Hi all. I'm new to the game, though not to the Mythos. I have a question about when card effects take effect. For example: During the Action Phase I test for an asset card, succeed, and buy the "Cat Burglar" ally. Then for my second action can I immediately make use of the Cat Burglar card to try to steal an item, or do I need to sit on the card for a round?

Come to think of it, that scenario leads to another question: even if I did wait until the next Action Phase, can I test to buy an asset card and then have the Cat Burglar try to steal an asset, or does that violate the "no double actions" rule by dipping into the asset pool twice?

Thanks, great game, further questions as horrific events warrant.

I can't recall the exact way the Cat Burglar card is worded, but basically these two rule always apply:

1. You cannot take the same action twice.

2. You only have two actions.

Actions from assets/allies etc that state that they require an action (even if they are similar to a generic action) are not the same action and therfore can be used in addition to the similar "generic" action. But each of these requires an unused action to perform.

IF Cat Burglar says "when making an INF test to acquire an asset,...." but requires no action, you still have to have had the Cat Burglar BEFORE making the test to acquire an asset in order to use the ability on the card. If the ability is a separate action, you can do both... but will not have any actions remaining with that investigator.

You can use any ability on an asset/ally that requires an action as soon as you acquire that asset/ally as long as you still have an unused action left for that round.

Cat Burglar reads as: Action- Roll a die, on a 5 or 6 gain 1 Item or Trinket Asset from the reserve deck. On a result of 1 discard this card.

That being said, you can use your first action to purchase items, and then use Cat Burglar to take another Item/Trinket. You can do this even if you bought Cat Burglar with your first Action.

Stuff is generally usable right away. The only exception I can think of offhand is if *during resolving Reckonings* something new with a Reckoning effect spawns (not that unlikely to come up with monsters or status effects), that new Reckining effect does *not* happen yet that phase.

The "no double actions" rule is generally very literal, only the exact same action is not permitted. Just because "Component Action: use Cat Burglar" action may also cause you to gain items does not mean it has anything whatsoever to do with an "Aquire Asset" action