Reply from Caleb/FFG re Question about encounter deck effects during Escape from Dol Guldur set-up

By TwiceBorn, in Rules questions & answers

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I recently asked Caleb some questions regarding encounter deck effects during Escape from Dol Guldur (Core set), and thought I should share his response with everyone here, just in case they were of interest to others. For other related discussions, see this thread: http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/97427-captured-hero-of-dol-guldur-in-your-control/

Here were my questions:


I have a question regarding encounter cards in the Escape from Dol Guldur quest (Core set) that are revealed during set-up , and which affect at hero that subsequently will be selected as the "prisoner" in the scenario.

Stage 1A (setup) in Escape from Dol Guldur instructs the player to "attach 1 encounter to each objective card." Let us say that one of the cards revealed by the encounter deck to fulfill the "guarded" trait on one of the objective cards is the treachery card "Caught in a Web," which must be attached "when revealed" to one of the heroes controlled by the player with the highest threat level.

We then proceed to Stage 1B after all encounter cards have been revealed and attached to the objectives in the staging area, or have otherwise been resolved (e.g., treacheries). For illustrative purposes, let us say that "Caught in a Web" is attached to Legolas during Stage 1A. Stage 1B reads: "When revealed: Randomly select 1 hero card (among all the heroes controlled by the players) and turn it face down. This hero is now considered a "prisoner," cannot be used, cannot be damaged, and does not collect resources, until it is "rescued" (as instructed by card effects) later in this quest."

If Legolas is randomly selected as the prisoner and turned face down in stage 1B, does the Caught in a Web attachment that was played on him in Stage 1A remain attached when rescued (Stage 2B), or does it get sent to the discard pile immediately after the hero is picked as prisoner during 1B? I understand that nothing can be attached to the hero AFTER they have been selected as the prisoner (since the hero "cannot be used"), until they have been rescuedâ?¦ but what happens to attachments from the encounter deck attached to the hero BEFORE he/she becomes prisoner?

The same general question would apply to the "when revealed" effect of the King Spider ("exhaust a character"), if applied to a hero during the set-up phase (1A), when that hero is subsequently selected as the prisoner in 1B. When rescued in 2B, would the hero/prisoner be flipped up and immediately exhausted (in addition to suffering 1 damage) as a result of the King Spider's "when revealed" effect during set-up, or would the King Spider's "when revealed" effects in 1A be ignored when the hero/prisoner is rescued in 2B?

Here is Caleb's response.

Great questions!

First, if a hero is Caught in a Web and then chosen to be the prisoner, Caught in a Web will stay attached to that hero even while it is facedown. That means when you rescue that hero, it will still have the encounter attached to it.

If a hero is exhausted before being chosen as the prisoner, it will still ready during the refresh phase since the rules say to “ready each card in play.”

Ultimately, what that implies is that any encounter deck effects that occur during set-up, before the captive is selected, will remain in effect on the prisoner when the prisoner is liberated, unless the effect would have had no on-going effect beyond the Refresh phase. Thus, if during set-up a hero was exhausted due to the King Spider's "When Revealed" effect, and the next card drawn during set-up was the treachery The Necromancer's Reach (which causes 1 damage to each exhausted character), then if the exhausted character were selected as the prisoner during stage 1B of the scenario, then the hero/captive would also have an additional point of damage assigned to them when rescued during Stage 2B of the quest.

Edited by TwiceBornh
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Good stuff, happy to have a definitive answer. Thanks TwiceBornh!

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Good post!

Those are the same questions without answer that I have regarding this quest.

Thank you

Edited by Emilius
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Glad to have been of assistance.

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Did I mention how much I HATE King Spiders?