OA 2 Erasmus Power question

[Akaitora]

Hi everyone,

I recently got the Occult Adventures 2 add-on deck and I'm loving it. My favorite character thus far is Erasmus.

I have a question about one of his powers, however. It reads like this:

Quote:

At the start of any turn, you may choose a card type and recharge every card of that type, add ( [ ] 1 plus) the number of cards recharged to your checks until the end of the turn.

So my question is, if I spend my power feat to unlock the "1 plus" option and then I choose a type of card that I don't have in my hand, do I simply get +1 to all my checks for free?

Thank you in advance for your help.

[Longshot11]

No.

It's buried somewhere in the Rulebook, but when you're instructed to do something with "any" number of cards - that number must always be at least 1.

It's not 1:1 with Erasmus' wording, but to me it's the obvious rule to govern this situation. (though I expect other people will also provide other examples why the answer is "no")

[Hawkmoon269]

I believe Longshot is referring to this, which is in the section on "playing cards":

MM Rulebook p9 wrote:

When something refers to “any number” of cards, that number must be at least 1.

And I'd agree. You have to recharge at least 1 card for his power, even if it doesn't exactly say "any number of cards". See this Grazzle question to compare.

[Akaitora]

Edit: I had made a post implying that whether the ruling quoted above affected this power wasn't clear, but I've read more carefully and I think I agree with the posters above. So never mind!

[Hawkmoon269]

Well, I think it could be a little more clear. Technically, the rule we are looking at doesn't apply because Ereasmus doesn't say the exact phrase "any number of cards" in his power. Of course, it can't really say "any number of cards" without some rewording. I just think the spirit of it is that you need to recharge at least 1 card.

[Longshot11]

Hawkmoon269 wrote:

Of course, it can't really say "any number of cards" without some rewording.

Well, it would works in exactly the same way*, but infinitely more word-y, if it said:

Wordy power wrote:

At the start of any turn, you may choose a card type and recharge any number of cards of that type; if you do, additionally recharge all other cards of that type and add ( [ ] 1 plus) the total number of cards recharged to your checks until the end of the turn.

Of course, this is convoluted to an absurd degree, but nevertheless *feels* like the "spirit" of what that power is intended to do.

(* OK, so technically my wording *could* potentially have a difference in mechanical impact - if there's a power that interacts with "When you (would) recharge cards for a character power..." - then only the first bunch of "any number of card" would apply, and not the rest of the recharged cards. But still.)

[Akaitora]

Despite the fact I agree with you, I think this question will come up very often in many tables. Is there still a way to mark something as "needing clarification"? Perhaps this could be added to the FAQ.

[Frencois]

Simple Mind wrote:

At the start of any turn, you may choose a card type that you have in hand and recharge every card of that type, add ( [ ] 1 plus) the number of cards recharged to your checks until the end of the turn.

[Akaitora]

I assume that you are suggesting an alternative wording to fix the confusion Frencois? Because I just went back and checked and that's not the original wording.

[Frencois]

Akaitora wrote:

I assume that you are suggesting an alternative wording to fix the confusion Frencois?....

That!

[Akaitora]

I agree that makes it perfectly clear.

With the fix being as simple as that, I can't help but think that there's a sliver of a chance that having to choose a card type you have in your hand was not the original intent of the power.