Bard - Cacophony Help

By MWStephenson85, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Question about the Bard Class from Descent Journeys in the Dark Second Edition.

If I have a " Melody Token " & " Harmony Token " placed on my " Song of Mending ", can I exhaust " Cacophony " targeting my " Song of Mending " to trigger the " Harmony and Melody " effects twice?

Melody : At the end of your turn, each hero within 3 spaces of you recovers 1 (H)

Harmony : At the end of your turn, each other hero within 3 spaces of you recovers 1 (F).

I have already thought of the wise comment , where someone replies " Yes you can do this, however the effect will only trigger once at the end of your turn ", even though there is no sufficient evidence to show that it will only trigger once. It is equally plausible, that the effect would happen twice.

The Melody triggers twice on the Song of Mending, thus removing 2 (H) for all heroes.

The Harmony triggers twice on the Song of Mending, thus removing 2 (F) for all but the bard.

I'm also aware of " Understudy " and it's 1 additional (H) (F) for Harmony/Melody.

I'm attempting to save 3 xp points to get Cacophony first in hopes of being able to heal 2 (H)(F) with only 3 xp.

1) "Cacophony" only works once. You exhaust and while it is exhausted, the other skill card behaves as if it had tokens on it. Does "Song of Mending" trigger twice when a song token is on it? No, it triggers once at the end of your turn. "Cacophony" doesn't change the trigger, just whether or not it is active. You can argue that it could just as well trigger twice. You would be wrong, in that case. For evidence, see any other hero skill, ability, or game effect in Descent. Each ability occurs once, each time it is triggered. Nothing occurs more than once due to the same trigger. In fact, even in cases where it seems like it would ( such as if a hero with full fatigue takes a damage while "Word of Misery is in effect, causing the fatigue to be taken as damage, and would seem to create a spiral of infinite damage ) the clarifications have consistently been that no, the effect triggers once and only once per instance. If "Song of Mending" could provide healing multiple times, "Understudy" would also be able trigger off of its own healing effect, recovering full fatigue and full stamina every time it's activated- simply not the case.

2) This is also not written on the card, but I got this clarified through an FFG rules question: "Cacophony" is missing the text "During your turn," but it is supposed to be there. As written (which is not the intended state) "Cacophony" could be exhausted at the end of your turn, after you've recovered all of your fatigue from resting.

3) "Song of Mending" and "Understudy" with "Cacophony" is a very good combo. (It's a ridiculous combo if you can rest and use "Cacophony" every single round, which is what prompted me to ask that question in the first place)

Edited by Zaltyre

Not by my game right now but for some reason I thought you could only have one token on a given card. I could be way of on that but that is what I'm thinking right now for some reason.

Not by my game right now but for some reason I thought you could only have one token on a given card. I could be way of on that but that is what I'm thinking right now for some reason.

No such rule. The Bard can have both tokens on one card. The limitation is that he only has one of each token. In fact, there's a bard skill that specifically triggers only when the tokens are on different cards. Makes little sense if they can't ever be on the same card.

EDIT: I recently completed a Nerekhall campaign squaring off against a Mok Bard, among others. I've had to learn that class inside out.

Edited by Zaltyre

The reason I asked this question, was because it takes 4 xp points to get Cacophony and Understudy rolling. By then, the campaign is almost over, at least thats how I feel about it. I was hoping if I saved 3 points from the start, I could somehow abuse Song of Mending to trigger twice for harmony and melody until I purchase Understudy with the 4th Xp.

It was worth a shot ;)

I suppose being ready by the Interlude is good enough.

Thx for the response Zaltyre.

Cacophony should cost 2 xp. Aria of War should never have been printed. A new and better 3xp card should have been printed in place of Aria of War. :angry:

P.S. I'm still using the Conversion Kit Elder Mok. My play group isn't aware of the new " once per turn " Elder Mok.

P.S.S whats up with Fantasy Flight and their wording on rules? Whats up with Beastman having 2 hp then having 4 hp instead. This stuff is getting old, and Descent Journeys in the Dark 1st edition is really old now. FF has had plenty of time to get it right, but it never ceases to amaze me how much crap we have to go through explaining to new players how something works, because fantasy flight failed to do so.

Edited by MWStephenson85

The campaign is almost over? Act 1 isn't even over by the time you have 4 XP.

P.S.S whats up with Fantasy Flight and their wording on rules? Whats up with Beastman having 2 hp then having 4 hp instead. This stuff is getting old, and Descent Journeys in the Dark 1st edition is really old now. FF has had plenty of time to get it right, but it never ceases to amaze me how much crap we have to go through explaining to new players how something works, because fantasy flight failed to do so.

The Bard is a very powerful healer class as it is, Mok or no Mok. Both Cacophony and Wayfarer are impressive 3XP skills.

The beastmen health change is in order to balance them better with the other 2nd edition monsters and heroes that exist. The conversion kit version (and several other bits of the conversion kit) do a great job of bringing the 1st edition minis into play, but are exactly fine tuned for balance. I've stopped using the conversion kit, personally. There is enough purely 2nd edition material to keep me happy with variety.

Edited by Zaltyre