Can the heroes buy Act II item cards after the interlude, or must they wait until after the first Act II quest?
Heroes may not purchase Act II items until after the first Act II quest is completed.
Many of you likely are aware of this unofficial FAQ question, which I think someone asked the Fantasy Flight Staff and posted online.
As I am playing a mini campaign with my players, I ended up rereading the rulebook's section regarding Act II and the transition to see, originally, if and how they can have Act II items in the mini-campaign.
What I found is this:
Act II
After completing the Interlude, the campaign transitions to Act II. From
now on, players choose quests from among the Act II options and prepare
themselves for the Finale.
Immediately after completing the Interlude, follow these steps:
1. Return the Act I Monster and Lieutenant cards to the box and
retrieve the Act II Monster and Lieutenant cards. From now on, all
monsters and lieutenants use their Act II characteristics.
2. Hero players now have a chance to visit the shop and purchase any
Act I Shop Item cards. Deal out all remaining Act I Shop Item cards
faceup. The hero players may purchase any number of Act I Shop
Item cards they are able to afford.
3. Return all unpurchased Act I Shop Item cards to the game box and
retrieve the Act II Shop Item cards. From now on, use the Act II Shop
Item cards. Act I Shop Item cards currently in possession of the heroes
are unaffected. Any Act I Shop Item card sold by the heroes during
Act II is returned to the box.
After completing three Act II quests, it is time for the Finale. Players
resolve one Campaign phase as normal and then the heroes travel to the
Finale quest to determine the ultimate winner of the campaign!
Now, the mini campaign is very specific about transitioning to ACT II and THEN perform the campaign phase.
If I read this correctly this means that after the winner of the last quest is determined the steps are performed in the following order:
1. Return the Act I Monster and Lieutenant cards to the box and
retrieve the Act II Monster and Lieutenant cards. From now on, all
monsters and lieutenants use their Act II characteristics.
2. Hero players now have a chance to visit the shop and purchase any
Act I Shop Item cards. Deal out all remaining Act I Shop Item cards
faceup. The hero players may purchase any number of Act I Shop
Item cards they are able to afford.
3. Return all unpurchased Act I Shop Item cards to the game box and
retrieve the Act II Shop Item cards. From now on, use the Act II Shop
Item cards. Act I Shop Item cards currently in possession of the heroes
are unaffected. Any Act I Shop Item card sold by the heroes during
Act II is returned to the box.
4. Receive gold from Search Cards:Record the total gold value of
every Search card the heroes acquired over the course of this quest
on the Campaign sheet (even if the Search card was used during the
quest). Then return all Search cards to the deck(even if the heroes
didn’t use their abilities). The heroes are assumed to sell their newly
discovered treasures in Arhynn.
Cleanup:All heroes recover all damage and all fatigue. The overlord
combines his draw and discard pile into one deck. All Condition cards
are discarded, all effects end, the map is disassembled, and the quest is
generally cleaned up as the players prepare for the next one.
5. Receive Rewards: The overlord player and hero players each receive
one experience point, regardless of who won the quest (as listed in the
Quest Guide). Record this on the Campaign sheet. The winner of the
quest receives additional rewards as noted in the Quest Guide.
6. Spend Experience Points: Players may spend any experience points
they have earned at this time. Experience points are spent on new
skills for heroes and new Overlord cards for the overlord.
7. Shopping: Hero players may spend any gold they have acquired to
purchase new Shop Item cards (see “Shopping” on page 20).
In particular, in a mini campaign, this mean that first, the players buy any Act I card they want, THEN they receive their gold for this quest from search cards and quest rewards (including possibly a random Act II market card) to have a shopping step with Act II cards next?
The next, a bit tricky question is:
In a regular campaign, when exactly does the transition to Act II happen?
If it is prior to the campaign phase, it would result in the exact same situation as in a mini campaign regarding the shopping, if it was after, it would technically mean the first quest still used act I monsters and lieutenants, so would it officially replace the 5. Shopping step of the campaign phase?
I mainly was curious if it might be perhaps intended to be just like for the mini campaign and actually allow heroes to purchase their first Act II cards before doing the first act II quest.
It is clear, if a bit messy (shopping from the whole act I deck before getting your quest rewards and such) in the mini campaign, but the wording is a bit vague for the standard campaign.