1. Can Mavaro use his card-displaying ability when not actively making a check?
2. Is it just me, or are the weapons and offensive spells in this set noticeably weaker than in previous sets?
Re 1, Yes of course you can. There's nothing on the power telling you when to play it, and the power doesn't say anything about a check. So why would you not be able to?
People display during a check just because they can, because it's often more efficient to wait until you need something before taking a card out of your hand for the rest of your turn (e.g. just in case you wanted to use the card for its actual text instead), and because in certain cases like weapons that are reveal-to-use you might need to use the weapon on the check before displaying it.
But in some cases, like casting Cure, you'll need to reveal another card first, because once you start casting Cure there's no opportunity to reveal a card before you would have to banish it.
There's some debate over the legitimacy of displaying cards purely for the purpose of recharging junk cards from your hand, but, much like casting a spurious "Agility" to recycle it, it's generally considered cheesy but legal.
Just to add a little to #1, you can either display it during a check when gaining that skill is relevant, or anytime you aren't in an encounter or doing something else.
For example, if you are dealt 1d4 Force damage at the start of your turn, you can't display all your cards to avoid it. You have to apply start of your turn effects as soon as you advance the blessings deck, and displaying cards to gain skills isn't relevant to being dealt damage.
2. Is it just me, or are the weapons and offensive spells in this set noticeably weaker than in previous sets?
They definitely *start* that way. I can only assume the purpose is to generate a better sense of progression.
However, by AD3-4 you likely won't care for upgrades to combat spells anymore. Once you're rolling 3d8 +Arcane/Divine , you should be pretty much set as a caster. All in all (I haven't done the actual math), I'd say MM has the best combat spells seen outside of WotR.
I think some of the spells might not roll better dice, but do extra things that make them better. Chain Lightning, for example.
There's some debate over the legitimacy of displaying cards purely for the purpose of recharging junk cards from your hand, but, much like casting a spurious "Agility" to recycle it, it's generally considered cheesy but legal.
This was part of the reason I asked, so thank you. I was also thinking about cards that inhibit or prevent activating powers, so if you knew one was coming, you could drop an ability-card or two in preparation.
There's some debate over the legitimacy of displaying cards purely for the purpose of recharging junk cards from your hand, but, much like casting a spurious "Agility" to recycle it, it's generally considered cheesy but legal.
There is definitely an active debate about this. Count me among those who don't consider either of those plays legal.
You may not activate a power or play a card that doesn’t apply to your current situation. For example, you may not play a card to reduce damage when damage is not being dealt, and you may not play a card to evade a monster when you are not encountering a monster.
This kind of thing would be hard to code in the Obsidian app, for example, but when playing at the table, you know when what you're doing is relevant and when it's not.