Hello everyone!

So me, my sister and her boyfriend just picked up the Arkham Horror set. We're playing with the Goat expansion (we think) as the box is quite old and we've got an Ancient One named the Goat of something something.

Last round I also claimed a Spear that gave me +4 Magical Damage if I exhausted it, so we might also have the Pharao expansion, but I am not sure.

Well anywho, we couldn't quite agree on how physical and magical damage works in this game, so I thought I'd ask you veterans and maybe you could help us out.

Let's say I'm playing Bob the Salesman with 2 skill points in 'Fight'.

Alright, that means I have a combat strength of two dice. I'm fighting a monster that is immune to physical damage and has a combat value of -1, but luckily I have the spell 'Wither' active, thus gaining +3 combat strength.

Let's sum up our total dice then: 2(fight) + 3(wither) - 1(monster strength) = 4 total dice.

Now, our question is: are all my 4 dice doing magical damage now? Or does 'fight' only do physical damage?

Allow me to make another example.

I am still playing Bob the Salesman, but this time I have Wither in one hand and a .45 in the other hand. I fight a similar physical immune monster with -1 combat strength.

Now, the .45 gives me +4 combat strength, Wither gives me +3 and I have 2 in the 'fight' skill.

Summed up: 4 + 3 + 2 - 1 = 8 dice.

Now, the monster is physical immune, thus the .45 is useless, leaving me with + 3 + 2. Am I thus doing 5 dice worth of magical damage?

Let's say it's vice versa, and the monster is magical immune. Do I then have 6 dice worth of physical damage remaining?

I hope this isn't all to confusing, and I am looking forward to your response.

Thank you.

Immunities and resistances refer to the peculiar trait of monsters to take or not to take or to partially take damage from certain weapons. In your example:

1. Correct, 4 dice. Fight is neither magical nor physical, hence you Fight stat is never modified by any of the Immunities / Resistances of monsters. Wither is a spell, not a Physical item, so you count the bonus, and clearly you count also the combat modifier, so, 2+3-1=4, correct

2. The .45 deals no damage to a Physical immune monster, so that you still have:

2 (Fight) + 3 (Wither) - 1 (combat modifier) = 4

In case the monster had magical immunity:

case 1: 2 (Fight) - 1 (combat modifier) = 1 (no extra dice from wither since the monster has magical immunity)

case 2: 2 (Fight) + 4 (.45) - 1 (combat modifier) = 5

Let me know if this has sense

Hello Julia, and thank you for the quick response!

This makes sense, but I still cannot fathom what type of damage "fight" thus would be? Does it represent some other power, rather than magical or physical damage?

In this case, let's say Bob the Salesman fights a monster immune to physical damage with his .45, losing the +4 against the immunity, but Bob now has 4 in the "fight" skill. The monster has the similar -1, thus leaving Bob with 3 dice to fight the monster?

I was under the impression that our characters did either physical or magical damage, but I guess only items and spells are affected by this, as you said, and fight is simply some other cosmic ability unaffected by a monsters immunities?

The "Fight" is a stat: it represents how much good you are at fighting, and it works always. See it as a sort of "knowledge of what to do and how to do it". After all, it's one of the stat you use when you close gates, and certainly you are not punching them (even though sometimes you could be tempted by such a possibility). It's the way your character "knows" how to deal with monsters, and his capacity of picking up the right thing to do. In this way, you know that to face a Dark Young it's better to do THIS while a Cultist can be subdued better by doing THAT. It's a universal bonus that represent how good you are at fighting, in general, and thus is not affected by resistances or immunities.

Same for the Combat Rating of the monsters: it represent how difficult they are for you to subdue (not their stamina, which is represented by their toughness).

As a general rule of the thumb, in every combat you apply always:

- your Fight stat (it's neither physical nor magical)

- the Combat modifier of the monster (it's intrinsic of the monster)

- in case you spend clues to add dice, those are unaffected by resitances / immunities too!

all the additional bonuses granted by items are affected by resistances / immunities (unless stated on the card, clearly)

Also, I noticed these are your first two posts. Hence: WELCOME

Thank you for the warm welcome, Julia!

Ah, then I understand. That makes sense to me. I was somewhat at a loss as I could not fathom what fight actually meant, and thus was quick to assume it simply meant the characters capability either at fighting with his hands or spells.

Thank you for explaining how it works to me, I'll be sure to let my sister and her boyfriend know what I have now discovered through your knowledge.

Glad I helped Enjoy the game, and, if you have any other question or doubt, just ask, there's always someone watching over the forum