Hey There,

Was playing the Cat Burglar this weekend with the City Expansion and drew the Black Market. We were not sure how the Cat Burglar special abilities work with the Black Market. We saw three possibilities (please suggest more)

1) The Cat Burglar Ignores the effects of the card (no jail time) but instead loses a turn like her ability says if she fails.

2) The Cat Burglar Ignores her special ability and follows the card.

3) The Cat Burgler rolls once to skirt having to pay one gold for the item. If she looses she misses a turn but does not have to roll for the Black Market jail time. If she wins then she does gets the object but still has to roll for jail time (a second roll).

In the end we just went for option 2 (by vote). I think it should have been option 1 but others thought that was too much of an unfair advantage. What should we have done?

For reference here is the Black Market text:

You may pay 1 gold to take 1 card from any shop deck, then roll 1 die:
1 to 3 - You must immediately discard the card, and you are thrown in Jail
4 to 6 - You are safe

and the Cat Burglar special ability:

Whenever you visit a card or space that allows you to buy an Object, you may burgle instead. To do so, choose 1 Object that is available to purchase from the encounter, roll 1 die, and add the result to the Object's cost. If the score is equal to or lower than your Craft, you take the card for free. If the score is higher than your Craft, you must miss your next turn and discard the Object.

Thanks,

Ben

Deleted since I was wrong.

I totally disagree Afteraxes.

The Cat Burglar burgles from the Black Market instead of buying an Object from the Black Market as usual, which of course can result in a character being sent to Jail. If the Cat Burglar chooses to burgle an Object from the Black Market, she ignores the text on the Black Market card and instead follows the instructions on her special ability. If she succeeds in the die roll, she takes the Object for free and her turn ends. If she fails the roll, she must miss her next turn and discard the Object!

I totally disagree Afteraxes.

The Cat Burglar burgles from the Black Market instead of buying an Object from the Black Market as usual, which of course can result in a character being sent to Jail. If the Cat Burglar chooses to burgle an Object from the Black Market, she ignores the text on the Black Market card and instead follows the instructions on her special ability. If she succeeds in the die roll, she takes the Object for free and her turn ends. If she fails the roll, she must miss her next turn and discard the Object!

+1

Actually you're right, it says "you may burgle instead," so the card text is ignored. Sorry!

Does Black Market count as "buying" for CB's ability? On the first glance (of the quoted texts), I get the feeling it's not the same as buying and the card would not allow CB to burgle. Point being that while on the surface Black Market functions like buying (give gold, take X), it doesn't use the word buy, whereas CB's ability does use the word buy.

Does Black Market count as "buying" for CB's ability? On the first glance (of the quoted texts), I get the feeling it's not the same as buying and the card would not allow CB to burgle. Point being that while on the surface Black Market functions like buying (give gold, take X), it doesn't use the word buy, whereas CB's ability does use the word buy.

I definitely agree with you Dam. If you check the wording on cards the Cat Burglar says:

Whenever you visit a card or space that allows you to buy an Object, you may burgle instead

While the Black Market says:

You may pay 1 gold to take 1 card from any shop deck, then roll 1 die

The application of the Cat Burglar's ability to the Black Market is controversial too. You would need to consider the 1G you pay as the Object's cost, but again this is reading the card far behind its words.

If that could be possible, then she could burgle the Den of Thieves, which has the same wording (pay 1 gold to take 1 Object from another character). When the Cat Burglar exchanges Broken Armour/Broken Sword at the Armoury, she would be able to burgle as well, with increased chances considering the reduced price (If you visit the Armoury, you may pay X gold and discard this card to take a XXX from the Armoury deck.). This is nonsense we don't need, as the Cat Burglar has many good options to burgle in the City.