffers damage. Instead, it falls under the rule that she can only use it once per step of the encounter. In the OP case, the rule is clear: BYA, AYA, check to defeat, and resolution (where the bane is determined to be defeated/undefeated) are all different steps, so Estra can use the power in each step.

But what if Estra meets the Elemental Arachnid?

Really annoying bane wrote:

Before you act, you are dealt 1 Acid damage, then 1 Cold damage, then 1 Electricity damage, then 1 Fire damage.

I would think Estra can only block the first BYA damage. But, then we have this puzzling, and to me, still unexplained post from Vic.

Vic wrote:

The rules for Damage specifically say you may play cards to reduce that damage (meaning it overrules the "one of each type" limit), which is why it then states its own independent limitations, (which are similar yet slightly different): "Each character may play no more than 1 of each card type to affect damage to the same character from the same source."

So yeah, if you have an armor you can reveal to reduce damage, you can reveal it once each time you take damage, even if you take damage multiple times during a step, check, or encounter.

Estra is using a power, not playing a card. But still - does Vic's ruling mean she CAN block multiple damage instances during the same step?

[Doppelschwert]

Thanks elcoderdude, the quote by Vic was what I had in mind when I wrote my reply.

[skizzerz]

Per my replies in that linked thread, I believe that post by Vic is mistaken and would not put any weight into it whatsoever unless the rules are actually changed to support that position.